Former Liverpool midfielder Naby Keita has returned to Germany to join Werder Bremen after the expiration of his contract at Anfield. The Guinea international’s £52million move to Merseyside from RB Leipzig in 2018 came with high expectations. However, he disappointed in his 129 appearances over five years as he struggled to get to grips with the physicality of the Premier League and missed large amounts of time with a series of injuries. The 28-year-old featured just 13 times last season, was left out of the Champions League squad due to injury, and started only three Premier League matches. Bremen will hope the midfielder’s return to the Bundesliga will bring a change of luck after scoring 14 goals and providing 14 assists in 58 matches for Leipzig before his move to Liverpool. “A number of clubs are obviously going to be interested when a player like Naby Keita is available on a free transfer,” said Bremen head of scouting Clemens Fritz. “We’re therefore really pleased that Naby has decided to join Werder, despite several other offers. His qualities will massively strengthen our team. “We now want to get him back to his best.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live

Manager Buck Showalter and general manager Billy Eppler struck an optimistic tone and said they feel supported by owner Steve Cohen, hours after the New York Mets owner said he planned to hold a press conference regarding the struggling team on Wednesday

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The Atlanta Falcons have re-signed free agent tight end MyCole Pruitt as players reported one day before the first practice of training camp

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(Reuters) -Saudi Arabia was the only football association to present a bid to host the 2034 FIFA World Cup before

Mikel Arteta praised Eddie Nketiah’s fight to be in the picture to play for England after the Arsenal striker earned his first senior call-up. Nketiah made the cut in Gareth Southgate’s 26-man squad for the upcoming Euro 2024 qualifier against Ukraine and a friendly in Scotland. The 24-year-old is England’s all-time record goalscorer at under-21 level but has yet to be given his chance in the senior ranks. But that opportunity could come in the next couple of weeks and Arteta believes it would be just reward for the efforts of the Arsenal forward. “I’m so pleased. If someone deserves to be in the England squad, that’s him,” he said. “An academy player that had some moments when his pathway wasn’t very clear and he had to fight. “I love his mentality, his work rate, how much he loves the game and how hard he’s fought to be recognised at that level. In this country, to play there is phenomenal.” Nketiah had gone 14 games without a goal for the Gunners before breaking the deadlock in their Premier League opening-day win over Nottingham Forest. He also came off the bench to score in the 2-2 draw with Fulham last weekend and will be pushing for a recall when Manchester United visit the Emirates Stadium on Sunday. “There are a lot of things that he has improved, first of all his decision-making, especially in certain phases in ball possession,” added Arteta. “I think his aggression without the ball is intensive, the way he reacts to that. I think physically when you look at him, he is very different. “I just had a picture of him, one of him when he was playing in (the academy) Hale End and to now and he is a different player and he’s worked so hard to achieve that. “What I like the most is his mentality and this keeps evolving, because he’s never going to be satisfied. Never. And that’s the way he is.” It’s the pinnacle of recognition for a player that represents England Eddie Nketiah Nketiah, who hit an unrivalled 16 goals in 17 under-21 caps, feels he has now reached the top of the international football mountain. “Obviously coming through the ranks as an academy boy and the youth groups at England, it’s a nice feeling to get that natural progression to go to the seniors,” he told arsenal.com. “It’s the pinnacle of recognition for a player that represents England, so I’m really happy to be there and looking forward to meeting up with the boys.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Rob Page will not be ‘influenced by negativity’ ahead of critical Wales period Getafe boss eager to help Mason Greenwood ‘recover professional status’ in Spain Dan Evans pushes Carlos Alcaraz to limit in entertaining showdown in New York

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It didn’t quite happen in the way expected, but Manchester City of course made it inevitable. The English champions have finally become the European champions to complete a treble and also bring a long-term Abu Dhabi project to its culmination. At least at this stage of it. After a 1-0 win over Internazionale that will offer a release as much as relief, it’s hard not to think they could go on and win it again and again, confirming Pep Guardiola as the greatest coach of all time. The Catalan already has a strong claim to that, after at last winning his third Champions League, a full 12 years after his second, to also become the first coach to win two trebles. It makes it al the greater that it is at two different clubs. There was no overthinking this time, even if a defiant and proud Internazionale did make City worry for long periods of the game. That also ensured City had to fight, in a way they haven’t been used to over three months when they have looked the closest team to football perfection the game has ever seen. This wasn’t that. The manner of victory was instead fitting in its own way as a passing midfielder in Rodri scored the goal that City will now replay and rejoice in as much as Sergio Aguero’s in 2012. The Spanish midfielder is a player in Guardiola’s own image, perhaps his perfect ideal, and he gave his manager the picture he has long craved. There was Guardiola lifting this grand trophy again, actually his fourth as a player and manager. It was quite a game for owner Sheikh Mansour to watch as his second in person, the deputy prime minister of the United Arab Emirates taking his place alongside the club hierarchy. From that, it can also be noted that Abu Dhabi has its European Cup. A state-owned club has won this grandiose continental competition for the first time, and that should provoke wider debate about where the game is. It cannot be overlooked in all the discussion of how supreme this team is. That is why they are supreme. It is ultimately why Guardiola is here. It is also why the game has changed so much, to the point the only real surprise from this match - and that against European Cup royalty like Internazionale - was that City didn’t put in the grand exhibition befitting the scale of their achievement. This was not 2011 or 1960. It is the future, though. A star in his early 20s like Erling Haaland was strangely subdued in this match, so he will eventually want his goal in a Champions League final. There is more to come, although the only bittersweet note for City was that Kevin De Bruyne did not get to gild this moment of glory with his brilliance. This purest of footballers again suffered the unfairness of having to come off injured in a Champions League final, and it did play into why City were so inhibited for so long. That is where these players deserve credit, for the way they dug in. This threatened to become a very different sort of occasion, and one where all the old criticisms about nerves and the weight of history could have played on them. City instead made it something else. They found something else, and just had more. Many would say they were just always going to have more, given the huge gap between the clubs. The nature of the goal was as telling as it was fitting. It was the first period where they applied real pressure. The ball came back to Rodri and he applied the perfect finish. It was a strike befitting the quality of football Guardiola sides so often play, all the more so since this wasn’t one of those displays. Simone Inzaghi’s side deserve huge praise for that. The manager’s gameplan made this mismatched final much more of a game of this than anyone expected, and Inter are actually left feeling they could have done so much more themselves. This may well be seen as one that got away, but it was actually three great chances that got away. One so cruelly bounced off substitute Romelu Lukaku. It wasn't going to go their way. It wasn’t to be his moment. Inter may not get as close for a long time. City have finally got over the line, and may well stay here a long time. They have become the 23rd club to win this competition but the first state club. They are also European champions who have been charged with multiple alleged breaches of their domestic competition;s regulations. That will weigh over them and bring an uncertainty until it is finally concluded, whenever that may be. The outcome of this almost always felt a certainty, though, even if Inter did well to bring some doubt. There is no doubt about this team’s greatness, or the project’s completeness. It is a landmark, in so many ways even beyond a treble. Read More The rise, fall and rise again of Inter Milan’s Andre Onana Soccer Aid 2023: England and World XI line-ups Man City owner attends first match in 13 years at Champions League final The key games that brought Manchester City a treble The key performers in Manchester City’s trophy treble Player ratings as Ederson and Rodri earn Champions League glory

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