Arsenal defender Gabriel Magalhaes is on the verge of returning to action after battling a hamstring injury.
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Update on Gabriel's injury statusMissed the club's last three matchesRecovering from hamstring injuryFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?
The Brazilian was included in the Gunners' starting lineup against West Ham in a league clash last month, however, he lasted only 45 minutes before being replaced by Jakub Kiwior. Manager Mikel Arteta later confirmed that Gabriel had to be subbed off due to an injury that he picked up against Sporting CP in their previous Champions League outing.
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The centre-back then went on to miss the club's next two Premier League encounters against Manchester United and Fulham and was once again kept out of Arsenal's squad for their Champions League clash against Monaco on Wednesday. The , however, reports that the 26-year-old is close to recovering from a reported hamstring injury and the club expects the player to feature against Everton this weekend.
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The north London side have managed to remain unbeaten in their last five matches out of all competitions, out of which they have won in four games. They have scored a whopping 16 goals and conceded just four.
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AFPWHAT NEXT FOR ARSENAL?
Arteta's men will next face Everton in the Premier League on Saturday before meeting Crystal Palace on December 18 in a Carabao Cup round of 16 clash.
Chelsea are one of the sides now plotting to make a move for a world class defensive talent in 2025, it has emerged, as they look to continue their rebuild under Enzo Maresca.
Maresca makes mixed start at Chelsea
Currently 11th in the Premier League, Chelsea and Maresca have shown the best and worst of themselves in the opening three games of the season. They blew away Wolves with a clinical performance in the second half which saw them run out 6-2 winners, but couldn't manage to find a way past Crystal Palace a week later as they were held to a 1-1 draw.
Their only defeat of the season (understandable against reigning Champions Manchester City on the opening day of the season) was one in which they came out with some credit for the performance, but the next string of games will be where Maresca's side really begin to sink or swim.
Chelsea's next five Premier League games
Bournemouth
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West Ham United
Away
Brighton
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Liverpool
Away
But as is often the way at Stamford Bridge in recent seasons, transfers continue to dominate the headlines, and they have already been tipped to make a 2025 move.
Chelsea keen on superstar centre-back signing
Now, one report has claimed that Chelsea are ready to join the host of clubs chasing former Blues defender Marc Guehi next summer as they look to add a world-class option to their backline.
Guehi spent most of the summer among the headlines, firstly for his decision not to sign a new deal at Selhurst Park and then subsequently for his excellent performances at the heart of England's defence at EURO 2024, helping the Three Lions reach the final before they lost to Spain.
Crystal Palace defender Marc Guehi
Following the heartbreak, he was the subject of strong interest from Newcastle United, who had a string of bids turned down for his services, with Palace chairman Steve Parish revealing that they had not stumped up the right fee for his "superstar".
"We would like to keep hold of him. There is a price and a situation where we might consider it," Parish told BBC Sport. "Somebody [in another interview] said he is a superstar, so somebody has got to pay superstar money. Realistically, he is homegrown, 24 years old and a sensational talent – so somebody has to make it difficult for us. At the moment, it isn't."
However, now down to the final two years of his £50,000 a week deal at Selhurst Park, his value is only going to decrease in the windows to come unless he pens fresh terms in south London.
Chelsea nearly signed world star for ÂŁ0, now he's worth more than Palmer
The Blues fumbled the bag with this one…
ByAngus Sinclair Sep 9, 2024
And that has led to a whole host of clubs keeping an eye on him, with Liverpool and Manchester City both also linked with the England international. Now, it is claimed that Chelsea are "paying close attention" with the Blues "still in the market" for a new defender, and the club are "planning a 2025 move" for the centre-back.
Though Chelsea have no shortage of centre-backs on their books, there are question marks over fitness or form in most cases, and Guehi would undoubtedly represent a step up on the majority of them.
Valued at £70m over the summer, Chelsea would effectively see a 20% discount on any fee agreed thanks to the sell on clause inserted into his initial move to Crystal Palace from Stamford Bridge back in 2021, which would also see them net a significant sum should Guehi move elsewhere.
