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• Thilo Kehrer’s excitement rises ahead of the chance to achieve his West Ham goal

  Thilo Kehrer has urged his team to write their names into the West Ham history books by winning the Europa Conference League final.

  The Hammers face mid-table Serie A side Fiorentina in Prague on Wednesday night with the aim of lifting their first major piece of silverware for 43 years.

  The 1980 FA Cup was their most recent major trophy while their solitary success in Europe was clinching the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1965.

  
  Kehrer is determined for West Ham to finish the job at the end of a rollercoaster season that produced a 14th-placed finish in the Premier League.

  “Making history is being in the final, we know that. Now our focus and vision is completing the goal,” Germany defender Kehrer said.

  “I said it at the beginning of the season without knowing how the season would go, bringing a title to West Ham is a big goal.

  “We have the squad and quality to do it, so we’re very confident going into this final. We’re focused completely on the final.

  “You can feel the excitement of the fans and everybody around the club. There’s great excitement and for us players it’s great to be in that place. We’re enjoying it and will prepare to the best of our abilities.

  “We feel the support of every one of our fans. We are aware of all the people who are supporting us, they are behind us and cheering us on. We are very glad about that. We are taking that energy with us to Prague.

  “We’re happy for everyone who will be at the stadium but also for everybody around back here, we’ll give our best for them.”

  West Ham’s 10-day gap between the climax to the Premier League season and their European final enabled David Moyes to take the squad to Portugal for a short training camp.

  Apart from fine tuning their preparations for next week’s Eden Arena showdown, the players were given the freedom to play golf and visit a local water park.

  “We had some time together in a different place to usual, which helps to mix things up,” Kehrer said.

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  “We relaxed a little bit but it also gave us some time together to regroup. We will try to use it as an advantage.

  “We’ve bonded well as a group this season. We used the last few days to grow even more and get even more team spirit so that everyone is focused on the goal.”

  Kehrer’s form since his £10million move from PSG last summer has been patchy, but the 26-year-old insists he has learned during his first season at West Ham.

  “I’ve taken some experience from the differences of the Premier League to other leagues – the intensity, the speed, the duels, the competitiveness,” he said.

  “This season I’ve become more complete by feeding off that experience. I can’t wait for what’s coming next.”

• Kane, Mbappe and Osimhen – A look at Real Madrid’s possible striking targets

  Real Madrid are in the market for a new centre-forward after announcing Karim Benzema’s departure.

  The France international scored 354 goals in 648 appearances to become Real’s second all-time top scorer, behind Cristiano Ronaldo, during a 14-year stay in the Spanish capital.

  Here, the PA news agency runs the rule over the main contenders to succeed Benzema at the Bernabeu.

  Harry Kane

  England captain Kane would appear to be a natural fit for Real given his unceasing ability to score goals for Tottenham.

  Kane, who has one year left on his Spurs contract, turns 30 next month, but that is unlikely to put Real off a striker who is the Premier League’s second highest goalscorer and will be strongly coveted by Manchester United and others this summer.

  Real have tempted Gareth Bale and Luka Modric away from Tottenham in the past and might be hopeful of striking a deal, with Spurs chairman Daniel Levy unwilling to sell Kane to a Premier League rival in the past.

  Kylian Mbappe

  The World Cup winner was seemingly on his way to Madrid last summer before choosing to stay at Paris St Germain and chase Champions League glory there.

  Like Kane, Mbappe comes with a goals guarantee as he has scored more than 200 for PSG, but the Frenchman has more time on his side than the England forward as he does not celebrate his 25th birthday until December.

  Mbappe is a thrilling spectacle in full flight and releasing him from his eye-watering PSG contract, which runs until June 2025, might take a world record transfer fee.

  Victor Osimhen

  Napoli’s first Serie A title for 33 years was fuelled by the goals of Osimhen.

  The 24-year-old Nigeria star scored 26 goals in 32 games, with the 6ft 1in striker’s game based around pace, power and athleticism.

  Osimhen has two years remaining on his current Napoli deal and has also attracted interest from Manchester United, with Red Devils boss Erik ten Hag known to be a big admirer.

  Kai Havertz

  On the face of it, Germany international Havertz would appear to be a strange replacement for goal machine Benzema.

  It would not be a like-for-like signing as the 23-year-old Havertz, in a false nine role, struggled to provide the goals Chelsea needed last season.

