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A transfer update has emerged on Rangers and their plans to bring a new goalkeeper to Ibrox…

What’s the talk?

According to the Daily Mail, the Gers have prepared a pre-contract offer for Dundee United shot-stopper Benjamin Siegrist.

He is out of contract at the end of the season and Rangers are hoping to swoop in to land him on a free transfer to bolster their squad.

Masterstroke

Gio van Bronckhorst could pull off a masterstroke this month by securing a deal for Siegrist to join upon the expiry of his deal at the end of June.

The club are in a difficult position heading into the summer as their two first-team goalkeepers, Allan McGregor and Jon McLaughlin, are both out of contract. This means that they could lose both of their shot-stoppers for nothing and be left without a first-choice or a back-up ahead of the 2022/23 campaign.

Therefore, bringing in a new number one without spending a penny on transfer fees would be a masterstroke from van Bronckhorst. They could then promote Robby McCrorie into a secondary role to replace McLaughlin and have Siegrist as the go-to option for the Dutch head coach, meaning that both outgoing veterans are not sorely missed and the Gers do not have to spend much in the market.

Micky Melon, who once dubbed Siegrist a “monster”, previously hailed his goalkeeper, saying:

“He’s a top drawer goalkeeper. At the end of the day, you have to be good enough to beat him and he’s made some terrific saves.

“To come to a place like Hibs and get a result, you need a good goalkeeper and he’s done that today.”

The 29-year-old has saved 73.1% of the shots against him this season after saving 78.2% in the Premiership last term. McGregor, meanwhile, has saved 74.2% of shots domestically and 66.3% in the Europa League, suggesting that Siegrist would come in and provide a similar level of quality to the experienced Scot.

Therefore, binging him in would be a masterstroke as it could be a seamless transition in the goalkeeping department heading into next season. He has the requisite Premiership experience to hit the ground running and his statistics suggest that he will be up to the task in terms of his individual quality, which is why this could be a fantastic deal for the club.

AND in other news, Deal considered: Rangers must seal swoop for 105 G/A predator who won’t cost a penny…

MatériaMais Notícias

Everton are interested in Bournemouth defender Lloyd Kelly, according to The Sunday Mirror (via Goodison News).

The lowdown

The Toffees have already spent a combined £33.75m this month on two defensive reinforcements in full-backs Vitaliy Mykolenko and Nathan Patterson, but it has been reported that they could part with centre-back Mason Holgate during the January transfer window.

Kelly, who may be viewed as an upgrade, has two-and-a-half years left to run on his contract at the Vitality Stadium and is valued at £9m by Transfermarkt.

The latest

The report from The Sunday Mirror (via Goodison News) stated that Rafael Benitez and Everton have Kelly ‘on their radar’.

The manager’s next priority is a centre-back, and he has impressed by the 23-year-old’s ‘fine’ form in the Championship. However, Everton face competition from Benitez’s former club Newcastle United, as well as West Ham United.

The verdict

Would Kelly be a good signing for Everton?

He has been a staple of the Bournemouth side which currently sits three points clear at the top of the Championship, starting 19 of their 25 matches and donning the captain’s armband on 15 occasions. He has also helped the Cherries to keep more clean sheets (12) than any other side in the division.

In addition to his solid fundamentals, Kelly wins 63% of his duels, compared to 49% for reigning Premier League Player of the Season Ruben Dias, while he is also strong on the ball. According to WhoScored, his passing is his standout strength, as evidenced by his 6.2 accurate long balls per 90 minutes, which ranks him in the league’s top 20.

His former manager Jonathan Woodgate has called him ‘exceptional’ when one against one with opponents, also emphasising that ‘he’s still young’ and can keep improving. Hopefully that improvement will be realised with Kelly as an Everton player.

In other news, fans were left raging by this transfer story.

With Leeds United only managing to win three of their 15 Premier League games so far this season, drawing seven and losing five, it seems as though the Yorkshire club could be looking to the upcoming January transfer window to help them strengthen their squad and have a better second half of the season.

What’s the latest?

According to journalist Pete O’Rourke, he has claimed that Leeds could be looking to sign a new midfielder to bring to Elland Road and join Marcelo Bielsa’s squad.

In a recent interview with GIVEMESPORT, O’Rourke had this to say on the matter.

He said: “From what I’m hearing, they might bring in a No.6 midfield cover in January, somebody to provide some backup to Kalvin Phillips with Adam Forshaw just returning from injury. So probably a more defensive midfielder or central midfielder rather than an attacking one.”

