Day: February 23, 2026

Liverpool cult hero Emile Heskey believes that USA star Christian Pulisic could be a useful replacement for Mohamed Salah at Anfield. The American forward boasts Premier League experience from a stint at Chelsea and has starred in Italy for AC Milan. A return to England is being speculated on, with another winger potentially being required on Merseyside. Salah transfer: Will Egyptian superstar leave Liverpool in 2026? Egyptian superstar Salah is tied to a contract with Liverpool through to the summer of 2027. He has, however, cut a frustrated figure at times this season — delivering an explosive outburst at one stage — and seen his output dip. The 33-year-old has not registered a Premier League goal since November 1. Moves to the Saudi Pro League or MLS have been mooted for Salah, as Liverpool can still generate a fee from any sale, with rumours ramping up regarding potential successors in the Reds’ right wing berth. Could USA star Pulisic replace Salah at Anfield? United States international Pulisic is said to be in the mix there, as he delays the signing of a new contract at San Siro, and Heskey feels ‘Captain America’ could be a shrewd addition to Arne Slot’s squad. The former Liverpool striker told OLBG: “I actually quite like Christian Pulisic. He is very direct. He probably didn’t get as many goals as I would have liked him to get at Chelsea but I thought he gave defences problems. “Obviously after a good World Cup, being at home with the pressure on him, he is definitely someone who could offer something different to Mohamed Salah or even Cody Gakpo right now. “Mo left Chelsea to go to Italy and look at what he’s done for Liverpool. I think it’d be great to see someone like Pulisic come back into the Premier League in the same way because I’m guessing he would love to show that his time at Chelsea was just a little blip. He was only a young lad when he came over.” Heskey adds Kvaratskhelia & Bowen to list of potential targets Several other names have been added to the pot when it comes to attacking additions for Liverpool, with interest said to have been retained in Newcastle forward Anthony Gordon – a former Everton star who grew up as a Reds supporter. Heskey has named another couple of proven performers that could be considered, with one of those boasting Premier League experience at West Ham, while the other is a Champions League winner with Paris Saint-Germain. Ex-England star Heskey added: “We’re talking about replacing Mohamed Salah and I think as fans you’ve got to look at something different because you can’t replace Mo Salah. “I remember one season I was speaking to someone who said Mo’s had a bad season. He’d scored 25 goals. I’d love to have had that bad of a season! We’re talking about someone scoring 20 plus, nearly 30 goals a season for 10 years. “I think we’ve just got to look at something different and it might not suit the manager anyway to have someone like Mo Salah. He might want to change the formation. I know that he was talking about a 4-4-2 diamond midfield and not having high and wide wingers and that would need something different. “I don’t think you can replace Mo Salah but I do like the lad from PSG, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia. He would be my go-to. “Would Jarrod Bowen be a downgrade from Mohamed Salah? I think most players are a downgrade compared to Salah but to be honest with you Bowen is a different type of player and he would probably help the formation because he’s going to work a little bit harder than Mo. “I’m not saying Mo doesn’t work hard but Bowen has a different work rate and work ethic because he’s coming from West Ham and before that the lower leagues. It’s totally different. Andrew Robertson was arguably one of our best signings and he came from Hull City.” Salah’s record: Goals & trophies at Liverpool Salah has scored 252 goals for Liverpool through 429 appearances. He is a three-time PFA Player of the Year and winner of four Golden Boots. Two Premier League titles have been landed with the Reds, alongside Champions League and domestic cup honors, and whoever is charged with the task of filling his boots will have a sizable job on their hands.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

