If there is a supposed advantage to Liverpool’s sporting director-head coach model, it is that a change in the latter position should not drastically affect long-standing transfer plans.
Back when Jurgen Klopp was at the helm in the role of “manager”, he wielded far greater influence over comings and goings at Anfield than those around him.
However, the appointment of Arne Slot back in 2024 marked a shift to a way of working long favoured by owners Fenway Sports Group.
And so, despite the Dutchman’s contract being terminated earlier this week and talks being opened with Andoni Iraola to replace him, this summer is likely to go largely as previously planned.
Who could leave?
Stefan Bajcetic has seen his career derailed by injuries (Photo: Getty)
Another summer of major change is coming to Anfield, as evidenced by the already-confirmed departures of Mohamed Salah, Andy Robertson and Ibrahima Konate.
Federico Chiesa is set to join them after a largely disappointing spell at the club, while it is thought this could be the year that Joe Gomez finally departs amid links to Aston Villa.
Curtis Jones is attracting interest from Inter Milan and showed a willingness to make that move in January before Liverpool shut the door.
Fellow midfielder Stefan Bajcetic will either head out on a loan or make a permanent move after an injury-hit few years, and the fact that no contract talks are planned with Alexis Mac Allister proves he is not considered untouchable with teams in Spain thought to be keen.
Who could stay?
Harvey Elliott endured a frustrating loan spell at Aston Villa (Photo: Getty)
Liverpool want continuity in the goalkeeping department, and have informed Juventus-linked Alisson Becker that they would prefer him to stay.
Kostas Tsimikas is also likely to be retained to replace Robertson as back-up left-back following his return from a loan stint at AS Roma.
The Reds are keen to tie Dominik Szoboszlai to a new deal and so will fend off any interest in him that arises, while the remaining core of the squad were only recently signed.
As such, the only Slot-related alteration to their plans that could be possible concerns both Jones and Harvey Elliott.
It remains to be seen if a change in the role on offer could convince the former to turn down Inter and pen a fresh contract.
Elliott, meanwhile, will return from a loan at Aston Villa that was not made permanent, desperate to prove that he has an Anfield future under a new manager.
Who could come in?
With Salah gone and Hugo Ekitike sidelined for the foreseeable future due to an Achilles tendon injury, Liverpool are looking to seriously bolster their attack.
RB Leipzig winger Yan Diomande is the No 1 winger target, though he is also wanted by European champions Paris Saint-Germain, meaning Bradley Barcola could be pursued as an alternative.
While the transfer window may not be open yet, clubs up and down the land are assessing their options, with data departments and scouting networks going into overdrive.
Arsenal’s success this season is not for everyone, but many of Mikel Arteta’s peers have been mightily impressed with how the Gunners have gone about their business. And success leads to replication.
Transfer committees are now looking for players with similar traits to some of Arsenal’s best in their potential recruits. Udinese’s Arthur Atta – wanted by Everton, Newcastle, Fulham and a host of elite Italian clubs – feels he has just what Premier League sporting directors are looking for.
“I’m a player who likes to have the ball in the build-up, to be close to goal, to give my team-mates good balls, create space for teammates and also move a lot to disturb the opponents,” Atta tells The i Paper. “I like to play in the middle and see opponents who don’t understand how to defend those movements.
“I have physical and athletic quality that could be useful in the Premier League. I’m a creative player who can also make a difference one against one. All these things could make me a success in England.”
Which English clubs are interested in Atta?
Fulham had a £17m bid rejected in January for the 23-year-old midfield metronome, named April’s Rising Star of the Month in Serie A. Everton have since joined the pursuit, as David Moyes looks to add some much-needed guile and vigour to his engine room.
With Sandro Tonali and Bruno Guimaraes linked with moves away from St James’ Park this summer, Newcastle will need to move fast to replace their outgoing stars. Reports in Italy suggest Atta is the type of profile they could look at.
The i Paper understands all three are considering making an offer this summer, with Udinese looking for closer to £26m if they are to sanction a sale.
Atta did start out life as a goalkeeper in the youth academies of Rennes and Metz, mainly due to his size. The French youth international was far too good with the ball at his feet to be stifled that far back, however, eventually settling in a defensive midfield role as he broke into Metz’s first team.
That uncommon blend of size and technique wasn’t going to go unnoticed for long, with Udinese coming calling in 2024.
Does Atta want to leave Udinese?
Atta began life as a goalkeeper before switching to midfield (Photo: Getty)
Atta is not agitating for a move right now. Udinese are Serie A’s safest bet, having been an Italian top-flight staple for the past 31 years. Mid-table is their sanctuary – the perfect place for young talent to develop without being embroiled in the desperate fight for survival.
“We are a really good group this year,” Atta adds.
“It helps me a lot to be here. I said that a lot of times, when I came here I thought that tactically I was ready and I could play without problems, but after being in Serie A, I understood that my tactical level wasn’t enough. I improved a lot.
