Sports

Leon Goretzka: What will he bring to Aston Villa and does he still have the legs?

Published

1 hour ago

August 27, 2026

Leon Goretzka’s Bayern Munich career did not end as it was supposed to.

The German midfielder, who has signed for Aston Villa on a free transfer, won everything there was to win during his eight years at Allianz Arena. He was a cornerstone of Bayern’s imperial era, during which they won the Bundesliga seven times, the DFB-Pokal three times and the Champions League in 2020.

Goretzka, now 31, was one of the world’s most prominent midfielders during that run. There was even a period, for maybe two or three years, when he might have been considered Europe’s pre-eminent box-to-box midfielder. Physical, destructive, but with excellent attacking instincts and timing that allowed him to complement Bayern’s more technical or tactically adroit players.

But prior to his release this summer, Goretzka had become a player out of time and a symbol of a decadent era. It’s a situation that needs explaining.

In 2021, he signed a highly lucrative, five-year contract. He was one of several players, alongside Serge Gnabry and Kingsley Coman, who tied their future to the club, but who accounted for a sizeable chunk of Bayern’s wage bill.

In time, as his impact lessened, it made Goretzka a target. When he joined in 2018 (moving from Schalke on a free transfer), he was the ideal signing. Thiago Alcantara was still orchestrating Bayern’s midfield, Javi Martinez was anchoring it, and Goretzka provided a set of attributes that the team needed.

However, as the conditions around him changed, that value declined and — increasingly — the focus fell more on his flaws. Goretzka is not a playmaker; he lacks the passing ability and the delicate touch. He is also not the most tactically aware player and cannot be used simply to provide quality.

Instead, at his best, he is a rogue element, stealing into penalty boxes and attacking space, or otherwise turning midfields inhospitable and making opponents uncomfortable. That kind of player always needs the right chemistry around them. Increasingly, he did not. That also meant that as Bayern tried to pivot between eras, the big contract he signed in 2021, which made his sale virtually impossible, recast him as someone who had outstayed his welcome.

The prevailing narrative among his detractors portrayed him as being content to see out a contract that would not be on offer elsewhere. But that’s not really fair. He may have become less relevant to the first team and he may no longer be in his prime, but Goretzka repeatedly fought for his career in recent seasons.

In the summer of 2024, Vincent Kompany arrived at Bayern with a mission to perform an overhaul. Joshua Kimmich would anchor the midfield, Aleksandar Pavlovic had graduated from the academy by then, and Joao Palhinha had joined from Fulham. Those three players would provide the platform for the attacking half of the side, and Goretzka was advised that he should either leave or accept a greatly reduced role.

Goretzka chose to stay. But while his contract may have influenced that decision, his attitude was commendable.

Kompany complimented the midfielder for his professionalism in training and his approach to a humbling situation, and by the turn of the year Goretzka had been reinstated. Bayern reclaimed their Bundesliga title that season, and while Goretzka was not “back” and was not the force he had once been, he had some excellent games domestically and in Europe, even earning a recall to the German national team.

In February 2025, Bayern travelled to Stuttgart to face one of the final hurdles before becoming league champions. It pitted Goretzka, by then a regular in the side again, against Angelo Stiller, who was and remains one of the most regarded German midfielders in the Bundesliga. Goretzka monstered him. He scored, he pressed Stiller into a bad mistake, and Bayern won 3-1.

Goretzka is still a rough-and-tumble player (Alex Grimm/Getty Images)

In the summer of 2025, history repeated. He was again expected to leave — encouraged to, even — but chose to stay. Bayern were an outstanding side in 2025-26. At the beginning of the season, they also signed Tom Bischof. Young and German, with a left foot to die for, Bischof was far more suited to the midfield that Kompany wanted and someone for whom supporters had more enthusiasm. Goretzka played fewer than 200 minutes in the Champions League across the year, and there was never any serious hope of a contract extension.

But he is still a good player. The caveats remain. He is not as physically rambunctious as before, but he can be tremendously effective in the right system, with the right players in support. The Premier League is a rough-and-tumble league. Goretzka is still a rough-and-tumble player who can press well, arrive in the box at the right moments, and win duels.

Signing players on the downslope of their career is a tricky business. Even more so when they have already won everything that club football has to offer. But while Goretzka became less important to Bayern in recent years, he never acted as if that was the case. He always played in the same way, with all the intensity and commitment expected of a serial winner, and generally found a way to be an asset.

Villa have clearly noticed that. Having lost Amadou Onana to a long-term injury, they needed to replicate his physicality, among other abilities. Having sold Ezri Konsa, Youri Tielemans and Lucas Digne this summer, the club also felt the need to sign someone who can help set dressing-room standards and replace some of the seniority and leadership that has now been lost.

To deal with those issues, Goretzka might have been among the best players available. He will be coming to England to play, to compete and, as he has done for his entire career, hopefully to win.

Sports

‘The Athletic Football Show’ previews the 2026 Cincinnati Bengals

Published

16 seconds ago

August 27, 2026

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“The Athletic Football Show” is previewing all 32 teams before the start of the 2026 NFL season. Below are select quotes from the show’s preview of the Cincinnati Bengals. The quotes are edited for clarity. You can watch the whole preview on YouTube and in the embedded video below, or listen to the full AFC North preview wherever you get your podcasts.

