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Schalke 04 s’offre Eric Junior Dina Ebimbe
Eric Junior Dina Ebimbe change de cap. Après un prêt au Stade Brestois lors de la saison 2025-2026, le milieu de terrain français quitte définitivement l’Eintracht Francfort pour rejoindre Schalke 04, qui a officialisé son arrivée ce vendredi. blablasex.es
À 25 ans, l’ancien joueur du Paris Saint-Germain s’est engagé avec le club de Gelsenkirchen jusqu’en juin 2028. Il tentera d’apporter son expérience et sa polyvalence à une équipe qui retrouve la Bundesliga et ambitionne de s’y installer durablement.
Formé au PSG, Dina Ebimbe avait rejoint l’Eintracht Francfort en 2022, où il a disputé plusieurs saisons avant d’être prêté à Brest afin de bénéficier d’un temps de jeu plus important. Son passage en Bretagne lui a permis de retrouver du rythme avant d’ouvrir un nouveau chapitre de sa carrière en Allemagne.
Avec ce recrutement, Schalke 04 renforce son entrejeu en s’attachant les services d’un joueur rompu aux exigences du haut niveau, dans l’objectif de bâtir un effectif compétitif pour son retour parmi l’élite allemande.
The post Schalke 04 s’offre Eric Junior Dina Ebimbe appeared first on AfricaFootUnited.
Man City reject Barcelona’s £38.5m bid for Rodri
MANCHESTER, England, August 7, 2026 – Manchester City have rejected an opening offer of £38.5m from Barcelona for midfielder Rodri.
City are open to selling the Spaniard, but would demand more than £60m.
The 30-year-old enters the final year of his contract at Etihad Stadium and is yet to sign a new deal, with speculation rife about his future this summer.
It looked like Real Madrid would be his next destination but La Liga rivals Barcelona are now leading the race after sources told BBC Sport on Thursday that the club had the player’s approval to open negotiations with City. The offer was made on Friday.
Barca sources had initially told BBC Sport there were no guarantees any deal would be made but the situation now looks to be developing.
The club said on Friday they are in ongoing conversations with the player’s representatives and later made their opening offer.
BBC sources say talks with Real have now ended.
Rodri missed much of the 2024-25 campaign after sustaining a serious knee injury, and parts of last season were disrupted by a hamstring issue.
However, the 2024 Ballon d’Or winner was back to his best at the World Cup in the summer, leading Spain to their second title and being named player of the tournament.
He is currently out of action after undergoing back surgery last month and is scheduled to link back up with his City team-mates in Manchester early next week.
Approaching the second week of August in the transfer window, City will be aiming to resolve Rodri’s future swiftly in order to sign a replacement.
Talks are ongoing to sign 18-year-old Morocco midfielder Ayyoub Bouaddi from Lille, but the French club’s £86m asking price appears to be a sticking point.
What has Rodri’s agent said?
According to Spanish radio network Cadena Ser, who have spoken directly to Rodri’s agent Pablo Barquero, Real Madrid made Rodri an “irresistible” offer shortly after Spain’s World Cup triumph.
Talks began just days after the tournament, with Rodri’s camp praising the courtesy, class and respect shown by the club throughout the negotiations.
According to the report, everyone at Real Madrid, from president Florentino Perez to chief executive Jose Angel Sanchez, worked to make the deal happen and made it clear they were serious about signing the midfielder.
They had put everything on the table to get the deal over the line but despite positive discussions over the past two weeks, Rodri has made the personal decision to accept another offer, says the radio network.
Cadena Ser add that Real Madrid were informed of Rodri’s decision on Friday and chose to end the process in order to avoid prolonging uncertainty, while thanking the player for the respectful way the negotiations were conducted.
Faf back at 9 for Cheetahs’ Cape battle
Faf de Klerk returns to the Cheetahs starting XV for Sunday’s Currie Cup clash against the Stormers XXIII, with coach Frans Steyn also reshuffling his midfield and back three.
The Free Staters head to Cape Town’s Athlone Stadium looking to strengthen their position in a tightly contested title race. Just three points separate the top five teams, with the Cheetahs third on the log, two points ahead of the fifth-placed Stormers.
Steyn has made several changes to the side that narrowly lost to defending champions Griquas in Kimberley last week. Marko Janse van Rensburg returns at hooker, while De Klerk replaces Rewan Kruger at scrumhalf.
TEAM: Stormers get boost for Cheetahs duel
The midfield features Zander du Plessis and Marco Jansen van Vuren, Michael Annies comes in on the right wing and Clayton Blommetjies replaces the injured Henry Immelman at fullback.
Cohen Jasper and Jooste Nel provide backline cover from the bench, while Neels Volschenk takes over the captaincy from Victor Sekekete.
Despite last week’s defeat, Steyn believes the Cheetahs are making encouraging progress.
MORE: Frans backs raw front row to grow on the job
“It’s never nice to lose. We have a lot to fix, but we’ll keep working hard. Hopefully we can get the win this weekend,” he said.