“I became stronger and I understood in Serie A, like in England, physicality is really important for duels. Playing for Udinese helps me even more because they are always here for my improvement. This club is ideal to let young players grow up.”
Why Atta wants Premier League move
Atta’s stock, enhanced by his fine end to the campaign, has attracted interest from Napoli and Juventus, too, who love nothing more than hoovering up the best talent Serie A has to offer.
Having worked on the physical side of his game, however, a move to the Premier League may just prove impossible to resist.
“The Premier League is the best league in the world, if I were to say otherwise it would be a lie,” Atta says. “It’s a league that everyone would like to be playing in one day.
“I have not spoken to any clubs yet so I don’t know what can happen in the future. I play for Udinese and I would like to keep growing and keep playing – this is the most important thing for me. If there are opportunities in the next transfer window, then the club and I will look at the options. I’m really good at Udinese – they help me a lot. I’m a better player compared to when I came.
“The Premier League is the most followed league where there are a lot of top players. It’s a difficult league, so all games are at a top-quality level. I think that’s why it is the most attractive league.”
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Had it not been for an Instagram post sent in haste and viewed by millions, Gary Lineker‘s plans for the World Cup would be very different.
Cast your mind back a year ago and the plan was for this summer’s tournament in the US, Mexico and Canada to be Lineker’s BBC “victory lap”, the final in New Jersey next month bringing the curtain down on a stellar but sometimes controversial career with the corporation. It was the perfect script for their star presenter.
But an ill-fated pro-Palestine post – which featured a rat emoji widely understood to be an anti-Semitic trope that Lineker hadn’t noticed – put an end to that and perhaps prevented further fireworks down the line.
Released from “walking on eggshells” at the BBC after the furore last year, Lineker will be fronting a daily Netflix version of his The Rest Is Football podcast in Manhattan’s Times Square, immersing himself in the World Cup atmosphere and delivering some straight-talking analysis. Meanwhile his former colleagues will be back home in Salford, passports in the top drawer while they describe events an ocean away.
“I’m surprised the BBC is not going,” he tells The i Paper. “I don’t know whether it’s costs or pressure because they’re always fighting against that but I know if I was presenting I would have been arguing the case to go.
“I’m in the camp that they should be there because it’s the biggest televisual event we get every four years. The top six, eight, 10 shows this year will all be from the World Cup and half of those will be on the BBC. They will probably go out if England are still in it towards the end but I am surprised they’ve made that decision.”
‘I feel liberated after leaving the BBC’
Lineker will front his podcast alongside old BBC colleagues Micah Richards and Alan Shearer (Photo: The Rest Is Football)
Lineker is baffled but not belligerent. His acrimonious exit in 2025 meant he was free to do the Netflix deal and “be there, in New York, rather than sitting in a green box”.
And he does seem happy and relaxed, full of anecdotes and excitement about the World Cup and a Netflix tie-in that will see his podcast broadcast 40 shows in 40 days.
“Something different” is how Lineker describes it and he clearly loves being able to spend most of his professional career now in what he calls “podcast mode”.
Reading between the lines, that means the freedom to say what he wants, throw in the occasional swearword and operate social media without worrying he’s going to start a media firestorm because of it.
“I feel liberated,” he says of life post-BBC. “I don’t have to tread on eggshells anymore because I’m not part of that thing.”
‘I might be stupid but I’m not that stupid’
Lineker feels he was hounded out of the BBC (Photo: Getty)
Always unapologetic about standing up for what he says are “humanitarian causes”, Lineker likens his relationship with the corporation to a “long marriage that just petered out” and the tension had clearly been there long before the final, explosive act in 2025.
He accuses management of “moving the goalposts” in the latter stages of his presenting career by introducing a stricter code of conduct around social media. “I wasn’t prepared to go with them and I had the benefit of being pretty secure so it was better I left in the end,” he says.
“It wasn’t how I wanted it to end, of course. I missed an emoji, I didn’t see it, I don’t think anybody thinks for a second it was deliberate. I might be stupid but I’m not that stupid so it was a shame.
“I thought an apology should have sufficed but I think at that point there was a lot of weight, a lot of pressure, lobby pressure, from various people.
“But to be honest now I’m kind of glad because I wasn’t doing Match of the Day this season anyway, I was only going to do the FA Cup and the World Cup and actually it would have meant I couldn’t do this and this is something different and fun.
“It means I can be there, in New York, rather than a green box [in Salford, where the BBC will present it].
“I’m pretty happy – not with the way it happened, because it was unfortunate – but I’m happy with the outcome.”
‘Trump is so unpredictable’
Trump is expected to take centre stage in a World Cup like no other (Photo: Getty)
Lineker flies out next week into a tournament that he is worried about. We spoke four years ago about feeling “queasy” with Qatar hosting the World Cup but it is the Trump factor that most scares him this time.
