All posts by h716a5.icu

The Athletic’s Gregg Evans has dropped an Aston Villa transfer update on Anwar El Ghazi’s future at the club.

What’s the story?

Speaking on The Athletic’s 1874 podcast, he said: “El Ghazi’s an interesting one because I think, in an ideal world, Villa would probably have tried to move him on – if they’d have got a taker for him.

“And maybe this is Villa not being proactive enough and finding somebody who could have taken him earlier on in the window.

“Yeah, he came in and served a purpose early in the season, but he’s a player that’s going to be struggling to feature, I think, now. I don’t think he’s going to get many Premier League minutes. He’ll only get minutes if there are injuries elsewhere. I don’t think he’s going to be a happy bunny because he’s not gonna be playing enough.”

Should’ve sold him

Amid all the success Villa enjoyed in bringing players into the club, not cashing in on El Ghazi may be one of the only blotches in their book in terms of their summer transfer window.

Reports had indicated that the Midlands club were hoping to receive around £17m for him, with Serie A side AS Roma very interested in taking him to Italy.

In the end, Villa chose not to let El Ghazi go, and having also signed the likes of Leon Bailey and Emi Buendia who predominantly play out wide, the Dutchman now faces far more competition for places at Villa Park.

If they had recouped some of that outlay from selling El Ghazi, Villa could potentially have reinvested the money into a more pressing need, like central midfield.

Villa fans might be fuming at Evans’ update on the 26-year-old Dutch international.

Meanwhile, Villa may already have their next Ezri Konsa…

Former Zimbabwe batsman Murray Goodwin has cut ties with the ICL in order to commit himself solely for county duty with Sussex

Cricinfo staff03-Jun-2009Former Zimbabwe batsman Murray Goodwin has cut ties with the ICL in order to commit himself solely for county duty with Sussex. Goodwin, who has plied his trade across the world, with his most success coming at Sussex, felt it was time to commit to official cricket.”It’s been a busy year with the benefit year [2009, with Sussex] going on, but a very enjoyable one,” said Goodwin. “It’s the right move to resign my ICL contract and I want to give Sussex every opportunity of progressing as far as we can in cricket.”Goodwin played eight matches for the Ahmedabad Rockets in the last season of the unofficial ICL. He top-scored with 270 runs at 45.00 with four half-centuries.Counties with ICL-contracted players have been banned from playing in the Champions League should they qualify by winning their national competition. If Sussex qualify for the lucrative Twenty20 tournament, set to start in October, Goowin will not be allowed to participate. He will be eligible to play in the competition in 2010.Goodwin played 19 Tests between 1998 and 2000 and was one of the first in the country to turn his back on international cricket.

Uncertainty surrounding Shoaib Akhtar’s match fitness has led to his exclusion from the squad for the ODI series against Sri Lanka

Cricinfo staff18-Jul-2009Shoaib Akhtar will not be considered for the upcoming ODI series against Sri Lanka, because of the uncertainty surrounding his match fitness, Wasim Bari, the PCB director for human resources and administration, has said. “Without knowing his match fitness how can we select him for the series,” Bari was quoted as saying to . “Until he does not play a few matches we cannot be sure of his match fitness.”However, Shoaib still stands a chance of being selected for the squad for the Champions Trophy to be held in South Africa later in the year. The PCB is to finalise its preliminary list of 30 players for the tournament by July 23. “If he [Shoaib] is in the 30, his fitness can be assessed later on,” Bari said.Shoaib missed last month’s World Twenty20 due to a skin infection, and last represented Pakistan in the five-match ODI series against Australia two months ago. Last week, he insisted he was back at full fitness, and claimed that he had “three to four good years left in him”.Shoaib, 33, has not been a regular member of the Pakistan side of late due to disciplinary issues as well as injuries. He was involved in a tussle with the PCB after reportedly criticising the board publicly for not awarding him a central contract. Subsequently, upon his return to international cricket, he was dropped after a poor ODI series against Sri Lanka and again under-performed against Australia, taking three wickets with an average of over 50.

With Southampton having failed to win a game in the Premier League so far this season, it’s safe to say that Saints fans have not had a lot to shout about recently.

