Karim Coulibaly has officially left Werder Bremen in favour of a move to France, as confirmed by the club this morning.

Racing Strasbourg, Chelsea's feeder club, has secured the services of the highly regarded German central defender.

Coulibaly established himself as a regular starter in the Bundesliga last season, making over 27 appearances and scoring one goal.

The U-21 international was briefly linked with the likes of Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain, but interest cooled after mid-season struggles.

The base transfer fee for the youngster, who joined on a free transfer from Hamburger SV in 2024, is reportedly €20million.

Contrary to initial assumptions, however, no further bonuses will arrive. Instead, a ten percent sell-on clause has been agreed.

To what extent a portion of the funds can be directly invested in new players remains to be seen, given the club's tight financial situation.  

STILLWATER — Ask Drew Svoboda if he’s more interested in securing the football instead of returning it on kickoffs and punts, and the Oklahoma State special teams coach almost looks offended.

He shakes his head.

“No, no,” he says. “We’re going to try to make plays.”

Now, don’t misunderstand. Svoboda wants his Cowboy returners to catch the ball cleanly. Wants them to secure it and hold onto it, too.

But he also wants them to make things happen.

“If we can get a first down for the offense,” he says, “we want to do it.”

And if they can get more?

OSU football fans might throw a parade.

CARLSON: Oklahoma State football fan base 'got its hope back,' according to survey

Seeing an OSU return has become like catching a glimpse of a unicorn. And not just big returns. Any return. A season ago, the Cowboys returned only 19 punts and 16 kickoffs, and while those numbers are woefully low, that was actually a high mark for punt returns this decade.

The Cowboys' return game has been getting dusty for a decade-plus.

It’s been four years since OSU football had a special teams return for a touchdown. Not since the days of Tyreek Hill, Justin Gilbert and Josh Stewart have the Cowboys had a return game that actually looked interested in, you know, returns.

That sounds like that’s about to change.

Why?

It starts with new head coach Eric Morris.

“Coach Morris is aggressive,” Svoboda explained. “He is not satisfied with somebody standing back there and just getting the ball back.”

Morris himself was a returner during his playing days. At Texas Tech, he was a punt returner in 2005, then a kick returner in 2006, then a punt returner again during his last two seasons.

He even housed a punt return as a senior.

MUSSATTO: Why did Jacob Sexton transfer from OU football to Oklahoma State? 'This is my spot'

Morris spent some time early in his coaching career in charge of punt return, too.

Bottom line, the OSU head coach knows what a difference the return game can make, and that has trickled down to Svoboda, who has been Morris’ special teams coach since 2023.

Last season at North Texas, the Mean Green was modest in its returns.

Kickoffs: 25 returns for an average of 21.2 yards.

Punts: 18 for 4.3.

Some of that is situational — “Sometimes (just getting the ball back) is appropriate,” Svoboda admitted, “depending on how the game is going” — but some of it is personnel.

“Depending on who we have back there,” Svoboda said, “we want to make a play.”

And this season, the Cowboys would seem to have two returners who can do just that. Wake Forest transfer Chris Barnes is expected to be the kick returner while North Texas transfer Miles Coleman is in line for punt return duties. Neither stands taller than 5-foot-7, but both are fast and elusive.

A year ago, Barnes returned the opening kickoff against NC State for a touchdown.

“That was my first college touchdown, too,” Barnes said. “So it was real big.”

And it wasn’t designed to work the way it did.

“The return was really about to go to the right,” Barnes said. “It was a boundary return, and I was going that way … and I don’t know, something quick just happened.”

Barnes had caught the ball near the hashes at the 2-yard line, but by the time he got to the 15, he saw a hole open to his left. Instead of going right as planned, he cut left across the field.

“I stuck a foot in the ground and ran,” he said.

More: Oklahoma State football coach Eric Morris tackles armadillo problem

Barnes zipped by several defenders for a 98-yard score.

Not since Jaden Nixon returned a kickoff in 2022 has OSU had a kickoff return for a touchdown. While the Cowboys also had a punt return for a touchdown that season, it wasn’t by conventional means; Trace Ford blocked a punt and returned it for a score.

The last time OSU had a conventional punt return for a touchdown: Tyreek Hill’s Bedlam stunner in 2014.

Had Bob Stoops not lost his head, that drought would be even longer.

Scoring in the return game is the goal this season, and it starts with Morris.

“His whole mentality is, if you have possession of the football, go try to score,” Svoboda said. “When guys catch 5-yard hitch routes, the first thing you hear is ‘Go score! Go score!’ Catch a punt return, ‘Go score!’ 