“This one is unique because I can’t remember the host country being at war with one of the competing nations. So that’s something that worrying and Trump is so unpredictable,” Lineker says.
“The ticket pricing as well – are they going to price people out? What’s one of the great joys of the World Cup? Thousands of Argentinians, thousands of Brazilians, the Dutch all wearing orange. Are we going to get that? That worries me a bit.
“But I’ve also learned over the years in my experience of this – including in Russia, including in Qatar – once it starts everyone focuses on the football.”
When that begins there will be relief but taut nerves, too, particularly around England.
‘England have got a chance’
Tuchel leads training at England’s pre-World Cup camp in Florida this week (Photo: PA)
The appointment of Thomas Tuchel was done to bridge the gap between nearly men and winners but Lineker is realistic.
“I think it’s going to be really difficult but I think we’ve got a chance,” he says.
“We looked really tired two years ago and I don’t think Harry Kane was fit, which made a really big difference. But there’s bigger squads this time and a lot of our players have been out injured this season, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. They’ll be going in much fresher.
“We’ve got the quality but it’s just the question of getting a bit of luck, no injuries and then it’ll be about good management because this tournament – more than anything – you will need to change things from time to time because there’s an extra round of matches.”
‘I thought I was going to die in Mexico’
Lineker is England’s record goalscorer in World Cups (Photo: Getty)
He doesn’t necessarily think heat will be a factor but recalls feeling as if he was “going to die” when he played in Mexico in 1986.
“It was murder, absolute murder,” he recalls. “We played three times in Monterrey, one at 12pm, the other two at 4pm, and it got to 42 degrees. When I played and scored the hat-trick [against Poland], in the second half of that game I really did think I was going to keel over and I might be a goner.
“My legs had gone and I started to feel dizzy from the heat and exhaustion but you get on with it and it will have changed a bit now.
“We didn’t have a drinks break, for a start…”
For all of the baggage, Lineker still seems genuinely enchanted by the magic of the World Cup. This will be the 11th tournament in succession he has either played in or worked at. “It’s just wonderful isn’t it. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else,” he says. Which is just as well.
What he said… Lineker’s views
Lineker feels more at ease with expressing his opinions when in ‘podcast mode’ (Photo: The Rest Is Football)
On the BBC’s decision not to go to the US, Canada and Mexico for the World Cup
“I’m surprised. I’m in the camp that they should be there because it’s the biggest televisual event we get every four years. The top six, eight, ten shows this year will all be from the World Cup and half of those will be on the BBC.
“I know if I was presenting I would have been arguing the case to go but I get it, it’s not easy.
Calling England ‘shit’ at the last Euros
“I couldn’t believe it was such a big story! Of course not.
“If I’d have said ‘very, very, very poor’ no-one would have said anything but I was just in podcast mode, I never thought anything of it. And I think everyone agreed.
“But it was put to Gareth Southgate as ‘Gary Lineker says you’re shit’ without any of the context around it. I understand why. While I could have done without that nonsense it was actually very good for the podcast, we got a lot of listeners.
“The ‘papers were after me at that point anyway – well the right wing press were – but it actually really helped in terms of growing our podcast and I was grateful for that.”
On Trump and the World Cup
“Trump is always a factor. We’ll have to wait and see what happens because he changes his tune quite regularly.
“I genuinely don’t know what to expect. I don’t think any of us know.
“The head of Fifa has given him a peace prize and all these strangely baffling things. I’ll be relieved when it gets underway but it’s so big – the biggest sporting event in the world – that it generally takes on a momentum of its own.”
The Rest is Football begins on Netflix on 10 June
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Sorry. Five letters. It’s not complicated. To mean it is another matter. Southampton have failed emphatically to read the room – the owner, the coach, the senior staff. Everybody, it seems, bar the kid caught doing the deed.
According to the English Football League investigation into Southampton’s spying operations against Middlesbrough, Ipswich Town and Oxford United, the analyst intern caught in the act is the only one who felt remotely uncomfortable about the practice.
Owner Dragan Solak, the dude ultimately responsible for all club matters, berated the kid for not protesting enough yet is determined to keep the bloke who sent him to the front line, head coach Tonda Eckert, in his post.
Across the piece the messaging is dire. Eckert’s mea culpa to camera begging for understanding and forgiveness was as authentic as an episode of The Real Housewives of Cheshire.
Southampton’s reputation has been seriously damaged by ‘Spygate’ (Photo: Getty)
Delivered from the heart, apparently, and unscripted. That’s not how it looked, unless the teleprompter was playing up.
For context, he offered his experience in Italy and Germany, where this stuff is routine.
What have the cultural practices there to do with the regulations here? Irrelevant. If Eckert was unaware of the rules, why was the intern uncomfortable? And if we accept his ignorance, that does not mean the rest of the coaching staff were as clueless as he.
