Aston Villa have announced captain John McGinn has signed a new long-term contract. The midfielder’s new deal keeps him at the club until 2027. McGinn moved to Villa Park from Hibernian in 2018 and helped them earn promotion to the Premier League in 2019 with a goal in the Championship play-off final against Derby. The 28-year-old was named club captain last summer and was a key part of the Villa set-up last season, making 34 Premier League appearances. He helped the club secure European football for the first time since 2010 after a stunning turnaround under manager Unai Emery saw Villa finish seventh in the league. McGinn also represents Scotland on the international stage, earning 56 caps for his country, and he recently featured in their Euro 2024 qualifying wins against Georgia and Norway. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live

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Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham were both on target in the Champions League on Wednesday night. Kane struck from the penalty spot in Bayern Munich’s 4-3 victory over Manchester United, while Bellingham prodded home a stoppage-time winner for Real Madrid against Champions League debutants Union Berlin. Here, the PA news agency looks at the England internationals’ astonishing beginnings for their respective clubs. How has Kane started? After drawing a blank as a second-half substitute in Bayern’s surprise German Super Cup defeat to RB Leipzig, Kane, 30, has been virtually unstoppable. The £100million striker netted on his maiden Bundesliga outing in a 4-0 win at Werder Bremen before bagging a brace in a 3-1 victory against Augsburg. He scored the opener in an entertaining 2-2 draw with Bayer Leverkusen last Friday before netting from the spot against United – the club that wanted to sign him from Tottenham. “Manchester United are crying out for a centre forward and whatever it would have cost they should have got him,” United’s former midfielder Paul Scholes told TNT Sports. “If you had the money to buy one player or three, I would have bought Harry Kane all day long.” How has Bellingham played? Birmingham-born Bellingham, 20, has six goals and one assist in his opening six matches since his £88.5million move from Borussia Dortmund. He struck on his debut against Athletic Bilbao before netting a brace away at Almeria and then scoring the only goal in a 1-0 victory at Celta Vigo. Bellingham scored a stoppage-time winner against Getafe in his first Bernabeu outing – emulating Cristiano Ronaldo by netting in his opening four LaLiga games – before delivering another late goal, this time in his first Champions League outing for Los Blancos. His mark of six is one more than the rest of the Madrid squad combined this season. What has the reaction been? Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti has trusted Bellingham from the get-go, preferring him to Luka Modric and Toni Kroos, who have just three league starts between them. Speaking after Bellingham’s heroics on Wednesday night, Ancelotti said: “He’s smarter than others when attacking from the second line. He has this quality and he’s making the most of it.” Bellingham has already won over the Real Madrid fans, who serenaded him with The Beatles’ classic ‘Hey Jude’ after his late winner against Getafe, and again on Wednesday night. “I have goosebumps speaking about it,” said Bellingham. “You don’t understand how big this club is until you are here. I have now got that honour and I will wear it with pride.” Kane’s brilliant start has also won him fans – not least in Bayern boss Thomas Tuchel. “I love him,” said the former Chelsea manager. “He is a fantastic guy, fantastic player and huge personality. “He is a clinical finisher, he controls a lot of balls, and he is so intelligent around the box. It has been a very good start from him. I am super happy.” How does their form compare to England’s other stars? With 11 goals and three assists between them, no other attacking member of Gareth Southgate’s England squad is performing better for their clubs this term. Bukayo Saka, Jarrod Bowen and Callum Wilson have all netted on three occasions this season, while Raheem Sterling, James Ward-Prowse, James Maddison, Eddie Nketiah and Dominic Solanke have all scored twice. Kane also has more England minutes since the Three Lions’ European Championship final defeat to Italy in the summer of 2021 than anyone else. Kane has played 2,016 minutes for Southgate, with Bellingham (1,540 mins) fifth behind Harry Maguire (1,927 mins) Declan Rice (1,889 mins) and Jordan Pickford (1,669 mins). Kane and Bellingham were also on target in England’s impressive 3-1 win against Scotland last week. What’s next? Kane will be back in action when Bayern host Bochum in the Bundesliga on Saturday before he returns to Champions League action next month in Copenhagen. Bellingham will be bidding to help Real maintain their 100 per cent start to the season in his first Madrid derby, at Atletico, on Sunday. They will join forces for England in a friendly with Australia at Wembley on October 13 before a European Championship qualifier against Italy at the same venue four days later. Meanwhile, Kane also revealed he will have one eye on Tottenham’s Premier League fixture versus Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium this weekend. “They have started the season well, so of course, Tottenham (will win),” he joked in an interview on CBS Sports with former Arsenal forward Thierry Henry – who earlier said the England captain “looked good in red and white”. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Conor Benn calls for lifetime bans for proven drug cheats amid his comeback bout The key questions behind Manchester United’s poor start to the season Daniel Levy would consider Tottenham sale if it was in best interests of club

