Manchester City, Chelsea and Liverpool have all been linked with the star. Indeed, a player of his quality, after winning the world’s biggest tournament, could certainly make the step up to a bigger side.

Marius Wolf has been called up to the German national team for the first time thanks to his strong performances in recent weeks. Nico Schlotterbeck and Emre Can will also link-up with the Germany squad. who will face a Belgium side including Thomas Meunier in a friendly match. For the first time since June 2022, Sebastien Haller has been called-up by the Ivory Coast, who are fighting for qualification for the Africa Cup of Nations.

Five players missing at the start of the final training week On Wednesday afternoon, the Foals...

January 27th 2022 marks the 77th anniversary of the day on which the survivors of Auschwitz...

Of course, Bild points out the potential pitfalls of this strategy. Muller is one of the most popular players at the club, both among the squad and in the fanbase. He is a Bavarian native and a homegrown player, and enjoys popularity among the influential Sudkurve (ultras). Among advertisers, Muller is also the face of Bayern Munich and one of the club’s most marketable athletes.

In 1965, a success story started about 65 kilometres south-west of Madrid. A company by the name of JOMA was founded in Toledo, a small city with approximately 65,000 inhabitants, and at the time focused on the production of football boots. Thirty-three years later – during which the brand established itself as an equipment supplier – JOMA landed a coup and made an appearance on the biggest stage in the nearby capital city: the company signed the Spaniard Rafael Martín Vázquez, one of Real Madrid’s big stars. He was followed by club legend Emilio Butragueño a year later. The next quantum leap came a decade later: in 1998, JOMA’s campaign entitled “EL COLOR EN EL FÚTBOL” (English: “The Colour in Football”) made a splash worldwide and revolutionised the global football boot market. Brightly coloured boots were now everywhere; star striker Fernando Morientes, for example, attracted attention globally by donning red boots in the white kit of Real Madrid.

Mainz will round up Bundesliga matchday 21 under the lights on Karneval Sunday (19:30 CET), as...

1. FC Union Berlin suffered heartbreak in the semi-final of the DFB Pokal, going down 2-1 at Leipzig. Emil Forsberg came off the bench to score in the 92nd minute and complete the turnaround for the home side following a brave performance from the Köpenick club. Sheraldo Becker put Union ahead after 25 minutes, finishing off a cross from Christopher Trimmel. Union stayed in control of the game beyond half-time but were unable to turn dominance into goals. Felix Brych then awarded Leipzig a penalty kick on the hour mark with Andre Silva putting his side level. Leipzig’s pressure would prove too much for Union with Forsberg heading in the winner in stoppage time.

After the 5-1 success at Bochum last weekend, the Wolves host in-form 1. FSV Mainz 05 on Sunday 30 April (kick-off 17:30 CEST) in a key clash against a fellow contender for the European places. In his pre-match press conference, VfL head coach Niko Kovac discussed…
 
…the importance of the fixture: “It’s certainly a very important match, as the next matches are too. We can keep ourselves in the running on Sunday, whereas a defeat would certainly make it much more difficult. So, we know the importance of the game and also the quality of the opponents.”
 
…team news: “We have Bartol Franjic back, and Kilian Fischer was also back in training today. The two who won’t be involved are Lukas Nmecha and Kevin Paredes – with him we’re hoping he’ll be back with the group next week.”
 
…the absence of Micky van de Ven due to suspension: “Micky has been brilliant this season, I have to reiterate. He’s crucial to the solidity we have at the back, but we’ll deal fine with his absence, just like we have all the other problems we’ve had over the course of the season. I’m confident that whoever deputises will do just as well as he did in the 29 games before. Once again, we have plenty of options for this position.”
 
…Mainz’s qualities: “Everyone at Mainz knows how important it is to step out onto the pitch as a collective. They’re a team who physically work very hard, who score a lot of goals from crosses. They get forward really quickly; they’ve changed the system slightly since the last game we played in Mainz. In [Ludovic] Ajorque they’ve acquired a striker who holds the ball up very well and brings others into play. Things are looking very good, but we have to play our football too. We want to dominate.”

Erik ten Hag was not afforded the funds to bring in a marquee replacement straight away so they instead looked at the loan and free agent market.