The whole episode is a lesson in how not to behave. Where are the grown-ups on the south coast? Has nobody heard of optics, or even ethics? The maddest aspect of this tawdry chapter is how little material gain there might have been.
It is not as if reels of EFL teams are collector’s items. More than half of matches across all competitions, that amounts to 1,000-plus games, are televised. Available to Eckert and his team were 20 recorded matches of every single team.
Solak feels hard done by, arguing that the sanctions – slung out of the Championship play-off final and levied a four-point deduction next season – are disproportionate.
He cites missing out on the £200m Premier League bounty as punishment enough.
Again, that is irrelevant since you can’t miss what you never had. Southampton were not guaranteed a happy ending at Wembley any more than Middlesbrough were.
Instead of threatening to appeal any further sanctions that might result from the separate FA investigation and backing the guilty coach, Solak would have been better showing some humility, accepting guilt, firing Eckert and moving on.
He chose not to because of the exceptional job Eckert did in mopping up the mess left by Will Still, climbing skyward from 18th in the league. By keeping Eckert, Solak believes he is giving Southampton the best chance of succeeding next term. And that’s all that matters to him.
To hell with the consequences or the stain attached. To hell with accepting responsibility. To hell with being sorry. That’s for mugs with morals.
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Anthony Gordon’s stunning move to Barcelona does not mean Marcus Rashford’s Catalonian dreams are in tatters.
While Barcelona are not flush with cash, The i Paper has been told they are in a much better financial position than they have been for some time. They are therefore treating both Gordon and Rashford’s deals in isolation.
The fact Barcelona are in the running for Julian Alvarez – and willing to pay a nine-figure fee – is proof of this. If they want to find the cash to make Rashford’s stay in Barcelona a permanent one, they will. The issue is how much they are willing to pay.
It is understood no such decision has been made at the highest level yet. The i Paper has been told that most key figures would prefer to keep the 28-year-old. That includes manager Hansi Flick, Rashford himself, sporting director Deco and president Joan Laporta.
But given Rashford’s age and the potential salary involved, his future is up in the air.
What is Man Utd’s stance on Rashford’s future?
Rashford has turned his career around in Barcelona (Photo: Getty)
Rashford is understood to retain no animosity towards Manchester United despite how things turned desperately sour before he moved on loan to Barcelona last summer.
He still retains a close relationship with some of the players, still follows all matches as any fan would, and sources close to the player insist he has not achieved all he wanted to at Old Trafford.
As things stands, Rashford is under contract until 2028. The i Paper has been told United want to move the player on, to save on his £325,000-a-week wages and garner a fee while he is a sellable asset.
The player is not against returning to his boyhood club. Sources said that he will report for pre-season training at the earliest opportunity, if no move away has materialised.
Insiders added Rashford has not spoken ill of United since leaving, and thus does not deserve to be sent to train alone or with the reserves. His social media message of thanks last week to Unai Emery, Hansi Flick and others who have helped him rekindled his career in the past few years, from what sources said was a “bleak place”, was not the dig at United many interpreted it to be.
Rashford is just very happy to have turned things around. He has not only won a place back in the England squad, but he could feasibly be a World Cup starter.
Currently, there is no panic. Barcelona have until 15 June to enact the option they have to buy Rashford for £26m that was inserted into his loan deal. There are no plans to accept any lower terms currently.
However, sources in Spain indicated Barca simply do not intend to come close to that figure, and will let the deadline pass before revisiting. Gordon’s arrival puts them in a strong position. An offer closer to £15m is more likely, if it even comes at all.
Which other clubs are interested in Rashford?
Part of the reason for United’s confidence in getting a respectable fee for an England international forward is that there are other interested clubs.
At least three Premier League clubs are understood to be monitoring the situation. One source added Newcastle could turn to Rashford as a replacement for Gordon, even if it does not fit into the overall recruitment policy of the club. Aston Villa could also re-sign the forward who spent the last half of the 2024-25 season at Villa Park.
Tottenham’s recruitment policy is different to that of Newcastle’s. They are keen to add Premier League experience to their young ranks, with Rashford understood to be of interest to them.
Bayern Munich are another still assessing the situation. They are in the market for another wide option to provide competition for Michael Olise and Luis Diaz.
With no offers on the table, another season-long loan away from United cannot be ruled out, which opens Rashford up to wider options.
Rashford’s team expect to be able to provide some update one way or another in the coming weeks. They are understood to be trying to shield Rashford from all the transfer talk, with focus solely on the World Cup, where he has arrived early to begin training in the heat.
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Thank you Arsenal for reminding England of the poverty of diffidence. If they approach the World Cup as Arsenal did the Champions League final, England may not survive the group stage.
