Will Inter Miami be even better in 2026?
Lionel Messi is the winner of the MLS Cup. This may rank low on the GOAT's list of career achievements, but it was clear from the Argentine's celebration after 3-1 win over Vancouver Whitecaps in Saturday's championship game, how much it meant. Even for Messi it was more than just another trophy. It was a “mission accomplished” moment.
For Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets it was the moment the game ended. Both legends are now retiring as MLS Cup winners and part of the Inter Miami success story. However, the South Florida natives defeated Alba and Busquets in the final stages of their careers. Alba was a liability in defense and although Busquets lost his pace long ago, the midfielder was Exxon Valdez's turning point in 2025.
This is where Inter Miami can get even better this offseason. During celebrations at Chase Stadium on Saturday, Jorge Mas revealed the club had replacements for Alba and Busquets, with former Tottenham Hotspur left-back Sergio Reguilon reportedly on the MLS Cup winners' radar.
How Inter Miami progressed through the playoffs to MLS Cup glory should shape the club's transfer strategy for 2026 and beyond. With younger and stronger players around Messi, Javier Mascherano was able to set his team up to play more aggressively and energetically on the ball. Find more players like this and continue with this approach, and you may have even more reason to be wary of Inter Miami next year.
Did Celtic set Nancy up for failure?
I go out like Celtic For the first time on Sunday, head coach Wilfrid Nancy may have never before experienced anything like the rousing welcome he received from his new fans. After a recruitment process that took longer than anyone expected, when Nancy was first selected by the Scottish champions as their first choice to replace Brendan Rodgers, it was a resounding reception. However, against top-of-the-table Hearts, those cheers quickly turned to boos in a 2-1 loss in which Celtic's only goal came in stoppage time.
These exclamations were not necessarily directed at Nancy. He has just two training sessions with his new players before Sunday's match. But the booing and general discontent, bordering on outright rebellion, are directed at the Celtic management, who are blamed for the team's failures this season.
This struggle can be traced back to the summer transfer window, when Celtic allowed several first-team players to leave without signing adequate replacements to replace them. (Proponents say the negligence goes deeper.)
Ultimately, around €15 million/$17.5 million was spent on wingers (Sebastian Tuncti, Michel-Ange Balisquisha and Benjamin Nygren) in a last-ditch attempt to salvage something from the summer. Nancy, however, does not use wingers. His favored 3-4-2-1 formation has already become the talk of the town, as has his mini tactics board, which was used repeatedly to communicate with confused Celtic players during Sunday's match.
Nancy inherited a less than stellar cast. Worse, it may be a team that doesn't align with his ideas and approach. Sunday was a bad start and it won't get any easier against Roma in the Europa League on Thursday and St Mirren in Sunday's League Cup final. He will discover that this is no ordinary job.
Is Salah finished as a Liverpool player?
Mohamed Salah had something to say after Liverpool's latest disappointing result on Saturday, and he didn't hold back. After spending the full 90 minutes of the 3-3 win at Leeds United on the bench, Salah said his relationship with Arne Slot had deteriorated and believed Liverpool had thrown him under the bus. “I think it's pretty clear that somebody wanted me to take all the blame,” he said in a seven-minute tirade.
Perhaps it was something more deliberate than a rant. The last time Salah spoke so openly to the media after a match was to twist Liverpool's arm in contract negotiations. Salah, perhaps guided by his agent, knew what leverage he had at the time and used it to push for a new two-year contract extension.
This time, however, Salah may have overplayed his hand. He was a shadow of the player who broke all sorts of league scoring records. Premier League last season. The lethargic and unselfish Salah was left out of the Slot squad because Liverpool are better off without him. If Salah's comments were intended to force a choice between him and the manager, there hasn't been much evidence recently that Liverpool should choose the former.
Liverpool's transition to the post-Salah era began with the off-season arrivals of Hugo Ekitike, Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz. Their integration has so far been far from smooth, but the true impact of Salah's comments may be how they speed up the process for Liverpool that began in the summer.
