Tag Futebol

Tottenham Hotspur could land one of their mooted transfer targets for a massive bargain this January, according to emerging reports…

What’s the word?

Since the end of the summer transfer window, the north London outfit have been strongly linked with a move for AC Milan midfielder Franck Kessie ahead of 2022.

One report even suggested that Spurs could use wantaway club-record signing Tanguy Ndombele as a makeweight in any potential future deal.

But now an exciting development has emerged.

According to Italian outlet Calciomercato, the Ivory Coast international could be available for as little as €9m (£7.5m) as it will be the last chance the Serie A giants can sell him for money before he leaves for nothing later in the summer.

It seems rather unlikely that Kessie will renew his current contract at the San Siro, though the Lilywhites aren’t the only team interested, with Premier League rivals Chelsea also linked.

Paratici must swoop

Make no bones about it, if the Milan midfielder is available for as little as that, then Spurs sporting director Fabio Paratici and the rest of the club’s hierarchy would be foolish to not try and sign him.

After all, Transfermarkt currently value him at a whopping £49.5m – and they’ll be getting him for 85% cheaper than his supposed worth.

Although, they shouldn’t only be making a move from a purely financial sense as the player himself is actually a massive talent that could bolster Nuno Santo’s engine room instantly.

Kessie is a powerful and industrious box-to-box beast that can also take a mean set-piece.

He ended last season as Milan’s fourth highest-rated player (7.15) and their second top goalscorer (13) behind only Zlatan Ibrahimovic (15), as per WhoScored.

In addition to that, he averaged 1.4 tackles, 1.2 interceptions and 1.2 dribbles per league outing.

Kessie’s current boss, Stefano Pioli, waxed lyrical about the Ivorian’s ability earlier this year, claiming that “Franck is a complete player” who gives his side “physicality, energy, quality, protects the defence and knits the moves going forward too.”

This merely echoed the thoughts of another manager who once stood in the San Siro dugout, Vincenzo Montella, who described the midfielder as an “extraordinary player” with “sublime intelligence.”

In the need to add more goals to the side, Nuno could really do with a player like Kessie as he can contribute in the final third just as much as he can in the team’s own half.

If Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg is in need of a solid partner, then it should be the Milan monster they turn to, especially given the astounding claims mentioned in the report.

AND in other news, £75k-p/w dud must never play for Spurs again, had fewer touches than Lloris yesterday…

Batting will be the key focus during the West Indies women’s ten-day World Cup preparation camp which starts on Wednesday. Sherwin Campbell, the coach, was not pleased with the team’s batting display on their most recent tour, to Sri Lanka in November, and is seeking improvement on that front ahead of the World Cup in March.”Basically we are going to be concentrating on the batting,” Campbell toldCMC Sport. “Batting will be one of the key areas during the training sessions. We wereinconsistent in Sri Lanka with a lot of the players getting starts but notcarrying on to big scores.”West Indies lost the five-ODI series 3-2 in Sri Lanka, with 170 being their best total. The team will be working at the Banks and Queen’s Park grounds just outside Bridgetown, Barbados, after which the 20-member squad will be pruned to 15 for the tournament in Australia. The selectors will also name a captain and vice-captain.West Indies will face defending champions Australia, New Zealand and South Africa in the first round, with the top three making it to the Super Six Stage. They came fifth at the 2005 World Cup in South Africa, winning two of their seven games.The training squad includes six players from the 2005 squad, Debbie-Ann Lewis, Pamela Lavine, Cordel Jack, Kirbyina Alexander, Anisa Mohammed and Juliana Nero. Lavine, Jack and Lewis return after missing the tour of Sri Lanka. “It is very important that we have experience ahead of this big tournament,” Campbell said. “The squad is a young squad and experience coming in will be very good as we prepare for Australia.”West Indies will be without 40-year-old Nadine George, who captained the team in SriLanka but is now retired.

أعلن محمود جابر المدير الفني لمنتخب مصر مواليد 2003، عن قائمة الفراعنة الصغار استعدادًا لكأس العرب تحت 20 عامًا.

