Arsenal has fallen behind in the race to sign Mohamed Kudus from Ajax, with Chelsea now leading the pursuit for the midfielder.

Kudus has garnered interest from various Premier League clubs, including Arsenal, following his impressive performances at the last World Cup.

However, Arsenal currently faces financial constraints and needs to make player sales before they can make a move for Kudus in this transfer window. This has given Chelsea an opportunity to potentially secure his signature before the transfer window closes.

According to a report from Football London, Chelsea is eager to bolster their midfield options, and manager Mauricio Pochettino has specifically asked the club to pursue Kudus.

The talented midfielder is seen as a player who can thrive in the English football environment, making him an attractive target for Chelsea. If Arsenal cannot make significant progress in the race for Kudus, Chelsea could potentially secure the player’s services in the coming days.

Arsenal is finally the club that isn’t shy to splash the cash on players and it delights their fans.

For several years, the Gunners refused to spend money on important established players, with Arsene Wenger forced to develop players instead.

However, under Mikel Arteta, that has changed and the Gunners have spent significantly in the last two transfer windows.

Stan Kroenke owns other sports clubs in the United States and was criticised for not giving Arsenal the funds his other teams get, which make it easier for them to achieve success.

That is no longer the case and Gunners CEO Vinai Venkatesham says he has proven he loves the club and wants to win the Premier League after their spending this summer.

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has seemed to confirm that Thomas Partey will remain at the Emirates for the upcoming season, despite the arrival of Declan Rice.

Since joining Arsenal, Partey has been a key figure in the squad and has played a crucial role in the team’s successes.

While Arsenal has strengthened their squad with the addition of Declan Rice and Jorginho in the last two transfer windows, Partey’s position in the team has been a topic of discussion.

Both Rice and Jorginho can play a similar role as Partey, and Rice is expected to be an automatic starter at the Emirates. This has led to speculation that Partey could find himself in a bench role, potentially prompting him to consider leaving the club.

In recent weeks, Juventus and clubs from Saudi Arabia have expressed interest in signing Partey, but Arteta’s confirmation suggests that the Ghanaian midfielder may stay at Arsenal for another season.

Arsenal has increased the price of their jersey ahead of the next season and it is not a decision that sits well with financial analyst Dr Dan Plumley, who has accused the Gunners of exploitation.

Mikel Arteta’s side is making some good progress in the last few months and it is easy to see that the gaffer has played a huge role in their success.

The success has also brought new business partners to the club and improved their revenue.

Because of this, the Gunners should maintain the cost of their shirts at a reasonable level, especially because of the cost of living crisis.

But they will now sell their shirt for £80, a 14% increase from the previous amount.

The Upfront team bring you all the reaction to England’s very first game at the Women’s World Cup!

England got off to a winning start, but a pretty unconvincing one. So, what next?

Join Chloe and Rachel for chat throughout the tournament here and follow Upfront on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube!

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Mikel Arteta has revealed why Nicolas Pepe did not travel with the rest of the Arsenal squad for pre-season.

The Ivorian is expected to leave the club this summer after failing to make an impact while on loan at Nice last season.

He is no longer in the first team plan at the Emirates and recently saw a move to an unnamed Saudi Arabian club collapse.

Arsenal has a big squad and must trim it down before the transfer window closes, but Mikel Arteta is giving chances to every player to prove their worth.

Pepe was left at home by the Gunners as they travelled to the USA and Arteta has revealed that the winger is injured.

Football has a unique way of connecting people from all corners of the world, and for one devoted Arsenal fan, it has been a journey of love, passion, and family. Hailing from Rwanda, Placide Magambo’s story is a testament to the unifying power of the beautiful game.

Growing up in Rwanda, where television access was limited, this Arsenal enthusiast relied on his father’s vivid descriptions of matches and sports news on the radio. The magic of football was brought to life through his father’s narrations, and he vividly remembers the day in 1996 when he learned that the Gunners had hired a coach named Arsène Wenger.

The combination of an intriguing name and his father’s admiration for the manager sparked a deep connection to the club.

