“It’s crazy when you think about it,” says Ryan Cardwell, former youth scout at Liverpool and Southampton.

“In what other kind of world would 15 and 16-year-olds be spoken about in the media like this?”

This summer alone, all six of the Premier League’s wealthiest clubs either signed a highly-rated academy player from another, or lost a youngster to a direct rival.

“It is such a competitive market,” Cardwell explains. “There are now tens of transfers between the elite academies every summer, when it used to be the case that if you were already at one of those, you would likely stay the course.

“The race for talent is huge – you look at what teams are spending on transfers for senior players and it’s enormous, so if you can spot a player earlier and offset some of that financial risk, you’re going to do so.”

Some inside football claim that the transfer of Rio Ngumoha – the now 18-year-old winger who was called up to this month’s senior England squad – from Chelsea to Liverpool at the age of 15 in 2024 ushered in a new era of competition for academy players among the nation’s elite.

One of the major factors is Brexit. Before 2021 English clubs were allowed to sign academy players over the age of 16 who held European Union passports.

Since the UK left the EU, foreign players cannot join English clubs until they reach 18.

“Heathrow and Gatwick [airports] on a Friday night were inundated with scouts going to other countries to look for young players”, says Caldwell.

“Belgium and the Netherlands were full of scouts for Premier League clubs.

“Now it’s the competition between English clubs that has increased, looking at each other’s players, including the old-school ‘top six’ but also the likes of Southampton, Aston Villa, and Fulham.”

Young players have further added financial value – youth signings don’t count towards the Premier League’s squad cost ratio rules, and any future sale counts as ‘pure profit’ in club accounts.

Advances in video technology and data analysis mean more young players are being identified, tracked and approached by rival clubs than ever before.

2

Manchester United‘s Bruno Fernandes has had a positive start to the season in spite of his team’s poor showing.

Start to season

While United sit in 12th place in the league and have already been knocked out of the EFL Cup, Fernandes has scored four goals, including a hat-trick against Ipswich Town.

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The Portugal international also started for his nation in their 1-0 win over Wales in the Nations League last night.

Fernandes played in the unusual position on the left of midfield for new manager Jorge Jesus. The United captain was able to contribute five key passes in the match and boasted a passing percentage of 86%.

In the manager’s press conference after the match, Jesus claimed Fernandes “can do better” in the future in this position than he did against Wales.

Bruno response

Speaking after the match, to Sport TV in comments carried by Portuguese paper Record, Fernandes defended his coach’s selection.

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He claimed, “if you notice, I’ve rarely been out on the wing. I’ve been defending, yes—marking the fullback, pressing him in the higher areas of the field.”

He continued to elaborate by claiming, “otherwise, it’s very much about the coach’s vision: having a player in the middle who can link up play, drop back to build from the back, provide support to both the centre forward and the second striker, create a triangle through the middle and on the wings, and help on both sides of the field. That’s what I did.”

Fernandes also asserted that new manager Jesus expects him to play in a number of different positions and roles whilst he is coach of the national team.

The 32-year-old stated, “the coach asked me to play this role for this game. He’s already told me that I can play in different positions under him, so for me, the most important thing is that whatever I do helps the team, and I’ll always do my best in whatever position the coach puts me in.”

Fernandes will next be in action on Sunday against Norway.

He will finally come up against his teammate Patrick Dorgu when they face Denmark on Thursday night next week.

Asian Games 2026 Day 6 LIVE Updates: Shooters spearheaded a stellar start to Day 6 for India in Aichi-Nagoya, clinching both a Gold and a Silver medal to elevate the nation’s tally to 19. Suruchi and Kamaljeet delivered a dominant performance to claim Gold in the 10m air pistol mixed team final, while also breaking the Asian record, while the trio of Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, Niraj Kumar, and Rudrankksh Patil bagged Silver in the men’s 50m rifle 3 positions team event. More medals are already locked in across other disciplines: Diya Chitale and Manush Shah have secured a mixed doubles table tennis podium spot, while squash veteran Joshana Chinappa and Velavan Senthilkumar guaranteed at least a bronze by advancing to the mixed doubles semi-finals. The Indian women’s hockey team also booked a spot in the semifinal after beating Japan 3-1 in their Pool B match. The Indian women’s kabaddi team defeated Nepal in the semifinal to book a spot in the gold medal match. Anahat Singh secured a dominant 3-0 win over Tanvi Sharma in the Women’s Singles Squash quarter-finals to enter the last 4. (Medals Tally)

Asian Games 2026 Day 6 Results:

Surfing: Sugar Shanti Gayen and Kamali Prakash finish last in their respective heats in women’s shortboard round 1.

