👀 The stuff you might've missed this week 👊

Summary for the lazy

⛔ Bournemouth sack Gary O’Neil.

👋 Gundogan is Gone-dogan (to Barcelona).

🤝 Havertz to Arsenal, Nkunku to Chelsea + more signings.

⏰ Keep reading to find out whether Man United have accidentally revealed when FPL will launch.

Alright?

Yeah, today is going to be brief. Really brief. Allardyce-managing-England levels of brevity.

This is the LazyFPL newsletter, after all.

Let’s get cracking.

Gary Go’Neil

The first of a few exit-related puns today. Brace yourself.

Listen, when you run a club like Bournemouth, Premier League survival just isn’t sufficient.

Winning is part of the club’s DNA, and clearly the owners - who are infamously ambitious - have decided that if they’re to become one of Europe’s dominant footballing forces by the 25/26 season, they need someone who can do more than just guide arguably the league’s weakest squad to an unlikely 15th place finish.

Shame on Gary O’Neil and good riddance.

He’ll be replaced by Andoni Iraola, who joins after a few successful seasons with Rayo Vallecano. He definitely has managerial chops, as illustrated by this action shot of him managing that Bournemouth chose to mark his appointment.

The Arrivals Lounge

Blimey, it’s busy in the Arrival’s Lounge this week. Ryanair must have a sale on.

• Kai Havertz has joined Arsenal for £60m. Here he is posing for his school photo. He probably shouldn’t be in your Gameweek 1 team but he’s certainly one to keep an eye on.

• Christopher Nkunku has joined Chelsea from Leipzig for a reported £52m. He scored 23 goals in 36 apps for them last season so he has the potential to be deadly. The drawback is that he’ll probably be listed as a forward, and it’s scientifically impossible for a Chelsea forward to be any good. We’ll do a deep-dive nearer to Gameweek 1.

• Empoli’s goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario has joined Spurs for €19m.
  

• Defensive midfielder Sandro Tonali will join Newcastle from AC Milan for €70m, making him the most expensive Italian footballer ever. Word on the street is that he’s absolutely delighted to be joining the Magpies.

  

• Justin Kluivert - son of Patrick (because apparently this is Lord of the Rings now) - will join Bournemouth from Roma. He’s a winger who scored 8 goals in 29 apps on loan at Valencia last season. One to watch.

The Departures Lounge

Ah yes, departures. Find the Wetherspoons and get a seat with a plug socket - we’re hunkering down until our gate’s announced.

• Ilkay Gundogan has gone to Barcelona. Ilkay Gone-dogan. Ilkay Gundo-gone. Ilkay Gone-do-gone? Take your pick.
  
  Despite showing so much FPL promise in the closing matches of the season, Gundogan has selfishly decided to rule himself out of our Gameweek 1 teams for next season.
  

• Footballers now have two options if they want to make the big bucks. They can be excellent, or they can live in Saudi Arabia. Ruben Neves has chosen the latter. He joins Al Hilal for a Wolves club record of €55m. It looks like the club are also targeting Chelsea’s Koulibaly too.

When will FPL launch?

A few things have happened this week that have hinted at an early-July launch.

Firstly, the game is updating. This is the fantasy equivalent of those corny slogans that chain restaurants stick on their scaffolding when they’re about to open a new branch. “Something amazing is coming to Hull”.

It happens every season, but still, it usually heralds the imminent arrival of next season’s game launch.

The second is more ominous. Man United themselves might’ve inadvertently signalled the launch date on their official website, as spotted by Fantasy Football Community.

What a time to be alive.

Other tidbits

• Chelsea have rejected Man United’s third bid for Mason Mount, which was for a reported £55m. The Times report that they’re now giving up to focus on Caicedo.

• We did a solid Twitter thread about the history of FPL, from Tony Blair to 14-year-olds jetting off to watch Brazil. Read it here.

• You might’ve missed the survey that OfficialFPL put out to the world, giving you the opportunity to feedback on the game. Here it is.

Right, we’ll be back next Sunday.

Until then, stay lazy.

The LazyFPL team.