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Liverpool open to Van Dijk offers - Saturday's gossip
Virgil van Dijk's Liverpool future appears a little uncertain with the club prepared to listen to offers for him, Fulham keen on West Ham winger Crysencio Summerville while Inter Milan want Chelsea centre-back Trevoh Chalobah.
'Everyone loved Diogo' - Jota remembered one year on
On the first anniversary of Diogo Jota's death, Caoimhin Kelleher, Arne Slot, Nuno Espirito Santo, Conor Coady and Paulo Goncalves share their memories of the former Liverpool and Wolves forward.
Concerns raised about Jonathan Morgan prior to Maddy Cusack’s death, inquest told
Former Sheffield United player Nina Wilson ‘tried to escalate concerns’Morgan to give evidence to inquest on MondayThe former Sheffield United goalkeeper Nina Wilson has told an inquest that she had “tried to escalate concerns” about the manager Jonathan Morgan prior to her teammate Maddy Cusack’s death in 2023, but she did not feel she was listened to. Wilson, who told the hearing that she had ended her own football career when she was aged 25 because of those experiences, said that neither she nor Cusack had known who the club’s safeguarding officer was, and she listed a series of recommendations to the court, including calling for whistleblowing routes to be clearer to players and for mental health education to be a mandatory part of coaching qualification courses. However, later in Friday’s hearing, another former Sheffield United player and Morgan’s former assistant coach Luke Turner told the court that they had never witnessed Morgan bullying Cusack or any other players personally. The former Leicester City, Burnley and Sheffield United manager Morgan, who will give evidence to the inquest on Monday, asked his former player Naomi Hartley if she had seen any bullying towards Cusack, and Hartley replied: “No, I just think a lot of people were intimidated by you.” Chesterfield coroner’s court also heard evidence of how under-resourced staff felt at the second-tier club during the summer of 2023 as they transitioned from part-time to full-time status. The club’s women’s team doctor at the time, Dr Subhashis Basu, said they had been so stretched that at one stage Basu had to organise the booking of a pitch for training, collect “lunch for the players from Tesco” and even “store medication” in his house, having also referenced a frequent lack of access to private medical rooms for the women’s squad.Dr Basu added: “It was an extremely challenging environment. We were routinely moving training facilities, struggling to find venues.” Wilson, who played for an extensive list of clubs including Brighton and London City Lionesses, told the court the death of her friend Cusack, aged 27 on 20 September 2023, was “definitely preventable”. She labelled Cusack as “an exceptionally confident person, she was so funny, always bouncing around the changing room, checking in on other people”, but said she had noticed a “very stark change” in her demeanour from February 2023, when Morgan was appointed.In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counsellor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org Continue reading...
Fulham make move for in-demand West Ham winger Crysencio Summerville
Chelsea and Manchester United have shown interestFulham could prove a more realistic destinationFulham have joined the race to sign Crysencio Summerville from West Ham. The winger is expected to move this summer and is attracting interest from a host of Premier League clubs.Chelsea and Manchester United have been monitoring Summerville, who is likely to leave West Ham following their relegation from the Premier League, but it remains to be seen whether the Netherlands international earns a move to one of the top flight’s leading sides. Continue reading...
Maddy Cusack was fearful of reporting her concerns, mother tells inquest
Sheffield Utd player ‘felt she couldn’t speak’ to hierarchy Coroner told of serious loss of club’s medical dataThe mother of Maddy Cusack told an inquest it is too difficult for women footballers to report grievances, for fear of being blacklisted, and said her daughter would still be alive if “her nemesis” Jonathan Morgan had not been appointed as Sheffield United’s manager.Deborah Cusack said Morgan, who is scheduled to give evidence at Cusack’s inquest on Monday, made her daughter “feel as if she had to give up football”, prior to her being found dead at the family’s home in Derbyshire on 20 September 2023. Thursday’s hearing also heard there had been an “industrial-scale” loss of players’ sensitive medical data involving the records-keeping system used for women’s footballers at multiple clubs, including missing records for Cusack. The club’s doctor at the time, Subhashis Basu, admitted that he had failed to adequately report the data breach.In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counsellor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org Continue reading...