Michael

Bayer Leverkusen's amazing run of going undefeated in the Bundesliga continues. Leverkusen should win their next Bundesliga match at home to Werder Bremen. But then they face 2 very difficult back to back Bundesliga matches against Dortmund and Stuttgart respectively. These 2 matches will come after a no doubt tough 2nd leg Europa match against West Ham. Indeed Leverkusen will only have 3 days between their West Ham match in London and the Dortmund game. I fear they may lose their undefeated Bundesliga run against Dortmund or even Stuttgart. I am really hoping they go the whole Bundesliga season undefeated, because it would be an incredible feat for the club.

Hertha BSC 2-1 Rostock Fürth 1-2 Lautern Paderborn 2-1 Karlsruhe Kiel 3-2 Osnabrück Wehen 0-2 Düsseldorf Schalke 2-3 Nürnberg St Pauli 3-1 Elversberg Magdeburg 1-2 Hamburg Braunschweig 1-2 Hannover

Augsburg 2-2 Union Bayern 4-1 Köln Leipzig 3-1 Wolfsburg Mainz 2-2 Hoffenheim Gladbach 2-2 Dortmund Bochum 1-1 Heidenheim Stuttgart 3-1 Frankfurt Darmstadt 1-2 Freiburg Leverkusen 3-1 Bremen

I think he didn't like the insults that apparently went on. Some people just can't take stuff like that. I've personally only ever had one person who insulted me all the years since I joined this site. I think most people on here are reasonable, but maybe some got under his skin. Either way, if he didn't like the insults thrown about by whoever he is on about on this site, then maybe taking a break from coming on here might be the right thing for him to do.

I am happy for Athletic Bilbao but I feel sorry for Mallorca. Mallorca did excellently to reach the final and were so unlucky to lose on penalties in the end. Mallorca have one of the strongest defences in the La Liga and they are always tough to beat. Mallorca will be gutted that they lost this final, after coming so close to winning the Copa del rey. For Athletic Bilbao, it's a great achievement to win the trophy again after so many years.

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Hamburg are leading Kaiserslautern by a 2-1 score-line, which will place them in 3rd place in the 2 Bundesliga, if they get the win today. Laszlo Benes and Poreba scored the goals for Hamburg, while Ache scored Kaiserslautern's goal. It would be great to see a big club like Hamburg in the Bundesliga next season, it will be even more intriguing if we have both Hamburg based clubs, St Pauli and Hamburger SV in the Bundesliga next season. Hamburg have been so close to getting promotion in the last few seasons, it would be great if they could actually succeed in attaining that goal this season.

Frankfurt 2-1 Bremen Union 0-2 Leverkusen Freiburg 1-2 Leipzig Mainz 2-1 Darmstadt Köln 1-1 Bochum Heidenheim 2-4 Bayern Dortmund 2-1 Stuttgart Hoffenheim 2-1 Augsburg Wolfsburg 2-1 Gladbach

Paderborn 2-2 Hertha BSC Rostock 1-1 Wehen Hamburg 3-1 Lautern Nürnberg 2-2 Kiel Elversberg 2-1 Magdeburg Karlsruhe 2-3 St Pauli Düsseldorf 2-1 Braunschweig Hannover 2-1 Schalke Osnabrück 1-1 Fürth

First of all, I agree that £128 million is a crazy amount of money to spend, not only for Ukrainians but for any player around the world. Mudryk, in terms of natural talent, is up there with the best. The whole reason clubs are willing to spend a hell of a lot of money for raw young talents like him, is because of the potential that they see in them. I don't think Mudryk's talent is in question, it's his inconsistency that is the issue. In the toughest league in the world like the Prem, consistent performances is something that is demanded. But with Mudryk, he is a game changer in one match and then doesn't have the same affect in the next match. However, Mudryk is young and still developing and yes, 23 is still young. He has also become more consistent in recent months, which is something that is very promising. Yes, the Palmer example is an obvious one that people are going to pick up on. Palmer was bought for half the price of Mudryk as you said((47 million is still a lot, but anyway), so there was less pressure on Palmer and these comparisons are always going to be made. Palmer has been more consistent, that's true, and his decision making on the field is currently much better than Mudryk's, but in terms of natural ability, I think that Mudryk has more potential. Both top class players though in my eyes. For Sudakov, I think the idea would be the same, to invest in his potential, because similarly to Mudryk, he is an incredible talent. But yeah, the jump from the Ukrainian League to the demands and rigours of the best league in the world, is always going to be a challenge for any player who makes that move. Other Ukrainian players have also made a success of themselves in the Premier League though and in other top leagues, so I think that's what I meant might give Prem clubs additional confidence in buying the best Ukrainian players. I agree with your last point, Liverpool already have a lot of talent in the creative midfield position. There are other areas in the Liverpool team that need strengthening more. So it doesn't look likely that they will be the team to splash out on Sudakov and buy him this summer, also given the competition for his signature from other clubs as well. He has had moments of brilliance and then in other matches doesn't give as much. He is extremely talented, but yes, when you say "but not the brain", I assume you mean his decision making. His decision making is what I see as his main flaw and the fact that he doesn't work as hard as other players off the ball. There have been plenty of times he has been selfish, when the obvious best decision was to pass to a team-mate who'd have a better chance of scoring. This has happened quite a lot and I think it's the main criticism we can throw at him. The most recent example of this that I can think of was in Ukraine's recent match with Bosnia in a play-off match. Mudryk was in front of goal, with the keeper and 2 defenders in front of him, he had Yaremchuk to his right, completely unmarked and with an open goal in front of him, but instead of making the obvious pass, Mudryk decided to shoot at goal, but his shot was deflected by the defender and went out for a corner after narrowly going past the post. That chance could have made it 3-1 to Ukraine, but Mudryk decided to shoot instead of making the obvious pass, which would have no doubt lead to a goal. Another criticism I have of him, is that he doesn't close other players down nearly as much as he should, his work-rate off the ball could be better, although this seems to be slowly improving from him. I also agree that Poch has clearly helped develop his talent in recent months and Mudryk does seem to be maturing more rapidly as a player, which is a very promising sign.

