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Loris Karius played in his first Premier League game in six years as he keeps goal for Newcastle against Arsenal at the Emirates.

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Karius replaces Martin Dubravka in goalOnly his second appearance for Newcastle Eddie Howe has explained stopper's selectionWHAT HAPPENED?

Eddie Howe selected Karius to play in goal due to an illness being suffered by Dubravka. He has not played in the Premier League since May 2018, when he was still playing for Liverpool, and his first appearance for the Magpies came in the Carabao Cup final against Manchester United last season.

AdvertisementWHAT HOWE SAID

Howe revealed on Dubravka: "He has not been feeling very well for a couple of days so hopefully he is on the mend."

Asked about Karius' selection, he added: "He has trained every day for a long period of time. He had a slight shoulder injury at the start of the season but since then he has been fine. He has played in games behind closed doors so he is match ready.

"The last game he played of course was the cup final so he is used to big games and at Liverpool he had many big matches so I have no doubt about his temperament and we are relying on his big-game experience."

Getty ImagesTHE BIGGER PICTURE

Karius has been in the spotlight previously for all the wrong reasons, as he made two vital mistakes in the Champions League final when Liverpool lost 3-1 to Real Madrid. That was his final game for the Reds, and he was subsequently sent on loan to both Besiktas and Union Berlin, before making the move to the Magpies as an experienced back-up to the currently injured Nick Pope and Dubravka.

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GettyWHAT NEXT?

If Dubravka's illness does not clear up, Karius will hope to play in Newcastle's next fixture, in the FA Cup against Blackburn Rovers on Tuesday. Their next Premier League game comes against Wolves next weekend.

Farhad Moshiri backed former Everton manager Carlo Ancelotti with significant amounts of cash as the Italian was charged with taking the Toffees to the next level.

The start of the 2020/21 campaign saw the former AC Milan manager sign the likes of James Rodriguez, Ben Godfrey, Abdoulaye Doucoure and Allan in the hopes of challenging for the European spots and despite a wonderful start, winning their first seven straight matches in all competitions, they eventually fizzled out and finished tenth.

What Everton fans would give for a finish like that now, but Ancelotti left for Real Madrid in the summer of 2021 and although some of his signings clicked, Allan failed to replicate the form he showed at Napoli under the Italian.

How much did Allan cost Everton?

The Brazilian midfielder signed for a fee of £25m and having enjoyed success in Serie A, reuniting with Ancelotti looked like it could bear fruit in the Premier League.

It quickly became apparent that the move wouldn’t become a success, as he struggled to cope with the demands of English football and across his 57 appearances for the club, he failed to score a single goal while registering just three assists, a far cry from the 28 goal contributions he managed at Napoli.

Journalist Dave Downie even described the midfielder as an “imposter” last season as he couldn’t perform half as well away from home as he did at Goodison Park.

That summary was rather apt throughout his time on Merseyside, bemoaned for one game in particular where he staggeringly made just two passes in 73 minutes of a clash with Liverpool. To make matters worse, both of those came from kick-off.

Much was expected of him following his arrival, especially with the big fee attached and the fact he was approaching 30, many felt it was a move that would produce immediate results.

He left at the start of the season to join Al Wahda in Abu Dhabi having failed to make a single appearance under Frank Lampard in the opening weeks of the campaign.

The 32-year-old earned a staggering £70k-per-week across his 107-week stint at the club and combining that with his transfer fee, Allan ransacked Everton for a grand total of £32.5m, a ridiculous sum of money.

Transfers such as this one have ultimately dragged the club down a few notches, and it’s no wonder they are battling relegation. Under Sean Dyche, the Merseyside outfit may have a decent chance of building a team without splashing the cash.

