Mikel Arteta remains "fully focused" on guiding Arsenal to Premier League glory this season amid rumours he is wanted by Real Madrid to replace Carlo Ancelotti.
Arsenal are five points clear of Manchester City at the top of the English top flight in pursuit of their first title since the 2003-04 campaign.
Arteta has been widely praised for his work at Emirates Stadium in his third full season in charge, with a report from Spain on Wednesday suggesting Madrid could make a move.
Ancelotti is said to be under pressure as Madrid head coach, despite guiding the club to a LaLiga and Champions League double last season.
However, when asked about the speculation ahead of Arsenal's Europa League last-16 first-leg tie with Sporting CP, Arteta said he is giving it little thought.
"It's things that managers or players can’t control, what is written," he said at Wednesday's pre-match press conference.
"What I can tell you is that I'm fully focused on what I'm doing here and extremely proud and grateful to do what I'm doing in this football club. That's it."
Arteta's focus will switch from the Premier League to Europa League on Thursday when Arsenal take on Portuguese heavyweights Sporting at Estadio Jose Alvalade.
It is the third of six games in the space of 18 days for the Gunners, but Arteta hinted he will not look to rotate his squad for the European tie.
"We have one team and we have to play the games with the best possible players to win it," he said. "There have been moments where we have made eight changes.
"We try to accommodate. Players have moments throughout the season where they're available and when they're not. For sure we will try to pick the best team to win the game.
"Of course everyone wants to play. It's true as well when we've wanted to rotate players they've been injured and unavailable. Tomorrow that may be the case.
"Sometimes it's been difficult and players have to deserve to play the minutes. Being fair in football is very difficult.
"You have to be really good at communicating your decisions to help players understand what you do, but all the time you have to think for the best of the team.
"We want everybody to feel important and we are going to try to make them feel like that."
Gabriel Jesus took part in training on the eve of the Sporting match, but Arteta gave little away when asked if the striker could make his first appearance since November.
"News on the squad will be tomorrow," he said. "We have brought a few players and you will see who is available."
Asked if Kieran Tierney, Leandro Trossard and Eddie Nketiah are available, Arteta said: "Let’s see how they evolve.
"We're trying to accommodate everybody and get them in the best position for tomorrow."
Darren Moore wants Wednesday to embrace the moment in Wembley showdown
Sheffield Wednesday manager Darren Moore has urged his side to “embrace the moment” as the build-up to their Sky Bet League One play-off final continues.
The Owls reached Monday’s final in dramatic circumstances following a remarkable comeback against Peterborough in the semi-final, which saw them overturn a four-goal deficit in the first leg to then win 5-3 on penalties.
Their victory sets up a clash against Barnsley at Wembley with promotion to the Championship the prize and Moore is looking forward to the occasion between the South Yorkshire rivals.
He told a pre-match press conference: “Having two clubs so close together, it’s a Wembley final, two teams from Yorkshire competing for that final spot to get up into the Championship, it bodes well for a wonderful game.
“We’re just focusing on the game, focusing on the here and now and we’re looking forward to it.
“Like I said to the players, we’re to embrace this moment, embrace this time, because you’re embracing the moment in time not on your own.
“We have a multitude – an army – of fans with us as well as the staff, the players…it’s a oneness that we’ve always maintained throughout the season and that’s what we’ll see on Monday.”
Moore also recognised how special it is to play at Wembley, but stressed that he is preparing for it like “a normal game”.
“These times now are to be enjoyed, embraced, remember these times because they are special times,” he added.
“I said the beautiful thing about this for the players is you don’t stand there alone, I don’t have this as a lone figure as a manager because I feel I have a multitude that is with me.
“Players, staff, we’re all in it together, so we’re all approaching this together.
“My message has always been clear…to embrace this moment, enjoy the moment and within the club internally we’ve been planning and preparing as we would for a normal game.
“The game will quickly be upon us on Monday where we’ll get to compete and contest.”
The Tykes earned a league double over the Owls in the regular season for the first time since 2009, winning 2-0 at Hillsborough in September before securing a 4-2 win in the reverse fixture in March.
Despite Barnsley’s winning record against them this season, Moore is only focused on what is at stake on Monday.
“For me now what’s gone on has gone on before, we forget those things now and we focus on the here and now, the present.
“That’s what it is because the reason why the game’s being played at Wembley, it’s a final, the arena’s different, the atmosphere’s different, the mental side is different so it’s the here and now moment to deal with the games.”
Gareth Southgate knows Euro 2024 must go ‘very, very well’ to keep England job
Gareth Southgate knows next year’s Euros will have to go extremely well for it to be a “possibility in anybody’s eyes” for him to stay on as England manager.
The 52-year-old was parachuted into the hotseat following Sam Allardyce’s ignominious exit in 2016 and has gone on to oversee the national team’s best spell since winning the World Cup.
England reached the 2018 semi-finals before losing the delayed Euro 2020 final in an agonising penalty shoot-out defeat to Italy at Wembley.
