Manchester United are set to sign Celin Bizet from Tottenham Hotspur.

The Norway international has a year left on her contract having joined the north London club in 2022 from Paris Saint-Germain.

The 22-year-old forward, who can play on either wing, made 20 appearances in the Women’s Super League last season and scored four goals.

Bizet is due to be United’s six signing of the summer following on from the arrival of defender Dominique Janssen from Wolfsburg, forward Elisabeth Terland from Brighton, Sweden international Anna Sandberg from BK Hacken and Canada midfield Simi Awujo from from the United States collegiate system.

United also completed the permanent transfer of France international Melvine Malard on a three-year contract from Lyon.

Bizet will join up once again with England international Grace Clinton who returned to United having been on loan with Tottenham last season.

United have also had high profile departures this summer in club captain Katie Zelem, who signed for NWSL side Angel City, goalkeeper Mary Earps, who joined PSG, and Lucia Garcia, who moved to Monterrey. Gemma Evans and Irene Guerrero also left the club.

Tottenham, meanwhile, have confirmed the arrival of Australia international Hayley Raso on a two-year contract following her departure from Real…

Manchester City completed a PFA Player of the Year double on Tuesday night as midfielder Phil Foden and striker Bunny Shaw were named men’s and women’s winners for 2023-24.

Foden, 24, scored 19 goals and provided eight assists to help City clinch an unprecedented fourth successive Premier League title under Pep Guardiola.

Erling Haaland — who won last season’s crown — was one of six nominees, including City midfielder Rodri, Arsenal’s Martin Odegaard, Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins and Cole Palmer.

Shaw finished the campaign as the top scorer in the Women’s Super League (WSL) with 21 goals in 18 games for the club, despite having her season prematurely ended by a foot injury in late April.

The Jamaica international becomes the first female City player to scoop the award since Lucy Bronze won the accolade in 2016-17.

Shaw’s Man City team-mates Yui Hasegawa and Lauren Hemp were also nominated, alongside Chelsea’s Niamh Charles, Erin Cuthbert and Lauren James.

Having missed out on the evening’s main award, City academy graduate Cole Palmer was crowned the men’s Young Player of the Year after an outstanding debut campaign at…

The Premier League, EFL, FA, and Women’s Super League (WSL) have announced a new code of conduct for gambling-related agreements in football.

The code, which will be implemented at the start of the 2024-25 season, is designed to regulate gambling sponsorships across the professional game, emphasising four key principles: protection, social responsibility, reinvestment, and integrity.

A key aspect of the code is its emphasis on reinvestment. Revenue generated from gambling sponsorships must be redirected into football-related infrastructure and community programmes. This includes improvements to stadiums and training facilities, as well as investments in grassroots football and local community participation.

Under the new code, gambling sponsorships will also be required to target their marketing efforts more carefully to avoid reaching children and individuals at risk of gambling-related harm. Additionally, any gambling-related sponsorship must include educational initiatives and awareness campaigns designed to promote responsible gambling practices.

GO DEEPER

‘Some players bet on football – they know it’s breaking the rules but still do it’

The importance of maintaining the integrity of football competitions is also stressed in the code, adding that gambling sponsorships must…

New Jersey governor Phil Murphy says he “would die” to bring Premier League matches to the United States, explaining that he believes it is in the competition’s “enlightened self-interest” to do so.

Murphy, 66, has been involved in football for several decades, including serving on the board of U.S. Soccer and co-owning the NWSL team NJ/NY Gotham FC.

MetLife Stadium, the 82,500-capacity arena situated in New Jersey, will be the venue for the 2026 World Cup final and hosted a friendly between Manchester United and Arsenal last year, as well as three games — two group fixtures and a semi-final — at the Copa America this summer. Real Madrid and Barcelona will play a Clasico pre-season friendly there on August 3.

Asked whether he envisaged these matches becoming competitive fixtures, Murphy replied: “I would die for that. And by the way, the exhibitions — we will have Real and Barcelona on August 3, we’ll have to shrink our capacity a little bit for FIFA — every ticket was sold and the game didn’t count. I would love to — I would die — to see what happens in a game that counts. It would sell every ticket and then some.”

Leading executives at NBC Sports, the American broadcaster that spent $2.7billion (£2.2bn) on a six-year Premier League deal, have been…

Dear readers,

The Premier League and Champions League are over for another season but the summer of 2024 is packed full of live action and transfer fun and games — and we’ll cover it all in detail on The Athletic.

From Europe’s major clubs travelling across the world (and to the United States in particular) to all the moves (and nearly moves) of the summer transfer window, plus two major international tournaments, Emma Hayes starting her reign as USWNT head coach and the Olympics, our team of reporters will bring you in-depth coverage of the things you care about.

We’ll be on the ground in Germany for Euro 2024; across the U.S. for Copa America, MLS, NWSL and Premier League pre-season; in Paris, France for the summer Olympic Games’ football action, and everywhere in between — ensuring you don’t miss a thing when it comes to the beautiful game.

The club content you know and love won’t stop either. Our trusted team of reporters will hit the phones to bring you the latest moves in the transfer window as we embark on an ambitious project to cover the summer ins and outs like never before.

And it doesn’t stop there.

