Six days left, and the money has not stopped moving

The summer window shuts on Tuesday. A World Cup pushed every European calendar back, so for the first time in years the most expensive week of the football year is being played out with the league tables already on the wall.

The transfer window closes on Tuesday, September 1, at 23:00 in England and just before midnight on the continent. Major League Soccer follows a day later, on September 2. That is the ordinary rhythm of a European summer. What is not ordinary is where the season sits when the whistle goes on it.

The World Cup finished on July 19 at MetLife Stadium, where Spain beat Argentina 1-0 after extra time through Ferran Torres in the 106th minute, with Enzo Fernandez and Leandro Paredes both sent off. Every domestic calendar in Europe slid back to accommodate it. The Premier League did not start until August 22. The Bundesliga has not started at all: matchday one is Friday. So clubs are now conducting the single most consequential week of their financial year with points already on the board and, in several cases, with a crisis already in the building.

One morning, one teenager

Consider Wednesday morning as a single data point. Manchester City confirmed the signing of Ayyoub Bouaddi, 18, from Lille. Sky Sports reported the structure as £81.3m guaranteed with £4.3m in add-ons, a total of roughly £86m; Lille announced it in euros at £100m equivalent, or a shade under. Whichever currency you prefer, it is the most expensive teenager in Premier League history, comfortably past the £58.9m Manchester United paid for Leny Yoro in 2024. Lille, for their part, called it the largest sale a Ligue 1 club has ever made to a foreign buyer, beating the €80m Nicolas Pepe fetched in 2018.

Bouaddi is worth pausing on. He made his European debut at 16 years and three days, a competition record, and became the youngest player of the century in Ligue 1 at 16 years and 20 days. He had 96 senior appearances for Lille before his 19th birthday and started five of Morocco's six matches at the World Cup. In his farewell message he wrote that Lille is “where I grew up, where I learned, and where I experienced my first emotions at the highest level.” City are buying a succession plan, not a squad player.

They need one. This is the first City summer without Pep Guardiola, who was replaced on June 29 by Enzo Maresca on a three-year deal. Since then City have sold Rodri to Barcelona for €76.5m, Tijjani Reijnders to Al-Qadsiah, Savio to Tottenham for £85m and let Bernardo Silva and John Stones go for nothing. Marmoush is at a medical at Spurs, Nico Gonzalez is expected at Newcastle, and Jack Grealish is still unresolved. Money in the other direction has gone on youth: £116m to Nottingham Forest for Elliot Anderson, now £86m to Lille for a teenager. Maresca was asked on Sunday whether more was coming. “We will see, it's eight days to go,” he said. “For sure something is going to happen.”

Selling as a strategy

The second thing this window has confirmed is that selling well is now a strategy rather than an admission of defeat. Chelsea are the purest expression of it. On Tuesday they agreed to send Liam Delap to Nottingham Forest for £45m rising to £50m, a Forest club record, with the medical set for Wednesday. Delap scored three goals in 47 Chelsea appearances. Chelsea paid Ipswich Town £30m for him a year ago. That is a profit of roughly £20m on a player who did not work out, and it is not an accident.

In the same seven days Chelsea loaned Benoit Badiashile to Napoli with a purchase option, sold Omari Kellyman to Strasbourg for around €6m, and moved close to selling Nicolas Jackson to Aston Villa. Santi Aouna of Foot Mercato reported on Wednesday that the clubs are near an agreement but that Jackson has not yet approved it. Meanwhile Chelsea are the ones saying no: Manchester City want Enzo Fernandez, valued at roughly £120m, and as of Tuesday had not submitted a formal offer. Xabi Alonso, four days into his Chelsea tenure, was careful about it. “My wish is that we know what will happen for the future,” he said, “but we will see this week.”

Newcastle have run the same play at a larger scale, banking more than £240m in sales including Sandro Tonali to Tottenham and Anthony Gordon to Barcelona for £69.3m, then spending it across five signings. Tottenham have gone past £300m under Roberto De Zerbi. And on the opening Saturday Tottenham lost 3-0 at Brentford, their joint-heaviest opening-day defeat in Premier League history, conceding 5.63 expected goals. De Zerbi did not hide behind the scoreline. “Our physical condition was not at the right level for all players,” he said, “because many came later after the World Cup.” Spending is not the same as a team, and this summer has left almost nobody time to build one.

There is a counterweight, and it is Italy. Juventus lost Dusan Vlahovic for nothing this month when his contract expired and he signed for Besiktas. Asked about the market after his side's opening win at Frosinone, Luciano Spalletti shrugged: “potremmo anche rimanere cosi,” we could even stay as we are. He also conceded that without Champions League football, everyone is available. Calcio e Finanza marked the season's start with a blunt accounting: Serie A's domestic television deal is worth about €900m a season against a €1.2bn target, and of the dozen or so clubs on earth who can spend €100m on a single player, not one of them is Italian.

