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• Greenwood 'making a difference' for ambitious Marseille, says Longoria

  Mason Greenwood is "making a difference" for Roberto De Zerbi's Marseille amid their strong start to the Ligue 1 season, says the club's chief executive, Pablo Longoria.

  Greenwood joined Marseille on a permanent deal from Manchester United in July, having spent the 2023-24 season on loan at Getafe.

  Greenwood had not appeared for United since he was arrested and suspended by the club in January 2022. The forward was later charged with attempted rape and assault, which he denied, with the charges dropped in early 2023 following the withdrawal of key witnesses.

  He has scored five times in his first three Ligue 1 appearances for Marseille, becoming just the second player to achieve that feat in the last 50 seasons of the French top flight, after Nice's Mario Balotelli in 2016.

  He scored an 81-second brace in the first half of a 3-1 win at Toulouse prior to the international break, lifting Marseille to seven points from their first three games.

  While Marseille's move for the 22-year-old drew criticism from many onlookers, Longoria has been impressed by his impact on the pitch.

  Speaking at the Thinking Football Summit organised by Liga Portugal, Longoria told Stats Perform: "He's a great player. He's making a difference. 

  "If you're asking all the players, all the people that are in the day-to-day with the team, they can tell you that his level is amazing and we are really happy having him. 

  "We are really happy about the start of the season he is doing and the behaviour he's having with us in Marseille."

  Marseille pulled off what many saw as a coup to appoint De Zerbi as their new head coach ahead of this season, following his surprise exit from Brighton.

  Longoria believes the Italian has been a seamless fit at the Stade Velodrome, saying: "What I appreciated was the firmness of Roberto de Zerbi in all the conversations and the connection that he has created with us since the first day. 

  "This is the biggest satisfaction that I can say, and I'm very thankful to the coach for how he's adapting himself to the project."

  Marseille are currently second in the Ligue 1 standings, two points behind champions Paris Saint-Germain, who lost Kylian Mbappe to Real Madrid ahead of the new campaign.

  While Longoria believes Marseille's project is one for the medium-to-long term, he refuses to put a limit on their ambitions for 2024-25.

  "They are having a great start to the season as well, to be honest. Our objective is to build a project over three years. That is the number one," he said of PSG.

  "Second, we are really happy with how we started this season. Our goal has to be in the Champions League and improve our level. 

  "After that, let's see what the competition will put on us. We need to be ambitious, but at the same time, we need to be realistic as well. I'm not saying that we cannot compete. 

  "I'm asking for a bit of patience because this is a three-year project, and we really want to improve each day, each week, and each game day. We need to improve our level."

• Nagelsmann pleased with Germany development after Euro 2024 disappointment

  Julian Nagelsmann believes Germany have taken the next step in their development after sharing the spoils in an entertaining clash with the Netherlands on Tuesday. 

  Tijjani Reijnders handed the hosts the lead with just a minute and 39 seconds on the clock, only for Deniz Undav and Joshua Kimmich to respond before the break. 

  The Netherlands drew level five minutes into the second half through Denzel Dumfries, leaving the pair joint-top of Group A3 after the opening round of fixtures. 

  But with German ambitions of being strong contenders at the next World Cup after their Euro 2024 disappointment, Nagelsmann is looking to see improvements in every match despite the tournament being just under two years away. 

  “There is an awareness that every game is important,” Naglesmann said. 

  “We have the Nations League now, the qualifiers next year and then hopefully off to the World Cup. We have 18 games left until then - if all goes well.

  “The team believes in itself and that is the key. That is what we all want to see. Today we saw a team that wanted to win."

  But in an enthralling encounter, Nagelsmann acknowledged that improvements need to be made at both ends of the pitch. 

  Germany managed just five shots on target from the 21 they attempted, registering an expected goals total (xG) of 2.94 during the contest. 

  While only restricting the Netherlands to 11 shots, their opponents created four big chances to Germany's three, with the Oranje also winning 53.1% of their duels compared to 46.9% for Nagelsmann's side. 

  “Both defences were too vulnerable but offensively, we were stronger, tried to create more and took a bit more risk," Nagelsmann said. 

  “In the early stages of the second half, we tried a little too hard and were maybe a bit too aggressive in the tackles.”

  The Germany head coach was particularly pleased with his side's response to falling behind early on Reijnders' finish. 

  “The way we came back was very good. It took us five or six minutes, but then we were well in the game," Nagelsmann concluded.

  Germany continue their Nations League campaign with two away fixtures next month, starting with Bosnia and Herzegovina, followed by a reunion with the Dutch on October 14.

• Spalletti confident Chiesa can fit into new-look Italy

  Luciano Spalletti is confident Federico Chiesa can fit into his new-look Italy side after they continued their impressive run in the Nations League.

  The Azzurri are currently at the top of the standings in Group A2, having followed up their impressive 3-1 win over France last week with a 2-1 victory over Israel.

  Davide Frattesi and Moise Kean netted the goals for Italy on Monday, though they were set up for a nervy finish after Mohamed Abu Fani's late strike.

  And they managed to do it without a key player in Chiesa, who was not involved in the squad this international break due to his recent move to Liverpool, but Spalletti is adamant he can find a place for the midfielder in his set-up.

  "I imagine he can play as a support striker, but with more freedom to go near the flanks," Spalletti said.

  "This 3-5-2 is versatile, at times it can be a centre-forward with a wider figure, it doesn't necessarily have to be two central strikers."

  Italy's strength in the final third was the difference in Hungary on Monday, as they had 12 shots, six of which were on target.

  Israel were able to match them quite well in the middle of the park, but Spalletti was impressed with his team's patience to get the result over the line.

  "The team proved itself very mature, despite generally being of a young age," Spalletti said.

  "There was difficulty running into the traffic of the Israeli midfield, it was far more dense and blocked up than against France.

  "We had to keep the balance and ran very few risks, but also didn't get frustrated."

  Kean had three shots, creating 0.56 expected goals, more than any other Italy player, while Frattesi was close behind him, with two shots, getting both of his on target.

  "Frattesi works so hard and creates this superiority in different areas, but he also knows how to read the game and always finds himself in the right place at the right time," Spalletti added.

  "It's true that we didn't give Kean enough service, but we did better in the second half and won thanks to our maturity.

  "I thought long and hard before choosing these players, as I wanted to bring down the average age of the group and the response was perfect.

  "Now we just need to reinforce that initial idea and be open to letting others in, along with the two or three who were left at home this time."