Kevin De Bruyne to leave Manchester City
The 33-year-old Belgian midfielder, arguably one of the greatest and most influential players to grace the English top flight, has posted a message on X announcing that he will leave Manchester City after a decade at the club when his contract expires at the end of the season.
“Seeing this, you probably realise where this is heading,” it reads. “So I’ll get straight to it and let you all know that these will be my final months as a Manchester City player. Nothing about this is easy to write, but as football players, we all know this day eventually comes. That day is here – and you deserve to hear it from me first.
“Football led me to all of you – and to this city. Chasing my dream, not knowing this period would change my life. This City. This club. These people… gave me EVERYTHING. I had no choice but to give EVERYTHING back! And guess what – we won everything.
“Whether we like it or not, it’s time to say goodbye. Suri, Rome, Mason, Michele, and I are beyond grateful for what this place has meant to our family. ‘Manchester’ will forever be on our kids’ passports – and more importantly, in each of our hearts. This will always be our HOME.
“We cannot thank the city, club, staff, teammates, friends, and family enough for this 10-year ride. Every story comes to an end, but this has definitely been the best chapter. Let’s enjoy these last moments together!
Much love,
“KDB.”
Key events
Liverpool Women MD Fraser leaves club
Tom Garry
Exclusive! The Guardian understands that Russ Fraser, managing director of Liverpool’s women’s team has left the club. It is understood the football decision-making at the club is set to move to be more closely aligned with the men’s senior staff and an appointment of a new MD for the women’s team is expected imminently. Fraser had been in his post since 2021.
Kevin De Bruyne to leave Manchester City
The 33-year-old Belgian midfielder, arguably one of the greatest and most influential players to grace the English top flight, has posted a message on X announcing that he will leave Manchester City after a decade at the club when his contract expires at the end of the season.
“Seeing this, you probably realise where this is heading,” it reads. “So I’ll get straight to it and let you all know that these will be my final months as a Manchester City player. Nothing about this is easy to write, but as football players, we all know this day eventually comes. That day is here – and you deserve to hear it from me first.
“Football led me to all of you – and to this city. Chasing my dream, not knowing this period would change my life. This City. This club. These people… gave me EVERYTHING. I had no choice but to give EVERYTHING back! And guess what – we won everything.
“Whether we like it or not, it’s time to say goodbye. Suri, Rome, Mason, Michele, and I are beyond grateful for what this place has meant to our family. ‘Manchester’ will forever be on our kids’ passports – and more importantly, in each of our hearts. This will always be our HOME.
“We cannot thank the city, club, staff, teammates, friends, and family enough for this 10-year ride. Every story comes to an end, but this has definitely been the best chapter. Let’s enjoy these last moments together!
Much love,
“KDB.”
An email: “Just a quick comment on Ange’s complaints about VAR,” writes Huw Price. “It’s annoying to hear him harping on about VAR (as much as I agree that it should be scrapped!) when his club had the opportunity to join Wolves in voting against it last year and didn’t. Maybe he needs to have a word with his (possibly soon-to-be ex) bosses.”
The Lionesses: England’s women will face Belgium in the Nations League at Ashton Gate tonight, in the first game of a double-header against the Red Flames. England’s manager, Sarina Wiegman, has said she will be using the games to help her get her ducks in a row ahead of this summer’s Euros in Switzerland, where England are in a group with France, Wales and the Netherlands.
“I think it’s important that we have a good picture of our team,” she said. “Of course we go out to play Belgium twice and we want to win those games, but also getting the team ready for the Euros to know who we have available and know who’s in good form.
“So you’re always thinking in that direction. These two camps [in previous international breaks] have been very competitive games, really enjoyable to watch but you saw the level went up again. We talk about connections all the time, consistency. Now we are also preparing for our next opponent Belgium, the challenge is different to what Portugal has done and Spain, so I’m looking forward to that.”
Another email (and it’s a belter): “Ange Postecoglou thinks he’s the lone voice complaining about VAR?” writes Guy Stephenson. “No wonder he needs to cup his ears.” Honk!
An email: “Of course it’s wrong for a footballer, let alone his family, to receive threatening messages in response events on the pitch,” writes Jake Lynch and you can sense the b-word looming on the horizon. “But something has to be done about Everton and the approach they take to the derby.