When it comes to England in India, it’s all too clear who the poor relation is now

Suresh Menon28-Feb-2006

From the India hater of old, Geoff Boycott has turned into an India-lover on television © Getty Images
The last time England won a Test series in India, under David Gower in 1984-85, the past was still ruling the present. Superpowers England and Australia had the right of veto in the ICC, which was administered by the MCC, a venerable private club whose members hadn’t yet recovered from an attack of modernity in 1965 when the ICC ceased to be the Imperial Cricket Conference.Today, a combination of world-class players, business-savvy officials, a cricket-hungry market and a huge fan base has made India the game’s sole superpower. The media explosion has contributed too. Seven of the 11 who played in the final Test against Gower’s England have turned television commentators, some adding lustre to the profession, others letting the fusion between cricket and language end in confusion.India generates over 60% of the money in the game. That they are attempting to do with money power what England did with colonial arrogance may be a case of bullying by other means, but both England and the ICC have succumbed to the blandishments of the rupee and cannot complain now. You can view at it either as payback, or as the progression of a sport that leaped from the dark ages of colonialism to the modern age of globalisation without a necessary period of enlightenment in between.Gower’s tour is a good starting point. India had won the previous World Cup, and a group of marketing managers had emerged to convert the popular appeal of the game into big money. Colour television had arrived in India only a couple of years earlier, and Indian cricket was at the take-off stage.England lost the first Test after a traumatic introduction to India. Within hours of their arrival, the Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, was assassinated and the capital was in flames. The England team then accepted an invitation from Sri Lanka to practise there. When they returned, they had dinner with the British Deputy High Commissioner, who was shot dead a day later, on the eve of the first Test. As Gower said, “It’s all pretty grim isn’t it?”Laxman Sivaramakrishnan, the legspinner, claimed 12 wickets in the Bombay Test and the visitors were quickly one-down. They then came back to win two Tests and take the series. Madras prepared a “turner” but it was the medium-pacer Neil Foster who took 11 wickets there to settle the issue. Mike Gatting and Graeme Fowler became the first pair of English batsmen to make double-centuries in the same Test. By then the Sivaramakrishnan bogey had been laid to rest by batsmen willing to play the sweep. The new spin twins Pat Pocock and Phil Edmonds had harried India to defeat in the second Test at Delhi. Pocock was 38 at the time, and Edmonds had a reputation for being “difficult”; he was in the team only because Gower said he could handle him.By the time England next came to India, in 1993, their hold on the game, supported by the mindset of their former colonies, was beginning to slip. First there was the 3-0 clean sweep that Mohammad Azharuddin’s men dealt them thanks to the spinners, particularly Anil Kumble, who claimed 21 wickets. This after a spying mission by Keith Fletcher, and his immortal conclusion that Kumble was no bowler, and that England “had nothing to fear”.India won in Calcutta thanks to some judicious help from the fog, in Madras because the prawns at a Chinese restaurant turned the English stomachs more than Kumble turned the ball, and in Bombay because skipper Graham Gooch didn’t shave. England’s chairman of selectors Ted Dexter then kindly volunteered to set up a commission to study the pollution in Calcutta. He didn’t delve into the eating habits of his players, particularly Mike Gatting who, as on the previous tour, swept all before him. In the end Gooch’s face was left bloody but unmowed. In those days it was still possible to make India feel apologetic about thrashing England.Mike Atherton saw it differently in his book, Opening Up. “For the dusty turners of India we prepared on the hard rock surfaces of Lilleshall. We knew we would be facing a phalanx of spinners, so we left out our best player of spin, David Gower. In Kolkata the pitch looked dry and cracked, so we played four seamers. We knew that the food could be dodgy so we ate prawns in Chennai and got food poisoning,” he wrote. Not surprisingly, Atherton was made England captain soon after.Some weeks after the end of the tour, there was a divorce; the ICC became an independent body, with its own chief executive and its headquarters at Lord’s. Significantly, the veto rights were abolished. Eight decades after the founding of the governing body, there was some measure of equality. The two men chiefly responsible for this, IS Bindra and Jagmohan Dalmiya, have since had a falling out.The manner in which India “stole the World Cup” from under England’s nose in 1987 because the Indian board president four years earlier, NKP Salve, was denied extra passes for Lord’s, is part of folklore. The anointment of Dalmiya as the president of the ICC in 1997 did not go down well with the old order in England. Made to feel like an outsider, Dalmiya