Loyal American Gooners celebrate Kai Havertz late goal to make it 5-0 to Arsenal here at Audi Field in Washington DC pic.twitter.com/mxBoxar34d

— Layth (@laythy29) July 20, 2023

Mikel Arteta may have ensured that Kieran Tierney has a future at Arsenal. Over the last few months, Tierney has been heavily linked with an exit from Arsenal. The 26-year-old was not to leave because he wasn’t quality, but because Arteta’s tactics last season saw Arsenal overdepend on Zinchenko playing from the left back.

This situation saw him struggle to break into the team, as he couldn’t offer what the Ukrainian offered.

Zinchenko would be deployed at left back, but whenever he was in possession, he would drift to midfield, giving Granit Xhaka the licence to join the attack and thus outnumber the other team once the ball was supplied to Arsenal attackers.

While Zinchenko temporarily moved to the midfield, the other defenders had to hold the fort, which meant Ben White at right back had to be attentive to support the defence. Arsenal depended on this play, but Arteta wants to change that with Jurrien Timber.

With the arrival of Jurrien Timber, who’s undoubtedly technically gifted, Arteta seeks to have the Dutch do a “Zincheko” from right back, which may necessitate a defensive-minded left back, which we know Zinchenko isn’t, hence Tierney gets to feature at left back.

This story was originally published by the Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.

The mother of a 24-year-old worker who died from heatstroke while working for a construction firm in San Antonio, Texas, has filed a lawsuit against his employer.

Gabriel Infante was working for B Comm Constructors in San Antonio, Texas, on June 23 2022, digging in the hot summer sun to move internet fiber optic cable, a job he had recently started with a childhood best friend while they were finishing college.

The lawsuit comes after Texas’s Republican governor, Greg Abbott, signed a controversial bill into law on June 14 that prohibits local municipalities from enacting heat protection standards for construction workers. The bill nullifies ordinances previously passed in Austin and Dallas that mandated 10-minute breaks for workers every four hours. A similar ordinance was being considered in San Antonio before the state bill was passed.

“To this day, I have never, ever gotten a phone call from the owner of the company to offer his condolences for my son’s death.”

According to the lawsuit, Infante began exhibiting heatstroke symptoms, including confusion, altered mental state, dizziness and loss of consciousness. His friend and co-worker Joshua Espinoza began pouring cold water over him, trying to cool him down. A foreman insisted Espinoza call the police, claiming Infante’s bizarre behavior was due to drugs, and the foreman pushed for a drug test when emergency medical services arrived.

In July 2022, the United Nations and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan helped broker the Black Sea Grain Initiative: A deal between Russia and Ukraine that the UN Secretary-General António Guterres called “a beacon of hope.” It allowed food and fertilizer exports from three Ukrainian ports—on the Black Sea, Odesa, Chornomorsk and Yuzhny/Pivdennyi—to be shipped to the rest of the world. Since the agreement was signed last year, 32.8 million tons of Ukrainian grain have been exported; more than half has gone to developing countries, including drought-ridden East African nations like Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia. 

This week, that deal ended. And it soon got worse. After pulling out of the deal, Russia attacked storage facilities in the coastal city of Odesa, reportedly destroying 60,000 tons of grain, according to Ukrainian Agriculture Minister Mykola Solskyi. Both nations say that they will now treat each other’s ships traveling across the Black Sea as potential military targets. 

The end of the deal, and the bombings, could be a major blow to the global food supply. As my former colleague Tom Philpott wrote in March 2022, the Russia and Ukraine war is being fought in the world’s breadbasket:

Today, Russia is a global wheat powerhouse, the world’s number-three producer of the staple crop, and its number-one exporter. Just as in 1768, much of its most productive farmland lies east of the Ukraine border, making it largely reliant on the same “black paths” (now covered in paved roads and railroad tracks) to reach markets. Ukraine, too, is a major wheat exporter, and has recently emerged as a corn powerhouse, too, supplying China and its booming meat industry with nearly a third of its feed corn imports.

What does it mean when a war of conquest descends upon one of the globe’s great breadbaskets in the 21st century? With trade routes embattled and markets roiled by Russia’s invasion, wheat prices have already shot up to their highest level in 60 years. This far exceeds the spike of the early 2010s, which led to bread riots in the Middle East that helped bring about the Arab Spring and the still-simmering civil war in Syria. “It’s a core food,” Nelson says, “and when you double its price, it just changes everything.”