According to journalist Fabrizio Romano, Real Madrid have reached a verbal agreement to sign Liverpool defender Ibrahima Konate ahead of the summer transfer window.
The French international is set to sign a four-year contract with the Spanish club, with Konate putting offers from Saudi Arabia on hold to prioritise a move to Madrid.
It was recently confirmed that Konate would be leaving Liverpool at the end of his contract, which has now opened the door for Real Madrid to make a move.
Whether either player could instantly come in and be a guaranteed starter remains to be seen, so Liverpool need to decide whether to sign a new centre-back this summer.
It’s an incredibly important transfer window coming up for the Reds, especially as they prepare for life under a new manager.
Leeds United have agreed a deal to sign Borussia Monchengladbach defender Nico Elvedi, but there’s a twist.
The Whites have had a strong summer window as they look to cement their status as a Premier League side, having brought in Harry Wilson, Tarik Muharemovic, and James Trafford for Daniel Farke, but the club are still keen to make more additions before the new season begins next week.
A defensive addition has been looked at following the departure of Pascal Struijk, and the club have now agreed a move for someone that the manager knows very well.
However, in the same report it’s stated that despite there being an agreement on all sides, a deal is not yet done as any move depends on what happens with Sebastiaan Bornauw.
The Belgian defender has been heavily linked with a move to join Hamburg, having made just nine appearances in the Premier League after joining Leeds from Wolfsburg. But there is currently no agreement in place, and Elvedi is seen as a direct replacement for him.
Despite a deal not being guaranteed to be completed at this stage, Elvedi has been left out of Borussia Monchengladbach’s squad for their pre-season friendly with Aston Villa on Saturday afternoon, to ensure that he doesn’t pick up any unneccesary injuries that could jeopardise the deal.
Without Bornauw or Elvedi in the squad, Farke’s centre-back options are limited to Joe Rodon, new signing Muharemovic, and Jaka Bijol, while Ethan Ampadu and James Justin are capable of playing there if necessary.
Fees correct prior to summer 2026
All 10 found — excellent!
Nico Elvedi Bundesliga Stats 25/26
Appearances
33
Minutes
2967
Tackles (per 90)
1.3
Interceptions (per 90)
1.2
Clearances (per 90)
8.2
Blocks (per 90)
0.9
Statistics courtesy of WhoScored – correct as of 15/08/2026
Newcastle United have agreed a deal to sign Amar Dedic from Benfica, GIVEMESPORT sources understand.
The Magpies have seen their squad ripped apart this summer after Anthony Gordon joined Barcelona, Sandro Tonali left for Tottenham Hotspur, and captain Bruno Guimaraes pushed through a move to Premier League champions Arsenal for a combined £245m, while Kieran Trippier, Emil Krafth and Matt Targett also departed on free transfers, and manager Eddie Howe resigned from his post.
That had left new boss Matthias Jaissle with a big job to oversee before the start of the new Premier League season, and the German has now made a move to make the first signing of his era at St James’ Park.
GIVEMESPORT correspondent Sam Cohen exclusively revealed that the club had an interest in Benfica left-back Dedic earlier this month, and it can now be revealed that the club have agreed a deal in the region of £30m to bring him to Tyneside.
An agreement between the clubs has been reached in principle, and senior correspondent Ben Jacobs has revealed that the Bosnia and Herzegovina international is set to sign a five-year deal with Newcastle, in a move that was pushed by the new manager.
Dedic previously worked with Jaissle during their time together at RB Salzburg, and will now compete with Lewis Hall for a starting spot in the team.
Man Utd are understood to be showing a strong interest in signing the England international, however, Newcastle have made it clear that they have no intention of selling another key player in this window and expect him to stay.
Amar Dedic (Liga Portugal 2025-26)
Matches Played
25
Starts
21
Minutes Played
1,901′
Goals
1
Assists
3
Clean Sheets Contributed
8
Yellow Cards
5
Red Cards
1
Stats courtesy of SofaScore – correct as of 15/08/2026
The WNBA has been catapulted into the spotlight, though in a less-than desirable way, as they have been dragged into a race row.
Just days after hitting the headlines over a transgender controversy, the league is back under the microscope.
