Francesco Camarda has recalled the indescribable emotion of his senior AC Milan debut, while wishing the Primavera luck for their cup final.
Camarda has ended up shuttling between Milan Futuro and the first team this season and while the management of the club of a very young talent has ended up in the crosshairs of criticism, he has still ticked off some milestones.
He was the youngest debutant in the history of Serie A (during Milan-Fiorentina on 25 November 2023, at 15 years, 8 months and 15 days) and the youngest Italian debutant in the Champions League, as well as in the European history of Milan (Milan-Brugge on 22 October 2024, at 16 years and 226 days).
Milan face a big decision in the summer regarding his development with the possibility of a loan spell growing in momentum, especially given that Monza had a deal agreed in January before Zlatan Ibrahimovic pulled the plug.
Camarda spoke to Sportitalia after receiving an award from Lega Serie A CEO Luigi De Siervo at the Arena Civica, the venue of the Coppa Italia Primavera final. MilanNews relayed his comments.
On the final: “They are my friends, I am their biggest fan. It will be a beautiful match.”
On his Serie A debut against Fiorentina: “It was an indescribable emotion. I dreamed of that day, I would like to explain it but I can’t with words. I even got it tattooed on myself, it was an unforgettable day.”
On his dreams: “To win as many trophies as possible and score as many goals as possible.”
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The 2025-26 Premier League season kicks off on Friday, Aug. 15, with defending champion Liverpool hosting Bournemouth at Anfield. There are three lead candidates for the league title this season: Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester City. However, just behind them lie several teams capable of making a strong trophy run... and potentially even winning the league outright. Here are the Premier League's top three dark horse teams for the 2025-26 season: Chelsea Last season: 4th Key departures: attacking midfielder Joao Felix (to Al-Nassr), winger Noni Madueke (to Arsenal), forward Armando Broja (to Burnley) Key additions: forward Joao Pedro (from Brighton), winger Estevao (from Palmeiras), forward Liam Delap (from Ipswich Town) Chelsea's overloaded, overpaid squad (anyone remember £116M Mykhailo Mudryk?) made it the laughing stock of the Premier League for several seasons. That said, after a strong finish to the 2024-25 season, no one's laughing anymore. Chelsea is the defending Club World Cup champion after beating PSG 3-0 in New Jersey this summer. It hasn't just made it back to the upper echelon of European soccer; it's blown past everyone and taken the top spot. The Premier League season is long, though. While Chelsea's revamped squad will no doubt challenge for silverware, it still falls behind Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester City on questions of consistency and grit. But it does have one crucial thing going for it: a new goalscorer who has already proven his bona fides. Arsenal fans will have to wait and see if new striker Viktor Gyokeres is the real deal; Chelsea fans, after watching Pedro terrorize the Club World Cup in his debut this summer, don't have to wait at all. Aston Villa Last season: 6th Key departures: forward Marcus Rashford (to Barcelona), center back Axel Disasi (loan expiry; back to Chelsea), attacking midfielder Marco Asensio (loan expiry; back to PSG) Key additions: forward Zepiqueno Redmond (from Feyenoord), forward Evann Guessand (from Nice) It's been a quiet summer for the lovable Premier League dark horse. The club has bid farewell to a few of its loanees and welcomed young, largely unknown prospects in their wake. None of Aston Villa's summer signings make much of a statement... that is, until you realize what coach Unai Emery is doing with them. Emery, in partnership with his longtime director of football Monchi, doesn't want a Chelsea-sized stable of high-value players. He'd much rather work with moldable young talents that he can train as needed and sell on for a profit in the future. This approach is something of a gamble in a competition as moneyed as the Premier League, but it's worked out well for Emery thus far. His Aston Villa has bounced back from finishing 14th in 2021-22 to finishing in 7th, 4th and 6th in the three seasons of his tenure. Tottenham Hotspur Last season: 17th Key departures: forward Son Heung-Min (to LAFC), defensive midfielder Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg (to Marseille), forward Timo Werner (loan expiry; back to RB Leipzig) Key additions: winger Mohammed Kudus (from West Ham), center back Kevin Danso (from Lens), forward Mathys Tel (from Bayern Munich) It's hard to know just what's going on with Tottenham Hotspur. On one hand, things have turned around drastically from last season's nigh-unbelievable 17th-placed finish: new coach Thomas Frank has established a healthy working environment, the club has cleared out some of its older and less productive players, and key signings Kudus and Tel are already proven on the European stage. But crisis is never far away at Spurs, and that adage has proven itself to be true once again in 2025-26. Attacking midfielder James Maddison suffered an ACL tear in preseason and is expected to miss the entire year; statement signing Morgan Gibbs-White fell through after Nottingham Forest renegotiated to keep him on its roster. Both are huge losses for the North London club. As the Premier League season ticks closer, the question on everyone's mind is this: which Spurs will we get in 2025-26? The Spurs that consistently failed to compete against their Premier League peers despite their riches and quality? Or the Spurs that stormed to the Europa League trophy despite all that frustration? With Frank's steady hand on the tiller, signs point to the latter — and that firmly throws Spurs into the mix as a dark horse title contender in 2025-26.
