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Chelsea acquired Jadon Sancho, Joao Felix, and Pedro Neto on the transfer market last summer, and only the Portuguese international Neto will be back with the Blues for the 2025/26 season.
Felix flopped at both Chelsea and a loan to Milan during the 2024/25 season, and while Sancho did play a positive role for Chelsea in their return to the Champions League and Conference League triumph, his fate is the same as a flop.
Chelsea were even willing to pay a penalty of five million pounds instead of spending the 25 million pounds required to make a Sancho transfer permanent after he played a role in their ability to secure a top-five finish and Champions League football.
On the surface, 25 million pounds doesn’t seem like a bad deal for a player who was a decent Premier League winger in 2024/25 for Chelsea, especially since Manchester United blew 73 million pounds on him a few years ago after he established himself as one of the best wingers in European football while at Dortmund.
Jadon Sancho is blocking an obvious move
Now, Sancho’s career is at a crossroads at the age of 25 when he should be in his prime. According to a report from Give Me Sport’s Danny Rust and Dean Jones, Sancho is already making life difficult while back at Manchester United after a failed loan to Chelsea.
Sancho remains unwilling to reduce his bloated 300,000 pound per week salary in order to facilitate a move back to Borussia Dortmund (or any other club), even though he is interested in reuniting with the club that helped him appear in a Champions League Final and win the DFB Pokal.
The best work of Sancho’s career has easily come in Dortmund, and yet Sancho isn’t even willing to do a reasonable favor in order to help BVB afford him, which any serious player would do if they wanted to improve as a footballer and better their career.
Although Manchester United are at fault for paying Sancho and the player isn’t entitled to lower his salary for the club’s benefit, Sancho has consistently shown a pattern in his career in the Premier League that his main focus is on himself and he’s content to sit on the sidelines (literally) and collect a check.
Chelsea didn’t keep him not because Sancho lacks talent or upside, but that the reality of Sancho is less appealing than the dream of Sancho. He just isn’t a world-class winger in the Premier League and isn’t the caliber of player who can start every week for a team that has serious designs on winning the Premier League, which Chelsea do.
He’s also unwilling to adapt to what a team needs in order to win, whether it’s a change in his style, more discipline, or taking on a more reasonable salary in order to help Dortmund obtain him. Sancho is as immature as he was in 2018 when he first broke out for Dortmund, and Chelsea are better off not dealing with his albatross of a contract for a player who is not any better than Pedro Neto.
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Tottenham to take advantage of club’s financial problems and offer £60m for 'exceptional' star
Tottenham Hotspur are hoping to sign Dani Olmo from Barcelona during the summer transfer window. According to a report from Fichajes, they are prepared to offer €70 million (£60m) for the midfielder this summer. Barcelona are going through financial difficulties and they are willing to sanction his departure. Can Spurs sign Dani Olmo? It will be interesting to see if Tottenham can take advantage of the situation and get the deal done. The 26-year-old Spanish international is a top-class player who has proven himself for club and country. Olmo could add a new dimension to the Tottenham attacking unit. He is capable of operating centrally as well as on the flanks. He will add goals and creativity to the side. Julian Nagelsmann has described him as a player with “extraordinary abilities”. There is no doubt that he has the technical attributes to succeed in the Premier League. He could be an important player for Tottenham. It remains to be seen whether Barcelona are prepared to accept the £60 million offer from Tottenham when it arrives. Olmo will help Spurs improve Tottenham need to improve their squad if they want to fight for trophies next season. The Spanish international would be the ideal acquisition. He has recently won the league title with Barcelona, and his winning experience could prove to be invaluable. He has proved himself in Germany and Spain. There is no doubt that he could be an instant hit in the Premier League as well. The opportunity to move to Tottenham could be quite exciting for the attacking midfielder. It will be a new challenge for him, and he’s at the peak of his career. This could be the right time for him to take on the challenge in the Premier League. It remains to be seen whether all parties can wrap up the move quickly.
Pirates' longtime failure can be explained by their new prospect's shocking revelation
It's not just a lack of spending or money that keeps the Pittsburgh Pirates at the bottom of the Major League Baseball standings every year. It's also the fact that they are poorly run. Especially when it comes to player development throughout their own farm system. One of their newest prospects, catcher Rafael Flores, who was just acquired before the trade deadline in the David Bednar trade with the New York Yankees, unintentionally gave an example as to one of the flaws with the Pirates. As Flores explained to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette this week, the Yankees' minor league focus is almost entirely on individual player development, while the Pirates — in his early view — seem more focused on team success at the minor league level. He also explained that the Yankees give their catchers every piece of information and data that they possibly can, while the Pirates only give their catchers the information that they specifically ask for. Those are two very eye-opening comparisons, and the first one is by far the most problematic and shows a very serious flaw with the Pirates' approach. The major league team should never, under any circumstances, care about the team success of a minor league team. Those teams do not exist to win games or win championships. They exist as an avenue to teach players how to play professional baseball, develop their skills and get them ready to be contributors for the major league team. Everything else is secondary. Now, Flores has only been in the Pirates system for two weeks. It is possible his initial perception is not the entire reality. But it's still an eye-opening comparison for a player to make when coming over from a completely different — and far more successful — organization. It would also track with a lot of the recent Pirates issues in developing players. They have been awful at developing position players, especially under general manager Ben Cherington, and tend to be slow to promote players through the system. (Paul Skenes was a rare exception to both issues.) It would also make sense that they want their minor league teams to do well. It makes it easy to sell hope to a frustrated fan base. If the major league team is not winning, it is easy for the Pirates to point out the success of their farm teams and say, "see, they are doing well ... there is help on the way" even if it is entirely misleading. The Pirates do have two of the best prospects in baseball in infielder Konnor Griffin and starting pitcher Bubba Chandler, but neither is currently in the major leagues. It remains to be seen if they will develop them into top-tier major leaguers. Recent history suggests the odds are not in their favor. Especially if the team is more concerned about its minor league teams winning games over individual players developing.
