CK Updates
Marcus Rashford: Man Utd waiting on Barcelona’s £26m transfer decision
Manchester United are waiting to be told whether Barcelona intend to trigger the £26m clause that would make Marcus Rashford’s transfer permanent.
The Spanish champions have a 15 June deadline to activate the deal following the 28-year-old’s loan spell last season.
As yet, there has been no official communication between the clubs. However, speculation has intensified over the past 24 hours that Barca will opt against completing the signing.
Barcelona – who are adamant a decision will come early next week – have already paid £69.3m for Newcastle forward Anthony Gordon, who is competing for an England starting spot with Rashford at the World Cup.
United have repeatedly said they are not willing to renegotiate and even sources close to the player feel the deadline will pass without agreement.
Potentially, that could place Rashford and the Old Trafford club in a difficult position.
He has one of United’s most lucrative contracts, which runs until 2028, and minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe wants to lower the top-level amounts being paid to the first-team squad.
Last summer, Rashford was placed in the ‘bomb squad’ by former boss Ruben Amorim before he sealed his loan move to Barcelona.
However, Michael Carrick’s relationship with him is far deeper, given he is both a former team-mate, coach and – for three games following Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s dismissal in 2021 – manager of one of the recent stars of United’s academy and currently the club’s 15th all-time highest goalscorer.
When Carrick was asked about Rashford in April, he said no decision had been made about the attacker’s future.
He added “whoever’s here, I want to work with, and help them improve”.
There is some breathing space with the situation even if the 15 June deadline passes.
Rashford would be entitled to three weeks off once England’s World Cup campaign concludes.
It means if the Three Lions went out in the quarter-finals, he wouldn’t be due back at United’s Carrington training ground until the first week of August, before the pre-season encounter with Paris St-Germain in Gothenburg on 8 August, which precedes a week-long training camp in the Republic of Ireland.
That offers a period for his future to be resolved, with numerous sources feeling it is not out of the question he returns to Barcelona on a different deal to the one currently in place.
CK Updates
Hibs: David Gray ‘will continue until told otherwise’ – but has Hibs boss lost the fans?
Kieron: Kilmarnock could have won by three or four and it wouldn’t of flattered them. Hibs were so poor tonight. David Gray’s position is hanging by a thread.
Stuart: The players on that pitch have to take as much responsibility as Gray for this result, nowhere near good enough. Amateur performance.
Andy: How can Gray continue to keep his job? The players are not playing for him. The club is a mess. Banning the only fans that bring an atmosphere. Benching three of our best players. So confusing.
Chris: Question the tactics. Thought for long time long ball is desperate and lacks ambition. Pressure indeed on David Gray.
Lee: If we end the game two points off bottom spot then it’s surely time up for the Hibs manager. It’s not a run and recovery from a bad position needed, it’s deliver and results from the get go the support demands for a club of our size.
Stuart: The players on that pitch have to take as much responsibility as David Gray for this result, nowhere near good enough. Amateur performance.
Paul: Long balls to no-one as usual from Hibs and as usual our keeper is a weak link. Gray has to go even if we win as this is awful football. Bring in Neil Lennon or Steve Clarke asap before our season drifts to nothing as usual.
Andy: How can Gray continue to keep his job? The players are not playing for him. The club is a mess. Banning the only fans that bring an atmosphere. Benching three of our best players. So confusing.
Brian: Worst backline in Scotland, midfielders trot about like headless chickens, feel sorry for strikers. Gray clueless. No plan. No tactics. Blah, blah, blah after game as usual but won’t resign. Board have to act.
SMcDhfc: David Gray has lost the team, it was obvious tonight. As an attacking force, we were shocking, lots of huffing and puffing but not one real effort on target. The players should be embarrassed after that display, but they will get the result they are after, Gray sacked.
Craig: I like Gray but believe it’s time he goes. He has one formation. It’s just not good enough. But, if he goes, Malky MacKay [director of football] should go too. His signings have been terrible.
CK Updates
Thomas Tuchel: England boss regrets not eating Azteca turf after World Cup win in Mexico
England’s victory was only the third time Mexico had tasted defeat at the stadium in 90 competitive matches.
Tuchel described it as one of the highlights of the campaign and hailed the “huge bond” within the camp, especially the reaction to Jordan Henderson’s tournament-ending injury after falling over an advertising hoarding while celebrating the Azteca success.
“This game had so much of what you could wish for,” added the German. “If you needed any proof of what it meant to these players and how they were with each other, it was the moment Jordan fell over and broke his arm.
“Within a second, the players were there. Every single player was there stopping the celebrations, building a shield, protecting Jordan, not going anywhere, in full empathy. It was so special.”
England are next in action against World Cup winners Spain on 26 September in their 2026-27 Uefa Nations League opener, with the 2028 European Championships also on Tuchel’s radar.
Confident of ending England’s wait for a first senior men’s trophy since 1966, he believed their World Cup run not only cemented his relationship with the squad – “it feels like they are my players now” – but also represented “something to build on”.
Tuchel added: “I’m very excited. I think we got another step closer and I think we’re there.”
CK Updates
Northern Ireland: Eligibility rules ‘not particularly fair’ – Michael O’Neill
Under the Good Friday Agreement – the 1998 peace accord that followed the conflict colloquially known as The Troubles – those born in Northern Ireland can hold both British and Irish passports.
A Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling in 2010 means players born anywhere on the island of Ireland are able to represent the Republic of Ireland regardless of whether they fulfil any other measure of eligibility, namely being born in the territory, having a biological mother, father, grandmother or grandfather born in the territory, or having lived there for an uninterrupted period of five years.
Players born in the Republic of Ireland, however, cannot represent Northern Ireland unless they are otherwise eligible.
“We exploit eligibility, the same as every other country does, down to the grandparent rule, but this is a rule which is obviously unique between ourselves and the FAI [Football Association of Ireland],” said O’Neill.
“I think everyone recognises it’s not particularly fair, but as I say, our focus is to make sure our pathway for our young players is as good as possible and that’s a pathway for boys from any part of the community.”
In May, FAI director of football John Martin said the organisation should at “the bare minimum” be sounding out eligible players.
“We know there are kids out there who want to play for Ireland who haven’t been approached in the past,” said Martin.
“That’s not right. It’s making sure we have a presence and we understand all the players available to us, and that they are being monitored and tracked.”
When asked whether the narrative around young players in or around his squad is tiresome to him, O’Neill said: “It would have been in the past, it’s not tiresome now.
“We have people who comment on this and talk about nationality and talk about identity and talk about all these different things, which are part of being born in Northern Ireland and growing up in Northern Ireland.
“But I think what we’re missing now is that we’re putting young players in a situation where they have to make a decision which is irreversible.”
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CK Updates21 hours agoF1 Q&A: Madring’s overtaking problem, virtual safety car operation and will there be any rookies in 2027?
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CK Updates15 hours agoNorthern Ireland: Eligibility rules ‘not particularly fair’ – Michael O’Neill
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CK Updates9 hours agoThomas Tuchel: England boss regrets not eating Azteca turf after World Cup win in Mexico
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CK Updates3 hours agoHibs: David Gray ‘will continue until told otherwise’ – but has Hibs boss lost the fans?