“For Liverpool players to be seriously injured or subjected to treatment that brings risk of serious injury, is too regular an occurrence to be regarded as part and parcel of the game. Think of the absurd ‘challenges’ by Pickford on van Dijk, and Richarlison on Thiago in the same match, a few years back.
“The attitude seems to be, Liverpool are the better team but we’re going to even things up by fouling them – recklessly if necessary. Maybe a move to their new stadium should herald a change of attitude.”
Everton: David Moyes has offered his tuppence worth on the online abuse levelled at James Tarkowski in the wake of that injudicious challenge on Alexis Mac Allister in the midweek Merseyside derby.
“The club have issued a statement,” he said. “It’s not acceptable for anybody, in any walk of life. Having looked at it again I believe it could have been a sending off but I don’t think that means you should get abused online because of that. It’s part of football.
“He made what I thought at the time was a really good tackle but having looked at it again I think it was a bit reckless.”
Coventry City: The Championship club have confirmed the news many expected to hear by revealing their goalkeeper Oliver Dovin will undergo surgery after suffering an anterior cruciate ligament injury.
The 22-year-old was forced off during the first half of last Friday’s Championship defeat by Sheffield United and City’s fears have now been confirmed. “So, he has got, as we feared, an ACL injury, which ends his season,” said Frank Lampard in a chat with the club website. “He is going to have surgery and we’re really disappointed for him.”
Some correspondence: “In a season where we’d already lost 15 games in the league and were losing another, whilst playing dreadfully, I don’t think it unreasonable for Tottenham Hotspur fans to have a bit of a go when odd decisions are made,” writes Gareth Evans, who does have a dog in the Ange Derby.
“And taking Bergvall off did feel like that, but perhaps he wasn’t fully recovered from a virus. I’ve wanted Postecoglou to turn things around with us and am exasperated that we’re clearly going to have to get rid now. Most fans have been behind him from Day One but after another game where we started as if on heavy medication, were undone by a long ball pumped between our centre backs after three minutes and gave all the time and space Palmer and Enzo needed to score the winner, you can see it’s all gone awry.
“It happens every game and Ange is either not able to work out what to do about it, or he can’t motivate the team to enact his instructions. Neither is sustainable. So, another summer of random managerial targets, a late resolution, a couple of kids signed and the 18 month timer starts back up. [Bill Murray with Punxsutawney Phil gif here]”
Newcastle United: Talking ahead of his team’s trip to Leicester City on Monday night, Eddie Howe has dismissed suggestions that Newcastle’s star striker Alexander Isak is injury-prone. The 25-year-old Sweden international scored his 24th goal of the season in Wednesday’s 2-1 Premier League victory over Brentford, but, not for the first time this season, is nursing a groin problem.
The Newcastle manager, whose playing career was ended prematurely due to a knee injury, was asked if it was a myth that the frontman is fragile. “Yes,” he said. “Speaking on my behalf as a very injury-prone player – if you look at my record, that’s an injury-prone player – Alex certainly isn’t.
“He’s had issues with a groin problem that tends to rear its head every now and again. It came to the fore just before we played Liverpool, but with rest he was fine and good to go and played really well in the cup final. For whatever reason, it did just resurface before Brentford. It’s a very minor problem that will go away quite quickly.”
Howe also revealed that midfielder Sean Longstaff’s future is “unclear” as he approaches a potentially pivotal summer in his career. The 27-year-old Geordie is on the fringes of Newcastle’s first-team squad and Howe was asked to defnie the midfielder’s role at the club.
“His role is to be ready to play, ready to come on and I have trusted him in big games where he has come on and played his part in those wins,” he said. “We are going to need the whole squad in our league season. We have nine massive games to come and everybody has to be ready.
“His long-term future is slightly more unclear. But what I can say is that behind the scenes, Sean has been very good, helping the group, training to a high level and I cannot speak highly enough of him as a person.”
Ange Postecoglou on VAR: ‘I am the lone voice’
The Australian has also lashed out at VAR for ruining football as a spectacle, in a diatribe I’m sure many of us get behind. During his side’s defeat at Stamford Bridge, officials took a combined nine minutes to make just two decisions, both of which were ultimately correct.
