Sports
Celtic buy midfielder Mika Baur from Paderborn
Handball’s loss was football’s gain as Baur chose a different sport to father Markus, who made 228 appearances for his country as he helped Germany to Olympic silver in 2004 and world championship gold in 2007.
So far, Baur Jr has played for Germany at every level up to under-21s and will hope moving to Celtic helps him make the step up to the senior side.
Moving to Scotland may seem an unusual choice given he had the opportunity of playing in his country’s top flight for the first time had he stayed with Paderborn, or moved to another Bundesliga club.
Baur did make match-day squads as a youth after coming through the youth ranks with Freiburg without making the breakthrough.
Indeed, he credits his experience on loan to Dynamo Dresden last year for his breakthrough season with Paderborn – that together with advice from a mindset coach and the arrival of Ralf Kettemann as head coach.
Having started as a winger then attacking midfielder, the diminutive, two-footed Baur was used more as a deep-lying playmaker with a style similar to Rangers’ Nicolas Raskin.
It helped steer Paderborn to their greatest success since the turn of the millennium.
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Sports
Arsenal: Mikel Arteta not worried about contract talks with deal expiring in 2027
Mikel Arteta has said that supporters “don’t have to worry about” his future at Arsenal as he wants to extend his contract and the time left on his deal is “not an issue”.
The Gunners boss is into the final 12 months of his agreement that he signed in 2024 but says he is relaxed about formal talks taking place regarding a renewal.
Arteta has been in charge of Arsenal since 2019 and led the club to their first Premier League title in 22 years last season.
Arsenal face Manchester City in the Community Shield on Sunday (15:00 BST) and Arteta was asked in his news conference about the concern some supporters may have given he is yet to agreed a new deal before the 2026-27 campaign kicks off.
“No, they don’t have to worry about any of that because I want to be here, I’m extremely happy,” Arteta said.
“I feel very grateful to work with the people that I work with and whenever we have the possibility we will resolve that and that’s it.”
The Gunners are attempting to build on their success of last season and strengthen their squad in the transfer window.
They were unsuccessful in their pursuit of Real Madrid winger Vinicius Jr but have signed midfielder Bruno Guimaraes from Newcastle, Greece international winger Christos Tzolis from Club Brugge and made Piero Hincapie’s loan move from Bayern Leverkusen into a permanent transfer for a combined £143.5m.
Goalkeeper Illan Meslier has also arrived on a free transfer from Leeds United while, from last season’s squad, Leandro Trossard, Jakub Kiwior and Christian Norgaard have been moved on.
The Gunners remain interested in Aston Villa‘s Ezri Konsa or Jarell Quansah of Bayer Leverkusen as a further defensive reinforcement in the market following injuries to William Saliba and Jurrien Timber.
With the transfer window open until 1 September, the feeling at the club is that finalising a contract can come at a quieter period in the season.
“There’s always another priority I think and that’s the way we’ve been treating it. Arteta added.
“I think because everybody feels comfortable that the time on the contract is not going to be an issue.
“I think because my will certainly is to be here and I’m very happy here.
“And my feeling from the club is is the same one so I think that’s why everybody doing it things in a really organic way.”
Arsenal also reached the Champions League final last season where they were beaten by Paris St-Germain and Arteta has repeatedly spoken of his ambition since that loss to take the Gunners to next level.
“I’m not going to talk about any individuals, obviously what I can tell you is the ambition of the club.” Arteta said.
“It’s big that we want to improve the squad, we want to evolve the squad in order to achieve that.
“We have obviously detected some areas that they can be strengthened and that’s what we are trying to do.”
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Sports
Super League: Hull FC 14-18 Castleford Tigers: Cas win despite coaching problems
Betfred Super League
Hull FC (6) 14
Tries: Batchelor, Barron, Martin Goals: Sezer
Castleford (12) 18
Tries: Atoni, Ravalawa, Hood Goals: Weaver 3
Castleford Tigers put their coaching problems aside as they beat Hull FC at the MKM Stadium to record only their third Super League away win of the season.
Boss Ryan Carr remains absent for personal reasons and former Huddersfield Giants number one Luke Robinson is cutting short a holiday to take training on Monday as their new assistant boss.
Cas, though, overcame all their difficulties as they scored tries through Renouf Atoni, Mikaele Ravalawa and Liam Hood and claimed the victory late on after trailing 14-12.
