Busquets gives Inter Miami surprise fitness boost​​

Reece James has suffered another hamstring injury and will miss Chelsea‘s trip to face Leicester in the Premier League this weekend, head coach Enzo Maresca said in a news conference on Thursday.

James, 24, has suffered from frequent muscular injuries over the past few seasons and only returned from a five-month layoff in Chelsea’s 2-1 defeat to Liverpool on Oct. 20.

“We have for sure just one injured player, that is Reece. Unfortunately, he felt something small and we don’t want to take any risk for the weekend,” Maresca said

“So it’s only one for sure is the only one for sure that is not available for this weekend. The rest, some of them are better, some of them are still a doubt. We have to see.”

Asked about the exact nature of the injury, Maresca said: “Hamstring. It’s a muscular problem. We don’t want to take, as I said, any risks for this weekend. Hopefully it’s not something long.”

The Chelsea captain played just 482 minutes of first-team football last season as hamstring injuries kept him on the sidelines. He underwent surgery in an attempt to correct the issues in December 2023, before he picked up another hamstring injury during the club’s preseason tour of the United States this summer.

Maresca said on Oct. 18 that he was looking to ease James back into the first-team picture slowly by initially limiting his match time as he felt the player’s body cannot cope with two matches in a week.

Since his return, James started consecutive games against Liverpool, Newcastle, Manchester United and played the last eight minutes of Chelsea’s draw with Arsenal before the international break.

Saturday’s match at the King Power Stadium represents Maresca’s first return to face the team he led to the Championship title and promotion to the Premier League last season. He was appointed as Chelsea’s new head coach on May 31.

He said he is “excited” to face his old side and still talks to some of his former colleagues at the club.

“I’m excited and thankful, it was a fantastic season. The owner, his family are fantastic people. They care for players, staff, all of the people that work in the club. You can see that,” Maresca said.

“It was a fantastic season because I met good people. There was a fantastic connection between the players and staff, and that is something you have to create to be successful. I’m still in contact with them, it was fantastic.”

Asked if he felt he has become a better coach since leaving Leicester, Maresca said: “To be honest, I work every day to become better. I hope [so] because I like to see things and analyse. We try to improve players but also improve staff. I try to improve every day.

“I don’t know if I’m better or worse, but I’m always curious to see things and study. That’s the only thing I focus on.”

Chelsea are third in the Premier League after 11 matches, nine points behind leaders Liverpool. Leicester are 15th, three points above the relegation zone.

Football clubs worldwide have been paid $125 million in money owed to them from transfers of their former players, FIFA said on Wednesday, with money routed via its finance house in Paris, and there’s a backlog of another almost $200 million.

A further $31.7 million has been agreed but not yet sent.

The payments are being allocated to more than 5,000 grassroots and professional clubs by the FIFA Clearing House.

FIFA published an update on two years of work by the clearing house, which started in November 2022 to bring more transparency to the often murky multi-billion dollar transfer industry. It also tries to ensure smaller clubs get cash they are owed from future sales of players they nurtured.

When Moisés Caicedo made a British transfer record move from Brighton to Chelsea last year, his former clubs in Ecuador were entitled to share millions of dollars from the £115 million ($145 million) deal.

The money routed by FIFA “was a dream,” the president of CD Espoli, Lenín Bolaños, said in the FIFA report, with plans to pay for a practice ground, medical clinic and a gym.

Some parts of the FIFA transfer market rules in place since 2001 are under review after a European court ruling last month in a case brought by former France midfielder Lassana Diarra.

The existing FIFA system entitles players’ former clubs who trained them between the ages of 12 and 21 to share up to 5% of a future transfer fee.

However, clubs often were unaware a transfer had gone through or did not have the expertise or resources to pursue a claim. Now the online process is managed by the FIFA finance house which notifies buying clubs of approved payments that must be made within 30 days.

The wealthiest buying markets, England and Saudi Arabia, have paid the most in so-called “training rewards” FIFA said — $50.1 million and $18.7 million, respectively, in the past two years.

The leading net recipients have been clubs in Netherlands ($8.7 million), France ($7.8 million) and Argentina ($7.1 million).

One reason for the backlog is that clubs are not compliant with the system, the FIFA report said. It said at least 1,600 clubs in more than 100 countries are accredited.

“There are still important challenges ahead and areas for improvement,” FIFA chief legal officer Emilio García said in the 52-page report.

Midfielder Julian Gressel said Lionel Messi demanded Inter Miami CF reach higher standards, going as far as to label ties throughout the season as “unacceptable.”

“It’s demanding [in the locker room with Messi]. You’re talking about the player with the most wins in the history of the game,” Gressel said on the “Major League Journeymen” podcast. “They’re coming in and they’re expecting the same, and you as a teammate, you kind of have to get accustomed to that and get used to that with Messi, [Luis] Suárez, [Sergio] Busquets and [Jordi] Alba.