“He wants the ball crossing the goal line by whichever means necessary.”

It would be great if the Cowboys took a couple of returns back for touchdowns — they’re the most exciting plays in football — but in truth, OSU needs to be better on average with its returns. A year ago, it managed only 83 punt return yards for 4.4 yards per return, and maybe the mindset to go score leads to better overall results.

“It’s not gonna be so aggressive that we’re not making the right decisions,” Svoboda cautioned. “(Morris) still wants us to be able to play within what makes sense. But he wants the football advanced down the field.”

Sounds like a lot more fun than one fair catch after another.

Sounds like the return of the return game.

KICKOFF: 2:45 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 5 at T.A. Chapman Stadium in Tulsa (ESPNU)

Jenni Carlson: Jenni can be reached at jcarlson@oklahoman.com. Like her at facebook.com/JenniCarlsonOK, follow her at @jennicarlsonok.bsky.social and twitter.com/jennicarlson_ok, and support her work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Why Oklahoma State football's return game might be making a return

Texas A&M's 2026 season opener vs. Missouri State is just two weeks away, and third-year coach Mike Elko and his staff should be excited about the progress the 2026 roster has made, especially quarterback Marcel Reed, who is entering his second full starting season after throwing for a career-high 3,169 yards, 25 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions last fall.

While the season at hand is the focus, Elko will also utilize all seven home games in Kyle Field to host a long list of 2028 prospects, including five-star quarterback Donald Tabron II, who committed to the Aggies last weekend. On Thursday, it was confirmed by Rivals that one of the Aggies' priority 2028 prospects, four-star safety James Foster III, has set his visit date with the Aggies.

Ranked as the No. 2 safety in the 2028 cycle, Foster has likely followed Texas A&M's recruiting success at the position after Elko landed commitments from 2027 five-star safety Kamarui Dorsey and four-star JayQuan Snell, both considered immediate impact players with high NFL upside.

James Foster will reportedly make his way to College Station and attend Texas A&M vs. Kentucky on Saturday, Sept. 19, before visiting SMU, LSU, and Alabama over the next three weeks. This provides Elko and his staff the opportunity to make significant progress with the blue-chip defender, even though the Texas Longhorns are currently trending in the right direction.

According to Rivals, Foster is currently positioned as the 41st-ranked prospect, 3rd-ranked safety, and 3rd-ranked prospect in Texas.

🚨NEWS🚨 2028 Elite safety James Foster III has locked in 5️⃣ game-day visits for the fall, @samspiegs reports.

Foster III is the No. 2 safety in the 2028 class.

Details: https://t.co/5Zai9w2ki5pic.twitter.com/uDRkIKkSk6

Contact/Follow us @AggiesWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas A&M news, notes and opinions. Follow Cameron on X: @CameronOhnysty.

This article originally appeared on Aggies Wire: Texas A&M will host blue-chip 2028 DB in mid September

What did Washington Commanders rookie linebacker Sonny Styles think of his first career game against the Miami Dolphins last week? Styles played only one series against Miami, and it didn’t go well. No, Styles wasn’t bad, but the results were, as the Dolphins ran 14 plays and drove 93 yards for a touchdown.

The Commanders won 20-7. Miami’s last 11 drives ended without another score. Washington also forced four turnovers. Yet, Styles can’t get that one drive out of his mind.

“Me and [LB] Leo [Chenal] were a little frustrated,” Styles said with a smile. “One drive, one touchdown, like 15 plays, so, not ideal, but go again next week.”

If you’re a Washington coach, that should make you happy. That’s how you wanted Styles to respond, even if the game meant nothing in the standings and Styles was playing with mostly backups.

Now that he’s had a few days to think on it, how would Styles assess his performance?

“First game, you know, I wasn’t a big fan of it,” Styles said this week. “But it’s your first game, one drive, you start slow. You’re always gonna have things you wanna be better at. I think I gotta work on keeping better footwork, hands, all those different things. But like I said, it’s the first game. Gonna keep getting better.”

That’s the right perspective. Styles has no reason to be down on his performance. He played around 15 snaps behind a backup defensive line. Still, the fact that he’s frustrated over his performance in a meaningless game shows he's wired correctly. He’s not satisfied.

Styles has another chance to get that bad taste out of his mouth on Saturday, as the Commanders face the Detroit Lions in Washington’s second preseason game.

This article originally appeared on Commanders Wire: Commanders' Sonny Styles gives blunt assessment of NFL debut