All posts by h716a5.icu

La Liga expert Euen McTear believes that Villarreal centre-back Pau Torres would fit perfectly at Manchester City.

The 24-year-old has quickly established himself as a key part of the Yellow Submarines’ backline and made 44 appearances in all competitions last season as they won the Europa League.

Torres’ impressive form has seen him become a regular for Spain, too, and he started their opening European Championships game against Poland on Monday and looked solid as they kept a clean sheet.

His international colleague, Aymeric Laporte, could be on the way out of the Etihad, meaning Torres could come in as his replacement, although City face competition from several Premier League sides, including rivals Manchester United.

But McTear reckons that Torres’ experience of playing in possession-based sides like Villarreal and Spain would put him in good stead should he sign for Pep Guardiola’s team this summer.

He exclusively told Football FanCast:

“Manchester City would be the perfect situation because they’re a team that need their centre-backs contributing going forward.

“In terms of being in a team that are going to be defending a little bit more, I don’t know. He hasn’t been in a team where he’s been asked to make three last-ditch tackles in a game or clear seven or eight crosses in a game. He’s more of a classic possession-based Pique kind of centre-back.”

Guardiola already has two excellent in Ruben Dias and John Stones, but with City likely to be fighting on all four fronts again, they’ll need at least four centre-backs, meaning Laporte will need to be replaced, which could open the door for Torres.

Hampshire opening batsman Derek Kenway has shocked the county by handing in a written request to be released from his contract, it has been announced.

Victor Isaacs10-Sep-2002
Derek Kenway
Photo Mike Atkelsky
Hampshire opening batsman Derek Kenway has shocked the county by handing in a written request to be released from his contract, it has been announced.24 year old Fareham-born Kenway, who was in the England National Academy last winter, has had a disappointing season, losing his place in the first XI in July after a poor run of form which yielded 238 runs from 15 innings in first-class matches.The club have reluctantly agreed to Kenway’s request and Director of Cricket Tim Tremlett said, “the county are sorry to lose a player of Derek’s potential, but we don’t want to keep an unhappy player.”The 24-year-old has scored 3,050 runs in 62 first-class matches since making his debut in 1997 and has hit 1,764 runs in limited-overs cricket, where he had been used as a wicketkeeper/batsman.But the introduction of Nic Pothas put paid to that role, and Kenway is sure to be looking to another county to further his young career in the game.Hampshire are to announce details of any other players who are to be released from the staff in the early part of next week.

Tottenham Hotspur have entered the race to sign Houssem Aouar this summer…

What’s the word?

That’s according to The Mirror, who claimed that the north London outfit are looking to add creativity to their midfield before next season, and the 22-year-old maestro is on new sporting director Fabio Paratici’s list of targets.

They’ll have to battle their arch-rivals Arsenal for his signature, though, and they have held an interest in the Lyon star for a while, having tried to sign him last summer.

He has two years to run on his current contract but the Ligue 1 outfit are ready to cash in due to the financial impact of the pandemic. As a result, Aouar could be available for as little as £20m.

Imagine him and Ndombele

The France international would certainly be an interesting candidate to fill Spurs’ creative void and it would be even better to pip the Gunners to his signature.

They have lacked a midfielder capable of feeding Harry Kane and Heung-min Son ever since Christian Eriksen swapped the English capital for Milan.

Aouar recorded eight goals and four assists across all competitions last season, via Transfermarkt, which was more than any of Spurs’ current central options combined.

Smarter Scout have previously described the £36m-rated dynamo as a “prolific dribbler,” “skilful” and a “very good finisher”, and that’s not just backed up by his goal returns but also by his averages of 2.3 shots, 1.5 dribbles and 1.3 key passes per league game last term.

By comparison, Tottenham’s most creative player was Son (two key passes per game), whilst Kane (1.4) is the only other player to exceed the Lyon playmaker’s numbers in that respect, as per WhoScored. It clearly shows that the likes of Tanguy Ndombele, Giovani Lo Celso and Dele Alli are underachieving right now.