Yeah, the asking price is huge, I think only Chelsea or Man City could really afford to maybe splash out that much on one player. Arsenal and Liverpool should also have relatively big transfer budgets this summer, but I think it's highly unlikely that they will splash out that much on one player. Yeah, he's always been a player who Shakhtar have rated highly, but really it was last season(2022/23) that he really developed into a key and highly influential player. He was the best player for Shakhtar and he has continued to perform excellently again this season for them. He is also now a key player for Ukraine and he was their man of the match in Ukraine's defeat of Iceland in the play-off final for the qualification for the Euros. He set-up both goals for Ukraine in that key match and he created some excellent scoring chances himself. I think it's a combination of his age and his excellent performances that will make the asking price so high. But also the fact that the likes of Dovbyk and Tsyhankov are playing excellently in La Liga and the talent that Mudryk has shown in the Premier League, has made foreign clubs have a lot more trust in Ukrainian players of a similar calibre. At 21, Sudakov is not only likely to demand a huge transfer fee, but he will also likely be on a very long term contract at the next club he joins. But I agree with you, it's difficult seeing Liverpool spend that much on one player. But the rumours around Sudakov joining a top European club in the summer are serious. Moreover, the Premier League looks his most likely destination, given the fact that he will cost so much.

Arsenal, Man City, Chelsea, West Ham, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, RB Leipzig, Juventus and Napoli have all been linked with Ukrainian talent Georgiy Sudakov in recent weeks, but it is Liverpool who are the favourites to sign him. It will take Liverpool a bid of £128 million to buy Sudakov from Shakhtar Donetsk, as the 21 year old creative midfielder is one of the hottest properties in football right now. Sudakov has been a key player for both his club Shakhtar Donetsk and his national team Ukraine over the past 2 years. He has emerged as real talent, who is performing consistently at a high level. Liverpool enter race to sign Arsenal target rated at £128 million: Reports (sportskeeda.com)

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Valencia Bellingham 23

Kiel 2-0 Rostock Lautern 1-3 Düsseldorf Braunschweig 1-2 Elversberg Hertha BSC 2-2 Nürnberg Schalke 1-2 Karlsruhe St Pauli 3-1 Paderborn Magdeburg 1-2 Hannover Fürth 2-2 Hamburg Wehen 1-1 Osnabrück

Leipzig 4-1 Mainz Leverkusen 3-1 Hoffenheim Frankfurt 2-1 Berlin Gladbach 1-2 Freiburg Bremen 2-2 Wolfsburg Bayern 3-1 Dortmund Augsburg 2-1 Köln Stuttgart 3-1 Heidenheim Bochum 2-1 Darmstadt

It has been strongly reported that Tottenham want to buy Genoa's Iceland striker Albert Gudmundsson for €30 million. West Ham are also reportedly interested in signing the versatile Iceland forward. Gudmundsson was excellent in the recent Euro 2024 play-off matches. Gudmundsson scored a superb hattrick against Israel in the play-off semi-final. He also gave Iceland the lead against Ukraine with a beautiful goal, before Ukraine went on to win. But his performances in both matches were excellent and he has had a very good year for both Genoa and the Iceland national team. He looks like he could do a very job up-front for Tottenham if they do manage to buy him. Tottenham Transfer News: Albert Gudmundsson on the summer transfer shortlist (theboyhotspur.com)

Savio is a real talent and an excellent winger. He should really flourish at Man City.

Well he should definitely add speed to the team. I just hope he doesn't take banned steroids and fail a drugs test.

Wolfsburg started the season very well, with 4 wins in their first 6 Bundesliga matches, but after that, they have been dreadful. In fact they've not won a single match in their last 11 Bundesliga games. So I agree, I don't understand why it took the board so long to replace Kovac, as it clearly wasn't working for him as manager of Wolfsburg.

They are not an aged team, they only have 3 players of the regulars who are in their 30's namely Modric, Kramaric and Brozovic. The rest of the regulars are in their 20's, most in their mid-20's. They have some very good players and they will certainly be tough for most opposition, but there are many other teams at this tournament who are at a similar standard to Croatia. So I just think they are one of many teams who look good and have good players.

I mentioned Germany as a team that can't be ruled out in terms of winning the actual tournament, before the friendly match with France. Although there are teams such as England and France who are the strong clear favourites to win these Euros, the likes of Germany and several other teams, have a decent chance of winning it themselves, given the abundance of talent a lot of these sides have.

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They've been very impressive today, we knew the talent was always there and now it seems like the team are functioning excellently as a unit. I know it's a friendly, but still they've been better than France so far and the 2-0 score-line is fully justified.

Wirtz didn't waste anytime to score, did he? Germany have looked pretty decent against France in Lyon for the first half an hour of this match.