Chelsea owner Todd Boehly hopes English football can learn from the model of American sports, suggesting a relegation tournament and an all-star game.

Since taking charge of the Blues after completing a takeover in May, ending Roman Abramovich's long association with the club, Boehly has not shied away from making a quick impact.

A significant spending spree was financed in the transfer window, with big-name additions as well as recruits for the future, while manager Thomas Tuchel was swiftly axed following a disappointing start to the season.

Boehly's long-term vision is not just limited to Chelsea, however, as he hopes that English football as a whole can grow, learning from the American sports model.

Unlike the NBA, MLB and NFL, relegation is a huge part of football and, while Boehly is supportive, he believes the Premier League is missing a trick by not having a play-off tournament at the end of the season.

"It obviously prohibits tanking because, of course, the economics of going into the first league is materially different," he told the SALT Conference when asked about relegation.

"I think the Premier League distributes its media money, and every club gets north of £200m or so from the media contract.

"When you go into the next league down in the Championship, those numbers fall off a cliff, right?

"So, there's no one who's thinking about tanking and those relegation games are some of the highest broadcast games.

"Ultimately, I hope that the Premier League takes a little bit of a lesson from American sports and really starts to figure out why wouldn't we do a tournament with the bottom four teams?

"Why isn't there an all-star game? The MLB did their all-star game in LA this year, we made 200 million dollars from Monday and Tuesday.

"You could do a North versus South, all-star game for Premier League and fund whatever the pyramid needed very easily."

Football infamously looked to take a leaf from the American model with the push for a European Super League, which included Chelsea as a founder club, before a fan backlash led to the concept being scrapped.

Boehly did not completely rule out the prospect of a similar idea in the future, though he remains committed to the Champions League structure.

"I think the Champions League has a big component of that [a European Super League] already," he added.

"You have the best clubs throughout Europe playing in the best competition.

"We believe very much that the Champions League has a lot of that and there's a reason that if you win the Champions League you make over 100 million euros."

Pressed that a Super League would see Chelsea play the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich more frequently, he replied: "I think you can do that in the summer and there are other ways to do that.

"I think that the passion that the fans have for the sport and for the sport as it is, is so strong, that it's hard to envision change.

"I never say hard nos. I like to keep options alive. But, obviously, it's not something that we're talking about at all."

Chelsea owner Todd Boehly has explained the reasoning behind the decision to sack Thomas Tuchel, which stemmed from the lack of a "shared vision".

The Blues caused a stir last week with the dismissal of their Champions League winning coach, which followed defeats to Dinamo Zagreb, Southampton and Leeds United.

Tuchel's exit was particularly surprising given the plethora of transfer activity in the transfer window, which saw the likes of Marc Cucurella, Wesley Fofana and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang brought to Stamford Bridge.

Just a week after the close of the window, however, Tuchel was gone and swiftly replaced by Graham Potter, who has impressed in his time with Brighton and Hove Albion.

While the decision to sack Tuchel just a month into the season may be considered to have been rash, Boehly has made it clear it was a decision with the long-term picture in mind.

"When you take over any business, you just have to make sure that you’re aligned with the people who are operating the business," he told the SALT Conference.

"Tuchel is obviously extremely talented and someone who had great success at Chelsea.

"Our vision for the club was finding a manager who really wanted to collaborate with us, a coach who really wanted to collaborate.

"I think there are a lot of walls to break down at Chelsea. Before the first team, for example, in the academy they didn't really share data. They didn't share information about where the top players were coming from.

"So, our goal is to really bring the team together with the academy, with the first team, when we want to acquire and develop; all of that needs to be a well-oiled machine.

"The reality of our decision was that we just weren't sure that Thomas saw it the same way we saw it, and no one's right or wrong. We didn't have a shared vision for the future.

"It wasn't about Zagreb, it was really about a decision for what we wanted Chelsea Football Club to look like and it wasn't a decision as a result of a single win or loss.

"It was a decision made about what we thought was the right vision for the club."

Jude Bellingham has conceded he did not expect to become as influential for Borussia Dortmund as quickly as he has, crediting the club's coaches for helping his development.

