Chelsea are unsure over whether to press ahead with a move for Jhon Durán despite being given permission to discuss personal terms with the Aston Villa striker.
Villa are ready to offload the Colombian, who is valued at £40m. Some at Villa are believed to have raised questions about his attitude and Chelsea are conducting background checks. His wage demands are another potential obstacle. Chelsea have been trying to cut their wage bill and have adopted a policy of handing out long and heavily incentivised contracts.
Serbia will take inspiration from Iceland’s recent victory at Wembley as they plot to surprise England on Sunday, according to their centre-forward Dusan Vlahovic.
The meeting in Gelsenkirchen will be Serbia’s first at a European Championship in its current form and the hope is that a talented but mercurial side will step up to the plate. They bowed out after the group stage of the past two World Cups but Vlahovic, who forms part of a potentially formidable attack, sees a blueprint for early success in the way England were tamed a week ago.
![Dusan Vlahovic of Serbia.](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/b22d11febcf4317f670350ed7d705f2f1938ce75/0_0_7973_5316/master/7973.jpg?width=300&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=077c9234c9c5c24d04b567537f90b5cc)
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If only the Germans had a word for “zeitgeist”. There’s a football tournament starting here on Friday, not that you would necessarily know it. Indeed, from a cursory trawl of Thursday’s media what was most striking of all was the absence of Euros-buzz, the suspicion that there are bigger priorities out there. “CANCER,” screamed the front page of Bild, just in case you were thinking of getting too excited. Chancellor Olaf Scholz is missing the opening game to attend the G7 in Italy. The sports bulletins were dominated by the sudden resignation of the Borussia Dortmund coach, Edin Terzic. On the Kicker website, the first Euro 2024 news appeared some way below a story about RB Leipzig’s summer transfer business.
From roof top lounges to city meadows, most famously the so-called ‘Fanmeile’ at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate, spots which Germans refer to simply as ‘Public Viewing’ have sprung up across the country, from where fans can watch the Euros on large screens. Accompanied by kiosks serving beer and sausages, they are popular during tournaments even with non-football fans, and create an atmosphere which has become one of the major success stories of German football.
Perhaps one of the most unusual Public Viewing spaces though, and attractive to those who might find the regular meeting points a little rowdy, is in Berlin’s Kaiser Wilhelm Gedächtniskirche, or Memorial Church, on Breitcheid Platz, where musicians will accompany tonight’s opening match - one, on the organ, the other on the piano - in what has been dubbed an ‘Organ Duel’. Sebastian Heindl, representing Germany, will interpret the match as it happens, on the organ, whilst Briton Jack Day, will do the same on the piano, representing Scotland. At half time the musicians will swap instruments.
“Deeper, stormy tones will denote the drama on the pitch, lighter ones dribbling or bell-like tones for the referee’s whistle,” Heindl said in an interview with German media. “If Germany is in possession of the ball, I’ll be playing, if Scotland, Jack will take over”.
The project was inspired by the era of silent film when organists used to accompany film projections, sometimes with a pre-arranged score, sometimes playing off the cuff.
The Memorial Church, under the slogan: “Welcome in Blue”, a reference to its large trademark blue stained glass windows, hopes to be a refuge from the hurly burly of the Euros. “We hope to be a place where fans can come who need a bit of peace and quiet, where they can light a candle, or say a prayer,” a spokesperson said.
Tickets for the Organ Duel are free, and can be reserved here.
![A view of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial church in Berlin.](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/6d33c3d504aec092c4eadeed7ccb0e226edaebb2/0_0_3413_5120/master/3413.jpg?width=300&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=96060fb42d3573ec15d6d17290a875a5)
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“We will be United In The Heart Of Europe. Over four weeks.” Looking back, it was probably wise of Uefa’s president, Aleksander Ceferin, to add that neat little disclaimer while announcing the official slogan of Euro 2024, to dial back just a touch the tournament’s contractual peace, love and unity obligations.
Three years on from the big unveil in Munich, Uefa is still out there shunning (some) despots, eradicating intolerance everywhere (apart from in major European football leagues) and reaching out with a single trembling hand, Michael Jackson-style, to lower the rifle barrel of the nearest infantryman. But only, let’s be clear on this, for the next four weeks. And we will have to insist everyone promises to keep their eyes fixed on the screen and closes their ears to the noises through the wall.
Six years and 239 qualifying matches in the making, carbon-light but still undeniably grand, Euro 2024 is finally upon us. And it is hard not to drool just a little at the prospect of 51 games in 31 days, a stage for eight of the top-10-ranked teams in the world, to lose yourself in the sound and light of a proper, non-plague-ridden European Championship for the first time since France 2016.
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