The Vegas Golden Knights set a high bar for NHL expansion teams, but they are not the first new kids who crashed the league’s party ahead of schedule.
From early Original Six challengers to Sun Belt success stories, expansion clubs reshaped what “starting from scratch” actually means. This list looks at seven of the best success stories and stacks them up against Vegas to figure out where the Golden Knights really belong in the expansion pecking order.
Las Vegas is one of two expansion teams to play in a Stanley Cup Final during its inaugural season. The other, the 1967-68 St. Louis Blues, had an advantage. The six expansion teams that year were bunched into one division. Whichever team won the division headed to the Final.
The Golden Knights did not stop at the expansion fairy tale. They turned the early momentum into a sustained window. Vegas has made multiple deep playoff runs, including a Stanley Cup championship in 2023 that validated the front office’s aggressive approach in trades and free agency, from acquiring Mark Stone to landing Jack Eichel.
Now, Vegas is back in the Stanley Cup Final for the third time in its ninth year of existence.
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So where do the Golden Knights rank in this list? Here’s a hint: You won’t have to wait long to find them, just like Vegas fans got a free pass to the Final.
An expansion team, in this context, is a new franchise added to the NHL as opposed to an existing club that relocates.
2017-18 Vegas Golden Knights
The Vegas Golden Knights did what every expansion club dreams about and nobody rationally expects. They went to the Stanley Cup Final in their first season. Built under modern expansion rules that gave them a better shot at NHL-caliber depth, Vegas still shocked the league by winning the Pacific Division and rolling through the Los Angeles Kings, San Jose Sharks and Winnipeg Jets in the playoffs. Ultimately, the Washington Capitals ended the amazing run in a five-game Stanley Cup Final.
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The inaugural team leaned heavily on players other clubs misjudged, from William Karlsson’s breakout to Marc-André Fleury’s resurgence. Vegas quickly turned that surprise into an identity, and their instant relevance in a brand new market became the new benchmark every future expansion bid will be measured against.
When the NHL absorbed four World Hockey Association clubs in 1979, the Edmonton Oilers brought with them a 19-year-old center who changed everything. Within a few years of joining the league, Edmonton turned from a former WHA experiment into a dynasty built around that young center, Wayne Gretzky, and Mark Messier, Paul Coffey and an offensive style that rewrote the record book.
The Oilers made the playoffs in each of their first 13 years in the NHL. They made the Final in their third year and won their first Stanley Cup in 1984. Then, Edmonton took four titles in a five-year stretch, giving a relatively new franchise the kind of sustained dominance usually associated with decades-old clubs. Even after trading Gretzky, Edmonton managed one more Cup in 1990, cementing their expansion-to-dynasty arc as one of the most dramatic in league history. While some historians treat the WHA merger teams differently than traditional expansion clubs, the Oilers’ trajectory remains a benchmark for what a young franchise can become.
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The first modern expansion boom came in 1967, when the NHL doubled from six to 12 teams. The St. Louis Blues, one of those six expansion entries, immediately became the standard for early success by reaching the Stanley Cup Final in each of their first three seasons. In 1967-68, they clawed through the newly formed West Division and pushed the powerhouse Montreal Canadiens to four one-goal losses in the Final.
The format helped; the six expansion teams were walled off in their own division, which guaranteed one of them a spot in the Final every year. But St. Louis still had to beat their peers, and they did it with veteran star power and tight, defensive hockey. Early stalwarts like Glenn Hall and Al Arbour gave the team instant credibility. Their quick stability in a non-traditional market for that era also helped convince the league that going beyond the Original Six footprint could work. The young Blues never claimed the Cup, but the franchise won it all in 2018-19.
1979-80 Hartford Whalers
The Hartford Whalers never lifted the Cup, but they are still one of the better examples of a young franchise punching above its weight. Coming over from the WHA as well, Hartford found its footing in the early 1980s and reached the playoffs multiple times, including an impressive run to the second round in 1985–86 that included a sweep of the heavily favored Quebec Nordiques.
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They became one of those niche hockey success stories: a smaller market that built a real identity and a loyal fan base, powered by players who still have cult status today, like Ron Francis and Kevin Dineen. The Whalers never cashed in fully on that foundation before relocation, but as an expansion-era project, they showed how quickly a team could become central to its city and how a passionate fan base could outlive the franchise itself.