There is, according to Rene Meulensteen, only one managerial post that will hold obvious appeal to Cristiano Ronaldo – and it’s not Manchester United.
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All-time great chasing down 1,000 career goalsHas seen move into management speculated onFormer coach not convinced he wants that stressFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?
At 39 years of age, debate regarding Ronaldo’s intentions when the day comes to hanging up record-setting boots has begun. He will not be retiring any time soon, with it his intention to reach 1,000 career goals, but a move into coaching has been mooted for the five-time Ballon d’Or winner.
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Various landing spots have been speculated on, with it suggested that the all-time great may fancy a third spell at Old Trafford. Ex-Red Devils assistant manager Meulensteen is not convinced that a man with enough money in the bank to live several lifetimes in the lap of luxury will want the stress of being a boss.
WHAT RENE MEULENSTEEN SAID
One position may lure Ronaldo into the dugout, though, with Meulensteen – speaking in association with – telling GOAL when asked about a future in coaching for CR7: "He’s a strong personality, that’s for sure, and opinionated. I’m sure that he has been a big figure in teams as he has grown older. I only know Cristiano when he was coming into the seniors as a young, upcoming, growing player that made a massive impact. There were other leaders in the team, but he has grown to become a leader and lead from the front – scoring important goals and all that.
"Whether he has got that ambition to become a manager, I don’t know. Maybe. Would he like to manage Portugal in the future? I would probably say yes, because he’s so passionate about representing Portugal. I could see him wanting that. Although it is different, international management from club management, you still need to work. Sometimes you can be a man-manager in an international side without having to coach, it’s more about the man-management side if you have good staff around you – they can do lots of stuff. In international football coaching is so limited due to the lack of time that you have got. It could be something that is well suited to him."
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Ronaldo remains very much part of the playing squad with Portugal for now, while maintaining impressive individual standards at Saudi Pro League side Al-Nassr. Sir Alex Ferguson’s former right-hand man Meulensteen played a small part in making the Portuguese GOAT what he is today – with a tricky winger being transformed into a fearsome frontman.
“We can’t be top-heavy and have no one who can bat in the middle and finish for us,” he says
Andrew Fidel Fernando17-Jun-2021Higher strike rates, better rotation, and more intensity after the field spreads. As Sri Lanka attempt to defibrillate their flatlining limited-overs game, the middle overs are the area that coach Mickey Arthur wants his batters to focus on against England. In their previous ODI series against Bangladesh, it is in this period that the innings lost its way twice, leading to a 2-1 series loss.”In Bangladesh, we got caught a little bit through the middle overs and that’s one area where we’ve focused hard on in our practice and preparation,” Arthur said, several days out from the start of the T20I and ODI series against England starting later this month. “It’s about the intensity required through that middle period. Our strike rotation and intensity at the crease are really areas that we’ve worked on in this training block.”Part of Sri Lanka’s problem in Bangladesh, according to Arthur, had been a dearth of quality in the middle order, while too many batters vied for top-order spots. With Kusal Perera, Avishka Fernando, Danushka Gunathilaka, Niroshan Dickwella and Oshada Fernando all in the squad for the England tour, Sri Lanka face the same problem again. But Arthur feels there are batters from that list who could prosper in the middle overs too, particularly with some intensive training.”We’ve reclassified guys’ roles. We’ve got a lot of players who can bat Nos. 1, 2 and 3, but we didn’t have many guys who could bat 4, 5 and 6. We’ve consolidated that here in our training session. One of two players has had to change the roles that we’ve had before. We can’t be top-heavy and have no one who can bat in the middle and finish for us.”We’ve knuckled down on the roles of each guy and set the scenarios up in the nets to replicate that. I’ve got a clear plan on who’s going to drop into the middle. If you look at KJP (Perera), Avishka and Danushka at 1, 2 and 3, that’s pretty good. We need to drill down and get 4, 5 and 6 batting comfortably within their roles as well, so that those middle overs – when we need to rotate strike – we’ve actually practiced it and the people we’ve sent into those positions can handle it.”Among Arthur’s priorities since becoming Sri Lanka coach has been to identify players he believes will serve the team in the long term, and to consistently pick those players in the side. This approach aims to change years of instability within the limited-overs sides in particular. The England tour, Arthur hoped, would bring Sri Lanka closer to nailing down a batting order that will serve the team for some time.”We’ve got to settle down on a batting order as soon as we can. We can’t be jumping around having players bat in so many positions because that just creates confusion. Each position is so different.”What we’ve tried to do over the last while is just to nail down the guys’ roles. I’ve looked at and studied what the best teams in the world are doing. I’ve looked at strike rates, I’ve looked at averages and I’ve looked at everything pertaining to a good, solid, consistent line-up.”I’ve tried to adjust our batting order to make sure that the players set themselves goals, so we know what best practice is in international cricket in terms of strike rate in every position. And also that the guys know what roles they are playing. Now it’s about backing those players.”The three T20Is will be played on June 23, 24 and 26, and the three ODIs on June 29, July 1 and 4.