If you somehow didn’t know by now, coaches are pretty important in football — just look at their vastly increasing salaries. Yet, FOX Sports lead college football analyst Joel Klatt has never ranked the best coaches in the sport … until now. In the most recent episode of the “Joel Klatt Show,” Klatt ranked the top 10 coaches in college football for the first time. A big reason why he’s finally doing a top-10 head coach ranking has to do with the fact that we now have more clarity as to how which coaches have adapted the best to the introduction of name, image and likeness (NIL) and the transfer portal. “The eras of college football are now substantially different and we’re in a very new era,” Klatt said of how he determined his list. “With the NIL, transfer portal era, I think the coaches on this list have excelled in the modern era. “You have to have excelled post-COVID and more specifically in the last two, three, four years.” So, let’s not wait any further and take a look at Klatt’s top 10. Honorable mentions: Kalen DeBoer, Alabama; Rhett Lashlee, SMU; Joey McGuire, Texas Tech; Mike Elko, Texas A&M; Dabo Swinney, Clemson 10. Lane Kiffin, LSU While Kiffin received a lot of scrutiny for how he handled his departure from Ole Miss, Klatt said that the new LSU head coach’s résumé is too strong to leave off the list. “Listen, whatever you want to think of all of that, the guy can coach college football. This list would not be complete without him on it. I know the exit was messy from Ole Miss, but think about what he built at Ole Miss. I know he’s had growing pains throughout his career as a head football coach,” Klatt said. “But what he built at Ole Miss was really special. That was part of the reason why I argued that he should’ve stayed there. They had a great chance at a national championship this past year if he would’ve just stayed.” Klatt added that he feels Kiffin’s ability to coach an offense is incredibly strong, saying his teams are guaranteed to have a top-10 offense in the nation. Kiffin’s coaching ability on that side of the ball helped develop Jaxson Dart into becoming a first-round pick and Trindidad Chambliss into one of the nation’s top quarterbacks despite his lack of FBS experience. In turn, that helped Ole Miss become an SEC contender during Kiffin’s time there. “He took Ole Miss to a sustained level of excellence that they really had never seen before,” Klatt said. “We had seen some jumps, but they had four 10-win seasons over the last five years. Only Kirby, Ryan Day and Kalen DeBoer had more wins over the last five years than Lane. That’s very incredible.” 9. Mario Cristobal, Miami (Fla.) Klatt admitted that the College Football Playoff catapulted Cristobal into the top 10. However, he thinks Miami’s run to the national championship helped disprove a pair of the biggest doubts about Cristobal. “He knocked off two giant stigmas this year that had been plaguing him throughout his career as a head coach,” Klatt said. ” The first was he doesn’t win big games. Well, he won big games this year and it started all the way back in Week 1, when they toppled Notre Dame. That was a huge win and it started this trajectory of things that we haven’t seen him be able to do that this year he was able to do. “The second thing was winning big matchups down the stretch. We knew his record in November wasn’t what we wanted it to be.” Now, Klatt believes Miami is in a good spot to compete on an annual basis moving forward. “I gotta tip my cap to what Mario Cristobal’s built at Miami,” Klatt said. “If the [Darian] Mensah transfer works for them, they’ll be back in this capacity. Maybe not all the way to the championship game, but they’re going to be a very good football team because that’s what he builds.” 8. Kalani Sitake, BYU Klatt knows that this one might “surprise some people,” but he wants you to consider this: only two head coaches have more wins than Sitake since 2020. “I’m a huge fan of Kalani Sitake,” Klatt said. “Penn State wanted Kalani Sitake and almost got him earlier in this offseason because they see what I see: a phenomenal football coach and a guy that builds a team in his own image. The team takes on the character of their coach in so many ways — outplay, work, out-physical teams. You can see that at BYU. Would it surprise you to find out that only two head coaches have more wins than Sitake since 2020? Those two are Kirby Smart and Ryan Day. Sitake has 57 wins since 2020. “Sitake is a phenomenal coach and every single year, he builds the same caliber of team, particularly at the line of scrimmage.” 7. Kyle Whittingham, Michigan Klatt admitted that this might be another addition on the list that could surprise some. However, he also wants everyone to understand what he did at Utah in his 21 seasons as its head coach. “You have to understand where he brought Utah from,” Klatt said. “That was a very good job after Urban Meyer and they were on the national stage, but he’s the one that took them from the Group of 5 into the Pac-12 and Big 12. He did a lot of things at Utah and made them a perennial top-15, top-10 team in the country and he did so without the best talent in the country. His teams play exceptionally hard, they’re physical, they’re sound and they’re well-coached.” Utah went 177-88 during Whittingham’s tenure, logging five 10-plus-win seasons after the Utes made the jump from the Mountain West to the Pac-12. 