Inter Miami and Argentina forward, Lionel Messi has revealed that he’s not bothered about winning the Ballon d’Or award.

Messi has already won the Ballon d'or seven times in the past – more than any other player in history.

In a press conference on Friday, August 18 ahead of Saturday’s Leagues Cup final against Nashville SC, the 36-year-old pointed out that he has won everything in football.

“I think I have said it many times during my career: the Ballon d’Or is a very important award because of what it means,” Messi said. 

“I was lucky enough to win everything in my career, and the World Cup was what I was missing. That’s why now, after Qatar, I’m thinking much less about that award. 

“Now I’m enjoying my moment. I’m not thinking about the Ballon d’Or. If it comes, fine; and if not, I am satisfied that I have achieved my objectives and…. now I have others with this club. We came here for this, to help the club win titles and on a personal level I’m also thinking about that,” he added

Former Black Stars of Ghana captain Asamoah Gyan has backed Victor Osimhen to win the 2023 African Player of the Year award.

Osimhen played a crucial role in Napoli’s Scudetto success last season.

The 24-year-old scored 26 goals in 32 league appearances for the Partenopei.

The forward was the first African and Nigerian to win the top scorer award in the Italian top-flight.

Osimhen also recorded five more goals for the Naples club in the UEFA Champions League.

Gyan claimed the striker is the right candidate to win the best player award.

“For me, he (Osimhen) deserves it. As a striker and seeing what he is doing, for the first time in over 30 years, winning the league with Napoli. He deserves it,” Gyan told Brilla FM.

The Confederation of African Football will the winner of the award later this year.

Former Arsenal forward Kanu Nwankwo was the last Nigerian to win the award in 1999.

Pep Guardiola has moved to second on the all-time most successful managers list after Manchester City's penalty win over Sevilla in the UEFA Super Cup on Wednesday, August 16.

The trophy sealed Guardiola's 36th title in spells with Barcelona, ​​Bayern Munich, and Man City.

However, the Spanish coach will have to win 13 more trophies to catch up with Sir Alex Ferguson's impressive haul of 49 successful tournaments during his long tenure as one of the world's best managers.

The titles were earned across 39 years in management, but Guardiola has raced to 36 in just 14 active years on the sidelines, making his achievements all the more impressive - at an average of 2.5 champions per season, according to Marca.

Guardiola also made history by being the first coach ever to win the European Super Cup with three different teams, having won with Barcelona in 2009 and 2011, Bayern Munich in 2013, and Man City in 2023.

Guardiola has achieved a wealth of success across Europe with three of the continent's biggest clubs.

During four years with Barcelona, he won 14 trophies, including three La Liga titles, two Champions Leagues, and the FIFA Club World Cup twice as well.

As Bayern's boss between 2013 and 2016, he won three Bundesliga titles and the FIFA Club World Cup among seven trophies in Munich.

Since joining Man City in 2016, he has led them to five Premier League trophies, two FA Cups, four League Cups, two Community Shields, the Champions League in June and the Super Cup on Wednesday night. That totals 15 trophies across the last seven years.

The names of the top three nominees for the 2022/23 UEFA Men's Player of the Year award have been revealed.

Manchester City stars, Erling Haaland, Kevin De Bruyne and and former PSG and now Inter Miami superstar Lionel Messi are the three nominees for the 2022/23 Men’s Player of the Year Award.

“UEFA has announced the names of the top three nominees for the 2022/23 UEFA Men’s Player of the Year award,” the statement reads.

According to UEFA, its technical study group made the shortlist based on the performance of players in the 2022/23 season.

Performances for both club and country were considered.

The group trimmed the nominees to three via the votes of a jury consisting of coaches of clubs that participated in the group stage of European club competitions last season.

National team coaches and selected journalists’ groups completed the jury.

The winner will be announced at the Grimaldi Forum, Monaco, on Thursday, August 31.

Fulham are reportedly considering a surprise transfer move for Arsenal striker Folarin Balogun, which could be worth as much as £50million.

The USA international impressed on loan at Reims last season, enjoying a prolific campaign in Ligue 1, but he faces plenty of competition for a place in Mikel Arteta’s squad, so could be on the move this summer.

According to the latest from the Daily Mail, Fulham are considering spending as much as £50m on Balogun as they look for a replacement for Aleksandar Mitrovic up front.

The Mail also claim Fulham have asked Manchester United about Eric Bailly, who has fallen out of favour at Old Trafford.

If Arsenal could receive as much as £50m for a backup player who developed in their academy, that would surely be very hard to turn down.

Balogun impressed on loan at Reims last season as he scored 22 goals and he could now depart permanently.

So far in this transfer window, Fulham have brought in Raul Jimenez, Calvin Bassey, and Adama Traore.

Manchester City's Treble-winning trio Erling Haaland, Kevin De Bruyne, and John Stones were nominated for the PFA Players' Player of the Year award. They are joined on the six-player shortlist for the accolade by Arsenal duo Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard with former Tottenham striker Harry Kane also making the list.

