Sunderland boss Regis le Bris has been speaking to the media before Saturday's Premier League game against Brentford at the Gtech Community Stadium (kick-off 15:00 BST).
Here are the key lines from his news conference:
Le Bris confirmed Habib Diarra will be sidelined for around six to eight weeks with a hamstring injury: "It's frustrating, but we have to manage it and we will find solutions... It's a shame because I was so pleased with his pre-season and he's getting more mature about his game, about clarity on the pitch, about his qualities and how they fit with the demand of the Premier League."
On Sunderland's transfer window: "We ticked our three boxes. The first one with Kevin Danso and Thomas Meunier - top level experience. The second one with Malick Fofana and Dayann Methalie - young with proven experience. The third one is for the huge potential prospects with Juan Riquelme Angulo and Jules Ahoka. We have to manage the different positions because it's already a big challenge. In the end, we are happy."
On a potential move for Chemsdine Talbi to Turkey: "A move remains possible so it's important to respect both parties. We'll see. He's still a good player, huge potential, but after that you still have a window to decide if it's the right pathway here. I believe he can succeed here, but after that, it's a question of mutual confidence and you have to respect the player's choice."

#bris #game #huge

Sunderland edged Fulham 1-0 at the Stadium of Light in Premier League action, with the only goal of the game arriving in the 75th minute. Wilson Isidor broke the deadlock with a right-footed finish from the centre of the box, after Habib Diarra had supplied the **** ist.
The home side were not dominant in possession, ending the match with 43% to Fulham's 57%, but they were more threatening in the final third. Sunderland registered 11 shots and three on target, compared with Fulham's six attempts and no shots on target, according to the match statistics.
Chance quality also leaned slightly towards Sunderland, who finished with 1.11 expected goals against Fulham's 0.36. The hosts also matched their opponents on corners, with three each, as they made their pressure count when it mattered most.
For Sunderland, the goal marked a first in the competition for Isidor, while Diarra registered his first **** ist. It was enough to secure all three points in a narrow but efficient victory.
Sunderland Official Line-ups:

#isidor #assist #match #target

Sunderland are moving with real intent in the market, and their pursuit of Geny Catamo now looks like one of the most ambitious deals of the summer. According to TeamTalk, the Black Cats are prepared to go to exceptional lengths to land the Sporting CP winger, with a fee of €60 million, £51m, $69m under consideration.
If completed, the move would represent a major statement from Sunderland. It would also rewrite the club's transfer history, with TeamTalk reporting that the fee would "obliterate the transfer record" at the Stadium of Light. That current benchmark, the €31.5m, £27m, $36.6m paid for Habib Diarra last summer, would be comfortably surpassed.
The direction of travel appears clear. Catamo has become Sunderland's leading priority in the closing phase of the window, and the internal conviction around the player is significant. The report states he has "emerged as the Black Cats' clear priority in the final weeks of the transfer window", which underlines how firmly the club have settled on this profile.
There has already been meaningful groundwork. Sunderland officials, working under sporting director Florent Ghisolfi, have reportedly held detailed talks with Sporting, while movement on personal terms has strengthened confidence that an agreement remains within reach. Sources cited by TeamTalk believe Sunderland are ready to activate the clause.
That is the key point here. Sporting are not thought to be willing sellers below the set price, but when a club is prepared to meet the release clause, the conversation changes quickly. For Sunderland, it would be a huge financial commitment, but also one that reflects the scale of their current ambition.

#sporting #transfer #summer #prepared

One final 'Summer Series' outing, one final pre -season run out in the States before a return to Europe and another encouraging display for Regis Le bris before attention turns to Lens and Stade Rennes in our final pre-season tests.
The team news provided the first talking point of the evening, with Robin Roefs replacing Melker Ellborg for his first appearance after returning from the World Cup, as well as Habib Diarra and Noah Sadiki coming in for Alan Browne and Enzo Le Fée with Le Fée missing out with a knock — hopefully just a precaution.
Wrexham, meanwhile, made seven changes to their side that narrowly lost to Liverpool, with commentators suggesting that the team was expected to be close to that which will start against Middlesbrough in the Carabao Cup next weekend.
From the first whistle Sunderland looked sharper, quicker and a far more cohesive unit.
The first chance arrived inside the first couple of minutes, when Trai Hume clipped a lovely ball down the line for Diarra, whose cut back found the oncoming Romaine Mundle. However, good pressure from the defender meant Mundle sliced his effort wide on his weaker foot.