Thomas Tuchel emphasised the importance of team ethic and structure in leaving behind a cohort of stylists, including Cole Palmer, Phil Foden, Morgan Gibbs-White and Adam Wharton, raising the prospect of a minimalist summer. Surely we learned at the cautious hands of Gareth Southgate the limits of setting up a team to nullify the opposition.
Mikel Arteta might argue that Arsenal were only a couple of bad penalties from toppling the best team in Europe, but that would be to overstate a method described by French sport bible L’Equipe as a double-parking of the bus. It was also a repudiation of the attacking principles inculcated at the Barcelona academy.
There is no future for any team with only 24 per cent possession. For the 83 minutes he was on the pitch, Bukayo Saka, one of England’s signature blades, was back at full-back, where he started his career.
The issue was less technical than mental. Paris Saint-Germain are fearless and spent the greater part of the night in Arsenal’s half and entirely in their heads. Arteta played it like Southgate and would have been hailed a genius had he pulled it off. Yet the chances of doing so are significantly reduced when control is ceded so readily to opponents who cherish the ball.
Saka spent much of the final covering at full-back (Photo: Getty)
PSG were PSG, concerned only with themselves. This is the lesson Arteta must learn and Tuchel heed. Success is rooted between the ears in unshakable self-belief and a sense of mission.
Yes, Luis Enrique has an exceptional front three, but none of it is inevitable.
Ousmane Dembele was erratic and peripheral at Barcelona. Imbued with confidence and purpose the same player decides matches under Enrique. Ditto Desire Doue and the mesmerising Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.
The most effective way to defuse potency is to inflict your own, as Bayern Munich did in the Champions League semi-final first leg in Paris. PSG won by the odd goal in nine yet looked vulnerable. It might be that England are eclipsed by a better team in the coming seven weeks. Spain, France, Portugal, Argentina and Brazil are all capable of winning and none of them sit back as England did in the Euro 2024 final against a Spanish team set up not unlike PSG.
That is the message for Tuchel to absorb. The game has moved on. It rewards vibrant, attacking teams that focus on their own strengths, not the opposition’s.
What a missed opportunity Budapest was for the English champions and the English game. A clean sweep of European trophies was there to be had, reinforcing the sense of Premier League supremacy.
The message should have been “We are Arsenal, catch us if you can”. Instead Arteta opted for supine resistance, handing the initiative straight to PSG. Saka, Declan Rice, Martin Odegaard, William Saliba and Gabriel are way better than that. As is Eberechi Eze, had Arteta the courage to start him.
Southgate took England to two European Championship finals and a World Cup semi-final, falling in much the same way against Croatia, Italy and Spain. Ironically, Southgate’s best performance against a top-ranked team came in Qatar where England were the better side in a losing quarter-final against France.
Had they played like that in Moscow, London or Berlin the wait for a second major trophy might already be over – and the fear of losing, somebody else’s complex.
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Around half a million Arsenal fans are expected to watch their team’s open-bus top victory parade through north London this afternoon, celebrating the men’s side’s first Premier League win for 22 years, and the women’s team taking the first-ever Champions Cup.
Thousands of people began arriving along the 5.6-mile parade route in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Mikel Arteta’s squad began their parade at 2pm with a huge police operation deployed amid reports that a million people would descend on the wider area.
It is a bittersweet celebration, with Arsenal defender Gabriel Magalhães saying their Champions League penalty shoot-out defeat on Saturday night was “painful”.
But Arsenal put their European heartbreak behind them to embark on a parade through the streets of north London to celebrate their Premier League title success.
A young fan hopes for a clear view as he stands on top of a bus stop in Holloway (Photo: Action Images via Reuters/Peter Cziborra) Arsenal fans in Islington enjoy perfect parade views from their windows above the route (Photo: Isabel Infantes/Reuters)
The women’s side beat the Brazilian Corinthians team 3-2 in February, with goals from Olivia Smith, Lotte Wubben-Moy and Caitlin Foord.
Speaking after the game, captain Kim Little said the team showed “incredible” character, and would “take a lot” from winning the first Champions Cup.
“It’s great to get the win,” she said. “We showed incredible character and resilience to lose the goal right at the end and come back in extra time. The girls did great.
“It’s obviously a unique experience, it being the first Champions Cup. We’ll take a lot from winning today and getting a trophy.”
Fans carried a banner along the parade route saying ‘We are so proud of U’ (Photo: David Davies/PA Wire) The Screen on the Green cinema in Islington changed its usual film advertisements to say ‘North London forever’ in honour of the teams (Photo: David Davies/PA Wire)
In the men’s Champions League final on Saturday, Gabriel missed the crucial spot-kick against Paris Saint-Germain as the French champions retained their crown following a 1-1 draw in Budapest.
“It’s painful, but I’m proud of this team and everything we achieved together this season,” Gabriel wrote on Instagram.
“Thank you to our incredible fans for your support every step of the way. You deserve to celebrate this journey with us and enjoy the parade today!
