Cristiano Ronaldo aims for 1,000 goals before retirement
Cristiano Ronaldo has set the clock on his career – and on one last outrageous target.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with Vogue about his upcoming wedding to Georgina Rodriguez, the Portugal icon hinted he plans to retire at the end of the 2026/27 season. He framed it in typically grand terms, saying his motivation now is to leave a “spectacular legacy”.
For Ronaldo, that legacy has a number on it: 1,000 career goals.
At 41, most players are long gone from the elite stage. Ronaldo is still counting. According to BBC Sport, he stands on 976 career goals, a figure that already defies logic. Yet he has turned it into a chase. Match last season’s 28-goal return in the 2025/26 Saudi Pro League, maintain that level into his final campaign, and the thousand-mark suddenly stops looking like fantasy.
The numbers behind the story are staggering. Of those 976 goals, 103 have come in the Premier League – 10.6 per cent of his total – across two spells at Manchester United between 2003 and 2009, and again from 2021 to 2022.
That haul places him fourth on United’s all-time Premier League scoring list:
- Wayne Rooney – 183
- Ryan Giggs – 109
- Paul Scholes – 107
- Cristiano Ronaldo – 103
- Ruud van Nistelrooy – 95
The context only underlines his impact. During his first stint at Old Trafford, Ronaldo helped United to three Premier League titles, two EFL Cups, a Champions League and an FA Cup, transforming from a raw winger into a Ballon d’Or-winning phenomenon.
To close his career on 1,000 goals would be a fitting, almost cinematic end to one of football’s most decorated journeys. For one of the Premier League’s greatest imports, the final chapter may yet be his most audacious.
Spurs’ Europa League heroes drift away
While Ronaldo plots his exit on his own terms, Tottenham Hotspur are living through a very different kind of farewell.
Roberto De Zerbi’s overhaul in north London accelerated over a single weekend. Cristian Romero, Spurs’ club captain in 2025/26 and the defensive heartbeat of their recent era, completed a move to Atletico Madrid. Djed Spence headed for Inter Milan. Now goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario is expected to follow them to Serie A, with multiple reports indicating he will join Juventus on loan.
Each departure cuts another thread to the side that lifted the UEFA Europa League in May 2025. That night in Bilbao, Spurs beat Manchester United and looked to have found a new identity under Ange Postecoglou. Just 15 months on, the landscape is almost unrecognisable.
The club have changed manager three times since that final. Six of the 15 players Postecoglou used that evening have now gone.
Son Heung-Min left first, swapping London for Los Angeles when he joined LAFC last August. Europa League hero Brennan Johnson crossed the capital to Crystal Palace in January and has since moved again, this time to Everton, with Dwight McNeil travelling the other way. Yves Bissouma departed at the end of his contract this summer.
What remains is De Zerbi, a restless fanbase, and a squad being stripped and rebuilt at speed. The revolution is real. Whether it brings Spurs closer to silverware than that night in Bilbao is another question entirely.
Man City move for World Cup breakout Bouaddi
Manchester City are pushing to refresh their midfield, and Ayyoub Bouaddi has surged to the top of their list.
Multiple outlets, including BBC Sport, report that City are in talks with Lille over the Moroccan teenager, who impressed for the Atlas Lions at the 2026 World Cup. His emergence on the global stage has inevitably drawn heavyweight attention.
After City’s recent defeat, head coach Enzo Maresca made it clear that the result had not changed the club’s transfer plans – only underlined them.
“We knew already before the game the things that we need to do [in the transfer window],” the Italian said. “It is not because we lost the game.
“We are quite clear. For sure, we are going to do something before the transfer window closes.”
Lille head coach Davide Ancelotti, son of Carlo Ancelotti, knows exactly what he has on his hands – and what he might lose.
“Of course, there are negotiations. Many clubs are interested in him,” he admitted. “He's a very, very good player and I hope he'll stay with us.”
City’s track record with young midfielders and Bouaddi’s World Cup performances make this a transfer that feels like a matter of when, not if. The only real mystery is whether Lille can hold their nerve long enough to spark a bidding war.
Rogers steps into Chelsea shirt with legends on his mind
Morgan Rogers needed only 10 minutes to introduce himself at Chelsea.
On his debut in a 3-1 pre-season win over Real Sociedad, the forward – a summer arrival from Aston Villa – scored his first goal for the club, a sharp statement from a player stepping onto one of the biggest stages of his career.
For Rogers, this is not just a move. It is the realisation of something he has watched from afar for years.
“Chelsea is a club that wants to win things,” the 24-year-old told Sky Sports. “It's a club that I've always grown up watching win titles, win Champions Leagues and I want to be in teams that do that as well.
“The players - the [Eden] Hazards, the [Didier] Drogbas, the [Frank] Lampards coming through when I was growing up watching football. It's a massive team and they were always winning and competing for titles and I want to be in teams that do that here.”
Those names hang heavy at Stamford Bridge, but they also offer a roadmap. Rogers has already shown a glimpse of how he might fit into that lineage; the real examination starts in a week’s time, when Chelsea cross west London to face Fulham in their Premier League opener.
Pre-season goals are one thing. Delivering when the points matter is another. Rogers sounds ready for that leap.
Alisson impressed as Liverpool’s new defenders make their case
At Anfield, the focus is on the other end of the pitch.
Liverpool supporters got their first close look at summer signings Jeremy Jacquet and Ronald Araujo during a 2-0 pre-season win over Como on Sunday, and both centre-backs made an immediate impression.
Jacquet, signed earlier in the year from Rennes, started and capped a composed first-half display by scoring Liverpool’s second goal shortly before the break. Araujo, on loan from Barcelona for the season, took over after half-time and brought his own brand of authority to the back line.
Each played 45 minutes. Each gave Alisson something to smile about.
“Both of them played really, really well,” the Brazilian goalkeeper said. “Jeremy had a great first half, great on the ball, great defending and controlling the space in behind and in front of him as well. A great performance.
“Ronald as well had a really good game in the second half. It is really good to have a strong centre-back to help the team in depth as well. That's what we need if we want to compete for trophies this season.
“That's what we want, that's the mentality of Liverpool players. Playing alongside Virgil (van Dijk) I think is a great thing for them as well."
Liverpool’s ambitions are clear, and so is the message to their new recruits: this is a club built on strong spines and serious expectations. If Jacquet and Araujo can turn pre-season promise into Premier League reliability, the foundations for another title push may already be in place.