Fans buzzing

Given how Phillips was forced off the pitch with an injury during Leeds’ recent 2-2 Premier League clash against Brentford and the fact that Leeds only have three other central-midfield options in their squad at the moment, it probably isn’t a bad idea for the Whites to bring another midfielder to Elland Road in January to give Bielsa some depth in that area for the rest of the season.

Should they do so, it would understandably leave the Elland Road faithful buzzing given problems in that area this term.

With only three outfield Leeds players having played more minutes than Phillips in the league so far this season, this shows just how integral to Bielsa’s side and why it would be a big miss if he’s out of action for a significant period of time.

The 26-year-old’s importance to Leeds reaches back to last season where the team lost seven out of the nine league games he missed throughout the campaign.

Thinking back to the previous summer transfer window when Leeds were extensively linked with a move for Huddersfield Town midfielder Lewis O’Brien, it will be interesting to see if they will reignite their interest in him next month or look for another midfield option to help them get through the rest of the season.

Taking into account how Leeds have managed to concede 22 goals in the league so far this season, it would be a smart move if the club brought in a more defence-minded midfielder that could protect their backline and generally make them tougher to play against, which would surely delight a lot of Leeds fans.

In other news: Huge setback: Leeds struck with double injury blow that’ll surely have Bielsa fuming – opinion

A behind-the-scenes update has emerged on Newcastle United’s attempts to land a director of football…

What’s the talk?

According to The Athletic’s David Ornstein, the Magpies may wait until after the January window to make an appointment in the role. Michael Emelano is ready to start and has told the club what he would do, but the club are said to be making slow progress in their efforts to get a deal done.

He Tweeted: “Newcastle might not appoint director of football until after January window. #NUFC process making slow progress as concerns grow over urgency of situation. Reported leading candidate Michael Emenalo has submitted plans & is ready to start.”

Infuriated fans

This big blow from Ornstein will surely infuriate fans ahead of what could be a season-defining transfer window for the club in January. It remains to be seen whether or not Eddie Howe can get a tune out of the current first-team squad, following their 2-0 defeat to Arsenal in the Premier League on Saturday.

The Toon Army are bottom of the table and the only team in the entire division who are yet to win a single league match – having played 13 times. They face off against 19th-placed Norwich on Tuesday night and a defeat would see them move six points behind the Canaries, which could be a difficult gap to close if their troubled form continues.

This shows the magnitude of the task Howe is facing at St. James’ Park in the coming months and suggests that the current squad is not good enough – based on the evidence so far – to keep them in the division, which is why signings will be crucial in January.

Football FanCast published an article explaining why Emenalo would be a good appointment for Newcastle, citing his background at Chelsea in particular as a key reason. Therefore, bringing him in as quickly as possible would surely be beneficial to the club, especially given their dire situation in the league and how important the upcoming market is.

The signings they make over the winter could prove the difference between survival and relegation and they may have to make them without a director of football in place. This is why supporters will be infuriated by this update from Ornstein and will quite rightly be livid with PIF for not moving at a faster pace with a deal for Emenalo, as it could be a big blow ahead of the coming months.

AND in other news, Ashley’s legacy: NUFC had transfer howler with £21m dud accused of creating “problems”…

Wolverhampton Wanderers have been handed a boost regarding the return of Pedro Neto.

What’s the latest?

That’s according to Tim Spiers, with The Athletic journalist revealing in a post on Twitter that the 21-year-old winger – who has not featured at all for Wolves this season – is expected to resume first-team training next month, with his recovery from a broken patella appearing to be going well.

In his tweet, Spiers said: “Pedro Neto due back in training next month.”

Lage will be buzzing

Considering just how impressive Neto was for Wolves last season, coupled with the fact that Bruno Lage’s side have struggled in front of goal during the current campaign, the news that the forward could be back in first-team action as soon as January will undoubtedly have left the 45-year-old manager buzzing.

Indeed, over his 31 Premier League appearances last time out, the £31.5m-rated winger scored five goals, registered six assists and created nine big chances for his teammates, as well as taking an average of two shots and making two key passes per game.

These returns saw the £50k-per-week man earn a seasonal SofaScore match rating of 7.11, ranking him as Wolves’ second-best performer in the top flight last year.

As such, when taking into account that Lage’s side have scored a total of just 14 Premier League goals so far this season – with only bottom of the table Norwich City having scored fewer – it is clear for all to see that Neto is a huge miss for the Premier League side.

Indeed, it is cliche to say that a returning player will be like a new signing for a club, however, should the Portugal international indeed make a comeback in January, the 21-year-old will undoubtedly breathe new life into Lage’s stagnant Wolves attack in the second half of the campaign.

