Women’s Super League Q&A
The WSL season kicks-off tonight and the Guardian’s women’s football writer Suzanne Wrack is answering your questions at 1pm BST/8am ET. Ask her anything: from her career as a sports reporter to her hopes for the new season and the future of the women’s game:
Key events
The vibesman cometh…
Former Wolves captain Conor Coady is part of a refreshed support team for England Under-21 boss Lee Carsley.
Coady has not officially retired after he leaving Wrexham earlier this month, but is still without a club. He will join Carsley’s coaching set-up for the European Championship qualifiers with Kazakhstan, Slovakia and the Republic of Ireland over the next month.
Paul Williams will also be part of the England Under-21 backroom staff after holding a number of roles within the FA. The duo will help fill the void of Ashley Cole, who left Carsley’s team earlier in 2026 after a successful five-year spell.
It’s been a tough week for Folarin Balogun.
Someow a solid but not exceptional striker has become a main character in 2026. The USA striker has been left out of Monaco’s squad for the Conference League amid uncertainty over his future after the collapse of his proposed transfer to Everton this week.
Balogun will also miss Monaco’s match at Paris Saint-Germain in the French league on Friday after being omitted from the group traveling to the capital. Monaco say Balogun is back in group training. He hasn’t featured in any of the team’s four games so far this season. The American striker was close to joining Everton on Tuesday but opted to pull out of a deal because he felt uncomfortable that the English club raised doubts about his health in a medical examination, according to Monaco’s sporting director. Additional reporting courtesy of the Associated Press.
Keith Hackett: ‘Mike Dean in fantasy land over Vardy podcast claims’
Mike Dean’s former boss insists the referee would not have been able to play the “games” he claims to have done while officiating.
Dean, who refereed in the Premier League until 2022, generated controversy after claiming on the ‘Jamie Vardy’s Having a Party’ podcast he would “joke about” during matches, seeing how long he could go without blowing his whistle or leaving the centre circle.
Keith Hackett, Dean’s former boss at Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) between 2004 and 2010, insisted he could not have got away with doing so.
Hackett wrote on X: “Mike Dean is in fantasy land!! The examination of performances assessors is forensic. When I was boss referee’s performances were forensically examined.
“Dean on my watch could not have done what he said with the monitoring systems in operation.”
Hackett added he was “satisfied [Dean] is talking nonsense” and said: “He clearly has damaged his reputation. The fallout does not help current refs.”
Dean has been approached for comment.
It is understood Dean’s claims have been met with bemusement by those with current involvement in officiating, with some noting a lack of factual detail in his stories.
Refereeing is currently overseen by Pro Ref – the new name for PGMOL – which has been approached for comment.
Another former referee, Graham Scott, wrote in The Athletic: “I am supremely confident that neither story is true, and that he has embellished both out of all recognition.”
Dean told the Vardy podcast: “There used to be games that we used to have, as a laugh, we used to say, something like ‘we’ll kick off now, right? See how long we can go without blowing the whistle’.
“Done that a few times in the Premier League, before VAR obviously. Went 20 to 25 minutes without blowing a whistle a few times. Let it go, let it go, let it go.
“I used to do another thing in the Premier League. I used to stand in the centre circle and see how long I could stay in the centre circle before I had to leave. That was just me joking about. But the lads used to be on the line saying ‘you can’t’. I said ‘I’ll try it’.
“I just used to kind of run around, kind of go, but don’t go out of it. Got (to) about 15 minutes once in one game, without leaving the centre circle.” Press Association
Manchester City failed to land Spain pair in scramble for Miedema cover
Tom Garry
Atlético Madrid rejected a bid of more than £500,000 from Manchester City for the Spain midfielder Fiamma Benítez on the Women’s Super League’s transfer deadline day, the Guardian can reveal.
The WSL champions are understood to have tried hard to add attacking-midfielder reinforcements before the English summer window closed on Thursday at 11pm BST, largely in light of news that their No 10 Vivianne Miedema could be out for at least the rest of 2026 with a knee injury.
City then made an even later move for Everton’s Spain international Ornella Vignola, who can play in midfield or on the wing. A bid of about £400,000 is understood to have been turned down by Everton, largely because they felt they would not have time to source a suitable replacement but also because of Vignola’s importance to Scott Phelan’s side.