  But his tactical intelligence could enable him to dovetail well with Rodrygo and Vinicius Junior and Real could get a reduction on the £76million Chelsea paid Bayer Leverkusen for Havertz in 2020.

  Jonathan David

  Canada striker David has a growing reputation for club and country and seems ready to step on to a bigger stage after spells in Belgium and France.

  The 23-year-old has scored over 50 Ligue 1 goals for Lille since joining from Gent in 2020, 24 of them coming this season.

  David is known for his pace and versatility, as well his pressing ability out of possession, and can also operate as a second striker.

• Mount Pleasant, Cavalier to decide JPL final on June 11, following semi-final victories over Arnett Gardens, H'View

  Mount Pleasant Football Academy and Cavalier Football Club will meet in this season’s Jamaica Premier League (JPL) final, following victories over Arnett Gardens and dethroned champions Harbour View in their respective second-leg semi-final encounters at Sabina Park on Sunday.

  The St Ann-based Mount Pleasant FA, which was formed in 2016 and earned promotion to the nation’s top-flight league in 2018, got by Arnett Gardens 3-1 for a 5-3 aggregate win to secure their spot in the JPL showpiece for the first time, while 2021 champions Cavalier blanked Harbour View 2-0 for a 3-0 aggregate scoreline.

  Trivante Stewart with goals in the 33rd and 40th minutes, that took his tally to 18 this season, and one Shande James (86^th), got the job done for Mount Pleasant, after Deandre Cunningham gave Arnett Gardens a 15th-minute lead.

  Meanwhile, Collin Anderson (12th and 57th) got both goals for Cavalier against Harbour View, to regain top spot as the league’s leading scorer with 19 goals.

  After playing out an entertaining 2-2 stalemate in first-leg action last week, Mount Pleasant and Arnett Gardens wasted little time to pick up from where they left off.

  While the Theodore “Tappa” Whitmore-coached Mount Pleasant dominated proceedings, it was the Paul “Tegat” Davis-conditioned Arnett Gardens that drew first blood, against the run of play. 

  Cunningham picked up a pass from Rushike Kelson and rifled a right-footer past Shaquan Davis in goal for Mount Pleasant.

  Given the nature of the game, it was almost certain that Mount Pleasant would hit back and that they did three minutes past the half-hour mark when Stewart muscled his way past a defender to fire past Eric Edwards.

  And Mount Pleasant broke the deadlock seven minutes later when Stewart with a deft first touch, created space to turn and drive a well-struck effort that gave Edwards no chance at a save. 

  The momentum stuck with Mount Pleasant on the resumption, and they should have extended their lead in the 71st but Devonte Campbell, who had time and space in the 18-yard box to pick a spot, failed to finish off a good team build up.

  Try as they did, Arnett Gardens had no response to the quality displayed by Mount Pleasant on the day, and almost as if throwing salt in their wounds, it was a former “Junglists” James that capped the win with a tidy finish from just inside the arc.

   Winning coach Whitmore lauded the character shown by his team in executing accordingly.

   “We were totally in control of the game; we managed the game very well the opponents scored on us but the team showed character and guts and went on to win it. We played this Arnett Gardens team four times, so we looked at their threats and we nullified that, it is just about going into the final now to deliver a title to our owner,” Whitmore said.

  His counterpart Davis admitted that they were outclassed.

  “They just played a better game than us and they won. We just didn’t come out and play, they were quicker to the ball, their ball movements were better, and they won,” Davis declared.

  Cavalier entered their second leg contest with a 1-0 lead over Harbour View and given the defensive nature of both teams, not many goals were expected on this occasion. 

  With Harbour View pressing to play catch up, Cavalier capitalized and pushed further ahead when Anderson rose above defender to head home Adrian Reid’s weighted cross. 

  With the scoreline unchanged at the break, Harbour View came out more purposeful after the interval and almost pulled on back, but Vino Barclett got down well to his right, to keep out Colorado Murray’s 56^th-minute effort from a distance. 

  But Cavalier responded a minute late with a brisk counterattack that saw Shaneil Thomas playing Anderson through on goal, and the striker sporting the number nine jersey, dismissed his marker, before driving past Romario Palma in goal for Harbour View.

  Harbour View tried to play their game in an attempt to overturn the deficit, but it was not to be as they found Cavaliers defenders in defiant mode.