The players stop waiting

Which brings us to the third and least comfortable feature of the week: the players have stopped waiting politely. Moise Kean arrived late at Fiorentina's training ground on Wednesday, refused to train with the squad and was fined. Julian Alvarez did not turn up to Atletico Madrid training at all, the club citing indisposition, three days after being whistled by his own supporters. Rafael Leao is training away from the Milan group despite being fit. Ousmane Dembele has been given a week off by PSG that RMC's Daniel Riolo flatly called a punishment. Ollie Watkins has turned down a new Villa contract and made clear he would take the Saudi offer. Five clubs, five different countries, one common cause: a window this short, arriving this late, hands leverage to whoever is willing to make a scene.

Six days remain. The tell to watch is not the biggest name but the first domino: if Chelsea blink on Enzo Fernandez, City will have spent north of £200m in a fortnight and Chelsea will have another nine-figure sum to reinvest in January. If they hold, this becomes a window remembered for teenagers rather than superstars. Either way, Tuesday night will be busy.

Secondary Feature

Nine new managers, and a record that had stood for eighty years

Almost half the Premier League changed its head coach this summer. Opta had to go back to 1946 to find anything comparable.

Nine of the twenty Premier League clubs began the season with a manager taking charge of his first league game for them. Opta's line, carried by Sky Sports, is that this is the most in an English top-flight season since 1946-47. Serie A very nearly matched it: nine of that league's twenty benches also changed hands, four of them going to men who had never managed in Italy before.

The English list reads like a reshuffle of the entire coaching class. Enzo Maresca left Chelsea for Manchester City to replace Pep Guardiola. Xabi Alonso took the Chelsea job Maresca vacated. Andoni Iraola left Bournemouth for Liverpool in succession to Arne Slot, and Marco Rose took the Bournemouth job. Matthias Jaissle replaced Eddie Howe at Newcastle on August 5, the latest appointment of the nine. Oliver Glasner moved from Crystal Palace to Nottingham Forest, with Pierre Sage taking over at Selhurst Park. Alvaro Arbeloa has Fulham after Marco Silva's departure on June 2, and Gary O'Neil has promoted Ipswich Town.

Opening weekend split them neatly. Maresca won on debut, and did it by playing a centre-back in midfield: Marc Guehi scored the 85th-minute equaliser against Bournemouth before Josko Gvardiol won it in stoppage time. “I know Marc from Palace and I always thought he could play as a midfielder because he is very good,” Maresca said. Alonso won too, 3-2 at Fulham, though his goalkeeper Robert Sanchez was at fault for both home goals. “It's a process. It's day one,” Alonso offered.

The others got a harder education. Iraola needed a penalty deep into stoppage time from Dominik Szoboszlai to draw 2-2 at Newcastle, where Jaissle, twenty days into the job, had led 2-1. “Hard luck, I would say,” Jaissle said. “I'm really, really happy with the performance after such a short amount of time.” Glasner lost at home to Leeds United to an 88th-minute Anton Stach free-kick, then lost to Leeds again three days later in the Carabao Cup, the only Premier League club knocked out in round two. Sage lost at Everton. Rose lost at City. Arbeloa lost and sounded delighted anyway: “If we continue to play in that way, we're going to win a lot of games.” Only O'Neil, among the newcomers at a promoted club, took three points, courtesy of a 90th-minute Jack Clarke winner against Sunderland.

The structural point underneath the churn is that all nine are managing squads they did not assemble, in a window that does not shut until Tuesday, having had a pre-season shortened at both ends by a World Cup. De Zerbi named three of his own players as physically unready after the Brentford defeat. Maurizio Sarri, one of Serie A's new arrivals at Atalanta, made the same complaint in gentler language: “De Ketelaere arrived on August 4, and the new signings arrived recently too.” Judgements formed in the next three weeks will be formed on incomplete evidence. They will be formed anyway.

Tottenham have spent past £300m. On Saturday they were beaten 3-0 by Brentford.

Savio arrived for a Manchester City club-record sale, Marmoush is at a medical, and the squad that took the field on opening day conceded four first-half goals' worth of chances.

Tottenham confirmed the signing of Savio on Monday: £75m plus £10m in add-ons, of which around £5m is effectively guaranteed. At £85m it is the largest fee Manchester City have ever received for a player, past the £82m Julian Alvarez brought from Atletico. Omar Marmoush, 27, is following him, on loan with a £60m obligation to buy, with a medical booked as of Wednesday morning per PA and Sky. City will recoup roughly the £59m they paid Eintracht Frankfurt in January 2025.

