Manchester United are in the market for midfield recruits and they’ve been urged to go after PSG’s Warren Zaire-Emery

Manchester United have been urged to consider PSG’s Warren Zaire-Emery as their next midfield signing this summer.

The Redhave made bolstering their midfield ranks a priority and are closing in on a deal for Ederson. An agreement has been struck with Atalanta but the Old Trafford bosses are hoping to add more than one player.

Zaire-Emery, still only 20 but closing in on 200 first-team appearances, has just won a second Champions League winners’ medal with the Parisians. They have a very settled midfield however which has made it difficult to land game time.

Vitinha, Joao Neves and Fabian Ruiz have proved a sensational midfield trio and, should Zaire-Emery want to seek pastures new, United and Michael Carrick have been cited as an ideal destination, especially as the PSG star and United’s new coach played the same position.

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United have been monitoring a number of Premier League midfielders – including Elliot Anderson, Carlos Baleba, Adam Wharton and Sandro Tonali – but they could yet look abroad for another signing in that area.

World Cup winner Frank Leboeuf said: “I think that would be a great signing for Manchester United, but he will need players around him to succeed.

“I’m very fond of Michael Carrick and the job he did for Manchester United, and he was playing in the position of Zaire-Emery. So I’m pretty sure he would give him great advice to improve. It could be a great move for him. Zaire-Emery is a warrior. He’s going to sacrifice himself for the team he plays for. That’s for sure. Will he be ready? I’m not sure yet.

“He had a strange season. He finished it well, but he struggled for the first six months. That’s why he didn’t play most games. Maybe because he was wondering if he should stay or not.”

United have already seen Casemiro leave Old Trafford with the club opting against renewing his contract. The Brazilian had hit form under Carrick but age was against him and he’s been allowed to move on.

Manuel Ugarte is another midfielder the club are willing to listen to offers for, which would further their need to bolster their options. Kobbie Mainoo enjoyed a resurgence under Carrick and has re-established himself in the first-team.

NEW DELHI: The stage was set for a memorable century for Rishabh Pant, but the India wicketkeeper-batter chose to throw away the opportunity. Pant, who was removed as India’s vice-captain ahead of the series with the role being handed to KL Rahul, fell for 81 off 121 balls when he miscued an attacking stroke and was caught at mid-off off Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi.

A dismissal that drew criticism from all corners, former India wicketkeeper-batter Saba Karim said Pant looked in complete control for most of his innings and was surprised to see him depart in that fashion.

Karim also believed Pant’s dismissal on Day 2 of the one-off Test against Afghanistan in Mullanpur was more a result of fatigue and dehydration than poor shot selection, after the left-hander’s impressive innings ended on 81.

“I was expecting a big knock from Rishabh Pant because he seemed to be in control, despite that outside edge for which no review was taken,” Karim told Jio Hotstar.

The former national selector felt Pant’s physical condition in the extreme heat may have contributed to the dismissal.

“However, I felt that an over before his dismissal, he was beginning to lose energy. He didn’t seem to have too much gas left in the tank. He required some treatment from the physio, and I think he was getting dehydrated. So perhaps it was a lapse in concentration more than anything else,” he added.

“Rarely do you see Rishabh Pant go for a big shot when both long-on and long-off are stationed on the boundary. He was simply trying to accelerate but didn’t get the right ball to play that shot,” he said.

“Because, whenever he decides to go big, he is usually very decisive with his footwork and the deliveries he chooses to attack,” he added.

Pant’s innings played a key role in India’s commanding first-innings total of 564/8 declared, helping the hosts tighten their grip on the match despite falling 19 runs short of what would have been his seventh Test century.

By Michael Smith

Fifa is offering assurances to New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani that fans may bring water into World Cup stadiums — within certain rules.

Mamdani raised concerns Thursday about reports that Fifa had banned fans from bringing bottles of water to World Cup matches, demanding answers from Fifa. 