The 19-year-old England international has become an integral part of Edin Terzic's side, starting 52 matches since the start of the 2020-21 campaign.

Moving to the Bundesliga two years ago from Championship outfit Birmingham City, Bellingham's rise has been meteoric – boasting 15 caps for England alongside his vast experience at club level.

While Bellingham has long been touted to become a star, he himself has admitted that things have moved far quicker than he ever anticipated.

"All of it has been a bit of a surprise - I didn't think I'd come here and have the impact that I've had as quickly," he said ahead of Wednesday's away Champions League clash against Manchester City.

"I thought I'd maybe have to wait a bit longer to get in the team and play a lot of minutes.

"But I've got to give credit to the staff, the coaches that I've had, Lucien Favre and Marco Rose, because they've thrown me into the deep end, given me the exposure, given me the chance to learn.

"I've got qualities that maybe I didn't know I had before I came, it's all down to them, giving me the trust and managing to get it out of me."

Bellingham and his Dortmund team-mates face a tough task against a familiar face in Erling Haaland, who left the club in the transfer window to join City.

Since moving to England, Haaland has been in blistering form with 12 goals in eight appearances across all competitions and Bellingham is not sure how the striker can be stopped.

"I'm not really sure to be honest, we'll have to find out [in the game]," Bellingham added. "He's a player with a lot of quality and a lot of physical attributes that make him so dangerous.

"It's not a thing that's an individual task, it's something the team has to deal with collectively. We stick together, try to do the right things without the ball, then it can be possible."

Chelsea owner Todd Boehly has detailed his plan to install a "multi-club" model with Chelsea, highlighting the success that Red Bull and Manchester City have had with the formula.

The Blues boss financed a significant spending spree in the transfer window after taking over from Roman Abramovich, then making a big call last week to axe Thomas Tuchel and bring in Graham Potter from Brighton and Hove Albion.

Boehly's rebuild is not done yet, though, with reports indicating the club are looking to bring in Luis Campos as their sporting director, which would see the highly-rated transfer guru snatched from his advisor role with French champions Paris Saint-Germain. 

In the long-term, more clubs could join the Chelsea family as Boehly has made it clear he wants to establish a network of clubs and will seek to follow the model of Red Bull and Premier League rivals City.

"We know people, we know human capital. I think we understand game plans and strategies. We're not expecting to be the football experts, to find the best talent, we're going to put those people in place," he told the SALT Conference in New York.

"It's not different from running any human capital business, it's all about getting the right resources, making them collaborate, getting them organised, thinking about how you have a global business at a local level.

"We're going to be continually adding resources. We've talked about having a multi-club model. I would love to continue to build out the footprint. There are different countries where there are advantages to having a club.

"Red Bull does a really good job. They've got Leipzig and they've got Salzburg, both of which are playing in the Champions League, so they've figured out how to make that work. You have Man City, which has a very big network of clubs."

Boehly is keen to use such a network to develop the young players in the squad, having shown a commitment to the future amongst the club's vast spending spree to bring in Carney Chukwuemeka, Gabriel Slonina and Cesare Casadei.

"The challenge that Chelsea have now, one of them, is when you have 18, 19-year-old superstars, you can loan them out to other clubs but you put their development into someone else's hands," he explained.

"Our goal is to make sure we can show pathways for our young superstars to get onto the Chelsea pitch, while getting them real game time. For me, the way to do that is with another club in a really competitive league in Europe."

Marc Marquez will make his competitive return at next weekend's Aragon Grand Prix after nearly four months out of action.

The six-time world champion has not raced competitively since the Italian GP on May 29 due to undergoing surgery on his right arm.

That was the fourth time Marquez had gone under the knife since breaking his arm in a crash at the Spanish GP in July 2020.

After completing a two-day test in Misano and intensive training at home, Repsol Honda confirmed on Tuesday the Spaniard will take part in the 15th race of the season.

Commenting on the news in a video message posted on social media, Marquez said: "As you can see, I'm smiling, which means I'll be at the Aragon GP. Racing, of course. 