Those two follow Sandro Tonali from Newcastle at a club-record fee, Mateus Fernandes from West Ham at £85m, Jan Paul van Hecke from Brighton at £52m, and free transfers for Andy Robertson, Marcos Senesi and Martin Dubravka. On the reported Tonali figure the sources diverge, Sky carrying £100m and Football365 £92.5m, so treat the exact number with care. The direction of travel is not in doubt.

Against all that, Saturday at the Gtech was chastening. Brentford's 3-0 was their largest top-flight win and Tottenham's joint-heaviest opening-day defeat, matching a 3-0 at Manchester United in 2011-12. Archie Gray, at 20 years and 163 days, became the club's youngest Premier League captain, breaking Harry Kane's record. Spurs are still trying to sell. Lucas Bergvall has submitted a transfer request with Newcastle's £46m bid rejected and Spurs holding out for close to £60m, and David Ornstein reports the move now looks unlikely. Pape Matar Sarr and Richarlison are both available, the latter at £35m, which Everton consider too much.

Manchester United paid £70m for Carlos Baleba, then lost at Hull

Michael Carrick has his midfielder. He says he still needs a left-back, and he is running out of days to find one.

Manchester United completed the signing of Carlos Baleba, 22, from Brighton on Tuesday for £65m guaranteed plus £5m in add-ons, on a five-year deal with a further year's option. There is a footnote worth noting: Lille, who sold Baleba to Brighton in 2023, collect roughly €10m from a resale clause that sporting director Olivier Letang inserted at the time. Lille have therefore banked around €110m in a single week from two players they no longer own.

Carrick is not finished. “We want more, we need more,” he told Sky Sports. Left-back is the stated priority. United enquired about Lewis Hall and Newcastle refused to sell; Antonee Robinson of Fulham is under consideration. Harry Amass is expected to leave before September 1. No forward is expected, because Marcus Rashford has returned from Barcelona and made his first competitive United appearance in 618 days as a substitute at Hull.

That appearance came in a 2-0 defeat at newly promoted Hull City, Semi Ajayi heading in on 17 minutes and Nobel Mendy scoring on his Premier League debut on 38. “We are bitterly disappointed with the result today,” Carrick said. “But it won't knock us.” His captain was less diplomatic. “Same mistakes as we did last season,” Bruno Fernandes said. “Every away game we give too much of the ball to them.”

Serie A's late window is being run by the players

Moise Kean refused to train. Rafael Leao is working alone. Christopher Nkunku went home to Leipzig. Italy's deadline week has turned personal.

Moise Kean, 26, wants to join Como. Como have bid €35m plus €5m in bonuses and asked for an answer inside 48 hours. Personal terms of around €5m a year, roughly matching what he earns now, are understood to be agreed. On Wednesday, La Nazione reported, Kean arrived late at the Viola Park, declined to train with the group, left before his teammates and did a solo session. He was fined and threatened with further sanctions. Fiorentina's position, stated publicly, is that the club “is solid, it has no need to sell any player.” Director Fabio Paratici set the conditions plainly: “Our players are for sale only if they ask, if a suitable offer arrives, and if we find an equal or better replacement.”

At Milan, Rafael Leao is training separately from the squad with no injury to explain it. Corriere dello Sport reports he is outside Ruben Amorim's project and that Aston Villa are pushing, with Milan asking €50m to €60m and Villa negotiating below it. Galatasaray are also involved. Leao is said to have turned down a large Al-Hilal proposal, preferring to stay in Europe. Amorim would not be drawn: “Right now the good of the team matters far more to us.”

Milan did move one attacker on. Christopher Nkunku, 28, returned to RB Leipzig on loan with a purchase option on August 25, back at the club where he scored 126 direct goal involvements in 172 games and won two DFB-Pokals. “When the opportunity to join RB Leipzig came up, I wanted to seize it,” he said. “I'm top fit and eager to help the team immediately.” Elsewhere: Atalanta have had two bids for Bologna's Jonathan Rowe rejected, the second worth €35m plus bonuses, which would be a club-record signing if it landed; Franck Kessie is in advanced talks with Juventus, who hold his preference, though Roma met his agent on Tuesday to try to intervene; and Napoli have offered €15m to €16m for Chelsea's Marc Guiu against a £25m equivalent asking price.

Atletico Madrid say Julian Alvarez is not for sale. Julian Alvarez did not come to training.

Whistled by his own supporters on Sunday, absent on Wednesday, and holding an understanding with Barcelona that his club will not honour.

