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Some news from last night: Manchester City have announced a new two-year deal with Pep Guardiola. Here’s what he had to say:
I want to be honest, I thought this [season] should be the last one. But the problems we had in the last month, I felt now was not the right time to leave.
I didn’t want to let the club down. I felt I could not leave now, simple as that. Don’t ask me the reason why. Maybe the four defeats was the reason why I felt I cannot leave.
Arne Slot has been offering some injury updates ahead of Liverpool’s meet with Southampton.
Virgil [van Dijk] is all good, he’s training with us today. Trent [Alexander-Arnold] isn’t training with us yet but he’s getting there so we expect him to be back with us soon. Harvey [Elliott] is training with us again so that’s the positive thing. He’s been out for many weeks but he’s on a training ground again with the team so that’s a positive thing for him.
[Diogo] Jota is still apart from the group, same as Federico [Chiesa] who’s coming back into the session, maybe in one exercise today, so they’re all expected to be back within now and a few weeks. The last part of recovery is always the most difficult one so let’s wait and see. But Virgil is completely OK.
Alisson is back in training but won’t feature on Sunday, Slot added.
Here’s the full story from Paul MacInnes on the Premier League APT vote:
And on to the actual football … here’s what to look out for this weekend:
On a more serious note, the vote stands as a blow to Manchester City. Here’s Paul MacInnes' reporting from Thursday:
City have declared their opposition to the rule changes – having previously taken the league to arbitration over its APT rules. They have lobbied clubs strongly for support, including two league-wide letters from their chief legal officer, Simon Cliff, which challenged the validity of the plans. The league has spent weeks negotiating with clubs over their concerns, citing independent legal analysis from the KC Daniel Jowell to support its case.
Premier League clubs vote through APT amendments
And we have the result of the vote … clubs have approved changes to the APT rules. In a statement the Premier League said:
“At a Premier League Shareholders’ meeting today, clubs approved changes to the League’s Associated Party Transaction (APT) rules. The Premier League has conducted a detailed consultation with clubs - informed by multiple opinions from expert, independent Leading Counsel - to draft rule changes that address amendments required to the system.
“This relates to integrating the assessment of Shareholder loans, the removal of some of the amendments made to APT rules earlier this year and changes to the process by which relevant information from the League’s ‘databank’ is shared with a club’s advisors.”
What does this all mean?
Preamble
Hello, hello, hello and welcome to my attempts at hyping up the weekend: after some international interruption, the Premier League is back! And it’s live! And there’s some key admin stuff to sort out!
Yes, there’s been a league vote today on some associated party transaction stuff – I can sense your excitement. For Manchester United fans there’s a chance to hear from their new messiah, Ruben Amorim, ahead of his first game in charge.
Let’s get into it. Share your thoughts, queries, weekend plans, whatever you fancy.
