Erik ten Hag said he wanted to substitute his entire Manchester United team at half-time after a humiliating 4-0 defeat to Brentford.
Manchester United conceded four times in the first 35 minutes at the Gtech Community Stadium and ended the day at the bottom of the Premier League table.
– Man United hit new low after dismal loss against brilliant Brentford – Notebook: United told Ten Hag to lower expectations – Don’t have ESPN? Get instant access
Ten Hag replaced Luke Shaw, Lisandro Martinez and Fred after a dismal first-half performance but the Dutchman, who is the first United manager to lose his first two competitive games since John Chapman in 1921, said he wished he could have axed his whole starting XI.
“I subbed three but I could’ve changed them all,” said Ten Hag.
“We want to bring some fresh energy in the game, so not specific to the ones we sub because I don’t think that’s honest to them.
“I think we all have seen the game and I think Brentford was more hungry. We have to question that and we will do in the coming hours. You can have a good plan but we had to put the plan into the bin.”
Afterward Ten Hag faced questions about his tactical approach after his team were caught in possession trying to pass out from the back for Brentford’s second goal.
The United boss suggested he would not change his style after a second successive defeat but admitted his team had been “naive.”
“I don’t want to play from the back when it’s not possible,” he added.
“It was naive how we played today. You have to play more directly.
“We attracted them, the space was high up the pitch, you have to do that option but that is what we didn’t do. We will learn, we will have to learn, it’s not good enough and it’s not the level and the standard of how we want to act.”
It was a day to forget for David de Gea, who first let Josh Dasilva’s shot squirm under his body and then played a part in a shambolic attempt to play out which ended with Mathias Jensen making it 2-0.
“I think I cost three points to my team today to be honest,” De Gea told Sky Sports.
“After the first mistake and the second it was very tough for the team to get playing. It was a horrible day.
“We should react better but in the moment we are living now it’s tough every time we concede a goal. I should have saved the shot and probably the result will be different.
“We are not like other teams that concede one goal and they win 5-1 or 6-1. It doesn’t matter if they make a mistake. This is why I think today I cost three points. Because it was an easy save and it was 1-0 for them and I already feel the team was going down, down, down.”
A shambolic Manchester United side conceded four goals in the opening 35 minutes in a 4-0 drubbing at Brentford on Saturday as their woeful start to the Premier League season continued.
United’s seventh successive away league defeat was assured long before the interval as Brentford took ruthless advantage of a catalog of errors by the visitors.
The route began in the 10th minute when United keeper David de Gea allowed a weak shot by Josh Dasilva to slip past him.
Things got worse for United eight minutes later when De Gea played the ball out to former Brentford player Christian Eriksen, who was caught in possession and Mathias Jensen slotted home.
When United’s defense failed to deal with a corner and Ben Mee glanced in a close-range header to make it 3-0, the Brentford fans were ecstatic while United’s new manager Erik ten Hag looked ashen-faced in his technical area.
Brentford’s fourth was a gem as Ivan Toney delivered a diagonal ball to Bryan Mbeumo from a counter-attack and Mbeumo calmly beat De Gea.
Ten Hag made three substitutions at half-time with Raphael Varane, Tyrell Malacia and Scott McTominay coming on, but despite a slight improvement United offered little fight.
Brentford’s fans serenaded their players with “Hey Jude” at the final whistle while United’s players looked crestfallen as they trudged off rock bottom of the table, having also lost their opener at home to Brighton & Hove Albion.
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It was the first time since 1960 that United have conceded at least six goals in their first two matches of a top-flight season and the first time they have lost their opening two matches since 1992 — when they went on to win the title.
This side, however, looks woefully inadequate to mount any kind of challenge and Ten Hag, who was taunted by the Brentford fans, appears to have a huge job on his hands.
The Dutchman is the first Manchester United manager to lose his first two games in charge since John Chapman in 1921.
“It’s easy to dismantle this United side, just be organized and fight and you’re there,” said former United player and Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville.
For Brentford, whose starting line-up cost in the region of 55 million pounds ($93.75 million) compared to the more than 400 million pounds ($681.5 million) of United’s, have picked up four points in their first two games.