1991-92 San Jose Sharks
The San Jose Sharks were a classic expansion punching bag in their first two seasons, piling up losses while they figured out what they were. Year 3 changed the conversation. The 1993–94 Sharks not only made the playoffs, they stunned the Detroit Red Wings in a seven-game first-round upset that sits high on the list of all-time postseason shocks.
San Jose became a model for how a new franchise could grow into a consistent playoff presence without the benefit of an expansion draft stacked in their favor. Over the next two decades the Sharks became a regular contender, reaching multiple conference finals and a Stanley Cup Final appearance in 2016. Their long run of relevance, given how ugly the first years were, is one of the strongest arc-to-arc expansion stories.
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As part of the early 90s push into Sun Belt markets, the Florida Panthers entered the league in 1993-94 and were supposed to be a long-term project. Instead, they made the playoffs in their third season and rode hot goaltending and disciplined defense all the way to the 1996 Stanley Cup Final, where they finally ran into the Colorado Avalanche buzzsaw.
The Panthers became famous for the plastic rats fans threw onto the ice after goals, but the underlying story was an expansion club that hit on its identity early. They did not sustain that level in the late 90s and 2000s, yet that quick rise to a Final in such a young hockey market helped the league justify its southern strategy and foreshadowed the franchise’s more recent resurgence.
The Minnesota Wild entered in 2000-01 as a consolation prize for a state that had lost the North Stars in 1993. By their third season, they gave that fan base something tangible: a run to the 2003 Western Conference Final that included series wins over the Colorado Avalanche and Vancouver Canucks, both in seven games after trailing 3–1.
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Even when they settled into more modest results, the Wild proved the point that a carefully managed expansion roster could compete before long. They became one of the league’s more stable organizations in terms of attendance and regional presence, which matters when you look at expansion success beyond pure trophies. Their ability to reconnect Minnesota with NHL hockey also underscored how powerful an “expansion” can be when it restores a traditional market.
The Serie A club are in the market for a wing-back in order to play Amorim’s preferred 3-4-3 formation, with Mazraoui viewed as an ideal candidate for that role.
Reports in Italy claim the Serie A club would make a move to sign the United defender, if decision-makers at Old Trafford make it clear they are open to selling.
There are also said to be concerns about what role the Moroccan World Cup star would play in Amorim’s system, having also played as a centre-half under the Portuguese head coach during his time at Old Trafford.
According to Fabrizio Romano, Mazraoui has signed with new agency Panthera, who will represent him moving forward, though it remains to be seen if there’s any correlation between that decision and a transfer this summer.
The 28-year-old defender made 20 appearances for United last season, missing a large chunk of the campaign for the African Cup of Nations.
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Mazraoui struggled to get back into Michael Carrick’s side after returning from the winter tournament, but did impress the then-interim United head coach, winning his place back in the side.
“Yeah he’s come back well, Nous,” Carrick said last season after reintegrating Mazraoui back into the side. “It was a difficult one, obviously, on the back of the final and how it panned out.
“[He had] a few days to digest that then back in and around it. He’s been fantastic in and around the group and around training.
“Obviously, he came on at the end of the game and played a part for us, as you’d expect. So yeah, again [we want to] just keep thickening the squad, bolstering the squad and it’s great to have him back.”
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On Saturday, Anthony Joshua left fight fans with their hearts in their mouths in a dramatic five-minute shootout before registering a stoppage win against Kristian Prenga, and fellow British heavyweight Derek Chisora has offered his thoughts on the performance of ‘AJ’.
Speaking to Seconds Out, Chisora said that Joshua was ‘sleeping’ when he stepped through the ropes and criticised the London 2012 Olympic gold medallist for not using his jab.
“He decided to go in there without using his jab and he got laid out. There is no two ways about it, he got hit.
“It doesn’t matter how big you are, if someone hits you at the right time, in the right spot, you are going down. Heavyweight, non-heavyweight, it don’t matter, it is lights out.
“He came into the ring sleeping and then he woke the f**k up, that is it. That dude was asleep.”
Chisora remains unconcerned though, admitting that he was impressed by Joshua once he had settled into the contest against Prenga.
“I don’t give a f**k [about Joshua’s punch resistance], I just want him to fight Tyson Fury. All of this nonsense [about punch resistance], you guys are not doctors, we are not doctors, we can’t say [anything about] punch resistance or that he is done.