His comments come in response to testimony given by ex-selector Hussein Manack on the lead-up to the Wanderers Test against England in 2015-16
Firdose Moonda05-Aug-2021AB de Villiers has denied asking for Kagiso Rabada to be dropped from the Test team at the start of Rabada’s career and said he only made inputs into selection in “the best interests of the team”. Responding to testimony given by former national selector Hussein Manack at Cricket South Africa’s (CSA) Social Justice and Nation-Building (SJN) hearings, de Villiers distanced himself from decisions that Manack alleged were made along racial lines.Manack spent the bulk of his testimony discussing the well-known case of Khaya Zondo on the 2015 tour of India, where Zondo didn’t play a single game, and the role de Villiers’ played in that episode. But the Rabada case, centred around the Wanderers Test against England in 2015-16, has not been publicly aired before.”I had been to the practice the day before and a decision had to be made between playing Kyle Abbott and Hardus Viljoen,” said Manack, who was selector then. “A discussion at practice took place and they [the team management] said we must drop KG [Rabada].”I asked on what basis. Rabada was 20 years old and he hadn’t established himself as a great player but having seen him at the Lions, where he was coming through, I had seen a lot of him. He had a good enough reputation. There was a cricketing explanation that maybe the ball wasn’t coming out of his hand right. I took it back to [bowling coach] Charl Langeveldt and … Charl’s view was that he was comfortable and everybody on the selection panel was unanimous that Rabada had to play. I said our decision is that Rabada has to play. There was one more spot that had to be filled. We said between Abbott and Viljoen, you decide who you want. We don’t have a strong view either way. In the end, they went for Viljoen and they weren’t happy with the fact that we had stood our ground.”Rabada claimed his first five-for in that match, and a career-best 13 for 144 in the next Test. Viljoen did not play for South Africa again.de Villiers told ESPNcricinfo that he had not wanted Rabada dropped. “I have never wanted KG dropped from any team at any time,” he said. “The idea is ridiculous. He is one of the finest bowlers in world cricket.”Related
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Manack spoke at length about the Zondo story, which led to black players raising selection concerns in a letter to CSA at the time. “On the 2015 tour of India, David Miller was battling for form. Throughout the second and third ODI we had discussions that maybe we need to get Khaya in and do a swap. At one stage, David even opened the batting and I was surprised at that move. Maybe it was tactical but in my mind, I was suspicious of that move. In my mind, they were trying to protect David,” Manack said. “David was struggling with spin. So what they did, instead of dropping him and bringing Khaya in, moved him to the top of the order, where he would play the new ball.”Miller was short of runs in the first two ODIs and ended up with only 74 runs in five games, struggling against spinners, but he was averaging 54 and striking at 113 in ODIs for the year until that series. Zondo had scored 288 runs in 10 matches in the previous season’s domestic one-day cup, where he averaged 41.14 and was taken on tour as the back-up batter.In the final ODI of the series, tied 2-2, Manack said he was unhappy that Miller was in the XI. “I felt David Miller needed to be dropped and if Khaya was the back-up batter, we needed to play him. The coach and captain were not happy with me. We had a discussion and I got back to the selectors and said do we play Khaya or not? There was some disagreement but the majority of the decision was that we said Khaya should play.The well-known case of Khaya Zondo came up extensively in Hussein Manack’s testimony•PTI “The captain [de Villiers] was not happy. An hour or two later I got a call from the CEO and he said he just received a call from the captain who said he is not happy with the team. I went to the CEOs room and I got the distinct impression that the captain was very unhappy to the extent that, reading between the lines, I thought there was going to be some sort of fall out if he didn’t get his team. Before that there was the incident with