Gareth Bale will boost the bid from the UK and Ireland to host Euro 2028 by joining the Welsh delegation in Geneva next month. Bale, the Wales men’s team’s most capped player and record goalscorer, retired from football in January after an illustrious career that saw him win five Champions League titles and three FIFA Club World Cups at Real Madrid. The 34-year-old has now offered a helping hand for Wales to become a Euro 2028 co-host alongside England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Republic of Ireland. Turkey are also in the running to stage the tournament, with the final decision to be made in Geneva on October 10 when Bale will be present. Football Association of Wales chief executive Noel Mooney said: “We are hoping for a successful bid and Gareth is very much part of the FAW and what we do. He has been identified as one of the faces of the bid presentation. “Gareth is globally famous. You can get into a taxi in Sydney or Peru and if you mention you are from Wales they will say ‘Gareth Bale’. It is an instant reaction. “When I go home to the west of Ireland the first thing people say to me is ‘how is Gareth Bale?’ “Gareth is so good for us. We went to him and asked him if he would get involved in the Euro ’28 bid and he just said: ‘What can I do for Wales?’ “It was instant – ‘how can I help you get the bid over the line?'” Ten stadia across the five nations would host matches if the Euro 2028 bid is successful – Wembley, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, the Etihad Stadium, Everton’s new Bramley-Moore Dock Stadium, Villa Park and St James’ Park being the venues in England. A redeveloped Casement Park in Belfast, the Dublin Arena in the Republic, Hampden Park in Scotland and the Principality Stadium in Wales – the 74,500-capacity home of Welsh rugby – would also stage matches. The Principality Stadium would be referred to as the Cardiff National Stadium during the tournament due to UEFA rules over sponsorship. Wales hope to stage as many as six matches if the bid is successful, with Mooney having said last October that Cardiff could be in line to stage the opening game of the tournament. Mooney said: “Six games for Wales has been mentioned before, but it is ultimately up to UEFA to decide on the division of games, qualification from the five host nations and things like that. “We’re lucky in that we have a fantastic stadium to offer in a magnificent city. Cardiff hosted a very successful Champions League final in 2017 and UEFA were very happy with it. “But we feel we can get more out of hosting a series of games than from a stand alone match. “There were tens of thousands of Spanish and Italian fans in Cardiff for Real Madrid against Juventus, and they all had a great time. But they were gone the next day. “What the 2016 Euros did for France as a brand, and 2024 will do for Germany, was fantastic. “The Covid-hit Euros weren’t the same and the World Cup in Qatar was a different experience.” Mooney is confident that work on upgrading the Principality Stadium to meet UEFA standards will be completed should the bid from the UK and Ireland prove successful. He said: “Cardiff Council and the Welsh Government are backing the bid and are happy with the projected return on investment. “Millions of pounds will need to be spent on the Principality Stadium to get it up to scratch. It needs new floodlights and a scoreboard. “There are also issues over hospitality numbers and the TV compound. But these are all things that will be resolved.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Eddie Howe ends his Pep Guardiola hoodoo as Newcastle knock out Man City Jurgen Klopp hails Dominik Szoboszlai after bright start to Liverpool career Sean Dyche knows process to revive Everton will take time after another win

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Mauricio Pochettino said both sides must take their share of the blame for the long-running standoff between Chelsea and Romelu Lukaku with the striker’s future seemingly no closer to being resolved. The Belgium international, who cost £97.5million when he signed from Inter just over two years ago but has not played for the club since May 2022 and has not been given a squad number this season, has made clear his desire to leave. But despite interest from the Serie A side in taking him on a loan deal as they did last season, Chelsea have been unwilling to consider a temporary move and would rather he was sold, though they are keen to recoup as much as possible of the hefty transfer fee they paid. Pochettino has only one recognised striker available for Sunday’s visit to West Ham, summer signing Nicolas Jackson, though the manager said he expects academy product Armando Broja to play a role this season once he has recovered from the ACL injury that has kept him out since December. On Lukaku’s prospects of being reintegrated into the team, he said that nothing has changed since pre-season, despite the injury to summer signing Christopher Nkunku and the club’s failure to lure Michael Olise from Crystal Palace this week. “The situation (with Lukaku) was clear before we arrived between the club and the player,” he said. “For us, there’s nothing to do. “It’s not only one side. It’s two sides. It’s two sides to try to find the best solution. You cannot put it only on the club, the situation. It’s both sides. The situation is where it is because of two sides. It’s like when you have a player in or a player out. It’s because both sides arrive to an agreement. “The situation is how it is, we cannot change. We were informed before we signed, the situation on every single player, and after we signed we had the squad we had. I think it is so clear, nothing changed. “If there’s something to inform, the club will inform.” My mind is to come back to Europe in the Champions League next season. We cannot accept another idea. Mauricio Pochettino Chelsea’s difficulty with strikers predates Pochettino’s arrival at Stamford Bridge. The team struggled for goals last season, while ex-Arsenal and Barcelona forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was largely sidelined having been signed under former boss Thomas Tuchel but considered surplus to requirements by subsequent managers Graham Potter and Frank Lampard. He left to join Marseille in July but Pochettino has inherited the uncertainty surrounding Lukaku from his predecessors. “For me I need to be focussed on the team,” he added. “To try to perform. We cannot spend energy on a situation that was clear before we started here.” The manager also reiterated his objectives for the season that nothing short of qualification for the Champions League will be deemed acceptable. Chelsea finished 12th last season and missed out on Europe for only the second time since 1996, but with £350m spent so far on summer recruits there is expectation from Pochettino that the gap to the top four must be closed quickly, with winning the Premier League title his next aim. “My mind is to come back to Europe in the Champions League next season,” he said. “We cannot accept another idea (other than) to put the club in the position they deserve to be. “If someone is thinking in this way, I would be very worried, in this training ground or in Stamford Bridge. “Today it’s so early to think too much on this situation. The idea is to win the Premier League. If someone has a different idea, it’s better to tell us, and we’ll say maybe we’ll find some solution. “If we can create and perform in the way that we expect from day one, that is a process that we need to build. The mentality needs to be to win and to expect to play in the Champions League and to win the Premier League. If not, we will fail. “The challenge is to create the mentality that all is possible.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Julian Alvarez gives Premier League champions a hard-fought win over Newcastle Reece Prescod accuses UK Athletics of ’emotional blackmail’ after withdrawal ‘It is obvious why we signed a striker’ says United boss after loss at Tottenham

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