Tottenham Hotspur are now seen as the major contenders to sign a “complete” centre-back in January, with Ange Postecoglou’s side entering pole position to acquire his services as we quickly move towards the winter window.

Spurs target new central defender for Postecoglou amid injury crisis

Spurs links to new central defenders carry on emerging at a very consistent rate ahead of January, coming as the Lilywhites contend without Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven and Ben Davies, who are all sidelined due to injury.

Related £41m centre-back now open to leaving club after Tottenham express interest

Spurs need new defensive options.

Posts ByEmilio Galantini Dec 21, 2024

Postecoglou has just Radu Dragusin and a makeshift Archie Gray as his centre-back pairing right now, and this has reportedly motivated technical director Johan Lange to dip into the market for reinforcements mid-season.

A number of astute defensive options have been linked via the media in the build up to next month, with Feyenoord’s David Hancko, RC Lens starlet Abdukodir Khusanov, Getafe mainstay Omar Alderete and Inter Milan defender Yann Bisseck all mentioned as potential targets.

Tottenham’s next five Premier League games

Liverpool (Home)

Nottingham Forest (Away)

Wolves (Home)

Newcastle United (Home)

Arsenal (Away)

Hancko is open to leaving Feyenoord amid Spurs’ interest, while it is believed Postecoglou’s side have made an approach for Khusanov, as Lens instruct super-agent Jorge Mendes to find him a new club.

There are some suggestions that Tottenham have held talks over a move for Alderete already, but this is yet to gain traction in the national media, even if the Paraguay international is available for a very doable £13 million – the value of his release clause.

Meanwhile, CaughtOffside believe that Spurs are considering January bid for Bisseck, who has impressed for Serie A champions Inter since signing for the Nerazzurri from Aarhus.

That being said, the German may not come cheap when taking into account the fact he signed a new deal last month.

Tottenham in pole position to sign Leeds defender Pascal Struijk

Alongside Bissek, another report from CaughtOffside has tipped the north Londoners to make a potential move for Leeds United stalwart Pascal Struijk.

The 25-year-old is a crucial figurehead at the heart of Daniel Farke’s backline as the Whites push for Premier League promotion again this season, which has earned him admiring glances from Spurs, Wolves and Brighton.

However, Tottenham are the team in pole position to sign Struijk right now, with Postecoglou’s side viewed as favourites to secure his signature over both Wolves and the Seagulls. Leeds will want around £25 million to sell the defender in January, but that price could be worth considering.

Journalist Suleyman Ozturk, speaking to Voetbal Zone, urged Spurs to make a move for Struijk as far back as last year – claiming he is the “best” defender in England’s second tier and a “complete” player.

“He is a complete and mature defender,” said Ozturk in November 2023. “Now that Micky van de Ven has been injured, I would like to give Ange Postecoglou some advice: Struijk can easily join the defence of Tottenham Hotspur.

“That boy really plays at too low a level. I can well imagine that a big club will come for him in January. He really is the best defender in the Championship at the moment.

“I think he will make that step, because getting into the Dutch selection from the second level is difficult. I really think he’s great.”