Badminton: Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto defeated the Maldivian pair of Aminath Abdul Razzaq and Nibal Ahmed in the first round of the mixed doubles.

Canoe Sprint: Prohit Baroi and Prasanna Kumar finished fifth in the men’s kayak double 500m semi-final 1, progressing to Final B.

Canoe Sprint: Megha Pradeep and Neha Leichonbam finished fourth in the canoe double 500m semi-final 1 and have been eliminated.

Fencing: The Indian quartet of Aditya, Hemash Singh, Tejas Patil, and Sachin lost their Round of 16 tie against Hong Kong in the men’s team foil.

Shooting: Kamaljeet and Suruchi Inder Singh top 10m air pistol mixed team qualification event, mathch Asian record.

Swimming: Dhanush Suresh finished seventh in his men’s 50m breaststroke heat (21st overall), missing out on qualification for the final.

Table tennis: Harmeet Desai and Yashaswini Ghorpade lose to Lin Shidong and Kuai Man of China in mixed doubles quarterfinals.

Swimming: Rishabh Das finishes second in men’s 200m backstroke heat 1.

Table Tennis: Diya Chitale and Manush Shah beat Wong Chun Ting-Doo Hoi Kem of Hong Kong to qualify for semifinals, assure India a medal.

Squash: Joshana Chinappa-Velavan Senthilkumar reach mixed doubles semifinal, assure India a medal.

Swimming: Rishabh Das finished fourth and Utkarsh Patil was ninth overall in men’s 200m backstroke heats, both into final.

Athletics: Anamika Aneesh finished 6th while Pooja only managed to bag the 10th spot in women’s heptathlon long jump. Overall, they are placed 7th and 9th.

Fencing: Anupriya, Mitva Chaudhari, Tanishka Khatri, Yashkeerat Kaur lose to Uzbekistan in women’s epee team round of 16.

Swimming: Aneesh Sunil finished 17th, Dhakshan Shashikumar 18th in men’s 400m freestyle heats. Both fail to qualify for the final.

Shooting: Kamaljeet and Suruchi clinched gold medal for India in 10m Air Pistol Mixed Team final.

Shooting: Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, Niraj Kumar, Rudrankksh Patil win silver medal for India in Men’s 50m Rifle Team final.

Hockey: Indian women’s team beats Japan 3-1 in Pool B clash to qualify for semifinals.

Badminton: Unnati Hooda beats Yu Mi Song in opening women’s singles match.

Squash: Anahat Singh beats compatriot Tanvi Sharma 11-2, 11-5, 11-3 to qualify for women’s singles semifinals.

Kabaddi: India beat Nepal 48-24 to qualify for Gold Medal match in women’s kabaddi.

Boxing: Sachin qualifies for men’s 60kg quarterfinals with a 4-1 win over Mohammad Abu Jajeh.

Esports: India go down 0-2 to South Korea in Pokemon Unite.

Shooting: India’s Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, Niraj Kumar finish 5th and 8th respectively in Men’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions Individual Final.

Squash: India’s Veer Chotrani loses to Muhammad Irfan 1-4 in men’s singles quarterfinals.

Here are the LIVE Scores and Updates from India’s action on Day 6 of the Asian Games 2026:

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Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii will start on the wing for the first time for Australia with Ben Donaldson backed at fly half for their meeting with South Africa in Perth.

Suaalii has played at outside centre and full-back since crossing codes from rugby league in 2024 but switches role as new Wallabies boss Les Kiss seeks to get the best out of the 23-year-old’s athletic talent.

