Thank you for joining us today as we discussed the Ballon d'Or nominees and the latest football news.

If you'd like a catch-up, click on the links in the summary or the links below:

• New era for England - who has a point to prove?
• Poland face Scotland also searching for fresh start
• Haaland and Salah form 'shows benefit of player rest'

If you fancy some live football, Scotland take on Poland and Northern Ireland face Luxemburg in the Nations League. Click on the links to follow build-up and live text commentary from around 18:30 BST.

Take care!

Image source, Getty Images

Bolton Wanderers striker Victor Adeboyejo has been sidelined with a back injury unusually caused by a sneeze.

The 26-year-old Nigerian missed Wanderers' 3-2 win over Barrow in the EFL Trophy on Tuesday after experiencing discomfort in his ribcage and back following the sneeze.

"Victor has been suffering with a nasty back injury and a sneeze set it off," the League One club's manager Ian Evatt told local newspaper The Bolton News on Thursday.

"He felt a bit of a crack in between his ribs and we are hopeful it is just a cartilage or muscular issue, but until we have a good look at the scan we won’t know."

Women's Super League champions Chelsea have signed defender Maelys Mpome from Montpellier on a deal until 2028.

The 21-year-old is a French youth international and predominately plays as a centre-back.

She joined Montpellier - where Chelsea manager Sonia Bompastor herself spent four years as a player - in 2020 and made 42 appearances for the French top-tier side, scoring three goals.

Mpome said becoming a Chelsea player is "just like living a dream to join such a big club".

Image source, Getty Images

Away from the Nations League, BBC Sport will broadcast Friday's European Under-21s Championship qualifier between Northern Ireland and England live on BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website and app.

The game will pit Tommy Wright's Northern Ireland side against England interim manager Ben Futcher's squad at Ballymena Showgrounds, with a 19:45 BST kick-off.

England were 3-0 winners when the sides met in their previous qualifying match at Goodison Park in November.

European champions England currently sit second in Group F on 18 points, with six wins and a defeat from their opening seven qualifiers.

Northern Ireland are fourth in the group with two wins and four defeats from their six matches.

Former Northern Ireland international Stephen Craigan will join BBC Sport NI's Thomas Kane on commentary from the County Antrim venue.

Click here to read the full story.

Image source, Getty Images

Republic of Ireland assistant boss John O'Shea insists he has given no thought to what effect Declan Rice would have had on the team had he not switched allegiance to England.

Arsenal's Rice, who represented the Irish in three friendlies in 2018 before opting to play for the country of his birth, is in line to face his former international side in Saturday's Nations League opener in Dublin.

Former Republic of Ireland Under-21 player Jack Grealish is also in the England squad for the Aviva Stadium contest.

Asked if he ever wondered 'what if', O'Shea - who played alongside Rice for Ireland - replied: "No, not at all."

Image source, Getty Images

While Scotland’s European Championship was firmly in the anti-climactic category, the same could be said for their first Nations League opponents.

Poland were the last team to qualify for Euro 2024 and they were the first to go out, two days before Steve Clarke and his players exited to the not-so-sweet sounds of a Bavarian oompah band ringing in their ears.

Of course, Poland were in arguably the toughest section of the lot.

They were humbled by Austria in Berlin, making it back-to-back defeats after a heart-breaking late loss of their own against the Dutch.

That they held France to a draw in their final game made no difference. They, like Scotland, were heading home to face their own music.

In truth, Michal Probierz’s side have been struggling for answers for a while now.

Click here to read the full story.

Scotland

Scotland manager Steve Clarke on what can be expected of his side: "[It is] evolution, not revolution. This time we have a significant number of injuries, I've had to dip down to the under-21s squad, they also have important fixtures coming up but that brings freshness.

"Respect to the core group, but within that core group you have to add a little bit more and hopefully that makes us better.

"It won't happen overnight. This is a chance to evolve the group so that we’re in shape for the World Cup qualifiers."

Image source, Getty Images

Scotland captain Andy Robertson says the squad must perform in the Nations League if they want to "feel the love again" from fans after a poor Euro 2024 campaign.

Steve Clarke's squad begin their League A campaign by hosting Poland at Hampden on Thursday before a trip to Lisbon on Sunday to play Portugal.

It is the national side's first matches since a disappointing group-stage exit in Germany, where they earned just one point from three games.

"The summer was a low for all of us," Robertson admitted.

Click here to read the full story.

Image source, Getty Images

Three years ago, Trai Hume was lining out for Linfield in the Irish Premiership. On Thursday, he will captain Northern Ireland for the first time.

It has been a remarkable rise for the 22-year-old, who has not only settled at Sunderland since joining in January 2022, but thrived at a side who sit unbeaten at the top of the Championship.