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Lauren James headed into this summer’s Women’s World Cup having emphasised her desire to make a name for herself – and she has certainly done so with the performances that have followed. There was already a considerable buzz around the 21-year-old forward – the younger sister of fellow England and Chelsea player Reece James – in the build-up to her first major tournament as a senior international. And during the Lionesses pre-tournament preparations she spoke about wanting to carve out her own name, saying: “I do feel like that, a lot. “Even just, ‘that’s Lauren James, that’s Reece’s sister’ – I want to carve that out and be known as, ‘this is Lauren James’.” James also said the advice she had received from Reece was to “just enjoy it, have fun, try and score goals”. And she looks to be having the time of her life so far at the global showpiece in Australia and New Zealand, having registered three superb goals in England’s group-stage matches, plus three assists, to truly announce herself. The early stages of James’ journey to this point saw her spend time in Chelsea’s academy before moving on to Arsenal and making her debut aged 16 in October 2017. After a handful of appearances for the Gunners, she left to join Manchester United in 2018 when they were relaunched as a professional outfit in the Championship. And she went on to play a major role as the Red Devils secured promotion to the Women’s Super League at the first attempt, scoring 14 goals in 18 league appearances in the 2018-19 season. She netted the club’s first ever WSL goal at the start of the following campaign, was nominated for the Professional Footballers’ Association young player of the year award after it finished and a year later a reunion came about as she rejoined Chelsea. James had had injury troubles at United, and had limited game time in her first season back with Chelsea. She then impressed as a regular in the team last term as the west Londoners once again won a WSL and FA Cup double, and reached the Champions League semi-finals. And she has paid tribute to Blues boss Emma Hayes for helping her get “back to being myself again”, adding: “I had two years of just like constant injuries. She managed me well and it’s allowed me to find my feet again.” As well as scoring eight goals in all competitions for Chelsea in 2022-23, she also made an England breakthrough, having already represented her country at under-17 and under-19 level and been part of a senior training camp in 2020. Boss Sarina Wiegman handed James a debut off the bench in England’s first match after winning the Euros, the 2-0 World Cup qualifying victory over Austria last September. She then took the player of the tournament of award when Wiegman’s side retained the Arnold Clark Cup in February, scoring her maiden England goal in the 4-0 victory over South Korea that kicked the campaign off. Inclusion in the World Cup squad – and being named young player of the year at the inaugural Women’s Football Awards – followed in May, and it would be fair to say that James has since lived up her billing as one to watch at the tournament. After coming on as a substitute when England beat Haiti 1-0 in their Group D opener, James then came into the starting line-up for the second pool match against Denmark and scored a delightful winner, curling in what proved the only goal of the game with a shot from outside the box in the sixth minute. She then produced an even more eye-catching display as China were thrashed 6-1 on Tuesday, notching a brace with two more wonderful strikes, seeing another ruled out for offside, and setting three goals up. The youngster labelled “cheat code” by her team-mates became the first England player of either gender to be directly involved in five or more goals in a World Cup match – a rising star shining brighter than ever, who after the China game said that “for sure, there is more to come from me”. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Jose Maria Olazabal named as Luke Donald’s fourth vice-captain for Ryder Cup Jac Morgan leads Wales against England as Warren Gatland ponders captain options England docked 19 WTC points and players fined for slow over-rates during Ashes

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