بطولة كأس العرب للشباب تحت 20 سنة ستُقام في السعودية خلال الفترة من 20 يوليو الجاري وإلى 6 أغسطس المقبل.

وأسفرت القرعة عن وقوع منتخب مصر للشباب في المجموعة الرابعة، التي تضم منتخبي عمان والصومال.

طالع أيضًا.. منتخب مصر للشباب يحسم جدل توقيع اللاعبين المحترفين لـ الأهلي داخل المعسكر

ويضم الجهاز الفني لمنتخب الشباب كلا من محمود جابر مديرًا فنيًا، كرم مرسي مدربًا عامًا، حمدي حمدان مدربًا، إيهاب جلال مدربًا لحراس المرمى، هاجد هاني طبيب المنتخب، وأحمد إيهاب وعمرو سلمان إداريين. قائمة منتخب مصر للناشئين استعدادًا لكأس العرب

حراسة المرمى: أحمد نادر السيد، كريم أحمد نبيل، محمد عادل أمين.

خط الدفاع: عمر الفايد، عبد الرحمن رشدان، عبد الرحمن جوده، أحمد رفاعي، إياد العسقلاني، محمود بسيوني، رأفت خليل، مؤمن محمود.

خط الوسط: خالد عوض، محمد حمدي، أحمد عبد الرحيم، ماجد هاني، طارق علاء، عبد اللطيف أبو قورة، عمر الساعي.

خط الهجوم: يوسف حسن، أحمد ناجي حواش، محمود أحمد مرسي، صلاح باشا.

The opener David Warner hit a record-breaking 165 not out as New South Wales swept to a convincing nine-wicket victory over the second-placed Tasmania

Cricinfo staff29-Nov-2008New South Wales 1 for 250 (Warner 165*, Hughes 55) beat Tasmania 246 (Dighton 69, Bird 4-61)
Scorecard

David Warner thrashed Tasmania to raise the highest score by a New South Wales player in a one-day game © Getty Images
The opener David Warner hit a record-breaking 165 not out as New South Wales swept to a convincing nine-wicket victory over the second-placed Tasmania at Sydney’s Hurstville Oval. The first game at the ground was made memorable by Warner, who finished it with a six to pass Rick McCosker’s state best of 164 in 1981-82.Overnight rain reduced the match to 45 overs a side but the Blues needed only 34.4 of them to pass Tasmania’s 246. Warner, aged 22, partnered Phillip Hughes, 19, and they posted an opening stand of 152 in 21.3 overs.Hughes fell on 55 but Warner continued the onslaught, which lasted only 112 balls, and Ed Cowan remained unbeaten on 28. There were 19 fours and nine sixes from Warner as he took advantage of the small ground.Michael Dighton’s 69 set up Tasmania’s total, but it could have been much greater if the middle order converted their starts. George Bailey, Travis Birt and Mark Divin all reached the 30s without going on and the innings ended two overs early. Aaron Bird captured 4 for 61 from eight expensive overs, Doug Bollinger picked up two wickets and Nathan Bracken got through the innings after coming back from a hamstring injury.

Abdur Razzak, the Bangladesh left-arm spinner, has been reported for a suspect bowling action

Cricinfo staff30-Oct-2008
Abdur Razzak has been reported for the second time in his career © AFP
Abdur Razzak, the Bangladesh left-arm spinner, has been reported for a suspect bowling action. Daryl Harper and Asoka de Silva, the umpires for the two-Test series between Bangladesh and New Zealand which finished on Wednesday, said they had concerns over Razzak’s faster ball and hence requested the ICC to review his action.The ICC will obtain three copies of the relevant footage, one of which will be kept by the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB). Razzak will undergo an independent analysis of his action by a member of the ICC panel of human movement specialists, appointed in consultation with the BCB. If his action remains suspect during the analysis, he faces a ban and will have to remedy his action.If the analysis confirms the umpires’ suspicions of only a specific delivery – in this case the faster one – he can continue to bowl in international cricket but faces a ban if reported again.This is the second time Razzak has been reported for the same offence in his career. The first instance was during an Asia Cup match against Pakistan in Colombo in 2004 in what was only his second one-day international.Razzak took five wickets in the Tests against New Zealand at an expensive 45.60 runs per wicket.