"After talking to the doctors and the team, we have decided that the best for my recovery is to continue on the bike, adding up kilometres for next year.

"Doing it in the Aragon GP in front of all the fans is priceless. I'm sure your support will help me go through the whole weekend. Looking forward to Friday and being on the bike."

Marquez has won the Aragon GP a record five times in MotoGP, but he finished second to Francesco Bagnaia in last year's thrilling battle.

Manchester City player Benjamin Mendy has been found not guilty of one count of rape on the direction of the judge in his ongoing trial at Chester Crown Court.

Mendy, 28, was cleared of the rape of a 19-year-old woman at his home in Cheshire on July 24 last year.

Mendy's co-accused Louis Saha Matturie, 41, was cleared of two counts of rape and one of sexual assault against the same woman.

Judge Stephen Everett ordered the jury to clear the two defendants of those counts after the prosecution offered no further evidence.

Mendy and Matturie remain on trial for a number of other alleged sexual offences, which they both deny.

Mendy was suspended by City on August 26, 2021 and has not played for them since.

Chelsea midfielder Jorginho says the dismissal of Thomas Tuchel came as a "surprise", revealing the Blues' players feel partly responsible for his exit.

The German coach was axed last week in the aftermath of a surprise defeat to Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League, which followed on from Premier League losses against Southampton and Leeds United during an underwhelming start to the season.

Chelsea moved quickly to appoint Graham Potter as Tuchel's successor at Stamford Bridge, with their first game under his guidance coming on Wednesday against Salzburg.

With last week's Premier League action postponed following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, Tuesday's pre-match news conference represented the first opportunity for questions on the managerial change.

Jorginho conceded it is something he has become accustomed to, with Potter the fourth Chelsea boss he has worked under, but says he was caught off guard by the latest switch.

"It's happening a lot, as everyone knows. We're adapting to the new coach, we're very excited to work with him and his staff. It's been quite good the first few days," he said.

"Of course, we had a great time with Thomas, we appreciate everything he did for us, for the club, for the fans, now we have a new challenge to look forward to and we're very excited.

"It was a surprise for everyone. What has been said between the players will stay there, sorry.

"There's always talking around what has happened, but now we have games coming and life is quick, so we don't have much time to stay and think. We need to concentrate on what we need to do."

Jorginho was then asked about Tuchel's repeated criticism of the team in the build-up to his departure, and the midfielder admitted there is work to do.

"It was his feeling, he said that to us as well. We tried to do what we could, we tried to do our best, it's what we do," he added.

"Unfortunately, it wasn't working anymore and the challenge now is to rebuild the confidence because Chelsea are a big club, we have a lot of work to do and to do that we need to work with everyone moving in the same direction.

"Of course, we feel responsible, we were a team, it's not one person who is responsible for what happened, everyone is responsible."

Barcelona sporting director Jordi Cruyff insisted the side's host of new additions joined in order to "follow their dream" as he hit out at criticism of the Blaugrana's transfer policy.

Despite concerns regarding the club's finances, Barcelona acquired Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha, Jules Kounde, Franck Kessie, Andreas Christensen, Hector Bellerin and Marcos Alonso during a busy transfer window.

Xavi's new-look team have impressed this season, taking 13 points from their first five matches in LaLiga, but many onlookers were surprised by their ability to outmanoeuvre their rivals in the market.

Raphinha and Kounde, for instance, were both strongly linked with Chelsea before arriving at Camp Nou. Cruyff, however, insists Barca retain a unique draw.

"Barcelona has a magnet, it is beautiful," Cruyff told Guillem Balague ahead of the Cruyff Legacy Summit.

"You can see the pride in the eyes of the players when they get a chance to sign for Barcelona and that has helped a lot, being able to compete with clubs with bigger budgets and better salaries.

"They wanted to sign for Barcelona, and we are very grateful for these players because, believe me, they had better offers than us.

"And still they chose to follow their dream to be part of history. When you see the eyes shining in these players you know you are in a special place."

LaLiga's strict salary controls meant Barca were forced to wait to register some of their new signings, with Kounde sitting out the club's opening league game as they attempted to streamline their squad.