The sequence matters. On Sunday Julian Alvarez came off the bench in Atletico Madrid's 2-2 draw with Villarreal, his first appearance at the Metropolitano in more than three months, and was whistled by sections of his own crowd. At full time he walked down the tunnel rather than join the squad in saluting the supporters. On Wednesday morning he did not appear at training. The club's stated reason was indisposition. Infobae and El Espanol both reported it as an escalation rather than an illness.

The underlying position is that Alvarez has had an understanding with Barcelona since May and that Atletico will not sell to a domestic rival. Matteo Moretto of Relevo, speaking on August 21, said Barcelona now regard the deal as “basically impossible” and that the club's plan is a cheaper attacker of similar profile with a view to revisiting Alvarez in a year. A Premier League bid, from Arsenal, has been reported at up to €150m; the player is said to be reluctant to return to England. His release clause is €500m. Atletico's public line has not moved: he is not being sold.

Atletico have otherwise had an eventful summer under new ownership. Apollo Sports Capital completed a majority takeover in March, taking 55 per cent at a valuation of €2.5bn including debt, adding a €100m capital increase for the Ciudad del Deporte project and expanding the board from five members to eleven. Enrique Cerezo and Miguel Angel Gil Marin remain in place through June 2029 under a lock-up, and David Villa has joined the board. On the pitch, Cristian Romero arrived from Tottenham for around €40m and Diego Simeone, whose contract runs to June 2027, has four points from two matches.

What is still simmering, and how much of it you should believe

Every item below carries a stated stage. Nothing here is official, and where a story rests on a single outlet, we say so.

Bradley Barcola, PSG to Liverpool. Advanced talks. The best-sourced live saga in Europe, and still without a confirmed fee. David Ornstein put it at 85 to 90 per cent on The Athletic FC Podcast on Tuesday. Reported valuations have ranged from an opening PSG ask of £145m down towards £120m, but a widely circulated £109.7m figure traces to a single social post and should be ignored. Sky's Mark McAdam described the deal on August 7 as difficult given the gap. Foot Mercato's live desk on Wednesday would say only that the Barcola file “is still stirring the market.”

Ollie Watkins, Aston Villa to Al-Hilal. Four bids rejected, player willing. The latest offer was £45m, with a bid around £50m expected. The Telegraph reported a salary of £12m a year on the table. Watkins, 30, has rejected a proposed four-year Villa extension, missed the 4-0 defeat at Brighton, returned to training on Monday and apologised to teammates. Unai Emery has been pointedly cryptic. Villa's replacement search runs through Nicolas Jackson, with Jean-Philippe Mateta a rejected alternative and Rafael Leao the ambitious one.

Alex Scott, Bournemouth to Chelsea. Three bids rebuffed. Miguel Delaney of The Independent reported on Tuesday that Chelsea are preparing a fresh offer for the 23-year-old as an Enzo Fernandez replacement, and that it may take £80m to £90m. Bournemouth, who also turned City away for him, do not want him to leave.

Matias Fernandez-Pardo, Lille to Newcastle. Stalled. Foot Mercato reported on Wednesday that Newcastle's final offer of €60m was rejected and that Lille want at least €70m for the 21-year-old Belgian, having already sold Bouaddi. Newcastle are said to have pivoted to Bilal El Khannouss as an alternative. Earlier reporting of the bid ranged wildly across outlets, from €40m to £38.5m, so do not fix on any single figure.

Igor Paixao, Marseille to Sunderland. Personal terms agreed. Santi Aouna of Foot Mercato reported on Wednesday that Sunderland have a verbal agreement with the 26-year-old Brazilian, with the clubs still negotiating structure and no fee reported. Marseille paid Feyenoord €30m for him a year ago and he returned 12 goals and seven assists in 42 games. Marseille have made no signings at all this summer and, in Bruno Genesio's words, “must bring down our wage bill” to satisfy the DNCG and UEFA. Between three and five departures are expected. Free agent Karl Toko Ekambi is under consideration if the sales land.

Jean-Philippe Mateta at Crystal Palace. Contract dispute, exit sought. The most legally interesting story of the week. Sami Mokbel of BBC Sport reported on Monday that the 29-year-old has roughly ten months left, could sign a pre-contract abroad from January 2027, and that Palace have failed for a year to renew him. Mateta is separately challenging the validity of the 12-month option year Palace activated in 2024, arguing it should be void. FIFA ruled this week that overruling the contract falls outside its jurisdiction; an independent tribunal under Premier League rules had already found the deal binding. His January move to Milan collapsed over a knee concern. Villa bid and were told it fell short of a roughly £40m valuation.

Everton want five more signings. The Athletic reported on Tuesday that David Moyes is seeking two full-backs, a midfielder, a winger and a striker before Tuesday. Guela Doue of Strasbourg is the priority, two bids already rejected against a valuation near £40m. Everton lost out on Delap to Forest, remain in contact over Jack Grealish, and consider Richarlison too expensive.