decided to hit back every opportunity he got. He scheduled matches in Agartala and Jamshedpur on the current tour. The message was clear – India ruled, and England had better realise that. Some months before the tour, however, Dalmiya was voted out of office, and the new dispensation, which had no personal vendetta, agreed to change the venues.There is no telling just how often Dalmiya would have taken world cricket to the brink with his desire to appear a patriotic Indian who wouldn’t kowtow to the former colonial masters. The media lapped up the posturing, and it was fun, if a bit childish, while it lasted. In the new millennium, though, Dalmiya was already an anachronism, as Lalit Modi, the present vice-president of the board has shown.In the decade during which England did not come to India for a Test series, India’s accent shifted from post-colonial angst to global chic. Personal vendetta is passé. It is not the colour of skin that matters, but the colour of money, and India has been telling the leading cricketing nations something along the lines of, “Behave yourselves, listen to us, and there is enough money for all. Rock the boat, and you go down.”It is to this new India that Michael Vaughan leads the 11th English Test squad (if you don’t count the one-off Jubilee Test which England won). England have won only three of those series – the first in 1933-34, and the second under Tony Greig in 1976-77 when Derek Underwood took 29 wickets and made rather better use of the Indian turners than the famous quartet of Bedi, Prasanna, Chandrasekhar and Venkataraghavan. Greig was all praise for the Indian spinners and named the first three as the best of their type in the world. But except in Bangalore, where everything clicked for India, including a brand new fielder at short leg, Yajurvindra Singh, who clung on to a world-record seven catches, England had the upper hand, having won the first three Tests.When India recently threw the ICC’s Future Tours Programme out of the window, most Englishmen asked why Australia are generally given preferential treatment with regard to venues and dates. There is a simple answer: Australia have usually come to India with their best team, led by their reigning captain.Englishmen pulling out of tours on flimsy grounds have always irritated Indians. Geoff Boycott didn’t tour India until the world-record aggregate was within his grasp. In 1981-82 he played three Tests, went past Garry Sobers’s record of 8032 runs, played one more Test in Kolkata (during which he disappeared to play golf in the middle of the match), and was gently asked to go back home. He wasn’t particularly fussed since that was what he had in mind once the record was his anyway. From such an India-hater Boycott has metamorphosed into the India-lover of television. He loves Indian players, Indian actresses, and even Indian food. Such is the pull of television money. The delicate walls of Boycott’s stomach are now lined with Indian rupees.Douglas Jardine’s only tour following the Bodyline series was to India, the country of his birth, in 1933-34; in 1951-52 England were led by a debutant, Nigel Howard. Howard only ever played four Tests, all as captain on that tour. Freddie Brown, captain in England’s previous series against South Africa wasn’t in the team. Nor were Len Hutton, Denis Compton, Godfrey Evans, Alec Bedser, Jim Laker or Peter May. In the next series, in 1961-62, there was no Colin Cowdrey, Brian Statham or Fred Trueman in Dexter’s side. Mike Smith’s 1963-64 squad did not have Cowdrey originally. A decade later another debutant, Tony Lewis, captained England. When Fletcher came to India as captain, he had been in retirement for four years. Such condescension was not guaranteed to endear English cricket to the average Indian fan who was treated to the Benauds and Borders from Australia leading teams while at the top of their games.Vaughan’s team is not the first that will begin the series as underdogs. India have won five series to England’s three, 12 Tests to England’s 10. From here on, the two teams will play each other home and away in four-year cycles. If India get their math right they could host the 2011 World Cup too.England are not just cricketing underdogs vis a vis India (14-1, in the eyes of some London bookmakers), but in other senses too, with a softer voice in international cricket than their rivals. This is a new situation for both, even if India have been heading for superpowerdom for some time now.The new officials will try to divorce India’s performance on the field from their influence off it – the reverse of the West Indies situation in the 1980s, when they were the best team in the world but had no voice in the ICC. India’s current position may have been built on the successes of their teams, but they have known failure too and their administrators, so full of beans and ideas today, will not want to go around with a begging bowl tomorrow. It is not just the Future Tours Programme that comes in cycles. After the first flush of triumph and triumphalism, the Bindras and the Modis will have to look beyond the market, and that is where the relationships they carve out today will be important. If Gower arrived when the past was ruling, Vaughan arrives when the future is set to rule the present.