Fans continued to protest against club owners the Glazers as Manchester United lost 4-0 to Brentford.(Getty Images: Offside/Mark Leech)
The crushing defeat will do nothing to soothe the feelings of Manchester United fans, already angry at club owners the Glazer family.
Poor results and a perceived failure to sign the right players to revamp the team in the off-season had left fans continuing long-standing calls for the Glazers to sell the club.
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United fans on social media are trying to organize a boycott of next week’s home game against long-time rivals Liverpool, using the hashtag Empty Old Trafford.
In other Premier League action, defending champions Manchester City swept to the top of the table, thumping newly-promoted Bournemouth 4-0 to emphasize the gulf between them and neighbors United.
City under manager Pep Guardiola have scored six times and are yet to concede in two games this campaign, as they bid for a fifth Premier League title in six seasons.
Arsenal are the big improvers so far this season, sitting second to City on goal difference after their 4-2 win over Leicester City.
New signing Gabriel Jesus marked his home debut with a brilliant performance, scoring twice and setting up two more.
Southampton and Leeds ended 0-0, as did Fulham and Wolves and Brighton’s match against Newcastle, while Everton lost 2-1 to Aston Villa.
A month ago, Bayern Munich manager Julian Nagelsmann said what everyone who doesn’t own a vintage Seydou Keita jersey was thinking: “The only club that has no money, but buys every player they want. I do not know how. It’s kind of crazy.”
This was after Barcelona acquired 33-year-old Robert Lewandowski, scorer of 35 goals for Nagelsmann in the Bundesliga last season, for $49.5 million. Raphinha had already arrived from Leeds for $63.8m. It seemed “crazy” then … and then they spent another $55m on Sevilla defender Jules Kounde. They’ve also signed free agents Andreas Christensen from Chelsea and Franck Kessie from AC Milan, as well as resigning both Sergi Roberto and Ousmane Dembele once their previous contracts expired at the end of June. Chelsea’s Marcos Alonso is expected to join soon, and the club is reportedly still interested in Manchester City’s Bernardo Silva. The latter seems like a fantasy too far, but well, so did everything else until it all happened.
the how of all this — a club with over a billion dollars in debt and described as “clinically dead” by president Joan Laporta last season suddenly spending more on transfer fees than anyone else in the world — has been hashed out by many of our writers already this summer. In a word, which you must be sick of by now: levers. They’ve sold off a quarter of their future domestic broadcast revenue and a quarter of their in-house production company for a short-term cash infusion north of $600 million. More levers are being pulled, too, with news early on Friday — just 30 hours or so before their season opener, a home date with Rayo Vallecano — that the club was selling more in order to be able to register its signings.
Instead, I want to focus on a different question: why? Why is this once-great club selling off its future for a still-uncertain present? Can this really be as obviously short-sighted as it seems?
Laporta will make you think that they had to do this, that there was no choice but to totally revamp the squad with hundreds of millions of dollars of loans put toward a massive transfer outlay. However, that’s just not true.
Barcelona have finally managed to register most of their summer signings ahead of the start of the new LaLiga season this weekend, with only Jules Kounde still to be registered.
Xavi Hernandez’s side kick off their season against Rayo Vallecano at Camp Nou on Saturday, but the build up to that fixture has been dominated by the club’s race against time to get all their new arrivals registered.
– Stream every LaLiga match on ESPN+ (US only) – LaLiga team-by-team preview: Can Barca return to top? – Notebook: Barca not only LaLiga club with registration issues – Don’t have ESPN? Get instant access
Barca have spent over €150 million this summer on Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha and Kounde, while Andreas Christensen and Franck Kessie both arrived on free transfers.
Prior to Friday, however, none of them had been registered with LaLiga due to the league’s strict financial regulations.
The new contracts agreed by Ousmane Dembele and Sergi Roberto had not been signed off by the Spanish league either. However, that duo were also able to be registered on Friday — along with Lewandowski, Raphinha, Christensen and Kessie — following the sale of another 24.5% of Barca Studios.
Barca’s summer spending has been funded by the sale of club assets, with each deal dubbed a “financial lever” by president Joan Laporta.