However, it is Aouar’s fellow Frenchman who could benefit most from his arrival in N17 as the pair were a force to be reckoned with at Lyon. Across 85 matches together, the duo combined for 18 goals and 30 assists, with the current Spurs beast playing a little deeper behind the 5 foot 9 gem, as per Transfermarkt.

Aouar, who has been lauded as an “exceptional talent” and “special” in the past, would evidently be a huge improvement for whoever takes the reins in the dugout next season.

For just £20m, Spurs would be crazy to not pull the trigger this summer.

AND in other news, Alasdair Gold reveals fresh twist in Nuno Santo pursuit…

The second day of the UCB Bowl match at Constantia was characterised by dramatic swings of fortune

Peter le Grange26-Oct-2002The second day of the UCB Bowl match at Constantia was characterised by dramatic swings of fortune. By close of play, Western Province B had extended their lead to 141 but had just three wickets in hand.Border got off to the worst of starts, losing nightwatchman Siyabulela Nelani to a superb piece of fielding in the covers by William Hantam in the first over of the day. Wickets continued to tumble, and by the first drinks break the visitors were still 264 runs behind with half the team dismissed.Enter Abongile Sodumo. Showing no inhibitions despite the desperate position, he raced to his fifty off just 53 balls. He was fortunate to be dropped in the deep when on 33. The diminutive Michael Matika was slightly more restrained, but also played some sparkling shots as the pair added 126 for the 6th wicket in 123 minutes. Losing his partner with his own score on 72, Sodumo slowed down marginally, his second 50 coming off 78 balls. He nevertheless shared another useful partnership of 52 in 56 minutes with Geoff Love before the bottom fell out of the innings as Hantam and Bailey claimed the last 4 wickets in the space of 5 overs despite the stylish efforts of last batsman Benett Sekonyane.Western Province had 37 overs to face before the close of play. First innings centurion Derrin Bassage failed this time, hitting tamely to cover point. Rashaad Magiet worked hard to compensate for his first innings failure, but Sodumo produced a direct hit when Magiet was sent back by his partner. Jonno McLean was just getting into his stride when he was caught behind, but the real drama was still to come.With the pitch starting to crumble, visiting captain Justin Kreusch introduced his spinners in tandem. Four wickets fell in the space of eight balls as they caused havoc with the WP batting. Jean-Paul Duminy was one of Love’s victims after he had played some elegant strokes against leg-spinner Warwick Hinkel in particular.Wesley Euley and Hantam saw off the last 16 balls of the day with fielders clustered around the bat, and much pressure will be on them as they will need to get the lead to about 200, which could be a winning score as the pitch takes more spin.

The Sri Lanka chances of making a comeback in the second Castle Lager/MTN Test at Centurion starting Friday 15 November has been dealt a further blow with an injury to their captain

Keith Lane13-Nov-2002The Sri Lanka chances of making a comeback in the second Castle Lager/MTN Test at Centurion starting Friday 15 November has been dealt a further blow with an injury to their captain.Sanath Jayasuriya ran into a teammate during a warm-up before net practice at the Wanderers and sprained his ankle. He left the field on a stretcher and spent the rest of the day with an ice pack on his foot. X-rays have shown no major damage but the swelling has virtually ruled him out of the second Test.According to the team’s physiotherapist, Alex Kontouri, the chances of him playing on Friday were virtually zero.Match winning spinner Muttiah Muralitharan has also recieved bad news. He will be missing the five One-day Internationals. Consulting a doctor after a Andrew Hall delivery struck him in the groin he learned that he would have to undergo hernia surgery after the test. He will return to Sri Lanka for an operation immediately after the test.

A number of Liverpool supporters have been left frustrated, following a claim that Neco Williams and Nat Phillips could both leave this summer.