Suryakumar steers chase with a fifty after Buttler’s 67 had taken Royals to 158

Shashank Kishore30-Apr-20222:39

Vettori: Royals looked for a bad ball, but Kartikeya never gave it to them

Nine games in, Mumbai Indians have their first win of IPL 2022, giving a perfect 35th birthday gift for the captain Rohit Sharma. That the win came against Rajasthan Royals, touted to go all the way on current form, should come as a massive boost. That it was set up nicely by a debutant who kept the marauding Jos Buttler honest for much of his knock, must be encouraging.But Mumbai started poorlyIn the second over, Daniel Sams reprieved Buttler as he misjudged the trajectory of his pull. Sams ran in from deep square and quickly realised he had overrun the ball and back-pedaled. But it was too late. What should’ve been a wicket resulted in a boundary. Jasprit Bumrah, who had dismissed Buttler four times in eight innings, missed out on a fifth.Off the third, Tim David, brought in for Dewald Brewis, made a right royal mess of a straightforward offering at deep point. This time, it was Devdutt Padikkal who was reprieved. An uppish cut burst through his hands at deep point and went to the boundary. Sams, the bowler, looked on in disbelief.Shokeen and Kartikeya make an entryBumrah. Ishan Kishan. Tilak Varma. Rahul Chahar. Hardik Pandya. Krunal Pandya – in no order, these are some names Mumbai have unearthed over the years through their vast scouting network. Hrithik Shokeen, the offspinner, and Kumar Kartikeya, the left-arm spinner, are the latest entrants to the uncapped club.Shokeen is in only his third game. He comes across as a thinking bowler who isn’t deterred by batters looking to take him on. Getting rid of that fear, experienced bowlers will tell you, is half the battle won. He deceived Padikkal in flight and did him in with his drift as he only managed to skew a lofted hit to long-off in the fifth.Soon after, Kartikeya got into the act. A left-arm all-variety bowler who slips in an excellent wrong’un, he has a deceptive carrom ball along with his other bag of tricks – including the traditional left-arm orthodox, a seam-up and a split-finger knuckleball – and he impressed with his accuracy and control straightaway, delivering three straight overs in which he conceded just one boundary and dismissed Sanju Samson second ball. A break-free shot over point led to a simple catch for David at deep point.Kumar Kartikeya, on his Mumbai Indians debut, returned 1 for 19•BCCI

Buttler tees off, finallyA combination of losing Samson and playing disciplined spinners on a slow surface that forced Royals to recalibrate meant Buttler struck at less than 100 for much of his knock. For a period of 32 balls between overs 9.1 and 14.4, Royals were denied a boundary. Daryl Mitchell too struggled to up the pace.Buttler was on 43 off 46 with six overs left. And he found his release in the following over when he peppered the arc between long-off and deep midwicket to hit Shokeen for a sequence of 6,6,6,6. The fifth was a dot and the sixth was cleverly bowled from around the stumps and away from his hitting arc. Buttler picked out long-off and was out for a 52-ball 67. With Riyan Parag also falling quickly, Royals needed one of their lower-order batters to finish things off. R Ashwin polished off the innings with a neat eight-ball 21 as Royals posted 158.Rohit, Kishan fall; Surya steadyA hint of grip and bounce was enough for Ashwin to make an early entry with the ball as Rohit’s sweep found square leg in the third over. Kishan opened his scoring with an upper cut for six, and for a while it looked as if the lost touch and timing that had eluded him for much of the season was coming back. But he was a victim of over-aggression, as an attempt to take on Trent Boult with the short ball led to him top-edging a pull to Samson in the sixth.Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma knuckled down and kept the scorecard chugging along. Suryakumar swept the spinners off their lengths, brought out his wrists against pace and kept picking boundaries every time there was a semblance of pressure on the batters. The shot of the evening – a swat from nearly a seventh-stump Ashwin delivery – to clear wide long-on raised his half-century. At that point, Mumbai needed 46 from 36.David, Sams seal itBut there was a small twist. Both Suryakumar and Varma fell looking for big hits, leaving Mumbai with a few nervy moments. David brought out his big-hitting game against spin and was aided with some luck along the way as he raced down the runs. But things got a little nervier when Kieron Pollard fell with the side needing 4 off 5. Sams then biffed the first ball into the stands to seal Mumbai’s win with four balls to spare.

Former India head coach agrees with Daniel Vettori that Kohli is coping with captaincy withdrawal