They sold 25% of their domestic television income for the next 25 years to Sixth Street in two separate packages worth €511m in total. They then sold 24.5% of Barca Studios to Socios.com for an additional €100m.
However, despite raising over €600m, Barca were told by LaLiga last week they would need to sell more assets — or further reduce their wage bill — to be able to register all their new signings.
Barcelona will now have to free up salary space in order to register Kounde. Because they are no longer exceeding their squad limit, though, the club will now just have to free up the equivalent salary space to what Kounde will cost.
On Friday Barca, whose gross debt still totals over €1 billion, closed a deal with Orpheus Media to sell off another 24.5% of Barca Studios for €100m.
Meanwhile, they are also re-negotiating Gerard Pique’s contract with the defender to create further salary space.
Speaking earlier on Friday, Xavi said he was optimistic that most of his new recruits would be available to him against Rayo Vallecano.
“We are working on it, we’re positive,” he said at a news conference. “We have announced the fourth lever and we will see tomorrow, maybe not all 100%, but we are optimistic. We have time until tomorrow.
“It hasn’t had much influence because working on systems, tactics, different variations… One player can play or another because we are doubled up in positions. We work on positioning, systems, variants… so not much changes. But right now, I repeat, we are very optimistic about the registrations.”
All Spanish clubs must adhere to a spending cap for the season, which includes money spent on wages and transfer fees, which are amortized over the length of the contract.
The cap is loosely a club’s revenue minus outgoings and debt repayments and is applied prospectively. Barca’s cap was -€144m at the end of last season, the only negative limit in Spain, but it will rise significantly following the four financial levers triggered this summer.
Barca are not the only club having problems registering their players with LaLiga. Real Betis still have a handful of players not yet inscribed for the new season, while other clubs, including Sevilla, Celta Vigo and Girona, have had to wait until this week to register their summer activity.
Sarah Hunter puts her hands on her hips, looks down at the penalty spot and takes a deep breath.
Whistles ring around the Estadio Nacional stadium in Costa Rica as 25,000 local fans try to distract, intimidate, overwhelm — anything to put the young midfielder off.
And with good reason. The home nation are 1-0 ahead, thanks to a thunderous strike by Costa Rica captain, Alexandra Pinell, which came largely against the run of play. They’d not qualified for an U-20 Women’s World Cup before, and now they were in the lead.
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However, a goal from Hunter could change things. Not only would it bring the Young Matildas back level to 1-1, it would also be Australia’s first goal at this tournament in almost two decades.
Seconds crawl by, as though flattened by the weight of the moment.
The referee gestures sternly towards the players around the top of the 18-yard area, ensuring not even a shoelace is poking over the white paint.
And the jeers from the crowd grow louder as the video assistant in a distant room checks and re-checks the decision.
Still Hunter waits, breathing steadily.
You get the sense that she could have happily stood there forever because, for the 18-year-old Sydney FC player, even just being on a football field after what she has been through is a bit of a blessing.
“From when I was 10, until about 16, I missed pretty much most football,” Hunter told ABC.
“I had two hip surgeries that put me out for over six months each. I had a broken ankle. I had an ACL reconstruction — all in about six years. So that put me out for majority of that period.
“I missed all the Junior Matildas tours, which was upsetting as a young, aspiring footballer.
“So, being back on the pitch over the [past] two years, it’s just been the most amazing thing. I’m always so grateful to be on the pitch because I’ve missed so much in the past.
“Now, looking back, I’m just so grateful to be where I am. I’m grateful for all the hard work and knowing that I never gave up.
“I’ve always had this dream and I’ve never strayed from that. This is what I love. Ultimately, I don’t think anything was going to stop me.”
After several years’ worth of injuries, Sarah Hunter is finally making a splash on the national team scene.(Supplied: Football Australia/Ann Odong)
This injury-addled history explains why Hunter’s name has been largely absent from conversations around the future of the Matildas over the past few years, and explains her late arrival onto the A-League Women scene.
Indeed, having missed out on the formative football periods and pathways that many of her Young Matildas team-mates have followed, it feels rather miraculous that she’s ended up here at all.
It’s no surprise to head coach Leah Blayney, though.
In fact, when Hunter made her debut for Western Sydney Wanderers in the A-League Women in 2020, Blayney was already keeping a close eye on this emerging star of Australia’s midfield.
Three games in to her first professional season, Hunter scored twice in a 2-2 draw against Adelaide.
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In the stands that day was her loyal band of family and friends — affectionately known as The Sarah Hunter Cheer Squad — with hand-drawn posters, shirts and delighted chants that were captured on the pitch-side microphones.
Blayney was in the stands that day, too. I remember, because she turned to me and said: “This kid’s something special.”
She was right. Ella’s future in the Young Matildas was all but secured after an even-more-impressive season with Sydney FC, where she helped the Sky Blues lift the Premiers Plate, appearing in all 16 games and dazzling during the final.
Hunter earned her first national team call-up less than a month later and has only continued to blossom.
She was a stand-out performer in a two-game friendly series against New Zealand back in April and scored in all but one game during Australia’s World Cup preparations in Mexico, including bagging a brace in a 3-3 draw against the hosts.
With just two A-League Women’s seasons under her belt, Sarah Hunter has already become one of the league’s most exciting midfielders.(Getty Images: NurPhoto/Izhar Khan)
With a keen eye for space, an assurance with the ball at her feet, and a 360-degree vision that rivals some senior midfielders, one wonders where this teenager could be now, had her body allowed her to get there.
Indeed, after being on the cusp of physical failure for so long, it seems as though Hunter is now doing all she can to catch up to where she was always supposed to be.
“I missed a lot of games in that period, so each game is an opportunity for me to get better,” she said.
“I’m always grateful to be able to learn and get better because that’s ultimately the journey. Footballers want to get better each day and, when you’re not playing games, it’s hard to do that.
“Just being at a World Cup right now is honestly such a great learning experience. And, for all these girls, as well, going into the future, hopefully this group learn so much and we can all step into that senior level and we’ I already have so much experience.”
However, the setbacks have been as much a part of making her into the player and person she is as much as her acceleration over the past two years.
“You’ve come through a lot of things,” she said softly.
“You’ve put in a lot of work. Lots of ups and downs. Getting through lots of injuries, missing out on tournaments and games. You’ve missed out on a lot.
“I’m just super proud of you. You never stop working, you never stop believing in yourself. I’m always looking back at pictures of myself and seeing the love you have for the game: That always pushes me to keep going whenever I feel like stopping.”
It was the well of resilience she dipped into when Australia went 1-0 down to Costa Rica on Thursday.
But, as Hunter said afterwards, she wasn’t rattled. None of them were.
Alexandra Pinell’s shot flew past Young Matildas goalkeeper Sally James in the 19th minute, but Australia didn’t give up.(Getty Images: FIFA/Hector Vivas)
“Obviously, when you’ve got 22,000 people screaming for the other team when they just scored, it’s a bit daunting,” she said.
“But our group is so strong, and when you’re in that mentality of, ‘We’re going to win this game’, nothing can face you. We were all on that journey together in that game.
“The setback just made us stronger.”
And now that mentality — that strength in setbacks — has brought her here, as Australia’s designated penalty-taker, standing on the cusp of something she has been wanting her whole life.
The jeers from the crowd fade as the referee lifts the whistle to her mouth.
Hunter looks down at the ball, takes one final breath, and strides forward, driven by all that has come before her and all that is yet to arrive.
Sarah Hunter scored the first goal for Australia in their 3-1 win over Costa Rica in the first group game on Thursday.(Getty Images: FIFA/Buddha Mendes)
Sam Kerr’s stellar year for club and country has been recognized by international football with a fourth consecutive nomination for the game’s most prestigious award, the Ballon d’Or.
Key points:
Sam Kerr is one of just four players to be nominated for the Ballon d’Or in every edition since its inception in 2018
The Matildas skipper finished third in the last edition, which was won by Spain captain Alexia Putellas
Her nomination comes after yet another Golden Boot-winning season with Chelsea as well as becoming Australia’s all-time leading goal scorer
The Matildas captain was announced as part of the 20-person short-list on Saturday alongside names such as Dutch striker Vivianne Miedema, English winger Beth Mead, German veteran Alexandra Popp, inaugural winner Ada Hegerberg, and current holder Alexia Putellas.
The nomination comes after yet another stand-out campaign for Chelsea where Kerr finished the 2021/22 Women’s Super League season as the top scorer for a second consecutive year, scoring 20 goals for the Blues on their way to retaining the league title.
The 28-year-old also scored two crucial goals — including an extra-time winner — against Manchester City at Wembley in May to win back-to-back FA Cups.
His performances in the league saw Kerr become the first Australian to win England’s PFA Players’ Player of the Year in June, alongside being named the WSL Player of the Season and voted the Football Writers’ Association’s Footballer of the Year.
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Kerr had a record-breaking year in the green-and-gold, too, becoming Australia’s all-time leading goal-scorer in February when she surpassed Tim Cahill’s record of 50 during the Asian Cup. She won that tournament’s Golden Boot with seven goals , with her current tally sitting at 59 in 110 games.
The striker is one of just four players to have been nominated in every edition of the Women’s Ballon d’Or, which began in 2018, ranking fifth, seventh, and third respectively.
Kerr is also the only player from the Asian Football Confederation to be short-listed for the 2022 award, with the list largely dominated by European players who starred at the recent Women’s European Championships.
Fourteen of the 20 nominated players come from the UEFA confederation, while Africa (Asisat Oshoala) and South America (Christiane Endler) have one each. The United States has four nominees, including the youngest in 20-year-old Trinity Rodman.
In the men’s category, seven-time winner Lionel Messi missed out completely for the first time since 2005, as did his Paris Saint-Germain team-mate, Neymar.
Instead, France striker Karim Benzema leads the short-list after winning the La Liga and Champions League double with Real Madrid, finishing as top scorer in Spain with 27 goals.
He’s joined on the 30-player list by Liverpool winger Mohamed Salah, England striker Harry Kane, Belgium midfielder Kevin De Bruyne, new Barcelona recruit Robert Lewandowski, and new Manchester City signing Erling Haaland.
The winners will be announced at a ceremony on October 17.
New signings Andreas Christensen and Franck Kessie could both leave Barcelona for free if they are not registered before Saturday’s LaLiga opener against Rayo Vallecano, various sources have confirmed to ESPN.
Christensen and Kessie both joined Barca on free transfers earlier this summer from Chelsea and AC Milan respectively. With three days to go until the new campaign starts, however, neither has been registered with the Spanish league.
– Why can’t Barca register summer signings yet? – The impact of Messi’s exit, one year on – Don’t have ESPN? Get instant access
Sources have told ESPN that if they are not registered before Barca’s opening fixture against Rayo, both players could choose to execute a clause that allows them to leave for free.
Fellow summer arrivals Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha and Jules Kounde are also yet to be inscribed with LaLiga, while the contract renewals signed by Sergi Roberto and Ousmane Dembele have not been registered either.
ESPN understands Christensen and Kessie’s situations are slightly different, though, given they joined Barca for free. Therefore, if they so choose, they would be entitled to leave for free before the transfer window closes.
Sources say at this stage there is no indication it will come to that and president Joan Laporta continues to transmit optimism that all seven players will be registered in time, but Barca are cutting it fine before the start of the season.
In the worst case scenario, sources told ESPN Barcelona would seek to speak with the players’ agents to avoid such an extreme outcome because they have until the end of the month to register signings.
Barca have spent over €150 million this summer and have raised over €600m by selling 25% of their domestic television rights for 25 years and a 24.5% stake in Barca Studios.
A league source has told ESPN that it is still not enough incoming cash for Barca to be able to register all of their signings and contract renewals, although some could be registered now. This would depend on the cost and combination of the deals.
Therefore, Barca are looking to sell a further 24.5% stake in Barca Studios and continue to negotiate wage adjustments with other players, including Sergio Busquets and Gerard Pique.
It was Pique’s wage cut last summer which allowed Memphis Depay and Eric Garcia to be registered on the eve of last season, while similar actions from Busquets and Alba permitted Sergio Aguero to be signed up with the league before the transfer window closed.