However, Cruyff believes those who criticised the club's transfer policy lack understanding, adding: "I have noticed 99 per cent of the people don't understand Spanish financial fair play, how to fit that puzzle.

"It is something you won't understand in one hour, it is more complex and complicated. Even when you have money, you can't spend it.

"The news that has come out about us is not always accurate, and I understand people listen to that and think what Barcelona has done is maybe not elegant.

"That is a question of understanding fair play. Our job was to, inside the strict rules of Spanish football, improve the team. Now we have a squad that can compete with everything."

Cruyff also believes Barcelona's purchases were made with the future in mind, adding: "Most of the players we have brought in have a lot of years in front [of them], have a transfer value.

"We have made financially good decisions because you can see in the last week of the window how values have gone up.

"We have a squad for the future. The future is here and the present is here. We have things we need to improve, but the club had to make that decision in the summer.

"January 2022 was not a moment to buy four or five players and repair what we needed to repair. In January we looked at the short term, now we looked at short, middle and long term.

"The team has started really well, with the manager doing a really good job. He has a positive headache... he has a good squad to choose from.

"If that continues the right way, the city is alive again. Even for the smaller games, it's a sell-out and that shows the mood. You see how the people are so happy with the players that have joined. You feel it is alive again, and this club needed that."

Graham Potter admitted the chance to manage Chelsea was too good to turn down.

Potter left Brighton and Hove Albion to take over as head coach at Stamford Bridge last week after Thomas Tuchel had been sacked by the London club.

Speaking at his first press conference as Chelsea boss ahead of the Champions League group stage clash against Salzburg, Potter said he was grateful for the trust the club's new owners put in him and is looking forward to getting started.

"You have to look at the football club here, the tradition, the quality, the size, the ambition of the club, to compete in the Champions League, to compete at the top of the Premier League," he said when asked why he left Brighton for this opportunity.

"It's a completely different challenge to the ones I've had.

"I'm very thankful for the ownership here, putting their trust in me and believing in me, to work with an exciting group of players, to be competitive, and to put a team on the pitch that supporters are really proud of.

"I'm very excited, as you can imagine, and looking forward to getting going."

The 47-year-old, who has also managed Swedish side Ostersund and Swansea City, admitted it has been a quick transition from one job to another, speaking just nine days after his former Brighton team had impressed with a 5-2 thrashing of Leicester City.

"It feels like nine weeks, or nine months!" he exclaimed.

"The beauty of football is you never know what's round the corner. Things happen quickly.

"It's been a whirlwind in terms of getting to know people, leaving Brighton, learning about the players, getting to know them, but so far it's been really positive, my first impressions have been really good. I'm looking forward to starting."

Potter is widely admired in the game for his style of football. Since the start of last season, only Liverpool (11.4) and Manchester City (9.9) have averaged more high turnovers per game than Brighton (9.8) in the Premier League.

He insisted he wants a team at Chelsea that plays his desired way, but also plays to win.

"The team that I'd like to see is one that is balanced in terms of attack and defence, a humble team, a respectful team that runs hard and fights," he added. 

"We want to entertain, of course we do, but we also want to win. I'm respectful of the Premier League, I'm respectful of our opponents, there's a lot of teams that want to do the same thing.

"We want to create our own team, our own identity so it's recognisable, and supporters understand what we're trying to do, can see what we're trying to do, and we'll fight every day for it."

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones believes Dak Prescott could be back on field much sooner than initially expected. 

Jones said during an interview with 105.3 The Fan on Tuesday that Prescott won't be placed on injured reserve because he could return from his broken thumb within four weeks. 

"We want him to be in consideration for playing within the next four games," Jones said  

Prescott was originally expected to be sidelined for six to eight weeks after suffering a fracture near his right thumb in the fourth quarter of Sunday's 19-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. 

If placed on IR, Prescott would have to miss a minimum of four games, however, after Monday's surgery, Jones is optimistic the 29-year-old won't be out that long. 

"We feel better about it than we did Sunday night," Jones said. 

With Jones' new timeline, Prescott could be back playing in Week 5 against the Los Angeles Rams on October 9. 