On Friday, one of Fifa’s top executives, World Cup 2026 Chief Operating Officer Heimo Schirgi, paused during a tour of his tournament operations center in Miami to try to provide some answers. He turned his attention to three water bottles that had been pre-positioned on a desk to his left, television cameras rolling.

“First, what we meant to do when we changed the policy was to avoid these type of containers into a stadium, you know, which can be really dangerous if they’re thrown,” said Schirgi, holding up one metal and one hard plastic reusable bottle. “But, if you show up to the stadium with this,” he said, grasping a filled, 500 ml disposable bottle of water. “You will be allowed to bring this in.”

He said up to 20-ounce sealed bottles of water would be allowed at all matches in US and Canadian stadiums once the World Cup begins in a week. There are still some legal issues to deal with in Mexico before such a policy can be implemented, he said, without going into details.

The confusion came out of a revised version of Fifa’s 35-page Stadium Code of Conduct, which states that reusable water bottles would not be allowed in stadiums because they can be thrown by fans. Previous rules allowed fans to bring empty reusable plastic bottles to matches.

In New York, Mamdani, a notorious soccer fan (his favorite team is Arsenal), reacted quickly to the water rule change, saying he would check into it with Fifa, The Athletic reported.

“We don’t want anyone to be skimping on water because of the cost of the water at the stadium that otherwise they would be drinking,” Mamdani said in a video interview. “We want to make it easy,” he said, pausing to take a sip from a glass of water, “to drink some water.”

Worries about how the high heat of the North American summer in cities like Miami will impact players led Fifa to mandate water breaks during games. The global union professional football players union — FIFPRO — recommends postponing play if temperature levels climb too high. Fifa also said it’s taking precautions like providing drinks, cold towels and shade to meet teams’ needs on match days.

Schirgi said those concerns also include taking steps to protect fans from high heat. 

“You know, the health and safety of our spectators is our foremost objective,” he said. 

Sam Burns will start the final round of the 2026 Memorial Tournament with an outside chance for a comeback victory. But his task would be far easier had he not thrown away two shots with a crooked number early Sunday morning.

The culprit? One of the many trees that border the fairways at Muirfield Village. That tree burned Burns not once, but twice in a row in Round 3 to threaten his chances of winning on Sunday.

Sam Burns hits tree with two straight shots at 2026 Memorial

Round 3 play was suspended Saturday night after storms caused havoc all day. Burns was among the majority of the field that needed to return Sunday morning to finish the third round before getting on to Round 4.

When Burns arrived at Muirfield’s par-5 11th hole early Sunday, he was one under on the round and seven under for the tournament.

At the time, just a couple shots separated the U.S. Ryder Cup team member from J.T. Poston’s lead.

Things started going awry quickly at 11, when Burns lost his tee shot to the right. It ended up in deep rough, with a tree located directly in front of him some 10 yards away.

Burns pulled a long iron and planned to hit a strong punch to advance his ball up the fairway, giving him a shot at the green with his third. He planned to send his ball just to the left of the tree’s trunk, and just under one of its overhanging branches.

But his first attempt did not go to plan. His ball instead slammed directly into the tree, bouncing backward and coming to rest not far from its starting place.

Microphones overheard Burns registering his shock that the ball came out so high. Still, with a better punch on try No. 2, he could reach the green in 4 and potentially save par.

But when Burns reeled back and swung for the second time, his ball caught the same tree again. This time it only clipped the branch then continued forward… directly into the creek bisecting the 11th fairway.

Members of Iran’s World Cup soccer team have been granted visas to the United States, two U.S. officials said, clearing them to enter the United States from their training base in Tijuana, Mexico, ahead of their first two matches near Los Angeles this month.

The team’s participation in the World Cup has been complicated by Iran’s war with Israel and the United States. Problems with processing visas had earlier led Iran to move its training base from Tucson, Arizona, to Tijuana, on Mexico’s border with California.

One US official said all players on the Iranian team were approved for visas and were in the process of receiving them. A second official said visas had been issued for players, coaches, trainers and some support staff. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the visas publicly.