Vernon Philander and Abbott at the World Cup and that time the captain didn’t get his team. I got the distinct impression that the captain wanted his team. I thought he was going to pull out of the team and threaten not to play. The words were not said but that’s the impression I got.”Asked by the ombudsman, Dumisa Ntsebeza, if he thought Zondo’s exclusion was racially motivated, Manack was equivocal. “I sat with AB in the evening and I gave in. He did have some cricketing reasons, which did make sense. Some of the reasons were that we were effectively playing in a final. Do we want to play a young cricketer in a final against one of the noisiest crowds in the world?”But maybe it was racially motivated. It’s difficult to escape that view. If one were to give the captain the benefit of the doubt, maybe he has a fair argument. If I look back at the last 15 or 20 years, very often captains protect their friends and buddies. They look after one another. That does happen.”de Villiers did not deny that leaving Zondo out was his call but said he felt it was for the benefit of the team. “It is obviously difficult to pick apart selection discussions many years later, and recollections will vary. However, I can unequivocally state that my input to such discussions was always motivated only by what I considered to be best for the team, and nothing else.”CSA did conduct an inquiry into Zondo’s exclusion and found that it was “unfair because it did not conform to the CSA policy”, Norman Arendse, a former board president, told the SJN. But CSA did not go as far as to say that Zondo was excluded on the basis of race.”There were the allegations of racial discrimination but from the information that was provided to the task team, we found that there were cricketing reasons given for his inclusion and cricketing reasons given for his exclusion. It reflects on CSA too that we didn’t go the step further to find his exclusion was race-based. The task team didn’t find it necessary to make such a finding because we did find that it was unfair. As a lawyer, I was confined to the four corners of my brief, and on that we couldn’t make a finding that he was excluded because of the colour of his skin. We had a reasonable suspicion that that may well have been the case but a clear finding would not have been justified on the evidence placed before us.”In hindsight, Manack said he felt responsible for Zondo’s exclusion. “I should have stood firm. I feel I let Khaya down. If you look at it, it was the same captain who was involved in the Rabada incident. There is a bit of a pattern that has developed over the years and you will find some names have come up over and over again. In this instance, I should have stood my ground. I want to acknowledge my part in what happened to Khaya. I take responsibility for it. I regret it.Zondo went on to debut against India at Centurion three years later, and to date has played five ODIs for South Africa.
Cristiano Ronaldo took just 42 minutes to get on the scoresheet with Al-Nassr to add another record to his extensive collection.
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Al-Nassr beat Al-Akdoud 3-1Ronaldo was on target from the spotLatest goal helped him set an incredible recordFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?
Ronaldo wasted no time in starting the new year on a high, scoring his 917th career goal in Al-Nassr’s 3-1 victory over Al-Akhdoud. The Portuguese superstar converted a penalty just 42 minutes into the match, helping his team overturn an early deficit.
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The goal against Al-Akhdoud cements Ronaldo’s unique achievement of scoring in 24 consecutive calendar years. Since his first professional goal in 2002, Ronaldo has consistently found the back of the net every year – a feat unmatched in football history. He closed 2024 with 43 goals and ended 2023 as the top scorer of the calendar year, having netted an astounding 54 goals.
DID YOU KNOW?
As Ronaldo approaches his 40th birthday on February 5, his determination to score remains undiminished. With his sights set on the unprecedented milestone of 1,000 career goals, the forward continues to defy the limitations of age. His remarkable longevity and consistent output at the highest levels of the sport have solidified his reputation as one of the legends of the sport.
