Michael

Leeds have also lost Wober for the season, as he has gone on loan to Monchengladbach.

13 19

I rate ten Haag as a manager. He is one of the most competent managers in the Premier League and I believe he will go on to manage many other top clubs when he eventually decides to leave Man Utd. However, I really do not understand why he decided not to keep de Gea. Sure he has brought in Onana, who is a very good goalkeeper in his own right. But de Gea was excellent for United last season, he won the Premier League Golden Glove award for the season as well. I mean United could have at least given him a suitable new contract, instead of allowing him to leave the club as a free agent. I do believe United have made a mistake here and whoever signs de Gea on a free transfer, will have an excellent experienced keeper playing for them.

Birmingham City have bought Lee Buchanan from Werder Bremen for £1.3 million(€1.5 million). Buchanan didn't really make the impression that Werder Bremen expected from him last season. Seeing as Buchanan didn't meet expectations and that Werder signed him on a free from Derby County last season, this is probably the right decision for them. Because they also make some profit with the transfer fee received from Birmingham City. Rumours have it that Birmingham City are also after Werder Bremen's other British player, namely their Scottish forward Oliver Burke. Personally, I hope that Burke stays at Werder Bremen for at least another year, as I believe he is a really good player on his day. I just think that he needs to be more consistent. Lee Buchanan: Birmingham sign defender from Werder Bremen on five-year contract - BBC Sport

Stuttgart are rumoured to want AZ Alkmaar's prolific Greek forward, Vangelis Pavlidis. Pavlidis has scored a total of 30 goals over the past two seasons at AZ Alkmaar. I have to say, that whenever I have seen him play, he has really impressed me. Be it in the Dutch league, in European club competition or for the Greek national team, Pavlidis always seems to play well. I think that Stuttgart would do well to buy the 24 year old Greek international.

"Russia is guilty", talk about stating the obvious. Whatever NATO has done in the past, it never justified what Russia has done to Ukraine. I am personally not a lefty, those who've supported Russia in this brutal war tend to be leftys. But ethnic Ukrainians have a long and distinct history from Russians. They have fought for their independence for centuries. Despite the huge powerful states surrounding them, the Ukrainians managed to form several independent states over the centuries, one of the earliest was the Cossack Hetmenate, from the mid-1648 to 1764. At the beginning of the 20th century, you had the Ukrainian's People's Republic and there was also the West Ukrainian People's Republic. Moreover, there were other additional short lived independent Ukrainian states, so the struggle for independence by ethnic Ukrainians has a long history. So independent Ukrainian states did exist and ethnic Ukrainians definitely do exist and so does their rich heritage and ancestry. They exist the same way that the Scottish, Irish, Welsh and Cornish exist. Just because the first 3 ethnic groups now have their own countries, doesn't mean that the Cornish don't exist, as the Cornish are their own distinct ethnic group with a well known history. Back to Ukraine, the historical territories of where Ukrainians lived go beyond Ukraine's current borders. You have huge numbers of ethnic Ukrainians living in Russia in the regions that border Ukraine. The same applies to the countries that border the west of Ukraine. What you have to understand, is that there is a very long history of bad blood between Ukrainians and Russians. Yes, sure, both groups are closely related, but they are nonetheless distinct and the Russians have suppressed Ukrainians and Ukrainian independence for centuries. When Ukraine finally achieved a long lasting independence from the Soviet Union(Russia) in the early 90's, you can imagine how elated they were and how most of them are now of the opinion that every inch of Ukrainian sovereign territory must be taken back from Russian control. You say that Crimea was taken from Russia, was the Donbass(Donetsk and Luhansk) also taken from Russia? I hasten to remind you, that there was a Ukrainian Independence Referendum in 1991, where the majority of every single Ukrainian Oblast(equivalent to our Counties), voted to be a part of the new independent Ukraine. That included Donetsk, Luhansk and Crimea. In fact, the overwhelming majority of people in each respective oblast of Ukraine voted for to be a part of independent Ukraine. So the people of Donetsk, Luhansk and Crimea voted to be a part of Ukraine instead of Russia. This war is terrible and to see so many innocent women and kids killed by the Russians is dreadful. It is impacting every single person in Ukraine in a negative way. It is Russia who started this war and it is up to the Ukrainians to decide what to do going forward. But I can tell you that almost every Ukrainian I know, has said that they need to continue this war until the Russians are completely kicked out of their lands. The latest poll that was done, showed that 70% of Ukrainians want to fight until they defeat the Russians and regain their sovereign territory. Talk about Russians who have lived in Ukraine being treated like 2nd class citizens is the worst joke I have ever heard. The Russian propaganda on this issue has clearly worked on too many people. Even when Russia first caused troubles in Ukraine back in 2014, Russians in Ukraine were not discriminated against at all. I have Russian friends in Ukraine who were enjoying their lives and were treated like any other Ukrainian. Russian was freely spoken all around the country. Russians had all the freedoms that ethnic Ukrainians had, despite Ukraine fighting a war in the east of Ukraine against Russian backed separatists and despite the fact that Crimea was taken from them by Russia. Needless to say, since the brutal attack on all of Ukraine by Russia on February 24th, 2022, this ongoing war has clearly sewn animosity between many Ukrainians and Russians. However, the animosity seems to be mainly directed at the Russians who support Putin's regime. Many Russians who have lived in Ukraine for decades, support Ukraine in their fight against the aggressor in the East. If there is any ill feeling by Ukrainians towards Russians today, it is because of what Putin and those in the Kremlin started on the 24th of February 2022.