His switch to the left wing sees Hunter Paisami and Len Ikitau paired in midfield, with Donaldson partnered by Ryan Lonergan in the halves.

Brandon Paenga-Amosa splits Angus Bell and Allan Alaalatoa in an experienced front row in the sole change to the starting pack that featured in the drawn Test against Argentina last month.

Kiss opts for six forwards on the bench as he prepares for the physical challenge that the Springboks will bring.

“We’ve had a solid preparation window here in Perth ahead of what’s going to be a massive Test against South Africa,” Kiss, as yet unbeaten in four matches as Australia head coach, said.

“Playing against the number one team in the world focuses the mind and we have worked hard on key areas to meet this challenge and continue to grow our game.”

Australia XV to face South Africa in Perth (Sunday 27 September, 10.45am BST): 1 Angus Bell, 2 Brandon Paenga-Amosa, 3 Allan Alaalatoa; 4 Josh Canham, 5 Jeremy Williams; 6 Rob Valetini, 7 Fraser McReight, 8 Harry Wilson (capt.); 9 Ryan Lonergan, 10 Ben Donaldson; 11 Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii, 12 Hunter Paisami, 13 Len Ikitau, 14 Max Jorgensen; 15 Tom Wright.

Replacements: 16 Billy Pollard, 17 Aidan Ross, 18 Taniela Tupou, 19 Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, 20 Tom Hooper, 21 Carlo Tizzano; 22 Tate McDemott, 23 Harry Potter.

WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. – A platitude often floated in the early days of spring training is everyone in a team’s camp might see a chance to contribute at some point during a long season. It is a calming notion when rosters are still forming and hopes are nascent and October feels far away.

Thursday night, with their season and playoff hopes perhaps on the line, the Houston Astros witnessed it manifest.

Two rookies who were not on their opening day roster, who did not debut until midseason, who were at Triple-A earlier this month, propelled the Astros to a 7-5 win over the A’s at Sutter Health Park that held their position in the American League West race with three days remaining.

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With the Rangers winning earlier in the day, the Astros needed to win to stay tied atop the division with Texas, against whom they own the tiebreaker. No two players proved more important to the effort than center fielder Lucas Spence and reliever Miguel Ullola.

Spence, recalled from Triple-A a day earlier amid Houston‘s center-field injuries, playing in his 16th major-league game, hit three home runs. They were his first in the majors. A three-run homer gave Houston an early lead. A solo shot wrested it back in the sixth after the A’s had erased it.

Another in the ninth padded a one-run lead. Spence became the 14th player in Astros history to record a three-homer game, per Baseball Reference. At 23 years and 240 days, he is the second-youngest. Yordan Alvarez, who had one at 22 years and 44 days old in 2019, was the youngest.

Ullola, making his 10th major-league outing, two days after he threw a career-high 33 pitches in Seattle, threw three scoreless relief innings on 35 pitches, creating stability in the middle of a pitching carousel.

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Starter Peter Lambert did not escape the third inning. The Astros trailed 4-3 when Ullola entered for the fifth. They led 5-4 when Ullola ended the seventh by inducing a fly out by Shea Langeliers, unleashing a burst of emotion on the mound. Ullola retired nine of 10 batters he faced.

While he worked, solo home runs by Isaac Paredes and Spence put the Astros back ahead, 5-4. Christian Walker made it 6-4 with a home run in the eighth. Zack Gelof pared the lead back to one with his second home run of the night in the bottom of the inning.

Bryan Abreu, called on for a four-out save after Josh Hader threw 44 pitches a night earlier, retired Jonah Heim to end the eighth with two runners on base. Spence provided an insurance run in the ninth. Abreu returned to the mound and finished a win that felt mandatory.

Mason Barnett goes six for A’s

Barnett, a 25-year-old right-hander, entered with a 7.16 ERA in 44 major-league innings this year. None of his previous 10 major-league starts had lasted six innings. This one did.

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The Astros mustered four hits against Barnett, who walked two batters and struck out six. Two of those hits cleared the fence: Spence’s three-run home run in the second inning and Paredes’ solo home run in the sixth. The latter tied the game after Barnett had retired 11 of his last 12 hitters.