Full story:
Hull boss Sergej Jakirovic is mindful that Aston Villa are something of an unknown quantity after a summer of change.
The Tigers host Villa on Saturday, Unai Emery’s side having brought in a raft of new faces. Former Chelsea forwards Nicolas Jackson and Alejandro Garnacho, Swiss World Cup star Johan Manzambi, new goalkeeper Zion Suzuki and former Manchester United full-back Aaron Wan-Bissaka could all feature.
Here’s what Jakirovic had to say:
It’s a difficult game for us, Aston Villa might not have had a great start because there’s been a lot of change and they’ve lost several excellent players. Maybe they need more time but we have our own goals and we will do everything we can to take something from the match.
This is a very demanding league, so no matter if they have zero points or six points, they will be a difficult opponent.
I’m aware that they will need time because they have signed 10 new players and they lost seven players that to me were excellent players.
They need time but they are still dangerous, especially with players like (John) McGinn, who has very high levels of individual qualities. Our performance must be excellent.
The first of the day’s Premier League press conferences are wrapping up…
Matt Hughes
Broadcasters and governing bodies make tax plea for TV coverage of women’s sport
The chief executives of the Football Association, Rugby Football Union and England and Wales Cricket Board have joined forces with leading broadcasters and YouTube in writing to the chancellor requesting tax credits for production companies to help deliver more television coverage of women’s sport.
In a letter signed by 25 representatives of the country’s biggest sports and broadcasters, including Sky Sports and ITV, the government is urged to extend to women’s sport production the audio-visual expenditure credit scheme that provides tax relief to independent films and children’s television.
The joint letter, was sent to John Healey on Friday to coincide with this weekend’s return of the Women’s Super League, whose chief executive, Nikki Doucet, is among the signatories, along with the bosses of British Cycling, golf and Formula One.
The WSL is the second-richest league in women’s sport after National Women’s Soccer League in the US, but faces challenges attracting broadcasters in a congested market.
Full story:
Richarlison omitted from Tottenham’s Premier League squad
Richarlison may have played his last match for Tottenham after he was left out of the club’s 25-man Premier League squad list on Thursday.
Spurs manager Roberto De Zerbi, speaking following a 2-0 home defeat by Newcastle on Saturday, insisted Richarlison had “said too many times he wants to leave” and could bid farewell to the London club before the summer transfer window closed.
The Brazil forward released an incendiary social media post on Monday where he claimed “never again will anyone decide my future for me”.
Talks over a potential return to Premier League rivals Everton, where he played from 2018 to 2022, stalled before Tuesday’s deadline in England. Other transfer windows around the world remain open, however, and Trabzonspor have been linked with Richarlison ahead of today’s deadline in Turkey.
Richarlison, who currently remains a Spurs player, made his feelings clear on Monday, with a remarkable outburst on Instagram.
The 29-year-old has struggled to make an impact at Tottenham since his move to north London four years ago.
Richarlison, who has been candid in the past about his mental health struggles, scored 12 goals during the 2025/26 campaign as Tottenham narrowly avoided relegation from the Premier League.
Spurs, despite spending more than £350m in the summer transfer window, are bottom of the Premier League table after two games having been beaten 3-0 by Brentford in their season opener and then 2-0 at home to Newcastle. Agence France-Presse
West Ham are the subjects of the final WSL preview ahead of the new season, that’s out now:
Women’s Super League Q&A
The WSL season kicks-off tonight and the Guardian’s women’s football writer Suzanne Wrack is answering your questions at 1pm BST/8am ET. Ask her anything: from her career as a sports reporter to her hopes for the new season and the future of the women’s game:
Tom Garry
On the eve of the new WSL season, London City Lionesses have done their biggest deal to date…
The Women’s Super League club London City Lionesses’ new front-of-shirt sponsorship deal with Nike is the largest in the women’s game, according to their American owner, Michele Kang.
It has been reported that the largest current front-of-shirt sponsorship deal for a women’s football team is an approximately $4m per year agreement reached by the new NWSL franchise in Atlanta – who will begin competing in 2028, but Kang told BBC Sport: “I can absolutely confirm that this is the largest women-only front-of-shirt deal. It is higher than the Atlanta number.
“I can absolutely also share that it is higher than some of the men’s Premier League front-of-shirt deals. It’s huge. That’s why it is landmark. There are so many other people who believe in the future of women’s football. They [Nike] didn’t make this decision lightly. They did not write a charity cheque. They believe in the future and they believe together we will invest and build this future together.”