Oregon wide receiver Jurrion Dickey has struggled to live up to expectations in his first two seasons with the Ducks, and he is now in a terrible position heading into 2025 as well. Dickey has been suspended indefinitely by Oregon, head coach Dan Lanning announced on Tuesday. Lanning also suggested that Dickey may not play for the Ducks again. "We have two team rules; that’s respectful, be on time,” Lanning said, via James Crepea of The Oregonian. “There’s some pieces of that where I felt like he needed a break from us and we needed a break from that so we could focus on what’s in front of us right now. "Wishing him nothing but the best, as far as success and want to see him get back to where he can be a contributor somewhere; that might be here that might be somewhere else.” Dickey was a five-star recruit and rated as one of the top wide receivers in the country when he came out of Menlo-Atherton High School in Atherton, California, in 2023. He suffered an injury in his senior year in high school and redshirted as a freshman at Oregon. Dickey has two catches for 14 years during his time with the Ducks. Oregon went 13-1 in Lanning's third season with the program last season. The Ducks lost to eventual national champion Ohio State in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals.
It’s been two weeks since Washington Commanders star wide receiver Terry McLaurin publicly revealed his trade request, and a resolution doesn’t appear to be in sight. Thanks to ESPN’s John Keim, we’re starting to get more insight into how the Commanders are approaching negotiations…and how they run counter to their star wide receiver’s financial desires. As we’ve assumed all along, the Commanders are wary of giving McLaurin a lucrative contract that would extend well into the player’s 30s. As Keim notes, the Commanders “rely heavily on analytics,” and those numbers aren’t particularly kind to receivers on the wrong side of 30. They may be onto something. Per ESPN Research, over the past five years, only three receivers 31 years or older have played at least 10 games and averaged 70-plus receiving yards per game (that number jumps to six players if you adjust for 60-plus receiving yards). Further, the team can simply point to the NFL landscape, as other teams are also clearly wary of paying aging wideouts. Among the 24 active wide receivers who are attached to the most guaranteed money, only Tyreek Hill was older than 30 when the deal was signed. McLaurin has continually pointed to his lack of mileage despite his age; he barely played during his first two years at Ohio State, meaning he may not have the same wear and tear as similar players his age. McLaurin is also naturally pointing to the stat sheet, as the receiver has continually produced despite uncertain QB play, uncertain ownership and a handful of different coaching staffs. Per Keim, the Commanders don’t want to pay McLaurin based on his past performance, with the front office preferring to shape any future contracts based on his projections for age-31-plus seasons. The organization also doesn’t want to set a new precedent by paying McLaurin, as it could convince future veterans to push for lucrative deals in their 30s. While McLaurin has taken the drastic measure of requesting a trade out of Washington, the organization is still convinced they have leverage in this showdown. After all, the player is still under contract for the 2025 campaign, meaning McLaurin will have to forfeit game checks if he sits out games. The team could even choose to slap him with the franchise tag next offseason (which could come in north of $30M), meaning they’re in full control of the player’s fate moving forward. The team is also skeptical that another suitor is going to willingly pay McLaurin the type of money he’s seeking. Per Keim, there’s doubts around the league about whether another team would be willing to meet the receiver’s demands. Even if a clear suitor does emerge, Keim makes it clear that Washington’s front office won’t give the star away without receiving a haul. We heard recently that McLaurin wasn’t necessarily seeking a deal that matched fellow 2019 draftee D.K. Metcalf‘s deal with the Steelers. However, Keim says Metcalf’s contract has generally served as a guide for McLaurin, but it’s uncertain whether the Commanders wideout is looking to match the AAV ($33M) or total guarantees ($60M). Ultimately, one source believes the Commanders may agree to pay McLaurin a contract that will pay $28M per year. Of course, it’s uncertain if the player would even accept that offer. If that hypothetical maximum offer doesn’t end in a signing, a divorce may be the logical next step.
It might have been a good thing the Chicago Bears didn’t play Caleb Williams on Sunday. The Bears might need to hide their second-year quarterback as he irons out his wrinkles in the pre-snap process and with accuracy issues. The No. 1 pick in the 2024 draft struggled with timing and accuracy during the Bears’ joint practice with the Miami Dolphins on Friday. Caleb Williams was inaccurate in the red zone against no defenders On Sunday, Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson chose not to play second-year quarterback Caleb Williams against the Dolphins in their first preseason game. Instead, Johnson led a workout with Williams and wide receivers Rome Odunze and DJ Moore before the game. Per Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune, the Bears ran a total of 87 plays during the workout. All of the plays were routes in the air with no defenders on the field for the scripted practice. Despite going against no defenders bringing pressure or guarding his receivers, Williams struggled to hit his targets in the red zone. "Williams would stand next to Johnson, who would give him the play," Biggs wrote. "Then, the quarterback simulated a huddle with the player (only one ran a route on each snap) and gave the play call. They’d break the huddle, go to the line of scrimmage, Williams would simulate pre-snap actions and then the play would be run… "Before ending the session with eight deep balls, there was a 25-play set of snaps in the red zone. One thing Williams struggled to connect on was out routes to Moore and Odunze near the goal line. Those throws were not close and Williams consistently led the receivers too much." A closed-door problem for the Chicago Bears The throws weren’t close during routes on air… in the red zone? Williams wasn’t ready to take the field for the preseason game. For all of the flak he’s been getting from practice reports, the quarterback would have been relentlessly mocked for having these issues shown during an NFL Network broadcast. Biggs’ report is troubling, with a month to go before the season. Williams has much to improve upon, and the Bears are very much trying to do so without cameras present for a reason.
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