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Gibbs-White transfer dramapublished at 13:07 British Summer

Morgan Gibbs-White’s future at Nottingham Forest remains up in the air amid an odd – and confusing – situation.

On Thursday BBC Sport reported that he was set to have a medical at Tottenham before completing a £60m move.

However the following day, sources told BBC Sport that Nottingham Forest are considering legal action over Tottenham’s interest in the midfielder.

Forest are believed to be looking at whether a specific confidentiality agreement in the £60m release clause in Gibbs-White’s contract has been breached.

Sources have told BBC Sport that Forest are furious at Tottenham’s conduct in their pursuit of the England international, and they insist Forest’s threat to take legal action is genuine.

It is understood Forest insist they have not given Spurs permission to speak to Gibbs-White and are willing to go to whatever lengths required to prevent the transfer taking place.

Under Premier League rules clubs are not allowed to talk to players under contract with another team unless they have permission.

Tottenham are aware of the situation but are still hopeful a deal can be concluded.

Defender Mosquera agrees terms with Arsenal

Valencia centre-back Cristhian Mosquera has agreed personal terms with Arsenal, with a move to the Premier League club getting closer.

BBC Sport previously reported that Arsenal were in talks to sign the 21-year-old but now another element to the deal has been completed.

The Gunners have been looking to add a young defender to their squad to compete with William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes.

Mosquera can play at both centre-back and right-back and will fill the gap in the squad left by the departure of Takehiro Tomiyasu, who mutually agreed to terminate his contract.

The Spain Under-21 international has made 90 appearances for Valencia and was a regular last season, playing the full match in 37 of the club’s 38 La Liga games.

Who is Mosquera?

The 21-year-old, who was born in Alicante but has Colombian heritage, started out as a basketball player before making the switch to futsal and joining local side San Blas Canavate, who were looking for an additional player to play in a youth tournament at the time.

Mosquera swapped his love of futsal for football in 2013, joining Alicante’s biggest team Hercules, and playing as a pacey winger. He then joined Valencia’s youth set-up as a 12-year-old in 2016.

Six years progressing through the club’s youth ranks sparked his transformation into a defender, and he finally made his first team debut in a Copa del Rey fixture against CD Atletico Baleares in January 2022.

The versatile 6ft 3in defender, who can play at both centre-back and right-back, has now racked up 90 senior appearances for Valencia, scoring one goal along the way.

Arsenal look to strengthen squad depthpublished at 14:09 British Summer Time14:09 BST

Arsenal’s depth in the centre-back position was tested last season, particularly during the crucial title run-in.

The Gunner’s main defender, Gabriel, was forced off with a hamstring injury against Fulham back in April when they were still putting pressure on Liverpool.

The Brazilian international missed the remainder of the season, including several critical fixtures against Real Madrid and PSG in the Champions League and soon-to-be champions Liverpool.

But that wasn’t Gabriel’s first injury of the season, as he also missed two games towards the end of October 2024 and another three at the start of December.

Arteta appears to be strengthening his backline ahead of the new season with the addition of Cristhian Mosquera.

What Mosquera can bring to Arsenal

Arsenal already boast several of the Premier League’s best one-on-one defenders, and in Cristhian Mosquera they’d be signing a centre-back who excels against opponents with the ball at their feet.

The 21-year-old won 70.7% of his ground duels in La Liga last season, far surpassing any other central defender to have contested at least 100 of them. He also won possession an average of 5.15 times per 90 minutes, the third highest figure in the division among players in his position.

A far better option for opponents is to take the aerial route against Mosquera. Despite being 6ft 2in, the Colombian proved as suspect in the air last season as he was imperious on the grass – his meagre success rate of 45.2% in aerial duels was the fourth worst among central defenders who started

regularly.

 Bayern could turn focus to Trossard

We’ve spoken a lot about Arsenal’s new signings and potential incomings, but as always, for these things to happen there are usually departures too.

German outlet Bild, external are reporting that Bayern Munich will turn their attention to Arsenalforward Leandro Trossard, if they are unable to secure a deal for Liverpool winger Luis Diaz.

Defender Tuanzebe sues former club Man Utdpublished at 15:11 British Summer Time15:11 BST

Former Manchester United defender Axel Tuanzebe is suing the club for alleged negligent medical advice.

The 27-year-old, who has joined Burnley from Ipswich this summer, filed a legal claim with the High Court against United last week.

It relates to a period from July 2022 involving an unknown injury and is considered a high value claim which is understood to be over £1m.

Tuanzebe was out for 195 days in his final season at the club before he was loaned to Stoke in January 2023, where he made just five appearances.

He left Old Trafford in 2023, moving to Ipswich in September of that year where he made 45 appearances and helped them to the Premier League in 2024.

Tuanzebe’s lawyers, Simons Muirhead Burton, and United declined to comment when approached by BBC Sport.

Pre-season begins

Sunderland started their pre-season campaign with a 4-0 win over National League North side South Shields. New signing Habib Diarra assisted Romaine Mundle for their second.

Crystal Palace got off to a winning start with a 1-0 victory over Millwall. Winger Jesurun Rak-Sakyi, who is attracting interest from a bunch of clubs, got his name on the scoresheet. Summer signings Walter Benitez and Borna Sosa both started in the friendly which was played behind closed doors.

Nottingham Forest were also in pre-season action this weekend. They were held to a goalless draw by League Two side Chesterfield.

Tributes to Jota and Silva at Liverpool friendlypublished at 15:26 British Summer Time15:26 BST

Preston North End 1-3 Liverpool

Tributes have been paid to Diogo Jota and his brother Andre Silva at Liverpool’s first match since their death.

Prior to the Reds’ first pre-season friendly at Preston North End, there were emotional renditions of Elvis Presley’s ‘Can’t Help Falling in Love’ and Liverpool club anthem ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’.

The away end, filled with flags and scarves commemorating the former Porto and Wolves attacker, loudly sang Jota’s song as the players walked out before an impeccably observed minute’s silence.

At the start of the 20th minute, the crowd burst into another rendition of Jota’s song.

There was a muted celebration when Conor Bradley opened the scoring, with the full-back looking up to the heavens as he walked back to his position.

Striker Darwin Nunez scored the Reds’ second and paid his own tribute by doing two of Jota’s celebrations in front of the Liverpool fans.

Cody Gakpo followed suit after adding the third in the 3-1 win and then held his fingers up to signal the number 20, Jota’s squad number at Liverpool.

Liverpool summer signings impress on debuts

Preston North End 1-3 Liverpool

Liverpool’s pre-season opener threw up the opportunity for supporters to see four out of the club’s six summer signings in action.

Giorgi Mamardashvili was the only one to be awarded a place in Arne Slot’s starting XI at Deepdale. The Georgian goalkeeper didn’t have too much to do on his debut, but did manage to keep a clean sheet and show promise with the ball at his feet.

There were three more debuts handed out at half-time, with appearances for trio Milos Kerkez, Jeremie Frimpong and Freddie Woodman.

Kerkez was clearly keen to stand out at left wing-back – picking up the ball in the 72nd minute, charging forward, shrugging off two Preston players, ending up on the deck but still attempting to win possession back by heading the ball on the floor.

Fellow defender Frimpong showed much the same passion at right wing-back, while third-choice goalkeeper Woodman showed he can hold his own between the sticks for the Reds.

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