“See you next season!”
An Arsenal supporter (C) shows off his footballing skills as fans wait for the start of the parade. It is the first Premier League title for the North London team since the 2003-04 season. (Photo by CARLOS JASSO / AFP via Getty Images)Arsenal fans gather before the victory parade (Photo: REUTERS/Dylan Martinez)
Arsenal had been hoping for a double celebration by following up their league success with a first Champions League trophy in the club’s 140-year history.
Kai Havertz fired them into an early lead in the Hungarian capital, but PSG equalised through Ousmane Dembele’s penalty, and Eberechi Eze and Gabriel both missed in the shoot-out.
Arteta’s crestfallen players departed their hotel a few hours after the crushing loss, with the Arsenal manager vowing to use the setback as “fuel” to carry them to glory next season.
Parents were in for the long haul as ecstatic children sat on their shoulders to see the team (Photo: AP Photo/Kin Cheung) An Arsenal fan proudly shows off their homemade version of the Premier League trophy (Photo: Action Images via Reuters/Matthew Childs)
Arteta said: “First of all, you have to go through that pain, digest it and turn it into fuel to improve and to reach a different level.
“I will take a few days with my family and then I will start the process to review what we’ve done.
“We will start to make some very important decisions if we want to reach another level.
“And we’re going to have to show that ambition because we are more than capable of doing it. But it’s going to demand us to be very, very ambitious, very fast and very smart.”
Arsenal’s Dutch defender #12 Jurrien Timber, Norwegian midfielder #08 Martin Odegaard and Spanish manager Mikel Arteta celebrate with the Premier League trophy, clouded by smoke from fans’ red flares (Photo: Toby Shepheard / AFP via Getty Images)Arsenal’s women’s team celebrate with their FIFA Women’s Champions Cup trophy, which they won in February at the Emirates stadium (Photo: Toby Shepheard / AFP via Getty Images)
More than 500 Met Police officers have been deployed to cover the event, alongside specialist search and drone teams, and the force said there will be no trophy lift along the route as the buses will move continuously.
This comes after French police detained 480 people in Paris and 300 more in 15 other French cities following riots that broke out after Paris Saint-Germain’s Champions League victory.
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez told reporters that 57 police officers had been wounded, most with minor injuries, after fans set off fires and vandalised shops. A small group even tried to storm a Paris police station.
Arsenal fans lined the streets (Photo: David Davies/PA Wire) The Arsenal men’s and women’s teams, riding open-topped buses, drive past fans in Finsbury Park during a victory parade celebrating the Premier League and Champions Cup titles in London (Photo: Steven Paston/PA Wire)
Following the men’s team’s win last week, The i Paper’s chief football writer, Daniel Storey, said fans should “bask in the realisation that a superpower has been toppled,” with Arsenal rising where Manchester City had wilted.
“This has not been a vintage Premier League season, in terms of quality or entertainment,” he wrote. “But why would Arsenal give a damn about that? They built a squad that they believed could be controlled and consistent and they were proven spectacularly right. They became a mirror of the league itself and that’s why they won.”
At the final whistle in Man City’s match against Bournemouth, which meant the Gunners had taken the title, the Arsenal squad celebrated at their training ground by dancing and chanting: “Campeones, Campeones, Ole Ole Ole!” Captain Declan Rice posted on Instagram: “It’s done.”
With agencies
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BUDAPEST – How inexplicably cruel that it should have been Gabriel.
The centre-back took the decisive penalty of his own volition. He straightened, opened his body up and skied it. It will be remembered as the moment that cost Arsenal a first Champions League trophy, from a defender without whom they would never have been in contention for one in the first place.
Afterwards, Mikel Arteta pointed to fine margins. The Cristian Mosquera foul on Khvicha Kvaratskhelia that was given. The Nuno Mendes collision with Noni Madueke that was not.
The first thing to say is that Arteta’s hands were tied. He could have left a half-fit Jurrien Timber to try and contain a largely below-par Kvaratskhelia. He could have started Riccardo Calafiori at the expense of Piero Hincapie, who turned out to be Arsenal’s best player and the reason the thrashing many expected never materialised.
Arsenal have to seize the opportunity
Paris Saint-Germain are ruthless – inevitable, even. But so was Arteta’s approach. If Pep Guardiola is inclined to overthink, his old protege can be guilty of underplaying Arsenal’s hand. There is no point rewriting history now – had it been beaten semi-finalists Bayern Munich in their place, Arsenal would still not have been favourites and would probably have lined up the same way. Quite possibly with the same result. Arsenal will never know because they are still too inclined to batten down the hatches for fear of letting these moments slip away.
Arteta’s biggest challenge this summer is ensuring his side are never here again. The English champions should not be going into a showpiece like this intent on sitting in for 84 minutes after the early goal. Too often Gareth Southgate did the same with the national team, ultimately costing him silverware and immortality.
