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An update has emerged on PSG striker Mauro Icardi, regarding the chances of him signing for Newcastle in January…

What’s the talk?

According to Foot Mercato, the Argentine striker has been offered to the Magpies, along with Barcelona, Tottenham and Juventus as he attempts to leave the Ligue 1 outfit.

The report claims that he would like to find a ‘quieter’ club where he can be an important player for the side, rather than being a small fish in a big pond in France.

Complete Howe’s attack

The signing of Icardi could complete Howe’s attack by allowing him to deploy his favoured 4-4-2 formation. At the moment, the Magpies do not have two natural strikers who can effectively play alongside each other at the top end of the pitch, with Joelinton finding more success elsewhere and Allan Saint-Maximin at his best out wide.

Callum Wilson could find a dream partner in the Argentine striker, who has proven that he can score goals at the top level. In 296 games for Inter and PSG, he has scored a whopping 160 goals and provided 39 assists – showing his quality as a finisher.

Juventus and Italy centre-back Giorgio Chiellini lauded the Argentine in his autobiography, comparing him to French icon David Trezeguet. He said:

“Among the great attackers I have faced, I highly value Icardi, who inside the area is almost impossible to mark. Mauro against Juve has often scored, it hurt me.

“He’s a world-class centre-forward, even if he lacks something in the collective game, he’s a Trezeguet but with different characteristics, lethal in the aerial game but perfectible outside the surface.”

Trezeguet scored 34 goals in 71 caps for France and 171 goals in 320 games for Juventus during his playing days as a striker, which emphasises how highly Chiellini rates the Argentina international as he has been willing to compare him to such a legend of the Turin club.

This, along with his statistics for Inter and PSG, shows why the £31.5m-rated beast could be able to complete Howe’s attack at St. James’ Park.

Having a lethal finisher with a proven track record of scoring goals could take some of the pressure off Wilson and allow him to thrive, with defenders potentially offering him more space as they pay attention to Icardi. It would also leave Saint-Maximin and Joelinton to play out wide in midfield, with Ryan Fraser and Miguel Almiron also pushing to start.

Therefore, Howe must ensure that Newcastle are able to get a deal over the line for Icardi in January to bolster their striking options and complete his attack heading into the second half of the season.

AND in other news, Discussions underway: NUFC must land £100k-p/w beast compared to “Ballack” and “Gazza”…

Chris Hollins has become the third first-class cricketer to win the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing

Cricinfo staff19-Dec-2009BBC presenter Chris Hollins has become the third first-class cricketer to win the channel’s Strictly Come Dancing, following Darren Gough in 2005 and Mark Ramprakash a year later. Although he did not win the judges’ vote, he got the public’s backing to beat actor and favourite Ricky Whittle.”I’m very lucky that people at home supported us and kept us in this competition,” Hollins said. “I haven’t got that much ability. But Ola [Jordan, his dance partner] really believed in me.”Hollins, 38, made eight appearances for Oxford University in 1994, scoring 131 in that year’s Varsity match. An offspinner he took four wickets on debut, but it was only when he hit 68 batting at No. 7 against Leicestershire in his fourth game that his ability with the bat became evident.He was born into a sporting family – his father, John, played football for England while his uncle, David, turned out for Wales – and he too was a good enough player to have spent brief periods with Charlton, Queens Park Rangers, and Aldershot Town.Although playing regularly in club and representative cricket, he became better known as a presenter, initially with Sky Sports before joining the BBC in 1999.

A major claim has been made on Celtic’s transfer plans, regarding Portuguese attacker Jota’s future at Parkhead…

What’s the talk?

According to journalist Pedro Almeida, the Hoops will sign the forward on a permanent deal from Benfica, with the winger currently on loan from the Liga NOS giants.

He has claimed that they will pay €7.5m, roughly £6.3m, to complete the signing, Tweeting: “Celtic will advance to the definitive signing of #Jota from Benfica for 7.5M€.”

Buzzing

Celtic fans will surely be buzzing by this update as Jota has been in terrific form since arriving at the club and keeping him at Parkhead in the long term could be a huge boost for Ange Postecoglou.

The attacker has racked up an impressive 12 direct goal contributions in 15 games for Celtic, with six goals and six assists. This includes four goals and four assists in eight Premiership appearances, showing his ability to both score and create goals for the side.