Also live, at lower confidence. Alexander Sorloth from Atletico to Juventus, with fresh contacts this week and a possible swap element, though no fee is agreed and the structure is unverified. El Chadaille Bitshiabu from RB Leipzig to Lens, a first approach only, with no negotiation opened. Malick Fofana at Lyon, where Paulo Fonseca says offers from Roma have been rebuffed and the player “is very motivated to continue with us.” Hicham Boudaoui from Nice to Al-Ittihad, club-to-club exchanges under way. And Nico Gonzalez from City to Newcastle, which one Tyneside outlet expected to be announced on Wednesday and which we could not stand up elsewhere. Treat that last one as single-sourced.

England: Premier League

One round played, and it was a strange one. Two of the three promoted clubs won: Hull City beat Manchester United 2-0 in front of 24,470 at the MKM Stadium in their first top-flight game since 2017, and Ipswich Town beat Sunderland 2-1 through Emersonn and a 90th-minute Jack Clarke strike. Coventry City, back in the top division after 25 years under Frank Lampard, lost 3-0 away. The heaviest defeat of the weekend went to a club that finished fourth last season: Aston Villa lost 4-0 at Brighton, conceding all four inside the first half and losing Joao Gomes to a red card on 40 minutes for kicking out at Georginio Rutter. He faces a three-match ban. Opta noted that only one other side in Premier League history has conceded four, taken a red card and scored an own goal in a single first half: Southampton, in the 9-0 against Manchester United in February 2021.

Jack Hinshelwood scored twice in 79 seconds for Brighton and has four goals in his last four home league games, one more than in the previous 26 at the Amex. Lewis Dunk made his 300th Premier League appearance for the club, the first player to reach it. Elsewhere Manchester City beat Bournemouth 2-1 with late goals from Marc Guehi and Josko Gvardiol, both created by Rayan Cherki; Everton won their first opening weekend in five years, 2-0 over Crystal Palace; and Chelsea won 3-2 at Fulham, Joao Pedro scoring after 31 seconds and Morgan Rogers marking his debut. The week's refereeing row came at St James' Park, where Stuart Attwell gave a stoppage-time penalty for Lewis Hall's challenge on Victor Munoz and VAR confirmed it. The Premier League's Match Centre published its reasoning verbatim: Hall “doesn't play the ball. He makes clear contact.” Newcastle, 2-1 up, drew 2-2.

Off the pitch

Off the pitch, two structural stories. First, Profit and Sustainability Rules are gone. From this season clubs are governed by a Squad Cost Ratio capping on-pitch spending, wages, head-coach salary, agent fees and transfer amortisation, at 85 per cent of football revenue, with a Red Threshold at 115 per cent. Breaches between the two trigger financial levies; above the Red Threshold the penalty is a six-point deduction rising by a point for every £6.5m of overspend. A separate Sustainability and Systemic Resilience regime adds working capital, liquidity and positive equity tests. Second, Liverpool's owners FSG sold a minority stake in mid-August to a consortium led by Amit Bhatia and including Jeff Bezos, reported at around 38 per cent on a valuation near $7bn with an option to take control at roughly $8bn within twelve months. FSG's statement was categorical: it “continues to retain majority ownership and operational control.” Sky reported the investment brings no separate transfer budget. Also of note: the Women's Super League expands from 12 clubs to 14 this season, starting September 4, with Sky showing 163 matches live.

Spain: La Liga

Spain's opening rounds have been played out of order. Matchday one was spread from August 15 to August 27 because clubs with World Cup semi-finalists were given extra rest, so several sides have played matchday two before matchday one. The consequence is a table that will look nothing like itself by Friday. It is also, briefly, a table topped by Sevilla, who have six points from two and are top of La Liga for the first time in 189 matchdays, since the second round of 2021-22. Matias Almeyda's side beat Rayo Vallecano 2-1 with a 97th-minute penalty, then won 3-1 at San Mames against a ten-man Athletic Club, who are bottom with nothing.

That Athletic red card produced the week's cleanest institutional story. On the debut edition of the referees' committee's new review programme, the CTA ruled that Cesar Soto Grado's 11th-minute dismissal of Yuri Berchiche was a “clear and obvious error” and that VAR should have intervened. The committee's reasoning was that Sevilla's Miguel Sierra pushed the ball away from himself, so there was no genuine goalscoring opportunity. The correct decision was a free kick and no card. Four other reviewed decisions from the round were upheld.