The Reds could have a busy summer transfer window on his hands, with Jurgen Klopp looking to perfect his squad ahead of next season.

Ibrahima Konate has already been signed from RB Leipzig and the hope is that a number of other new faces also arrive by the end of August.

[freshpress-quiz id=“359326”]

There could be some players heading the other way, however, with Klopp deeming them surplus to requirements and the club looking to generate transfer funds.

According to Goal‘s Neil Jones [via LFC Transfer Room on Twitter], Liverpool are willing to listen to offers for both Williams and Phillips this summer.

Burnley and Southampton are credited with having an interest in both players, suggesting they may be plying their trade elsewhere next season.

[web_stories_embed url=”https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/web-stories/the-latest-liverpool-transfer-news-copy-3/” title=”The latest Liverpool transfer news!” poster=”” width=”360″ height=”600″ align=“none”]

These Liverpool fans took to Twitter to show their frustration at the update, with some of the opinion that it further weakens the Reds’ squad.

Liverpool fans fume at Neil Jones update

“Making our tragic depth even worse”

Credit: @TobyLA2

“Desperate banter club resorting to selling its already limited depth”

Credit: @MedioCampistaV2

“Nat Philips, Neco Williams, Kabak, all off…”

Credit: @MCShifwoka

“There is no way Klopp wasn’t impressed by Phillips. I bet he is forced to sell him because we need the money and FSG won’t put out money from their own pocket. It’s frustrating. The fact that *we* are spending less than our Merseyside rivals shows how ‘miser’ FSG are”

Credit: @wearewinnin

“So after a defensive injury crisis and with 2 CBs returning after serious knee injuries, along with perennially injured Matip, we decide not to sign Kabak and decide to sell Nat…oh and why not sell our RB cover and rely on Milner again…this club doesn’t deserve its fans”

Credit: @theflaskofzorro

“So if we sell Phillips does that mean another defender coming like Kabak?”

Credit: @Matthew46012930

In other news, some Liverpool fans have been reacting to a key piece of transfer news. Read more here.

Many Southampton fans are raging at the news that Danny Ings has turned down a new four-year contract at St Mary’s.

The 28-year-old has been one of the Saints’ best performers over the past couple of years, scoring 34 goals for the club in the Premier League in that time (Transfermarkt), but there have been question marks over his future for several months. He has not signed an extension to his contract, which runs out next summer, and has been linked with moves to both Manchester City (Sky Sports) and Tottenham Hotspur (Eurosport).

It now seems that he is edging ever closer to exit door. As per The Athletic, three-cap England international Ings has turned down a four-year contract to stay on the south coast even though the agreement would have made him the best-paid player in the club’s history – he is already the Saints’ second-highest earner on £77,000 per week (Salary Sport).

The news was shared on Twitter by @SaintsExtra, and it attracted plenty of attention from Southampton supporters. These fans took to the social media platform to share their thoughts.

Let’s see what these fans had to say about Ings’ contract snub

“Cheerio then”

Credit: @Sam_Gibbo1885

“This should have been sorted last summer after he’d just had a great season and missed the Golden Boot by 1 goal. Lower sell on value now and can’t see us keeping him another season to then leave on a free!”

Credit: @haywardaj

“Shame, he was my fav player as well and he’s snaking us”

Credit: @SaintLiam02

“Sadness”

Credit: @1loubear101

“Great…”

Credit: @Saintsfc_8

“Snake”

Credit: @salisuszn

In other news, Southampton want to sign this defender.

If the World Cup picture got any clearer for the Australian selectors after this weekend, that would have been ‘clear as mud’.