6. Steve Sarkisian, Texas Klatt shared that he contemplated placing Sarkisian higher and lower, wanting to reward him for bringing stability back to Texas while recognizing that the Longhorns underwhelmed this past season. “I thought this was a good middle ground,” Klatt said. “As much as I think we, and certainly the Texas fanbase, believe that you can roll the helmets out there and Texas is just going to win 10 games, that’s just not the case. We saw that for at least a decade.” Prior to Texas’ underwhelming 2025 campaign, Sarkisian led the Longhorns to two straight semifinal appearances in the College Football Playoff. So, Klatt thinks that’s too big to ignore, but also thinks that Sarkisian might need to make a sacrifice in order to help Texas get over the hump. “Steve has solidified Texas,” Klatt said. “I think he’s one of the great game planners of college football. I think he’s one of the great playcallers in college football. You could make the argument that he might need to give up playcalling duties at some point if he wants to achieve what he ultimately wants, which is a national championship. That’s really hard for a guy at that level. Ryan Day gave up playcalling duties and won a national championship.” 5. Marcus Freeman, Notre Dame When Brian Kelly left Notre Dame for LSU at the end of the 2021 season, some thought that the Fighting Irish could no longer attain the talent needed to compete for a national championship. But after Notre Dame made it to the title game in the 2024 season, Klatt believes that’s not the case. Klatt pointed to Freeman as the big reason why Notre Dame seems to be a perennial national title contender. “He’s elevated the talent in South Bend,” Klatt said. “There’s a reason the NFL’s been sniffing around on this guy. There were talks that the Giants wanted Marcus Freeman at one point. Notre Dame was smart to redo his deal back in December. He’s just 40. The guy, to me, is class, integrity, toughness and his teams are physical. I think he’s learned along the way.” 4. Dan Lanning, Oregon Lanning is the highest-ranked coach on this list who has yet to win a national championship, but Klatt believes that he’ll break that glass ceiling soon. “I’ve said for a long time that if I had to buy stock in a coach, it would be Dan Lanning. I still feel that way,” Klatt said. “Oregon is a perennial national championship contender under Lanning. He’s elevated them above what they were before he got there. He’s a phenomenal coach. “Here’s the deal: He’s 48-8 at Oregon, and six of his eight losses are against teams that reached the title game. Four of those losses were to the eventual national champ. He’s lost five games in the last three seasons and every single one was against a team that reached the national championship game. You do not beat Oregon unless you’re one of the best teams in college football. And he’s gaining on those teams.” 3. Kirby Smart, Georgia You can probably guess which coaches are in the top three by this point. While Smart is one of two active college football coaches to have won multiple national championships, Klatt admitted that he put a greater significance on the recency of the national championships won by the coaches ranked in the top two. “It hasn’t been as good in the last two years, but that’s obvious with those back-to-back national championships. It seems like a dip, but that’s because their standards are high,” Klatt said. “They’ve won the SEC the last two years and three of the last four. The only year in the last nine seasons that Georgia wasn’t in the SEC Championship Game was the 2020 COVID season. That’s ridiculous consistency in a really tough conference. Georgia’s the standard in the SEC.” 2. Ryan Day, Ohio State At this point, Day’s record is pretty self-explanatory. He’s gone 82-12 in seven seasons as Ohio State’s head coach, leading Klatt to say that Day has Ohio State at its zenith, which is saying something for a program that’s won nine national championships. “Day has the Buckeyes at the top every single year,” Klatt said. “He’s reached the top two in the AP Poll at some point in every single season that he’s been a head coach. He’s never lost more than two games in a season. He got his national championship in 2024. He had the No. 1 team in college football for most of the season this last year, until they ran into Indiana. Ohio State is the most consistent program in college football, and we’re seeing one of the great eras of Ohio State.” 