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Al-NassrWHAT NEXT FOR RONALDO?
Ronaldo’s next test comes in Al-Nassr’s Saudi Pro League clash against Al-Taawoun on January 17.
Tottenham Hotspur are going through something of a rebuild under Ange Postecoglou, but over the last ten to fifteen years, they have been lucky enough to watch some genuinely sensational footballers.
For example, while he’s not quite the player he once was, club captain Son Heung-min will unquestionably go down as a modern legend, and his former strike partner Harry Kane may well have been the best forward to ever grace the Premier League.
However, before those two came to define a period in Spurs’s recent history, the star of the show was a certain Welsh superstar, Mr Gareth Bale.
Former Tottenham star Gareth Bale
The Cardiff-born winger was an absolute monster for the Lilywhites, and it looked like they may have found his replacement a few years ago, only for that player to leave for nothing this year.
Bale's Spurs career
Back in the far-flung year of 2007, Spurs paid Southampton ÂŁ10m – including add-ons – for their exciting up-and-coming young full-back called Bale – yes, he started at left-back.
At the time, there was an expectation that he would become a Premier League-level player, but people weren’t sure just how good he would be.
However, despite a bright start in his first five games for the club, which included a goal against Arsenal, he damaged a ligament in his ankle, and when he came back eight months later, he struggled.
In fact, he didn’t win a game for the club until his 25th appearance, and reportedly, Sir Alex Ferguson told Harry Redknapp to drop him from the team because he was becoming a bad luck charm. Fortunately, the Englishman didn’t listen to him, and when things started to turn around, it was he who moved the young talent to the left wing.
After that, the 6 foot 1 dynamo exploded, and in the 2012/13 season, he reached a genuinely world-class level, racking up a frankly absurd haul of 26 goals and ten assists in 44 appearances, meaning he averaged a goal involvement once every 1.33 games from the wing that season.
Unsurprisingly, this insane form led Real Madrid to pay a whopping ÂŁ85m for his services that summer, and over the next seven years, he would win everything there was to win in club football, before coming back to Spurs on loan for the 20/21 season and then retiring a few years later at MLS side LA Galaxy.
Overall, the Welshman has a genuine shout for being the most talented Spurs player of the last 24 years, alongside the likes of Kane and Son, and just a few years ago, some believed that they might have just found their new Bale.
Appearances
237
Goals
71
Assists
53
Goal Involvements per Match
0.52
What went wrong for Ryan Sessegnon?
Yes, the former Spurs player in question is Ryan Sessegnon, and while it may sound utterly absurd today, there were comparisons between the Englishman and Bale in the years before the North Londoners opted to splash ÂŁ25m on him in the summer of 2019.
Ryan Sessegnon.
For example, just two years prior, football.london’s then Fulham writer Ryan O’Donovan claimed the full-back ‘could be one of the best English players in the country one day’ and that he could ‘see him being exactly like Gareth Bale’ in the sense that he would develop into a superstar wide attacker.
Moreover, just a year later, Matt Target, who was a teammate of Bales at Southampton and was a teammate of Sessegnon at the time, told the Independent that the young full-back was “definitely right up there with the likes of Luke Shaw, Gareth Bale” when talking about young prospects he had played with.
Now, to be fair to those who made bold comparisons in the past, the Roehampton-born talent was immense for the Cottagers at the time. He ended the 17/18 campaign with a haul of 16 goals and eight assists, then scored two goals and provided six assists in just 35 Premier League appearances the following season – his first in the competition.
It looked for all intents and purposes that he would take off once he settled in North London following his move in 2019, but unfortunately for all involved, that just didn’t happen.
Appearances
57
Goals
3
Assists
4
Injuries
9
Days Out Injured
751
During his five years as a Tottenham player, he would suffer five hamstring injuries, among other fitness issues, spend a season on loan with German side Hoffenheim and make a grand total of 57 competitive appearances for the North Londoners in which he scored three goals and provided four assists.