You might already follow our NFL, NBA or NHL coverage, but did you know we also cover a range of other sports, including golf, Formula 1 and tennis? Mark out…

Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou is this week back in the city he once called home, and to mark his return, The Athletic’s Abi Paterson has produced a new podcast series — Ange Postecoglou: Made in Melbourne

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In August 2023, The Athletic’s Charlie Eccleshare foresaw a time in Ange Postecoglou’s first season at Tottenham when pundits would just give up on the Australian’s tactics and tell him to change.

“There will come a point at which they (Tottenham) lose badly to a team they’re expected to beat because they play in a certain way,” Charlie said on The View From The Lane back in August. “And there will be a lot of pundits saying, ‘I’m sorry, but I’m all for good football, but there comes a time you’ve got to shut up shop.’”

Sound familiar?

It was around that time that I also moved out to Australia and have since felt the passion that this country has for one of, if not the greatest footballing success stories. 

Combine the Ange Factor () with the power of the Matildas — who last summer hosted the Women’s World Cup — and Australian soccer should be in a very strong position. While ticket sales for the national teams remain strong, the club game needs work. But that’s not for now.

Ange has this week returned home to his beloved Melbourne…

It is quiet at the Emirates Stadium.

There are a few joggers, huffing and sweating their way around the stadium, families playing with their children and a smattering of people rollerblading by the Thierry Henry statue.

You would not know there was a season-defining match for the club happening tonight.

A short walk along Hornsey Road, through the ‘Arsenal tunnel’ and past murals of their players and manager Mikel Arteta inked on the wall, leads to the Tollington Arms.

At the Tollington, an Arsenal pub, fans have gathered for this most surreal of events. Tonight, they are cheering on Tottenham Hotspur in the hope their most hated rivals can do them a favour in their title fight with Manchester City.

A Tottenham victory, or even draw, puts Arsenal in the driving seat going into the final game of the season on Sunday, in which Arsenal host Everton and City take on West Ham United at home.

Anuj Jain, 30, from India, who fell in love with Arsenal because of Arsene Wenger and normally watches games around 4am at home, is in the UK for the first time this month as he wants to be in London for the celebrations if his team can win the league. He spent the morning on a stadium tour with his wife Palak Agrawal, 30.

“It feels odd but I want Tottenham to get a result,” he said….

Women’s Super League stalwarts Bethany England and Drew Spence, who have six FA Cups between them, were in tears when the final whistle blew.

Tottenham Hotspur had just suffered the biggest margin of defeat in a women’s FA Cup final at Wembley, in front of 76,082 fans.

“I want to win… I want to win everything,” said Spurs captain England, who was upset because of her lack of impact on the game in the 4-0 loss to Manchester United.

“I did my best, but my best wasn’t good enough,” she said. “But that’s the case for a lot of people. I take full responsibility for my team and I think they can all hold their heads up high.”

It was a huge achievement for Spurs to go from a WSL relegation battle last season to making their first final, but a sub-par performance when they got there was disappointing.

Tottenham were lucky not to concede more in the first half. Time and time again Spurs struggled to deal with United’s crosses from dangerous areas. United targeted this weakness, slinging in balls to Rachel Williams, who was an aerial threat but failed to convert her chances in the first 45 minutes, while centre-back Millie Turner and midfielder…

“I’ve got no idea who crossed it,” said Tottenham Hotspur’s Martha Thomas. “I remember Luana (Buhler) jumping and thinking, ‘She’s going to head this and flick it on’. I just saw the defender looking at it and thought, ‘I’ve got to get in front of that defender’.”

Thomas rose highest, her header looping over the Leicester goalkeeper. She sprinted away, knee-sliding in front of 18,000 fans and Daniel Levy at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Her 118th-minute winner had sent Spurs through to their first Wembley FA Cup final in the club’s history. “She is what Tottenham represents,” said Spurs manager Robert Vilahamn. “To dare is to do.”

“I just couldn’t believe it,” Thomas, who will play her former club Manchester United in the final after they beat Chelsea 2-1, said. “I was just chuffed, honestly so happy. I feel so proud of everybody in the group. It means the world for us to get to Wembley and make history for this club, the girls, the staff, the whole team, the fans, everyone. We’re just over the moon.”

It is another milestone and “evidence”, in Vilahamn’s words, of this team’s journey, which had to rebuild its foundations following the sacking of Rehanne…

It is that time of year again. Lighter nights, daffodils and the sobering discovery of just how much your football team has handed over to agents.

The Football Association (FA) published its annual figures yesterday and, as is the norm, they were bigger, more gasp-inducing than ever before.

The Premier League’s 20 clubs combined to pay £409million ($509m) in agents’ fees in a 12-month monitoring period that began on February 1, 2023. Include the EFL’s outlays and English clubs handed over close to half a billion to that select group of men and women representing a footballer’s interests.

It was the usual suspects leading the way but the Premier League’s spend continues to rise. This year’s total is markedly up on the £318million of last season and almost twice the amount paid in 2017-18.

The Athletic picks out the key points from the FA’s latest report.

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Chelsea drive spending records… again

An age of excess at Stamford Bridge has seen Chelsea spend like no club has ever spent before. Close to £1billion has funded a lavish overall that is yet to deliver discernible progress under the Todd Boehly-Clearlake-led ownership group and the fees paid out to agents are another marker of their intemperance.

Brace yourself for Chelsea’s full outlay over 12 months:…