With Barcelona and Arsenal interested, a potential Julian Alvarez departure threatened to be one of the transfer sagas of the summer. But after that initial promise, it seems that the World Cup winner might now stay put at Atletico Madrid.

The former Manchester City star set tongues wagging when he reportedly showed a strong interest in moving to Barcelona. But it seems that any gossip around Alvarez’s exit has been silenced, with Atletico now supposedly building their squad around Alvarez as the first-choice striker.

Alvarez was integral to Atletico’s Champions League semi-final run this season, contributing 14 goal contributions in 15 games in the competition.

Alvarez rebuffs Arsenal, as Atletico and Barca tensions amplify

Barcelona always have a significant pull in the transfer market, but Atletico’s long-time CEO Gil Marin is refusing to sell to their La Liga rivals on this occasion. And following Atletico’s controversial social media posts, which saw Barcelona accused of lying in relation to a bid for Alvarez, the deal has become “absolutely stalled”, according to a report from Spanish outlet Cadena SER.

With Barcelona and Atletico Madrid’s relationship frayed to say the least, Arsenal now supposedly remain the only viable option for Alvarez. However, the Argentinian attacker has reportedly outright refused a move to the Premier League champions, not wanting to make the move to London, suggesting that it is Barcelona or bust.

Alvarez, who won the Premier League twice with Manchester City, is not willing to force a move and will most likely remain at the Riyadh Air Metropolitano next season.

What next in the summer window for Arsenal, Atletico, and Barcelona?

With the Alvarez deal seemingly dead in the water for the Gunners, Mikel Arteta is reportedly eyeing a striker with a little more time on his side. Bournemouth’s teenage sensation Eli Junior Kroupi is next on the list for Arsenal, who is also attracting interest from Paris Saint-Germain.

Kroupi made history during Bournemouth’s stellar campaign, notching 13 goals in his debut Premier League season. The haul broke the record for the highest goal tally in a debut Premier League season by a teenager, surpassing the joint record held by Robbie Fowler and Robbie Keane.

As for Atletico, their battle with Barcelona could be set for another twist. As well as registering an interest in Chelsea left-back Marc Cucurella, Diego Simeone’s side are keeping tabs on departing Man City star Bernardo Silva. Atletico are confident of securing a deal, but the Portugal international also remains interested in a move to the Nou Camp.

Moving from player to coach is a path that many footballers take after hanging up their boots, and African football icon Yaya Toure appears to be ready for his first role as a manager. The former Manchester City and Barcelona star will be starting out at a Champions League club, no less.

Toure is best remembered as a midfield powerhouse dominating the Premier League during his eight-year spell at the Etihad. In England, he won three league titles, the FA Cup and two League Cups, having won La Liga and the Champions League, among other major honours, during his time at Barcelona between 2007 and 2010.

He also played for the likes of Olympiacos and Monaco in his career, and retired in 2019 after a short stint in China with Qingdao Huanghai. He has worked as an assistant coach for a number of clubs, but will now have his first shot at management.

Yaya Toure Lands Champions League Manager Job

In 2021, Toure worked at Olimpik Donetsk and Akhmat Grozny as an assistant before then landing a role as an academy coach for Tottenham Hotspur. After just one season, he moved on to coach with Standard Liege and then spent three years as Saudi Arabia’s assistant coach.

He is now reportedly set to land a role as the head coach of Slovakian side Slovan Bratislava. The news will come as a bit of a surprise to some, as he’s never played or coached in the country before, but it will be a great opportunity for Toure to prove his credentials.

After all, Slovan Bratislava have made it into the Champions League qualifiers for next season after winning the Slovak First Football League. That was actually their eighth consecutive Slovakia top-flight title, so expectations will be high for the new manager.

Toure takes over from former boss Vladimir Weiss, who stepped down from the role this summer after five successful years in the dugout. According to TalkSport, the Ivorian will hope to have former Celtic and Swansea coach Darren O’Dea as his assistant in the Slovakian capital.

O’Dea is currently a free agent, and has reportedly had a number of opportunities on offer in Scotland, England and abroad, so it remains to be seen if he’ll join Toure in Bratislava. The Slovakian club last played in the Champions League in 2024/25, finishing 35th out of 36 teams in the league phase.

Toure isn’t the only member of his family currently working in the world of football coaching. Indeed, former Arsenal Invincible and older brother Kolo has been working as an assistant for Pep Guardiola at Manchester City over the past few years. The 45-year-old also coached at Leicester City and for youth teams with the Ivory Coast and Manchester City.

