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It was a case of the same old for Arsenal in the Premier League on Saturday.

Mikel Arteta’s side took the lead against the visiting Bournemouth but ended up coming away empty-handed in a match that perfectly summed up their domestic campaign.

Moreover, while he provided an assist for Declan Rice, it was another uninspiring performance from club captain Martin Odegaard, who picked up a 5/10 match rating from GOAL’s Stephen Darwin and made a mess of marking Evanilson for the winning goal.

The Norwegian’s poor form is now a serious concern, but in positive news, the club might have found a solution in a player who could get the best back out of him, a player compared to Kylian Mbappé.

Arsenal's transfer news

While the transfer target in question is someone who could get the best back out of Odegaard in the coming seasons, the club have also been credited with interest in some players who could be seen as out-and-out replacements for the midfielder, like Florian Wirtz and Rayan Cherki.

Transfer Focus

Mega money deals, controversial moves and big-name flops. This is the home of transfer news and opinion across Football FanCast.

The former could reportedly be available for around £111m this summer, and while that is an outrageous sum of money, it might not be entirely unreasonable, as at just 22 years old, he has scored 16 goals and provided 13 assists in 43 games for Bayer Leverkusen this term.

Cherki, on the other hand, could cost far less at just £30m, and that does seem like a bargain considering the fact he’s already scored 12 goals and provided 19 assists in 42 games for Lyon so far this season.

However, if the Gunners want to get the best back out of their captain, they’d be better off acting on their interest in Eintrach Frankfurt star Hugo Ekitiké.

According to a recent report from journalist Christian Falk, as relayed by Caught Offside, Arsenal want the French forward this summer.

However, Liverpool are also said to want the free-scoring forward, and worse yet, the German side want around €100m for their star striker, which is about £85m.

It would be a complicated and costly transfer to get over the line, but given his immense ability, he is one worth fighting for, especially as he’d get the best back out of Odegaard, and he’s been compared to Mbappé.

Why Ekitiké could revive Odegaard

So, before we get into the reasons why Ekitiké could revive Odegaard, it’s worth examining this comparison to Mbappé and where it comes from.

It stems from journalist Graeme Bailey, who three years ago reported that there were some in France who thought that the young forward was set to become “the new Mbappé.”

Now, it’s fair to say he hasn’t quite hit the incredible heights of the Real Madrid man, but it’s not hard to see why people would make the comparison, as the Frankfurt gem is a young, exciting and pretty free-scoring forward who, according to The Athletic’s Alex Barker, likes to “drop into wider areas” and “can create a chance for someone from absolutely nothing.”

It’s these traits that make the comparison seem more reasonable, and then when you add them to his raw output, it’s not hard to see why he could help the Gunners captain get back to his best.

For example, this season alone has seen the 22-year-old monster score 22 goals and provide 11 assists in just 46 appearances, totalling 3466 minutes of action.

Ekitiké’s 24/25
Appearances	46
Minutes	3466′
Goals	22
Assists	11
Goal Involvements per Match	0.71
Minutes per Goal Involvement	105.03′
All Stats via Transfermarkt

In other words, the sensational striker is averaging a goal involvement every 1.39 games, or every 105.03 minutes.

With a forward that prolific and creative starting ahead of him, the former Real Madrid wonderkid would undoubtedly see his goal and assist tallies soar.

Moreover, with the Reims-born star liking to drop back and drift out wide, opposition defenders would have to spend more time trying to cover him off and mark him in games, thus allowing the Drammen-born maestro more space to create.

Ultimately, while he wouldn’t be cheap, Arsenal should do what they can to sign Ekitiké this summer, as not only would he make the team more dangerous, but he could also help get Odegaard back to his imperious best.

He'd make Saliba & Gabriel unplayable: Arsenal to make bid for £25m star

Arsenal are wasting no time in making reinforcements ahead of the summer transfer window.

By
Ethan Lamb

May 5, 2025

Nottingham Forest have now held talks with the agents of a £25 million winger who has also been contacted by Serie A champions Inter Milan, according to a new report.

