What next for Jordan James? The midfielder was the brightest spark in an awful year for Leicester City, where he cleaned up at the end-of-season awards.
Still only 21, James is due to return to French club Rennes following his year-long loan spell with the Foxes but there are suggestions that another move to English football is likely.
James’ contribution at Leicester suggests he would be an asset for any Championship club – while he may have earned a shot at the Premier League.
Ethan Ampadu is already shining at the highest level having enjoyed a fine season with Leeds, where he is under contract until the summer of 2027.
It has been reported that while the club have an option to extend the deal by 12 months, they are keen to tie Ampadu to a new longer-term deal to ward off any potential suitors.
There are other less prominent Wales players whose futures will also be on the agenda this summer, with Swansea City boss Vitor Matos revealing he will have a conversation with Ollie Cooper.
Kai Andrews, meanwhile, may not be expecting much of an opportunity at Coventry City next season following their promotion to the top division.
The teenager has spent the second half of 2025-26 on loan with Hibernian but has struggled for regular game-time with the Scottish Premiership club.
Fellow youngster Charlie Crew, of Leeds, is another player who could be looking for another move after his season-long loan spell at Doncaster Rovers was cut short.
Welcome back to the Times of Troy newsletter, where the spring sports calendar is quickly coming to a close at USC. Saturday saw a trio of Trojan teams upended in the NCAA tournament. The women’s beach volleyball team fell in a brutal quarterfinal shutout by No. 5 Florida State. Men’s volleyball faltered in the second round to No. 3 Hawaii, and the men’s tennis team was shut out 4-0 by No. 9 Oklahoma.
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But at USC, there’s a lot of excitement about what’s coming next. The year ahead is a critical one, and not just for Lincoln Riley and the football program. Eric Musselman enters Year 3 with no tournament invites to date, but the most talent he’s had yet as USC’s men’s basketball coach, while the women’s basketball program could be more talented next season than it has ever been.
That abundance of star power has made for a much different offseason for Lindsay Gottlieb this spring. At this time last year, the women’s basketball coach was scrambling to put pieces together in the transfer portal after JuJu Watkins’ knee injury derailed the Trojans’ plans of a title run. The vibes …. were not great. Two promising young guards, Avery Howell and Kayleigh Heckel, left. Some potential transfers who hoped to play with Watkins went elsewhere. All setting up for an up-and-down season.
But with Watkins set to return to full-go this summer and a trio of five-star prospects set to join her, Gottlieb entered this offseason facing polar opposite circumstances. Watkins is set to retake her throne as the most dominant player in women’s college basketball. Jazzy Davidson, already the national freshman of the year, should only get better as a sophomore. And Saniyah Hall, the nation’s top recruit in 2026, would be the best player on most college basketball teams. She may only be the Trojans’ No. 3 next season.
So when Gottlieb set out to survey the transfer portal this spring, she wanted to take a much more selective, intentional approach to building out an already-stacked roster.
“We wanted players that fit,” Gottlieb said. “It takes the person to have the courage to understand that they can really contribute with these really talented players that we have. And also a humility to know that we’re trying to win a national championship, so you’ve got to [be] confident and believe in your abilities. But it can’t necessarily be where they want something crafted around them only, you know? Because we’re trying to win a national championship.”
Pania Davis with Florida State last season.
(Gary McCullough / Associated Press)
She wanted more size, to split time with five-star freshman Sara Okeke at center and found 6-foot-6 center Pania Davis, a towering rim protector who played last season at Florida State.
“We were studying the best bigs that fit us, and 6-6 just jumps out at you,” Gottlieb said. “The way she moves we were really excited about.”
Gottlieb also set out to add an experienced guard in the portal after nearly all of USC’s backcourt depth departed in the offseason and landed on one that she’d known since her first year as the Trojans’ coach.
Gottlieb met Ryann Bennett at a camp during that first season, and when she became available last month after two seasons at UC Davis, her skills just happened to fit USC’s needs perfectly.
