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secure the French forward. CHELSEA have an improved offer for leftback Pep Chavarria, 28, after Rayo Vallecano responded to the Blues’ opening bid of £12.8m (RM70m) by asking for £21.4m (RM118m) for the Spaniard. HULL are close to signing Australia defender Lucas Herrington, 18, from MLS side Colorado Rapids for submitted

year-old Dutchman. BRAGA GOALKEEPER Lukas Hornicek, 24, has completed a medical and is set to join Newcastle after the Czech Republic international’s release clause of £25.7m (RM142m) was met. HULL CITY are close to an agreement to sign Nice striker Mohamed-Ali Cho, 22, with a transfer fee of about £17m (RM94m) set to

SIDENETTING Barco joins Chelsea VALENTIN BARCO became Chelsea’s seventh signing of the transfer window yesterday after joining from sister club Strasbourg on a seven-year deal. Barco is the second player to join the Blues from the Ligue 1 club this window after Emmanuel Emegha and it is the 13th deal between the two clubs, who share an ownership group, since the start of last season. The 22-year-old was part of the Argentina squad that reached the World Cup final and was involved in an angry exchange with Jude Bellingham for his exuberant cele brations in front of England players during the semifinal. Capable of operating at both leftback and in midfield, Barco had a brief spell in the Premier League previously with Brighton three seasons ago. He moved to Strasbourg initially on loan from the Seagulls in 2024, but signed permanently a year later having helped the club to qualify for the Conference League. Barco’s arrival continues a busy summer in the transfer market for Chelsea as they look to remodel under new boss Xabi Alonso. PSV see red AZ ALKMAAR ran riot against 10 man PSV Eindhoven to win the Johan Cruyff Shield yesterday with a 4-0 victory in the season-opening game in the Netherlands between last season’s champions and cup winners. Joey Veerman was sent off after nine minutes for a kick in the face of AZ’s Mexx Meerdink, put ting the champions on the back foot at home and handing AZ an advantage they quickly made use of. Meerdink, with a bandage on the side of his face, headed home the opener in the 25th minute with Weslley Patati, Elijah Dijkstra and Ro-Zangelo Daal adding three more goals in a 15-minute spell in the second half. Duo join Old Lady JUVENTUS signed Bosnian teen ager Kerim Alajbegovic on a five year deal from Bayer Leverkusen yesterday and brought back French striker Randal Kolo Muani for a sec ond spell at the club. The 18-year old Alajbegovic played in all four of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s matches at this summer’s World Cup, after a breakout season with Red Bull Salzburg. Leverkusen activated a buy-back clause in the deal with Salzburg before agreeing to sell the winger to Juventus for €30m (RM141m). Juventus also com pleted a permanent move for Paris Saint-Germain forward Kolo Muani on a five-year contract for an initial fee of €38m (RM178m). The amount could rise to €50m (RM235m) based on bonuses. HULL are set to beat Rangers and Cardiff City to sign Norwegian midfielder Jens Hjerto-Dahl, 20, from Tromso. £17m (RM94m). REAL MADRID duo Gonzalo Garcia, 22, and Cesar Palacios, 21, have been having medicals with Fulham after an agreement over permanent moves for the Spanish striker and midfielder were agreed.

medical at Arsenal in a deal that will be worth nearly £80m (RM440m). ATLETICO MADRID are considering a move for Man City winger Jack Grealish, with Everton and Aston Villa also exploring a bid for the 30-year old Englishman. SPURS have held positive talks with Liverpool forward Cody Gakpo, but the Reds have no intention of selling the 26

TOUCHLINES

TOTTENHAM have made an initial approach worth up to £55m (RM303m) for Galatasaray striker Victor Osimhen, 27, but the Turkish champions are looking for closer to £65m (RM358m) for the Nigerian. NEWCASTLE and Brazil midfielder Bruno Guimaraes, 28, is set to have a

Much to ponder Leeds rally for 4-2 friendly win over Liverpool, Iraola downplays Frimpong injury concerns

