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Manchester United And armory Morten Hjulmand is being seen as one of the leading Premier League contenders. Sporting CP quietly prepare for life after their captain.

Manchester City had look especially good Earlier in the process. However, the pace of the story has changed in recent times.

Portuguese reports now being offered manchester united and arsenal More prominently ahead in the race. City, meanwhile, have faded a bit after looking strongest early on.

At the same time, Sporting themselves are behaving like a club that is expecting to lose Danish international matches this summer.

The feeling of farewell is growing around Hjulmund

Sporting’s Portuguese Cup final against Torrens on 24 May is being seen as Morten Hjulmand’s farewell match in Portugal.

according to morning mailThe midfielder wants to lift another trophy and leave the club. This will happen before the expected summer transfers are completed.

There is also a growing feeling that his appearance against Gil Vicente could be his final match in Alvalade. Hjulmand scored Sporting’s third goal in a 3–0 win, adding to the feeling that their spell in Lisbon was coming to an end.

Manchester United and Arsenal continue to be named among the strongest contenders for his signature, while Manchester City remains in contention with Atletico Madrid in the wider picture.

Sporting is already building the midfield after Hjulmand

Perhaps the clearest indication is what Sporting are doing behind the scenes.

Portuguese clubs are already actively building the midfield For the next season with the expectation that Hjulmand would be gone.

Correio da Manha reports that Sporting president Frederico Varandas is ready to negotiate a transfer worth around €40m (£34m). This is despite the player’s official release clause being €80m (£69m). At the same time, the club is already targeting a replacement.

joao palinha Is seen as the preferred successor. The midfielder, currently at Tottenham on loan from Bayern Munich, reportedly wants to return to Portugal. To take this step forward, he is even ready to reduce his salary significantly.

Sporting has also made other midfield moves. Rodrigo Zalazar has already arrived from Braga in a €30m (£26m) move, while Pedro Lima is expected to join from AVS for €4m (£3.4m), plus an additional €2m (£1.7m) in bonuses.

The overall picture is becoming clearer with each passing week: Sporting is planning a midfield without Hjulmand.

what happens next

The story around Hjulmand now feels more about who wins the race to sign this powerhouse of a player.

Manchester City may have appeared strongest earlier in the process, but the momentum has shifted towards Manchester United and Arsenal.

Sporting are already planning for the aftermath. The player himself also seems to be nearing his farewell. And England continues to dominate the ongoing talks regarding his future.

newcastle And everton Venezia are the latest Premier League club to be linked with midfielder Issa Doumbia. His arrival in the race is already starting to change the financial picture surrounding the deal.

The 22-year-old has been one of the big stories of Venezia’s promotion-winning season. Doumbia has now reached 10 goals and five assists in 38 games. He started 37 of those matches and established himself as one of Serie B’s most productive midfielders.

That look has already attracted everyone’s attention brentford And bournemouth In recent weeks. Now, according to Portuguese newspaper to ballNewcastle and Everton have also emerged as clubs following the situation closely.

And the effect is immediate. Venezia has reportedly begun raising the asking price even higher.

Market changes as Newcastle and Everton enter the race

Sporting remains the most advanced club in the conversation. The Portuguese side are preparing for the departure of both Morten Hjulmand and Hidemasa Morita. Doumbia has been identified internally as a priority target for their midfield rebuild.

An Bola reported that Sporting have already prepared a five-year contract for the player until 2031, complete with defined salary terms and an €80 million (£68.5 million) release clause.

However, with the arrival of more English clubs things started to get complicated.

The report states that Venezia had initially worked with a minimum figure of €15m (£12.8m), but with Newcastle and Everton entering the picture expectations have now risen to closer to €20m (£17.1m).

Of course this is not surprising. The Premier League’s involvement alone escalates the conversation exponentially. This is especially true when the player is 22, scoring goals from midfield and coming off a promotion campaign.