Ultimately, after five years of mostly downs, Sessegnon left Tottenham this summer and returned to Fulham on a free, and while he may still end up having a top-flight career to be proud of, he’s never going to reach the levels that Bale did – although we don’t think many could.
Ange must instantly drop 6/10 Spurs gem who lost the ball 13x vs Coventry
The talented youngster has a bright future ahead of him, but he’s not ready to start in the Premier League.
Allrounder played 23 matches for India, famously taking 6 for 4 in an ODI against Bangladesh in 2014
ESPNcricinfo staff30-Aug-2021Stuart Binny, the former India allrounder who boasts the country’s best bowling figures in ODIs, has announced his retirement from all forms of cricket with immediate effect.”It has given me tremendous joy to have represented my country at the highest international level,” Binny, son of 1983 World Cup-winning allrounder Roger Binny and a two-time Ranji Trophy winner, said in a statement. “I would like to acknowledge the huge role the BCCI has played in my cricketing journey. Their support and faith over the years have been invaluable. My cricketing journey would not even have started had it not been for Karnataka state and their support. It has been an honour to captain and win trophies with my state.”I am grateful to the coaches who encouraged me, to the selectors who put their faith in me. To my captains who entrusted me. None of this would have been possible without my family, I stepped out on the field every day thinking of them.Related
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“Cricket runs through my blood, and I will always look to give back to the game that has given me everything. I thank you all for your continued support in my next innings”.Binny, 37, represented India across 23 matches – six Tests, 14 ODIs and three T20Is. His first-class career spanned nearly 17 years, and he played the bulk of those 95 matches for his home state Karnataka; his standout domestic season was in 2013-14 when he scored 443 runs at 43.22 and took 14 wickets at 32.64, playing a key role in Karnataka’s run to the Ranji Trophy title. Overall, he ended his first-class career with 4796 runs and 146 wickets.However, Binny’s finest hour inarguably came in India colours. After being selected for a tour of Bangladesh in 2014, Binny returned 6 for 4 – the best ever by an Indian in the format – in the second ODI in Mirpur.Binny was a surprise inclusion in the squad for the five-Test series in England in 2014, and with India looking for an extra bowling option, he made his debut in the first Test at Trent Bridge. There was little help for him on an uncharacteristically dry and slow track, and he finished wicketless in the 10 overs he bowled, but he played a crucial role with the bat in India’s second innings, calming their nerves after a mini-collapse on the final day and helping save the Test with an innings of 78.Binny remained a regular in India’s ODI squads, though his playing opportunities were limited. He went to the 2015 World Cup, but didn’t get to play a match. He last played an international match in 2016, a T20I, and conceded 32 runs in an over to West Indies in Lauderhill.Binny began his IPL career with Mumbai Indians in 2010. He was a regular member of the Rajasthan Royals line-up from 2011 to 2015, and, following the team’s suspension ahead of the 2016 season, was signed up by his home franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore for INR 2 crore.Binny, who is a certified NCA Level-2 coach, said that he will now foray into the world of coaching.
Daniel Farke will be worried about the number of injuries currently popping up in his Leeds United squad, as the Whites camp continues to look more and more threadbare with every passing day.
Ilia Gruev looks to be another worrying casualty that the Championship promotion chasers will have to cope with moving forward, with the Bulgarian midfielder substituted off early into the first 45 minutes away at Norwich City last time out owing to a concern.
He could reportedly be out for Leeds’ Friday night clash against Sunderland now, alongside another holding midfielder in the form of Ethan Ampadu, who will be sidelined for some time.
The latest on Ethan Ampadu's injury
It has been recently confirmed that Leeds’ star Welshman will be out of action for the West Yorkshire titans until early next year, after picking up an unlucky lateral knee injury during their convincing 3-0 win over Coventry City in late September.
Farke rejigged his set-up against the Canaries and gifted new summer recruit Ao Tanaka a start at Carrow Road in the former Chelsea man’s place, who is one figure who could benefit from Ampadu’s absence, with the Japanese gem then able to impose himself more onto the midfield positions.