“She’s just a really good all-around player,” Gottlieb said. “She can create and pass. She plays some point guard. I don’t think she’s going to be afraid of taking or making a big shot.”
USC could add another player or two in the portal from here, Gottlieb said, but she also doesn’t want to upset the balance that she has right now, on a roster that should already be among the best in the nation.
The question now isn’t so much who USC adds, but how Gottlieb will manage the needs of a roster full of star players. Though, she scoffs at any concern that there’s only one ball to be shared among USC’s star-studded group.
“There’s one ball for South Carolina. There’s one ball for LSU. There’s one for UCLA,” Gottlieb said. “We’ve gotta play in a way that values winning. I don’t think it should take away anyone’s individual skills. But the priority has to be playing the best possible basketball.”
A joyous title run
USC women’s water polo players celebrate after defeating California for the NCAA title last month.
(Derrick Tuskan / NCAA)
The first season that Casey Moon took over USC’s water polo program, he freely admits that “I fell on my face.”
The Trojans lost in the NCAA tournament quarterfinals of the 2024 season, their worst finish in decades. And in the weeks that followed, Moon tried to step back and reevaluate what he wanted to be as a head coach. He had no choice but to be away from the pool, which was under construction all summer.
“The thing that kept coming up,” Moon says, “is this aspect of joy.”
Two years later, Moon has USC water polo back on top again, winners of their seventh national title. He and his players say “joy” is the reason why.
“We’re really unserious, and I think it helped us a lot this year,” said goalkeeper Anna King, who had a career-high 14 saves in the national title win. “We’re trying jokes the whole time. We’re just, like, making fun of each other. We keep it light.”
Maggie Johnson, a senior attacker, points to a moment between the third and fourth quarters of USC’s narrow title win over California.
“We are up by one, and they zoom in on our huddle, and we’re all just dancing,” Johnson said. “And I think that just encapsulates, like, what our team is.”
—The NCAA is primed to change its eligibility rules in a big way. The new rules would eliminate the notion of “redshirts” or eligibility waivers — and hopefully stop the cascade of legal challenges — by giving athletes five years to play, with only few exceptions. Eligibility issues have been a disaster as of late for the NCAA, and president Charlie Baker said last week that he’s “pretty optimistic” that the changes will pass when a vote happens later this month. Lincoln Riley has said in the past that he favors the five-year rule, though it’s been a while since we asked.
—The Big Ten distributed a record $1.7 billion in 2024-25, USC’s first year in the league. That was a 55% increase from the previous year, before USC, UCLA, Washington and Oregon joined and the most money ever distributed by a college football conference. And from that pile of conference cash, USC should bring in somewhere between $76 million and $80 million. That’s nearly three times as much as the school got in its last year of the Pac-12. In case you needed reminding why USC left.
—USC lost a key member of its football front office. Zaire Turner came with general manager Chad Bowden in 2025 to be the Trojans’ new director of recruiting operations and played a key part in putting together the nation’s No. 1 class in 2026. Now, after a year, Turner, a Dallas native, is off to Southern Methodist where she’ll be senior director of recruiting.
—USC baseball notched its second straight Big Ten sweep. That brings the Trojans to 37-12 on the season, which still leaves them within striking distance of second place in the Big Ten with one conference series — and two overall — remaining in the regular season. With five more wins out of their seven remaining games, the Trojans would lock up their best regular season in a quarter century.
—A shout-out to USC women’s golf, who I unfortunately overlooked in last week’s newsletter, even after they’d won the school’s first Big Ten title and 10th conference title overall. And not just that, sophomore Jasmine Koo won the individual Big Ten title. She was already the winningest player in USC women’s golf history, but added her most distinguished honor yet by becoming the school’s eighth individual conference champion.
What I’m watching this week
Oscar Isaac as Josh Martin, Carey Mulligan as Lindsay Crane-Martin in “Beef.”