The defender says it will be an "honour" to captain Northern Ireland in Thursday's Nations League opener with Luxembourg.

He made his international debut two months after his move, and just 13 caps down the line he will lead out Northern Ireland at Windsor Park - the same stadium where he used to impress for Linfield.

Click here to read the full story.

Northern Ireland are also in action tonight - we will asses the news coming out of their camp before their Nations League fixture at home to Luxembourg, as well as the latest before Scotland v Poland, which both kick off at 19:45 BST.

BBC Radio 5 Live

You might be glad to know that you can listen to three live international matches involving the home nations on BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Sounds:

• Scotland v Poland (Thursday, 1945 BST)
• Wales v Turkey (Friday, 19:45 BST)
• Republic of Ireland v England (Saturday, 17:00 BST)

So will Lee Carsley make his mark?

Which players have a point to prove?

These questions, and many others, are tackled in this feature on the key talking points going into the interim England manager's first fixtures in charge.

Joe (who enjoyed him at Everton)

Image source, Getty Images

Nottingham Forest midfielder Morgan Gibbs-White wants to take his England spot with "both hands" after waiting patiently for his first international call-up.

"Before you get the actual text, you get a message to say that you were on the long list," Gibbs-White said.

"I’ve been getting that message since the Euro U21s, since we won that, so about a year-and-a-half I’ve been getting that message. Then it was waiting to get called up.

"I've waited for this opportunity for so long, I'm going to try and take it with both hands and hopefully secure my spot here."

Lille midfielder Angel Gomes says he is "buzzing" about his first England call-up in interim manager Lee Carsley's squad for the upcoming Nations League fixtures.

"The first thing I was thinking was if Morgan (Gibbs-White) had been called", said the 24-year-old.

"We're very close and I didn't want to ring him because I didn't know if he had found out or not, and he didn't want to ring me.

"My dad told me to ring him [via a video call] and when he answered we both looked at each other and started smiling."

Understandably, the four uncapped players in Lee Carsley's first squad - Angel Gomes, Tino Livramento, Noni Madueke and Morgan Gibbs-White - all spoke in glowing terms about England's interim manager.

But they also showed a mixture of confidence and enthusiasm that is perhaps unique in a band of young players who have won a major title - the 2023 European U21s Championship - under the Three Lions' new head coach....

Image source, Getty Images

Manchester City's Rico Lewis spoke about Lee Carsley's "exciting football", having also played under him for England Under-21s.

The 19-year-old defender has one senior cap for England, but missed out on Gareth Southgate's Euro 2024 squad.

He said: "The intention [of Carsley] is to dominate and control the whole game and with that comes a lot of exciting work. Also, controlling the game when we have not got the ball, as well.

“I like the attacking side of the game as well as the defensive, but it is attacking for everyone.”

That is perhaps a question for another day.

What we know about the present England players is that they are looking forward to being part of a new era under Lee Carsley...however long that may last.

This question, of a women potentially managing the England men's team in the future, has previously been put more directly to Lionesses boss Sarina Wiegman.

The Dutchwoman was understandably guarded in her response, but said that she believes it is only "a matter of time" before a female manager takes full-time charge of an English professional men's team.

Hannah Dingley briefly took over at League Two club Forest Green Rovers last year, but on an interim basis.

Professional men's clubs in France and Italy have previously appointed female managers on a full-time basis.

"I think it will happen, I'm not sure how long it will take but I think it would be good," Wiegman said.

Speaking to BBC sports editor Dan Roan last year, she added: "I think it's a matter of time and that comes with the development of the game."

Click here to read more

Image source, Getty Images

Only the decision-makers in the Football Association know whether these games are make-or-break for Lee Carsley's chance of landing the England job on a permanent basis.

It's not clear how far or wide their search for Gareth Southgate's long-term replacement will go.

As an aside to that, Emma Hayes, the manager of the United States women's team, was asked on BBC Radio Four's Today programme whether she could ever see a female coach taking charge of a men's team at the highest level of the game.

"I’ve said this a million times over – you can find a female pilot, a female doctor, a female lawyer, a female banker, but you can’t find a female coach working in the men’s game, leading men," said Hayes, who led the USA to gold at the Paris Olympics.

"It just shows you how much work there is to be done. That’s why for me it’s about those that are in charge that you have to ask the question to."

On the potential difficulties of women managing male players, she added: "Often people don’t think that maybe a female can manage a dressing room of male characters - well I manage about 25 men every day! They’re just the staff I work with.

"I never thought that the players would be the problem. I think players want to be coached and if the best available coach happens to be a female, they’ll get their head around it just like they do in anything else in life.”

Image source, Getty Images