Haaland is the favorite to claim the peer-voted award after he broke the Premier League single-season goalscoring record with 36 goals in 35 matches.

That was part of 52 scored overall by the Norwegian in all competitions as City claimed an historic triple of Premier League, FA Cup, and Champions League.

De Bruyne, the PFA Player of the Year in 2020 and 2021, supplied 18 assists and seven goals in the league to propel City to a third straight title.

Around 450 million girls around the world are excluded from sport. But we know that sport teaches vital lessons, from perseverance to resilience, confidence, integrity and teamwork among many others. All of which set young people up for life. And when girls are excluded from sports, they are also excluded from learning these lessons.

This FIFA Women’s World Cup there’s a new team to support that is fighting female exclusion from sport.

To mark the tournament, 180 Amsterdam has partnered with NGO Game of Our Lives to launch a new team, She Has Fire, to encourage everyone to sign up to fight for the inclusion of girls in sport.

Game of Our Lives (GOL) is a gamified impact platform where sports stars take on the role of social activists championing a cause alongside their fans. The She Has Fire team is being led by Nadia Nadim, the Danish footballer, doctor and Afghani refugee and supported by England footballers Nikita Parris and Gemma Bonner, Carson Pickett (USA), Savannah De Melo (USA), Wang Shuang (China), Uchenna Kanu (Nigeria) and Thembi Kgatlana (South Africa). 

The team’s launch is being marked by the creation of a new football kit that highlights the hidden lessons girls learn when they play sport. In short, it’s a lesson plan for the world, that happens to be on a football shirt.

The shirt, and accompanying film, have been created to help support the She Has Fire team; to encourage everyone to sign up, pledge their support and also learn how they can help to ensure all girls can play sport, wherever they are in the world. 

Hidden on the design of the football shirt are the ten sport-centric lessons that every girl should have the opportunity to learn through sport. From a distance, the tiny printed lessons look like the shirt’s pattern, an open book. It’s only when you come up close that you can read each lesson.

Dylan Ingham, co-founder of the Game of Our Lives Foundation said, “The FIFA Women’s World Cup this year is a vital moment for women in sports. We need everyone to join She Has Fire to help us end the exclusion of girls in sport and empower the next generation. Because the lessons girls learn on the pitch enable them to become women who lead off it.”

Kika Douglas, CCO of 180 Amsterdam added, “Stepping onto a field or into a meeting room like you belong there is exactly how you convince your doubters that you do. Sport is an essential part of how young people grow but too often girls are shut out of this space. We’re so pleased to have been able to work with a female-led team to create something that will amplify the issue and encourage people to pledge their support to ending the exclusion of girls in sport.”

The 10 lessons hidden on the shirt are confidence, goal-setting, determination, resilience, mental agility, accountability, integrity, clear communications, teamwork and discipline. These lessons, hidden in plain sight, are a social invitation, designed to raise awareness and encourage people to support the fight to end the exclusion of girls from sport. 

A short film, ‘Lessons’, amplifies the She Has Fire launch by detailing each of these lessons and championing the women who support them. It was directed by Iman Whitfield and produced by Eye Force. An accompanying social campaign features the stories of women who have become leaders by playing sport.

Following this July’s event in Australia and New Zealand, the She Has Fire campaign, and shirts, will continue to carry the message into different parts of the world. 

[lbbonline]

FC Barcelona’s insistence on finding a suitor for Clement Lenglet this summer has seen them engage in negotiations with a number of clubs.

Initially, the plan was for the Catalans to offload Lenglet permanently to Tottenham, where he spent a season on loan, but a stark difference in the player’s valuation meant the move kept stalling.

Then Al Nassr entered the picture with hopes of securing another European talent, but the centre-back’s delay in making a decision meant the club went looking for other options, eventually entering talks for Manchester City’s Aymeric Laporte.

Saudi club tempts Lenglet with €12m net salary

Now, it is being reported by Gerard Romero that a Saudi Arabian club is offering €12 million per year in net salary to Lenglet.

While the player has doubts as he desires to continue in Europe among the elite footballers, he is gradually beginning to ‘open the door’ to the Saudi path.

Barcelona have made their stance clear on Lenglet, with the club already overbooked in defence.

Xavi does not have Lenglet in his plans for the new season and sees him as a disposable asset.

Lenglet, recognizing the minimal interest he is garnering from European sides that are willing to pay Barcelona’s valuation of €15 million, is showing signs of acceptance of the Saudi route.

Moreover, staying in Catalonia appears unfeasible owing to the exclusion he faces from the squad.

The clock is ticking, and the transfer window is nearing its end.

Lenglet will be obliged to take a decision soon and unless a European club comes calling, the French defender will have to cut his losses and take his talents to Saudi Arabia.

[barcauniversal]

Former Manchester City financial advisor Stefan Borson has accused Chelsea of 'deliberately ignoring' the Premier League's profit and sustainability guidelines amid the London club's continued spending. 