Nagraj Gollapudi19-May-20226:02

Shastri: Difficult for an all-format player to maintain form, hunger and passion

Ravi Shastri and Daniel Vettori believe that Virat Kohli needs a break, not because of his batting form, but to recharge himself mentally.Both ESPNcricinfo experts agree that having been “consumed” for seven years leading India and also being their best batter for several years across all formats, Kohli is still coming to terms with transitioning into the background as one of the players.Vettori and Shastri were reacting to Kohli’s statement about him intending to talk to the Indian team management, led by head coach Rahul Dravid, about taking a break in the near future and why he felt that was a “healthy” option. Kohli made those remarks in his chat with Star Sports, which was aired on Thursday.In the chat, Kohli also spoke to former India team-mate Harbhajan Singh. Kohli said he was going through one of the “happy” phases of his career and was totally unperturbed by his batting struggles, which has seen him clock three golden ducks this IPL and not score a century since November 2019. Kohli stressed there was nothing wrong with his batting, but he was keen to take a break to refresh himself.Vettori, who worked with Kohli for several years while serving as head coach at Royal Challengers Bangalore, said the senior Indian batter might be experiencing withdrawal symptoms from captaincy.”I don’t associate his lack of form with a mental break,” Vettori said on the T20 Time Out on Thursday. “He is working hard and he knows exactly what he needs to do with his game. We underestimate how consuming captaincy is and for a player who was seven years in the job, in all three formats, who meant so much to the team from a batting perspective, from an emotional perspective, from the leadership perspective and the captaincy. That’s overwhelming.”Vettori, himself a former international captain for New Zealand, admitted he “hated” being at the helm as it was a 24×7 job.”You don’t realise how consuming it is when you are in it and as soon as you are out of it, it almost estranges you completely,” Vettori said. “You are gone from talking to Ravi 24×7 to potentially no one consulting for a lot of things. So you actually get left in the background a little bit because the team moves on and the captain-coach relationship starts again with other people. So it’s a funny time.”A break could be the best thing, who knows, but Virat knows himself so well that he’ll understand exactly what he requires and what he needs to get himself back to his best.”Shastri, who was the head coach for the majority of Kohli’s captaincy reign, which ended earlier this year, agreed completely with Vettori.Virat Kohli has not scored a century in any format since November 2019•BCCI”The fact that suddenly there is no one asking him for a press conference, who should play, who should not play, this time is the team meeting, you got to be there. You suddenly go to the other end of the spectrum, so it is very difficult to handle that for any human being, leave alone Virat Kohli.”So, it’s not a question of him batting badly. He must be ticking all the boxes in the nets, striking it beautifully. (But) mental fatigue creeps in, that’s the time you need a little bit of a break to just rejuvenate, to recharge the batteries and come back refreshed. It’s not a break because of form like Danny mentioned. It’s nothing to do with it. It’s just that little bit of overload that he’s had over the last few years – for that reason give him a break.”Shastri reckoned it would not surprise him if the Indian selectors were to rest senior players like Kohli, Indian captain Rohit Sharma and few other all-format players for the five-match T20I series at home against South Africa in June, only to have them fresh for the England tour comprising a one-off Test and a six-match white ball series.Shastri agreed that players like Kohli would do well and need such short breaks more frequently to keep “optimum form.””Absolutely no question about it,” Shastri said when asked if managing the workloads of key senior players was necessary. “Very difficult for a player to maintain optimum form, hunger, that passion if you are going to play all three formats constantly. And he is the one player amongst all Indian players who has done exactly that.”

دعا أيمن يونس، نجم الزمالك الأسبق وعضو لجنة الكرة السابق، إلى اتخاذ خطوات احترافية واضحة لتطوير منظومة كرة القدم داخل نادي الزمالك، مشددًا على أهمية تأسيس شركة كرة قدم يقودها عناصر تمتلك الخبرة والكفاءة في العمل الإداري والرياضي.

وكتب أيمن يونس عبر حسابه الرسمي على منصة “إكس”: “الأهم لازم شركة كره قدم بقيادة الجنايني ومعاه حازم وميدو، دي البداية الصح، أو دي البداية المحترفة المطلوبة والأهم لتطوير منظومة كره القدم في نادي الزمالك”.

وأشار إلى ضرورة البدء بتطوير الهيكل الإداري أولًا قبل النظر إلى احتياجات الفريق داخل الملعب، مضيفًا: “بعد كده شوفوا احتياجات الفريق الفنية من اللاعبين.. لازم منظومة إداريه محترفة.. بالتوفيق لكل المسؤلين لصناعة مستقبل أقوى وأفضل”.

طالع أيضًا | مرتضى منصور يتقدم ببلاغات للنائب العام ضد نائب الزمالك وثنائي إعلامي

وتأتي تصريحات يونس بالتزامن مع تحركات لجنة التخطيط في الزمالك بقيادة حسين لبيب وعمرو الجنايني وحازم إمام وأحمد حسام ميدو، من أجل وضع أسس واضحة لهيكلة الفريق الأول وتجهيزه للموسم الجديد، بعد فترة من التراجع الفني والإداري أثرت على نتائج الفريق في مختلف البطولات.

وتُعد فكرة تأسيس شركة كرة القدم واحدة من أهم الخطوات التي نص عليها قانون الرياضة المصري الجديد، بهدف تحويل الأندية إلى كيانات اقتصادية مستقلة تحقق الاستدامة المالية وتدار بشكل احترافي يواكب المعايير الدولية.