Sporting is still trying its hardest

Despite increasing interest from the Premier League, Sporting is still described as the most committed club to secure a deal.

The Portuguese side is expected to hold another round of talks with Venezia in the coming days. They are trying to protect their profits before the market becomes crowded.

Doumbia’s contract with Venezia runs until June 2029, further strengthening the Italian club’s position. And after achieving promotion to Serie A and then winning the Serie B title, Venezia is under no pressure to rush a sale.

The more clubs now join the race, the easier it will be for Venezia to push the price upward.

Ji-soo Kim is likely to return brentford This summer if 1. FC Kaiserslautern does not gain promotion to the Bundesliga.

football transfer report The 21-year-old centre-back is likely to return to the Bees, but his future beyond that is uncertain.

brentford loan system

The website reports that the loan deal between Brentford and 1. FC Kaiserslautern for Ji-soo Kim includes an obligation for the German side to purchase a centre-back.

However, this obligation is dependent on promotion to the Bundesliga. However, the 2. Bundesliga side has no such option to buy if they are not promoted this season.

Given that they are currently seventh in the table and 15 points behind leaders Schalke after 30 games, promotion is very unlikely to happen. They are also 12 points behind second-placed Paderborn and nine behind third-placed Elversberg.

Thus, the clause for Ji-soo Kim will not be activated and everything ‘points strongly towards a separation’. What happens after that point remains to be seen.

Brentford contract until 2027

Ji-soo Kim’s current deal with Brentford only lasts until 2027. This means a decision has to be made about his future this summer.

If he is not in Brentford’s plans a permanent sale is a possibility. They could also loan him out again, but he would have to sign a new deal at the club before that could happen. The FT speculates that his continuation in Keith Andrews’s team as an option has not yet been ruled out.

All options are reportedly still on the table. What doesn’t seem to be happening is a permanent relocation of 1. FC Kaiserslautern. Their loan provision is only valid if they are promoted, and that will not happen.

So, it appears that the South Korean will be moving back to London this summer. What happens from that point forward has not yet been determined.

This may be the most important offseason in New Jersey Devils franchise history.

Sunny Mehta has an extensive list of tasks to get the Devils back on track as playoff and Stanley Cup contenders this summer.

He began his introductory press conference by stating that he was extremely optimistic about the roster as currently constructed.

“I am extremely optimistic about this team,” Mehta began. “We have a lot of talented players, and I really believe that these talented players are going to reach a turning point and get over that hurdle. It’s my job to make sure this roster is consistently filled with the amount of talent needed to be a championship team, and I intend to do that.”

However, that doesn’t mean New Jersey shouldn’t make changes, on and off the ice.

To reach that hit point, Mehta will have to press all the right buttons.

True to his poker player nature, Mehta didn’t reveal his hand as to what was going to happen through the rebuild. He explained anything and everything is being evaluated.

This leaves us with several key questions regarding the important offseason.

Will Sheldon Keefe stay?

When Mehta was introduced at the Prudential Center earlier this week, head coach Sheldon Keefe was in attendance. Mehta thanked Keefe and the Devils players in attendance for their hospitality.

The new Devils GM explained that he and Keefe have already had several conversations, emphasizing that Keefe is a “fantastic guy” while reminding everyone that everything will still be up for evaluation.

Still, when discussing the team’s identity and roster construction, Mehta admitted he hadn’t given it much thought on his second day on the job. However, he clarified that he would talk to Keefe to get a better idea on how to move forward with building his team.

So, will Keef return? We don’t know for sure. However, his attendance at the introductory conference and his involvement towards the settlement indicate that Keefe may be behind the Devils’ bench again next season.

What happens to Dougie Hamilton?

Certainly, this is no mess that Mehta has created. However, it has to be cleaned up somehow.

Dougie Hamilton’s situation is a strange one for Mehta. By now, you know that Hamilton has not been made available to the media since December, refusing to speak on multiple occasions after his agent made public his mockery of the former regime.