“He is the only guy who can decide for himself if he is done and he looks good when he gets his hands going.”
Fury-Joshua is expected to take place in November, with Madison Square Garden in New York City believed to be the current frontrunner to stage the long-awaited clash.
Naoya Inoue has been linked to a fascinating showdown with pound-for-pound rival Jesse Rodriguez in recent weeks, but it seems as though the meeting is far from guaranteed, with Inoue stating that he is not ‘obsessed’ with facing the Texan.
Inoue defended his undisputed super-bantamweight world title for the seventh time when he scored a legendary win over fellow Japanese sensation Junto Nakatani back in May, in what many believe to be the biggest fight in the nation’s long and proud history of boxing.
That victory sparked rumours of an early 2027 clash with ‘Bam’ Rodriguez, who vacated all three of his super-flyweight world titles to move closer to Inoue and up to bantamweight, where he then dethroned WBA champion Antonio Vargas a few weeks later.
Upon hearing those rumours, Inoue has revealed that he is unwilling to further delay a fight with Rodriguez and threatened to move on from the proposal and up to featherweight, if it does not take place when he wishes, as per Sanspo.
“I can’t do it [fight Rodriguez] later [than February].”
“No, I’m not particular about Bam either. If Bam says, ‘I want to spend a little more [time] at bantamweight’, I’m already thinking about the featherweight challenge.
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“If I can do it [fight Bam] around February, I will do it. However, if you go beyond that and get a little longer, I don’t have to be that obsessed with Bam, and I am not obsessed. I will go my own way,”
Inoue’s words may cause Eddie Hearn to rethink plans to stage Rodriguez-Medina at the end of the year, with a potential two month turnaround sure to prove too short for the American star.
Manchester United are interested in signing Aurelien Tchouameni this summer as Michael Carrick looks to strengthen his midfield as he starts the season in charge at Old Trafford for the first time
Real Madrid may be rubbing their hands together after tying Aurelien Tchouameni to a three-year contract extension. The Spanish giants made the move, in part, because they did not believe that Manchester City star Rodri was available, but now it could simply leave them in the position to command a significant fee for the Frenchman.
Los Blancos offered Tchouameni a better salary to tie him down, but in order to make a significant incoming transfer, are required to make a significant sale, per the National. The agreed contract extension warded off any danger of losing the former Monaco star for free in the near future.
Reportedly, Real Madrid believe that Rodri could be available, though they are looking at multiple transfer deals. City are understood to be unwilling to sell the Spanish midfielder for the moment, meaning uncertainty over Jose Mourinho’s midfield and Tchouameni could persist.
Michael Carrick has already added two central midfielders to his squad this summer. Andrey Santos and Youri Tielemans have been added to a group that includes Kobbie Mainoo and more attacking options in Bruno Fernandes and Mason Mount.
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There were good signs from Andrey on his first one. He’s getting in the rhythm and feel of it again, so it was good to see him in a red shirt,” Carrick explained following the Brazilian’s pre-season debut against Wrexham.
At City, Enzo Maresca has said Rodri would ‘be back with us’ and that he wasn’t worried by the transfer talk surrounding his star midfielder. The Ballon d’Or contender has been offered fresh terms by the club ahead of his contract expiring next summer.
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After losing Bernardo Silva, City have already added Elliot Anderson for £116million, and are interested in Lille star Ayyoub Bouaddi. It remains to be seen how that interplays with Rodri’s future.
A move for Tchouameni could also be foiled if Vinicius Junior moves to Arsenal. Real Madrid have yet to agree a new contract for the winger and the Gunners are prepared to make a significant deal to sign him, meaning that Los Blancos may not be required to make a second lofty sale to bring in cash.
United have also been linked to Roma and France midfielder Manu Kone, Bournemouth star Alex Scott and Brighton’s Alex Scott.
Former Manchester United striker Danny Welbeck could be on the move this summer after enjoying a brilliant season which saw him help Brighton qualify for Europe again
Rio Ferdinand has urged Danny Welbeck to snub Chelsea in favour of a sensational return to Manchester United. The United academy graduate is in dialogue with the Blues this summer as Xabi Alonso looks to bolster his attacking options at Stamford Bridge.
Our sister title football.london understands that club-to-club negotiations have begun between Chelsea and Brighton & Hove Albion, with a view to the centre-forward arriving in west London ahead of the new season. The 35-year-old rolled back the years with Brighton last term.