9 16

Alcaraz, similar to Djokovic, wins his semi-final relatively easily in 3 straight sets. Alcaraz was a worthy winner against Medvedev. So now we have a mouth-watering final between Djokovic and Alcaraz. What a spectacle the final promises to be!

Only just seen this. Höttges played in both the 1966 World Cup final and the 1974 World Cup final. RIP to another footballing legend of the past.

It's been all Djokovic, he's dominated this match. He won the first 2 sets and is likely to win the 3rd set as well. I don't think that Alcaraz or Medvedev will be able to defeat Djokovic in the final. Djokovic is still on another level on grass compared to all the other players.

Well done to Jabeur, she kept her composure, fought hard and pulled off some great shots. Sabalenka also played well, but some of her shots were quite wayward today. But it's Jabeur who makes the final again, where she will play Vondroušová!

Jabeur wins the 2nd set! What a turnaround after being a break down earlier in that 2nd set! It's one set apiece and all to play for!

Set point for Jabeur here!

Jabeur breaks back in the 2nd set to make it 4-4!

Sabalenka breaks in the 2nd set to take a 3-2 lead over Jabeur. Can she hold her serve and make it 4-2? With her powerful serving she should be able to see this out in my opinion.

Well, Sabalenka wins the 1st set on a tie-break. But both players played some excellent tennis. Sabalenka's serving has generally been very good so far, she notched 6 aces in that opening set.

A double fault by Sabalenka gives Jabeur the advantage in the tie break.

Well this first set will be decided by a tie-break. This could be critical.

Sabalenka will win, she is incredibly powerful and improving her game on the grass courts all the time. Jabeur is a very good player, who was a finalist at Wimbledon last year. She has a huge variety to her game, but I just think that Sabalenka's power will out do her.

Well, Vondrousova wins and finds herself in her first ever Wimbledon final. She played some excellent tennis, it has to be said and she has a lot of power in her shots, which I believe was one of the main deciding factors in this game. Hard luck to Svitolina, it was her 2nd Wimbledon semi-final, but she's yet to make a final at this great Grand Slam event here in London. Congrats to Vondrousova for making the final, she deserves it with her great performances at Wimbledon this year.

Don't jinx her mate, she's now down 15-40 on serve.

Svitolina is finally playing some incredible tennis. Down 2 breaks in the 2nd set and 4-0 down, Svitolina has come back to break Vondrousova back twice and get the score back to 4-3, with Svitolina to serve next. It's still all to play for.

Well Svitolina has lost the 1st set to Vondrousova. In fairness, Vondrousova was the better player towards the end of that set, as she broke Svitolina twice. Svitolina will really have to up her game in the 2nd set, as Vondrousova is playing some excellent tennis right now.

The Crawford v Spence fight should be a great fight at the end of this month. It will finally happen and it will pit two of the best fighters in their weight division. I have to say I am going with Crawford to win though. He is one of the most complete boxers out there.