His reluctance to speak in exit interviews indicates that tensions remain despite Tom Fitzgerald’s absence.

This is an important part of what happens with the Devils this offseason. Will Mehta decide that a fresh start is best for everyone for Hamilton and waive his $9 million cap hit?

Or, will Mehta see Hamilton’s 28 points in the final 37 games speak loudly for the Devils GM as part of the solution moving forward?

Either way, once Hamilton’s situation is resolved, it may have little impact.

What is Simon Nemec’s influence?

One of the key questions hinged on the Hamiltonian situation is, whichever way it works, what impact does it have on Simon Nemec?

Nemec is a pending restricted free-agent who has shown positive growth from the blueline this season.

The 22-year-old defenseman got a clutch gene en route to an 11-goal year. His offensive touch also gets him top power play minutes.

What Nemec lacks, however, is his defensive game. In their region, they have shown slower growth than anticipated. Nemec is still a green banana that may take a while to ripen. Still, for the Devils to return to the playoffs, can they afford the No. 17 pick to develop his defensive game at the NHL level?

Either way, it feels like whether Hamilton stays or goes, Nemec will have an adverse impact.

Trade or keep the 2026 first round pick?

The Devils’ chances of moving up in the Draft Lottery are quite slim. Right now, they are 12th from the bottom in the league-wide standings and are only eligible to reach second place overall.

We’ll find out in two weeks where the Devils are going to select. Still, unless they have a chance at Gavin McKenna or Ivar Stenberg, the Devils should plan on moving this selection in favor of a top-six forward to play with Jack Hughes.

How aggressive will Mehta be in pursuing reforms?

Leaving aside the trade discussion regarding their 2026 first-round pick, we wonder how aggressive Mehta will be in improving the team.

Devils have certain needs. First of all, as I said earlier, the Devils need a top six forward to pair with Jack and Jesper Bratt. If Mehta is going to do this, it’s more than likely he’ll use the first-round pick they currently have.

However, could Mehta also have decided that he needed to shake up the culture? If a big-name player like Brady Tkachuk or Jason Robertson becomes available on the trade market, would Mehta be included as a serious trade partner? If Mehta feels that the current core has not worked, and perhaps they are not aligned with his analytical thinking, then it is not far-fetched to think that he would make a deal that would break a piece off from the core.

After all, Mehta has no attachment to anyone on the roster as of now. While Fitzgerald probably had a lot of love for his own roster, there should be no strings attached to Mehta in terms of making a trade.

And let’s not forget that the bottom six needs work too. The Devils rank 27th in goals scored this season. There was no reduction in their depth which impacted the top six.

How many new faces will we see in September?

Can Mehta fix the goaltending?

The Devils’ goaltending was structured as the last line of defense. Obviously, right? You have to beat the goaltender to score.

However, Jacob Markstrom was brought in for his high-threat defensive pedigree. Fitzgerald locked down Allen as a reliable 1B/backup. Only one of those two things happened in 2025-26.

The problem is that both goaltenders are on the wrong side of 35. Mehta could work with Allen who is on the hook for just $1.8 million for the next four seasons.

However, Markstrom’s new two-year contract begins on July 1 and runs through 2027–28.

Markstrom has shown signs of decline this season, and if it gets even worse, the Devils are going nowhere fast. Is there any solution this summer? They don’t have a 20-team trade list, so Mehta’s only option is to go with 11 other teams.

Otherwise, perhaps Mehta should reconsider Dave Rogalski as the goaltending coach.

Big ticket for Nico Hischier?

Perhaps the biggest question of the offseason. Will the Devils extend Nico Hischier when he becomes eligible on July 1?

When asked about his pending contract during the regular season, Hischier stated in his exit interview that he wanted to win a Cup in New Jersey.

However, if Mehta cannot resolve his contract with Hischier as soon as possible, it could put a halt to the crucial 2026-27 season. Allowing Hischier to reach unrestricted free agency would be an obvious mistake.