Barnett led with a four-seam fastball that averaged 93.7 mph, throwing it 51% of the time. Astros hitters whiffed on six of 20 swings against it and averaged an 88.1 mph exit velocity on six put into play. Paredes did drive a 3-1 four-seamer onto the roof of the clubhouse beyond left field to forge a 4-4 tie.

After that swing, Barnett retired his next three batters to finish the sixth at 87 pitches. His six innings and eight strikeouts, against an Astros offense that entered with the majors’ second-fewest runs scored since the Aug. 3 trade deadline, were both career highs.

Quick hook for Peter Lambert

Lambert worked his first two innings scoreless. He struck out six of his first 11 batters faced. His outing derailed quickly in the third inning.

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After a leadoff walk turned the A’s lineup over, Lambert struck out his next two batters. Shea Langeliers singled after overturning a called third strike with an ABS challenge. Jeff McNeil then hit a 2-2 fastball into the visitors’ bullpen. Lambert spun around and put his hands on his head in apparent disbelief.

McNeil’s swing tied the game. Two pitches later, Gelof hit a changeup 413 feet to straightaway center field to put the A’s ahead. A single by Donovan Walton marked the fourth straight hit against Lambert and ended his night. He recorded eight outs on 62 pitches.

It marked the third straight game the Astros’ starter did not complete the third. Cristian Javier threw two innings Tuesday before exiting with a groin injury. Ethan Pecko was chased in the third inning Wednesday in Seattle.

The outing was Lambert’s shortest of the season. He had completed at least five innings in all but four of his previous 27 starts. The quick hook likely reflected the magnitude of this game, but it could potentially also keep Lambert in play for an appearance later in the series.

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Big swings from Lucas Spence

Houston’s embattled outfield is limping to the finish line. Astros outfielders entered Thursday with a .651 OPS this season, the majors’ lowest mark. Center fielder Daulton Varsho, the Astros’ lone trade deadline addition, landed on the injured list Thursday with a wrist ailment. Outfielder Brice Matthews returned to the IL on Wednesday after aggravating the left knee that sidelined him for two months.

Matthews’ IL placement ushered Spence back to the majors. Spence had played in 15 games for Houston prior to Thursday, going 6-for-40 with one extra-base hit.

After one-out singles by Walker and Cam Smith in the second, Spence drove a changeup from Barnett an estimated 429 feet to right field at 105.8 mph off the bat for his first major-league home run. Spence has 24 home runs in 859 career minor-league at-bats, so power is not his forte. His first with the Astros lent production from a depleted position group that has sorely lacked it.

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His next two created a historic night and kept the Astros on pace in a division race.

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This article originally published at Rookie Lucas Spence hits 3 home runs as Astros beat Athletics to stay tied for AL West lead.

A metric evaluating the strength of a team’s opponents within their conference will have heightened visibility and depth during the College Football Playoff selection process this season, CBS Sports has learned.

The tweak comes entering the third year of the 12-team CFP and as the disparity in conference schedules comes into greater focus following conference realignment.

A similar metric has been available to selection committee members in the past. However, it will be presented in a new fashion during this year’s selection process with an increased emphasis on the differences in schedule strength that can exist within a single league.

With the rise of megaconferences with at least 16 teams, teams’ scheduling strength can vary widely, creating large disparities in final records. Duke, for example, reached the ACC Championship Game after playing only one team ranked in the AP Top 25. Texas Tech is in a similar position in 2026 after beating No. 25 Houston, the only ranked team on its schedule. 

However, it’s unclear whether the metric will have much real-world impact, given that strength of schedule was already a meaningful data point considered in the process. Strength of schedule, head-to-head competition and outcomes against common opponents are set to retain their importance during this year’s selection process.

The metric evaluating conference opponent strength will help further contextualize the power of a conference when comparing two similar teams. Importantly, it will provide a measure of how tough a conference schedule was, even in regard to teams within the same league. 

