The 2021 NFL season saw the advent of the 17-game schedule. Some players would like to see the number of off weeks increase as well.

Speaking on comedian Kevin Hart's Cold as Balls programme, San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle said he would be very much in favour of a second bye week added to the schedule.

"There's a huge physical toll," Kittle said about the season's current structure. "Seventeen games is a lot. It's a lot of games with one bye, whether it's Week 4 or the bye is Week 11.

"I'm advocating for two byes. If you can get that to happen, that would be cool."

Kittle, a three-time Pro Bowl selection who earned first-team All-Pro honours in 2019, has missed at least two games in each of the last three seasons due to injuries, including a broken bone in his foot that limited him to eight games in 2020.

The NFL did add a second bye week during the 1993 season but scrapped the idea after just one year.

Kittle's wish is not likely to be granted, at least any time soon. The NFL's current Collective Bargaining Agreement, which expanded the regular season and increased the playoff field from 12 to 14 teams, runs through the 2029 season.

The NFL Players Association reportedly pushed for a second bye week during negotiations for the present CBA that took place in 2020, but the league wound up getting its request to have an 18th week added to the schedule for the purpose of playing another game.

La Liga have filed complaints to UEFA regarding Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain for "continuously breaching" financial fair play regulations.

The Spanish division made an initial complaint in April regarding Premier League champions City and has followed it up with another complaint about French giants PSG.

La Liga also cited conflict of interests regarding PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi, due to his role as European Club Association chairman and his role as the organisation's delegate to UEFA's executive committee. 

In a statement, La Liga said their complaint was due to the fact that the clubs are "continuously breaching" FFP regulations and believe that "these practices alter the ecosystem and the sustainability of football" and "only serve to artificially inflate the market with money not generated in football itself."

The confirmation of the complaints falls after a big month for both clubs, with PSG confirming a new contract for star striker Kylian Mbappe prior to Real Madrid's Champions League success and City landing Erling Haaland from Borussia Dortmund – with both players previously heavily touted for a move to Spain.

Both City and PSG have previously been investigated for allegedly breaching FFP regulations, with both clubs fined in 2014 and having transfer spending limited – but a ruling to ban City from European competitions due to "serious breaches" was overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport after appeals from the English side.

PSG boast the two most expensive transfers of all-time with their captures of Mbappe from Monaco and Neymar from Barcelona in 2017, with the deal to sign the Brazilian costing €222 million.

Last year, City made Jack Grealish the most expensive Premier League transfer in history with a £100m transfer from Aston Villa.

Despite La Liga's complaints about the spending of the two clubs, Spanish sides dominate the list of the most expensive signings in football history with five of the top ten all seeing a Spanish side complete the signing.

Jose Mourinho will return to Camp Nou in August to face Barcelona with his Roma side in the Joan Gamper Trophy.

The Gamper acts as the curtain-raiser for Barcelona's season, with the Blaugrana taking on Juventus in last year's edition, which was the first to involve both the men's and women's teams.

Barcelona announced on Wednesday that Roma are the chosen opposition for this year's version, with the games set to take place on August 6.

Mourinho will head back to the Camp Nou, where he was Louis van Gaal's assistant for three seasons until 2000, on the back of lifting the Europa Conference League with Roma.

The Portuguese coach is a largely unpopular figure among Blaugrana supporters after managing fierce rivals Real Madrid.

Mourinho guided Madrid to a LaLiga title, Copa del Rey crown and the Supercopa de Espana in his three seasons with Los Blancos.

It will not be the first appearance for Roma in the Gamper either, after the Serie A side were beaten 3-0 by Barcelona in the 2015 edition.

Raheem Sterling insisted "there is no panic" as he called on England players to respond after a humiliating defeat to Hungary, while he backed Gareth Southgate.

England are in serious danger of relegation from the Nations League top tier after going winless in June's internationals, losing twice to Hungary either side of draws with Germany and Italy.

The Three Lions have scored just once, through a Harry Kane penalty in Germany, but the most recent 4-0 thrashing at home to Hungary caused the greatest concern.

Hungary became the first team to score four goals in an away match against England since the Hungarians themselves won 6-3 at Wembley in November 1953.

It was also the first time England have lost a home match by four or more goals since March 1928, when they lost 5-1 to Scotland.

That led to questions over Southgate, with boos audibly ringing around Molineux on Tuesday, but Sterling placed his backing in the England manager.

When suggested Southgate has been a good manager for England after leading them to the World Cup semi-finals and Euro 2020 final, Sterling added to BBC Radio 5 Live: "And the country.