1. Curt Cignetti, Indiana After Cignetti turned the losingest program in college football history into a national champion in two years, he doesn’t want to hear any argument for another head coach to be placed in this spot. “You can’t put anybody else there. He’s earned this spot,” Klatt said. “When you take the losingest program in the history of the sport and in two years, you win the national championship with that team, it’s not up for debate. He’s No. 1, and it has to be him. “You can make arguments that guys should be higher or lower and maybe there should be guys incorporated on this list. You might be right. But the one that you can’t argue with is Curt Cignetti. He’s proven to be the best talent evaluator in this era of college football.”​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

Of the 10 full-time organizations in the INDYCAR Series, six have a different driver lineup for 2026. As the new meets the old, here’s a look at each organization’s 2026 lineup and outlook as an exciting new season embarks Sunday at St. Petersburg (Noon ET on FOX). Chip Ganassi Racing Returning drivers (2025 finish): No. 10 Alex Palou (first), No. 9 Scott Dixon (third), No. 8 Kyffin Simpson (17th) 2025 wins: Palou 8 (St. Petersburg, Thermal, Barber, Indianapolis road course, Indianapolis, Road America, Iowa-2, Laguna Seca); Dixon 1 (Mid-Ohio) Keys To Success: For Palou and his team, it’s trying to find improvements without impacting its dominance — knowing that other teams are working to improve as well. One of those is Dixon, who views his third-place finish in the standings in the scope of Palou’s domination, making it a not so great year for him. Simpson showed significant progress last year and must continue to build. Biggest Hurdle: Not allowing the competition to catch up to Palou. And continuing to use the Meyer Shank alliance to its benefit. Fast Fact: Alex Palou led 778 laps last year, nearly twice as many as the next driver on the laps led list (Josef Newgarden, 393). Arrow McLaren Returning drivers (2025 finish): No. 5 Pato O’Ward (second), No. 7 Christian Lundgaard (fifth), No. 6 Nolan Siegel (22nd) 2025 wins: O’Ward 2 (Iowa-1, Toronto) Keys To Success: Continuing the steady improvement from last year won’t be easy because the gains likely will be more subtle and not as big. For Lundgaard, improvement on the ovals is key, and Ryan Hunter-Reay, who will drive for the team at the Indianapolis 500 could play a pivotal role. Siegel needs to show the improvement as Tony Kanaan has put him on the hot seat. Some new hires in the last year behind the scenes, including Lundgaard’s pairing with strategist Kyle Moyer (formerly of Penske) need to prove to be good moves. Biggest Hurdle: The team has a new shop and consistency in its lineup. Those should translate into more success. If it doesn’t, any quick changes need to be the right ones and not just change for change sake if things aren’t working out. Fast Fact: Last year was the first season where McLaren had two drivers finish in the top-five in the standings since it got back into INDYCAR racing in 2020. Andretti Global Returning drivers (2025 finish): No. 27 Kyle Kirkwood (fourth), No. 28 Marcus Ericsson (20th)New driver: No. 26 Will Power (ninth at Ganassi) 2025 wins: Kirkwood 3 (Long Beach, Detroit, Gateway) Keys To Success: Being more consistent is going to be key for this group. Integrating Power into the program and using what he can bring and putting it into action could determine where they improve. New team principal Ron Ruzewski will need to create an atmosphere where the transition will be smooth. Ericsson, in a contract year, needs to get off to a strong start if he doesn’t want his future questioned. Biggest Hurdle: There are enough new faces that immediate success and major growth might not come as quickly as they hope, and that can frustrate many who are used to winning. Fast Fact: Andretti had three wins in 2025. It seeks its first season with more than three wins since 2018. Meyer Shank Racing Returning drivers (2025 finish): No. 60 Felix Rosenqvist (sixth), No. 66 Marcus Armstrong (eighth) Keys To Success: Building on the first year of the Chip Ganassi Racing relationship, these drivers are among those looking from the jump of being in the top-10 consistently to more top-5 (they had just six top-fives among them last year) and threatening to win. That should come with experience. Biggest Hurdle: Both Rosenqvist and Armstrong have set the bar high and staying there can be tough. They need to have fewer bad days. Rosenqvist ended 2025 with three finishes of 19th or worse among the last five starts. Fast Fact: One of the reasons for their strong 2025 season? Rosenqvist ranked fourth