الاهم لازم شركه كره قدم بقياده الجنايني ومعاه حازم وميدو..دي البدايه الصح.او دي البدايه المحترفه المطلوبه والاهم لتطوير منظومه كره القدم في نادي الزمالك..بعد كده شوفوا احتياجات الفريق الفنيه من اللاعبين..لازم منظومه اداريه محترفه…بالتوفيق لكل المسؤلين لصناعه مستقبل اقوي و أفضل

— Ayman Younis. ايمن يونس (@AymanYounis) April 20, 2025

Since taking over as manager at Newcastle United, Eddie Howe has had the luxury of spending hundreds of millions of pounds. Of course, that is because of their takeover in 2021, when Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund bought the majority stake in the club.

It is fair to say that the new owners at St James’ Park have not been afraid to splash the cash when they need to. Last summer, they were held back by the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules so did not spend much. However, in recent years, the likes of Sandro Tonali, Bruno Guimaraes and Anthony Gordon have all joined for a sizeable fee.

The Magpies’ record signing is Alexander Isak, but he has been linked with a move away from the club recently.

Alexander Isak’s potential move away

Swedish striker Isak has been sensational since his club record £63m move to St James’ Park, from Spanish outfit Real Sociedad. The striker has 46 goals and nine assists in 85 games for the club in all competitions.

He has been a consistent goalscorer in the Premier League, despite struggling with injuries throughout his Magpies career. He has already hit double figures for the 2024/25 season, having only played 15 games.

Isak PL record by season

Stat

2022/23

2023/24

2024/25

Games

22

30

15

Minutes

1526

2266

1203

Goals

10

21

10

Assists

2

2

4

Stats from Transfermarkt

Despite having scored two goals in a game eight times, the 25-year-old had never managed to score a Magpies hat trick. However, that all changed last weekend after he smashed three goals past Ipswich Town in a 4-0 win, a phenomenal performance.

However, things are perhaps not as good as they might seem. According to Spanish reports, the deadly centre-forward is a target for French giants Paris Saint-Germain. He has been ‘singled out’ by PSG boss Luis Enrique as a potential signing. It could cost around £83m to sign him.

Should Isak leave, the Magpies are in danger of repeating a sale from the 1990s that proved to be a costly error.

The transfer repeat Newcastle will hope to avoid

There are few players as underrated in Premier League football than Andy Cole. He scored 187 Premier League goals, the fourth most in the competition’s history. Incredibly, only one of those strikes was a penalty.

For the Magpies, Cole was devastating. He played just three seasons at the club, but managed to score 68 goals and grab 23 assists in 84 appearances. In the 1993/94 season, he bagged 34 goals in 40 Premier League appearances.

It was off the back of this unstoppable form that Manchester United paid a British record fee of £8.6m. According to The Transfer Index, that would be a jaw-dropping £123m in today’s money, an extraordinary fee with inflation.

It is fair to say that Cole’s move to Old Trafford paid off for him. He went on to play 275 games for the club, scoring 121 goals and grabbing 44 assists in that time. He also won five Premier League titles and was a crucial part of the treble-winning side in 1998/99.

Despite the money they received, the Magpies surely regretted selling their striker. Although they signed Alan Shearer as his replacement, those two could have formed a clinical partnership.

Cole could have also been a big difference-maker in their hunt for the Premier League title. Newcastle finished second twice, in 1995/96 and 1996/97, but had they kept the striker he could have been the man to give them the edge and win the league.

This is simply not a mistake that Newcastle can make with Isak. The money is lucrative, and perhaps hard to turn down. However, they are building a project, with ambitions to win the Premier League, as Amanda Staveley explained after the takeover in 2021.

The Swedish striker could be the key force behind that. Finding someone as clinical in front of goal as Isak is a rarity for Newcastle. They are once-in-a-generation strikers, the likes of Cole and Shearer.

This is not to say the Swede will hit these heights, but his numbers at this stage are undeniable, and he could be the man to take them to the top. Selling Isak could be a huge mistake for the Magpies, and they might well lose their best hope of finally lifting a Premier League title, just like they did when Cole left all those years ago.

Related Newcastle in pole position to sign £25m ace who could be the new Hall

Newcastle have crafted a mini-resurgence but need to get active in the January transfer window.