Mourinho, and a Madrid without limits

Real Madrid are being managed by Jose Mourinho, appointed on June 11 on a contract to June 2029. He won his league return 2-1 at Espanyol through a 90th-minute goal from Carlos Espi, a 21-year-old debutant signed from Levante who now has 11 goals in 14 games. Madrid's summer has been extraordinary in scale: Yan Diomande arrived from RB Leipzig for €125m, the largest fee in the club's history, alongside Marc Cucurella, Denzel Dumfries, and free transfers for Ibrahima Konate and Bernardo Silva. Vinicius Junior renewed to June 2032 on August 6. Mourinho has also imposed a set of dressing-room rules, per AS: prescribed meals, latecomers training alone in the gym rather than being fined, and all rehabilitation done in-house at Valdebebas. On the market he was dismissive on Tuesday: “For me it is closed, but with the market open.”

Barcelona, the defending champions, opened with a 5-0 win at Elche: Raphinha two goals and an assist, Fermin Lopez two, Karim Adeyemi scoring on debut and Anthony Gordon assisting twice off the bench on his. The registration crisis that has defined recent Barcelona Augusts did not materialise; Rodri, Adeyemi and Gordon were all registered on August 21 with the club operating under the 1:1 rule after shedding payroll. The Gamper Trophy was staged at the rebuilt Spotify Camp Nou on August 19, and the league opener against Athletic on Thursday is at the stadium too. What Barcelona do not have is a recognised centre-forward. Matteo Moretto's summary of the shortlist was withering: “I don't think it will be Tresoldi, I don't think it will be Gyokeres, I don't think it will be the names that have come out.” The surprise signing he teased turned out to be a goalkeeper, Dominik Livakovic, on a small fee from Fenerbahce.

Two more. Rayo Vallecano are homeless in their 50th-anniversary season: Vallecas has failed safety clearance, so they played Alaves at Butarque in Leganes in front of 4,280 people, the smallest crowd of the round, and Getafe have refused them the Coliseum for September 5. And Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, now 37, has signed for promoted Deportivo La Coruna from Marseille and scored twice in his first two games.

Germany: Bundesliga

Germany has not kicked off. Matchday one is Friday, Bayern Munich against VfB Stuttgart, the latest start in years and another consequence of the World Cup. What Germany has had is a Supercup and a cup round, and both were instructive. Bayern beat Borussia Dortmund 2-1 at Signal Iduna Park on August 22 in front of 81,365. The goals came from Nathaniel Brown, a left-back signed from Eintracht Frankfurt who was fielded at number ten and scored on his competitive debut, and Michael Olise in first-half stoppage time. Fabio Silva pulled one back on 75 minutes; Ramy Bensebaini was sent off on 90 and has since been given a two-match cup suspension.

Vincent Kompany on Brown: “Sometimes the full-backs' spaces are similar to those of a number ten. He is unbelievably good between the spaces.” It was a fitting start to a week in which Bayern also extended Max Eberl and Jan-Christian Dreesen to June 2029, sold Joao Palhinha permanently to Benfica, and watched Harry Kane collect Germany's Footballer of the Year award, with 272 of 659 votes, days after picking up the European Golden Shoe for 36 league goals. Kompany was named Coach of the Year for last season's double.

The DFB-Pokal first round produced a record haul of goals and two proper shocks, both against clubs relegated from the second tier rather than the first: fifth-tier SSV Jeddeloh II beat Heidenheim 5-2, and Rot-Weiss Essen knocked out St Pauli 2-0. Eintracht Frankfurt won 11-0 at SC St Tonis, the biggest cup win in the club's history. Hamburger SV won 3-0 at SC Verl, where Louis Lemke, aged 16 years, 10 months and 16 days, became the youngest goalscorer in HSV history. And at Halle, Edin Dzeko, 40, scored twice for promoted Schalke 04, roughly fifteen years and eight months after his previous appearance in German top-flight football. “My plan from the very beginning was to come back,” he said. “I really only wanted to keep playing for Schalke.”

The week's saddest news came on August 23, when Klaus-Michael Kuhne died aged 89. The logistics billionaire was the second-largest shareholder in HSV's football company, financed the buy-back of the stadium naming rights that restored the Volksparkstadion name, and was for a decade the single most-cited figure in Germany's argument about outside investment in football. He last attended a match in 2015. What happens to his holding is, at the time of writing, unreported.

Italy: Serie A

Serie A began on August 22 and the opening round belonged to one player. Donyell Malen scored a hat-trick inside 68 minutes as Roma beat Fiorentina 4-0, taking three shots on target and scoring all three, with 11 touches in the opposition box. All three were laid on by Paulo Dybala. Gian Piero Gasperini, who has heard a decade of jokes about Dybala's fragility, took the opportunity: “Paulo is extraordinary, world-class. He could have played extra time too, never mind silk muscles.” Malen now has 17 goals in Europe's top five leagues in the calendar year 2026, level with Kane, albeit in more appearances.