Hull were on a high after announcing Aussie legend Daly Cherry-Evans’ arrival next season but fell short, despite scoring through Joe Batchelor, Harvey Barron and Lewis Martin.
Castleford showed great professionalism in the face of all their off-field issues to score from their first attack after nine minutes when Atoni crashed over from close range through two Hull tackles, with Tom Weaver adding the two points.
The try spurred Castleford on and they deservedly added a second on 26 minutes, passing the ball along the line for winger Ravalawa to power over in the right-hand corner.
Hull were denied a score to haul themselves back into the game when Barron intercepted a pass and ran 90 yards to touch down, only for referee James Vella to rule it out for a late tackle by Batchelor.
Castleford added to the indignity when Weaver kicked a penalty to stretch the lead to 12-0 before the home side finally hit back four minutes before the interval.
This time Batchelor was the hero as he grounded Jake Arthur’s grubber kick, with Aidan Sezer adding the extras.
Hull continued their comeback in the 47th minute, thanks to another Arthur kick, and this time Davy Litten knocked it back for Barron to collect and crash over to cut Castleford’s lead to just two points.
The Tigers were creaking under pressure and the Black and Whites took the lead for the first time in the match when Martin went over in the left corner after 59 minutes for his fifth try in his last four games against Castleford.
To their immense credit, back came Castleford and hooker Hood managed to burrow his way over the line in the 68th minute to restore their lead, with Weaver kicking the two points to extend the lead.
They move up to ninth in the table, four points clear of Hull in 12th.
Hull FC: Moy; Barron, Litten, Romano, Martin; Arthur, Sezer; Ese’ese, Bourouh, Hill, Batchelor, O’Neill, Bell.
Interchanges: Cust, Lisone, Salabio, Sao; Kemp.
Castleford: Laulu-Togaga’e; Ravalawa, Mellor, Mapapalangi, Senior; Asi, Weaver; Atoni, Hood, Lawler, Lane, Hirst, Stimson.
Interchanges: Ashworth, Robb, Dupree, Brown; Hall.
Referee: James Vella.
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Sports
Football gossip: Hinshelwood, Rodri, Osimhen, Gakpo, Munoz, Delap, Baleba
Arsenal lead race for Jack Hinshelwood, Barcelona set to make third Rodri bid, and Manchester United and Tottenham join Arsenal in discussing Victor Osimhen.
Arsenal are leading the race to sign English midfielder Jack Hinshelwood, 21, from Brighton. (Sun), external
Barcelona are set to make a third bid of about £60m for Spain midfielder Rodri, 30, but are still set to fall £10m short of Manchester City‘s valuation. (Independent), external
Manchester United, Tottenham and Arsenal have held internal talks about the possibility of signing Nigeria striker Victor Osimhen, 27, from Galatasaray. (Teamtalk), external
Liverpool‘s Netherlands forward Cody Gakpo, 27, has reached an agreement in principle over a move to Tottenham. (Voetbal International – in Dutch), external
Crystal Palace are set to demand up to £25m for 30-year-old Colombia right-back Daniel Munoz, who is a target for Everton. (Football Insider), external
Como have registered their interest in 23-year-old English forward Liam Delap, who Chelsea value at £55m. (Mail), external
Denmark midfielder Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, 31, has been stripped of the Marseille captaincy after rejecting a £15m move to Newcastle. (Mail), external
Newcastle have set their sights on Brighton and Cameroon star Carlos Baleba, 22, as they seek to reinforce their midfield. (Talksport), external
Coventry are keen on signing 20-year-old English defender Josh Acheampong from Chelsea. (Talksport), external
Arsenal‘s Gabriel Jesus is in talks with Napoli as the Brazil forward, 29, explores a summer move from north London. (Fichajes – in Spanish), external
Tottenham have been working on a deal for Savinho with the Brazil winger, 22, keen for a move from Manchester City. (Standard), external
Belgium winger Mika Godts is heading to Paris St-Germain, who have agreed to pay Ajax 55m euros (£47m) for the 21-year-old. (L’Equipe – in French), external
Leeds will have to pay ‘at least’ 10m euros (£8.5m) if they want to sign Switzerland defender Nico Elvedi, 29, from Borussia Monchengladbach. (Kicker – in German), external
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