Marinakis chasing attacking reinforcements ahead of busy summer

The Reds’ Champions League hopes suffered a blow over the weekend, as not only were they beaten by Everton but the teams around them won to close the gap in the race to finish in the top five. Forest are still in a good position to finish in a European spot, but Nuno Espirito Santo and co. are desperate for a Champions League berth given how long they have been in the top three this season.

Nottingham Forest and Marinakis ready to pay huge £75m to sign 25 y/o star

He’s been superb this season.

1 ByBarney Lane Apr 13, 2025

Securing a place in the Champions League could see owner Evangelos Marinakis unleash the purse strings and spend big, as he wants his club to continue their rise in England and abroad. It’s been recently reported that Forest are keen on signing Clayton, a striker who is currently on loan at Rio Ave from Vasco da Gama.

That loan is expected to turn into a permanent switch, and given Marinakis owns Rio Ave, it makes the Reds’ pursuit easier, as it could cost them as little as £9 million to get it completed.

As well as looking at Clayton, Nuno’s side are also keeping their options open, and it’s been reported that the Reds are willing to fork out £75 million to sign Matheus Cunha from Wolverhampton Wanderers. However, the Brazilian is wanted by several teams from the Premier League and could cause quite a chase in the market this summer.

Nottingham Forest hold talks with agents of £25m winger Henrique

The options for improving their attacking threat for next season don’t stop there, as according to L’Equipe, relayed by Sport Witness, Nottingham Forest are now in talks with Luis Henrique’s agents over a possible move to the City Ground this summer.

The report states that the Reds are very much interested in signing the 23-year-old, so much so that they have held talks with his entourage, and Marseille are potentially open to a sale as they look to balance their books.

His age, physicality and versatility make him a ‘rare profile’, but Forest are not the only Premier League team interested, as Newcastle United are also keen on the Brazilian, who has seven goals in Ligue 1 this season.

Both English teams face a further obstacle, as Inter Milan and AC Milan are also keen on signing the winger, with Inter president Giuseppe Marotta holding talks with Lyon director Medhi Benatia. The report does go on to state that Henrique’s agents could be using Forest and Newcastle’s interest to ramp up the pressure on Inter, who are very keen on a deal.

Apps

104

Goals

11

Assists

14

Henrique, who has been dubbed “explosive” by football scout Jacek Kulig, has been with Marseille since September 2020, and during that time, he’s played in multiple positions across the attack, much like Forest’s current group of wingers. It’s been previously reported that the French side may want as much as £25 million before they consider his departure.

Seven-wicket haul sets up hosts only for familiar batting failures to hand back initiative

Alex Malcolm21-Nov-20252:46

Starc: My role is to be aggressive, take wickets

On any other day Mitchell Starc would have been the lone shining star.A wicket in the first over of an Ashes series, again. A career-best 7 for 58 to destroy England, again. His second career-best figures in as many Test bowling innings. His 100th wicket in Ashes cricket. Two stunning deliveries to remove Test cricket’s second-highest scorer for a seven-ball duck and England’s talismanic captain for just 6. His 17th Test five-for, his fifth against England to bowl the visitors out for 172 in 32.5 frantic overs after they had elected to bat.But when he stood in front of the media at 6.20pm local time, his bowling performance felt like it took place a week ago after an Ashes record 19 wickets had fallen. He was instead left to lament a carbon copy collapse to the one Australia experienced 12 months ago on the same ground against India, answer questions on Usman Khawaja’s fitness, and contemplate the prospect of having to carry his team on his shoulders with the ball again day two after a short turnaround.”[The game is] probably [in] fast-forward, I guess,” Starc said. “It’s happening quickly.”Related