“No doubt,” he said, upon being asked if the curtain-twitchers based in Stockley Park are having an adverse effect on top flight football. “It is not the game. Maybe I was influenced by England and the old First Division. I loved the frenetic pace. I could have watched other divisions but it was always England, end-to-end stuff, speed and tempo, I loved that.
“I’ve tried to design a game plan that has tempo and energy because I feel if you want people in there, you want them off their seat. There was 12 minutes of extra time yesterday that’s not why VAR was brought in. I am the lone voice. I don’t hear anyone else saying. That’s why I am sat here and saying maybe I am disconnected. When I retire, I will probably watch less football and find another hobby.”
Tottenham Hotspur: Ange Postecoglou is attending to his media duties ahead of his side’s appointment with Southampton on Sunday and needless to say, the ear-cupping gesture he aimed in the direction of Tottenham’s fans following a Pape Sarr “equaliser” that was subsequently disallowed was the first order of business on the agenda.
“I made a mistake last night in that I celebrated a goal,” he said. “Since VAR came in here, there were four or five incidents in Scotland and I thought I am not really going to celebrate goals. I just felt we needed something, a cracking goal from Pape. I heard the fans weren’t happy and I felt the need to celebrate and it could be a real momentum shift to finish strong. My mistake was celebrating a goal, VAR defeated me, I won’t be doing that again.”
Asked if he is affected by the abuse from travelling fans, who made no secret of their displeasure at seeing Sarr come on for Lucas Bergvall a couple of minutes before his disallowed goal, Ange said he is not.
“No, I am fine,” he said. “I don’t get affected by that and I will continue fighting my whole career. People want me to say something that will change the mood of the fans but I have never done that. My job is the performance of the team. I get that they are frustrated and angry but at the same time, I understand the criticism towards me. But if anyone looked at the players and said they aren’t trying – then I am sorry they are not watching the right game.”
Everton condemn online abuse of James Tarkowski
Andy Hunter
The club have released a statement following the online abuse aimed at James Tarkowski and his family. The player’s wife, Samantha, posted on social media last night that her husband had received death threats following the controversial challenge on Alexis Mac Allister that earned him a booking in Wednesday’s Merseyside derby, a punishment the PGMOL subsequently admitted should have earned the Everton skipper a red card.
“Everton Football Club is aware of threats made towards James Tarkowski, and his family on social media,” it reads. “Such behaviour is completely unacceptable and has no place in football or society. “The club is liaising with James and his wife Samantha, and stands ready to engage with the social media companies and assist the police with any potential investigation.
“Everton strongly condemns any form of online or offline intimidation, threats or abuse directed at players, staff, or their families.”
In her Instagram post, Samantha Tarkowski vented her spleen against her husband’s detractors in an often potty-mouthed tirade which made little or no attempt to conceal her contempt for those “so called fans” who were levelling vitriolic abuse at her and her husband, the Everton captain and father of their two children.
“I wasn’t actually going to say anything because we usually just laugh if off but fuck it,” she wrote. “The level of abuse my husband is receiving – wishing death on him, vile comments about me, about us as a couple, and about him as a person – is beyond disgusting. People forget that he is more than just a footballer. He is a husband, a father, a brother, a friend, and most importantly, the father of our two children.
“He goes out there and does his job and does it very fucking well yet he’s subjected to so much hate. For those acting like he deliberately set out to hurt someone – r u serious?! Football moves at speed, and tackles are split-second decisions. No player goes out there to injure someone and do you think any player would feel good about it if they did? But the pure shit messages, the threats? That’s intentional. That’s on you. Football is a sport, but the way some so-called ‘fans’ behave is disgraceful. The abuse, the threats – it’s not passion, it’s pathetic. We’re real people, and this goes far beyond football.”
Brighton: Fabian Hurzeler takes his Brighton side to Selhurst Park tomorrow for what promises to be a spicy M23 derby between two sides whose extreme animus mystifies many but dates back to the 1970s. Brighton go into the game on the back of an emphatic midweek defeat at the hands of Aston Villa, while Crystal Palace will be hoping to return to winning ways after their late, late smash-and-grab to rescue a point at Southampton on Wednesday.