However, one shining light that supporters can take some pleasure in is the progression and development of full-back Kyle Walker-Peters since his arrival at the club.

Southampton originally signed Walker-Peters on a loan deal from fellow Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur in the 2020 January window before securing him on a permanent deal in the following summer transfer window for a fee of £12m.

In terms of his development and progression since joining Southampton, the defender’s market value in April 2020 was £7.2 million according to Transfermarkt. However, after making a total of 51 appearances for Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side across all competitions where he’s managed one goal and provided four assists along the way, Walker-Peters’ current market value has increased to £16.2m.

That’s a fine increase of 125% since penning terms on the south coast and suggests it was somewhat of a masterclass from the manager to sign him.

The rise in value shows just how well the 24-year-old, who is apparently earning a weekly wage of just over £23k-per-week according to Spotrac, has done since stepping away from Spurs and joining Southampton.

So far this season, the defender has made six appearances across all competitions where he has registered one goal and provided one assist, both coming in their 8-0 win over Newport County in the Carabao Cup.

For his five appearances in the Premier League, Walker-Peters has earned himself an overall season rating of 6.83/10 for his performances which puts him as Southampton’s third-highest rated player according to WhoScored.

Walker-Peters latest appearance for Southampton saw him play the entire 90 minutes in their recent 3-1 defeat at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea.

Despite the poor result, Walker-Peters still managed to earn himself a respectable match rating of 6.8/10 for his efforts against the west London club. He won six duels all while playing out of position on the left-hand side of defence. His rating, via SofaScore, made him the second-highest-rated outfield player on the day from a Saints perspective.

Moving forward, we see no reason why Hasenhuttl would consider not continue starting Walker-Peters throughout the remainder of their Premier League campaign. However, they will need to make sure they secure their first win of the season as soon as possible or else they could find themselves in real trouble.

In other news: Forget JWP: £12.5k-p/w Southampton gem who made just 6 passes let Ralph down v CFC – opinion

Kumar Sangakkara, Sri Lanka’s captain, has credited the team’s belief in itself as key to breaking a long run of home ODI series defeats

Sa'adi Thawfeeq10-Aug-2009Kumar Sangakkara, Sri Lanka’s captain, has credited the team’s belief in itself as key to breaking a long run of home ODI series defeats. Sri Lanka had lost their last three bilateral ODI series played at home to India (twice) and England but in the five-match contest against Pakistan, turned it around to record a 3-2 win.Significantly, it was their first home series wins against Pakistan in both forms of the game. “We competed every step of the way and we managed to hang in there till we got a break. In the Test series there were a couple of instances where Pakistan should have beaten us but we hung in there and believed that we could win,” said Sangakkara. “You set yourself small targets like you win 10 overs on a day or in a session and you keep working like that. But at the end of the day you got to trust each other in the team because that’s why you are there as a team.”You’ve got to trust the guy next to you who can do the best job he can for the side. That has been one of the changes I’ve seen, everyone’s believed that we could win.”Sri Lanka won the first three ODIs in Dambulla to seal the series but lost the last two under lights at the Premadasa. Having assured themselves of the series the hosts opened their options by trying to give every member of the squad exposure. “The only thing we did is we gave a lot of opportunities to the guys in the squad to try and see where they are at,” said Sangakkara. “We’ve got to get away from the excuses and complaints, as a team we got to make sure that whatever conditions we get whether we win the toss or lose it we approach the game in the same way. We tried to do that but we got a long way to go to make sure we do that consistently.”The best thing about our team is the guys learn. We’ve got to put these things [defeats] behind us but the best way you can do that is to make sure it doesn’t happen often.”Sangakkara said that the absence of experienced matchwinners like Chaminda Vaas and Muthiah Muralitharan had the likes of Thilan Thushara and Nuwan Kulasekara the opportunity to become the big names of Sri Lankan cricket. “This was a great team effort to win the series and although there were a few individual brilliances we’ve got to thank the bowlers for our success. It doesn’t matter whether you come into a series with a pedigree or whether you are new as long as you are enthusiastic, working hard, bowling in the right areas, bowling aggressively you have a great chance of making an impact,” he said. “Thushara and Kulasekara especially went about their business very professionally bowled good lines, good lengths and let the ball to the rest right throughout the Test and ODI series. That is one of the reasons why we won. Our bowling always stepped up when we wanted it to. We’ve just got to make sure our batting keeps up.”Despite his team’s double success Sangakkara felt there were quite a lot of areas they needed to improve on, such as building partnerships in the middle order and getting solid starts consistently. “Guys like Lahiru Thirimanne and Gihan Rupasinghe are all pushing for places in the side. Suraj Randiv and Sachitra Senanayake are pushing for spinners’ places. We have 44 ODI games before the World Cup and within that time we’ve got to keep the core solid and give as much opportunity as we can to new people so that they can settle and become part of the side and see whether they can contribute and step up to this level.”Pakistan coach Intikhab Alam said the two wins in a lost series would give his team a lot of confidence for the future of their cricket. “It’s very important to get the right combination. Once you get the right combination it works. We had a few injuries in the side but we had good bench strength so fortunately for bowlers like Naved-ul-Hasan and Ifthikar [Anjum], they got an opportunity and they made use of it.”Naved was named Man of the Match after destroying the Sri Lankan batting with 4 for 44. Anjum was instrumental in Pakistan’s first win on Friday taking 5 for 30.