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Amid the chaos, Starc deserves his flowers. It was very clear after the interminable build-up that most players on both sides were incredibly nervous. It would have been easy for Starc to fall into that camp, having to lead an attack that had neither Pat Cummins nor Josh Hazlewood in it for the first time at home since 2022. When both men will return remains unknown. Cummins has said he is hopeful to be fit for Brisbane, but Hazlewood is unavailable until further notice, with concerns about his chances of returning at all quietly growing.But Starc said he had no nerves.”Not really actually, strangely quite calm for the week,” he said. “Even till we got to the ground, still had the sense of occasion, but until we were out there for the anthems, and then first ball was when sort of the beans start to go.”He held his nerve when all about him were losing theirs even when the beans started to go. There was no Rory Burns moment, as Zak Crawley defended an excellent first delivery to a groan from the 43,591 who had made it through the gate before the start of play. They witnessed a masterclass with Starc’s next five. Crawley was not given any width or length to work with. He flashed once and missed. He tried again last ball and nicked it to Khawaja at slip. England were 0 for 1 after the first over of the series for the third time in the last five Ashes in Australia.Scott Boland struggled to find his length with new ball at the other end with England, and specifically Ben Duckett, collaring him in prophetic fashion at six-an-over.Duckett looked sharp, but Starc was sharper, zipping through a 142.6kph thunderbolt to pin him plumb lbw.Mitchell Starc made an early impression on the series•AFP/Getty ImagesThen came Joe Root, with so much expectation on him to break his century drought in Australia. Starc ensured he didn’t get off the mark. Using the wobble-seam delivery he’s perfected in the latter stages of his career, he angled into leg on a good length at 142.8kph and nipped it across. One of the greatest players of this generation got turned inside out like a pretzel as he nicked it to third slip.Not a single delivery in the 35-year-old’s first spell was under 140kph, and he had figures of 6-3-17-3. At lunch he had figures of 8-4-24-3, while the rest of Australia’s attack had returns of 15-1-76-1.After lunch he continued his solo carnage. Ben Stokes dropped to one knee, fist on the ground for balance, staring at the pitch in front of him and daring not to look back at his splayed stumps behind. Starc had snaked a ball back through his gate at 140.9kph to spark another almighty roar from the Perth fans. He has now dismissed Stokes 10 times in Test cricket in 22 meetings for a cost of just 190 runs.His fifth was inevitable. Gus Atkinson meekly nicked to slip. He had claimed all five with his wobble-seam deliveries, nicking three right-handers with balls nipping away, and dismissing two left-handers with balls snaking in. It was a showcase of his skill and development across the course of 101 Tests, to have such a huge impact when then was no trademark conventional swing on offer.”[The ball] was a bit like a hockey puck,” Starc said. “It was out of shape pretty early. I don’t think it was going to swing at all. It didn’t really stay on axis. So those wobbles seemed to be the one to work for most guys through the day. I’ve said it before, but two of my best mates are two of the best exponents of it in the world. So to learn off Josh and Pat, I think I said it a while ago, but if I’d listened to those two a bit earlier, might have had it in the repertoire a little bit earlier.”He was gifted the last two wickets for his first career seven-for but it was no less than he deserved. However, by the evening session, his mighty performance had been lost in the chaos of Australia’s batting. Jofra Archer saw Starc’s low-140kph thunderbolts and raised it up towards 150kph. Brydon Carse borrowed the wobble seam and added steepling bounce to make it unplayable. Stokes added the finishing touches to leave Australia 123 for 9 after another Perth collapse. But Starc refused to throw his batters under the bus.Joe Root was picked off for a duck by Mitchell Starc•Getty Images”I think we often sit here and see, last year it was a 17-wicket day, this year it’s 19 wickets, we often sit here and say, it’s the wicket or it’s the batting, but I think both teams bowled really well,” Starc said.”I’m sure both teams probably want to change, perhaps, their approach. But sometimes you can sit there and say, it’s pretty good bowling from both teams.”He’s not wrong. The standard of bowling was exceptional. But some of the batting from Australia deserves to be questioned. The shots of Travis Head, Cameron Green, Alex Carey and Starc himself were not mistakes forced by great deliveries. They were perhaps forced by the overall pressure England’s cadre of quicks created. But it was another example of Australia’s batting letting their bowling down. It’s left Starc contemplating another big shift on day two off not much rest.”It is what it is,” Starc said. “Sometimes you’re faced with that. I’ve played long enough to have trained the body to need to do that if I have to. Obviously, you always like to sit back and watch your team bat. Sometimes you have short turnarounds.”It’s just the nature of Test cricket and a tough day’s work for both batting groups.”

