Transfers Window Dilemma

GM football fans. It’s Wednesday, Feb. 26 - Jose Mourinho’s allegations, transfer window fragmentation and everything else you need to know. Forwarded this email? Sign up here.

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FIXTURES

Premier League MW27: Nottingham Forest vs. Arsenal, 19:30 / 14:30. Forest have lost seven of their last eight Premier League games against Arsenal, but they’ve won five of their last six league home games. Tottenham Hotspur vs. Manchester City, 19:30 / 14:30. Spurs could become the first side to beat both Manchester sides three times each in a single campaign across all competitions. City have failed to win any of their last three league away games against London teams. Liverpool vs. Newcastle United, 20:15 / 15:15. Newcastle are winless in their last 16 Premier League games against Liverpool. Meanwhile, Mohamed Salah is one home goal away from scoring 10+ home goals and 10+ away goals in three different Premier League campaigns. See the full list of Premier League fixtures here.

Results…

• Premier League: Brighton 2-1 Bournemouth | Palace 4-1 Villa | Wolves 1-2 Fulham | Chelsea 4-0 Southampton (League Table)

• Copa Del Rey, SF Leg 1: Barcelona 4-4 Atletico Madrid (Match Report)

• Coppa Italia, QF: Inter Milan 2-0 Lazio (Match Report)

• DFB Pokal, QF: Bielefeld 2-1 Bremen

• Scottish Premiership: Celtic 5-1 Aberdeen (Match Report)

TOP TALKING POINTS

Mourinho’s Racism Allegations

Galatasaray said they would initiate criminal proceedings against Fenerbahce manager Jose Mourinho after claiming he had made racist comments. Speaking after the teams’ 0-0 draw on Monday, the Portuguese manager said the home bench had been “jumping like monkeys.” Galatasaray also claim Mourinho “has persistently issued derogatory statements directed towards the Turkish people” since taking over at Fenerbahce in June 2024.

Mourinho–who has won 26 major trophies across five leagues as manager—has yet to respond to the accusations. However, Fenerbahce vice president Acun Ilicali, also the owner of Hull City, said their Super Lig rivals were “manipulating” the situation and insisted Mourinho had “no intention” of being racist. Fenerbahce issued a statement stating that Mourinho’s comments had “deliberately taken entirely out of context.”

The Super Lig derby on Monday was officiated by a Slovenian referee after both clubs requested a neutral, foreign official take charge of the match. Mourinho praised the referee during the post-match conference and repeated his criticism of Turkish referees, saying it would have been a "disaster" to use an official from the country. Mourinho was previously fined and suspended for his comments about Turkish match officials.

Transfer Window In Flux

Serie A president Ezio Simonelli has revealed the league’s plans to close the summer transfer window before the start of the season. The Premier League is aligned with the view of the Italian top flight, although Simonelli suggests that La Liga, Bundesliga, and Ligue 1 are reluctant to join them. This has put into question whether the English and Italian top flights will close the transfer window early.

In September, Premier League clubs agreed to close the summer transfer window on August 15, before the 2025-26 season starts. The idea is that by closing the window before the season's first game, clubs will have greater clarity on their squad as the season begins. The vote was made when Premier League clubs were hopeful that other top leagues around Europe would also adjust their window deadline.

However, with three major European leagues unwilling to close the transfer window early, critics of the change believe it will be detrimental to the Premier League and Serie A. This is because clubs could lose players after the season starts while being powerless to bring in replacements.

AFCON Controversy

Pundit Jamie Carragher has come under scrutiny for suggesting that the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) is not considered a major tournament. Speaking after Liverpool’s 2–0 win at Manchester City, Carragher suggested that Mohamed Salah must lead his club to Champions League glory to win the Ballon d'Or because AFCON is not recognised by voters as a "major tournament".

During the show, Carragher’s fellow pundits–Micah Richards and Daniel Sturridge–interjected by stressing that AFCON was at the same level as the Euros and Copa America. Carragher has since posted a thread on social media platform X to defend his comments. See the thread here.

Carragher's comments drew criticism from several former players, including former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand. See his criticism here. In response, Carragher–replying to Ferdinand’s Instagram account–called his former England teammate a "clown" and suggested he was "playing to the gallery".