Despite Liverpool having a total of five centre-backs in their current senior squad, the fact that Virgil van Dijk and Joel Matip have both hit the age of 30 shows that the Reds will need to be thinking about replacing the duo in the next few years.

One player who could well go on to become a regular in the senior Liverpool side at centre-back is 18-year-old Billy Koumetio.

Since joining Liverpool’s under-18 side back in January 2019 from Orleans’ U19s on a free transfer, the defender – who is currently valued at £450,000 by Transfermarkt – has made 21 appearances for the Reds’ under-18 side and 19 for the club’s under-23s.

Koumetio has also made one competitive appearance for Jurgen Klopp’s senior side, which came back in December 2020 during a 1-1 draw against FC Midtjylland.

So far this season, the teenager – who has been described as being a “big talent” by Klopp – has played 90 minutes in all but two Liverpool under-23 games across all competitions, showing just how much of a pivotal figure he is for the underage team.

As James Pearce discussed in an article for The Athletic prior to the 2020/21 campaign, Koumetio “really impressed Klopp” in pre-season and had senior Liverpool players “raving about how good he is”, which is no mean feat considering that the Reds’ first team had ran away with the Premier League with a mammoth 99-point tally just a few weeks earlier.

Looking ahead to the future, we feel that if he can continue playing for the U23s and potentially even have a loan spell out somewhere where he can play regular senior football, he could then go on to become an important figure for Liverpool.

Also, with Matip’s current contract set to expire in 2024, we feel that Koumetio could definitely be in and around the senior squad alongside the likes of Joe Gomez and Ibrahima Konate by then if he develops his career even further by the time the Cameroonian ends up leaving the club.

Additionally, with the 18-year-old managing to rack up 2.5 clearances per game throughout his appearances in the Football League Trophy this season, mirroring Matip’s 2.5 clearances per game in the Premier League, it shows just how similar the pair are in this regard.

Koumetio still has a way to go in his career until he gets to be a regular figure for the Reds’ first team, but if he keeps working hard, focuses on his game and lives up to the high billing of the more established players at Anfield, there’s every opportunity that he could go on to have a massive future at the Merseyside club.

In other news: 100% ground duels lost: Klopp surely worried about “exceptional” Liverpool gem on loan

Tottenham Hotspur are among the teams interested in signing Ebrima Darboe…

What’s the word?

That’s according to Italian outlet Tuttomercatoweb, who claim that both Spurs and Championship side Fulham are keen on securing the 20-year-old midfielder from AS Roma.

Despite being under contract until 2023, the Serie A outfit are trying to tie down the promising youngster to a new deal but interest from abroad has complicated matters.

Darboe’s representatives met with the Roma board to discuss a renewal in the summer and talks have remained ongoing since then.