#diarra #season

Interestingly, despite being our most targeted area to strengthen in the summer market, the right side of the pitch again yielded the most rewards as we built our attacks. Le Bris once again played Trai Hume in a pseudo-wing role on the right, as waves of attacks developed between Hume himself, Habib Diarra, Brian Brobbey and the ever-excellent Nordi Mukiele.
It was Nordi, of course, who claimed the only goal of the match, slamming a low shot past the (quite poor) Wrexham goalkeeper on 34 minutes. It finished off a wonderful move involving three of the four aforementioned players, as Hume neatly found Brobbey inside the box, who in turn played Mukiele through on goal with a sublime first touch.
It was a good demonstration of how we like to build attacks through fluid positioning and overlaps, even without the out-and-out right winger we so desperately want to recruit. It was also a timely reminder of Nordi's exceptional quality at right-back, perhaps further cementing that as his primary position for the upcoming season.
Contributing to that excellent play on the right were the individual performances of Habib Diarra and Brian Brobbey. I thought both gave fantastic accounts of themselves and demonstrated just how influential they can be, albeit in very different ways.
Brobbey's hold-up play and tenacity to bully defenders were on full display as he essentially tortured Dominic Hyam for the duration of his appearance, earning the defender a yellow card and somehow having a blatant foul – and potential penalty – waved away. The **** ist for Nordi was a lovely bonus to cap off an excellent performance.

#hume #mukiele

On the back of promising performances in pre-season friendlies against York City and Liverpool, Régis Le Bris is going to have a midfield selection dilemma ahead of the new season.
Granit Xhaka, Habib Diarra and Noah Sadiki all showed their class at the World Cup, with Sadiki and Diarra standing out — Diarra bagging a couple of goals for Senegal and Sadiki shining in DR Congo's defeat to England in the round of sixteen.
Whilst these lads are currently on holiday and enjoying a well-deserved break after successful World Cup campaigns, there's an opportunity afoot for other lads to work their way into Le Bris' thinking going into the opening game against Ipswich Town.
Chris Rigg and Enzo Le Fée have been deployed in central positions during our two pre-season fixtures and have been standout performers. Rigg has clearly been on a fitness programme over the summer and has come back a couple of pounds stronger, whereas Le Fée has picked up where he left off at the back end of last season, scoring a fantastic solo strike against Liverpool on Saturday night.
The few games that we played last season without Xhaka in the starting eleven showed just how much we struggle without him, and although he's a certainty to be the first name on the team sheet most weeks, he's coming into the twilight of his career and will not be able to play up to potentially fifty games if we have a successful season.

#season #World #rigg #going

Barcelona took on Club Esportiu Europa in a friendly training match on Friday evening and came away with a 4-1 victory.
The two teams played behind closed doors, which means details are a little thin on the ground, but we do know Hansi Flick picked a very youthful team for the first half.
Here's a look at the team:
Barcelona starting XI: Wojciech Szczęsny; Hector Fort, Andreas Christensen, Gerard Martín, Jofre Torrents; Guille Fernández, Brian Fariñas; Roony Bardghji, Ibrahim Diarra, Hamza Abdelkarim and Shane Kluivert.
New signing Karim Adeyemi was present but didn't feature for Barcelona after only meeting up with his new team-mates for training for the first time today.

#team

Dakar, Senegal – The silence came before kickoff. Not from fear but anticipation, a nation holding its breath.
Across Dakar, radios crackled from open windows. Men gathered shoulder to shoulder in cafes, their eyes fixed on flickering television screens. Families crowded into living rooms. Friends leaned over phones, tea growing cold as conversation gave way to concentration.
The city’s usual rhythm horns, its markets, its arguments, its laughter – did not disappear. It simply yielded to something larger.
Senegal were in the first knockout round of the World Cup, playing against Belgium.
On the 25th-minute mark of the game, the boy from the suburbs of Dakar, Habib Diarra, delivered the nation from its anxiety, sweeping a loose ball beyond the Belgian goalkeeper: 1-0 to Senegal.

One minute, Senegal were cruising into the last 16 of the World Cup.
The next, they were left wondering how another dream had slipped through their grasp.
Manager Pape Thiaw's side led 2018 semi-finalists Belgium 2-0 with only four minutes left of normal time, after goals from Habib Diarra and Ismaila Sarr.
But after outplaying their opponents, they somehow "found a way to lose the game", as ex-Republic of Ireland skipper Roy Keane put it on ITV.
Romelu Lukaku's 86th-minute goal sparked hope for Belgium and three minutes later, captain Youri Tielemans headed in an equaliser from Leandro Trossard's cross - the pair were earlier seen having a heated argument - to force extra time.

The success of the African nations has perhaps been one of the major stories at this summer's World Cup.
From Morocco knocking The Netherlands out to South Africa stealing second in a competitive Group A, African football has been at the center of plenty of the talking points in recent weeks.
This afternoon in Seattle, Senegal threw their name into the mix after taking the lead against Belgium, and setting a new World Cup record in the process.
After a near-miss from Ismaïla Sarr early in the match, Habib Diarra saved face for his teammate by dispatching from close-range to give his side the lead, and history.