With his side just four points away from the fifth place that will almost certainly guarantee qualification for next season’s Champions League, Hurzeler has urged his players to prepare for a succession of finals during the run-in. “The whole season we have to deal with setbacks and it’s always about how you come back,” he said. “It is always the question, if the glass is half full or half empty and I always see it as a half-full glass and that’s the main message. It’s to see all the upcoming games like a final, and like this we have to prepare, and like this we will go into the games.
“Everything in the past was in the past and now it’s really about winning something and we have to be on our highest level. We need two things. We need this togetherness and we need this positive energy. We will go all in with the staff, with all the players and then we see what we get.”
Palace inflicted the first home defeat of Hurzeler’s reign by romping to a 3-1 success at the Amex Stadium in mid December and the 32-year-old German is fully aware of the importance of the fixture to Brighton supporters and admits his side have a duty to make amends.
“I can feel it [the passion] and I think it’s also our responsibility to give them something back,” he said. “In the first derby we weren’t on our highest level, we didn’t give the fans what they deserve and tomorrow it’s an opportunity for us and also our responsibility to make it better than the last time. There’s already a big motivation because it’s the final third of the season, it’s about achieving something, it’s about winning something, and every game will be important, and therefore the motivation is very high. We will go all in, we will try to win this game for our fans.”
Joel Veltman, Adam Webster, Tariq Lamptey, Igor Julio, Ferdi Kadioglu, James Milner and Georginio Rutter remain sidelined for Brighton.
An email: “On the subject of Ange Postecoglou,” writes Peter Wilkinson. “I’m not a Spurs fan so I don’t have a dog in the race but it amuses me that while fans give players and managers absolute pelters, as soon as they get a bit back the fans start clutching their pearls saying it’s a disgrace. If you can’t take it, don’t give it out.”
A fair point well made, Peter. Ange is due to face the press shortly in an appointment he’s probably looking forward to with as much relish as a trip to the dentist for root canal surgery. It could get spiky, mate.
José Mourinho: Fenerbahce have issued a strident defence of their manager after he grabbed the nose of Galatasaray boss Okan Buruk in bad-temperered scenes that followed the Turkish Cup quarter-final clash between the two sides on Wednesday night.
The altercation occurred following Fenerbahce’s defeat at the hands of their bitter rivals, but Fenerbahce claim Buruk was play-acting by tumbling to the floor after Mourinho pinched his hooter. The Portuguese was shown a red card for his troubles and now faces a potentially lengthy ban but his club are standing resolutely by their man, insisting his opposite number incited the incident and then dramatised his reaction.
“[Buruk] had the audacity to make disrespectful hand gestures after crossing the police line,” harrumphed a Fenerbahce statement posted on X. “After our manager touched his nose momentarily in response to these provocations, the person in question threw himself to the ground in an exaggerated manner.
“The disrespectful statements and actions of this person, who professionally threw himself to the ground with a ‘shot’ reflex as a continuation of this plan after excessive provocations, are recorded in the images.
“The meaninglessness of a person whose nose was touched jumping to the ground and writhing for seconds and the acting that was played are known to the entire public. It is obvious that the images of this person throwing himself to the ground from his football career continued in his coaching career, and that this attitude is a characteristic stance.
“It is clear that the evaluation of the ugly provocations and what happened afterwards should not be one-sided, but should be based on a cause-and-effect relationship.”
As Elton John famously sang, sometimes sorry seems to be the hardest word.
Leeds United: In news that is unlikely to comfort fans who are worried their team will “do a Leeds” and blow their chances of promotion o the Premier League, Daniel Farke has assured Leeds fans their team will not “do a Leeds” and blow their chances of promotion to the Premier League.
Second in the Championship table after surrendering a five-point lead, Leeds have won only one of their last five matches and could fall out of the automatic promotion places if they fail to beat Luton Town tomorrow and Burnley get a result against Coventry, but Farke is convinced they will be in the top flight next season.
“I was involved in that [2018-19 promotion, with Norwich City] battle and yes, Leeds fell apart and I was struggling to explain it because they had a really good coach in Marcelo [Bielsa],” he said. “And for me, I liked the Norwich team, but Leeds had by far the better players and by far the better side and I was thinking, ‘why does this happen?’.”
Farke sensed the weight of expectation at Elland Road from the opposition dug-out when his Norwich side won 3-1 there in February 2019 when both teams were vying for top spot.
