England captain Harry Kane says he will be “staying at Tottenham this summer” and is “100% focused on helping the team achieve success”.

Manchester City were keen to sign Kane, who believed he had a gentleman’s agreement with chairman Daniel Levy to leave Spurs this summer.

But Levy has refused to enter into negotiations for the striker, 28.

Kane played his first game of the season on Sunday, comingon as a substitute in the 1-0 win over Wolves

“It was incredible to see the reception from the Spurs fans on Sunday and to read some of the messages of support I’ve had in the last few weeks,” he wrote in a social media post on Wednesday,

“I will be staying at Tottenham this summer and will be 100% focused on helping the team achieve success.”https://emp.bbc.com/emp/SMPj/2.43.7/iframe.html’Fantastic news’ that Harry Kane is staying at Tottenham – Nuno Espirito Santo

Spurs boss Nuno Espirito Santo said it was “fantastic news” to see Kane’s immediate future resolved.

“I think since Harry joined us he has been working so this is what we value. His attitude in training has been excellent,” said the Portuguese.

“It’s finished, Harry is going to be with us.”

Asked whether he was concerned about the word “summer” in Kane’s statement, and if the issue was likely to arise again in the January transfer window, Nuno replied: “I’m not worried at all. It’s day by day.

“He’s an option for tomorrow. This is the only thing and is my only thought, trying to make the best decisions to help the team and Harry is one of the options for tomorrow.”

Tottenham face Pacos de Ferreira in the Europa Conference League play-offs on Thursday, looking to overcome a 1-0 away defeat in the first leg last week.

“He is an option. It is great news for everybody,” added Nuno.

“We are all very happy. [He is] one of the best players in the world. Delighted to have one more option for the season ahead of us.”

Long-running saga draws to a close

Kane, whose contract at Spurs runs to 2024, has reaffirmed his commitment to the club just six days before the transfer window closes on 31 August.

The transfer saga has dominated the summer after he was first linked with City in May, with Tottenham left reeling by reports Kane wanted to leave.

As speculation around his future increased, the club issued a statement saying: “Our focus is on finishing the season as strongly as possible. That’s what everyone should be focused on.”

Days later he said he wanted a “a good, honest conversation” with Levy about his future.

After England lost in the Euro 2020 final to Italy, there were reportd a 160m Pounds deal had been agreed with City – which had always been Kane’s preferred destination if he left north London.

But sources told the BBC City would not be willing to pay that much.

Then at the beginning of August, Kane, who has been on an extended holiday after Euro 2020, did not turn up as scheduled at the training ground for his coronavirus tests.

Later that week, he released a statement saying he “never refused to train” and would return to the club as planned.

City boss Pep Guardiolaconfirmed City’s interest on 6 August, but added: “If Spurs don’t want to negotiate then there is nothing more to say.”

Kane missed the first two games of the season, a 1-0 win over City in the Premier League and a Europa Conference League defeat away to Pacos de Ferreira.

Analysis – Levy gets his way

Harry Kane was right to mention Tottenham’s supporters in his statement.

Their reaction to his introduction at Wolves on Sunday was crucial in determining how this summer’s longest-running transfer saga played out.

Levy was determined to hold Kane to his contract, which still has three years to run.

Yet Levy would have had a tough call to make if keeping Kane meant opposing his own fans.

But by proclaiming Kane as “one of our own” at Molineux, the Tottenham fans signalled their willingness to forget the England skipper’s barely concealed desire to leave.

The can may just be being kicked down the road to subsequent transfer windows of course. After all, Kane is unlikely to become less ambitious over time.

But for now, Tottenham’s world-class striker stays where he is. Levy has got his way again.

And while the news is a blow for Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola, it could hardly be argued the Blues are now in a position of weakness.

The £100m arrival of Jack Grealish has strengthened what was already the strongest squad in England and Guardiola has already proved adept at improving players, so more can be expected of last summer’s signing Ferran Torres.

The word from the City camp is that they still feel in a very strong position to compete.

Rafael Nadal will miss the US Open after the Spaniard ended his 2021 season because of a foot injury.

The injury caused the 20-time Grand Slam winner to miss the Cincinnati Masters and Canadian Open last week.

Defending champion Dominic Thiem and five-time winner Roger Federer have also pulled out of this year’s US Open.