Tennessee's groundbreaking Adidas deal a game-changer for college sports in NIL era
NFL under fire for decision on Chiefs WR Rashee Rice
The Kansas City Chiefs appeared to receive an early gift from the NFL regarding wide receiver Rashee Rice's looming suspension. The third-year receiver is set to have a disciplinary hearing on Sept. 30 after he pleaded guilty to collision involving serious bodily injury and racing on a highway causing bodily injury. He was sentenced to 30 days in jail and five years of probation. The timing of Rice's hearing is curious because he pleaded guilty to his charges on the same day Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Jordan Addison pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge connected to his arrest for alleged DUI. The league has already suspended Addison for the first three games of the upcoming season. Per Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, a league source told him that the NFL doesn't typically delay hearings as it has in the case of Rice, preferring to finalize a punishment before Week 1. “Maybe I’m a conspiracy theorist, but this is odd," said the unnamed source, via Florio. “You hardly ever see players get suspended in season unless they did something in season like a drug test or something.” The suspicion from the source and Florio is that the league is keeping Rice available for marquee matchups in the early season. The Chiefs begin their season in Sao Paulo, Brazil, playing the Los Angeles Chargers. Kansas City then plays the Philadelphia Eagles, New York Giants ("Sunday Night Football") and Baltimore Ravens. Florio suggested that with a hearing date of Sept. 30, Rice would likely start any suspension the Chiefs' Week 5 contest against the Jacksonville Jaguars on "Monday Night Football." "At a time when many think the league favors the Chiefs, situations like this will not become evidence to the contrary," Florio said. While the early slate of games is impressive for the Chiefs, their schedule is jam-packed with heavyweight matchups. The next four games after Week 5 include the Detroit Lions ("Sunday Night Football"), Las Vegas Raiders, Washington Commanders ("Monday Night Football" and Buffalo Bills. While the league has some explaining to do as to why it chose Sept. 30 as the date, it's hard to see why the Chiefs would have an advantage by losing Rice for those games.
Browns 'leaving their possibilities open' for shocking quarterback development
A recent Instagram video showed Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson sprinting as he works to return to action after he suffered a torn Achilles tendon last October and then reinjured the Achilles during his recovery. Watson has spent portions of the summer sharing a quarterback room with presumed Week 1 starter Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett, 2025 third-round draft pick Dillon Gabriel and 2025 fifth-rounder Shedeur Sanders. During a Thursday appearance on Cleveland sports radio station 92.3 The Fan, Browns insider Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer was asked if Watson could play for the club during the upcoming season. "Nothing would shock me, so I just think that we all have to stay tuned for that," Cabot responded, as shared by Stephen Douglas of Sports Illustrated. "Will [the Browns] ever let [Watson] set foot on the field for them again? I don't really know, but he is certainly determined. And the Browns, every time they talk about Deshaun Watson nowadays, it's in glowing terms about what he's doing inside of that building. How he is mentoring the younger guys. His attitude. His work ethic. So he's in good standing with the club right now, and I think that anything can happen." Sanders was a favorite among pockets of Cleveland fans and national media members even before he completed 14-of-23 passes for 138 yards and two touchdowns in a 30-10 win over the Carolina Panthers on Aug. 8. However, he's now dealing with an oblique injury that could sideline him through Cleveland's final two preseason games. Neither Pickett nor Gabriel played against Carolina because of hamstring injuries. Gabriel will start Cleveland's preseason matchup at the Philadelphia Eagles this Saturday if he's healthy enough to go for that contest. As for Watson, whispers first emerged this past spring hinting he doesn't want to spend the entire 2025 season on injured reserve. More recently, an update from earlier in August suggested that Watson has a chip on his shoulder after Browns owner Jimmy Haslam said in March that Cleveland "took a big swing and miss with Deshaun." "They haven't ruled him out," Cabot added about the Browns' handling of Watson this summer. "I mean, they haven't put him on the shelf for the whole entire season, so I think they're leaving their possibilities open." According to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, the Browns would face a 2026 salary-cap charge of $131.161M if they release Watson during the season. Watson has made just 19 regular-season starts since he accepted a fully guaranteed five-year, $230M contract to accept a trade from the Houston Texans to the Browns in March 2022. Browns general manager Andrew Berry has insisted the club could have four quarterbacks on the active roster for its Week 1 game against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sept. 7. Eventually, Berry may have to make room on the depth chart for Watson unless the two sides come to an agreement that results in the 29-year-old sitting until next season.
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