Chicago Sky are struggling for form this season and are sitting 12th out of 15 in the league and fifth out of seven teams in the Eastern Conference. They have four wins and six losses in the last 10 matches, with a losing streak of three matches.
The side had a successful run from 2019 to 2022, winning their first championship in the 2021 WNBA finals as the sixth seed against the fifth-seed Phoenix Mercury.
The Sky were victorious in four games to achieve Chicago’s first professional basketball championship since Michael Jordan’s Bulls in 1998 and became the lowest-seeded team and first without a winning record to win the championship since the new playoff format was adopted.
However, they’ve since had to rebuild with many longtime players leaving the squad. After Angel Reese was traded to the Atlanta Dream in 2026, the Sky replaced her with five signings, including DiJonai Carrington.
Due to her injury in the previous season, Carrington missed the first 27 games of the season. However, upon her return, she dazzled, scoring nine points in 17 minutes to guide Sky to victory against the Connecticut Sun.
Why DiJonai Carrington Went Viral Shortly After Her WNBA Return
Despite this, the 28-year-old has been pulled into a scandal. Following a brutal foul on Indiana Fever’s Sophie Cunningham, which left the Fever forward bleeding from the mouth, Carrington was ejected from the match. The 28-year-old didn’t take this lightly and wrote on her social media: “WHITE PRIVILEGE @indianafever.”
Her caption has generated confusion, with some believing that she was referring to the fact that an African-American player, herself, had been dismissed for fouling a white opponent.
The basketball player has degrees in psychology and African and African-American studies and claimed: “I would never use that term as a rhetorical weapon knowing the historical and social weight it holds without having the proper evidence to substantiate it.”
While her true meaning is unknown, it has led others to criticize her, including the former Fox News host, Megyn Kelly.
Host Controversially Slams Carrington Over ‘White Girl Hair’
Speaking on a recent edition of her show, Kelly showed some photos of the forward, claiming she has ‘hair that’s whiter than mine, straighter than mine, super long.’
Kelly made an outlandish claim: “It goes down to her butt now, and she can wear this, which is obviously white girl hair. But I can’t wear a braid, or I’m a racist. Like, or in Canada, a feather [in reference to Indigenous communities]. No, you can’t do it, but this is fine.
“She’s allowed to culturally appropriate from me, but I can’t culturally appropriate from her because it only works in one way to becoming a racist, which is b*******. How dare she play the white privilege card?”
It wasn’t just Carrington’s hair that the 55-year-old expressed displeasure with in her tirade. She also denounced other aspects of her appearance. She said: “She appears to have done something to give herself filler face, like the super puffed out cheekbones, the overly arched eyebrows, the overly lined lips, and the attitude with like the facial expression and the bright blonde hair.”
Kelly then displayed a picture of Carrington from her college days at Stanford, with the podcaster claiming: “She just looks like a normal, gorgeous gal.”
The host then asserted that Carrington’s attitude has only developed since playing in the WNBA and levelled her criticism at the WNBA, claiming: “This league corrupts you in a very sick and unhealthy way.”
She went further, bristling at the idea of Carrington being a victim of ‘white privilege’.
“This woman, her dad was in the NFL, and apparently was really good. Standout safety in the NFL, who played in two, not one but two Super Bowls during his eight-year professional career. Her mother, Vicky, was a star track athlete.
Then Kelly noted Carrington’s expensive education, with the basketball star attending Horizon Christian Academy, a private school in San Diego costing between $8,000 and $11,000 a year, where she ‘became a highly-touted prospect who played for elite programs’ before attending Stanford University and Baylor University.
Credit: DiJonai Carrington Instagram
Kelly continued: “I don’t know about you, but I didn’t go to a fancy private school that cost 20 grand a year, or have both my parents at home since my dad died when I was 15.
“Both of them earning, both of them with enormous privilege thanks to their God-given talents in the athletic field, one who was a double NFL Super Bowl player. How dare she play the white privilege card.”
Her rant isn’t the first time that Kelly has entered a racial discussion, after she was fired from NBC eight years ago for defending the use of blackface, with an NBC insider telling Daily Mail that her fellow employees were ‘disgusted’ by her comments and ‘didn’t like her personally’.
While it is unclear what exactly Carrington was referring to, the speculation seems certain to rumble on for a while, regardless of her true intentions.