Missing Premier League football? Well, Wimbledon was wonderful, the Tour de France is as transfixing as ever and Royal Ascot was glamorous.
Added to that, Paris Saint-Germain have been must-watch television in the Club World Cup, the Women’s European Championship has been fun and there’s always cricket, baseball and the pure poetry in motion of those graceful, elegant greyhounds gliding round the track to savour. So yeah, me neither.
It’s lovely to have a rest from the day-to-day, non-stop grind of the domestic game, in fact it has been something of a relief. The new season is around the corner now, though, with a return to training and pre-seasons friendlies and clubs are ramping up the stakes with transfers starting to drop at a fast and furious rate as teams strengthen their squads in the never-ending quest for silverware.
Manchester City are usually regarded as buyers, not sellers, in the summer and winter markets but they look set to allow one of the young stars in their ranks leave for a fresh chance.
It was this time in 2023 Pep Guardiola allowed Cole Palmer to be sold to Chelsea so he could play regular first-team football and although the England international faded slightly after a lightning start to his career at Stamford Bridge, the £42.5million deal still looks a fantastic piece of business for the Blues.
Fellow midfielder James McAtee could be the next young gun to be hired by Premier League rivals seeking to upgrade their ranks and there’s a gaggle of clubs seeking to lure the midfielder away from the Etihad Stadium.
Nottingham Forest need recruitment in their engine room after losing Anthony Elanga to Newcastle for £55m with Morgan Gibbs-White almost certain to join Tottenham for £60m, despite angst at the City Ground at what they appear to consider to be tapping up from Spurs.
Forest are believed to be weighing up a £25m bid for a player who was key to England’s successful defence of their title at the Under-21 European Championship and the Tricky Trees are also planning a raid for Brentford striker Yoane Wissa.
West Ham are keen on McAtee as well and are 5/1 with William Hill to secure a deal for the City youngster to join them after losing Mohamed Kudus to Tottenham for £55m but Forest are willing to push the boat out and are 10/11 with bet365 to take him to the City Ground.
Baseball bash bet
It’s clobbering time as The Thing from the Fantastic Four loves to proclaim before getting stuck into a scrap and baseballs are going to take a battering in Atlanta when eight contestants take to the plate for the annual Home Run Derby ahead of Tuesday’s All Star Game.
Seattle Seahawks catcher Cal Raleigh is enjoying a breakout season after signing a lucrative new deal in the winter and has walloped 38 home runs into the stands already this season to top Major League Baseball’s rankings ahead of New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge and Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani, who have gone yard with 35 and 32 homers respectively.
Raleigh is 3/1 with BetMGM to win the contest and they offer 9/10 that the longest ball to become a souvenir for a lucky fan in the bleachers is hit under 477.5 feet from home plate.
US Open women’s singles wager
If you don’t own a hat go to the shops and buy one just so you can tip it in the general direction of Iga Swiatek.
After losing her French Open title she looked as though she was entering a sticky phase in her career but responded with a magnificent run at Wimbledon, culminating in Saturday’s astounding double bagel victory against American Amanda Anisimova.
The No.8 seed at the All England Championship had never been further than the quarter-finals at the grass-court grand slam but is back to her brilliant best and is quoted at 4/1 by Betfred to win a second US Open title in New York in September.
Don’t be fooled by the 6-0, 6-0 result into writing off Asiminova, however. She’s a star in the making and an each-way flutter at 40/1 with Betway for her to succeed at Flushing Meadows wouldn’t be off the charts.