Postecoglou admitted earlier this season that he wants to keep the Portuguese attacker at the club in the long term and claimed that the player is loving life in Glasgow. He said:

“He hasn’t had the easiest start to his career, he was out on loan last year and it didn’t work out for him. I think he’s loving life here and my job is to make him the best possible player he can be.

“If he feels that this is the place for his future we’d be more than happy to keep him here but he’s got a pretty good head on his shoulders and he knows that the best way forward for him is to keep playing his football and the rest will take care of itself.”

At the age of 22, he also has the potential to develop further and grow as a player. This means that Postecoglou could improve him over the course of the coming years and potentially turn him into an asset worth far more than £6.3m to the club in the future.

Therefore, with his current contributions and his potential to increase his value, fans will be buzzing to see him stay at Celtic on a permanent deal. If he is able to maintain his current form and build on it, the money eventually paid could soon be seen as a bargain for the club.

AND in other news, Bitton 2.0: Ange could find Celtic’s new midfield beast in 20 y/o who’s “like Petrov”…

As per a Tottenham Hotspur source, speaking to Football Insider, the club have now green lit an exit for ‘rising star’ Rafferty Pedder in what is a ‘surprise move’.

The Lowdown: Spurs academy flourishes…

Over the last few seasons, chairman Daniel Levy has seen a plethora of young stars emerge from Hotspur Way in what is surely a boost for the club.

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Oliver Skipp, Troy Parrott and Dane Scarlett are perhaps the most high profile Tottenham talents who are making the most noise, but there are plenty of signs that they certainly won’t be the last.

Dilan Markanday, for example, has been in sparkling form for their Under-23s side this season having managed 10 goals and two assists in 10 Premier League 2 starts.

Pedder was another name said to be making waves at Spurs, having been offered his first professional contract earlier this year, yet now it appears Tottenham have made a firm decision on his future.

The Latest: Spurs green light exit…

As per Football Insider’s sources, Tottenham are set to green light Pedder’s exit from N17 in what they describe as a ‘surprise’ move – telling the midfielder he is ‘free’ to find a new club.

Spurs have also informed the ‘rising star’ he is being let go upon the expiry of his deal 2022 and have granted him permission to trial at other clubs.

Pedder has already been training with Queen’s Park Rangers this week amid this big update on his Spurs career.

The Verdict: Blow for Pedder…

Given the serious amount of talent coming through at Spurs, it would be a miracle if they all somehow made it in the first team, yet this is still a blow for the 19-year-old personally.

Pedder, a versatile attacker who can play across the front, hasn’t managed to make his mark for the Under-23s despite being a regular a U18 level – where he managed 16 outings over 2019/2020.

On trial at QPR, having played a game for their U23s side against Blackburn Rovers recently, the teenager will be looking to establish himself across London as Tottenham make the decision to let him go.

In other news: Journalist says ‘worldbeater’ could now be tempted to join Spurs, find out more here.

Mahela Jayawardene was a beautiful batsman to watch, one capable of playing every stroke in the book with real elegance. What he lacked, perhaps, was the touch of steel, that ability to put the boot in when on top of his game