Tanaka filled in well, with 81 touches of the ball registered and five ground duels won, but the former Fortuna Dusseldorf man was unable to push Leeds onto a win during the 1-1 draw in Norfolk.
Leeds midfielder Ethan Ampadu.
That’s where another midfielder could come in and save the day, after Leeds settled for a share of the points against the Canaries, to further make up for Ampadu’s “monumental” injury blow, as it has been described by journalist James Marshment.
The best replacement for Ampadu and Gruev
Joe Rothwell was trusted to come on in Gruev’s place early on against Norwich, and looked more of a threat advancing forward than Tanaka in the middle of the park, with the Japan international more content at sitting back.
In total, the AFC Bournemouth loanee managed to amass 67 touches, 47 accurate passes and even register a key pass in the game, to try and spur his away side on to take the lead away from Largie Ramazani’s equaliser.
CM
89
8
7
LM
26
2
2
RM
13
2
2
AM
13
0
2
DM
13
2
5
CF
1
0
0
Looking at his career numbers in the Championship, it’s also very obvious that Rothwell is a versatile presence who is happy to slot into the side wherever needed, with an impressive two goals and five assists coming from 13 games in the holding midfield positions to date.
That’s where he will likely be selected by Farke tonight, with the Cherries loanee wanting to impress wherever he is placed into the German’s XI, to try and continue living up to his “amazing” tag he was once handed to by one of his former managers in Russell Martin.
Southampton supporters will fondly remember Rothwell when he made the short commute across the South Coast to play for the Saints last season in another second-tier loan stint, helping himself to four goals and one assist from 20 games, as Martin’s men ultimately promotion at the expense of the Whites.
Farke will hope Rothwell can add another promotion to his CV with his new loan employers and will pray that the 29-year-old can perform against the Black Cats this evening in what could look like a heavily patched-up starting lineup.
Better than Aaronson: Leeds wanted to sign World Cup winner under Bielsa
The Whites were once interested in signing the central midfielder under Marcelo Bielsa.
Manchester City are reportedly pushing to sign Juventus star Andrea Cambiaso as a replacement for wantaway defender Kyle Walker.
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Walker set for Man City exitGuardiola eyes Cambiaso as a replacementJuve have set €80m price tag
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WHAT HAPPENED?
According to City are intensifying their efforts to sign Juventus full-back Andrea Cambiaso as they look to reinforce their defence. City have already prepared an initial bid of €65 million (£54.7/$67m) million) for the versatile full-back. However, Juventus are holding firm on their valuation of €80m (£67m/$82m) as they do want to sell the player in January. Moreover, he has a contract until 2029 which hands the Turin giants a favourable position on the negotiating table.
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City’s pursuit of Cambiaso comes as speculation grows about Walker’s future at the Etihad Stadium. The 34-year-old full-back has been a mainstay in City’s defence for several years but has asked to explore potential options abroad and has been linked with a move to AC Milan.
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Despite the optimism from Italian sources, conflicting reports have emerged regarding the status of the deal. The has suggested that talks between Manchester City and Juventus are not as advanced as previously claimed. According to their sources, there is no certainty that the transfer will be completed during the current window.
Cambiaso’s contributions this season have been noteworthy, with the defender featuring in 25 matches across all competitions for Juventus. During this period, he has scored twice and provided two assists. However, the player missed Juventus’ 2-0 Champions League victory over Manchester City in December due to an ankle injury.
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Getty Images SportWHAT NEXT FOR MANCHESTER CITY?
City have been particularly active in the January transfer window as they seek to strengthen multiple areas of their squad. The club is on the verge of signing Brazilian teenager Vitor Reis, who is reportedly undergoing a medical to finalize his move from Palmeiras. Additionally, City have reached an agreement with French club Lens for the transfer of Uzbek defender Abdukodir Khusanov. The Premier League side have also reached agreement with Eintracht Frankfurt over a deal for Egyptian striker Omar Marmoush. This series of moves underscore the club’s ambition to rejuvenate their roster as they currently find themselves in the sixth position in the Premier League table.