"No, if I was worried about this [pace and physicality of Premier League for James Rodriguez], I could have signed Usain Bolt."

Carlo Ancelotti [Sky Sports]

"I have played with Totti, Cristiano and now Messi. That is fortunate, to have players like this as team-mates. They are athletes who have given a lot to football. Today I have the opportunity to share the dressing room with an alien and it will be beautiful. "

Miralem Pjanic

"It reminds me of Ronaldo and Rooney back in the day, Mane and Salah. And I think Salah will go above Mane. The reason these players are different is they've got something in their head where go home at night and being best player in the world rules their world."

Gary Neville [Sky Sports]

"I have never played against three defenders like this so tall, so big massive defenders!”

Timo Werner [Sky Sports]

"It is exciting for me and all the girls because the signings we'd made already had strengthened our squad. We are excited for Alex [Morgan] to come in, hopefully she'll fit in like the other girls have and it is an exciting few months ahead for us. If you'd said a year ago, I don't think anyone would have believed the WSL could attract this many players. It is a really exciting time... it is going to make everyone's quality better."

Josie Green [BBC Sport]

"There is pressure with being an Ayew, of course. Whenever you go somewhere, people just say, 'It's because of his dad'. Do I ever think my career would have been easier if I wasn't an Ayew? It would certainly have been different. People back home expect a lot from us. Sometimes when I play for the national team, I see my family in the stadium and I see their faces — it's like they have more pressure than us. Sometimes my mum and aunties can't watch because they hear the comments of people around them — it's just a football game. But I'm really proud to be part of this family. Dad has raised the bar so high. He has made us proud and raised the family to a new level. It isn't always easy for us guys coming from behind to represent, though we are trying our best to keep our family name as high as possible."

Jordan Ayew [Daily Mail]

"With all due respect, Robert Lewandowski doesn't really have to train anything anymore. He can do everything. He just has to train in such a way that he's fresh and ready for the weekend."

Julian Nagelsmann [RB Live]

"I know I will upset a few players I played with but for me I've seen nothing like it. I mean even in training — you'll have the quickest players, the best defenders and he [Jack Grealish] just runs past you like you're not even there. The amount of times I've tried to tackle him, in training when I played centre-back for a bit of banter. I can't get anywhere near the guy so I end up kicking him and putting him on the floor. He reminds me a bit of like, I know it's a big statement, but Iniesta in his prime. He's just skipping past you, running past you, a little movement of the shoulders and he's gone."

Gabriel Agbonlahor [talkSPORT]

“After the final whistle went I was determined to have a conversation with Flamengo’s full-back – but not Rafinha. The two of us did exchange a couple of pleasantries on the pitch but it was the other full-back, Filipe Luis, who I wanted to catch up with. Along with the likes of Patrice Evra, Ashley Cole and Jackie McNamara and Tom Boyd at Celtic, Luis was one of the players in my position who I had really looked up to. I watched him a lot when he was with Atletico Madrid and loved everything about him. I went over to him, commiserated about the result and was about to congratulate him for the unbelievable career he has had when he interrupted. ‘You’re the best left-back in the world,’ he said. Wow. That meant everything and I spoke to Ali [Alisson] about Filipe afterwards as he’s one of his best friends in Brazil. He told me what a great guy he is. It meant a lot to get that respect from someone who has done it at the highest level for so many years."

Andy Robertson [Excerpt from Robbo: Now You're Gonna Believe Us]P

“Cristiano is one of the best in the world and to ever be as good as him, Jadon still has a lot of work to do, a lot. He has everything you need, though, to be just as good as Cristiano, maybe even better someday.”

Raphael Guerreiro [Bild]

"He’s [Andrea Pirlo] participated in a couple of training sessions over the last few days and he’s still incredible – his vision, technique. If we have some injuries, who knows? (laughs) Ability-wise he can still do it."

Danilo [FIFA.com]