Leicester are to be fined up to £880,000 after “colluding to restrict competition” alongside JD Sports in the sales of club clothing, including replica kit, according to the UK competition watchdog. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has said the Sky Bet Championship side and JD Sports have admitted to anti-competitive behaviour, which include “price fixing conduct”. The parties broke competition law between 2018 and 2021 with arrangements which limited competition in the sale of clothing, the CMA said it has provisionally found. Leicester and its parent companies have agreed to pay a fine up to the watchdog’s maximum penalty of £880,000. JD Sports will avoid a fine after reporting the illegal activity. In August 2018, JD Sports said it would stop selling Leicester-branded clothing online for the 2018-19 season, and in January 2019, JD Sports agreed it would not “undercut” the club in terms of online sales for the following season by applying a delivery charge to all orders, the CMA said. It said JD Sports continued the agreement to sell all Leicester clothing with the charge until at least January 2021. Michael Grenfell, executive director of enforcement at the CMA, said: “Strong and unimpeded competition between retailers is essential to consumers’ ability to shop around for the best deals. “Football fans are well-known for their loyalty towards their teams. In this case we have provisionally found that Leicester City FC and JD Sports colluded to share out markets and fix prices with the result that fans may have ended up paying more than they would otherwise have done. “Both parties have now admitted their involvement, allowing us to bring the investigation to a swift conclusion. “The fine that Leicester City FC and its parent companies have agreed to pay sends a clear message to them and other businesses that anti-competitive collusion will not be tolerated.” In response, Leicester stressed that no current club directors or senior management were involved in the arrangements. “These arrangements related to a limited number of bulk orders by JD Sports, which were accepted by the club’s retail sales team over the relevant period,” the club added. “There was no intention on the part of the club to unlawfully restrict the resale of the goods supplied and no material financial advantage to be gained from doing so, given the limited amount of kit supplied to JD Sports. “However, the club accepts the CMA’s findings and has taken steps to strengthen its training and compliance measures to ensure the club’s retail operations fully comply with competition law.” JD Sports also highlighted that current or former directors or senior management of JD were involved in the offending conduct and that it signed a leniency agreement with the CMA last month. The company added: “JD has taken a number of steps to strengthen its competition compliance programme and the board reaffirms its commitment to making the necessary resource available, internal and external, to ensure that this is embedded into its daily operations.” It comes almost a year after JD Sports, rival Elite Sports and Rangers were handed fines over price fixing on replica kits. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Paris St Germain sack Christophe Galtier Wimbledon schedule further affected as rain prevents play on Wednesday morning Keira Walsh fears injury ‘every time I go on the pitch’ due to increased load

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Inter Milan goalkeeper Andre Onana is set to join Manchester United after a deal was struck with both player and club, the PA news agency understands. The 27-year-old will replace David De Gea as first choice between the posts for United boss Erik ten Hag, who previously worked with Onana at Ajax. Here, the PA news agency asks why Onana is the man selected to take the gloves at Old Trafford. Why does Ten Hag like Onana? Since being appointed as United boss last summer, Ten Hag has been keen to instil in his team a structure of playing out from the back. That means he wants his goalkeeper and defenders to be comfortable in possession, happy to have the ball at their feet and build attacks themselves. De Gea, for all of the shot-stopping prowess that brought two Premier League Golden Gloves his way, was never a goalkeeper who seemed pleased to be given such a role. Onana is different and revels in the role and proved it in Inter’s Champions League final run last season. He is already accustomed to Ten Hag’s approach and it will be hoped he can settle straight into the United system without much need for adaptation, his abilities also bringing a calming influence to a backline that wilted under the pressures that comes with Ten Hag’s preferred method of play. Where have I heard of Onana before? Two years ago Onana was heavily linked with a move to the Premier League, with Arsenal among the reported suitors. Those links materialised at a time when Onana was serving a ban for violating UEFA’s doping rules – his initial one-year suspension reduced to nine months on appeal. Having tested positive for the diuretic drug Furosemide, Onana claimed to have taken his wife’s medication by mistake. His ban began in February 2021 and featured for Ajax just six times the following season before leaving for Inter when his contract expired. What is his international pedigree? Well, there is more drama there, too. Born in Nkol Ngok, just south of Cameroon’s capital Yaounde, Onana played for the youth teams of his home country. He was handed his senior international debut in September 2016, just months after being given his Ajax bow, and went on to make 34 appearances. The last of those – to date – came in Cameroon’s opening game of the 2022 World Cup, a 1-0 defeat to Switzerland. He was then dropped by manager Rigobert Song and left the Indomitable Lions camp following an alleged bust-up with the head coach over his tactics. Onana soon announced his retirement from international football and, so far, has not made a return to the Cameroon set-up. So what will he bring to the Red Devils? Having worked together in Amsterdam, Ten Hag will no doubt believe he can get the best out of Onana at United. With a goalkeeper to play the way Ten Hag wants to approach the game, it should spread confidence in a squad which looked short of it at times last season. Onana also has plenty of silverware in his cabinet, winning the Eredivisie three times with Ajax, also claiming the KNVB Cup twice and picking up a runners-up medal following defeat in the 2017 Europa League final against United. He went on to win the 2023 Coppa Italia with Inter, where he once again came up on the losing side of a major European final after the 1-0 loss to City in June. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live

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