Paratici masterclass

This could be another sign of Lilywhites sporting director Fabio Paratici stamping down his authority in north London as he looks to build for the future.

After arriving from Juventus, where he held a similar role and was responsible for many of their big-name signings over an 11-year span, the Italian has already overseen a number of additions.

These were all largely young talents with bags of potential, notably the likes of Bryan Gil and Pape Matar Sarr, who are hugely encouraging prospects.

A move for Darboe would certainly be of the same nature and it’s easy to see why given the praise he’s already received in his career – even more so considering he has only played six times in the Serie A.

His agent, Miriam Peruzzi,  described the Gambian as “an exceptional young man” and “a golden child” to calciomercato.com (via Roma Press).

Whilst the player himself once made an interesting revelation to Ultimo Uomo.

“Some called me Xavi, others Messi,” the 19-year-old claimed. And this was down to his agility on the ball. Darboe added: “Yes because he always made that movement. And then I also played two or three touches. This is my style of play.”

One huge inspiring appearance last season came against arch-rivals Lazio, where he was a major influence at the base of the engine room. He recorded the second-highest number of tackles (three) and registered a 95.6% passing accuracy, via WhoScored.

Primarily a defensive midfielder, Darboe would be a very interesting option for Spurs’ long-term future, so if Paratici can secure his services from Jose Mourinho’s grasp, then he could deliver another masterclass in the transfer market.

AND in other news, Nuno Santo could be eyeing his next Ruben Neves at Spurs…

West Brom took to Twitter on Thursday to wish former striker Mbaye Diagne a happy birthday.

And a number of Baggies fans were quick to flock to the official post, with some even throwing in the suggestion of bringing him back to The Hawthorns in the New Year.

West Brom signed the Senegal international back in January on loan for the rest of the season with an option to buy.

Unfortunately, Diagne couldn’t prevent the Baggies from returning straight back to the Championship, scoring three times in 16 appearances, so the permanent clause wasn’t activated.

He’s now back with Galatasaray, where he has found the back of the net on three occasions in 14 games, whereas West Brom, now managed by Valerien Ismael, sit third in the second tier.

Baggies fans react

West Brom’s post regarding Diagne caught the attention of these Baggies supporters, with a selection of responses available to view below, where one fan called him a ‘monster’ – the 6 foot 4 target man did win over three aerial duels per game as a Baggie after all…

“Get him in Jan lads could do with a proper target man”

Credit: @harryrestallwba

“Would be unreal if he could stay onside”

Credit: @KipreSun

“What a monster! we need someone like him up top”

Credit: @KeithSu51736990

“Sign him”

Credit: @wbajenson_

“Love this guy one of my all time favourites what a legend even though he wasn’t here for long, come home!!”

Credit: @WBAHazzaFT

“Bring him back”

Credit: @wbabrad

There’s nothing quite like a pitch imbroglio to stir the passions, and even moreso when that strip is playing host to an Ashes decider