In other news: Matt Law drops January transfer claim which will leave Wolves fans buzzing

A round-up of the opening day of the ICC World Cup Qualifiers in King City

Cricinfo staff02-Sep-2009Paul Stirling’s century lit up the opening day of the ICC Under-19 World Cup Qualifiers in King City, as his team Ireland beat Netherlands comprehensively by 75 runs. Ireland, who were sent in to bat at the Maple leaf South-West Ground, posted a competitive 254. Stirling walked in in the seventh over and took control of the innings till the 48th, when he was dismissed for 102 by Tim Gruitjers. He was helped along the way by James Shannon, who made a breezy 50 off 41 balls. The pair added a brisk 96 for the fourth wicket, scoring at more than seven and a half per over. Netherlands stumbled to 13 for 4 in their reply and never really recovered from seamer Shane Gatkate’s early strikes. Philip van den Brandeler resisted with 85 but it was a lone effort as his side managed to bat out 50 overs to end on 179 for 8.”I am just happy we got the win to be honest. It was hard early on but we managed to keep wickets in hand and make a big score. We thought 250 was well above par,” Stirling said. “Our aim is to just keep winning and make the qualifier. One of our ambitions is to come here and win the tournament and send a message to the Test teams that when we qualify we are going to be up for the event.”Raymond Haoda’s five-wicket haul set up Papua New Guinea’s easy four-wicket win against Hong Kong at the South-East Ground. His opening spell reduced Hong Kong to 3 for 2 and overall it was a sorry effort by the batsmen, as only two managed to touch double figures. Irfan Ahmed’s counter-attacking 88, which featured 11 fours and two sixes, helped Hong Kong bat 50 overs. Waqas Barkat supported him with 31 to push the score to 160. Tony Ura guided the chase with 65 and although they lost six wickets, they were in no danger of losing.”I expected to do well for my team. I am hoping that we will do well in this event and win the tournament as we have a very good side and we have good batting and bowling,” said Haoda, who took 5 for 24. “I would like to qualify for the World Cup so I can play against the best teams in the world and make my team-mates proud.”Ryan Corns’ all-round effort helped USA prevail in a low-scoring encounter against Vanuatu at the North-East Ground. Corns top scored with 45 as USA were bowled out for 168. Legspinner Simpson Obed did the damage with 4 for 29. Vanuatu proceeded to 76 for 3 before a batting collapse cost them the game. Yash Shah, the left-arm spinner, took two wickets and effected a run-out as USA plucked three wickets for ten runs. After Lazaro Carlot fell for 50, the lower order crumbled to Corns, who finished with 3 for 7 in four overs.The USA captain Shiva Vashishat was satisfied with the way his team pulled through. “It was a tight game but we managed to make it look pretty comfortable in the end,” he said. “One of the motivations for the younger guys is that our CEO (Don Lockerbie) wants us to come and make it through to the senior team and make it a younger USA national side.The hosts, Canada, didn’t have it so easy at Malton. After being shot out for 106 in 42.5 overs, their opponents Uganda couldn’t even match that, crashing to 62. Nitesh Kumar top scored for Canada with 40. The chief destroyers for Canada were Hiral Patel (5 for 20) and Arsalan Qadir (4 for 19).”We think Uganda will be one of the better teams in this event so it was good for us to get a victory,” Rustum Bhatti, the Canada captain, said. “The pitch was a bit tough to bat on but I thought 150 or 175 would be a good total. To get 106 was not one of our better performances and we will be working hard in our next game to try and improve this.”

Everton shared a post-match interview with Rafael Benitez on their official Twitter channel shortly after the 5-2 defeat to Watford on Saturday afternoon.

As to be expected, a number of Toffees fans were quick to interact with the post following the calamitous result.

Benitez made two changes from the defeat to West Ham last time out by bringing in Tom Davies and Anthony Gordon for Abdoulaye Doucoure and Alex Iwobi.

It looked as if the home side were on course for three points when Richarlison restored Everton’s lead after the hour mark, but a crazy final 15 minutes saw the visitors net four times, with former Toffees striker Josh King sealing a hat-trick.

Benitez gave his assessment to the club’s media team after the defeat in a four-minute interview, which is available to view here.

Everton fans react

One of the points which unsettled supporters was when Benitez revealed that Gordon wasn’t fit enough to play the full 90 minutes, with one labelling that as ’embarrassing’.

“An absolute waste of time. Soft ball questions. Why didn’t he bring Gbamin or Holgate on after 2-1? Why bring Gordon off because he doesn’t have 90 mins in his legs but keep Rondon on who doesn’t have any minutes in his legs? Joke interview.”