More details:
Liverpool sign young St Etienne winger N’Guessan
Andy Hunter
Liverpool have signed St Etienne winger Djylian N’Guessan as part of their drive to add highly-rated young talent to their ranks.
The 18-year-old, who made his senior St Etienne debut at 16, has signed a pre-contract agreement that will see him officially become a Liverpool player in January. He has cost €5m and St Etienne secured a sell-on clause. N’Guessan will now spend the first half of the season on loan at Brest before Liverpool review his next step in January. N’Guessan’s signature follows the £30m deal for goalkeeper Lucca Brughmans to arrive from Genk next summer and other signings identified by Liverpool’s global talent team in the last 12 months – Armin Pecsi, Mor Talla Ndiaye, Ifeanyi Ndukwe and Samuel Martinez.
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That’s the nonsense out of the way, here’s a transfer…
Barry Glendenning
More on Dean’s loose lips from Barry Glendenning in yesterday’s Football Daily:
Dean appears to blow the whistle on himself over in-match game claims
While Football Daily likes to think we have our finger on the cultural pulse, before this week we were oblivious to the fact that Jamie Vardy has his own podcast. Called Jamie Vardy’s Having a Party, it is a far more sedate affair than the name suggests, given the only episode we have seen features our t1tular hero and his sidekick the comedian Josh James listening to Mike Dean reminisce about his time as a referee. While Football Daily can’t think of any social gathering that wouldn’t be enhanced by the presence of a 61-year-old former match official from the Wirral on its guest list, this isn’t so much a party as an occasionally awkward conversation. Its claim to be “a hilarious look back at Mike’s career at the heart of English football” is as bold as it is false, but what the episode lacks in laughs it has more than made up for in controversy.
During the course of the chat, Dean revealed to his hosts that in the pre-VAR era he and his assistants used to keep themselves amused by playing little games within games of top-flight football. “We used to say: ‘Right, we’ll kick off now, right? See how long we can go without blowing a whistle’. Done that a few times in the Premier, before VAR obviously. Went 20-25 minutes without blowing a whistle a few times. Let it go, let it go, let it go.” Dean went on to tell his inquisitors that he also used to see how long he could go without leaving the centre-circle while games were being played around him, claiming that he once set up camp in one for almost 15 minutes. “That was just me joking about,” he honked, promptly eliciting not entirely convincing laughs from a clearly surprised Josh and Jamie.
Read the Football Daily in full:
I thought nonsense and transfers were over for a while, alas.
Dean claims he played secret games for a laugh while refereeing matches
The former Premier League referee Mike Dean claims he used to take part in secret challenges while officiating, including trying to stay in the centre circle for as long as possible, as he confessed to “just joking about” during matches. The remarks, made by one of the most well-known officials in the English game, have been met with bemusement by refereeing officials who say there is no evidence of any such behaviour having ever taken place.
Dean was a member of the select group of referees for more than two decades before he retired in 2022 and a brief spell as a video assistant referee followed. In an interview on Jamie Vardy’s podcast this week, Dean shared anecdotes from his time as a top-flight official in the pre-VAR era. “We used to say, ‘We’ll kick off now. Right, see how long we can go without blowing a whistle,’” he said. “I’ve done that a few times in the Premier League, before VAR obviously – [I] went 20, 25 minutes without blowing a whistle.
“I used to do another thing. I used to stand in the centre circle – see how long I could stay in the centre circle before I had to leave. That was just me joking about. I got about 15 minutes once.”
Officials within the refereeing organisation, Pro Ref, are understood to be puzzled by the claims, with the suggestion that a referee could stay in the centre circle for 15 minutes without someone noticing, for example, seen as highly improbable.
Full story here:
Preamble
Can we focus on the football now? That’d be nice, wouldn’t it? A full Premier League programme of fixtures, including five (yes, five!) in the Saturday 3pm slot. The Women’s Super League is back and next week we start talking about how much we hate the (not) new format of the Champions League. No more transfers for a few months, Enzo Fernández has a new club, time to focus on what matters, the game itself… wait! Mike Dean said what? Oh Jesus wept.
More on ‘Mike’ in a minute, plus all the latest from the Premier League press conferences and other news throughout the day.