Barca’s LaLiga-imposed spending cap was -€144m at the end of last season, the only negative limit in the league, and will have to be increased substantially to register all their summer activity.
The Catalan club hope that the sale of club assets, coupled with a sponsorship deal signed with Spotify earlier this year, will eventually increase their cap to allow them to register everyone.
Frenkie de Jong’s agents have arrived in Barcelona amid continued uncertainty over the midfielder’s future at the club, with Manchester United and Chelsea still pursuing his signing.
Ali Dursun and Hasan Cetinkaya, who also represent Barcelona striker Martin Braithwaite, flew into the city on Wednesday and are expected to hold talks with the Catalan club in the coming days over both of their clients.
– Why can’t Barca register summer signings yet? – The impact of Messi’s exit a year on – Don’t have ESPN? Get instant access
De Jong’s future has been the subject of much attention throughout the summer. ESPN revealed in July that Barca had agreed to a fee of around €85 million with United, including add-ons, while Chelsea are also interested.
However, the player has so far preferred to remain at Camp Nou.
Barca, meanwhile, have told De Jong that if he wants to stay, he must reduce his salary, although sources have told ESPN he is reluctant to do so at this stage.
Sources confirmed to ESPN earlier this week that Barca sent a letter to De Jong’s camp in July warning that the contract renewal he signed in 2020 under the previous board had alleged irregularities.
Sources close to the player said the contract is legal and claim the letter that Barca sent was intended to put pressure on De Jong to either accept a move away or agree to a wage reduction.
Barca’s board believe there were possible irregularities in other renewals signed at the same time by Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Gerard Pique and Clement Lenglet.
However, the timing of Barca’s tactics has drawn questions as they try to raise funds and reduce their wage bill to be able to register their summer signings.
Despite that, De Jong remains happy in Barcelona with his girlfriend and scored in Sunday’s 6-0 friendly win over Mexican side Pumas UNAM at Camp Nou.
Still, the uneasy situation was highlighted when De Jong arrived at training on Wednesday and was subjected to shouted abuse by some Barcelona fans, who called on him to accept a reduced salary.
Dursun and Cetinkaya also represent Braithwaite, who has been told by Barca to find a new club. The Denmark striker was left out of the squad for the tour of the United States last month and has not featured in preseason.
Braithwaite, 31, was even jeered by Barca supporters before Sunday’s game against Pumas. Sources have told ESPN he is open to leaving the club, who has joined as an emergency signing from Leganes for €20m in 2020, but only if the offer is right for him.
Meanwhile, Barca continue to negotiate further wage adjustments with Pique and Sergio Busquets. Sources have said talks have gone well so far.
Both players, along with Jordi Alba, agreed to pay cuts last summer to enable Memphis Depay, Eric Garcia and Sergio Aguero to be registered, and they may have to do the same this year.
With Barca set to kick off the new LaLiga season on Saturday against Rayo Vallecano, none of their five signings have been registered with the Spanish league, nor have the new contracts signed by Ousmane Dembele and Sergi Roberto.
The club have so far sold assets worth over €600m and are now in a position to register some of their signings. However, a league source told ESPN more money must be raised — or wages cut — before Saturday to register everyone.
Carlo Ancelotti has said he believes Real Madrid can improve on last year’s LaLiga and Champions League double — and don’t need to add another forward to the squad — as they prepare to face Eintracht Frankfurt in the UEFA Super Cup on Wednesday.
Madrid won LaLiga by 13 points last season and beat Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea, Manchester City and Liverpool on their way to lifting a 14th Champions League title.
– La Liga on ESPN+: Stream LIVE games and replays (US only) – Don’t have ESPN? Get instant access
The Super Cup clash with Europa League winners Frankfurt in Helsinki is the first of six trophies up for grabs for Madrid this year, before they get their 2022-23 LaLiga campaign underway at Almeria on Sunday.
“We’ve signed two players [Antonio Rudiger and Aurelien Tchouameni] who have improved the physical and technical quality of the team,” Ancelotti said in a pre-match news conference on Tuesday.
“We’ve had another year of working together, improving the alchemy between the veterans and youngsters. That was one of the successes of the team last year, and that can improve, because we’re more used to being together.”
