GM football fans. It’s Wednesday, July. 30 - Premier League transfers near €2bn this window, Fifa accuses the global players’ union of blackmail, and everything else you need to know. Forwarded this email? Sign up here.
KEY FIXTURE
Premier League Summer Series: West Ham vs. Everton, 23:30 BST / 18:30 ET. Looking to recover from opening defeats in the Premier League Summer Series, Everton and West Ham will face off at Soldier Field in Chicago. These sides drew their Premier League encounters last season, and both sides have made minimal signings during this window, meaning that it could be a close affair.
TV Channels: Sky Sports (UK) | Peacock (US) | fuboTV (Canada)
Results…
UEFA Champions League qualifiers (See Results)
TOP TALKING POINTS
Premier League Spending Spree
Premier League clubs have spent €1.91bn on players since the transfer window opened at the start of June. Of the total figure, over €1bn has come from the so-called ‘big-six’ clubs—Liverpool (€308m), Chelsea (€243m), Arsenal (€224m), Manchester City (€176m), Manchester United (€153m), and Tottenham (€140m). See every club’s expenditure and net balance here.
Liverpool are already sixth on the list of most money spent by one club in a transfer window worldwide. The top three all came from last summer’s window, where Chelsea spent €463m, Al Hilal spent €353m, and Paris Saint-Germain spent €350m. Reports claim that the Reds could still make a move for Newcastle’s Alexander Isak, who is valued by his club at €175m, which would take Liverpool past the record spend. Dive deeper into how Liverpool can spend so much in this window here.
Each of the newly promoted teams—Burnley, Leeds United, and Sunderland—are in the top 10 for the biggest spenders so far. Sunderland have spent over €115m on six new players, while Burnley have added 10 players to their squad for under €75m.
See every transfer in Europe’s top five leagues here (live tracker).
FIFA vs Players’ Union
FIFA has accused FIFPro, the global players’ union, of “blackmail” and a lack of financial transparency. These accusations come in response to Sergio Marchi, the FIFPro president, claiming that “the autocracy of Fifa’s president,” Gianni Infantino, was the biggest obstacle for his union.
Fifa invited FIFPro to negotiate around issues such as player welfare and the football calendar, only “once they have stopped their blackmail and withdrawn their complaints, and once they have published… their full financial reports.” FIFPro’s accounts are published on KVK, the Dutch public registrar for companies. It’s unclear why Fifa has accused the players’ union of blackmail and financial opacity.
FIFPro claims that Fifa did not consult with them on the new player welfare rules it imposed last month. This relates to the introduction of mandatory rest periods, including 72 hours of rest between matches and at least 21 days of rest at the end of each season. The union has also led the charge in filing a legal complaint against Fifa with the European Commission over the number of games players face during a season.
Everton Exploit PSR Loophole
Everton are the latest Premier League club to sell their women’s team to a parent company, exploiting a loophole that has allowed clubs to curb the league’s Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR). The Toffees are the third team, after Chelsea and Aston Villa, to have effectively sold their women’s team to themselves for an undisclosed amount.
The club claims that the move is to ensure the women’s team is a standalone entity that can attract investment from the United States. However, it has also accepted that the profits will be used to help with PSR compliance. Everton were deducted six points for a PSR breach during the 2021-22 season and two points for a breach in 2022-23.
The Premier League, which failed to pass a vote three times to prevent such practices, insists the sale is not a loophole because it checks the fair value assessments of such “sales”. Chelsea sold their women’s team for £200m, ten times their annual revenue, which in theory means Everton could’ve valued their women’s team at around £60m.
POLL
Do you think pre-season results are a good indicator of how a team will perform during the season?
ON THE BALL
Europe
> Arsenal have made an official approach to RB Leipzig over the signing of striker Benjamin Sesko (More); the club’s new signing Viktor Gyokeres’s shirt has broken their shirt sales record (More) | Manchester City have re-signed goalkeeper James Trafford from Burnley for £27m (More)
> Thomas Partey will feature on the Premier League’s official trading cards when released next month after Arsenal approved his inclusion, despite his ongoing sexual assault case and no longer being at the club (More)
> PSG are on the verge of signing Lucas Chevalier from Lille in a deal worth around €40m as speculation grows around Gianluigi Donnarumma's future at the club (More)
> Frenkie de Jong is being offered a two-year contract extension with Barcelona, with the option to add another year based on performance (More)
Americas
> Colombia Women edged out Argentina in a 5-4 penalty shootout to reach the Women’s Copa America final on Monday (More); Brazil face Uruguay in the other semi-final, and the result will be decided shortly after publication (Live Updates)
> MLS Leagues Cup fixtures to conclude shortly after publication, with upcoming fixtures starting with Inter Miami vs Atlas kicking off tonight (See Schedule and Results) | Vancouver Whitecaps are finalising a deal to sign Thomas Muller from Bayern Munich in a two-year deal (More)
> The USL has awarded a franchise to USL Eugene, and the club will launch a professional men’s team in USL League One in the 2026 season (More) | USL Championship tie between Pittsburgh Riverhounds vs Miami FC concludes shortly after publication (See Results)
Rest of the World
> The AFC Women’s Asian Cup 2026 draw took place on Tuesday, as Australia have been grouped with South Korea, Philippines, and Iran (More)
ROUTERS’ VOICE
Yesterday’s Poll: Do you think managers should be allowed to challenge VAR decisions during matches?
🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 👏 Absolutely (51%)
🟨 🟨 🟨 🟨 🟨 ⬜️ 🙅♂️ Nope (47%)
🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ✍️ Other (2%)
Your punditry takes:
👏 L.J: “I say bring it on. There is a precedent for this type of challenge working in other sports (namely the NFL), and it gives a common sense check to the power of VAR. It is one of several reforms needed for VAR.”
👏 J.M: “I think that is the only reason VAR should be used, when a challenge is made by a coach. Coaches should have a limited number of challenges (maybe 3), if the decision is overturned, they keep their challenge, if not then they lose one. The only exception is that offsides should always be checked as that is very quick now with the semi-automated technology.”
🙅♂️ P.G: “Factual decisions have a very low error rate. All other referee decisions have an element of judgement to them. Challenges will only slow down the game with no change in the judgment calls of referees.”
✍️ M.A: “In tennis, players challenge calls that affect them directly, using near-flawless tech like Hawkeye. In football, we need to stop lumping all technology under the same label. Goal-line tech and semi-automated offside are like Hawkeye: objective, binary, and instant. But VAR isn’t that kind of system. VAR is interpretive: a video tool that helps refs revisit possible fouls or infractions. It’s not definitive. It’s selective. Allowing coaches to challenge VAR decisions adds another layer of authority to a game already suffering from interruptions and inconsistency.”
EXTRA TIME
Ranking the best teams of the past 25 years.
Vin Diesel gives Al Ittihad a random team talk.
Newcastle unveil bold new green kit.
England celebrate Euro win with London parade.
… and how did Lucy Bronze play with a fractured tibia?
A map of Fifa and Uefa’s banned football fixtures.
GAME FACE ON
Today’s question is tough. Can you name the players from the following anagram?
Weekly Lark.
Dose Mania.
Biased Urn.
Scroll below for the answer.
ON TODAY
Premier League Summer Series
West Ham vs. Everton (23:30)
*All times in UK. ET -5. CDT -6. PDT -8. MDT -7. CET +1.
Answer
Kyle Walker. Sadio Mane. Ruben Dias.
Daily Wordle: Guess the football-related word, from player names to classic phrases, in six tries or fewer. Play it here.
Football is simple. But nothing is more difficult than playing simple football.