Nadal, 35, wrote on Instagram: “Honestly, I have been suffering a lot more than I should with my foot for a year and I need to take some time.”

He added: “Having discussed it with the team and family, this decision has been made and I believe that it is the way forward to try to recover and recover well.

“I am [determined] to do whatever it takes to regain the best possible shape, to continue competing for the things that really motivate me and the things that I have done during all these years.

“I am convinced that with the recovery of the foot and obviously a very important daily effort this can be achieved. I will work as hard as I can to make it happen.”

The four-time US Open champion did not compete at Wimbledon or the Olympic Games in order to rest following the clay-court season.

He sustained the injury at the French Open in June, where he failed to defend his title for the first time since 2016 in defeat by Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals.

The US Open begins on Monday, 30 August, however 2020 champion Thiem will be absent because of a wrist injury and Federer has also ended his season as he prepares to have further knee surgery

Federer and Nadal are tied with world number one Novak Djokovic – who will be seeking to complete the calendar Grand Slam at Flushing Meadows – for the all-time record of 20 Grand Slam titles.

The Formula 1 season restarts at the Belgian Grand Prix this weekend with the title fight finely poised and an air of uncertainty hanging over the second half of the championship on many different levels.

Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen are locked together in one of the most intense and bitter campaigns for years, their Mercedes and Red Bull teams slugging it out both on and off the track with no quarter asked or given.

But how long will their contest last? The Japanese Grand Prix was cancelled last week, and no-one knows for sure exactly how many races there will be before the end of the season.

Between now and then, Hamilton v Verstappen is just one of a number of intriguing narratives set to unfold.

The slugfest

The magnificent Spa-Francorchamps circuit in the Ardennes forests starts a run of three races on consecutive weekends on legendary European tracks.

After Belgium, the return of F1 to Zandvoort in the Netherlands for the first time since 1985 promises a febrile, intimidating atmosphere packed with passionate Verstappen fans, and it is followed by the Italian Grand Prix at charismatic Monza.

Hamilton starts this run of races with an eight-point championship lead. But while that might suggest at first glance that he is a narrow favourite for a record eighth title, a closer analysis of the season so far belies that belief.

Traditionally, the second half of the season is when Hamilton really comes alive. In the past, both his ex-Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg and former Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel were steamrollered through late summer and autumn as Hamilton hit a rich vein of consistency and form in the 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2018 seasons.

That may yet happen again. But 2021 has been Mercedes’ toughest season since the start of the hybrid era in 2014.

Just two races ago, Verstappen had moved into a 32-point championship lead with four victories in five races. He’d have won all five had he not suffered a tyre failure at the end of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, which was won by his team-mate Sergio Perez, and Hamilton seemed to be on the ropes.

Then came the crash between Hamilton and Verstappen at the British Grand Prix – a key turning point as Verstappen retired and Hamilton went on to win. That was followed by another difficult weekend for Verstappen in Hungary, when his car was badly damaged in the first-corner pile-up triggered by a mistake from Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas, and he could finish only ninth, while Hamilton was third.

The arguments as to who was to blame – and to what extent – for the incident at Silverstone will rage for as long as people are interested in motor racing.

But regardless of the rights and wrongs of that situation, the cumulative effect of both races is two-fold – firstly, that Hamilton has enjoyed a 40-point swing in his favour in the championship; and secondly that there has been no real chance to judge the respective race pace of the two cars since Mercedes introduced an upgrade in Silverstone.

Before Silverstone, Red Bull clearly had a pace advantage over the two races in Austria. Mercedes could and should have won the race before that in France, but their car had been faster over one lap in qualifying than the Red Bull only once in five races. Following the upgrade, Hamilton qualified fastest at both Silverstone and Hungary.

Mercedes appeared, then, to have eked out a small advantage again, but how the competitive picture will play out between the two teams over the rest of the season is unknown.

Adding further uncertainty is the situation surrounding Verstappen’s engine allocation.

Red Bull’s partner Honda had hoped to salvage the engine that was in the car at Silverstone – which was the second of Verstappen’s permitted three power-units this season.

But in Hungary Honda discovered a previously unseen crack and had to replace it, and Verstappen had to take his third and final engine.

Can the second engine be salvaged? For now, Honda is not saying. If not, the chances of Verstappen requiring a fourth engine to make it to the end of the season are high – and that would mean a grid penalty somewhere down the line, a further blow in his title campaign.