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The former United and England striker bagged 14 goals and two assists across all competitions for Fabian Hurzeler’s men to help them qualify for the Europa Conference League. And despite Chelsea not being involved in any European competition next term, it is understood that personal terms will not be a problem and he could very well be pulling on a Blues jersey come August.
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The surprise developments on Monday have led to Ferdinand, who shared a dressing room with Welbeck at Old Trafford, to plead with United to step in. The former centre-back has pointed out that Michael Carrick’s side will be able to offer Champions League football – unlike Alonso’s team.
Posting on X, he said: “Welbs…. Ignore + come back home! Champions League football next season in Manchester.”
Welbeck made his Premier League debut for United as a 17-year-old, scoring in 2008 during Sir Alex Ferguson‘s tenure. After gaining experience during several loan stints, he was fully integrated into the first team under Ferguson and also bagged nine league goals from just 25 appearances during David Moyes’ single season at the helm.
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The appointment of Louis van Gaal in the summer of 2014 signalled a new chapter for the club and it panned out better for some players than for others. While some of his colleagues thrived, it did not take long for Welbeck to realise that his future lay elsewhere.
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The forward had grown frustrated during Moyes’ reign, frequently forced to play on the left wing where he didn’t feel he could show his best qualities. It soon also became clear that, were he to assume a central striker role under Van Gaal, it wouldn’t be as the manager’s top choice, having not been named in any of his first three starting line-ups in the league.
He went on to join Premier League rivals Arsenal in August 2014 where he scored 32 goals in 126 appearances – winning two FA Cups under the guidance of Arsene Wenger.
And Welbeck admitted in November 2014, via the Mirror, that his decision to leave United was one he had contemplated for at least 12 months before the move to north London happened.
He said: “When you’ve been somewhere for so long and then you’re going to start a new chapter in your career, you’ve got to think about it a lot. Over the past year or so, I started to think about what’s best for me.
“At the time I was playing on the left wing a lot and in a 4–4-2, which is very difficult for me because I can’t make an impact on the game. I can play it to the best of my ability but that’s not best for the team, and I could make a bigger impact playing in my preferred position.
“You start to have thoughts but at that time you’re still going to training and I was still giving 100 per cent and giving my all in every single game – that’s just me, I’m not going to change that. But you do start to think about what’s best for you.”
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Welbeck went on to spend a season at Watford in 2019/20 before joining Brighton, where he has largely excelled ever since.
FC Copenhagen welcome Ukrainian side Polissya Zhytomyr to Parken Stadium in Denmark for the second leg of their UEFA Conference League second qualifying round tie on Wednesday. The first leg at the Kosicka futbalova arena in Slovakia ended 3-3 last Thursday.
The six-goal thriller saw a double from Robert and a goal courtesy of Mads Emil Madsen for Copenhagen, while Polissya’s goals came from Oleksandr Filippov, Oleg Fedor, and Igor Krasnopir. That result leaves it all to play for in this second leg.
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FC Copenhagen sealed their place in the UEFA Conference League second round of qualifying by beating rivals Brondby 3-1 in extra time to win a domestic European playoff match in May.
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Byens Hold kicked off the new Superliga season this past weekend, beginning with a 3-2 home win against Lyngby to get the first three points on the board. Now, their focus will be on finishing the job they started in Slovakia last week.
Meanwhile, Polissya Zhytomyr came third in last season’s Ukrainian Premier League table with 59 points from 30 games to earn their spot in the UEFA Conference League qualifiers.
In preparation for the Conference League qualifiers and the new Ukrainian Premier League season, The Wolves have played numerous friendlies against the likes of Tirol, Viktoria Plzen, Jagiellonia, and Sabah, but their results have been mixed, with three losses, three wins, and a draw in their seven friendlies since 29 June.
The winning team in this two-legged tie will advance to the third qualifying round, while the losing side are completely knocked out of European competition.
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FC Copenhagen vs Polissya Zhytomyr head-to-head stats and key numbers
This second leg will be only the second time that FC Copenhagen and Polissya Zhytomyr have faced each other.
FC Copenhagen have recorded three wins and two draws in their most recent five games across all competitions.
Polissya Zhytomyr have lost two, drawn two, and won one of their last five matches.
FC Copenhagen vs Polissya Zhytomyr prediction
This is effectively a playoff to determine which team will continue in Europe and which will be eliminated from all UEFA competitions.