Cricinfo staff18-Nov-2009
Mahela Jayawardene was imperious today as India’s attack rapidly lost any semblance of potency•AFPIt’s a bowler’s worst nightmare: A placid pitch and a master batsman seemingly incapable of playing a false stroke. It was Rahul Dravid on day one, lifting India out of a deep trench, and Mahela Jayawardene followed suit to give his team a vice-like grip on the game.From the start – and what better match to debut in than the 952-run-riot against India – Jayawardene has been a beautiful batsman to watch, one capable of playing every stroke in the book with real elegance. What he lacked, especially in comparison with someone like Dravid, was the touch of steel, that ability to put the boot in when on top of his game.Even on Sri Lanka’s last tour of India, four years ago, he played some lovely strokes, scoring three half-centuries in a losing cause. Llike most of his compatriots, though, he failed to put up a big score and play the sort of innings that can alter the course of a match or series. “I’ve only played three Test matches here,” he said, after finishing the day unbeaten on 204. “This is my fourth. I had a couple of fifties on the last tour and was very disappointed I couldn’t convert those. I was very determined to get one here.”The penny dropped a few months after that tour, at Lord’s. Marvan Atapattu’s recurring back problem resulted in a changing of the guard and Jayawardene’s captaincy baptism was quite an ordeal. Despite a defiant 61, an innings defeat appeared envitable when Sri Lanka went out to bat a second time. But with six batsmen scoring half-centuries, the underdogs defied England for 199 overs to save the game. Jayawardene’s contribution was a magnificent 119 that lasted a shade over six hours.He hasn’t looked back since. To describe what’s followed as a purple patch would be something of an understatement. In 30 Tests, he’s made 3441 runs at 73.21, with 14 centuries and seven fifties. And for someone often maligned as a lion at home and a cub abroad, six of those hundreds have come in foreign climes, each in a different country. Against India, he now averages a ridiculous 80.29 over 13 Tests.”With the captaincy came a bit more responsibility as well,” he said when asked about Lord’s and its aftermath. “But after playing for so many years, I’ve learnt what my strengths and weaknesses are and how to manage and build an innings better. Even before that, I was doing the right things but still making a few too many mistakes. Once you get to that stage, you know how to plan an innings against an attack on different surfaces.”He was imperious today as India’s attack rapidly lost any semblance of potency. Few drive the ball better than he does, and that was illustrated in a Zaheer Khan over soon after the new ball was taken. A perfect on-drive was followed by a clip through midwicket and a quite majestic cover-drive. Having forced the most dangerous bowler out of the attack, runs were much easier to come by.India tried quite a few things, including the unappealing tactic of bowling wide into the leg-stump rough. They were wasting their time. Though the scoring-rate dipped a little in the final session, Sri Lanka still made 316 runs in the day for the loss of two wickets, one of them to a generous umpiring decision.Jayawardene, like Dravid before him, paced his innings impeccably. He made 50 in the first session, 56 in the second and 62 after tea as Sri Lanka proceeded serenely towards the sort of total that will put real pressure on India’s batting line-up. When he wasn’t driving the ball through the covers, cutting behind point or dabbing it down to third man, he was in the other Jayawardene’s ear, ensuring that a potentially matchwinning partnership [216] with the wicketkeeper wasn’t broken.”I just told him a few things to plan against the different bowlers and I think he batted really well,” he said later. “Prasanna has the ability. Applying that has been the problem.”They will resume 165 in front, and hope that this granite strip of a pitch shows some signs of wear on the final two days. After play ended, Muttiah Muralitharan was out on the square, bowling at a single stump. More than a quarter-century after Bandula Warnapura’s largely unknown side nearly embarrassed the Indians at Chepauk, they have the whiff of victory in their nostrils again. And if his teammates are anything like as focussed as Jayawardene was, they won’t let the opportunity slip through the fingers.

Arsenal are set to still be without one of Mikel Arteta’s key first-team stars when they face Leeds United in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday night…

What’s the latest?

The Gunners extended their unbeaten run to seven games across all competitions with a resounding 3-1 victory over Aston Villa on Friday and they now face Premier League opposition in the Round of 16 of the Carabao Cup.

However, Arteta will not have the services of first-choice left-back Kieran Tierney after he missed last weekend’s game with a bruised ankle. That’s the word from the Press Association, as relayed by FourFourTwo ahead of kickoff.

It’s thought that the Spanish head coach is expected to make numerous changes, but with a lack of options in Tierney’s role, Nuno Tavares may have to remain.

Big setback

This is a massive blow to Arsenal and their chances of achieving a result against Leeds, who despite being in poor form can easily devastate top-flight opposition on their day.

After all, they finished ninth last season – just one place behind the north London giants – and remained undefeated against the likes of United, City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Spurs at home, so they are certainly a team to be feared despite now finding themselves one place above the relegation zone.

Crucial to Marcelo Bielsa and his system are his wide options, in which the lethal Raphinha could feature on the right.

After six goals and nine assists during his maiden campaign at Elland Road, the tricky Brazilian has continued that form into the new season and has been one of the Whites’ standout performers, with three goals from eight appearances.

His presence down the wing would require someone of Tierney’s calibre to stop him – he averaged 1.8 tackles and 2.2 clearances per 90 during the 2020/21 campaign, via WhoScored, proving to be a rock-solid defensive option who is alert to danger.

To not have him available, in a competition which is very much winnable for the Gunners, is certainly going to be a disappointing setback for Arteta, and it could be one which leaves him and the fanbase rather concerned, considering the opposition.

Tierney’s backup Tavares is vastly inexperienced, having only played 317 minutes in English football since his summer move to the Emirates Stadium. He’ll have to perform to the best of his ability to thwart the Yorkshiremen tonight.