Nine of the twenty benches changed over the summer. Ruben Amorim took Milan and won 2-1 at Torino, with 18-year-old Alphadjo Cisse scoring on his Serie A debut. Massimiliano Allegri took Napoli and won 2-0 at Genoa, where the game's flashpoint arrived: Kevin De Bruyne's 82nd-minute opener came after contact with Genoa's Johan Vasquez that referee Marco Di Bello waved away and VAR did not review. Daniele De Rossi called it “one of the ugliest episodes of my career.” The refereeing body, led by Daniele Orsato, backed Di Bello while conceding that giving a foul would not have been a serious error. The disciplinary fallout landed on Genoa: director Diego Javier Lopez was banned until September 8 for entering the pitch and obstructing the referee.

Reigning champions Inter beat Monza 4-1, Pio Esposito scoring with a backheel. Maurizio Sarri won on his Atalanta debut, Gennaro Gattuso won on his Lazio debut through Davide Frattesi, who had trained with his new teammates six times. Juventus won 1-0 at Frosinone through a Bremer header and then lost Kenan Yildiz: a foot injury, examined at J Medical, with Gazzetta and ANSA both reporting a suspected fracture, possible surgery and up to two months out. As of Monday the results were still pending. Fiorentina, meanwhile, are in open crisis after one match, with the Florence press putting Fabio Grosso on trial for his team selection and Franco Mastantuono, on loan from Real Madrid, throwing something to the ground when substituted.

France: Ligue 1

France opened on August 22 with an 18-club division containing two newcomers, Troyes and Le Mans, the latter back after 16 years. Marseille lead on goal difference after beating Strasbourg 4-0; Lens, the reigning Coupe de France holders, put five past Auxerre. Champions Paris Saint-Germain, chasing a sixth consecutive title, drew 2-2 at Rennes.

That draw produced the French story of the week. Luis Enrique withdrew both Ousmane Dembele and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia at half-time. On Tuesday PSG announced Dembele would miss Friday's trip to Lille, stating that “in agreement with the coach and the sporting management, Ousmane Dembele will have a period of rest over the coming days,” and insisting it was unrelated to the substitution. The 2025 Ballon d'Or winner has three appearances and 120 minutes this season. RMC's Daniel Riolo was unconvinced: “Are we talking about a week's rest, or can we say things clearly and call it a heavy punishment?”

Lille's summer needs no further introduction after Bouaddi, but the club has also brought in Dilane Bakwa on a straight season loan from Nottingham Forest with no option. Lyon spent Wednesday night trying to reach the Champions League league phase for the first time in six years, hosting Fenerbahce at the Groupama Stadium after a 1-1 first leg; qualification is worth roughly €25m to a club still under financial restriction. The tie kicked off as this edition went to press. Lyon also deactivated 437 tickets identified in illegal resale to keep visiting supporters out of home sections.

The larger French story is money. Ligue 1+, the league's own channel, carries every match but is running well below revenue expectations, and the LFP may open a new tender as early as October. The league lost €78.5m a year when beIN Sports dropped its Saturday package and received an €85m settlement when DAZN exited early. Olivier Bramly of LFP Media has held talks with Apple, Netflix, Amazon and Paramount, and Canal+, which had walked away from French football, has re-established contact: Bramly met chief executive Maxime Saada recently. A regulatory change now allows the rights to be sold as a single package rather than split into lots.

United States: Major League Soccer

Matchday 22 is complete and Nashville SC are running away with the Supporters' Shield: 49 points from 21 games, a rate that projects to 79 over a full season, which would be a single-season record. They beat Columbus Crew 3-2 on Saturday with stoppage-time goals from Reed Baker-Whiting and Andy Najar. In the West, Vancouver Whitecaps lead on 40 points from 20 with a game in hand on almost everyone, and hammered FC Dallas 5-0. Thomas Muller is at the heart of it.

Lionel Messi, 39, is second in the East with Inter Miami on 39 points and has 14 goals and nine assists in the regular season. He scored and assisted twice in a 2-2 draw at Philadelphia Union on August 20, then scored again on 82 minutes in a 2-1 defeat at Toronto. The Golden Boot is not his, though: Petar Musa of FC Dallas leads on 16. Evander leads the assist charts on ten for FC Cincinnati, and has 105 goal involvements in 107 MLS matches since 2023.