Coming from Florida, one of the comparisons to Hischier would definitely be Sasha Barkov. Could Hischier sign the same 8x$10M contract that Florida’s captain signed in 2021?

Five years later, you’ll have to account for the cost of inflation in an era of rising salary caps.

Short or long term extension for Arseniy Gritsyuk?

Arseniy Gritsyuk’s rookie season could only have been better if he had not been injured in the final stages of the season.

The 25-year-old first-year NHLer scored 13 goals and 31 points in 66 games this season, and is an outside candidate to receive a Calder Trophy nomination.

Everything about Gritsyuk screams core player.

Still, the Devils have been burned by KHL-imports before. Looking at you, Nikita Gusev.

So will Mehta commit to Gritsyuk long-term? Or is the bridge contract ready?

Everyone, including Jack Hughes, wants Gritsyuk to stay long term. But, again, Mehta has no relation to the player.

Gritsyuk has passed both eye tests and his analysis is impressive. It seems like he is a player Mehta would like to keep around for a long time.

James is the fully certified New Jersey Devils beat reporter for New Jersey Hockey Now on SportsNote and … More about James Nicholls

The Carolina Hurricanes are in the playoffs after having one of their best seasons on record, scoring 113 points this season, finishing atop the Eastern Conference for the first time in franchise history, and scoring their most goals in team history. But at the same time, one biggest question remains every year…

Is goal setting good enough?

Hurricanes goaltending follows a different formula

The Hurricanes’ overall goals-save percentage is .880, slightly lower than the league average of .889, and well below the typical standard of .900. Currently, they are the league’s seventh-worst in this metric throughout the regular season.

Normally, those numbers would seem bad. However, that statistic works very differently in Carolina’s case.

Throughout the entire regular season, the Hurricanes took the fewest shots against leaguewide. When fewer shots are faced, a goal taken takes a larger share of the percentage, resulting in a lower number.

Notably, the Hurricanes had the sixth-best goals against average in the regular season.

Ultimately, at the end of the day, statistics are just numbers, and not performance history. Always write the Future. The playoffs are a completely different beast from the regular season.

For example, in the 2005–06 season, Cam Ward posted the sixth-worst save percentage and third-worst goals-against average in the entire league. However, by the end of the playoffs, the rookie netminder not only had the fourth-best save percentage of the postseason and the second-best goals-against average, but he also won the Conn Smythe Trophy, cementing him as MVP of the 2006 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Versatility is an asset

An often overlooked aspect about the Hurricanes’ tandem is the difference in playing styles between Frederik Andersen and Brandon Bussy.

Anderson’s style is situational, he uses his size to create space for oncoming shooters. He is accurate with the glove and remains composed and composed throughout the game.

Meanwhile, Bussi is adept at the standard butterfly style with a hint of athletic style. Although he is roughly the same size as Anderson, he focuses on speed and instincts rather than technique.

Having a pair of similar goaltenders with disparate styles gives the Hurricanes an advantage when facing teams. If one style does not work against an opponent, there is another style to use.

Carolina has a potential ace in the hole

The Hurricanes may have another option in net — one that uses both comfort and excitement as a weapon.

Carolina’s most dynamic and unpredictable goalkeeper, Pyotr Kochetkov, missed almost the entire season due to injury and subsequent surgery to repair it. However, after a brief conditioning stint with the Chicago Wolves, he was recalled and initially elected to concentrate on the crease in the final game of the season, before a roster issue made it impossible.

Kochetkov also has a distinct style that sets him apart from others – ranging from calm and steady to frantic, acrobatic and even physically being able to flip a switch to stop however possible. He brings an element of controlled (well, mostly controlled) chaos that often catches shooters off guard.

At this time, it is still uncertain whether he will join the postseason, but if he does, the Hurricanes will have three NHL-level goaltenders ready – a rarity on any team, and especially in the playoffs.