"I keep saying after these last couple of games - you can't be judged on that. If you look at the steps that he's made over the last couple of tournaments, semi-final and a final, I think a Nations League couple of bad results is not something that we can judge him on.

"He's led us incredibly well. And he's showed us the way, he's helped us mature from young men to senior pros, a lot of us in the dressing room.

"He's doing that now with a lot of the young lads and he's trying to make sure that everyone's got enough experience for when we do hit the big time that we're all ready."

The Manchester City star was sent on at half-time with England 1-0 down, before three further Hungary goals followed in the second half.

Sterling believes there is no reason to be concerned as England look to bounce back in September, before heading to the World Cup in Qatar two months later.

"I think it's one that there is no panic for me," he added. "Of course, yes, it's really difficult to take that result.

"It's a game that we should win, but it's been a long old season and, again, we'll go away, readjust ourselves and come back even better.

"No one was expecting it. I think it's been a disappointing camp overall in the sense that there have been games that we should have won.

"Of course it's disappointing, there's going to be question marks, there's going to be doubts. But I'm more than confident in the group that we have. It's solely down to us as players.

"We put good enough sides on for each and every match that we've played and we just haven't got the results.

"We haven't been competitive enough, we haven't been ruthless enough – myself also.

"So, it's one that we just look at ourselves as a collective and I know once we have that well-deserved break that we need and we come back, we'll be ready again."

Inter vice president Javier Zanetti expressed his admiration for Paulo Dybala as he confirmed the Nerazzurri are in continued talks with the striker.

Dybala will depart Juventus when his contract expires at the end of June, ending a seven-season stay with the Bianconeri, and Inter are among the frontrunners for the forward.

A host of Premier League clubs, including Manchester United and Tottenham, are also said to be interested in the Argentina international.

Reports in Italy suggest Dybala has already agreed terms with Simone Inzaghi's side, with the Juve star trading Turin for rivals Inter, who narrowly missed out on Scudetto success to neighbours Milan.

The 28-year-old would join – or replace – Argentina team-mate Lautaro Martinez, with Chelsea reportedly interested in signing the Inter striker.

While Nerazzurri great Zanetti would not confirm whether an agreement was already in place, he suggested talks are ongoing as he hailed Dybala.

"We are in talks," he told D-Sports Radio, as quoted by La Gazzetta dello Sport.

"I admire Paulo and I wish him the best for his career.

"Dybala is a great player and will surely represent us [Argentina] at the World Cup.

"Inter have always had a lot of South Americans in their team, especially Argentineans. Now we have Lautaro Martinez and Joaquin Correa. The club have faith in the Argentineans."

Former Australia goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer has backed Germany to win the World Cup in Qatar later this year due to Hansi Flick's swift impression at the helm.

The 2014 winners became the third defending champion in a row to be eliminated at the group stages in the 2018 World Cup in Russia, following on from the previous early exits of Spain in 2014 and Italy in 2010.

Joachim Löw retained his managerial position, with his contract due to last until after the Qatar World Cup, but requested an early end to his spell last year and departed his position following the European Championships.

While Low's 15-year stint in charge heralded success, a poor final year saw Germany smashed 6-0 by Spain in the Nations League before exiting Euro 2020 at the hands of England after a 2-0 defeat in the last 16 of the competition.

Flick took charge in September last year and led to an immediate improvement, becoming the first Germany boss in history to win their first six matches and comfortably securing qualification for this year's World Cup.

A drubbing of Italy in the Nations League on Tuesday once again displayed Germany's credentials and Schwarzer believes they're the team to beat in November when the World Cup begins.

"I think this World Cup, Germany with Hansi Flick at the helm, are genuine favourites and I say that Germany is generally always regarded as one of the teams that could go and do something," he told Stats Perform.

"But they're, for me, stood right up there with being a genuine favourite of winning this World Cup because they've got an amazing manager.

"Someone that's got the belief and support of all the players and has changed the German national team literally overnight exactly like he did with Bayern Munich when he took over after Nico Kovac had a disastrous period at Bayern the season, and then go on to win everything that's possibly there to win. 

"I've got a feeling he's able to do the same thing with Germany right now."

Napoli star Victor Osimhen has left the door open for a move to Arsenal after declaring "anything can happen" amid continued transfer speculation.

Arsenal have reportedly had advances turned down for Manchester City striker Gabriel Jesus as Mikel Arteta looks to add firepower to his attack.