There were more signs of progress as the team were edged out by France at last year’s World Cup, but a challenging year meant Southgate had to weigh up whether to see out his contract until 2024.
The England boss decided to stay on after a week of contemplation following Qatar, but next summer’s European Championship could prove his last finals in charge.
“My contract is until the December,” Southgate said. “That was always put in place because it would allow everybody reflection time, really.”
Asked if the Euros would be his last tournament, Southgate said: “Who knows?
“I think we’ll have to go very, very well for that to be a possibility in anybody’s eyes and that’s fair enough. I’m more than comfortable with that.
“My aim is to try and win the tournament and everything I do is geared around that and every conversation I have with the players now is geared around that.
“So, what will happen in the future at the moment it isn’t at the forefront of my mind, but trying to win this European Championship is.”
England are third favourites with the bookmakers to triumph in Germany next year, and that is all the manager is focused on right now.
‘Succession’ is a buzzword thanks to the popular US TV series, but Southgate has not seen the show and was unwilling to talk about potential candidates for a job he cares deeply about.
“Whatever (input) John (McDermott, Football Association technical director) and everybody else at the FA would like, really,” he said.
“I’m not precious about it. If I could help in any way, at whatever point. I try to do that now with involvement in the pro licence, with reaching out to English coaches.
“We’ve had people in to have the odd day here and there with us at training.
“That’s not my decision but I’d always help English football as much as I can.
“At whatever point I leave here, hopefully we’ve won something, but if I’m the second most successful I’ll be more than happy to become third very quickly.
“I joined here to help English football and that will never change for me.”
England’s immediate focus is taking a giant stride towards Germany by beating Malta and North Macedonia in June, but for a number of players their future is up in the air.
Harry Kane, Declan Rice and Jude Bellingham are subject of widespread speculation, while a lack of game-time is an issue for Southgate’s favourites Harry Maguire and Kalvin Phillips.
“There’s potentially a lot of movement with that squad we’ve picked across the summer, but I think it will be later in the summer,” the England boss said.
“It doesn’t worry me how it plays out. I think as a player you always back yourself. You’ve got to.
“You’ve got to have the mentality that ‘wherever I go I’m going to force my way into the team’ until such point as which it becomes apparent where ‘maybe I’ve got to go’.
“And maybe we’ve got a couple in the squad who’ve got that decision to go through in their own minds this summer.”
That self-confidence has paid dividends for Jack Grealish, who struggled to make the desired impact in his first season at Manchester City.
But the 27-year-old has come on leaps and bounds this term under Pep Guardiola, who Southgate considers the best coach in the world.
“I’m a huge admirer,” the England boss said. “He knows that, I’ve told him.
“Of course it’s been brilliant for our players to work with him and they have learned individually, tactically and, probably as much as anything, that mentality.
“You mention Jack, he’s played properly, I would say, in this period. You know, against Real Madrid with and without the ball.
“That wasn’t the case two-and-a-half years ago, if I’m honest, so there’s been a lot of progress.”
LaLiga accused of 'inadequate' handling of 'disgraceful' racist abuse towards Vinicius Junior
LaLiga's handling of the "absolutely disgraceful" instances of racist abuse towards Vinicius Junior has been "completely inadequate".
That was the message from Kick It Out chair Sanjay Bhandari after Vinicius was subjected to more abuse by sections of the crowd at Valencia's win over Real Madrid last Sunday.
Valencia's punishments for the incident were reduced on appeal, with the partial closure of Mestalla Stadium cut from five matches to three and their financial penalty also sliced.
Bhandari, chair of the organisation aiming to eradicate racism from football, says the Spanish Football Federation and LaLiga president Javier Tebas have failed to support Vinicius.
"I think the treatment we've seen of Vinicius has been absolutely disgraceful," Bhandari told Stats Perform at the Football Business Awards.
"It's 10 or 11 games, it's not just this last weekend, it's been happening over the course of the last two seasons.
"The response of the Spanish authorities has been completely inadequate and it's actually been worse than inadequate because it's made the matter worse.
"The way Javier Tebas, who runs LaLiga, responded trying to blame Vinicius and treating him as if he's a problem when actually he's the victim… it's really sort of going back 30 or 40 years."
Tebas was a vocal critic after Vinicius labelled LaLiga racist, the league's president criticising the 22-year-old for "not informing himself properly" before subsequently apologising for those comments.
The incident – and Tebas' reaction to it – sparked widespread condemnation of LaLiga and Spanish football's relationship with race, with Bhandari calling for further action on the issues.
He added: "They need to get on with taking more concrete steps to kick discrimination out of Spanish football, it's not acceptable to have whole stands of fans doing monkey chants.
"Making monkey noises and shouting monkey to Vinicius, that's totally unacceptable and there shouldn't be any deflection and making excuses for that kind of behaviour, which is what we have seen.
"They need to get on it and if that means closing the stand, that's a good step. We welcome that and fines are a move in the right direction.
"But if it doesn't stop that should move to points deductions and further sanctions."
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