AND in other news, Arteta could repeat Arsenal’s catastrophic Gnabry mistake with £13m-rated “gladiator”…

Southampton currently have a number of senior squad players whose contracts are set to expire in the summer, including 33-year-old goalkeeper Fraser Forster.

The Saints signed the shot-stopper back in the 2014 summer transfer window from Scottish club Celtic for a reported fee of £10m.

Since then, the goalkeeper, who is currently valued at £2.7m according to Transfermarkt, has made a total of 141 appearances for the Saints across all competitions in which he has managed to keep 52 clean sheets along the way.

So far this season, Forster has only played in Southampton’s Carabao Cup games, which they are now out of after losing to Chelsea on penalties last month.

Taking all of this into account, it seems likely that Forster’s time at St. Mary’s could be coming to an end if he doesn’t put pen to paper on a new deal before then.

With that in mind, we feel that the south coast club could already have their perfect replacement for the 33-year-old, if he does end up leaving this summer, with 20-year-old Jack Bycroft, who could save the club millions in potential transfer fees to find a new shot-stopper.

As a product of Southampton’s youth academy, Bycroft has made 27 appearances for their U18 side and 32 for Southampton’s B team, keeping eight clean sheets in the process.

So far this season, Bycroft has played in the majority of the Southampton B team league fixtures, showing how important he is for them and that he’s getting a useful number of minutes under his belt as he continues to develop.

Back in March, Bycroft signed a new three-year deal with Southampton, cementing his future with the club. At that point, Southampton’s academy director Matt Hale called Bycroft a “confident and strong communicator, who has been nurtured really well by the goalkeeping staff” during his time at the club and has “developed his technical ability to a really high level.”

This says to us that the club have seen enough in Bycroft to believe that he can go on to have a big future at St. Mary’s.

Moving forward, if Bycroft can have a successful end to the season with Southampton’s B team and Forster does end up leaving in the summer, we feel this could give the youngster a clear pathway to becoming a regular figure in Ralph Hasenhuttl’s senior squad for the future.

In other news: Southampton handed major injury boost ahead of Villa clash, Ralph will be thrilled – opinion

Manchester City have sounded out the possibility of signing Fiorentina’s Dusan Vlahovic in 2022, according to Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport (via Sport Witness).

The lowdown

Fiorentina president Rocco Commisso confirmed early this month that Vlahovic had rejected several contract offers, even though he could have become the highest-paid player in the club’s history (via London Evening Standard). The 21-year-old’s current deal is up at the end of the 2022/23 season.

Vlahovic bagged 21 goals in 34 Serie A starts last term and has started the new campaign in decent form too, with five strikes in his first ten showings (via WhoScored).

He’s previously been described as a ‘force of nature’ in the Italian press and likened to Erling Haaland and Romelu Lukaku (via Football Italia).

The latest

The reigning Premier League champions have apparently ‘appeared in recent weeks’ amid the Serbian’s contract deadlock.

Ahead of the January transfer window, Fiorentina’s asking price is said to be €60million, which equates to about £50.7million.

But it remains to be seen whether La Viola countenance a mid-season sale.

The verdict

Manchester City may find themselves just two points off the top of the Premier League table without buying an out-and-out striker, but we know they were willing to invest huge sums for the right one.

Indeed, they reportedly tabled a bid as high as £100million for Spurs frontman Harry Kane, so the price tag on Vlahovic’s head should not be insurmountable.

At a fraction over half the amount the Cityzens were allegedly willing to splash on Kane, with an impressive goal record, some lofty comparisons and age on his side at just 21 years old, we believe the 6 foot 3 colossus could actually be the better long-term purchase then the Spurs skipper.

In other news, fans were gushing over this news. 

James Anderson is ready to put the Headingley nightmare behind him as he prepares for the match that will decide the Ashes series