Madrid missed out on signing Kylian Mbappe in May when he decided to stay at Paris Saint-Germain, and forwards Luka Jovic and Borja Mayoral have both left the club this summer, but Ancelotti insisted that the team have sufficient options in attack to challenge on multiple fronts.
“We have a lot of forwards,” he said. “It’s a good list: Karim [Benzema]Mariano [Diaz], [Eden] Hazard, Rodrygo, Vinicius [Junior], [Marco] Asensio.
“When you’re missing the best forward in the world [Benzema] of course that affects the team. But we have solutions. Replacing Karim is impossible.”
Benzema — who will lead the team in Helsinki having been named club captain after the departure of Marcelo — agreed that Madrid have the players to improve on last year.
“Age doesn’t exist,” the 34-year-old said. “It’s true that we aren’t young, but we work hard on the pitch and off the pitch. We have a good squad, let’s hope it’s better than last year.
“I don’t know [if I need a substitute]. There’s a coach here and the president too, I’m not here to answer that.”
Frankfurt were beaten 6-1 at home by Bayern Munich on Friday in the opening game of the Bundesliga season, but Ancelotti said they are opponents to be taken seriously.
“We won’t be fooled,” the Italian said. “They played a great Europa League. They deserved to win it, they played some very strong teams. They’re a dynamic team with intensity.”
Frankfurt confirmed earlier on Tuesday that they would be without forward Filip Kostic for the Super Cup, as the player is in talks about a move away from the club.
Timo Werner is on his way from Chelsea back to RB Leipzig after the two clubs confirmed a transfer agreement for the Germany international on Tuesday.
The deal — a permanent move for the 26-year-old — is reportedly worth in the region of €30 million, although various performance-related add-ons could be included.
– Mixed performances for Chelsea new boys against Everton – Tuchel: Alonso wants to leave Chelsea – Don’t have ESPN? Get instant access
“I’m very happy to be able to play for RB Leipzig again,” Werner, who has signed a four-year contract, said. “I had a great time here between 2016 and 2020, when we performed brilliantly as newcomers in the league. It was a dignified departure for me to leave the club as record goalscorer, but that’s in the past now and I’m looking ahead, because both I and the club have developed in the past two years.
“I had two great years at Chelsea that I’m really grateful for and were crowned with the Champions League trophy. The experience to play abroad in a new league really helped me and my career. Now I’m looking forward to the new season with RB Leipzig and above all to meet the Leipzig fans again, who mean a great deal to me. We want to achieve a lot and of course, I want to become the first Leipzig player to reach the 100-goal mark.”
Werner will be looking to get his career back on track ahead of the World Cup in Qatar after a disappointing two-year spell at Stamford Bridge.
He joined Chelsea in 2020 for €50m, opting not to take part in Leipzig’s rescheduled Champions League quarterfinal against Atletico Madrid — delayed due to COVID-19 — to give himself more time to adapt to English football.
Werner started well, scoring eight goals in his first 12 games up to mid-November, but managed just four more for the rest of the campaign as a loss of form and confidence set in.
Werner was completely left out of the Chelsea squad for the match against Everton as talks with Leipzig continued.
He has scored 23 goals in 89 appearances for Chelsea and although manager Thomas Tuchel is thought to be reluctant to part with the forward given the wider pressure to strengthen the squad, there is recognition the midseason World Cup has heightened the player’s fears over a lack of regular action.
Werner’s arrival follows Leipzig’s announcement on Tuesday that they had completed the signing of FC Salzburg striker Benjamin Sesko, who will officially join the club in July 2023.
“Timo Werner’s signing is a special transfer for us,” Leipzig technical director Christopher Vivell said. “We had a lot of great years together in Leipzig that saw Timo become the club’s record goalscorer and a Germany international. His return from him means a lot to the supporters because Timo was a real fan favorite and figure of identification for a lot of people .
“The transfer made a lot of sense to us, both because of Timo’s quality and the financial aspects of the deal. Now we want to build on the success that we started together and achieve our goals with Timo’s help. Not only does that mean qualification to the Champions League, but we also want to get as far as possible in the cup competitions.”