David Wiseman09-Dec-2002If the World Cup picture got any clearer for the Australian selectors afterthis weekend, that would have been ‘clear as mud’.With three runs from 15 balls, have Andrew Symonds chances of going to SouthAfrica gone?Has the previously unfancied Michael Hussey nudged his name ahead of thepack after his unbeaten 44 and fine run out?With the depth of Australian cricket so great, there are more people who canbe left out then picked. Such being the case, if Australia do not defendtheir crown in South Africa next March, expect a lot of finger pointingtowards Jolimont Street.The hot seat at the moment in the Australian one-day side is No 7.Gilchrist opening the batting allows the selection of an extra player,ideally an all-rounder. One who can make runs if they are called for andrequired to get through 10 overs.This gives the side more versatility and means the chances of part-timebowlers such as Lehmann, Bevan and Martyn being called upon are less.It was the failure of both Ian Harvey and Symonds in this role last yearwhich saw Australia became unstuck and miss out on the VB Series Finals.When Harvey played, the side appeared short a batsman. When it was Symonds,Australia looked a bowler short.In front of Australian audiences, Shane Watson is untested. This VB Seriesis going to be his baptism of fire and ‘make or break’ time for him. In hiseight One-Day Internationals to date, he has eight wickets at 46 with arespectable batting average of 34. So, he seems to bemore of an all-rounder in the Symonds mould.If Watson comes unstuck against England and Sri Lanka, that’s when it getsinteresting.There is no doubt you need an all-rounder of some sort to be competitive inODIs. It’s ironic that the Australian Test side are so flexible while their pyjama colleagues are not.Probably not knowing it at the time, the whole notion of having differentTest and one-day sides was sown when the administrators made it a 50-overgame with five minimum bowlers. In Test cricket you had your four primarybowlers. Now another one amongst the top six had to be found to bowl 10overs.The better one-day sides in history have been those where they had playersto pick from who were naturals at both batting and bowling such as ImranKhan, Kapil Dev, Wasim Akram and Steve Waugh.In the 1987 World Cup, Waugh took 11 wickets at 26. With Australia fieldingan average wicket-keeper in the shape of Greg Dyer, it was imperative thatthey make up for it elsewhere. It was Waugh’s incredible performances inthis World Cup which saw them win it.It was the bowling of Tom Moody which got Australia home in 1999. Histournament matched Australia’s in that he had a slow start and only began tohit his straps at the business end of things.The fact that Waugh doesn’t bowl anymore and is therefore a batsman rather thanan all-rounder conspires against him. If he will not bowl, there is no waythe Australian selectors can pick him. The void for him to fill is that ofthe all-rounder. That’s it. In Bevan, Lehmann and Ponting, Australia have arguablythe finest middle-order in the world. After that triumvirate and Martyn they need an all-rounder.One person who didn’t do his chances any harm in the Australia A game wasGreg Blewett. He batted nicely before being dismissed by a superb catch andbowled seven tight overs of medium pace. After playing the last of his 32one-dayers, four years ago he might be worth another look.His inclusion would add some steel to the batting and his bowling is thetight, wicket-to-wicket proposition which could be successful on theSouth African pitches.Australian coach John Buchanan and captain Ricky Ponting have a lot tothink about between now and February. Are they as adept bowling first tobatting first and vice-versa? Because if not, that will shape thecomposition of the team.When you play well, cricket is an easy fun game. When out of form, she canbe a tough torturer of body, mind and soul.Will it be elementary for Dear Watson?This will be the first of many questions to be answered between now andMarch 23.

Hope as they might, New Zealand’s cricket selectors are almost going to be forced to name their side for the first National Bank Test against India with a fair degree of reputation rather than solid form

