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In this short football language podcast we look at the phrase ‘to reach an agreement‘ after Ronaldo’s return to Old Trafford. You can read a transcript for this podcast below, while you can also check out our glossary of footballing phrases here and visit our site to access all our previous posts and podcasts. If you have any suggestions or questions then you can contact us at admin@languagecaster.com.
Learning English Through Football Podcast: Reach an Agreement
DF: Hello everyone, this is Damian from the Languagecaster.com team – I hope you are all doing well and enjoying the start to the new season wherever you are. Now, in this short podcast we are going to look at the expression ‘to reach an agreement‘ which has been used in recent news reports about many players moving clubs in the transfer window and in particular about Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo’s return to Manchester United. We use a BBC report on his move from Juventus to show how this phrase ‘to reach an agreement‘ is used.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Italian).
To reach an agreement
DF: OK, agreement is the noun form of the verb to agree which of course means to have a similar opinion about something with someone. So, I agree with your idea that VAR needs to change, for example. An agreement between two different parties, groups or in this case football clubs when talking about transfers means that the clubs have decided that a player can move between these two sides. This agreement suggests that the two clubs will allow the transfer to go ahead though it is not yet at the final confirmed contract stage – this will come later. The verb ‘to reach‘ is often used with this noun, so, to reach an agreement and means that the two clubs are both happy with the transfer fee. In addition to ‘reach an agreement‘ we might also hear the following phrases:
- To be in agreement;
- To have an agreement;
- To obtain an agreement;
- To come to an agreement
Let’s have a look at some of the ways this phrase has been used in the BBC report.
- Manchester United have confirmed they have reached an agreement to re-sign Cristiano Ronaldo from Juventus.
- United have agreed to pay £12.8m for the 36-year-old five-time Ballon d’Or winner, with the deal subject to personal terms
- Neighbours Manchester City had looked to be one of the favourites to land the former Real Madrid player and some reports suggested personal terms had already been agreed between the two.
So, in the first example the writer explains the main points of the story – the transfer of Ronaldo will go ahead between the two clubs – they have reached an agreement. In the second example, there is more detail – Manchester United are going to pay the transfer fee which Juventus asked for – they agreed to pay this sum. In the final sentence we can see that an agreement is not always the final step in these transfers because rival club Manchester City had reached an agreement with the player but this had then fallen through – the deal did not go ahead.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in French).
Good Bye
DF: Yes, you are listening to languagecaster.com – that message was in French. Don’t forget that there’s a transcript to this podcast and lots of vocabulary support which you can access by coming along to our site. OK, that’s it for this short podcast – we hope you enjoyed our look at the phrase ‘reach an agreement‘ and don’t forget you can find lots of football language on our site here at languagecaster.com, including our huge glossary of football expressions. Enjoy all the football this week and we’ll see you again soon. Bye bye.
Vocabulary
Free football language podcast for learners of English brought to you by Damian and Damon. Interviews, match reviews, predictions all with full language support for football fans around the world who wish to improve their English language skills.
Could you explain what the meaning of the words “stretch” and nip in” here are?
3′ Werner tries to stretch in the right-inside channel to keep a pass from Jorginho alive, but he cannot stop it rolling out for a goal-kick.
17: Oxlade-Chamberlain nips in and wins the ball from Cantwell before playing it into the feet of Mane.
Mane attempts to flick the ball into the path of a team-mate, but Gibson nips in and wins it back for his side
Hello
To stretch here means to try and reach the ball by extending his leg as far as possible.
To nip in here means to move quickly as maybe the opponent doesn’t know that the player is there.
Damian