Roundup

Football transfer deadline day looms: latest news on Gakpo, Balogun a…

Football transfer deadline day looms: latest news on Gakpo, Balogun and more – live

Some slightly lower-key deals for you:

Rotherham United have confirmed the signing of Manchester United youngster Jayce Fitzgerald on loan for the rest of the season.

Barcelona have signed 16-year-old prodigy Mikael Baza from Hamburg – he will join their youth ranks.

Jaden Heskey is to return to Sheffield Wednesday from Manchester City on loan after impressing last season.

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England ‘not going to ease off the gas’ with 3-0 Pakistan series sweep in sight

  • Interim coach Trescothick hopes for unchanged lineup

  • England secured series win over Pakistan on Sunday

Marcus Trescothick is determined to sign off as England’s interim head coach with a 100% record and has no plans to meddle with a winning formula in next week’s final Test of the summer, despite securing the series win by beating Pakistan at Lord’s.

Two successful games into a series, the most likely cause of a lineup change would be fatigue, but Pakistan have not forced England to toil unduly over their two wins – last summer the average India innings lasted 107.5 overs; this summer Pakistan’s figure is 43.3. Meanwhile winning the second Test on day four means the players have nine clear days before action resumes at Edgbaston.

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Watkins faces Toney clash as strikers push for Saudi supremacy and Tuchel’s attention

Al-Hilal’s signing from Villa is thrown straight into big game against Al-Ahli and faces the highest of expectations

Ollie Watkins and Ivan Toney spent 33 minutes on the pitch together a few weeks ago in Miami as England beat France 6-4 in a game for third place at the World Cup. They will be reunited on Tuesday in Riyadh for Al-Hilal v Al-Ahli, the first big clash between title hopefuls in the Saudi Pro League season.

Aston Villa fans will be hoping that, starting against Arsenal on Monday, Nicolas Jackson can quickly help them forget their departed talisman. That’s what Toney did at Brentford back in 2020 when he replaced Watkins. It may not only be supporters in the West Midlands and west London who will be curious to see how their alumni get on in west Asia. England’s heach coach, Thomas Tuchel, will surely tune in (or even turn up?) to get a look at the two forwards battling to become the clear understudy to Harry Kane as a new international cycle starts.

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Rams, already Super Bowl favorites, boost their odds to +500 after adding Aaron Donald

The Rams were the clear Super Bowl favorites even before Aaron Donald came out of retirement. Now it's not even close.

The current Super Bowl odds have the Rams as +500 favorites to win it all. At the start of this month, when it was unclear whether Donald would return, the Rams were at +550. After trading for Myles Garrett, the Rams were at +600. Before adding Garrett, the Rams were +850.

Betting on the Super Bowl favorites is usually a way to lose money, because most years, the preseason Super Bowl favorite doesn't end up winning it all. Last year, the Eagles, Bills and Ravens were co-favorites heading into the season at +700. The eventual Super Bowl winners, the Seahawks, were tied for the 15th longest odds at +6000.

This year's odds now have the Bills and Ravens tied for second at +1000 to win the Super Bowl, followed by the Seahawks at +1200 and Chiefs at +1600.

Super Bowl LXI will be played on February 14, 2027, at the Rams’ home field, SoFi Stadium. The last time the Super Bowl was there, the Rams won it all. They're the favorites, but by no means a sure thing, to win on their home field again at the end of this season.

In brief

Venus Williams bows out after 2am following latest start in US Open history Kenin wins 6-2, 7-6 (6) in late-night contestWilliams loses 15th straight tour-level matchFirst-round clash finally begins at 12.13amSunday had become Monday by the time Venus Williams finally emerged beneath the closed roof of Arthur Ashe Stadium, her entrance pushed deep into the night after Novak Djokovic’s bruisin…

Elversberg and ‘miracle village’ prove that Bundesliga fairytales still exist | Andy Brassell German football has long insisted there is more to their elite league than a title race. Now they have a story that shows the world that surprise and wonder does live here tooFriday night was no first day fun for VfB Stuttgart as they got first-hand proof of what the

Aaron Donald: My longtime speed trainer told me I haven't lost a step Donald says he has stayed in good shape during his two-year retirement and resumed football-specific conditioning this summer.