Posts ByAngus Sinclair Dec 23, 2024

The supremely talented Barcelona teenager helped La Roja see off a spirited Oranje team to book their place in the semi-finals

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Article continues below

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Spain go through to Nations League semi-finalsBeat Netherlands on penalties after 5-5 aggregate drawOyarzabal sparkles in normal time as Pedri wins shootoutFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱Getty Images SportTELL ME MORE

Spain and Netherlands drew 2-2 in the first leg of their quarter-final tie at De Kuip after Mikel Merino scored in injury time to rescue the defending Nations League champions.

La Roja started the second leg off in a strong fashion as they dominated possession before Mikel Oyarzabal was fouled in the box by Jan Paul van Hecke. The Real Sociedad star slotted the penalty past Bart Verbruggen to put Spain ahead on aggregate. Nico Williams then had two gilt-edge chances to double Spain's lead but Verbruggen's sublime saves kept the game 1-0 at half-time.

It was the Netherlands who started all guns blazing in the second half as Unai Simon was called into action from a Justin Kluivert shot, keeping it out brilliantly. Memphis Depay then emulated Oyarzabal to win a penalty and score it to bring Ronald Koeman's side level on aggregate.

However, Spain regained control soon after Depay's equaliser and a sensational run from Williams resulted in an assist for Oyarzabal's second goal. However, La Roja were caught on their heels just 10 minutes later as Xavi Simon found debutant Ian Maatsen, who smashed the ball home to take the game to extra-time with the scoreline locked at 4-4 on aggregate.

The first half of extra time saw a very cagey yet cautious approach from both sides. However, Spain took the lead yet again thanks to a moment of magic from Lamine Yamal, who curled the ball into the far corner after a delightful touch to bring down Dean Huijsen's long ball in behind. The Netherlands kept fighting, though, and got their reward when Xavi Simons won a penalty and converted it to force a shootout.

Spain eventually won the penalty shootout 5-4 after six takes each. The shootout went to sudden death after Noa Lang and Yamal missed their respective spot kicks before Donyell Malen missed for the Netherlands, which allowed Pedri to score the winner for La Roja.

AdvertisementGetty Images SportTHE MVP

Alvaro Morata missed the first leg against the Netherlands due to illness, and while the Spain captain was back in the squad, he was only fit enough to make the bench for Luis de la Fuente's side. As such, Oyarzabal was trusted yet again to start as a makeshift No.9. The Real Sociedad star delivered in an unnatural role as he scored a penalty and produced a poacher's finish to give La Roja the lead for the second time on the night before he was taken off for Ferran Torres.

Getty Images SportTHE BIG LOSER

De La Fuente's decision to bench Pedri for the second leg raised quite a few eyebrows as the Barcelona midfielder has been in sensational form. La Roja struggled to find the key ball at the end of their long spells of possession on multiple occasions. However, those issues seemed to mitigate themselves as soon as Pedri was brought on as a second-half substitute and began pulling the strings for Spain in attack.

WHAT COMES NEXT?

Spain have now set up a showdown against 2021 Nations League winners France, who beat Croatia on penalties to reach the semi-finals of this year's tournament. The two sides will face off on June 4 in either Turin or Munich.

MatériaMais Notícias

Sem jogos no calendário, o Ceará permanece a todo vapor de olho na estreia da Copa Sul-Americana, quando a equipe mede forças com o Independiente-ARG.

– VEJA A TABELA DA SÉRIE A DO BRASILEIRÃO

No CT de Porangabuçu, o Alvinegro é comandado por Dorival Junior que realiza treinos diários para implementar seu esquema de jogo ao elenco.

Além da parte tática, a comissão técnica aproveita o período sem jogos para melhorar o condicionamento físico dos atletas.

A partir da próxima terça-feira, o calendário do Ceará fica agitado com as disputas da Copa do Brasil, Copa Sul-Americana e Campeonato Brasileiro.