Kolo took charge of Wigan Athletic in November 2022 but lasted until January as three defeats saw his side drop to the bottom of the Championship. Having seen his brother fail to win any of his nine games in charge in his only role as a head coach, Yaya will hope to have more success with Slovan Bratislava.

Kolo is actually a free agent now, as he followed Guardiola out of the door this summer, alongside other City coaches Pep Lijnders, Lorenzo Buenaventura and Xabi Mancisidor.

Monaco is the epicentre of glitz and glamour; expensive yachts glittering in the marina, boutiques with sky-high prices and luxurious hotels and yachts.

Every year, the Principality closes its streets to host this classic Grand Prix around the fabled streets of Monte Carlo. It is one of four races to have been on every Formula 1 calendar since the first season in 1950, alongside Silverstone, Spa-Francorchamps and Monza.

Many of the drivers live there, and they even have a born-and-bred Monégasque on the grid in Charles Leclerc, so Formula 1 runs through the country’s veins ahead of Sunday afternoon’s Monaco Grand Prix.

With its narrow streets and iconic corners, of which the names live permanently in fans’ memories, such as La Rascasse, Sainte Devote and that emblematic tunnel section, Monaco is a racing driver’s dream.

To no surprise, it is the shortest track on the grid at 3.337 kilometres (2.074 miles), paling in comparison to Spa’s 7.004 kilometre (4.352 mile) distance. It has faced criticism and some argue it should be removed from the calendar, believing the cars are now too wide for proper wheel-to-wheel racing and that the race is more of a procession.

The common belief is that if a driver qualifies on pole, then they are likely to win the race, barring any mechanical faults, due to the sheer difficulty to overtake in the track’s confines. Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli will begin Sunday’s race from pole position after another fine performance in qualifying.

F1 Teammates Fume at Each Other at Monaco Grand Prix

However, the narrow nature of the Circuit de Monaco now poses new problems for its competitors, as Haas drivers Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman discovered.

Traffic is a real difficulty that it is impossible to avoid contending with. During Friday’s practice session, Bearman found himself blocking Ocon on multiple occasions, much to the Frenchman’s ire.

Bearman was on consecutive quick laps, but this did not appear to quell his teammate’s anger.

Ocon was notably frustrated on the radio, telling his race engineer, Laura Mueller: “He doesn’t have to f*** my laps twice as well, you know, on the fast [laps]. He would then overtake the Brit going into the Anthony Noghes section.

But the 29-year-old wasn’t the only irritated party. Bearman lambasted the Evreux native to his engineer and wasn’t mincing his words, stating: “What an idiot, man. That was so stupid from Esteban.”

Team Radio Captures Moment Two Teammates Clashed

The American team had both drivers pointing fingers at the other but perhaps there is an undercurrent of deeper tension to this moment of frustration.

While the drivers usually appear to have a cordial relationship, the difference in their championship standings could be niggling below the surface.

Bearman is currently ninth in the standings with 18 points, separated from eighth and tenth by two points. Conversely, Ocon is in 16th with just a single point so far in the 2026 campaign, which he scored in Japan.

The 21-year-old has impressed since he joined F1. He deputised for Carlos Sainz at Ferrari when the Spaniard was suffering with appendicitis, crossing the line for a stellar seventh place on debut.

In 2025, he scored his highest finish of fourth at the Mexico City Grand Prix and has scored points in three of the five races in 2026, taking seventh in Australia, fifth in China and tenth in Canada.

The Chelmsford driver is racking up points against his teammate, who is a Formula 1 race winner with his former team, Alpine. The Normandy-born driver took his only race win in the eventful 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix but must now be feeling the pressure from his less experienced teammate.

Ocon was keen to settle the tension, however, and appeared to clarify that it was an act of miscommunication rather than any serious animosity, claiming: “It’s fine because Ollie was getting blocked like three times.

“The problem is that I wasn’t getting blocked [by other people], I was only getting blocked by him. As soon as that was communicated, we swapped places, and it was fine.”

Haas will want to close the matter now and prepare for qualifying, which is more integral than usual around the confined street circuit.

In the high-stakes stage of qualifying, the team will not want tempers flaring so they’ll have to keep their frustrations to a minimum. They’ll want to come away from the French Riviera with something to show for their efforts but Formula 1 always enjoys a curveball moment, especially in the Principality.