"Dak has a real chance to be back out there throwing the ball pretty quick," Jones said. 

The Cowboys host the 0-1 Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday with Cooper Rush set to start at quarterback. 

The 28-year-old Rush made his lone career start last season in Week 8 at Minnesota with Prescott nursing a calf strain and threw a winning touchdown pass to Amari Cooper in the final minute of a 20-16 victory. 

Rush threw for 325 yards in that game and was seven of 13 passing for 64 yards Sunday after Prescott got hurt. 

Prescott struggled against Tampa Bay prior to his injury, completing 14 of 29 passes for 134 yards with one interception, compiling a 47.2 passer rating – the lowest by any QB in Week 1. 

Frances Tiafoe has replaced John Isner in the Team World line-up for next week's Laver Cup in London.

Isner has failed to recover from the wrist injury that forced him to withdraw from the US Open ahead of his second-round match against Holger Rune.

Fellow American Tiafoe knocked out Rafael Nadal en route to reaching the semi-finals at Flushing Meadows, where he was beaten by tournament winner Carlos Alcaraz.

The 24-year-old, now at a career high of 19th in the ATP rankings, will take Isner's place at the O2 Arena as Team World aim to end Team Europe's run of four triumphs in a row.

Tiafoe previously took part in the tournament in 2017 and 2018, but has missed the past two editions.

Team World captain John McEnroe said: "I am thrilled to have Frances on the team. 

"He's raised his game to a whole new level and has shown he can compete and win against the best players on Tour. He brings a positive energy that should help the entire team."

Tiafoe joins Felix Auger-Aliassime, Taylor Fritz, Diego Schwartzman, Alex de Minaur and Jack Sock on McEnroe's six-man team.

Team Europe, led by Bjorn Borg, is made up of Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Casper Ruud, Roger Federer and Andy Murray.

The tournament is contested on an indoor hard court and runs for three days from September 23.

Pep Guardiola is happy to lean on the knowledge of Manchester City's former Borussia Dortmund players ahead of Wednesday's Champions League meeting with the Bundesliga club.

Dortmund head to Etihad Stadium for their fifth meeting with City in the Champions League.

The clubs previously faced each other in the 2012-13 group stage and the quarter-finals in the 2020-21 campaign. City have won three of those matches, with the other one finishing as a draw.

Ilkay Gundogan, Sergio Gomez, Erling Haaland and Manuel Akanji have all spent chunks of their career at Dortmund, with the latter two having signed for City from the German side earlier this year.

Akanji made his City debut in the 4-0 thrashing of Sevilla last week, a game in which Haaland scored twice, taking his tally for the season to 12 goals from seven appearances in all competitions.

Asked in a press conference if Haaland was excited about facing his former side, Guardiola said: "We spoke in general. Not [a] special [conversation]. Of course, we spoke about some of their players, what he thinks, but in the end it's the quality of the players tomorrow that make the difference."

Guardiola is more than willing to take on board the advice of his four former Dortmund players, however.

"Yes, they are intelligent, players know about football," he said. "Some specific players have doubts... they know them better than me. They were two, three years with them, they know much more than me. I could watch a thousand videos.

"Their systems, formations, are less important than the fact of like how is the manager, how they thought they played against us two years ago – they know it, they know better than me."

It has been a remarkable start to life in England for Haaland, who is the first City player to score on both his Premier League and Champions League debuts for the club.

Haaland has scored 25 goals in 20 Champions League appearances, the most by any player in their first 20 games in the competition. He netted 15 in 13 games with Dortmund and could become just the second player to score a goal in the tournament both for and against the German side, after Ciro Immobile.

Guardiola believes it is too early, however, to judge if the striker can be the difference when it comes to City ending their Champions League duck.

"I'm not able to know it," he said. "The team and he, [so far] are playing well but right now, I don't know."

Asked what Haaland can improve, Guardiola replied: "He's young, he's hungry, he will be a better player, it's going to happen.

"At 22, 23 years old he can be better, for sure. It's a connection with his team-mates, a question of time, he will become a better player."