The second official could not say if any Iranian applicants had been denied. It was not immediately clear when the Iranian team’s passports would be returned to them to allow them to travel, but the official said it could be as early as Friday or Saturday.

The squad has been preparing for the World Cup at a training camp in Antalya, Turkey, before departing for Tijuana. The team said it has already received visas from Mexico’s embassy in Ankara.

US Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack credited the U.S. Embassy in Ankara for processing visas for the Iranian team. “Sports transcends borders, and we look forward to welcoming competitors and fans from around the world,” Barrack wrote in a social media post Friday.

Iran plays its first two games in Inglewood, California, against New Zealand on June 15 and Belgium six days later, then heads to Seattle to face Egypt on June 26. Iran and the U.S. could meet in the round of 32 on July 3 in Arlington, Texas, if both teams place second in their groups.

President Donald Trump in March had discouraged Iran from participating in the tournament, saying he didn’t think it was “appropriate” and raising concerns over players’ “life and safety.” 
A day later, Iran’s national team pushed back, saying “no one can exclude” it from playing.

Iran finalized its team Monday, including 17 home-based players whose clubs have not played since February because of the war. Star forward Sardar Azmoun was dropped in March, reportedly because of a social media post that angered Iranian authorities during the war.

Iran’s sports minister said in March that it would “not be possible” for the team to participate in the World Cup, but the republic’s soccer federation said in May it was moving ahead with a team.

The federation had insisted that all players and staff be granted visas, including those who had military service in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Twenty-three-time grand slam singles champion Serena Williams is liberating herself of any expectations as she prepares to make her comeback at the HSBC Championships in London.

The 44-year-old has been given a wild card for the women’s doubles to play alongside 19-year-old Canadian Victoria Mboko at the Queen’s Club, marking her first competitive tennis since a farewell at the 2022 US Open.

Williams said her decision to pick up a racket again boiled down to a simple “Why not?”, and while Mboko feels her partner is “hitting great”, the American insists she is not focused on any outcomes.

“I don’t need to win,” said Williams. “I’ve won more than most people have in their whole lives, so it’s not that important to me, and it’s important that I keep reminding myself of that, because I don’t have anything to prove.

“I don’t have anything to lose, and everything here is just to gain.”

Williams never directly used the word retirement, but Monday’s comeback confirmation still came as a shock after the mother-of-two had, to use her preferred terminology at the time, made the decision to “evolve away” from tennis.

Speaking after she and Mboko trained on the Queen’s Club grass, Williams said: “This whole journey is like, I’m putting no pressure on myself.

“For me right now, it’s really just about so many elements. It’s really about my kids getting to see me play. Olympia is a little bit older, Adira is very young.

“An athlete is the best thing that you can be in the highest place, and having an opportunity to still be able to do that, possibly one last time, is kind of cool and exciting.”

The seven-time Wimbledon singles champion, who spent 319 weeks as the WTA number one at the peak of her career, and claimed 39 major titles, has not exactly ruled out a return to singles, but suggested it was not imminent.

“I can’t say no right now,” she said. “I feel like I probably need to train a little bit more if I want to play singles, and we will see if I get there, and if not… that’s not my journey right now.”

Williams, who shares her two daughters with Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian, revealed as recently as December that she believed she “definitely was not” returning to tennis, but, after some conversations, thought: “Well, why not? For lack of a better explanation.

“It’s summer, the kids aren’t in school, so it’s a perfect time to get out there, have fun, and see what happens.”

In Mboko, Williams saw something, she said, “that reminded me a lot of myself” in her attitude, resilience, and drive. After making the “pretty 11th-hour commitment” to Queen’s, she reached out to the Canadian via text message. 

Mboko said: “She’s hitting great. She has such clean ball striking, she could probably take years off, and when she steps on the court she could probably find that rhythm again and find her timing. So I think that’s really a god-given gift that she has.

“I personally think she’s ready to go. I’m hitting with her, she’s hitting pretty big and she’s really fit, so we’ll see.”