in laps completed last year; Armstrong was sixth. Team Penske Returning drivers (2025 finish): No. 2 Josef Newgarden (12th), No. 3 Scott McLaughlin (10th)New driver: No. 12 David Malukas (11th with AJ Foyt Racing) 2025 wins: Power 1 (Portland); Newgarden 1 (Nashville) Keys To Success: Finding the Penske mojo back. That might seem weird to say, but Penske needs to find its swagger. That comes with fast race cars. But it also comes with cohesiveness and a direction, something it didn’t have amid the administrative upheaval last year. Biggest Hurdle: Not letting any early setbacks send them into a spiral. Frustration could easily set in with this group. If Malukas doesn’t perform well right away, the noise will grow that Penske made a mistake replacing Power. Fast Fact: The last time Team Penske didn’t win more than two races in a season was in 2015. ECR Returning drivers (2025 finish): No. 21 Christian Rasmussen (13th), No. 20 Alexander Rossi (15th) 2025 wins: Rasmussen 1 (Milwaukee) Keys To Success: Continuing progress can be difficult, but this team has shown speed in early testing. The investment from new team co-owner Ted Gelov has shown that money does buy speed. But it also increases expectations. Managing both is critical. Capitalizing on the veteran (Rossi) and up-and-comer (Rasmussen) dynamic is key for team chemistry. Biggest Hurdle: Not letting the good days divert their focus. And not letting the bad days divert their focus. Fast Fact: Rasmussen’s victory at Milwaukee was the first for the organization since Rinus VeeKay won in 2021 on the Indianapolis road course. A.J. Foyt Racing Returning driver (2025 finish): No. 14 Santino Ferrucci (16th)New driver: No. 4 Caio Collet (Indy NXT, second) Keys To Success: Losing Malukas and adding Collet is a big difference when it comes to personality and experience. More consistency is needed, and that could be hard to come by with a rookie, albeit a talented one, in Collet. Biggest Hurdle: Doing the most without the depth of the other organizations and making sure the Penske alliance provides some benefits now that Malukas has moved to Penske. Fast Fact: Ferrucci’s four top-five finishes in 2025 was the most for the team since Eliseo Salazar had four in 2001. Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Returning driver (2025 finish): No. 15 Graham Rahal (19th), No. 45 Louis Foster (22nd)New driver: No. 47 Mick Schumacher (Alpine WEC Hypercar) Keys To Success: There were some bright spots in 2025 but not enough of them. Adding Mick Schumacher (replacing Devlin DeFrancesco) brings more excitement … and exposure. The team brought in several new faces behind the scenes and their new processes or approaches will need to work. The good thing is this group of drivers likely has open minds when it comes to new paths. Biggest Hurdle: There are going to continue to be speed bumps for this organization. Keeping everything on the road is critical. Fast Fact: Graham Rahal was one of two drivers to be running at the finish in every race last season. Scott Dixon was the other. Juncos Hollinger Racing Returning driver (2025 finish): No. 77 Sting Ray Robb (25th)New Driver: No. 76 Rinus VeeKay (14th with Dale Coyne Racing) Keys To Success: VeeKay had a strong season last year and is looking to build as the replacement of Conor Daly. If he doesn’t have as strong a start, everyone will wonder if this change was the right one. Biggest Hurdle: This is still a team that is growing and in a bit of transition. That typically means all the days won’t be good. Fast Fact: JHR drivers led laps in four races last year. Dale Coyne Racing Returning drivers (2025 finish): NoneNew drivers: No. 18 Romain Grosjean (Prema reserve); No. 19 Dennis Hauger (Indy NXT champion) Keys To Success: Defining success for this organization would be finishing in the top half of the field more consistently. They have two quite hungry drivers with Grosjean not having a full-time ride last year and Hauger, an Andretti driver, looking to make noise as a rookie (and potentially make an argument he should be in an Andretti car next year). The new drivers replace VeeKay and Jacob Abel. Biggest Hurdle: The team didn’t sign Grosjean until a few weeks ago, a sign that they were still trying to determine the best driver-sponsorship-funding combination. Some patience will be required within the organization and neither of these drivers probably want to be all that patient. Fast Fact: VeeKay’s seven top-10s were the most for a Dale Coyne driver since Sebastien Bourdais in 2019. [WATCH: INDYCAR Drivers Star in Ads Ahead of 2026 Season] Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and INDYCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports