LONDON: Arsenal has been named the most valuable football club brand in the English Premier League (EPL), according to a report by London-based agency Brand Finance.

The Gunners jumped from eighth to third place in this year’s report, just behind Barcelona in second place and Real Madrid at the top.

Arsenal’s brand value increased 28 percent from 1.001 billion pounds to 1.352 billion pounds, overtaking Bayern Munich in fourth place, Liverpool (seventh), Manchester City (sixth), Manchester United (eighth) and Paris Saint-Germain (fifth).

Arsenal are also among seven clubs in the top 10 to receive an AAA+ rating, in contrast to Borussia Dortmund in 10th place, Manchester City and PSG. Chelsea in eighth place are the only other London club in the top 20.

Brand Finance’s head of sports services, Scott Moore, said the report illustrated the widening gap between football’s elite clubs and the rest.

“This Football 50 Report shows just how wide the gap is between football’s elite and the rest of the world.

“The combined brand value of 23.9 billion euros, with the strongest growth we have recorded over the 15 years of this assessment, shows that success on the pitch translates directly into commercial strength off the pitch.

“Real Madrid’s position at the top for the third year in a row reflects continued excellence, but what is most interesting is the depth of the competition from clubs like Arsenal and Aston Villa showing that sporting success, when combined with smart brand building, can change positions quickly.”

“The hierarchy of European football is not static.

“The biggest brands continue to widen the gap, but ambitious clubs are proving that continued sporting success can accelerate their journey to global influence.”

“The biggest football clubs are not just competing with each other, they are competing for attention, loyalty and commercial growth on a global scale, and this year’s figures show they are outperforming entire leagues in other sports,” he said.

Arsenal, owned by Stan Kroenke, is considered one of the biggest success stories of the year after reaching the highest position in the club’s history.

The success of winning the EPL and reaching the Champions League (UCL) final is said to have contributed to commercial momentum at record levels.

MANCHESTER: The handball rule was once again the subject of debate when Harry Maguire helped Manchester United take a 2-1 lead in a 5-2 win over Ipswich in the Premier League.

The centre-back surged forward after winning the ball before firing a shot across the penalty area that was hit by Jacob Greaves and bounced in as an own goal.

The ball appeared to hit Maguire’s hand as he won it, but the goal stood as he was not the actual scorer of the goal.

Only if Maguire directly benefited from the handball and scored an own goal would a free kick be awarded and the goal disallowed.

Many certainly think Maguire benefited from the handball incident.

The Premier League match centre explained: “The referee’s decision to award a goal to Manchester United was reviewed and confirmed by VAR – with Maguire not being the immediate scorer following an accidental handball incident.”

VAR then said: “It was an own goal and accidental handball cannot be penalised, so we recommend the goal be awarded.”

But was it really an accidental handball incident? Maguire probably wouldn’t have won the ball if it hadn’t been in his hands.

However, that’s another debatable point.

The match was intense until the incident when Ipswich opened the scoring through their left-back, Leif Davis.

However, Bruno Fernandes took advantage of the opponent’s mistake to rush in and equalize before the break.

After Bryan Mbeumo missed a golden opportunity to put United ahead, Maguire’s shot, which was deflected by an Ipswich player, ensured the home side took the lead.

Fernandes then completed a hat-trick to make it 4-1 with 20 minutes remaining.

Mbeumo made amends for his mistake by scoring United’s fifth goal before Chuba Akpom scored a consolation goal in injury time to close the match out 5-2.

LONDON: Liverpool are closing in on a big summer signing after reaching a deal worth 120 million pounds to sign Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) winger Bradley Barcola.

The Reds have made positive progress in talks with the European champions after weeks of trying to lower PSG’s valuation, which was initially set at 145 million pounds.

Liverpool are now understood to be paying a basic fee of 100 million pounds, with another 20 million pounds in additional payments, the same structure as Florian Wirtz’s move to England last year.

Barcola, 23, has been a top target for Liverpool in recent months as the club look to replace Mohamed Salah after the Egyptian star moved to Trabzonspor.

Liverpool had previously also targeted Yan Diomande and had made an offer for the player, but it was rejected before he eventually joined Real Madrid.

Negotiations to acquire Barcola were led by sporting director Richard Hughes along with Fenway Sports Group president Mike Gordon.

This week, Liverpool also received information regarding Crystal Palace striker Ismaila Sarr, as well as holding talks with Brighton regarding Yankuba Minteh.

Liverpool are keen to bring in two strikers if conditions allow, so Barcola’s arrival does not necessarily mean they are done with Sarr or Minteh. They also made enquiries about PSG striker Ibrahim Mbaye earlier this month.

If completed, the move would be the most expensive signing of this summer’s transfer window, surpassing the record 117 million pounds Chelsea paid to sign Morgan Rogers from Aston Villa.

Barcola was a product of Lyon’s academy before spending the last three seasons with PSG, helping the club win two Champions League titles and three Ligue 1 titles.

The winger played for France at this summer’s World Cup and scored against England in the third-place play-off. He has scored 39 goals in 152 appearances for PSG.

Liverpool will hope that their big spending this summer will yield better results than last season.

After spending more than 450 million pounds on new players including Alexander Isak, Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekitike last summer, the 2024-25 English Premier League champions failed to repeat their excellent performance under Arne Slot.

The Reds only qualified for the Champions League after finishing fifth last season, but a ticket to Europe’s elite competition has helped them remain in the race for high-profile players.