Andrew McGlashan19-Aug-2009In 2005, as England entered the final Test of the Ashes needing only a draw to regain the urn, James Anderson had been summoned to the squad as cover for Simon Jones, one of the series heroes. He didn’t make the final eleven, as the safety valve of Paul Collingwood was preferred, but four years on Anderson is a player who must perform if England are to wrench the Ashes from Australia’s grasp.Anderson experienced most of the 2005 hype from the outside looking in but over the last five weeks has been at the centre of the action – from his match-saving heroics at Cardiff, to a crucial display of swing bowling at Lord’s and another incisive role at Edgbaston. Then the wheels came off at Headingley. It wasn’t just Anderson, the whole team had a shocker and the man himself admits England were “awful.”He knows that bouncing back from such a defeat would have been difficult had the final Test followed on straightaway, but believes the 10-day break from the tensions of the Ashes battle will give England a great chance to move on after the Leeds nightmare.”It was a pretty awful show from us. The Australians had the momentum so hopefully this week has just taken the sting out of it and swung it back to the balance,” he told Cricinfo. “It’s all down to one Test, so you can pretty much forget what has gone on in the past and just focus on the five days of cricket coming up and give it everything we’ve got.”As much as the players would like to forget what happened over the three days at Headingley they have had to look back at the harsh footage to learn from their mistakes. A similar post-mortem took place after the debacle at Sabina Park in February, when England were skittled out for 51, a bottoming-out that led to plenty of soul-searching.”We had to have a look at it very seriously, the areas where we went wrong and why it happened,” Anderson said during a promotional event for ASICS. “We tried to go through everything and figure out what happened so it doesn’t happen again. We thought we’d got over performances like that after Jamaica when we got bowled out for 50, but obviously not. We’ve had a great run since Jamaica and we’ve just got move on with clear minds to this week.”Anderson has tried to detach himself from the enormity of the game he is about to play. He spent a week back at home recovering the hamstring tweak that affected his bowling at Headingley and is now fully fit after a few sessions with the Lancashire physios. However, with the start drawing near the mind has begun to wander.”I’ve not really thought about it too much,” Anderson said of five days that could change his life. “I’ve had a full week trying to get my hamstring right so I’m fully fit so it’s actually taken my mind off what will happen on Thursday.”It’s very different this time because I’d not played in the lead-up to that [2005] so this time you really feel part of it all,” he added. “The team is also very different this time, there aren’t the experienced players that we had in 2005 but there is a lot of excitement about what can happen. We want this team to keep going forward and improving and one of the ways we do that is winning this week.”We’ve all started to think about it a bit more since joining up again the other day but we are just trying to prepare as we would for any other Test, keeping it as normal as possible even though there will be so much attention surrounding it.”As hard as they try, though, the players know this is anything but a normal Test. And, not only are the Ashes at stake, but there is also the Test swansong of Andrew Flintoff, Anderson’s new-ball partner for two matches in this series. “He’s just desperate to get on that field one last time in a Test,” Anderson said. “He wants to go out on a high and everyone else wants that for him. We know it’s massive for the team but it’s huge for Fred as well.”

Liverpool will be hoping to make it two wins from two in Group B of the Champions League when they take on Porto at the Estadio do Dragao this evening.

The Reds saw off AC Milan 3-2 in their opening fixture of Europe’s elite cup competition while their Portuguese opponents held Atletico Madrid to a goalless draw.

Ahead of the trip across the continent, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp claimed only Thiago and Harvey Elliott were unavailable through injury, saying: “A big squad will travel.

“Twenty-three are with us, and apart from the longer-term injuries, they are all in. No, Thiago, Harvey (Elliott), and the rest are available. No new concerns at the moment,” Klopp said in Monday’s press conference.

However, since then, it’s been revealed that first-choice right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold did not travel with the first-team squad, thus ruling him out of action too.

With that in mind, here’s how Football FanCast expects the German tactician to line up against Porto, with two changes from the side that drew 3-3 with Brentford over the weekend…

The virtually ever-present Alisson Becker will take up his usual residency between the sticks for this midweek encounter, and he’ll be hoping for a more comfortable evening than the one he endured against Milan.

Ahead of the South American shot-stopper may well be a rather unfamiliar back four. While experienced centre-back’s Virgil van Dijk and Joel Matip keep their place at the heart of defence, the two full-back positions could see some fresh faces return to action.

James Milner is set to replace the absent Alexander-Arnold at right-back while Konstantinos Tsimikas comes in for the £58.5m-rated Andy Roberston on the opposite flank after the Scotsman’s underwhelming start to the campaign.

In midfield, an impressive showing from 20-year-old Curtis Jones against Brentford should ensure he features from the off once more, despite the return of Naby Keita, meaning he’ll join Fabinho and Jordan Henderson in the engine room.

Completing the lineup will be a forward line consisting of Sadio Mane, Diogo Jota and Mohamed Salah. Although Roberto Firmino made his return from injury over the weekend, this evening’s fixture may come too soon for the Brazil international.

And, in other news…Liverpool receive huge double injury boost ahead of Porto, Klopp will be buzzing