Ruben Amorim to sell Antony and Casemiro if appointed Manchester United manager, Sporting demand release fee, while Real Madrid eye Tottenham full-back Pedro Porro.

Ruben Amorim has already discussed his transfer plans with the Manchester United hierarchy and does not see winger Antony, midfielders Casemiro and Christian Eriksen or defender Victor Lindelof as part of his plans. (Team Talk), external

United’s bid to secure the services of Amorim has hit a snag after Sporting demanded £4m for his staff on top of the £8.3m release fee for the manager. (Times – subscription required), external

Amorim accepts he may be forced to wait until the international break next month to join United. (Telegraph – subscription required), external

West Ham’s decision not to appoint Amorim in the summer was down to his lack of experience in managing a big club, rather than a financial one. (Daily Mail), external

Barcelona are interested in AC Milan winger Rafael Leao, with the 25-year-old Portugal international currently out of favour at the San Siro. (Sport – in Spanish), external

Manchester City have rejected approaches from several clubs to take 18-year-old attacking midfielder Claudio Echeverri on loan with the Argentine expected to link up with Pep Guardiola’s side from River Plate at the start of 2025. (Fabrizio Romano), external

Roma have begun their search for a replacement manager should current boss Ivan Juric fail to win their next match against Torino. (Corriere dello Sport – in Italian), external

Erik ten Hag considered signing former Manchester United striker Danny Welbeck, now 33, from Brighton during his tenure as the Red Devils’ manager. (The Athletic – subscription required), external

West Ham will struggle to progress their interest in Atalanta forward Ademola Lookman, 27, with Paris St-Germain favourites to sign the Nigeria international if he becomes available. (Football Insider), external

Real Madrid will consider a move for Tottenham’s Spanish full-back Pedro Porro, 25, if they cannot complete a move for England and Liverpool defender Trent Alexander-Arnold. (AS – in Spanish), external

Clubs in the Saudi Pro League remain keen on signing Brazil forward Vinicius Junior, 24, from Real Madrid, hoping the player will be fatigued with European football after his Ballon d’Or snub. (Sport – in Spanish), external

Germany forward Thomas Muller, 35, is interested in a move to Major League Soccer when he leaves Bayern Munich. (Bild – in German), external

Napoli are continuing negotiations with Georgia forward Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, 23, over a new contract, which will include an £84m (100m euro) buyout clause. (Sky Sports Italia – in Italian), external

SIR ALEX FERGUSON was spotted in the stands for Manchester United’s 5-2 Carabao Cup win over Leicester on Wednesday night.

The legendary Red Devils manager, 82, was recently relieved of his £2million-a-year ambassadorial role at the club.

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But he remains welcome at matches and was on hand to watch the first game since Erik ten Hag was sacked.

Fergie will have been proud to see one of his former players, Ruud van Nistelrooy, taking charge of the team on an interim basis.

But it was not the Scot’s presence at the match that surprised fans.

Instead, it was the company he was keeping as he chatted to an England cricketing legend.

Michael Vaughan was pictured talking to Fergie during Man Utd‘s comfortable victory.

The skipper for England’s iconic 2005 Ashes triumph was a name many would not have expected to see with Ferguson.

And people reacted in their droves on social media.

One fan said: “Why is Michael Vaughan sitting next to SAF 😭😭.”

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Another added: “Is that Michael Vaughan I see at Old Trafford. 😭”

A third replied: “Poor Sir Alex having to watch the game with Michael Vaughan in his ear.”

While a fourth responded: “What is Michael Vaughan doing next to Sir Alex?”

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Kamaru Usman believes when the story of the BMF title is being told, his name should be part of the narrative.

Usman discussed the BMF title on his podcast with Henry Cejudo, and asked fans why they hold the championship — currently held by Max Holloway — in such high regard.

“Guys, why are we talking about it like this is a real title? It’s not,” Usman said on Pound 4 Pound. “This was a hypothetical that was made up because of me. It was made up because of me.”

The former welterweight champion says that when the BMF belt was introduced to the world at UFC 244, the original fight that the UFC brought to the table was Usman vs. Colby Covington. But the fight didn’t come together — which led to UFC CEO Dana White creating the BMF title that Nate Diaz called for in a callout for Jorge Masvidal, who had recently knocked out Ben Askren in record time at UFC 239 in July 2019.

When asked to elaborate by Cejudo, Usman says history would be different if he had defended his welterweight title against Covington that night in November 2019.

“Covington [and I] were supposed to fight at MSG, New York,” Usman explained. “The fight didn’t happen. They needed a fight to headline that card, they needed something with some steam. This is MSG, you can’t just put any fight card at MSG. You’ve got to come correct when you go to MSG. …

“What’s the hottest ticket out there? Jorge ‘Gambred’ Masvidal — the hottest thing smoking. Then, of course, you have Nate Diaz with his mystique that he always carries. … Nate Diaz had already called out Masvidal after his previous fight. … Dana jumps on, how do we promote this fight? Let’s create this, all right. It’s called the baddest mother f’er belt. C’mon, are you serious?”

Masvidal would win the fight via doctor’s stoppage TKO, and was awarded the BMF title by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.

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Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has insisted his team has done all it can to support a struggling Sergio Perez after a nightmare home weekend in Mexico.

Perez was eliminated in Q1, copped a time penalty for parking forward of his grid spot and then went on to lose further ground after he and RB’s combative Liam Lawson collided in Turn 5, resulting in floor damage.

After conceding to having a “terrible” season, Perez’s calamitous weekend has put further pressure on the 34-year-old to step up, and pressure on Red Bull to reconsider its options for 2025 after sliding to third place in the constructors’ standings.

When pressed on the Mexican’s future, Horner said: “Checo, again, has had a horrible weekend. Nothing has gone right for him this weekend.

“He knows Formula 1 is a results-based business and inevitably, when you’re not delivering, the spotlight is firmly on you.

“There is always going to be scrutiny on that. As a team, we need to have both cars scoring points and that is the nature of Formula 1.”

Asked if that scrutiny applied to 2025 or if Red Bull could make a change sooner than that, Horner confirmed Perez would be in the car in Brazil but didn’t offer much reassurance beyond the upcoming Sao Paulo weekend.

Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images

“From the team’s perspective, we’re working with him as hard as we can to try to support him,” he added. “We’ve done everything that we can to support Checo and will continue to do so in Brazil next weekend.

“But there comes a point in time that you can only do so much. There comes a point in time that difficult decisions have to be made.

“We’re now third in the constructors’ championship. Our determination is to try and get back into a winning position but it’s going to be a tall order over these next four races.”

Perez was furious with Lawson’s aggressive driving style, blaming the New Zealander – who is in the running for Perez’s seat – for ruining his chance to score points as his floor damage resulted in a big downforce loss.

But Horner didn’t appear to side fully with either driver. “That’s racing. We saw a lot of tough racing out there,” he told Sky Sports F1.

In his print media session, Horner – drawing attention to recent insinuations that Red Bull and RB work together as an entity – then added: “I think it demonstrates that you can see the two teams do race each other and, while having the same ownership, are independent in the way that they go racing.

“Liam has apologised to Checo for the incident and obviously, there will be lessons that come out of that. But it’s frustrating, certainly for Checo’s race, to pick up the damage and lose valuable points.”