Lynn McConnell06-Dec-2002Hope as they might, New Zealand’s cricket selectors are almost going to be forced to name their side for the first National Bank Test against India with a fair degree of reputation rather than solid form.The team is due to be named around lunch time on Sunday.New Zealand’s damnable summer has continued to affect the second round of State Championship matches with weather interruptions, but also with pitches having too much in them to allow players to settle into their respective crafts.For all that much of the side picks itself.Certainties have to be: Mark Richardson, Stephen Fleming, Nathan Astle, Craig McMillan, Robbie Hart, Daniel Vettori and Shane Bond.Who Richardson’s opening partner will be is not as clear as is needed. Matt Horne and Lou Vincent, the two front-runners have not had a significant innings in the Championship to date. Horne suffered suspected food poisoning towards the end of Auckland’s game with Northern Districts and was forced to miss the match with Wellington.Vincent suffered a duck in the first innings to go with the seven he scored in the first match. Horne had done little better against ND scoring 17. Clearly a good innings by Vincent in the second innings could decide the question, although the selectors may have thoughts of batting Vincent in the middle-order.With Chris Cairns unable to play in the first Test by his own choice, there may be an inclination to bolster the batting by playing Vincent at No 4 in place of Chris Harris, who is the incumbent after batting their during the latter part of last season.If that option is no longer feasible then Astle and McMillan will move up to Nos 4 and 5 which does create more room for a specialist bowler at the bottom of the order.Or, in another thought there could be the possibility of Mathew Sinclair, especially if he is able to mount a suitable case in his innings against India, batting at No 4.The likelihood is that Scott Styris will be named to play at No 6. His only competition would be from although again the temptation may be there to include Jacob Oram, though Oram has been forced out of the Central Districts tour match against India, succumbing to a hamstring injury.Hart will bat at No 7, with Vettori at No 8. Normally it would be a straight contest between Daryl Tuffey, Ian Butler and Chris Martin for the honour of opening with Bond, but they have been unable to dominate in their games so far. Butler reportedly suffered an injury while batting yesterday for ND which may hinder his prospects of playing in a Test.With this in mind there may be a temptation to strengthen the bowling attack by including both, or another, possibly CD’ Michael Mason.A possible Test selection may be: Stephen Fleming (captain), Mark Richardson, Lou Vincent, Nathan Astle, Craig McMillan, Scott Styris, Robbie Hart, Daniel Vettori, Shane Bond, Daryl Tuffey, Chris Martin, Michael Mason/Ian Butler.

Aston Villa have suffered a major blow in their pursuit of Arsenal midfielder Emile Smith Rowe.

What’s the story?

The Villans have already seen two bids turned down for the highly-rated 20-year-old, but it appears as though their hopes of securing his services could be ended over the coming days.

According to respected journalist James Benge, Smith Rowe is set to put pen to paper on a new deal at the Emirates Stadium after extensive negotiations.

He tweeted: “Exclusive: Arsenal growing in confidence that they will soon secure a new contract for Emile Smith Rowe. It’s expected to be a five year deal but there are still details to finalise.”

Dean Smith will be gutted

Villa enjoyed a fabulous 2020/21 campaign, finishing in 11th position in the Premier League standings despite talisman Jack Grealish being injured for three months of the season.

The Midlands outfit are keen to strengthen their ranks even further over the summer and have already brought in former Norwich City ace Emi Buendia in a big-money deal.

Smith Rowe had been identified as their next top target, with bids of £25m and £30m being placed for the creative talent, although their hopes of bringing the England Under-21 international to Villa Park appear to be all but over.

The news will leave Villa boss Dean Smith feeling gutted after missing out on one of the nation’s most promising young talents.

After multiple injuries to first-team regulars left Mikel Arteta with little choice but to place his faith in academy graduates last season, Smith Rowe took his chance with both hands.

“I know what they are capable of doing. They are developing really well, and that’s a merit to them, a merit for their teammates and everybody that is involved to try to support them and protect them as well,” claimed Arteta.

“But the performances that they are putting in are extraordinary.”

Dean Smith has created an exciting, youthful squad since winning promotion with Villa two years ago, and Smith Rowe would have been another significant coup for the former Brentford boss, but he’ll be forced to look for alternative options in the rest of the window.

And, in other news…Aston Villa have bid accepted for “combative” dynamo, Lange is working his magic again