Lee Ryder has criticised the display of Matt Ritchie as Newcastle United drew 2-2 at home to Southampton in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon.

The Lowdown: Disappointing day

While the North East club did manage to pick up their first point of the season at St. James’ Park, ultimately it ended in disappointment as they went 2-1 up in injury time through Allan Saint-Maximin, before giving away a needless penalty with one of the last kicks of the game which was scored by James Ward-Prowse.

While there were some decent performances in the famous black-and-white stripes, others failed to impress heading into the international break.

The Latest: Ritchie criticised

Writing in his latest piece for The Chronicle, Ryder was particularly critical of Ritchie, claiming that he ‘did not conjure up’ his usual supply line and was ‘unconvincing’ at wing-back.

The journalist gave the Scotland international a mere 5/10 overall rating for his performance, the joint-second worst out of any of his teammates to have set foot on the pitch.

The Verdict: Justified

The criticism of Ritchie was certainly justified given his overall display, which was not convincing at all.

The 31-year-old lost out on five of his duels in the match, and also failed to record a single shot on goal or successful dribble (Sofascore).

He also failed to block any shots or make any interceptions or accurate crosses, and lost possession of the ball on no fewer than 14 separate occasions, the joint-third most out of any Magpies player (Sofascore).

Nonetheless, Ritchie will have to produce better performances if he is to stay in the team after the international break.

In other news, find out who NUFC are now ‘in talks’ to sign here!

Michael Davidson, Canterbury’s seam bowler, has been given the team’s 12th and last contract for the 2008-09 domestic season. Canterbury was the only side to leave one spot vacant when all the New Zealand domestic teams announced their contract lists in July.”Michael fully deserves this contract and it shows that a player can progress through club cricket to become a fully contracted Canterbury Cricket player,” Canterbury chief executive Lee Germon told NZPA.Davidson was promoted from his club side St Albans in 2006-07 and made his first-class debut against Otago in the State Championship in February 2007. He played a crucial role in Canterbury winning the 2007-08 State Championship final against Wellington by taking four wickets in 11 balls.Davidson has played six first-class matches and taken 21 wickets at an average of 24.61 and strike-rate of 58.Canterbury contracted list: Corey Anderson, Todd Astle, Hamish Bennett, Leighton Burtt, Michael Davidson, Andrew Ellis, Brandon Hiini, Johann Myburgh, Michael Papps, Iain Robertson, Shanan Stewart, Kruger Van Wyk

Allen Stanford, the Antigua-based billionaire who bankrolls the West Indies domestic Twenty20 competition, has said he would like his investment to be paid back each year by money earned through television rights. But he added that any profits he made in terms of the programme in the Caribbean would go to the West Indies board.Stanford said his agenda for investing in Twenty20 was different from that of those backing the Indian Premier League and the Indian Cricket League. “Their [IPL and ICL] agenda is totally commercial: to do something to make money for themselves and their investors and so on,” Stanford told the Barbados-based .”My agenda is to, hopefully, recoup the investment, which is very substantial, that I have made and generate a profit down the road, where that road is hopefully shorter than longer for the West Indies cricket programme. I don’t need to have this as a reason for me to make my stake in future finances for life. I’ve already done that.”Stanford said while he would get marketing and branding from such a venture, the huge satisfaction he got from supporting West Indies cricket was paramount.”It is a lot of fun and I am doing something for a place that I love to be in. Charity is part of it, business is a smaller part of it, but ultimately, business is going to have to make sense here. We are going to have to make some money out of this and that will happen in due course.”