Arsenal suffer defeat in Budapest (Photo: Getty)
It is Arsenal’s great strength – they conceded the fewest goals in this Champions League season – but they are capable of more than nabbing 24 per cent of the ball. PSG were kept at bay for the first half but from the bench Enrique could turn to Bradley Barcola, Goncalo Ramos and Warren Zaire-Emery. Arsenal’s replacements were not game-changers. Gabriel Martinelli, Viktor Gyokeres, Eberechi Eze and Madueke all contributed but none were introduced to seize the final throes of extra time.
Had Arteta been bolder, Eze would have started over Leandro Trossard, a double-threat playing through the lines with Martin Odegaard.
Instead, Arsenal were in the position they were, unfancied underdogs against the best team in Europe, because they are content to be that way. The squad is perfectly balanced for where they want to be domestically. That Arteta had a choice between Gyokeres, his standout player in this season’s Champions League, and Kai Havertz, who for the first hour looked to have scored the decisive goal, is testament to how Arsenal have improved their depth.
If you had to pinpoint one reason why they are Premier League champions when they have fallen short so many times before, that is it. But it is also a meticulously crafted squad built specifically for containment, not Champions League glory.
What next?
Defeat in Budapest brings “pain”, Arteta said. Therein also lies opportunity. This summer will be telling as to whether Arsenal are proactive in the market, following up on interest in Julian Alvarez, Nico Williams, Morgan Rogers. Eli Junior Kroupi is another being monitored.
There is another clear distinction that sets PSG apart. They were also without two of their favoured penalty-takers by the time spot-kicks were underway but they are a group built to play on the front foot.
Arteta confirmed that ordinarily, Bukayo Saka, Odegaard and Havertz would have been among his top five. All had been taken off by the end of extra time.
There is no use making sweeping generalisations about an inferiority complex in English football, when aside from the sample size here the Premier League is markedly stronger than Ligue 1.
An inferiority complex at Arsenal though? Quite possibly – and that is the one thing money can’t address this summer without a change in approach.
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Arsenal 1-1 Paris Saint-Germain (Havertz 6’ | Dembele pen 65’) – PSG win 4-3 on penalties
BUDAPEST – Heroes, but not history-makers. Not this time. Only heartbreak after Gabriel’s decisive miss in an agonising shootout defeat to Paris Saint-Germain. They came as one red army knowing that whatever happened, they would be plated in the silverware and surreal euphoria of the last fortnight. Highbury will still run red tomorrow; Hungary was one world too far for Arsenal to conquer.
After a delirious 11 days, this was only ever meant to be the bonus. It took more than an hour for the desperation which had once proven the downfall of the English champions to sink in. The moment that changed everything, Cristhian Mosquera’s tangle of limbs with Khvicha Kvaratskhelia before Ousmane Dembele’s penalty, felt avoidable but fatalistic.
The moment that might have changed even more, Noni Madueke’s own spot-kick appeal, always felt a stretch even as a red-faced Declan Rice screamed himself blue.
A closer look at that Noni Madueke penalty shout
Jack Wilshere and Martin Keown give their verdict…
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With the rush of every Gabriel clearance and Myles Lewis-Skelly interception, for those precious moments they had dreamt of Arteta-balling their way to glory. Perhaps there is an alternate version of history where they took Kai Havertz’s early strike and turned the screw. For so long they invited pressure from the most fluid team in Europe, led by the world’s best knockout coach, and for so long, it felt a plausible strategy. The massacre so many predicted never materialised – and for that, Arsenal deserve enormous credit.
There had even been the dose of good fortune which has so often evaded them when it matters. Inside six minutes, Marquinhos’ clearance had bounced awkwardly off Leandro Trossard, enough to dupe Pacho into leaving Havertz free to gallop at Matvey Safonov’s goal. Safonov, who only usurped Lucas Chevalier as PSG No 1 at the turn of the year, made no attempt to close him down and watched the ball lash into the roof of his net.
Enrique must have war-gamed what Arsenal would do if they took an early lead. It is easy to say now that all this was inevitable, but for almost 60 minutes Arsenal could not have imagined it working as well as it did. With Nuno Mendes cutting inside, the three prongs of Kvaratskhelia, Dembele and Desire Doue pressed and pressed. And just as the Parisians had been on the banks of the Danube and in the parks of Varosliget, they were swallowed in a sea of red.
In their thousands, the reigning champions had kicked off with a giant tifo featuring two muscular biceps clasped around the Champions League trophy. They will hold onto it even tighter now, and Arteta will remain in the shadows of his old friend and mentor Enrique.