“It’s unacceptable to tie a game, as simple as that. We tied a game earlier in the year and I remember him being really really upset in the locker room, he’s like, ‘We shouldn’t tie, we can’t tie.'”

Gressel said at one point in the season, then-manager Gerardo Martino tried to step in and calm Messi down, telling him: “It’s okay to draw sometimes, we can’t just win everything, it’s not how this league works.”

“But for [Messi], his aura is that,” Gressel added.

Inter Miami concluded the 2024 MLS campaign with the Supporters’ Shield and set the league record for most points in a single season before losing to Atlanta United FC in the first round of playoffs. Though the team managed a historic 22-4-8 (W-L-D) record, Gressel emphasized tension would rise inside the locker room after a negative result and lead Suárez to occasionally confront players about individual performances.

“When it comes to the game or when it comes to being serious, it’s being serious and it’s time,” Gressel said. “If you’re not doing your part, you’re getting it, like, you’re hearing it. You notice they’re not content. [Messi has] addressed other guys directly, he’s more so quiet, but you have guys like Luis, who’s a little bit more emotional. He’s more outgoing in a sense, emotionally outgoing like that, so you hear more from him.

“Messi will certainly come up to you and will talk to you more so rather than be in your face about things. So we definitely kind of see that demand.”

The Herons fell to Atlanta at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Nov. 2 and Chase Stadium on Nov. 9 to see the 2024 campaign come to an end after a 2-1 loss in the teams’ best-of-three series, leaving many on Miami in a state of shock.

“After the loss, the guys were distraught in the locker room. You have everybody kind of staring into nothing,” Gressel said. “You just sit in the quiet and kind of in disbelief, but also very hesitant too, like, ‘Whoa, like, what just happened.'”

Gressel, however, said he could see “warning signs” that Inter Miami would struggle in the postseason before the eventual elimination during the third match. Though the team scored a league-high 79 goals throughout the season, the backline conceded 49.

“I saw some warning signs throughout the last few weeks of the season,” Gressel said. “All year long, we’ve given up too many chances and we’ve given up too many goals and that’s all usually something that you have to fix before the playoffs in order to kind of make a deep run.”

The team now heads into the offseason with the task of making 2024 roster decisions and finding a new head coach after Martino announced his resignation on Nov. 19.

Pep Guardiola signed a new two-year contract to extend his stay as Manchester City boss, the club announced Thursday.

Guardiola, 53, agreed to a deal that will keep him at the Etihad Stadium until 2027. His contract was due to expire at the end of the current campaign.

The extension means Guardiola will celebrate 10 years at City in the summer of 2026, having arrived from Bayern Munich in 2016.

“Since the beginning of the season, I’ve been thinking a lot,” Guardiola said. “I want to be honest, I thought this [season] should be the last one. But the problems we had in the last month, I felt now was not the right time to leave. I didn’t want to let the club down.

“Manchester City means so much to me,” Guardiola said. “We have experienced so many amazing times together. I have a really special feeling for this football club. That is why I am so happy to be staying for another two more seasons.”

City, according to sources, were concerned Guardiola might step down at the end of the season. His decision to stay is a major boost, particularly with director of football Txiki Begiristain leaving the club in the summer.

Begiristain was instrumental in engineering an era of unprecedented success at the Etihad. He’ll be replaced by Hugo Viana, who will make the move from Sporting Lisbon where he worked with new Manchester United coach Ruben Amorim.

Guardiola is the most successful manager in City’s history, having won 15 major trophies including six Premier League titles and the Champions League. This season, he’s aiming to become the first manager in English football history to win five consecutive top-flight titles.

“It has always been an honour, a pleasure and a privilege to be here,” Guardiola added. “I have said this many times before, but I have everything a manager could ever wish for, and I appreciate that so much. Hopefully now we can add more trophies to the ones we have already won. That will be my focus.”

City, who are on a run of four straight defeats in all competitions for the first time since 2006, sit second in the table, five points behind leaders Liverpool.

“Like every City fan, I am delighted that Pep’s journey with Manchester City will continue; allowing his dedication, passion and innovative thinking to continue to shape the landscape of the game,” City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak said in a statement.

“His hunger for improvement and success remains insatiable and the direct beneficiaries of that will continue to be our players and coaching staff, the culture of our Club, and the English game at large.”

A source told ESPN that Guardiola’s new deal does not contain a break clause, despite the threat of relegation from the Premier League if City are found guilty of breaching the competition’s financial rules. City are facing 115 charges — which they deny — at a hearing in London that began in September.

The hearing is set to conclude in the coming weeks before the independent commission delivers its verdict next year.