Monday's £115million purchase of Moises Caicedo took the Blues' outlay on new talent to over £800m in the three transfer windows since a Todd Boehly-led consortium purchased the club in 2022. 

Chelsea have spent more than every club in LaLiga in that period and have only narrowly been outspent by the 18 clubs in Germany's top-flight. 

This has led to questions about how the Premier League outfit have been able to enjoy such an extraordinary splurge while adhering to the league's financial rulings that allow teams to incur loses no greater than £105m across a rolling period of three seasons. 

Borson -  a former banker and current lawyer with extensive knowledge Financial Fair Play - believes the Blues are knowingly flaunting guidelines after Boehly 'overpaid' in acquiring the club for £4.3billion last May.

'You're talking about a club that's never made a profit in 20 years,' Borson told talkSPORT. 'They have historically operated at a loss and filled that gap by selling footballers. 

'Then what's happened is Todd Boehly's come along and I just want to say very clearly [he] knows exactly what he's doing. Nobody would deny the quality of his team, of the individual. There's no question.

'There's nothing that any of us can say on the outside that they haven't thought about and that's why I posit that this is all part of a strategy. 

'To deliberately ignore the Premier League's profit and sustainability rules in order to accelerate the success of Chelsea. 

'That's partly because we all know in the background that Boehly, for all of his business success and wealth, has overpaid for Chelsea by a very considerable amount. 

'It happens. Wealthy people sometimes make mistakes and he's made a mistake in terms of what he paid for the club. He now wants to accelerate the success of the club. '

As in seasons gone by, the Stamford Bridge outfit have successfully used player sales to fuel their purchases. Nine first team players have left the club for a fee this summer, while a further eight departed at the end of their contract which freed up funds in their wage bill. 

Owing to Boehly's knowledge of the US sports market, where he has flourished as the owner of MLB outfit the LA Dodgers, Chelsea have become the poster child for amortisation. 

The accounting process by which club's are able to spread the cost of purchases over the length of a player's contract, while including the full sum of a sale in that year's books. 

This tactic has seen the side agree extended terms with several recent arrivals. Caicedo, the most recent example, agreed an eight-year contract with an option for a further 12 months. 

Though, according to reports, it may not be a technique the club will be able to exploit for much longer. As Mail Sport earlier reveled, the Premier League are considering closing the loophole. 

'This hasn't been discussed formally,' one league source said. 'This hasn't been discussed formally, but is something we will look at. Alignment with UEFA rules would make sense for all parties. 

'The only club currently handing out eight-year contracts on a regular basis is likely to be involved in UEFA competitions soon, as are any others that follow suit.'

[DAilymail]

Tottenham striker Richarlison will refuse to shake Michail Antonio's hand when he plays against West Ham this season. The Brazilian has seemingly not forgotten comments made by his rival last term.

Antonio poked fun at Richarlison on his podcast last season. The Brazilian scored just one legitimate Premier League goal in his debut campaign.

However, he would have scored more if it wasn't for VAR intervention. Speaking on The Footballer's Football Podcast alongside Newcastle striker Callum Wilson in May, Antonio joked: "He's scored four times this season.

"Three of the times he has been offside. He has taken his top off four times this season."

The pair laughed, with Wilson adding: "He's got four yellows. He's almost on a suspension!"

The public mocking of Richarlison didn't go down well with Tottenham interim boss Ryan Mason. And Richarlison clearly hasn't taken too kindly to the comments either.

Antonio has revealed that he has spoken to Hammers team-mate Lucas Paqueta, who plays alongside Richarlison for Brazil. And he claims that the former Everton star plans to snub Antonio when their two teams meet in early December.

Asked if Spurs need to sign a striker after Harry Kane's departure, Antonio said on the podcast: "I am no longer commenting on Richarlison. It’s got to the stage where I feel that some people are a little touchy.

"I am not going to talk about the person that is in that position. I am just going to say that Tottenham need a striker. I will leave it at that – It’s banter. We banter with each other.

"I have gone to Paqueta. They play with each other. I have said ‘What’s wrong with your boy? It’s a bit of banter. I don’t understand why he is taking it so personally', to the stage where his manager has to talk.

"Lucas is like ‘It’s just how he is, Mickey. I told him that’s how you are. But he says ‘no, no, no. When we play against them. I am not going to shake his hand’."

Antonio and Wilson were criticised by Mason at the time for their initial comments. The Spurs coach said: "I certainly don't feel like I'm ever in a position to criticise another head coach or another manager on the work they're doing or the job they're doing at their football club.

"Richy, I don’t think he’s thinking about other players. His own pride and his own determination will probably drive that most of all.

"Maybe he’s heard it, maybe’s seen it, maybe it will give him a little bit more. I’m not sure on that.

"As a coach I wouldn’t do it, and as a player I’d never have done it as well. I don’t really like that type of thing."

[Express.co.uk]