The top stories and transfer rumours from Sunday’s newspapers…

Transfer news

Davide Ancelotti, the Lille head coach, has confirmed Manchester City are in talks to sign Ayyoub Bouaddi – but hopes they fail to complete the transfer this summer – Daily Telegraph

Cody Gakpo is understood to have agreed personal terms on a transfer to Tottenham as Liverpool continue to lay the groundwork for a revamp of their attack – Daily Mirror

Liverpool have subtly lowered their asking price for midfielder Curtis Jones following prolonged negotiations with Inter Milan – Daily Mirror

Arsenal transfer target Victor Osimhen offered a ‘wait and see’ style response to speculation linking him to the Premier League champions – Daily Mirror

Celtic’s Reo Hatate has been targeted by Greek giants Panathinaikos, who want to tempt him away with a bumper pay rise – Scottish Sun

Football

Europe’s leading clubs threatened not to participate in future Club World Cups unless Gianni Infantino withdrew his FIFA Forward Enterprise scheme, issuing their ultimatum hours before the plan was scrapped – The Guardian

Harry Redknapp is set to cameo in a film about the West Ham fan he pulled from the stands in 1994 – The Sun

Mykhailo Mudryk says he trained like a mad man to stay permanently ready for his Chelsea return – The Sun

Rugby Union

Alun Wyn Jones, rugby union’s most-capped international, is set to join the Ospreys board as the Welsh side continues its fight for survival – The Times

Athletics

Sebastian Coe, the president of World Athletics, has played down suggestions that empty seats at the European championships could affect London’s bid for the 2029 worlds – The Guardian

Mystery surrounds a highly regarded British Athletics coach, Leon Baptiste, who has not been heard from since visiting Morocco around two months ago – The Guardian

Novak Djokovic suffered defeat and struggled physically in his first match since Wimbledon as he was upset by Thiago Agustin Tirante in a sapping three-set contest at the Cincinnati Open.

Djokovic, inactive on the ATP Tour since losing to Jannik Sinner at the grass-court Grand Slam on July 10, won the first set 6-2 but then lost the next two 6-4 as he battled the heat and humidity in Ohio, even appearing to vomit at one stage.

The 24-time major champion won an 18-minute third game of the second set, fending off four break points over nine deuces, before taking a medical timeout, while he dropped to his hands and knees at certain points in a match that lasted two hours and 45 minutes.

Tirante revels in ‘best win of career’

Tirante, who can look forward to a third-round meeting with Spain’s Martin Landaluce, made the decisive break at 4-4 in the decider after converting his fourth break point of the game and then closed out the win on serve.

He said afterwards: “This is the best win of my career. I really did a good job inside the court. I managed very well the nerves of playing against a legend like Novak. Now I feel relieved.

“It is all so much pressure when you cannot break [serve]. I had so many points to break and I couldn’t, so that was the key. Keep believing in myself with my team and think about it after the match.”

Djokovic was the third seed in Cincinnati despite sitting fifth in the world rankings, with world No 1 Sinner withdrawing due to a knee injury and world No 3 Carlos Alcaraz also absent as he continues to deal with a lingering wrist issue.

Top seed Alexander Zverev plays Britain’s Cameron Norrie in the second round overnight.

Britain’s Boulter out of women’s tournament

British women’s No 2 Katie Boulter saw her campaign end in the second round with a 6-3 6-3 defeat to Wimbledon champion Linda Noskova.

Noskova, who served 10 aces compared to Boulter’s none, converted four of the nine break points she fashioned and was only broken once in return.

Boulter had snapped a five-match losing streak on the WTA Tour by beating America’s Katie Volynets in three sets in the first round, winning the decider after losing the second set 6-0.

Watch the ATP and WTA Tours live on Sky Sports. The US Open is also live on Sky Sports from August 30. Stream tennis with NOW.

Scottie Scheffler will take a two-shot lead into the final round of the FedEx St Jude Championship in Memphis as he looks to complete his first win since January.

The three-stroke advantage the world No 1 had carved out at halfway after a second-round, course-record 61 was trimmed by one as he bogeyed his penultimate hole at TPC Southwind on Saturday before signing for a two-under 68 and closing on 13 under.

Sam Burns carded a sizzling, bogey-free eight-under 62 while Sungjae Im shot a three-under 67 with those players the leader’s closest challengers on 11 under.

But Scheffler is now just one good day away from his maiden trophy since The American Express in California at the start of the year, not that he hasn’t threatened in that time.

The 30-year-old has recorded five runners-up finishes, including at the 3M Open in his previous event, and nine top-fives in total in the intervening months.

In his third round in Tennessee, Scheffler bogeyed his fourth hole before birdies at two, 11, 12 and 16 preceded that dropped shot at 17, which came after he picked out a left-hand bunker with his second shot at the par four.

Defending FedExCup Playoffs champion Tommy Fleetwood remains in the hunt after a two-under Saturday – the highlight of which was a monster birdie putt at 13 – leaving him five strokes adrift of Scheffler on eight under and in a share of fourth with Jake Knapp.

Rory McIlroy, though, is languishing in tied-67th place on six over – 19 shots off Scheffler – after shooting a two-over 72 on Saturday, with the world No 2 yet to post an under-par round this week.

McIlroy, a three-time FedExCup Playoffs champion, was even par on the day heading to the 18th in his third round, only to then finish with a double bogey after finding the water off the tee.

The 37-year-old picked up back-to-back birdies at nine and 10, while his bogeys came at two and 13 before his gory final hole.

Watch the final round of the FedEx St Jude Championship live on Sky Sports Golf from 4pm on Sunday. Stream golf with NOW.

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