Robert Mays on what excites him most about the Bengals: I think this is potentially the most complete Bengals offense we have seen. They’ve never finished higher than sixth in EPA per play since Joe Burrow’s been there. Burrow has never finished in the top five in EPA per dropback ever. It’s the sacks. Even in the years they were really good, he’s taking 50 sacks in a season. They’ve always been right on the doorstep of being this overwhelming force. They’ve never quite gotten there because either they’re taking a decent amount of sacks or the run game just doesn’t have the oomph.

Last year, they were a really successful running team in the back half of the season. The offensive line, I think you can make an argument, is as good as it’s been since Burrow got there. You have two homegrown guys that you feel good about among that group for the first time ever, with Dylan Fairchild and Amarius Mims. The run game is higher quality and more consistent. I do think you can get to a place where you can convince yourself this is the best plan and collection of pieces we have seen for this team offensively, even including when they were going to AFC Championship Games and the Super Bowl.

Derrik Klassen on what he’s watching the first month of the season: How much of this offense really is new? How much of it is under center? Are they motioning guys a little bit more? Does the run game add some more stuff to it? When they got under center (last year), they actually could be explosive. When they were a shotgun run team, they really weren’t. They were pretty efficient, but they were not explosive. And when they got under center they had a 9.2 percent explosive run rate, which was top five in the NFL.

Part of that is, I think it was a change-up that teams just weren’t respecting or ready for because they did it at the second-lowest rate in the NFL. Teams that can go under center and run the ball, that is a little bit more of, ‘We are running on our terms and we get to decide how this goes.’ I have a little bit more reservations about their ability to actually get there and tie that into the passing game. I think it’s something that is necessary for them to get over the doorstep from consistently great to elite and actually defining offensive football in the NFL.

Dave Helman on what’s keeping him up at night: I think we’re going to know by Week 2 or Week 3 whether what they did on defense worked. What’s keeping me up at night is that we’ll know in September that it didn’t work and we’re doing the same (thing) all over again, hoping that the Bengals can score their way to the playoffs.

I like Boye Mafe for the contract that he got. I think Bryan Cook is an underrated signing. I even like Kyle Dugger. I thought he did some good stuff for Pittsburgh last year. I don’t think any of this holds up the way that it needs to if Dexter Lawrence isn’t exceptional. Holding him to the 2024 standard before he got hurt is crazy because he was on an unbelievable tear, but he needs to scratch that sort of level if this is going to work at all.

Subscribe to “The Athletic Football Show” on YouTube

Sports

Hull City transfer news: Mohamed-Ali Cho becomes 12th summer signing

Published

7 minutes ago

August 27, 2026

qasimgillani

Hull City have signed French forward Mohamed-Ali Cho from Ligue 1 side Nice on a five-year contract.

The 22-year-old becomes the Tigers’ 12th signing of the summer as they continue to strengthen following promotion to the Premier League.

The attacker made 93 appearances for Nice, scoring 12 goals and providing 13 assists during a two-and-a-half-year spell.

Cho played for England Under-16s before switching allegiance to France, who he has represented at under-21 level.

He also has experience of playing in European competitions, having featured 13 times in the Europa League for Nice and in the Champions League for Spanish side Real Sociedad.

Born in France but raised in England, Cho made his professional debut for Angers aged 16 and became the club’s youngest scorer.

Hull have spent more than £75m since beating Middlesbrough in the Championship play-off final, including a club record fee for Senegal defender Nobel Mendy.

They made a dream return to the Premier League, after nine years away, with a first ever top-flight win against Manchester United in their opener.

Sports

UEFA ups pressure on Gianni Infantino, ready to launch criminal proceedings against FIFA president

Published

14 minutes ago

August 27, 2026

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UEFA has made a request for the disclosure of documents in advance of potentially launching “criminal proceedings” against Gianni Infantino in Switzerland over his abandoned World Cup sell-off plan.

In a legal document filed in the United States District Court, seen by The Athletic, European football’s governing body has accused FIFA’s president of “promoting” a “fraudulently off-market price for his own benefit” when proposing to sell a stake in world soccer governing body’s commercial and event operations to Thrive Eternal — a U.S. investment fund run by Joshua Kushner.

FIFA wanted to sell a fifth of the new entity, called FIFA Forward Enterprises (FFE), to the group for $4.2billion (£3.1bn) before the plans were scrapped after an overwhelming backlash that continues to threaten Infantino’s position.

UEFA’s lawyers say that valuation was “absurdly low”, nor was it “the product of an open, competitive auction”. They also said it was “not tested by any independent valuer”.

“The valuation work exchanged with Thrive, and any internal Thrive analyses of FIFA’s enterprise value, are directly probative of whether the $4.2 billion price reflected an arm’s-length valuation of FIFA’s commercial rights or, as the public record indicates, a fraudulently off-market price promoted by Infantino for his own benefit,” the legal filing reads.

FIFA and Thrive Eternal have been approached for comment.

The FIFA sell-off scandal, explained

Hannah Vanbiber and Reuben Pinder

The launch and subsequent collapse of Infantino’s controversial plan over the span of just a few days last month has engulfed world football and has seen the FIFA president face repeated calls for him to resign from his role.

The 56-year-old announced his intention to stand in the presidential election in March ahead of what would be a third and final term, albeit before the FFE fallout, and previously claimed to have received more than 200 letters of support from member associations.

However, that number has now significantly dwindled, with UEFA, Concacaf — the confederation for North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football — and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) all calling for the Swiss-Italian to stand down.