(COURTESY OF NETFLIX)
When its first season debuted on Netflix in 2023, there weren’t many shows out there that could build anxiety-inducing tension quite like “Beef.” And I’m happy to report that it’s still got it.
Season 1, which starred Ali Wong and Steven Yeun, centered on a road-rage dispute that escalated out of control. Season 2 has a totally new story, even better actors — Oscar Isaac and Carey Mulligan are the couple at the center of the beef — and even higher stakes. This time, a younger couple played by Charles Melton and Cailee Spaeny witness Isaac and Mulligan, who run the country club they work at, get into a raging fight, the optics of which don’t look so great.
This problem maybe could’ve been solved with a little communication. But judging by the name of the show, you can probably guess which direction it went.
That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at ryan.kartje@latimes.com, and follow me on X at @Ryan_Kartje. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.
UCLA women’s basketball team has added some star power as its revamped roster begins to take shape.
Former Iowa State forward Addy Brown announced Thursday she is committing to UCLA, giving the Bruins one of the top players in the portal.
Brown averaged 11.9 points, 8.8 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game while shooting 43.1% from the floor and 33.8% from three-point distance with the Cyclones last season. She played just 21 games due to injury, but she is one of the better two-way players in the nation on the transfer market.
The 6-foot-2 forward co-starred with Audi Crooks for Iowa State the past few seasons and was a part of the mass exodus from the Cyclones’ program.
UCLA also signed Arkansas sophomore guard Bonnie Deas earlier this month. She is likely to start at point guard for the Bruins and is one of the best rebounding guards in the nation.
Along with returner Timea Gardiner, the Bruins are starting to form somewhat of a core to defend their national championship. Gardiner was a starter during UCLA’s 2024-25 Final Four run, but missed all of this past season with injury and has one season of eligibility left.
A lineup with Deas and Aarnisalo in the backcourt, Hunter at the three and Gardiner or Brown at the four and adding another big or Sienna Betts at the five would be a competitive lineup in the Big Ten.
Before going to TCU, Hunter played two seasons at Oregon State where she earned All-Pac-12 Defensive Team honorable mention and All-Pac-12 Freshman team honors. This past season with a Horned Frogs team that went to the Sweet 16, she was third in scoring with 10.2 points per game and averaged 3.2 rebounds per contest. She also shot 45.7% from the field and was 33.7% from beyond the arc.
Aarnisalo played her freshman year in Westwood after she originally committed to UCLA in 2025. Due to injuries from point guard Kiki Rice at the start of the 2024-25 season, she was forced into action early her freshman season and finished the year averaging 5.1 points per game.
The Helsinki, Finland, native averaged 10.2 points per game for the Tar Heels as a sophomore last season while shooting 47.3% from the field and 40.3% from the arc. The Bruins will desperately need to replace the three-point production lost with the departure of Rice, Gianna Kneepkens and Charlisse Leger-Walker.
UCLA coach Cori Close said she wanted to sign five players from the portal. She probably needs one more guard and a little more forward depth coming off the bench following the departures of Gabriela Jaquez and Angela Dugalic.
Lena Bilic and Amanda Muse are returners coming off the bench who got a little bit of playing time in the tournament and should have much larger roles, but they are still relatively unproven in late-game situations. They will get a chance to develop as backups with some more Power Four experienced starters now in the fold.
Additionally, it said the applications, “through a wholly-owned and financed government club”, were part of an “aim of facilitating transfers of allegiance and enabling those athletes to represent Turkey at future international competitions, including the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games”.
It added: “Given the common features across the applications, the panel assessed them together and determined that such an approach is inconsistent with the core principles of the regulations.
“As a result of the decisions, the athletes are not eligible to represent Turkey in national representative competitions or other relevant international events.”
The other athletes were Catherine Relin Amanang’ole, Brian Kibor, Ronald Kwemoi and Nelvin Jepkemboi from Kenya, Jamaica’s Rajindra Campbell, Jaydon Hibbert and Wayne Pinnock plus Nigeria’s Favour Ofili and Russian Sophia Yakushina.