POLL

ON THE BALL

Europe

> Manchester United will become the first club to have played 6,000 games as an English league club against Ipswich on Wednesday (Feb. 26); Liverpool and Arsenal are next in line, 14 and 97 games behind, respectively (More / paywall) | Mikel Arteta has said he would give up on Arsenal's title hopes "over my dead body" but added that his side will have to do something unprecedented to win it (More)

> Lionel Messi reportedly, unconfirmed, wants to return to Barcelona this summer to play at the new Camp Nou stadium; his Inter Miami contract can allow him to play in Europe during the off-season (More)

> Carlo Ancelotti has hit back at La Liga president Javier Tebas, saying he “talks about Real Madrid too much” (More); Tebas accused Los Blancos of “crying” too much over referee calls (More)

Americas

> The SheBelieves Cup will conclude on Wednesday (Feb. 26) as USWNT play Japan and Australia take on Colombia; Japan are leading on goal difference by four goals, meaning that USWNT must win in order to top the SheBelieves table (More)

> Brazilian club Cruzeiro reported threats to police after mannequins, dressed in jerseys of three of their players and smeared with red stains, were found hanging from a bridge in Belo Horizonte (More)

Rest of the World

> Cristiano Ronaldo is 75 goals away from 1000 career goals after scoring in Al Nassr's 2-0 win over Al Wehda (More)

> Russia will no longer have a seat on the UEFA executive committee after the European body’s elections in six weeks (More)

> Former Barcelona director Jordi Cruyff has signed as Indonesia’s national team technical director; he joins Patrick Kluivert (More)

> Australia have submitted an expression of interest to host the 2031 men's Asian Cup, while Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan have launched a joint bid for the tournament (More)

ROUTERS’ VOICE

Yesterday’s Poll: Do you prefer to watch weekend or midweek matches?

🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🔚 Weekend... (75%)

🟨 🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ 👷 Midweek... (25%)

Your punditry takes:

• 🔚 B.J: “Being able to focus on the game rather than trying to get a glance of the score between meetings.”

• 🔚 S.R: “Way more relaxing, and because games are played in a time zone 7 or 8 hours ahead, it's the only way to truly enjoy them.”

• 👷 C.P: “For me, I live in the United States so most games during the week start at 1pm or 2pm. I work from home, and on most days I have the flexibility to watch games in my home office while I work. I do sometimes get a little distracted trying to do both, but then it frees up my nights to do other things.”

• 👷 J.D: “Midweek games under the floodlights are always special, though with TV scheduling dominating all common sense, fixtures such as Newcastle vs Southampton on a Tuesday night is unfair on fans.”

EXTRA TIME

How much impact has Messi really had on the MLS? (Video)

Sounders FC’s innovative ‘First Match On Us’ scheme.

Arsenal's third kit for 2025-26 season leaked.

… and how a best-selling football kit is designed.

What happens when you combine football with dancing?

Great goals in great Premier League kits.

Why are teams struggling to win at home?

Ange isn’t a fan of this particular statistic. (via X)

The football club that is slowly dying.

GAME FACE ON

Who Am I?

• I’ve played in the Bundesliga, Premier League and MLS.

• I am my country’s sixth-most-capped player of all time.

• I have won the World Cup, Champions League and Europa League.

Scroll below for the answer.

ON TODAY

Premier League

• Brentford vs Everton (19:30)

• Manchester United vs Ipswich Town (19:30)

• Nottingham Forest vs Arsenal (19:30)

• Tottenham Hotspur vs Manchester City (19:30)

• Liverpool vs Newcastle United (20:15)

Copa Del Rey, Semi-Finals

• Real Sociedad vs Real Madrid (20:30)

DFB Pokal, Quarter-Finals

• RB Leipzig vs Wolfsburg (19:45)

Coppa Italia, Quarter-Finals

• Juventus vs Empoli (20:00)

Women’s Nations League

• See the full list of fixtures here.

*All time in UK. ET -5. CST -6. PST -8. MST -7. CET +1.

Answer

Bastian Schweinsteiger.