Arsenal Scored Three, Coventry Did Not Register a Single Shot on Target: United Paid 81 Million for Baleba

Arsenal opened like champions, Coventry did not register a single shot on target

The first round of the new Premier League season ended exactly the way those who have already stuck the title on the Emirates want it. Arsenal beat Coventry 3-0, with goals from Kai Havertz, Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard. The number that says more than the score: the visitors did not manage a single shot on target all match. That is not a defeat, that is a budget gap converted into ninety minutes. Of course, this is only round one - Arsenal have started seasons as champions before, and then spring told a different story.

81 million euros for Baleba: United buys another solution to an old problem

Manchester United have agreed the transfer of Carlos Baleba from Brighton - 76 million euros in fixed fee plus 5.8 million in bonuses, around 81 million in total. The Cameroonian becomes the club's biggest signing of this window. This is a club that has spent years buying midfielders at top-shelf prices and then wondering why the middle of the pitch does not work. Was the problem the players, or what is being asked of them? Brighton, meanwhile, is doing what it does best again - buying cheap, selling expensive and leaving the big clubs to pay.

Barcelona wanted Lautaro, Inter will not open talks over its captain

Barcelona turned their attention to Lautaro Martinez after Atletico refused to negotiate over Julian Alvarez leaving. The Argentine would reportedly like to come, but the transfer is nearly impossible - Inter refuse even to consider an offer for their captain. Since arriving from Racing in 2018, Martinez has 175 goals in 376 matches, three Serie A titles and two Champions League finals. Every summer the same scene: a Spanish club announces interest, an Italian club announces the player is not for sale, and journalists get three weeks of content out of nothing.

Macedonian first league: Bregalnica two from two, Bashkimi outclassed 3-0

In the domestic league, Stip's Bregalnica beat Bashkimi 3-0 for a second win of the new season. Gligorov scored twice, Kalpachki once. Two matches, six points, a goal difference that speaks for itself - Bregalnica opened the season as a team that knows what it wants. The kind of top-flight start a club outside Skopje needs to be mentioned in conversations about the top of the table at all.

Skopje and Tikves shared points in 40 degrees, VAR decided it

The first match of the fourth round at the football federation complex was played in temperatures above 40 degrees and ended 1-1. Bozinovski put Skopje ahead in the 34th minute after an assist from Cvetkovski. In the 68th, Papuli handled the ball in his own box, the VAR check confirmed the decision, and Sila equalised from the spot in the 70th. Skopje had a chance to win it in the 83rd, but Stevkovski saved Tikves. The result: the Pirates have two points after four rounds and still no win, Tikves have seven. The question nobody asks out loud - who schedules matches in forty degrees, and what exactly are players expected to show in that heat?