Alex Brown at The Oval21-Aug-2009There’s nothing quite like a pitch imbroglio to stir the passions, and even more so when that strip is playing host to an Ashes decider. Truth be told, Australia’s dramatic second innings stagger was more attributable to England’s disciplined bowling performance than a dodgy deck, but with tensions high and an urn on the line, the parched Oval wicket emerged as a major discussion point after the second day’s play.Michael Holding, Shane Warne, Scyld Berry and Peter Roebuck all waded into the pitch debate on Friday, variously describing the surface as over-baked, disappointing and even unethical. After stumps on the first day, Ian Bell commented that the surface played like a day three strip; a view shared by Stuart Broad who, on Friday, felt the footmarks, dust and general scarring were more akin to a fourth day wicket.At best, The Oval staff erred in their predictions of a traditional, pacey pitch and at worst they were deceptive. A hot, dry week in London leading up to the Ashes decider no doubt contributed to the bone-dry centre strip, but whether groundstaff harboured an underlying desire to produce a result wicket, as has been alleged in some quarters, is unclear.To the credit of the Australians, no attempt was made to use the abrasive wicket as an excuse for Friday’s meek capitulation at the hands of Broad and Graeme Swann. Simon Katich, comfortably Australia’s best batsman with a dogged 50, directed praise towards England’s attack, rather than vitriol towards The Oval’s groundstaff, when assessing the second day’s play.”I guess there will be a fair bit said about that, but the bottom line is England bowled well today and unfortunately we couldn’t stop the momentum,” Katich said. “A fair bit of credit deserves to go to Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann. The rest of the guys bowled well, but they obviously got the rewards. They deserve a bit of credit rather than talking about the wicket.”There weren’t a lot of balls that disturbed the surface. There were a few, you could see them on the slow-mos, but I think the bottom line is England got the momentum and after the initial partnership we had we just couldn’t string another one together and stop that momentum. It only takes one partnership to stop that and unfortunately that was just the way the day panned out. I think the English bowlers deserve some credit. Both teams are playing on the same wicket.”There is little doubt that The Oval wicket deceived both the Australian and English camps prior to the fifth Test. The Australians would dearly love to be throwing the ball Nathan Hauritz’s way from Saturday morning, while England would presumably have switched Steve Harmison for Monty Panesar if given another chance.But to blame the pitch for Australia’s woes is to miss the point. The tourists surrendered much of their Headingley advantage with an indisciplined first innings bowling performance at The Oval that yielded 38 extras and 44 boundaries. England, by contrast, never allowed the Australian batsmen a moment of respite on Friday, as reflected in the seven extras and 25 boundaries they conceded.”What we found as a batting unit was you never felt particularly in on the wicket, it was quite hard to drive on and the ball popped on the odd occasion,” said Broad, England’s five-wicket hero. “Today it probably played a bit like a fourth day wicket but no ball particularly misbehaved. You can’t look at the wicket and blame the wicket”We found it quite hard to score on, to drive on. It was important to bring the stumps into play because it’s not easy to leave on length like a normal Oval wicket. It’s a bit more up and down. My plan was to really bring the stumps into play, and look for bowleds, lbws and caught at slips because it’s quite a slow wicket.”

There was no disguising the exhausted despondency with which Andrew Strauss addressed the media in Johannesburg on Wednesday, as England prepared to face the music against Sri Lanka