A talisman appears the main priority in the transfer window for Arsenal, with Alexandre Lacazette moving to Lyon and Eddie Nketiah yet to sign a new contract after Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang previously joined Barcelona.

Osimhen has emerged as a target for the Premier League side, who have reportedly already had a sizeable bid turned down for the Nigeria international.

The Napoli striker would add a much-needed reference point for Arteta's side up top, with Osimhen scoring 14 times in 27 Serie A appearances for Luciano Spalletti's side last season.

His 14-goal tally was the 23-year-old's best in a single season in Europe's top-five leagues, surpassing the 13 Ligue 1 strikes he recorded in 2019-20 for Lille.

That also made Osimhen the first Nigerian to achieve double figures in two straight Serie A terms, while he became just the fourth African player to achieve the feat in the Italian top flight, after George Weah for Milan, Samuel Eto'o for Inter and Mohamed Salah for Roma.

Osimhen, speaking while away on international duty with the Super Eagles, is aware of the transfer reports and admitted he does not know where his future lies.

"I don't know my future, I know anything can happen, but now I just want to go on vacation with my family, clear my head and recharge my batteries. Then we'll take care of the rest," he told reporters.

"I know there are many rumours that they would like me in Spain or in England, but I don't think it's the right time to talk about it now that I'm with the national team."

Arsenal finished fifth in the Premier League behind fierce rivals Tottenham, leaving Arteta's team playing Europa League football next season.

Arizona Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury says he is "praying" quarterback Kyler Murray will have signed his new contract before training camp begins next month.

Earlier in the offseason, Murray removed references to the Cardinals on his Instagram account before his agent Erik Burkhardt issued a statement calling for the QB, who is entering his fourth NFL campaign, to be shown "a real commitment" by the franchise.

There have been reports suggesting Murray will not attend training camp under his current deal, which runs through the 2023 season, as he seeks a lucrative extension.

Kingsbury was asked about his QB's contract status when he faced reporters after the first day of Arizona's minicamp, which Murray has reported for.

"I'm praying before training camp," Kingsbury said about when the contract could be resolved.

"I just want him there day one of training camp. Personally - I'm being selfish here – I would love for him to be there the first day.

"I'm not sure [if he will report to training camp without a new deal] - that would be a Kyler question."

"We're about to make him, I'm sure, the highest-paid player in this franchise's history and so he understands what comes with that," added Kingsbury, per ESPN.

"The guys know what he can be at his best, and anytime we can get the whole band out there, things pick up.

"He is the leader of this franchise. [General Manager] Steve [Keim], Michael [Bidwill], myself, we understand what he can be and where we want to take this thing with him as our leader. 

"It will be great for this organisation when this is wrapped up."

In the 2021 season, Murray threw for 3,787 yards with 24 touchdown passes and added five rushing TDs, while he had the second-highest pass completion rate in the NFL of 69.2 per cent.

Murray was the first overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft and an 11-6 record last season was the Cardinals' best for six years.

They lost to divisional rivals the Los Angeles Rams, who went on to win the Super Bowl, in the Wild Card round of the playoffs.

Rory McIlroy has always seemed to possess an older head on young shoulders.

Indeed, when the Northern Irishman burst onto the scene in 2009, his success belied his inexperience.

His first major title came at the 2011 U.S. Open, as he finished eight strokes clear of Jason Day at Congressional Country Club in Maryland. Three more followed in the space of three years; two at the US PGA Championship and one at The Open.

It has been eight years since McIlroy claimed a major honour, but heading to The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts, the 33-year-old's form is as strong as it has been since he lifted his second US PGA title in 2014.

And in recent months, McIlroy has been seen as one of the voices of reason amid the emergence of the LIV Golf Invitational, which started in London last week.

Charl Schwartzel won the inaugural event of the Saudi Arabia-backed breakaway competition, which has drawn the likes of Phil Mickelson, Sergio Garcia, Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau.

"If it keeps going the way it's going, it's going to fracture the game – sorry, it's going to fracture the game more than it already is," McIlroy, desperate to focus on his own game this week, told Sky Sports on Tuesday.

"The professional world in golf has already been fractured, there's so many different tours, so many different things to follow, and I've always been an advocate of trying to make it more cohesive and try to get people to work together more. This is ripping that apart.

"It's certainly a burden I don't need. But I have pretty strong views on the subject and I don't think it would be right for me to have these strong opinions and not share them."

Perhaps what golf needs more than ever right now is a unifying force that both players and fans can get behind. McIlroy might present just that.

