Republic of Ireland winger Chiedozie Ogbene has urged the public to not “put the pressure on us” over the campaign to boycott the upcoming Nations League games against Israel.

The sides are due to meet in Debrecen, Hungary on Sunday before the return fixture in Backa Topola, Serbia on 4 October (both 19:45 BST).

Since the sides were drawn together in Group B3, there has been increasing calls in Ireland to withdraw from the games due to the ongoing situation in Gaza with a ‘Stop The Game’ campaign gathering pace.

In the lead up to Thursday’s 1-0 defeat by Kosovo in Pristina stand-in captain Dara O’Shea confirmed the players would meet on Friday to discuss their approach to Sunday’s ‘home’ game for Israel, which will have no Irish fans in attendance before their behind-closed-doors match the following week.

“I’m aware of the feelings towards it,” Ogbene told RTE Sport after Thursday’s loss.

“It’s a complicated and very difficult task. I just want to say and I hope people don’t put the pressure on us to be answering difficult situations.

“There are people who can make the decisions and you can’t rely on footballers to make those decisions. That’s my feeling on it but as a group we will look at it and will see what we’re going to do.”

Uefa believes “a clear two-speed system” is emerging in the transfer market as a result of the huge spending by Premier League clubs this summer.

In its latest European club talent and competition landscape report, European football’s governing body laid bare just how dominant the transfer activity of English clubs has become.

Uefa’s report said that the estimated €4.6bn (£4bn) spend by Premier League clubs is “larger than that of the next eight largest European countries combined”.

Andrea Traverso, Uefa’s executive director of finance, said that this trend “raises concerns”.

“Transfer values continue to rise sharply, particularly in the English market, increasing future pressure on club financial results,” Traverso wrote.

“These developments also point to an increasing concentration of talent and a growing polarisation of the market, with the emergence of a clear two-speed system.

“English clubs were involved in more than 60% of the deals and paid an average of around €24m (£20.7m) per inbound player, compared with only around €4m (£3.4m) to €5m (£4.3m) in the other major European leagues, underlining a widening gap in purchasing power.”

Traverso said that any “correction in transfer values” or “slowdown in buyer demand” could have serious implications for any club carrying debt.

The report added that the transfer spend of the 20 Premier League clubs this year is “equivalent to 56% of their annual revenue” – much higher than the 33% average of the pre-Covid decade.

Uefa also highlighted the increasing trend for English clubs to do big-value transfers between each other, which showed a 44% increase to €1.55bn (£1.33bn).

The English domestic market was “as large in fee value as the next five market flows combined”.

A market flow describes league-to-league deals. After the English domestic market, the next most lucrative was the German Bundesliga to the Premier League, at €690m (£594m).

The number of European transfer fees paid above €50m has significantly increased, from 14 in the summer of 2024 to 23 in 2025. In 2026 there was another jump to 35 such deals, of which Premier League clubs were responsible for 29.

With pressure to pass financial regulations, clubs have increasingly looked to sell academy players as they provide pure profit on the books.

European clubs generated an estimated profit of €6.8bn (£5.85bn) on these sales over the summer, an increase of €655m (£564bn) on 2025.

Uefa also found little evidence of clubs using multi-club ownership structures to move players for inflated or reduced fees.

Total transfer fees of such deals were €152m (£130.8m) with an estimated market value of €159m (£136.8m).

More than half of this spend came from transfers between Chelsea and Strasbourg.

AEW star Thekla recently discussed a former WWE Champion potentially joining the Jacksonville-based promotion.

The star with four WWE championships is Kairi Sane. The Pirate Princess has not been seen in the ring since the TKO-led company released her in April. A report last month said her representatives had been in talks with All Elite Wrestling; however, they made it clear that Sane had not signed any contract.

Amid major speculation regarding her future, Thekla spoke about Kairi Sane in a recent interview with TV Insider. The Toxic Spider acknowledged that Sane had been the talk of the town; however, she made it clear that she would believe the rumors once she sees Sane in AEW.

“I always like new faces coming in. I still consider myself a new face somehow. It has only been a little bit over a year for me. I’m a huge fan of people just going from one territory to the other, like in the old days. I’m very excited to see who’s gonna step up, you know? Kairi has been the talk of the town. I’m only going to believe it once I see it. For the fans, it’s always cool to see a new matchup. We’ll see. Let’s keep our fingers crossed. Let us see if we can pice it up a little bit.” – H/T WrestlePurists

AEW star Thekla on freedom to cut promos on live television

In the same interview, Thekla was asked how much freedom she has when cutting promos on live TV. The former AEW Women’s World Champion said that while it is hard for her not to say banned words that led to fines, she pretty much says what she wants during her promos.

“Apart from the usual stuff they try to make sure I don’t say on TV? It’s very hard for me not to say on TV that whole list of words that we get fined for. Other than that, I get to say pretty much what I want. I take a lot of inspiration from what I really like, and what I really feel, and what I think about people and myself. “

Furthermore, the Toxic Spider is set to face Willow Nightingale at All Out 2026 with a future AEW Women’s World title opportunity hanging in the balance. So, it remains to be seen if she will defeat her and move on to WrestleDream PPV to challenge the reigning champion, Mercedes Mone.