The metric is a slightly strange one for Notre Dame, which does not play a conference schedule and must be evaluated as an at-large. However, it will still be compared against other teams in typical strength-of-schedule conversations.

2026 College Football Playoff bracket projection: Ole Miss climbs after signature win over LSU

John Talty

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Answering SEC complaints

CFP staff members met with SEC coaches during the offseason at spring meetings. The meeting was unexpectedly tense, as coaches seemed to regret the move to nine conference games without an expansion of the postseason. 

“Now, you could say there may be regret in there going to nine,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart told CBS Sports. “I’m not blaming the committee, I’m blaming the system, because I don’t know that they can recognize and acknowledge, truly, and say strength of schedule matters and you’re putting a team with one more loss in their column over a team that might have one less and they play the same schedule.”

The conference opponent strength metric, along with a revised strength-of-schedule, is likely designed to assuage their concerns. Four of the seven at-large selections were given to SEC schools last season. The group failed to win a single College Football Playoff game against an opponent from another Power Four league. 

The coaches specifically expressed anger that Big 12 member BYU — which didn’t even make the playoff — finished ahead of Texas and Vanderbilt in the rankings. The Cougars were several spots ahead of both SEC schools in the most commonly cited strength-of-record metric, though the committee has its own internal metrics it declines to share. 

Additionally, BYU finished with one fewer regular-season loss than Vanderbilt and two fewer than Texas. The Cougars picked up a second in the Big 12 Championship Game.

On its face, the College Football Playoff’s decision appears to be built around appeasing the SEC’s insecurity. While the new metric will reinforce that top-to-bottom, the SEC is the most powerful conference in the sport — a status few really question — it gives a seemingly superfluous metric to emphasize it.

/ @lockedoncollegefootball  

Ask columnist Jason Williams anything − sports or non-sports – and he’ll pick some of your questions and comments from his inbox and respond on Cincinnati.com. Email: jwilliams@enquirer.com

Message: What’s gotten into you? You have been the biggest Bengals critic in the Cincinnati media for years. Now you sound like a homer. Why the sudden change in your columns?

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Reply: You said the magic word: change.

Bengals ownership changed how they built a roster going into this season, and they deserve to be praised for doing so. Ownership showed a concerted effort to win by trading for Dexter Lawrence and investing $125 million in defensive free agents. That rebuilt defense has helped the Bengals jump out to a 2-0 start against teams that many projected to make the playoffs.

Bengals injuries Steelers Why the Bengals might need multiple players to fill in for Andrei Iosivas

What’s there to criticize right now?

I spent years criticizing Bengals ownership for not changing, so it’s only right that I praise the Brown/Blackburn family when they did. My job is to hold public and public-facing officials and institutions accountable and criticize when it’s warranted. It’s also to praise when it’s warranted. That’s the job of an opinion writer. Again, it’s not personal.

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This is how it should be: Our teams making legitimate efforts to be better and actually try to win championships. Amazing that the Bengals are being held up as the shining example of going-for-it in this city after all those years of ownership doing things the same way and caring more about profits. Going all-in to win should be the norm. Winning is great for civic pride. Didn’t we all feel a little better about life during the Bengals’ run to the Super Bowl in the 2021 season?

Winning and making money aren’t mutually exclusive. Spend money to make money. They both should be of utmost importance to every sports franchise owner. Otherwise, sell the team. Bengals ownership bought into that in the offseason, realizing that still trying to pinch pennies would waste the generational talents of Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase.

Magnificent job, Mike Brown. Kudos, Katie Blackburn. Now the Bengals just need Joe Burrow to stay healthy and a deep playoff run could be forthcoming this season.

Side note: I don’t like to compare the Bengals and Reds. They operate in two different economic models. But generally, don’t you find the role reversal between the approaches of the teams’ ownership fascinating?

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It’s the Reds who are now unwilling to change. They refuse to sacrifice a certain profit margin for going all out to win. And it’s the Reds, for decades beloved in this community, who have gotten really bad at public relations.

Sad to see what the Reds have become under Phil Castellini’s leadership.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Why I’ve changed my tone about Cincinnati Bengals | Williams