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Perhaps it was for the best that the two thousand schoolchildren invited to watch today’s cricket at Emirates Old Trafford had gone home by three o’clock. They might well have been puzzled why a succession of Lancashire players were walking out to the middle of the lovely green field with bats when it seemed inevitable that they would have to walk back again only a few minutes later having not used them. After all, the other team’s batters had stayed there for simply ages in the morning and had kept hitting that hard ball very hard indeed.As tea-time summaries go, it would not have been too shabby. More experienced, although not necessarily more intelligent, observers might have paid tributes to the powerful striking of Essex’s Shane Snater before offering even warmer compliments to the new-ball bowling of Sam Cook and Jamie Porter, whose combined figures at tea read: 13-3-24-4. Neither had conceded a boundary or bowled a mediocre delivery. Before the Essex pair got to work, we thought this was a flattish pitch. It still is, but with Lancashire 32 for 5 in reply to Essex’s 391, the value of the new ball was being extolled even as the evening rain set in.Yet the child’s assessment is just as valid and at the risk of giving that drum a bit more hammer, the best thing to happen at Old Trafford today was that primary-school pupils watched the morning’s cricket. I say “watched” but a fair few probably divided their attention between Snater, their phones and their friends. Nevertheless, Matt Parkinson was mobbed during a break for rain and Hasan Ali happily acknowledged the hundreds of youngsters who were waving to him from the Brian Statham End.If one per cent of those enjoying their first taste of the game today have been inspired to take their interest further at a local club, the annual Schools Open Day has been a success and Lancashire’s Cricket Foundation should be warmly applauded for laying it on. Moreover, the news that Kings Rise Academy had joined with Warwickshire’s Cricket Board to deliver the largest cricket lesson in history to 650 children aged 4-11 at Edgbaston offered a further reminder of the valuable work done by the first-class counties that rarely gets much notice.That said, perhaps Dane Vilas’s players took the educational theme a little too far. “Could have done better” might have been the Old Trafford coaches’ assessment on the end of Essex’s innings, and “Couldn’t have done worse” their damning view on the start of Lancashire’s reply.Dane Vilas leads Lancashire through a guard of schoolchildren on the second day at Old Trafford•Getty Images

Certainly the visitors had the better of a rain-interrupted first session, scoring 61 runs in 12 overs for the loss of Dan Lawrence. However, it wasn’t much of a morning for Lawrence either. In addition to being caught at midwicket by James Anderson off Luke Wood for 120, he suffered a recurrence of the hamstring injury that had prevented him either playing for Essex or being selected for England.Yet by the time Lawrence limped away from this game and towards the land of scans and specialists, Snater was already coping easily with the home attack. If Tom Bailey or Luke Wood pitched the ball up Essex’s bowling all-rounder – it’s hardly a flattering term on this evidence – hit through the line. When they dug it in, he occasionally heaved it away and even collected a six over the long-stop boundary when a top edge flew many yards above Phil Salt’s head.Snater continued in similar fashion after lunch and was only seven short of the career-best 79 he made against Northamptonshire last month when he was nailed plumb in front by a good ball from Hasan. Josh Bohannon’s magnificent pick-up and direct hit from midwicket ran out Porter and thereby ended the innings three balls later but Snater’s innings had given Essex the psychological advantage.Less than an hour later, such abstract superiority had been made flesh and dwelt amongst us. Its conduits were Cook and Porter, whose use of the new ball was sixpence and spit away from perfect. Keaton Jennings came half forward to Cook in the fifth over; Peter Hartley didn’t need to think for long. Bohannon played across the line to Porter in the eighth and Steve O’Shaughnessy was similarly swift. (Thus one alumnus of Bolton’s Harper Green High School sent a fellow alumnus on his way.) Steven Croft edged the next ball low to Alastair Cook’s left at first slip. It was eminently droppable but Cook has caught those in bigger matches than this. 8 for 3.While partners came and went, Luke Wells had been defending grimly and notching singles plus a luxurious two. Then he played no shot to a ball from Cook that tailed back in. Snater replaced Porter and Vilas tried to take the bat away from his fourth ball. Instead, he inside-edged it onto the stumps. Simon Harmer came on to bowl a bit of off-spin from the Brian Statham End and Salt hit him for the first boundaries of the innings, thus sparking congas in the 1864 Suite. Well, it was either that or the case of Gewurztraminer.Salt and Wood strolled in for tea with Lancashire’s coaches perhaps reflecting that this might not have been the time to go into a game a batsman light. The umpires came in, went out and immediately came in again, not to return until the morrow. There were 46 overs to be bowled and they have trod the path to dusty death. But Essex rule the table and might even consider this game child’s play. But cricket is not that important. Either way, they’ll be whooping it up in Wormingford tonight.