Rory reinvigorated

It has been a brilliant year so far for McIlroy. According to official PGA Tour statistics, he ranks first for scoring average (68.842), top for strokes gained: tee-to-green (1.888) and strokes gained total (2.282), while he also comes in third for driving distance (319.1 metres) and strokes gained off-the-tee (.913) so far this season.

That form has resulted in six top-10 finishes, including his second place at the Masters in April, which came courtesy of a bogey free 64 in the final round, and his victory at the Canadian Open last week.

Defending his Canadian Open crown will have given McIlroy a timely boost heading to Massachusetts, following on from his eighth place at the US PGA Championship last month. He is in fine fettle, but needs to overcome his major hoodoo...

Getting over the line

Four major titles in the space of four years seemed to have paved the way for McIlroy to go on and join the true greats of golf, but it has not quite been that way.

Since winning the U.S. Open in 2011, McIlroy has failed to make the cut on four occasions at this major, though has recorded top-10 finishes in each of the last three editions of the tournament.

His best result at any of the majors since 2014 came at Augusta earlier this year, but as we have seen in other tournaments on the circuit, McIlroy has been known to squander strong positions, and he might even prefer to be in the chasing pack come Sunday.

In January 2021, McIlroy held the 54-hole lead at the Abu Dhabi Championship, but a final-round 72 saw him finish third. He finished five shots back from the winner and it was a similar story at the DP World Tour Championship in December, when he missed the chance to become the first player to win the event for a third time, giving up a last-day lead to finish five behind Collin Morikawa. 

Composure will be key for McIlroy this time around, should he be in contention.

A date with fate?

It might just be a coincidence, but fate is a funny old thing, and Sunday will mark 11 years to the day since McIlroy won his first major, when he claimed the U.S. Open so convincingly.

Another iron in McIlroy's fire could be that his win at the Canadian Open moved him onto 21 PGA Tour titles, edging him ahead of LIV Golf chief executive Greg Norman. Going on to seal his second U.S. Open triumph, 11 years since he claimed his first, would be a fitting way for McIlroy to prove he is on the right side of this particular divide.

Now, he just has to go out and perform.

Frenkie de Jong is "flattered" by Manchester United's reported interest in his services but has poured cold water on suggestions he will leave Barcelona.

The Catalan side's financial situation has led to vast speculation regarding player sales, with the club facing difficulties in registering new signings, and United are keen on landing Netherlands midfielder De Jong.

De Jong was part of the Ajax side that stormed to the Champions League semi-finals in 2018-19 under the guidance of Erik ten Hag and his contributions earned him a move to Barca at the end of that campaign.

Three years later, the 25-year-old is reportedly being eyed by Ten Hag following his appointment at Old Trafford but, despite conceding he was "flattered" by the English club's interest, has no desire to leave Barca.

"You are always flattered when teams show interest in you as a player," he told a news conference following the Netherlands' last-gasp 3-2 Nations League victory against Wales.

"But I think I am at the biggest club in the world at the moment, I feel fine there, so no news."

De Jong's display for his nation caught the eye of Wales boss Rob Page, who dubbed his performance as "phenomenal".

He attempted a game-high 47 passes in the opposition half and completed 62 of his 67 passes overall, creating two chances.

"On the ball he was phenomenal - we had to take care of him first and foremost and then worry about everything else behind him," Page said.

Hungary boss Marco Rossi has leapt to the defence of England counterpart Gareth Southgate after a 4-0 drubbing at Molineux left the Three Lions at risk of relegation in the Nations League.

A woeful international break has seen England fail to win any of their four matches, with two defeats to Hungary either side of draws against Germany and Italy – with only a single goal to show from it, coming via a Harry Kane penalty.

That has seen pressure mount upon Southgate with the World Cup lying in wait later this year, with England having just two more Nations League fixtures in September before the squad gathers for the trip to Qatar.

Southgate was booed by the home fans following the latest defeat, with many calling for a change to be made, but Rossi insists that he is still the right man to lead England into the World Cup.

"I know that losing 4-0 at home to Hungary [is hard to take] not against Brazil or Argentina," he told a news conference.

"Even in that case, it would be for the English people it would be the same because losing at home 4-0 is difficult to be accepted by the crowd, by the press, by everybody.

"But I think that Southgate already proved to be a quite good coach. He put together quite a strong team.

"Tonight everything went in the wrong way for them but, still, they are absolutely on the top level.