D OMINIC CALVERT-LEWIN scored two of Leeds’ four second half goals as they rallied for a 4-2 friendly win over Liverpool yesterday at Soldier Field in Chicago. The stunning comeback saw Liverpool handed their first defeat under new coach Andoni Iraola, who arrived this summer from Bournemouth to replace the sacked Arne Slot. Liverpool had notched a 4-2 win over Sunderland and a 1-0 victory against Wrexham at Yankee Stadium in the first two matches of their US tour. They looked in control yesterday with a pair of first half goals before Leeds stormed back against their English Premier League rivals. US midfielder Brenden Aaronson launched the fightback in the 60th minute and Calvert-Lewin pulled Leeds level in the 71st, firing in at the back post after Joe Rodon flicked on a long Ethan Ampadu throw. Sean Longstaff’s scuffling finish in the 73rd gave Leeds a 3-2 lead and Calvert-Lewin made it 4-2 with a near-replica of his first goal in the 85th, when Ampadu’s throw was sent on by Sebastian Bornauw and he headed in. The victory was Leeds’ second on their US tour, which opened with a 3-2 loss to Wrexham in Tampa, Florida before a 1-0 vic tory over Sunderland in New Jersey. Liverpool had opened the scoring in the seventh minute when Dominik Szoboszlai’s corner was flicked on by Milos Kerkez and slammed home by Luke Chambers from six yards out. Florian Wirtz doubled the tally in the 40th minute, tucking in a cross from Jeremie Frimpong. The intensity Iraola demands on the

training pitch was evident in the first half but seemed non-existent after the break. “I particularly hate this month of August because you start the competitions and you still don’t know if some of the players are going to leave and who’s going to come – there is a lot of uncertainty,” said Iraola, ear lier in the week. “I think we learn a lot of things. Obviously it’s not the result you want but I think (it was) probably the most useful friendly we played – in a positive way in the first half and in a negative way in the second half,” Iraola added. “I think we’ve learned a lot and I think we can take good conclusions and solve some things.” Meanwhile, Iraola was hopeful that Jeremie Frimpong had avoided injury during their pre-season defeat by Leeds after the defender asked to be substituted midway through the second half. “Jeremie asked for the sub but I don’t think it’s an injury. It was just some overload and I hope he’s not injured in that way. I don’t think we’ve lost anyone,” Iraola told Liverpool media after the game. The Reds can ill afford to lose the 25-year old with the club already suffering several injury setbacks ahead of the new Premier League season. Defender Joe Gomez is expected

to miss the start of the cam paign after suffering a mus cle injury in their win over Sunderland, while Conor Bradley, Hugo Ekitike and Giovanni Leoni remain side lined as they continue to recover from injuries.

Leeds’ Ao Tanaka (left) Liverpool’s Dominik Szoboszlai vie for the ball during their friendly match in Chicago yesterday. – REUTERSPIC

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AFP/Reuters/ Agencies

Maresca style ‘music to my ears’: Semenyo

MANCHESTER CITY forward Antoine Semenyo has hailed new manager Enzo Maresca’s style of play as “music to my ears” after showcasing early signs of his role under the Italian. City were defeated on penalties by Inter Milan in Maresca’s first game in charge in Hong Kong, but the side demonstrated the attacking intent the new boss will deploy after replac ing Pep Guardiola. Semenyo played the opening 45 minutes and gave Inter fullback Andy Diouf a torrid time with his pace and direct running, helping to set up Divine Mukasa’s goal for City. Substitute Ryan McAidoo also impressed and Maresca said after wards they are the “kind of wingers I love” – ones that are “very aggressive” and take on their man in “one-vs-one” situations”. Semenyo said: “When he got

final win over Chelsea which he called a “dream come true”, as well as lifting the Carabao Cup. He added: “I think for me, I just wanted the next step to be the big one and Manchester City was the option. Pep spoke to me beforehand and he said, ‘look, when you come, I am going to make you a better player’. “You want to get better, you want to improve every season and he defi nitely helped me with that in the first five months, but obviously sad for him to leave.” Semenyo is a devout Christian and has faith-based tattoos etched across his body. Asked if he places his faith before his football, Semenyo replied: “Yeah, 100%. I wouldn’t be here without Him (God), so there is always going to be faith and football after.” – Agencies

Semenyo joined City from Bournemouth for £65 million (RM358m) in the January transfer window, with Guardiola fighting off competition from rivals Manchester United, Liverpool, Tottenham and Chelsea for his signature. The player says interest first came in early December with “a lot of talks” taking place, before he made the decision the following month that he wanted to join City. “I owe them everything to be hon est,” Semenyo said of former club Bournemouth. “They helped my Premier League career flourish and obviously the management, the staff behind the scenes, they were all amazing, they made everything so smooth.” Semenyo scored a total of 21 goals for club and country last season, net ting the winning goal in the FA Cup

appointed, that was the first thing I thought about because when you’ve played Chelsea previously when he was there, his wide men were always high and quite free. “So that was one of the things that excited me the most when he got appointed and it’s exciting for me as a winger. I get to have one-vs-one situations most of the game and I am looking forward to it. “I have had individual meetings with him on how he wants to set up, how he wants to play his wide men and just overall as a team. “I think his ideas are great, quite similar to Pep, but if you watched the Inter game, you would have seen a couple of his ideas play out and it was good. Enzo is just stay out wide and when you get the ball, just create opportunities. So it is music to my ears.”