Experts believed club had 1% chance of survival Ties to Roman Abramovich led to KNVB’s investigation Vitesse Arnhem have been dealt a dramatic reprieve after an appeals court ruled against the Royal Dutch Football Association’s (KNVB) decision to revoke their professional licence. Vitesse looked doomed after a civil court in Utrecht judged in favour of the KNVB last month, appearing to confirm the 133-year-old club would be kicked out of the Netherlands’ second division. Many supporters were resigned to at least one season in the cold after no arrangement to continue in amateur football could be reached, but they will now be able to watch their team again after a shock turnaround on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Liverpool forward Cody Gakpo signs a new long-term contract and says he hopes to create "many more beautiful moments".

Watch the best goals scored by Xavi Simons in the Bundesliga as Tottenham Hotspur confirm the signing of the Netherlands midfielder.

Tottenham are on the verge of signing RB Leipzig and Netherlands attacker Xavi Simons for £51.8m.

After an offseason full of transfer intrigue, Americans in Europe are looking to make their final push for a World Cup roster spot. Our experts have some predictions to share. Sergiño Dest at PSV. The full-back has not only healed from the ACL injury that cut short his last campaign, but is off to a torrid start to the new Dutch season, with a pair of goals from the back-to-back champions’ first three games. It’s early, sure, but the 24-year-old is rested, confident and on a club where he doesn’t have to do much defending during domestic games. Dest looks entirely capable of turning in another standout season like he did in 2019-20. That prompted Barcelona to buy him from Ajax to form their right flank with Lionel Messi. LS Continue reading...

Today’s fluff is not cashing cheques After Manchester United so kindly signed Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui last summer, Bayern Munich may return to the favour this time around. With Rasmus Højlund and Jadon Sancho coming to the end of their Old Trafford careers, the German side might offer the duo a chance to start a new life on the continent. Sancho has previously impressed in the Bundesliga at Borussia Dortmund and could welcome a return to the league. Getting a lesson from Tottenham was enough to make some people at Manchester City a bit twitchy. Efforts are supposedly being made in the market to add some quality in defensive areas. Paris Saint-Germain’s Gianluigi Donnarumma is said to have agreed terms over a move to the Etihad Stadium, while City are stepping up interest in Crystal Palace’s Marc Guéhi. City could sell two centre-backs before the window slams shut, with Nathan Aké and Manuel Akanji available. Continue reading...

Whether Manchester City restore their powers as the Premier League’s formidable force after a summer of change remains one of the great unknowns but for Pep Guardiola the early evidence in victory at Wolves was supremely encouraging. The substitute Rayan Cherki, a summer signing from Lyon, capped the scoring within eight minutes of entering and Tijjani Reijnders, another one of those pinpointed to drive the close-season makeover, was peerless on his league debut; the Netherlands midfielder was the architect for Erling Haaland’s double, which bookended Reijnders’s first City goal, a feathery first-time finish. “City are back,” crooned the away support and, by the end, it was hard to argue otherwise. Continue reading...

Defender joins from Parma on six-year contract Other clubs including Newcastle wanted him Liverpool have confirmed the signing of the 18-year-old centre-back Giovanni Leoni from Parma for an initial £26m. He has a six-year contract and is regarded by the club as a potential long-term successor to Virgil van Dijk. Leoni was a target for other clubs, including Newcastle, and is expected to go straight into the first-team squad. The 6ft 4in defender has played for Italy’s under-18s and under-19s. Continue reading...

Today’s tall tales want to swing their hips It’s been an unusually busy summer at Manchester City: lotta ins, lotta outs, lotta what-have-yous. And Hugo Viana, City’s new director of football, isn’t done yet. According to selected rags, City may hijack Chelsea’s move for the RB Leipzig and Netherlands forward Xavi Simons. City are also attempting to reunite last year’s France Olympic squad by stealth. First they signed Rayan Cherki; now they’re being linked with the Monaco midfielder Maghnes Akliouche. Continue reading...

Micky van de Ven opens the scoring after Joao Palhinha's effort from close range rebounds off the bar and falls to the Dutch defender to give Tottenham a 1-0 lead over Paris Saint-Germain at the UEFA Super Cup final in Udine.

‘You defend as a team, you press as a team’ Champions begin defence of title on Friday night Virgil van Dijk has acknowledged Liverpool must improve defensively to retain the Premier League title and backed the club to bring in more reinforcements before the end of the transfer window. The Netherlands defender revealed after Sunday’s Community Shield that he had spent the previous five days in bed with a virus. Van Dijk was culpable for Palace’s first equaliser in the 2-2 draw when he brought down Ismaïla Sarr for a penalty and Liverpool’s defence struggled to contain the Senegal forward, who scored his team’s second to take the game to a shootout won by Palace. Continue reading...

Minority of fans in Crystal Palace end disrupt silence Liverpool forward and brother died in July car accident The Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk was left disappointed after a minute’s silence in honour of Diogo Jota had to be cut short by the referee before kick-off in the Community Shield at Wembley. Jota and his brother André Silva died in a car crash in Spain on 3 July and both were honoured before kick-off with wreaths laid on the pitch and a period of silence. The moment was interrupted by a minority of supporters from the Palace end, eliciting a strong response at the other end of the pitch, as well as from other Eagles fans, who tried to silence those not respecting the tribute. Continue reading...

Arne Slot’s side finished 10 points clear last season ‘You want to compete for every trophy you are in’ Virgil van Dijk has reinforced Arne Slot’s desire for more silverware for the new season by insisting that retaining the Premier League title is “the bare minimum” for Liverpool. The champions will get a final tune-up for their defence when Sunday’s Community Shield pits them against Crystal Palace and the club’s captain was in a bullish mood in an interview on the club’s website. Slot has been busy strengthening a squad that won the league by 10 points and Van Dijk says that after a spree of almost £300m on new players, there will be no lack of intensity when the season begins against Bournemouth on Friday. Continue reading...

Football’s world governing body is facing a growing number of issues, not least a new class action from the Netherlands The tectonic tensions in the world of football produced a seismic tremor this week. News emerged from the Netherlands of a class action that promised to seek compensation for players whose careers – the case claimed – had been blighted by Fifa’s rules. The scale of the action, undertaken by the group Justice For Players (JFP), is potentially vast: it holds that every active professional player, male or female, since 2002 could claim against Fifa for about 8% of their career earnings. Coming as a consequence of the European court of justice (CJEU) ruling on the Lassana Diarra case last year, the class action is considered exceptional by many in football because it has the potential to hit a governing body hard in the pocket. Should enough players and former players join, and were it to be successful, Fifa could be liable for a sum in the billions. Continue reading...