Issy Wong talks about being a marmite fiend, Taunton’s best-kept secret and her mum’s Yorkshire puddings, with a little help from her MI team-mates, Harmanpreet Kaur and Jhulan Goswami

Interview by Vishal Dikshit11-Mar-2024If you could just eat one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Just one thing every day for breakfast, lunch and dinner? Oh my god! Probably Marmite. It’s a spread we have at home, savoury spread. I take it everywhere with me, so I’ve got a jar of it. It comes with me in my suitcase. You can have it on toast for breakfast, sometimes you can even have it like a toasted sandwich for lunch or on toast with scrambled egg and then for dinner if you’re making a gravy, you can put Marmite in the gravy. So it’s pretty versatileWhat’s your go-to meal?
All the hotels do a chicken breast, mashed potatoes and vegetables which is pretty good. It’s quite plain but it’s just a safe bet, you know what you’re going to get. You get vegetables, you get carbohydrate, you got protein, often comes off quite nice like gravy as well? Which is nice. Tastes pretty good.What’s the least healthy thing we’d find in your fridge right now?
In the mini-fridge [at the hotel], not a lot actually (). In my fridge at home… I quite like custard. I don’t have it on its own, but it gets stored in the fridge. Or Babybels. Do you have them here? Little cheese wrapped in wax. I could smash like six of them in a row ().What’s one food you had to give up to get fit for cricket?
Everything in moderation is all right. One meal isn’t going to make me unfit for cricket. It’s when you have one meal seven times a week that you’re probably going to be in trouble. Probably try and eat less ice cream and save it for special occasions. Which cricketer you know is the best cook?
I think Harmanpreet’s a pretty good cook – she got her hand up over there. Harman, you have to cook for me. You can’t say you’re the best cook and not cook for me.Harmanpreet: I can make… omelette?If Harman was not sitting here, who would you name?
Charlie Dean once cooked me some… she hardly cooked it, it was some very raw broccoli. Very undercooked broccoli. Not very good. Katie George is pretty good. She cooks a lot of good food. I’ll say she’s probably up there. She makes really good chips, but healthy chips.

“Taunton do yoghurt with banana and honey. You look at it and think, ‘Oh, it’s gonna be horrible,’ then you eat it and you’re like, ‘This is great!'”

Baked?
Yeah, baked in the oven. Very good.What is your favourite thing to cook?
I like barbecuing. I got a barbecue for my birthday couple of years ago so I’m all over it. I do Korean barbecue, chicken thigh. All sorts, really.One food you’ve discovered on cricket tours and grown to love.
What’s it called, ? Just .One food you miss when you’re on tour.
My mum’s Yorkshire puddings. My mum makes very good Yorkshire puddings.Jhulan Goswami: Why didn’t you bring some here?Wong: Gosy! You can’t bring them; they’ve got to be cooked fresh. Someone show her a picture. Yorkshire pudding goes with like a roast dinner with bit of gravy. My mum makes the best. If you want a Yorkshire pudding, have my mum’s. No other Yorkshire pudding tallies up to it.Which cricketing venue serves the best food?
Everybody says Lord’s is good. I think it’s too fancy because you sit there and then you got to wait, and they’ve never got enough of anything. And it’s always been fancy.Everyone says Lord’s, what do you say?
I think Edgbaston’s pretty good. They grow a lot of their own vegetables and stuff in the garden, which is nice. Where else is the food good? Taunton, they do a – it sounds really nasty – it’s yoghurt with banana and honey. You look at it and think, “Oh, it’s gonna be horrible,” then you eat it and you’re like, “This is great!”. You just have it every day for how many days you’re there.What’s your go-to post-workout snack?
Chicken roti (). We had to do something the other day [before the WPL 2024 started] where we had to agree on something we all ate after a game. And all three of us [Goswami and Harmanpreet] had to say chicken roti.And a protein shake, maybe.

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