“I was thinking then I loved so much to be in this stadium and the atmosphere and what a big club this is,” he said. Of course I was working for a different club at this time, but I was thinking one day I would like to come back and help this club to stay, in these situations, a bit more calm and positive. This is why I wanted to sign two years ago. I know how difficult it is to stay calm and cool with this club, believe me.
“So my composure and calmness is more than enough for all Yorkshire. Everyone is allowed to panic, it shows how much they care. But my task is to make sure we stay cool, that we stick together, don’t over-react, that we’re not over-motivated and that we totally believe.
“This is what I bring to this club. I can’t guarantee [promotion] right now, but I’m totally calm right now, totally composed and I totally believe the boys are doing a great job. And believe me, in the end, next season we will play in the Premier League. I’m 100 per cent convinced of this.”
Leeds face relegation battlers Luton tomorrow at lunchtime and Farke, who has no new injury worries, has confirmed goalkeeper Karl Darlow will start in place of Illan Meslier after a string of costly errors by the Frenchman.
West Ham: Graham Potter’s side host out-of-sorts Bournemouth at the London Stadium tomorrow, hoping to win for the first time in four Premier League outings. West Ham go into the game on the back of a defeat at the hands of Wolves on Tuesday, their sixth loss in 11 matches since Potter took over from Julen Lopetegui. The 49-year-old has told his misfiring West Ham stars they are “some way off” what he expects of them and says they are playing for their futures.
“You can’t play for West Ham and throw games away,” he told reporters. “It’s impossible. Every game is massive for us. So we have to remember that, starting with Bournemouth on Saturday and finish as strong as we can. I would say we are some way off, for sure. In the end we want to control games and dominate games through attacking football, and we are far from that.
“When you understand where we’ve come from and what the bigger picture is, it’s a bit more understandable. But at the same time we have to acknowledge we’ve got a lot of work to do. We’ll need to carry on improving daily and then see how we can improve the team in the next transfer window, and keep taking steps. But with the ambition I have for this football club, we are some way off from where that is.”
England women: Leah Williamson has praised the form of her Arsenal and England teammate Alessia Russo before the No 9 spearheads the Lionesses’ attack in their Women’s Nations League double-header against Belgium, starting in Bristol tonight. Tom Garry reports …
The weekend’s Premier League fixtures
Everton v Arsenal (Sat 12.30pm BST)
Ipswich Town v Wolves (3pm)
Crystal Palace v Brighton (3pm)
West Ham v Bournemouth (3pm)
Aston Villa v Nottingham Forest (5.30pm)
Tottenham Hotspur v Southamptopn (Sun 2pm)
Brentford v Chelsea (2pm)
Fulham v Liverpool (2pm)
Manchester United v Manchester City (4.30pm)
Leicester City v Newcastle United (Mon 6pm)
Absolution of Hillsborough officers prompts fury
A 12-year investigation into the Hillsborough disaster by the police watchdog has concluded that no senior South Yorkshire police officers were guilty of misconduct for falsely blaming misbehaviour by Liverpool supporters. David Conn and Peter Walker report …
Postecoglou cops earful during Spurs loss
Tottenham Hotspur: Despite his post-match protestations to the contrary, Ange Postecoglou appeared to goad Tottenham’s travelling fans at Stamford Bridge last night with a gesture that further damaged the increasingly fragile bond between the Australian manager and dissatisfied supporters. Jacob Steinberg reports from Stamford Bridge …
Premier League: Enzo Fernandez scored the only goal of Thursday’s game to move Chelsea into the top four, while a clearly exasperated Ange Postecoglou may have finally fractured his relationship with Spurs fans beyond repair. David Hytner reports from Stamford Bridge …
The weekend is almost upon us …
Welcome all as we strap ourselves in ahead of another weekend of piping hot football action. The weekend’s first order of business is tonight’s Women’s Nations League match between England and Belgium at Ashton Gate, but before that we’ll get to see and hear no end of top flight managers fielding interrogatory projectiles from the men and women of the Fourth Estate ahead of the latest round of Premier League action.
As is customary, we’ll be here throughout the day to flag up all the major talking points and bring you any other news that happens to present itself as the day unfolds. In the meantime, our crack team of writers have been scouring the weekend fixture list to come up with these 10 things you ought to keep your eyes peeled for in the Premier League this weekend.