Uncertainly over the calendar

The cancellation of Japan for the second year in a row because of the pandemic leaves 10 races officially on the calendar between now and the end of the season.

But that’s unlikely to be the way it stays. F1 president Stefano Domenicali has been steadfast in his determination to run as close as he can to a record 23-race season despite the challenges of the pandemic, which has already seen the events in Australia, China, Canada and Singapore also called off.

F1 has been spending the summer break – when all teams are required to shut down for two weeks to give staff time to rest and recuperate – working out how the final part of the season could look.

There are a number of uncertainties, and the picture is complicated by global travel restrictions. For example, Turkey, Mexico and Brazil are currently on the UK’s red list requiring 10 days of hotel quarantine for anyone returning from those countries, and as most teams are based in the UK, that matters.

The cancellation of Japan raises problems with the Turkish event – the plan had been for UK-based staff to run out their 10-day quarantine period from Istanbul in Suzuka, but that has gone by the wayside.

A second race in Austin, Texas, a week before the US Grand Prix, had been mooted. But that now looks unlikely to happen.

The period around October and November is particularly thorny – currently it is Turkey followed by a three-week gap left by Japan, then the USA, Mexico and Brazil. But there is likely to be some shuffling around, and it is set to be another couple of weeks or so before the detail of the calendar around that period is finalised.

The end of the season looks clearer. A new event in Qatar is expected to be added to make it a three-race finale in the Middle East, with the season culminating with the new race in Jeddah in Saudi Arabia and the last event in Abu Dhabi.

Even then, the Brazil issue means it remains to be seen whether that is three weeks in a row, or whether Qatar has to be straight after Brazil to avoid the UK quarantine, and then a gap before the final two races.

Ferrari v McLaren, and the Ricciardo problem

Behind the title fight, there is an equally intriguing fight for third between Ferrari and McLaren, who are tied on points behind Mercedes and Red Bull, with Ferrari classified ahead on results count-back.

A glance at the drivers’ championship table underlines McLaren’s problem in this fight, though. While Lando Norris – one of the stand-out stars of the season – is in a brilliant third place behind Hamilton and Verstappen, his McLaren team-mate Daniel Ricciardo is 63 points behind the Briton in ninth place.

Ferrari drivers Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc, meanwhile, are just three points apart in sixth and seventh places.

Sainz has had an impressive debut season for Ferrari, but even so Leclerc has been the team’s stronger driver, and should be higher up – luck has not gone his way.

But the closeness of the Ferrari drivers merely serves to emphasise the struggles being suffered by Ricciardo, who is taking an unexpectedly long time to adapt to the driving style required by the McLaren car, a situation being exacerbated by Norris’ consistent excellence. To be third in the championship ahead of both second drivers for the top two teams is a quite outstanding performance.

Regularly out-paced by Norris, sometimes to a considerable degree, Ricciardo’s frustration has been mounting, and recently he described his plight as “a bit of a sad reality for the moment”.

That sounds a notably pessimistic assessment for someone not only known for his positivity, but who has also established himself over the last few years as one of the leading drivers in the sport.

Ricciardo’s problem stems from a mis-match between the way he drives and the way the McLaren needs to be driven.

Ricciardo, McLaren’s performance director Andrea Stella says, “likes to roll the speed into the corner and not necessarily attack the braking as much as our car requires”.

The McLaren is strong in the straight-line part of the braking phase, but relatively weak on turn-in, which makes Ricciardo’s style a poor fit for it, and he is struggling to generate the necessary degree of rotation on corner entry.

The surprise, though, is the time it is taking him to adapt, which is not what would be expected of a driver of his calibre.

Will the summer break have given him a chance to reset, clear his mind and come back stronger, or is he stuck with this to the end of the season? The answer could well determine McLaren’s chances of beating Ferrari to that coveted third position.

The driver market

Off-track, the biggest questions surround who drives where next season.

The key decision still unannounced is who will get the second Mercedes seat alongside Lewis Hamilton, who last month committed to a further two years with the team.

The decision, team boss Toto Wolff has made clear, is between incumbent Valtteri Bottas and Williams driver George Russell, and the Briton is widely expected to get the nod, having more than proved his potential as a future superstar over the last couple of seasons.

Some insiders believe a decision has already been made in Russell’s favour, but Mercedes say nothing will be finalised until next month.

If Russell does get the seat, Bottas is looking at a move either to Alfa Romeo – probably in place of Kimi Raikkonen, whose illustrious F1 career looks as if it might be coming to an end after a lacklustre first half of the season and with his 42nd birthday looming in October – or back to Williams in a swap with Russell.

Outside Mercedes, will Perez keep the second Red Bull seat? The Mexican has impressed on occasion, and is slightly closer on average qualifying pace to Verstappen than either of his predecessors, Alex Albon and Pierre Gasly. But he is fifth in the championship, and has only rarely performed the role of spoiler to Mercedes that Red Bull require from their second driver.

Further down the grid, the line-ups at Ferrari, McLaren and Aston Martin will continue as they are, and Alpine is all but confirmed.

Hungary winner Esteban Ocon already has a new three-year deal and Alpine have strongly hinted they will take up their option on Fernando Alonso, whose performances have been extremely impressive since he became fully familiar with his new car in the early summer.

But all other teams have some degree of uncertainty over them.

Outside the driver market, there are some big decisions to be made by F1 bosses, especially on the details of the new engine formula that will come into force from 2025.

The plan is for an increase of the proportion of performance provided by the hybrid part of the engine to 50% of the total power output, and the introduction of fully sustainable fuels. But the architecture of the engine – specifically whether it has an MGU-H, the part of the hybrid system that recovers energy from the turbo – and the detail of the fuel, whether it will be bio-fuel or synthetic e-fuel, are undecided.

There is a big meeting of engine manufacturers with the FIA planned for the Italian Grand Prix after which more clarity may emerge.

Real Madrid have made a €160 million (S$250 million) bid for Paris St Germain’s France forward Kylian Mbappe, Spanish and French media reported on Tuesday (Aug 24).

There was no immediate comment from either club.

France’s L’Equipe said PSG’s position remained unchanged, with the Ligue 1 club determined to keep Mbappe until at least the end of his contract in June next year even if he could then leave for nothing.

Spain’s Marca said the move was a first step by Real, who have long had their sights on the 22-year-old World Cup-winner who scored 42 goals in all competitions for PSG last season and has reportedly said he wants to move to Spain.

The As.com website quoted Real sources as saying however that the fact money was not an issue for wealthy Qatar-owned PSG was an obstacle for Real.

Britain’s Sky Sports said the offer was made on Sunday.

Any sale of Mbappe would allow PSG to recoup some of the costs of Lionel Messi’s salary package after they signed the Argentina forward and six times Ballon d’Or winner from Barcelona earlier this month.

PSG ended last season with only one major trophy, the French Cup, after losing the league title by one point to Lille and crashing out in the Champions League semi-finals.

Real, now managed by Italian Carlo Ancelotti, were runners-up domestically last season to city rivals Atletico.

Mbappe joined PSG from AS Monaco in 2017, on loan initially and then permanently a year later in a deal valued at €180 million.

Nigeria Football Federation president, Amaju Pinnick has told The Punch newspaper that the body is seriously working on various possibilities to ensure that the Premier League Super Eagles players are released for Nigeria’s World Cup qualifying match against Cape Verde on 7 September.

This is as a result of the English Premier League decision not to release players to travel to countries designated as ‘red zones’  for Covid-19.

There are 26 countries on the list. Even though Nigeria is not included, the Super Eagles’ opponents in the Match day 2 of the qualifiers, Cape Verde are in the red flag list.

It therefore follow that the seven Super Eagles players in the English Premiership will not be available for the 7 September match even though they can play against Liberia in Lagos.

An under-strength squad appears most likely against a potentially strong Cape Verde which caused sensation in the season 2013/2014 and ranked among African top three in FIFA rankings.

Cape Verde were almost making it to Brazil 2014, but for annulment of their crucial win against Tunisia on account of fielding ineligible player.

They were undefeated in their two Afcon qualifiers with Cameroon, whom they walloped 3-1 in Prai last March.

In Nigeria’s only match with Cape Verde on  9 January 2013, the Super Eagles only forced a draw in the duel played at Estadio do Algarve in Portugal.

If fielded, Ahmed Musa will be the only player from that 2013 match. Added to the possible list of players that may miss the match are the three Super Eagles in the Scottish League.