Last time Australia visited the Caribbean they went home undefeated and with a World Cup in their possession. The stakes were considerably lower on this trip but it was an important step in the development of a side that has lost several key members of the World Cup-winning squad.Of the team that triumphed in the dark in Barbados last April, Adam Gilchrist, Glenn McGrath and Brad Hogg have retired, Matthew Hayden missed this entire tour with an injury, Ricky Ponting flew home with a wrist problem and Shaun Tait is slowly coming back to cricket after a self-imposed break.It meant opportunities galore for a bunch of state players who over the past few seasons have been green with envy as the Australia team remained as impenetrable as Shivnarine Chanderpaul’s defences. A 5-0 series whitewash was proof that the fringe men have learned from watching their predecessors.A 169-run thrashing of West Indies in the final game ensured Australia will leave the Caribbean on a high, and none of the players will be as ecstatic as the Man of the Match Luke Ronchi. He destroyed West Indies with 64 from 28 deliveries when the acting captain Michael Clarke promoted him to No. 3 and he slammed six sixes over the tiny boundaries at Warner Park.”It’s a lot like the WACA – short straight,” Ronchi said after the game. “It’s the easiest way to go. It’s the way I play cricket at home and that was the job I was given today, to go out and make the most of the Powerplays and luckily enough it came off.”Ronchi was largely responsible for West Indies’ third Powerplay costing 63 runs – even more amazing considering Dwayne Bravo kept one of the five overs to one run. If Australia thought Ronchi’s 22-ball half-century was impressive, the 19-ball effort from David Hussey in the dying overs was the icing on the cake and Clarke was full of praise for both men.”We took a little bit of a gamble [promoting Ronchi to No. 3] but Luke’s a fantastic cricketer, he’s scored a lot of runs back home and we were very confident he would do the job today,” Clarke said. “It’s great for Australian cricket, we have a lot of depth back at home and as you’ve seen on this tour our one-day team is still very strong.”There were also promising performances from the new opener Shaun Marsh and his partner Shane Watson, who was not in the original squad but finished as Player of the Series after scoring 206 runs at 41.20 and collecting six wickets. Apart from a half-century from Shawn Findlay and some tight bowling from Nikita Miller, the signs were not as encouraging for West Indies.After a series in which their only strong effort resulted in a one-run loss, the captain Chris Gayle knows they have a long way to go to threaten the world’s top sides. “We still need to work on our cricket and take a leaf from [Australia’s] book as well,” Gayle said. “We need to work on the mental aspect to our game as well and physically in the field and so on.”

Burnley are struggling to close out a deal for reported Crystal Palace transfer target Ademola Lookman as the start of the Premier League season draws ever closer, according to The Sun.

In a productive 2020/21 campaign, the 23-year-old registered eight goal contributions in 34 Premier League fixtures, with four goals and four assists during his loan spell at Fulham [Transfermarkt].

However, his future now seems to be up in the air following recent developments. Amid loan interest from Burnley, Lookman is said to be unsure about penning a deal at Turf Moor going into the new campaign [The Sun].

Crystal Palace have also been linked with a loan move for the former England under-21 international, who is currently on the books of RB Leipzig, wile Burnley have reportedly turned their attention to Lyon’s Maxwell Cornet.

Taking plenty of encouragement from recent events, loads of Crystal Palace fans took to Twitter to voice their opinions on the current state of play regarding Lookman.

Crystal Palace fans react:

Replying to popular Crystal Palace fan outlet PALACE XTRA on Twitter, here is what some fans had to say about the situation:

“Another one who prefers a move to SE25”

Credit: @Jamseyandrew”Would be a good addition”Credit: @Daveanglia07921″PLEASE”Credit: @JoelGray_”please I begggg”Credit: @CPFCWiII”he’s unsure cos he knows going to Burnley will destroy his career lol, Burnley literally offer him nothing for his future, if we are not interested in him we should be going for him because he is one of the best options we can go for with 6 days left for the new season to begin”Credit: @turkishcpfc”You just know he’s praying that Palace come in”Credit: @cpfcamesIn other news, many Crystal Palace fans lap up this backroom update.