After a chaotic first leg that exposed defensive vulnerabilities on both sides, the Danish side are expected to control the tempo at home to keep Polissya from gaining the upper hand, while the Ukrainian side will likely aim to cause damage to the hosts through rapid counterattacks.
We expect FC Copenhagen to leverage their home support and the energy from their fans to secure a narrow win.
Once he was unbeatable. Now Adam Ramsay-Peaty admits he’s only human.
Ramsay-Peaty arrived in Glasgow with high hopes of becoming the first British swimmer to win individual gold medals at four consecutive Commonwealth Games.
In 2022, Peaty lost out in his signature 100m breaststroke event but roared back to win over the shorter distance just 48 hours later. Four years on, and while the mind maintains its trademark steely focus, it’s clear the body is not so kind.
Peaty claimed he ‘deserved more’ than his bronze in the 100m, but there can surely be no arguments with this result in the splash-and-dash 50m breaststroke.
He was the third-fastest qualifier, and that form held up as he claimed another bronze while Australia’s Sam Williamson secured another gold.
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At 31, Ramsay-Peaty is learning quickly that, for all the talk, he can’t defy the simple passage of time.
“I used to be the winning machine. Now I’ve shown my human side,” he said. “For that period when I was undefeated for eight years, it was athlete first and human second. Now it’s human first, then athlete.
“I’ve been that person who won all the time, and it cost me pretty much everything. I wouldn’t say it’s worth it now.
“There’s been a lot of learning this week. I’m pretty sure that was my last individual event at the Commonwealth Games. I really enjoyed it, but we just weren’t fast enough. We weren’t good enough, and we have to look at why.
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“Every day in training this season I’ve been tracking in the right direction, so I can’t really put my finger on it. Somewhere along the way I’ve lost that power per stroke, but that’s sport.
“I’m not going to lie, it’s frustrating when you can’t quite put your finger on what’s wrong. You digest it, just like in any other sport. You look at the data, work out what went wrong and really focus on fixing those areas.”
Adam Ramsay-Peaty takes bronze in the men’s 50m breaststroke final (Andrew Milligan/PA) (PA Wire)
Ramsay-Peaty is more reflective than bombastic these days, showing a side that he previously kept hidden. Next up in just a few weeks are the European Championships in Paris, a return to the city where he felt at his lowest in the days after the Olympics two years ago.
Ramsay-Peaty’s preparations have also been shaped by significant change away from the pool. After long-time coach Mel Marshall left Loughborough for Australia following the Paris Olympics, he reunited with Jamie Main at Repton.
But that partnership proved short-lived as he relocated to London with his wife Holly – daughter of celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay. He is now based at Chelsea and Westminster Swimming Club under coach Lisa Bates, dividing his training between Kensington and the London Aquatics Centre in Stratford.
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It would be bold to bet against him turning this around, though the odds are clearly starting to lengthen.
“There are always two arguments going on in my head: ‘I’m good enough’ and ‘I’m not good enough’,” he said. “I have to channel that frustration into the right areas, and right now that’s looking ahead to the Europeans.
“There’s still a lot of work to do. We need to change a few things in training, but that’s between me and Lisa. I’ve only been at my new training base for 12 weeks, so let’s keep it in perspective.”
Ramsay-Peaty’s future may be on borrowed time, but Amalie Smith, just 16, is certainly one to watch for LA and beyond.
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England’s Amalie Smith won a silver medal in the Women’s 400m Individual Medley (Getty)
Smith has been carving time off her personal best in recent weeks and took another chunk off it with a silver-medal swim in the 400m medley final.
Australia’s Jenna Forrester proved too strong but, on this evidence, Hannah Miley’s British record of 4:31.33, set 17 years ago, could soon be under threat.
“I was thinking I’d love to win a medal, but the fact I’ve actually managed to achieve it is just crazy. I’ll definitely have to spend some time reflecting on it,” said Smith.
“I think the key is not getting ahead of myself and actually taking a step back to appreciate what I’ve achieved. At the same time, it’s about setting realistic goals, making progress bit by bit and using every race as a learning experience.
“It’s hard to say whether I feel like I belong at this level yet, but if I keep swimming like this I’ll start to feel more at home.”