"They must only follow the track that they were doing until now, were following until now, because I'm convinced they will give to you a lot of joy in the next world championship. I am sure about that."

England sit bottom of group A3 and defeat to Italy in September would confirm relegation as they sit three points adrift of the European champions and four behind Germany, who they also face later this year.

Ferrari's recent issues with reliability have put a major dent in their driver's and constructor's title hopes, but they will need to quickly bounce back at this weekend's Canadian Grand Prix.

It was a painful day for the Scuderia at the Azerbaijan GP on Sunday, with both cars retiring due to technical issues.

For Charles Leclerc, it was the second time in three races he was forced out because of a power unit problem while leading, and the fourth consecutive race where he failed to convert pole position into a race win.

Sergio Perez took full advantage in Baku, moving ahead of Leclerc in the driver's standings with his win, with Max Verstappen opening up a 34-point gap to the Ferrari driver.

With two retirements sandwiching Ferrari's strategic blunder at his home race in Monaco, the Monegasque moves to four wins from 15 pole positions, with only Jarno Trulli holding a lower conversion rate (25 per cent) among winning drivers in the history F1.

Meanwhile, only Michael Schumacher (+23) and Alain Prost (+18) have a higher differential between race wins and pole positions than Max Verstappen, who has claimed 25 and 14 respectively.

Verstappen will already be making his 150th GP appearance at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, looking for his sixth win of the season out of nine starts.

It would provide little solace to the 24-year-old but he has been in supreme form on the Saturday, claiming six poles out of eight this season, and could match his highest tally in a single season from 2019.

Pole position is not essential but it has proved to be convenient in recent years, with each of the past five winners in Montreal coming from the front of grid on the Saturday, the longest such streak in F1.

Since the opening race of the season in Bahrain, Ferrari remain one more one-two finish away from surpassing Mercedes for the most all-time in F1, with both on 82.

Ferrari customers facing similar strife

Problems have persisted for the factory team and Ferrari power unit customers since the first upgrade at the Miami Grand Prix, where Zhou Guanyu retired.

Both he and Leclerc then retired from the Spanish GP, after Valtteri Bottas was forced out of FP2 in the other Alfa Romeo due to an engine failure.

Both Mick Schumacher and Kevin Magnussen experienced MGU-K failures in Monaco, before Leclerc, Magnussen and Zhou had power unit-related DNFs in Baku.

Red Bull in control

After rectifying their own reliability issues at the start of the season, Red Bull have picked up the pieces and are now in control of both championships.

Red Bull drivers have finished on the podium in 11 of their 13 finished races, securing the one-two in three of the last five Grands Prix and are one more from securing the highest tally in a single season.

The last time the team had six wins in the opening eight races of the season was when Sebastian Vettel coasted his way to the driver's title in 2011.

CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS

Drivers

1. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 150
2. Sergio Perez (Red Bull) 129
3. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) 116
4. George Russell (Mercedes) 99
5. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) 83

Constructors

1. Red Bull 279
2. Ferrari 199
3. Mercedes 161
4. McLaren 65
5. Alpine 47

Tyson Fury has said he will "100 per cent" return to the boxing ring and hinted he could face the winner of Oleksandr Usyk's rematch with Anthony Joshua in a unification bout.

The 33-year-old stated he would retire following his knockout of Dillian Whyte at Wembley in April, retaining his WBC heavyweight title, but has now seemingly backtracked by revealing he was planning for "something big" to happen.

However, those immediate plans do not involve either Usyk or Joshua, who clash once again in Saudi Arabia later this year, but he will be back in the ring towards the backend of 2022.

Asked by Queensbury Promotions whether he'd return to the ring, he said: "100 per cent. Just like in the movie when Jerry Maguire shouted 'Show Me The Money!'

"Me and Frank have something spectacular coming but it does not involve Usyk or Joshua, at this moment.

"I will make a decision on all this but I have only just fought three months ago. I would not be expected to fight until October, November, December anyway.

"But because I have said I am retiring everyone is on me. 'Are you really retired? Have a couple more fights' - every single day."

While Usyk and Joshua are not immediately on the horizon, Fury made it clear he would consider the bout but warned his participation would come at a heavy cost.

"What I would say to the people who want this fight to happen is: you better have a big cheque book," he added.

"Because to bring the big GK out of retirement to redeem this country - yet again - it's going to cost.

"I am a prize fighter and I do fight for prizes, but it is going to cost if you want me to do a mission on this middleweight and show what a real heavyweight does to them.

"And that will be expensive, they will need deep pockets and then we can talk."