Credit: @IfYouKnowYourH1

“Good to hear him calling out the lack of character in the squad as it’s stank for decades but saying Gordon hadn’t got 90 mins in him whilst leaving Rondon on… Really ?!?!?!”

Credit: @ianspeny

“Might be harsh but embarrassing interview from @rafabenitezweb imo, talking about match fitness numerous times when he’s gone and signed a slug with no ability and played him for 6 weeks, absolutely deluded he is. Never mind conceding 5 against a poor side”

Credit: @g4j4s4

“‘We know Gordon doesn’t have 90 mins in his legs’ Pretty certain Gordon (20) has more legs in him than Rondon who looks like he’s running on quicksand whenever he plays. Shambles.”

Credit: @FureyEthan

“So Gordon doesn’t have 90 minutes in his legs, but Rondon does?????????”

Credit: @KxtHxrington

“Pointless listening to this. All the man does is fail and he’ll fail here. And I told you that months ago.”

Credit: @easyluckyfree84

In other news: ‘Don’t make me cry’ – Many Everton fans buzzing over ‘great news’

With Antonio Conte heading into his first Premier League fixture as Tottenham Hotspur manager on Sunday afternoon, the 52-year-old would have undoubtedly been hoping for a positive performance and result from Spurs’ trip to Everton.

However, despite his side enjoying more possession of the ball than the hosts, as well as creating one big chance compared to the Toffees’ none, Tottenham could ultimately not find the breakthrough to seal all three points at Goodison Park, with the fixture ending goalless.

In terms of individual performances, there were not many standout players for the Italian, however, the display of second-half substitute Matt Doherty did manage to catch the eye, but for all the wrong reasons.

Lost 71% duels

Indeed, over his 19 minutes on the pitch, the £74k-per-week right-back – who, rather surprisingly, was brought on at left wing-back – completed just nine passes, was dribbled past by an opponent twice and lost possession of the ball on six separate occasions, despite only having 25 touches.

The 29-year-old defender also conceded two fouls, failed to make a single tackle and lost five of his seven duels – a failure rate of 71%.

These metrics saw the £14.4m-rated man earn a SofaScore match rating of 6.3, with only Tanguy Ndombele receiving a lower score than the Republic of Ireland international on the day.

Football.London journalist Rob Guest was also clearly unimpressed with Doherty’s display against the Toffees, awarding the right-back a match rating of just four, as well as commenting: “On for the final 20 minutes at left wing-back and, unsurprisingly, always wanted to cut inside when on the ball.”

As such, while recent reports have suggested that Doherty could flourish under the management of Conte, the display of the defender who Michael Owen dubbed “not good enough” for Spurs will have done nothing to convince the Italian he is worthy of a starting spot in the Tottenham side, and perhaps even raised the thought in the former Inter Milan manager’s mind that he may not be up to the standard required at Spurs.

In other news: Paratici must seal Spurs deal for “complete” £75k-p/w machine, Conte would “love” him

Celtic midfielder Tom Rogic is a doubt for the Hoops this weekend against Livingston, according to Football Scotland reporter Jack Thomson.

The Lowdown: Rogic a regular

Rogic, who Ange Postecoglou called ‘brilliant’, has been a regular for the Hoops this season. He’s featured in each of Celtic’s 22 games so far, scoring once and registering four assists.

The Australian had to be replaced just before the interval against Hibernian on Wednesday through injury, with Postecoglou fairly coy over the extent of his hamstring problem following the win at Easter Road.

However, Football Scotland believe the 28-year-old is doubtful as Celtic look to make it six wins from six in October.

The Latest: Rogic a doubt

Thomson shared a story on Football Scotland on Friday morning, sharing numerous details regarding the Celtic Park clash this weekend.

When it came to team news, he claimed that Rogic is a doubt for Saturday and will more than likely join Greg Taylor on the sideline, with Christopher Jullien and James Forrest still looking to return to full fitness.

The Verdict: Hopefully nothing serious…

Rogic has been a mainstay in Postecoglou’s side this season in what has been a busy few months, so it might not be the end of the world if he does miss one game to recover and ultimately have a rest.

However, it would be bad news if Rogic was sidelined for a long period of time, as Postecoglou has relied on his fellow countryman for a creative spark through the middle – nobody in the squad is completing more than his 2.3 dribbles per game.

Rogic, Callum McGregor and David Turnbull have been Postecoglou’s go-to midfield three for large parts of the campaign, so losing one of the trio for a long period of time could be a blow just as the Hoops started to gather some momentum.

In other news: ‘That has been alleged’ – Devlin’s worrying answer on ‘quick’ Celtic signing and Dermot Desmond.