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At this past week’s 3M Open, Lucas Glover learned what Paul McCartney discovered nearly 60 years ago when he appeared barefoot on the cover of Abbey Road: Take off your shoes in a strange place, and people are bound to talk.
And when enough people talk, they’re bound to lose track of the facts in the process.
In case you missed the misguided chatter, let’s walk it back.
During Sunday’s final round at TPC Twin Cities, Glover rolled in a birdie putt on the par-4 10th hole, then removed his golf shoes before reaching into the cup to retrieve his ball. The move immediately sparked speculation on Golf Channel and beyond that Glover — an outspoken critic of the AimPoint green-reading method — was making another statement about the controversial technique.
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He wasn’t.
On Monday, the former U.S. Open champ took to Instagram to set the record straight.
“Alight, let’s clear this up,” he wrote, before explaining that his impromptu footwear move had nothing to do with AimPoint. Instead, he said, it stemmed from a complaint he’d received about wearing metal spikes.
Glover has been a metal-spikes guy since he first got on Tour 23 years ago. Sunday’s round, he said, marked the first time he’d been approached about his footwear, mid-competition. More unusual still, he noted, the person who approached him was not a player but an official.
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“First of all, it’s not the officials’ place. I wasn’t breaking any rules,” Glover wrote. “Secondly, there were people in the groups in front of me and behind me wearing metal spikes as well.”
Glover described his barefoot stroll as a “demonstration,” but said it had nothing to do with AimPoint. Rather, he explained, it was his way of approaching the hole without scuffing up the turf.
To make sure no one missed the message, Glover kept returning to the same refrain regarding a 2019 rules change regarding spike marks.
“Have I mentioned that we can tamp them down now?”
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Actually, he had.
Glover also said he was puzzled that anyone connected his actions to AimPoint.
“My demonstration yesterday had nothing to do with AimPoint,” he wrote. “I have no idea how anyone came to that conclusion.”
More than anything, though, Glover said he regretted that the episode became a story at all, particularly on a day when 21-year-old Jackson Koivun claimed his first Tour victory.
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“My biggest disappointment in all of this is that a small faction are talking about this, a non-issue, instead of Jackson Koivun,” Glover wrote.
His explanation should put the AimPoint theories to rest. But if Glover wants to avoid another round of similar chatter, he might consider doing what John, George and Ringo did on Abbey Road and keep his shoes on.
Former Man City boss Pep Guardiola had been in talks to take over the Italian national team
Italian football chiefs Paolo Maldini and Leonardo have reportedly resigned from their roles as technical director and advisor in the country’s Football Federation. It’s a surprise U-turn from the AC Milan legend Maldini, who has spent just ten days in the role.
Maldini had been keen on appointing former AC Milan teammate Andrea Pirlo as head coach of the Italian national team, a week on from talks with Manchester City icon Pep Guardiola.
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The former City boss had been in talks to take over the struggling European nation, who did not qualify for this summer’s World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
After being turned down by Guardiola, Maldini focused on Pirlo, but Italian football president Giovanni Malago reportedly did not want to appoint the former midfielder due to his ties to Russian betting brands.
Maldini and Leonardo are said to have left their position with immediate effect, having spent just over a week in the role.
It’s yet another blow for Italian football having been turned down by Guardiola last week. The former City manager is said to have told the Italian Football Federation: “Thank you, I’m honoured, but at this moment, I don’t feel it.”
It’s unclear what lies ahead for the legendary City boss, having already had a sabbatical from football after leaving Barcelona earlier in his managerial career.
It was claimed that Guardiola, who reportedly agreed a deal with the English FA to take control of the Three Lions in 2024 before changing his mind, asked for £17m a-year in salary demands.
The Catalan manager currently retains a position within City Football Group in an advisory capacity for clubs including Palermo, Lommel and Troyes.
The Manchester Evening News understands that the role prevents him from accepting another managerial post, though it is thought City’s ownership would be unlikely to block his path if he wished to do so.
Speaking earlier this week, FIGC president Giovanni Malago hinted at a financial disparity in talks with Guardiola. “There are certain financial aspects to be considered, and it’s an understatement to say we’d have to grit our teeth for this,” he said in an interview with the Italian media.
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“Some exceptions have been made, for example, exceptions that regard the name making such waves at the moment: Pep Guardiola.
“I don’t need to sit here and explain the obvious reasons why he’d be an exception, but that is also no guarantee that this will go through.”
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