These are: Leon Balogun, Semi Ajayi and Joe Aribo, making a total number of 10 players that will be ruled out of the match.

Those affected in the Premiership are: Alex Iwobi, Wilfred Ndidi, Kelechi Iheanacho, Frank Onyeka, Oghenekaro Etebo, Emmanuel Dennis and William Troost-Ekong.

Besides having to play Cape Verde with the exclusion of those 10 players, the NFF could press for a shift of either the match to January close to the opening duel of the Africa Cup of Nations when the African players are mandatorily have to be released, or asked for a shift of venue to a neutral ground.

The US Department of Justice has agreed to hand Fifa US$201 million (S$272 million) confiscated from corrupt football administrators, the governing body of world football announced on Tuesday (Aug 24).

Most of the cash comes from US legal actions in the wake of the “Fifagate” scandal, which erupted in May 2015 with the dramatic arrest of seven world football executives in Zurich and led a few months later to the departure of Sepp Blatter, Fifa’s president since 1998.

“This money was seized from the bank accounts of former officials who were involved in, and then prosecuted for, years of corruption schemes in football,” said Fifa in a statement on its website.

It said it had set up a ‘World Football Remission Fund’ under the supervision of the Fifa foundation to use the money “to help finance football-related projects with positive community impact across the globe”.

Gianni Infantino, who replaced Blatter at the head of Fifa welcome the deal.

“I am delighted to see that money which was illegally siphoned out of football is now coming back to be used for its proper purposes, as it should have been in the first place,” Infantino said.

“It’s great to see significant funding being put at the disposal of the Fifa Foundation, which can positively impact so many people across the football world, especially through youth and community programmes.” The cases prosecuted in the US centred on bribes and “racketeering” organised by football officials in South and Central America in exchange for the awarding of TV broadcasting rights for competitions, including the Copa America.

They resulted in the sentencing of Paraguayan Juan Angel Napout, a former president of South American football’s governing body Conmebol, to nine years in prison and Brazilian Jose Maria Marin, former head of the Brazilian Football Federation, to four years in prison.

A significant slice of cash will be funnelled into South American football.

Conmebol said it would be receiving US$71 million in recovered funds.

The funds “are being returned to Conmebol because it was a victim of the criminal scheme underlying the Fifagate investigation,” the governing body said in a statement.

The US justice system continues to investigate world football, particularly the awarding of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar and suspicions of vote buying.

Former Juventus chairman Giovanni Cobolli Gigli has called on the club to rectify the “mistake” of signing Cristiano Ronaldo by selling him as soon as possible.

Juve paid a club-record £99million to prise Ronaldo from Real Madrid  in the summer of 2018.

The Portuguese superstar joined on a four-year contract and plundered 101 goals in his first three seasons, winning every domestic honour available to him.

But the start of the current campaign has not gone to plan, with Ronaldo said to be pushing for a move to Manchester City after he reportedly requested to be on the bench  for Sunday’s 2-2 draw with Udinese.

Nonetheless, Ronaldo remains the biggest attraction in Serie A and Juve boss Massimiliano Allegri’s squad would be significantly weaker without the 36-year-old.

According to Mirror, Chairman Andrea Agnelli has previously justified the financial side of signing Ronaldo  and handing him a contract worth €31million (£26.5m) per season.

However, his predecessor sees things very differently and insists Juve will never make back the money they have stumped up for Ronaldo.

“I’ve always been honest: signing Ronaldo was a mistake. It’s impossible to recoup the investment and it will remain that way,” Gigli – who was Juventus chairman between 2006 and 2009

“He’s a great player, but I have to be honest – the sooner he leaves, the better for him and for Juventus.

“I hope that Massimiliano Allegri knows how to continue using him like he did against Udinese. That is, with intelligence and when the game is in progress.

“Ronaldo hampers Juventus’ attack. Without him, they can do excellent things in collective terms.”

Gigli’s wish for Ronaldo to leave Turin may soon be granted, as the player’s agent, Jorge Mendes, is understood to be negotiating a transfer with City chiefs.

Pep Guardiola’s side will reportedly target the former Manchester United  and Real Madrid forward if they fail to sign Harry Kane from Tottenham  in the final days of the transfer window.

Ronaldo, for his part, is keen on the transfer as he believes joining City would give him the best chance to add to his five Ballons d’Or.