The Preview by Andrew Miller24-Sep-2009Match factsFriday, September 25, 2009
Start time 2:30 pm, 12:30 GMTAndrew Strauss’s team faces a tough initiation against Sri Lanka•AFPBig pictureAndrew Strauss is usually as affable as international captains come, but despite his upbeat sentiments, there was no disguising the exhausted despondency with which he addressed the media in Johannesburg on Wednesday, as England prepared to face the music in a one-day competition that has humiliation stamped all over it. True, they arrive in the country boasting a winning streak of one match, after denying Australia a 7-0 whitewash in the final ODI of the English summer on Sunday, but even in that irrelevant face-saver, they still shipped six wickets chasing 177.And now, with respect to an Australian side that may be the reigning Champions Trophy champions but are still in an undeniable rebuilding phase, England prepare to face a team that really knows how to play one-day cricket. Sri Lanka simply hammered the much-fancied tournament hosts, South Africa, in the opening match on Tuesday. Tillakaratne Dilshan’s majestic hundred put the match out of reach, as the wiles of Ajantha Mendis proved too canny to allow a 300-plus target to be pursued with any confidence – even for a team stacked with the sort of power-players that England can only dream of.In the absence of Kevin Pietersen (who has scored two of England’s three ODI hundreds since January 2008 – a tally that even Scotland has surpassed) and latterly Andrew Flintoff and even Luke Wright, England lack batsmen who can break the shackles, and raise the tempo. Strauss has been batting like a dream all summer, but even at his most imperious, he is still a man for whom an 80.00 strike-rate is a pacey tempo – hence his unfortunate habit during the Australia ODIs of getting out when well set, usually while attempting a reverse-sweep or similar, shots that his colleagues ought to have been producing while he continued to anchor the innings.Strange results are possible in 50-over cricket – let’s not forget, when England were last humiliated by Australia in a one-day campaign, in Australia in 2006-07, they somehow emerged with the CB Series trophy in their luggage, after Paul Collingwood stitched together back-to-back victories in the finals. But they’ve never yet won an ICC global event, and they’ve rarely looked less ready to break that habit. The rarefied atmosphere of the Highveld is no place for weary cricketers.Form guide (last five completed matches, most recent first)England – WLLLL
Sri Lanka – WLWWL
Team newsWith so many key players injured, and too many of the current incumbents out of form, it’s hard to know how England can hope to improve on their home form. Ravi Bopara and Owais Shah have been woefully short of confidence and one of that pair could well make way to enable England to field an extra seamer – which could well be their one trump card, having seen how dramatically South Africa’s early-season wickets have zipped around so far. Whether Tim Bresnan ousts Graham Onions depends on how much England value his extra batting abilities.England (possible): 1 Andrew Strauss (capt), 2 Joe Denly, 3 Owais Shah, 4 Paul Collingwood, 5 Matt Prior (wk), 6 Eoin Morgan, 7 Stuart Broad, 8 Graeme Swann, 9 Tim Bresnan, 10 Ryan Sidebottom, 11 James Anderson.Sri Lanka have very little to improve upon. Sanath Jayasuriya remains a concern at the top of the order, but he’ll play on until he drops, while the tireless Muttiah Muralitharan never ceases to be a menace. Lasith Malinga’s round-arm hostility will be a familiar but awkward challenge for Joe Denly, who will have gained a valuable sighter of his unorthodox action in the Kent nets.Sri Lanka (probable) 1 Sanath Jayasuriya, 2 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 3 Kumar Sangakkara (capt/wk), 4 Mahela Jayawardene, 5 Thilina Kandamby, 6 Thilan Samaraweera, 7 Angelo Mathews, 8 Nuwan Kulasekara, 9 Muttiah Muralitharan, 10 Lasith Malinga, 11 Ajantha Mendis.Watch out for…An ICC event in South Africa was where James Anderson made his name way back in 2003, when he was the rising star of England’s attack, not least during a monumental performance against Pakistan in Cape Town when, in the immortal words of Cricinfo’s erstwhile scribe, Rob Smyth, he proved “so good under the lights, he ought to have been a moth”. If he can replicate the hostility that he showed in patches during the Ashes, and exploit the moist conditions that tend to prevail when the evening dew kicks in, he can cause a flap once again. Assuming England’s batsmen give him a total to defend, that is.With 71 wickets in 34 ODIs since his debut in April 2008, Ajantha Mendis has been one of the bowling sensations of the past 18 months, but England as yet have been denied an opportunity to sample his unique bag of tricks. A three-wicket haul in the opening game against South Africa confirmed that his carrom ball is flicking out nicely, and it remains to be seen how England manage to counter his wiles. Traditionally they’ve not been too impressive when it comes to figuring out mystery spinners …Pitch and conditions It’s early in the season on the Highveld, so who knows what to expect? So far, there has been evidence of helpful bowling conditions, unsurprisingly, and there has been plenty of rain in the high-altitude air as well.Stats and trivia Jayasuriya has scored 28 ODI hundreds in 439 matches spanning 18 years. The 11 players who took the field for England in the seventh ODI at Chester-le-Street have a grand total of nine hundreds between them. Paul Collingwood, the most-capped player by a distance, has notched up 166 appearances. Sri Lanka have won only one of the four ODIs they have played at the Wanderers, and that was to avoid a 6-0 whitewash in 2000-01. Their last visit, during the 2003 World Cup, culminated in a 183-run drubbing at the hands of the eventual runners-up, India England have played three matches at the venue, all against South Africa, and at the third attempt they recorded their first win, by 26 runs in a rain-affected contest in 2005, notable for Kevin Pietersen’s hostile homecoming.Quotes”It’s not a long tournament, a bit of a sprint and quite exciting to know if you play well in three games you’re in the semi-final. We can wipe the slate clean to be honest.”
.”As a side, I feel we are still firing at 75% maybe. So we have a lot of areas to improve, but the good thing is that we’re still winning.”