Volschenk added: “Playing against the Stormers is a massive challenge. The character the team showed in fighting back against Griquas demonstrated how much this group has grown over the past year.”
CHEETAHS – 15 Clayton Blommetjies, 14 Michael Annies, 13 Marco Jansen van Vuren, 12 Zander du Plessis, 11 Prince Nkabinde, 10 Ethan Wentzel, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Neels Volschenk (c), 7 Juan Venter, 6 Ramon Uys, 5 Victor Sekekete, 4 Simon Miller, 3 Frankie Dos Reis, 2 Marko Janse van Rensburg, 1 Tebogo Nkosi.
Bench: 16 Juan Smal, 17 Tielman Niewoudt, 18 Aranos Coetzee, 19 Curtly Thomas, 20 Daniel Maartens, 21 Sisonke Vumazonke, 22 Cohen Jasper, 23 Jooste Nel.
Photo: @CheetahsRugby/X
The post Faf back at 9 for Cheetahs’ Cape battle appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.
Boks Buenos Aires Test is bigger than Argentina
Argentina in Buenos Aires is a Test the Springboks will win, but within Rassie Erasmus’s selection it is also an audition.
Zels has the Boks winning 36-18. I have them winning 38-26. We both expect a double-digit Springbok win.
Argentina v Springboks
The fascination is in who leaves Buenos Aires having made himself more difficult to leave out when Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry starts against the All Blacks.
Erasmus has gone big on experience but there is opportunity everywhere. Siya Kolisi, Eben Etzebeth and Lood de Jager return, but around them are players whose individual performances against Argentina could significantly shift their standing within the squad.
The Bok starting XV features 13 changes from the team that beat Wales 43-0 in Durban.
Ethan Hooker is the obvious one.
Cheslin Kolbe picks himself and Kurt-Lee Arendse.
On Keo & Zels Podcast, we both have the Boks winning comfortably enough. Zels has them 36-18 and I have them 38-26.
The intrigue is in how they win, and who wins within the win.
Rassie Erasmus has his established champions back. Kolisi, Etzebeth and De Jager give the starting pack experience and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu is back at No 10.
But around them there are individual contests everywhere.
Hooker is the one I keep coming back to.
Kolbe picks himself every day of the week and we know the quality of Kurt-Lee Arendse, but Hooker gives Erasmus something different on the wing.
He is big, powerful and explosive, but there is also subtlety to his rugby. His counterattack in the Boks’ 43-10 win against New Zealand in Wellington was magnificent. He went more than 60 metres and from it the Boks scored.
Hooker gives the Boks variation.
Zels prefers him in the midfield, particularly at outside centre, but he also believes the bigger wing is coming back into the international game. New Zealand are already embracing that physical profile and Hooker gives the Boks the option to fight fire with fire.
He also has that rare quality of making something happen.
Canan Moodie has it, but not consistently enough. Hooker, whenever he has been given an opportunity, has produced.
Saturday is another opportunity.
Moodie also needs a big one at outside centre. His form has fluctuated and André Esterhuizen, at No 12, has lost time to injury. Both have the pedigree. Buenos Aires is a chance to remind everyone of it.
Aphelele Fassi needs to impose himself at fullback and Edwill van der Merwe will want to rediscover the try-scoring strike that announced him as an international winger.
Then there are the hookers.
Malcolm Marx remains the standard. The question is who gets closest to him.
Johan Grobbelaar starts and Jan-Hendrik Wessels comes from the bench. Wessels has the physicality to be a difference-maker. He carries, he hits and he gets around the field. His challenge is to bring that influence while cutting down the errors.
Grobbelaar’s challenge is different.
His basics are strong. His lineout work is strong. He can play the position. Now he has to show the point of difference that wins a massive Test match.
As Zels put it, it is not enough to be the reliable commercial airline pilot. Sometimes you have to show you can do the loops and barrel rolls.
And then there is Cobus Wiese.
Wiese, for me, is one of the more fascinating selections in this Bok group because his value keeps expanding.
He can play lock. He can play in the back row. Erasmus has used him at No 8 and now trusts him to come from the bench and call the lineouts.
Zels was emphatic: “He’s there to stay.”
I agree.
Wiese is much more central to Erasmus’s thinking than many perhaps appreciate. His ability to cover four, five, seven and eight makes him gold in a World Cup squad where every selection has to provide maximum value.
This is the bigger picture with Erasmus and his 40-plus players.
They know their roles. That does not mean they know their World Cup fate.
Form changes. Injuries happen. Tactics evolve. What Erasmus wants from his team in August 2026 may not be precisely what he wants when the World Cup squad is finalised in 2027.
The experimenting will eventually stop and the cutting will start.
Buenos Aires is part of that process.
Argentina will make it a scrap because Argentina always do at home, but I expect the Boks to have too much.
Zels says the Boks pull away in the final quarter and win by 18.
I have the Boks 38-26, with Argentina getting a late score.
The Boks to win by 12.
And for a handful of Springboks, the individual win could be even bigger than the one on the scoreboard.