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) May 30, 2026
His two biggest decisions always felt like they would prove a masterstroke or a misjudgement – instead they fell somewhere in between. First, in reining in his most cavalier urges and choosing the more conservative options: Piero Hincapie ahead of Riccardo Calafiori, Mosquera over Jurrian Timber. Arteta spent as much time directing Bukayo Saka to ensure he was helping to cover the latter as he did urging him on. Mosquera had played his part until finally being undone by the 1-2 – he was lucky to avoid a second yellow before being taken off.
Crucially, though, Arteta had also recognised Havertz as the man for the big moments, when it has so often been Viktor Gyokeres in this competition all season. That one certainly paid off.
By the time penalties rolled around, a hazy evening sun had descended, drying out the rain that had begun to trickle around noon. It only added to the frenzy in a rejoicing PSG section full of billowing smoke, ablaze with pyros and requiring its own line of guards by the end. At the other of the Puskas, the ground named after Hungary’s great visionary of the 1950s, Arsenal’s supporters serenaded a group of players who have already spun their own legends. Eberechi Eze and Gabriel, who picked the two unlucky straws in the shootout, among them.
It was that sinking feeling they thought was behind them. Runners-up. Second. And yet it was precisely that familiar feeling of Arsenal’s ever bridesmaids which spurred them on to a first title in 22 years. Arteta will have them believing that they will be back.
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If Liverpool had serious doubts, Arne Slot had to go now. Different people in the same roles here have made that mistake before, backing Brendan Rodgers in 2015 only to see things fall apart even more. A new manager deserves a preseason and this summer is going to be busy. What point backing a guy you aren’t sure you want?
More pertinently, Slot had seemingly become a manager many Liverpool players didn’t want either. The defining moment of his season wasn’t the team and Slot being booed, or any milepost during the lamentable title defence, but Mo Salah’s parting shot.
The talk of “heavy metal” football was a call-to-arms not about the results – although they were indeed poor – but the style, a clear nod to Slot’s predecessor and a demand for significant change. Implicitly it read like a message to Liverpool’s hierarchy and it was liked by Florian Wirtz, Dominik Szoboszlai, Curtis Jones, Hugo Ekitike, Andy Robertson and Jeremie Frimpong.
Those doubts were entirely valid. Although there will be censure towards the players and their performance, Liverpool became more muddled as Slot’s tenure went on, not less. For most of this season, they fell into an aesthetically displeasing sludge: made individual mistakes in defence, pedestrian in possession, failing to create enough chances and missing many of the ones they did create.
Slot’s title win in his first season represented the high watermark of his reign (Photo: AFP)
Yes, Liverpool qualified for the Champions League. Some will say that should be enough to merit extended faith. But even that was rather by technicality than proven aptitude, with the extra place needed and the joint-lowest points total in Premier League history required.
That speaks to the other justification for this move: this is hardly a rushed judgement, although it may feel like it in the immediate aftermath. After Liverpool had won their first five league matches of the season, the serious concerns first appeared in September: 1-2 at Palace, 1-2 at Chelsea, 1-2 against Manchester United and 2-3 at Brentford.
The raw numbers never improved enough. From the fifth game of the season onwards, Slot’s team earned a point more than Fulham and six more than Nottingham Forest and Leeds. They earned fewer than Brentford and 17 fewer than Aston Villa. It is that last figure that is most damaging, given the spend last summer.
The away leg at Paris Saint-Germain felt like a desperate low. Slot picked an entirely new formation and failed to have a single shot on target as Liverpool were entirely outclassed in every area of the pitch, subsequently losing the home leg by the same scoreline. Suddenly they looked like Champions League also-rans, and they cannot afford that to become the norm again.
Salah (left) is leaving this summer and Liverpool cannot afford to get replacing him wrong (Photo: PA)
Were this likely to be a quiet summer at Anfield, Slot could potentially ride out the storm as the continuity candidate to fit the mood. That’s the opposite of their reality. The best attacker in the club’s modern history is leaving. A starting central defender is leaving.
This season has caused significant damage to remaining key players and almost all of last summer’s transfer business was unsuccessful. How can you allow the same guy to play an integral role in more revolution when supporters and players have seemingly made up their mind and you’re not fully convinced either?
This is a ruthless decision, eventually. Slot won a league title a year ago, toppling Pep Guardiola in his debut campaign through perceptive tactical control and relentless consistency. He suffered the desperately tragic loss of a senior player and has been unfortunate with injury issues suffered by the two forwards that arrived last summer. As the club posted on X: “Arne helped us deliver our 20th title and we’ll always be thankful”.
But there was far more evidence that Liverpool were in danger of drifting further than there was to suggest Slot was likely to reinvent himself and the mood this summer. The defending looked broken. The balance looked broken. Morale in the dressing room looked broken and the spirit of supporters was quickly breaking too.
A sacking need not be a damnation of an entire reputation, but Slot was given eight months to offer proof that he could build a successful squad as successfully as he inherited one. The only obvious development was his best attacker becoming mutinous and other players deciding that they needed to leave. That’s no case for keeping your job.
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