While the Hurricanes have often been cited in the past for not having what it takes in net for playoff hockey, their current, unusual setup could challenge that narrative in the upcoming postseason.

Rachel Barkley is a beat writer covering the Carolina Hurricanes for Carolina Hockey Now on SportsNote. Painting Stories…More About Rachel Barclay

The memories of Game 7 won’t fade away soon. Last time the Toronto Blue Jays came inches away from a World Series championship – several times – but fell short.

However, now it’s time to turn the page (and) [Andy] Pages), as he threw the first pitch of the 2026 season in an attempt to defend his American League championship. Are the Jays a better team this season? General manager Ross Atkins thinks they are. But it doesn’t mean much until they get between the white lines and we see how this team comes together.

Bo Bichette and Chris Bassitt have been the most notable absentees this season. Isiah Kiner-Falefa isn’t back either, but Toronto fans will want to forget the last time they saw him in a Jays uniform.

Atkins hopes to replace Bichette’s production with Japanese slugger Kazuma Okamoto. The additions of Dylan Cease and Cody Ponce to the pitching staff have compensated for the loss of Bassitt on the mound (although his clubhouse presence will be missed).

So what questions does this team have in 2026? Well, very much. Let’s take a look at the four biggest ones:

4 questions facing the Blue Jays in 2026

1. Can Okamoto really replace what Bichette provided at the plate?

Okamoto had a .277 average and .882 OPS in his 10 seasons in Japan’s NPB. With an on-base percentage and slugging PCT of .355. Hitting .521, he has shown that he not only has power, but also strong contact skills. He has always maintained a low strikeout rate and ability to draw walks. Most experts believe those skills should transfer well to the major leagues. His .316 average and 1.066 OPS among 23 Grapefruit League at-bats are promising signs.

2. Can Addison Barger take the next step into full-on breakout slugger?

Barger gave Jays fans some tempting appetizers in 2025, including 21 long balls in 502 plate appearances in the regular season and a memorable, historic grand slam in the World Series.

Bournemouth’s Luis Sinisterra is now expected to return to the south coast after fresh reports from Brazilian state Cruzeiro have made a definitive decision not to sign him permanently.

according to RTI gameThe Brazilian club have concluded internally that they will not invoke the buyout clause in Sinisterra’s loan agreement. It is no longer held as a possibility, As we recently covered.

The decision follows an internal assessment of the Bournemouth player’s performance and the contract terms surrounding the permanent transfer.

Bournemouth purchase clause will not be activated

RTI Esporte is one of the more reliable outlets in the state of Minas Gerais, home of Cruzeiro. They report that the game goals required to activate the mandatory purchase clause have not been met.

As a result, Cruzeiro retained the option to terminate the deal at the closing of the loan without additional costs.

The fee agreed for Bournemouth to acquire 100% of the rights to the player is €3.5m (£3m). However, the Brazilian side does not intend to make that investment.

This brings clarity to a situation that earlier revolved around injury struggles and limited starts. Now the focus is financial and strategic.

Details on Internal Assessment

RTI even revealed that Cruzeiro’s executive director, Bruno Spindel, believes the investment does not represent sufficient value at this stage. The club is carefully assessing the cost-benefit and prioritizing signings capable of making an immediate technical impact within their budget limits.

The decision is also part of wider squad adjustments under manager Tite. Cruzeiro is attempting to achieve financial balance while refining the team for the remainder of the season. Therefore, they are already planning to look for alternative attacking options that are better suited to both their strategic model and financial structure.

For Bournemouth, this development makes the picture clearer ahead of the summer. Sinisterra remains under contract with the Premier League team. With Cruzeiro opting out of a €3.5m (£3m) deal, Bournemouth are now set to re-evaluate his situation after the loan expires.

In the end it is no longer about waiting to see whether goals are achieved or not. A decision has been made and the winger’s return to England is just a matter of time.