Liverpool are now ready to make an offer in the region of £54m for an “unbelievable” striker, according to a report.

Liverpool stall at the top of the table

The Reds are sitting pretty at the top of the Premier League table, but following the 2-2 draw against Fulham at Anfield, Arne Slot may feel he needs to strengthen his squad in January to ensure his side have the best possible chance of winning the title.

Andy Robertson has not been at his best this season, and Daily Mail reporter Lewis Steele has revealed that Slot is looking at the likes of AFC Bournemouth’s Milos Kerkez and Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Rayan Ait-Nouri to provide competition at left-back.

With Mohamed Salah still yet to sign a new contract to extend his stay at Anfield, potential replacements are still being looked at, and talks have now been opened with Barcelona’s Raphinha, who could be a high-profile signing for the Reds.

Liverpool negotiating with "complete" £100m player ready to move in 2025

He could be an upgrade on Darwin Nunez.

ByTom Cunningham Dec 16, 2024

PSV Eindhoven’s Johan Bakayoko is another name on Liverpool’s list of attacking targets, and the winger is a player Slot will already know very well, given his time in charge of fellow Eredivisie side Feyenoord.

Not only is Slot looking at new wide options, but he is clearly also keen on signing a new striker, having opened talks with Brighton & Hove Albion’s Joao Pedro over a potential summer move.

Liverpool ready to make offer for Joao Pedro

Now, there has been a new update on the Reds’ pursuit of the forward, with Caught Offside reporting they are now ready to make an offer of €55m – €65m (£46m – £54m). Arsenal and Manchester City are also interested in signing the 23-year-old, who is attracting the attention of some of the Premier League’s top clubs as a result of his performances for Brighton this season.

Liverpool are said to have prioritised the signing of the Brazilian, and they could start talks with Brighton over the intricacies of the deal as early as January. The Seagulls have set a price tag of £60m for their star player, who is open to leaving the club in order to play in the Champions League. Former Brighton boss Roberto De Zerbi was full of praise for the Brazil international during his time with the club.

Since then, the former Watford man has also received plaudits from Brighton captain Lewis Dunk, who described him as “unbelievable” at the beginning of last season.

The Brighton star’s year-on-year development is evidenced by his ever-improving record in front of goal since first emerging as a consistent first-team player for Watford in the 2020-21 campaign.

Season

League appearances

Goals

Assists

2020-21

38 (Championship)

9

2

2021-22

28 (Premier League)

3

1

2022-23

35 (Championship)

11

4

2023-24

31 (Premier League)

9

3

2024-25

10 (Premier League)

4

3

Joao Pedro has been in red-hot form so far this season, so it is clear to see why he is attracting the attention of the Premier League’s top clubs, and at 23-years-old he could be a fantastic long-term signing to strengthen Slot’s front three.

Ackermann has struggled with the bat in 2022 but remains T20 skipper

ESPNcricinfo staff18-May-2022

Callum Parkinson has taken over from Colin Ackermann as Leicestershire’s captain for the County Championship.Ackermann has made just 168 runs across 10 innings this summer and has been replaced as four-day captain, though will continue in his role as T20 captain.Parkinson was Leicestershire’s leading wicket-taker in 2021 and has chipped in with the bat from the lower order this year; only openers Hassan Azad and Sam Evans have scored more runs than him in 2022.Related

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“It is a huge honour to be appointed four-day captain and I’m incredibly grateful to the club for placing that faith in me,” Parkinson said. “Personally, I feel I have matured massively over recent seasons and developed into a player that can help guide the club to success.”I have learned so much from Colin during my time as vice-captain. I will continue to lean on him for advice, whilst implementing my own ideas and direction to win matches for Leicestershire.”Claude Henderson, Leicestershire’s director of cricket, said: “Firstly, we want to thank Ackers for leading the team with great pride and honour throughout his time as four-day captain. He did a fantastic job and will continue to be a massive player for Leicestershire moving forward, where he will remain as our T20 captain.”We have decided that now is the right time for a change and recognised Callum’s qualities are ideally suited to leading the team in four-day cricket for the remainder of the season. Callum has been an inspiring voice in the changing room, and he commands huge respect through the way he approaches his cricket. We have full belief that he is the right man to take up the role.”Lewis Hill will continue as 50-over captain during the Royal London Cup.