Liverpool, who let Salah, Andrew Robertson and Ibrahima Konate leave earlier this summer, have so far signed central defenders Jeremy Jacquet and Ronald Araujo and winger Victor Munoz.

Curtis Jones also left Anfield after joining Inter Milan for a fee of 30 million pounds, thus leaving Liverpool no longer with a home-born player in the first team.

Jayden Danns could potentially take on that role in the future.

The six-capped England player joined Liverpool’s academy at the age of nine and has long dreamed of a move to Serie A after failing to consistently find a place in the starting line-up at Anfield.

Liverpool opened the season with a 2-2 draw at Newcastle United on Sunday, but escaped defeat through a late Dominik Szoboszlai penalty.

The Reds fell behind after just five minutes when Anthony Elanga finished off a quick Newcastle counterattack, but equalised early in the second half through a stunning goal from Cody Gakpo.

Joe Willock put Newcastle back in front two minutes later, but Szoboszlai saved Liverpool when he converted a penalty late in the game after Lewis Hall brought down Munoz in the box.

Iraola said: “It’s a strange feeling. It wasn’t the result we wanted but the way we scored at the end of the game made it feel better. However, we definitely wanted the win more.

“We started in the worst way we could have imagined. Away to Newcastle, the first game of the season, the atmosphere in the stadium, they had very fast players and we conceded a goal.

“They punished us and we had to chase the results. But we never gave up.”

MANCHESTER: Arsenal and Manchester City dominated the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) Premier League (EPL) Team of the Year for the 2025/26 season as nine players from the two clubs were selected by their counterparts.

The PFA Awards ceremony took place at the Manchester Opera House today, with five players from Arsenal’s EPL-winning squad last season receiving recognition.

Goalkeeper David Raya, who won the Golden Glove Award after recording 19 clean sheets, was chosen to fill the goalkeeper position.

In front of him are three members of Arsenal’s main defence, Jurrien Timber, Gabriel Magalhaes and William Saliba.

The final spot in defence goes to Manchester City youngster Nico O’Reilly, who is also part of the four FA Cup champions’ representatives in the starting line-up.

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The midfield also features Arsenal’s Declan Rice and City’s Rayan Cherki, as well as Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes.

Fernandes set an EPL record when he produced 21 assists last season, helping United finish in third place.

The Portuguese player was previously named EPL Player of the Year and Football Writers’ Association (FWA) Player of the Year, before completing his collection of individual awards by winning the PFA Player of the Year trophy.

None of the Arsenal strikers were selected in the attacking trio.

On the other hand, the three top scorers in the EPL last season filled the position through Erling Haaland who scored 27 goals, Brentford striker Igor Thiago with 22 goals, and Antoine Semenyo who scored 17 goals.

Semenyo joined City from Bournemouth mid-season.

The dominance of Arsenal and City was also evident in the overall list when only two of the 11 players selected did not play for either club.

Meanwhile, six players in the PFA Team of the Year for the Championship League are from the Coventry City squad that helped the club gain promotion to the EPL under Frank Lampard.

Southampton defender Taylor Harwood-Bellis, as well as Everton new signing Hayden Hackney, who has impressed for Middlesbrough, were also selected.

For their League One rivals, Lincoln City also contributed four players to their best XI, in addition to Dom Ballard, who moved from Leyton Orient to Bristol City this summer.

Ballard stole the show with his new club when he scored a goal that was considered one of the best candidates this season.

The League Two Team of the Year saw Bromley and MK Dons each contribute three players, while Cambridge United had two representatives.

In the Women’s Super League (WSL), several England stars were also recognized, including Chelsea’s Hannah Hampton and Lauren James, Arsenal’s Alessia Russo and Manchester City’s goal machine, Khadija Shaw.

MANCHESTER: Michael Carrick is now the top pick on betting sites to become the first Premier League (EPL) manager to be sacked in the 2026-27 season.

According to betting company Betfair, there is already a frontrunner to replace Carrick as Manchester United manager if he loses the job.

A shock 2-0 defeat to newly promoted Hull City on Saturday raised questions about United, despite their possession for long periods.

After finishing last season well, strengthening the squad with several new players and having a fairly positive pre-season, United instead displayed a lackluster performance in all aspects when facing Hull.

United’s squad is also still seen as less than solid in several positions, especially with the Champions League competition to contend with this season.

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They were previously expected to start the campaign well when they were scheduled to face Hull and Ipswich in the first two matches before travelling to Everton in the third week of action.

However, the defeat to Hull was enough to spark concern, including in the betting markets.

The same firm has also shortlisted several candidates to replace Carrick, with former Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe the frontrunner to take over at Old Trafford.

Howe left Newcastle in the summer to take a break from coaching, but is now being considered as a candidate to replace Carrick. Julian Nagelsmann and Thomas Tuchel are also on the list.

Betfair spokesman Sam Rosbottom said: “Michael Carrick is now the favourite to become the second manager to leave his post in the 2026-27 season, following the Red Devils’ shock defeat to Hull City on the opening day.

“Sergej Jakirovic and Frank Lampard are both second choices on the list.

Tottenham manager Roberto De Zerbi is also at risk of being sacked following his team’s defeat to Brentford.

“Meanwhile, Unai Emery is also at the top of the list after Europa League champions Aston Villa were thrashed 4-0 by Brighton on Sunday.

“Other candidates at risk of leaving their respective positions include Matthias Jaissle and Regis Le Bris.”