The secondary transfer window closes on September 2 and the spending has been unusually European in flavour. Breel Embolo joined Atlanta United from Rennes for a reported $18m as a Designated Player, telling the crowd: “I'm not coming here just to rest. I want to help the club to get where they belong.” Sporting Kansas City, bottom of the league, spent a club record of more than $18m on Andre Luiz from Olympiacos and sold Dejan Joveljic to Seattle Sounders for $6m. Brais Mendez left Real Sociedad for Columbus, Jack Harrison joined New England from Leeds, and Alexis Sanchez, 37, signed for CF Montreal as a free agent. Seattle, meanwhile, sit 13th in the West and last in the league's power rankings, which is the season's quiet disaster.

Leagues Cup has reached the quarter-finals. Club Leon beat Real Salt Lake 3-0 on Tuesday and Monterrey beat Chicago Fire 2-1; Columbus against Club America and Austin FC against Toluca were being played on Wednesday.

Celtic blew a four-goal lead in the Champions League play-off, losing the second leg 5-1 at LASK on August 25 and going out. Sky's own headline called it exactly that. How the tie was finally settled was not clear from the sources we could reach.

The Champions League league phase draw is in Monaco on Thursday. Matchday one is September 8 to 10 and the final is on June 5, 2027 at the Estadio Metropolitano in Madrid.

Paris Saint-Germain beat Aston Villa 2-1 in the UEFA Super Cup at the Red Bull Arena in Salzburg on August 12. The referee was Omar Artan of Somalia, who had been appointed to the World Cup but was denied entry to the United States.

Zinedine Zidane is the head coach of France, succeeding Didier Deschamps. “After Real Madrid, there was only one job I wanted,” he said.

Ko Itakura returned to Borussia Monchengladbach from Ajax on a contract to 2030, replacing Nico Elvedi, who joined Leeds United for £8.5m. “It feels like home again,” Itakura said.

Nottingham Forest were the only Premier League club eliminated in the Carabao Cup second round, beaten 2-0 at home by Leeds United, who had beaten them at the City Ground four days earlier.

Chadi Riad was stretchered off in tears for Crystal Palace at Everton after appearing to twist his left knee. He is awaiting scan results and has a history of knee problems. No timeline has been published.

New laws in force in England this season: a five-second countdown on throw-ins and goal kicks, a ten-second limit on leaving the pitch when substituted, a minimum one-minute absence for treated players, and VAR review of second yellow cards that were clearly wrong.

Terem Moffi joined Hamburger SV from Nice, calling the club “a big name worldwide.” Elye Wahi went the other way, from Eintracht Frankfurt to Nice on loan with an option.

All kickoff times converted to Pacific. The transfer deadline is Tuesday, September 1 in Europe and Wednesday, September 2 in MLS.

Thursday, August 27

Champions League league phase draw, Monaco. Time not confirmed at press time.

La Liga, matchday one catch-up: Celta Vigo v Osasuna, 9:30am. Barcelona v Athletic Club at the Spotify Camp Nou, 10:00am.

Friday, August 28

Bundesliga opens: Bayern Munich v VfB Stuttgart, 11:30am.

Ligue 1: Lille v Paris Saint-Germain, 11:45am. Serie A: Milan v Venezia, 11:45am.

Premier League: Crystal Palace v Manchester City, 12:00pm. Maresca's first away test.

Saturday, August 29

Premier League: Liverpool v Nottingham Forest, 4:30am. Bournemouth v Everton and Coventry v Hull, 7:00am. Tottenham v Newcastle, 9:30am.

Bundesliga: Elversberg v Leverkusen, Koln v Hoffenheim, Union Berlin v Eintracht Frankfurt, Mainz v Paderborn and Leipzig v Monchengladbach, all 4:30am. Borussia Dortmund v Hamburger SV, 7:30am.

Serie A: Fiorentina v Frosinone, Monza v Udinese and Sassuolo v Torino, 9:30am. Juventus v Parma, 11:45am.

Ligue 1: Strasbourg v Lens, Auxerre v Angers, Lorient v Troyes, Brest v Toulouse, Lyon v Le Havre. MLS matchday 23 across the evening.

Sunday, August 30

Premier League: Chelsea v Brighton, Leeds v Brentford and Sunderland v Fulham, 6:00am. Manchester United v Ipswich, 8:30am.

Bundesliga: Freiburg v Werder Bremen, 4:30am. Augsburg v Schalke, 6:30am.

Serie A: Napoli v Como, 9:30am. Cagliari v Inter and Lazio v Genoa, 11:45am. Ligue 1: Paris FC v Nice, Rennes v Le Mans, Monaco v Marseille.

Monday, August 31

Serie A: Lecce v Roma, 9:30am. Atalanta v Bologna, 11:45am. Premier League: Aston Villa v Arsenal, 12:00pm.

Tuesday, September 1

Transfer deadline across England, Spain, Italy, Germany and France. The English window shuts at 3:00pm Pacific. Deferred DFB-Pokal first-round ties for Bayern and Dortmund are played on September 1 and 2.