Leeds United could be set to lose one of their senior players on a permanent basis next summer, with a fresh report revealing that his loan club are already working to prise him away from the Championship.

Who have Leeds signed recently?

Over the summer, Daniel Farke was busy in the market having secured the services of nine fresh faces, with Joel Piroe, Glen Kamara, Ethan Ampadu and Ilia Gruev joining on a permanent basis, whilst the likes of Djed Spence and Joe Rodon put pen to paper on loan.

In terms of outgoings, Tyler Adams, Rodrigo and Tyler Roberts were the three first-team players to leave for good, alongside stars like Jack Harrison, Luis Sinisterra and Brenden Aaronson who were sent on the road temporarily, but they weren’t the only ones to depart.

Robin Koch also completed a switch away from the second tier to link up with Eintracht Frankfurt until the end of the season, with the 49ers likely wanting to get the centre-back off their wage books following relegation.

However, Germany’s international’s contract is set to expire upon the conclusion of the current term which doesn’t give chiefs much time to cash in should they not want to risk losing him for free, but if the following update is to be believed, he’s already got a potential suitor waiting.

Is Robin Koch leaving Leeds?

According to German outlet SportBILD (via Sport Witness), Eintracht Frankfurt buying Koch on a permanent deal next summer is something that is "already being considered" by the club in the Bundesliga.

Dino Toppmoller's side see "internal transfer profit potential" of €230m (£199m) in their squad and view the defender as part of that. Sporting director Markus Krosche has already heaped public praise on his summer signing and he is therefore "quickly becoming convinced" that he wants to keep him in the building for good.

How much did Leeds buy Robin Koch for?

Back in 2020, Leeds paid a reported £11.3m to sign Koch from SC Freiburg and it’s fair to say that he’s more than been worth that during his 77 senior appearances at the club, so it’s important that the board do everything they can to retain his services by offering him a new deal next year.

The Yorkshire outfit’s 27-year-old is excelling at the Deutsche Bank Park where he’s so far won all five of his tackles made since the start of the season, alongside averaging five clearances per league game, with his similarly commanding performances having previously seen him dubbed a “real leader” by journalist Josh Bunting.

Furthermore, Farke’s £38k-per-week earner is a versatile operator having been deployed in five various positions over the pitch since the start of his career, including everywhere across the backline and even two roles higher up in the midfield.

Should Frankfurt table a respectable permanent offer for Koch in 2024, it will understandably be hard for the hierarchy to turn down because they could use the funds to put towards new signings in the future, but ideally, they need to re-introduce him back into the squad.

Constantly under scrutiny and perceived as a weak link in South Africa’s batting line up, Alviro Petersen made his fourth Test century proving his is a steady face among a fashionable order

Firdose Moonda at Headingley02-Aug-2012How different it would have been if Alviro Petersen’s edge off the third ball of the morning had gone to either third slip or gully and not the space in between them. He would have been out for second successive duck in the series and the gorgeous cover drive he played five overs later would never have made its appearance.How different it would have been if there had been a third slip when Petersen next edged in the 11th over. A catchable chance went to the boundary instead of to hand.And how different it would have been had Alastair Cook held on at second slip two balls later, or had Graeme Swann not been dropped and could have taken his usual position. Then Petersen would have been out for 29 and would likely have been criticised for attacking too early instead of being watchful.But none of those things happened.Instead, Petersen went on to record his fourth Test century in 15 matches and proved, once again, that pressure is his best trigger. That he was under pressure at all can only be gleaned from perception, not fact.Having not announced himself on the tour of England, Petersen was written up as being the weak link. He totalled 42 runs in four innings since the squad’s arrival on July 6, less than any of the other batsmen including Jacques Rudolph and JP Duminy, who did not get the opportunity to bat in the first Test. His duck in that Test throbbed in its neon obviousness that he had failed to cash in against conditions and an attack that others had feasted on.The reality is that Petersen had scored a hundred in the Test before the tour of England and was in no danger of losing his place. He was also not facing the chop when he scored his 156 in Wellington in March, having registered a century three matches before against Sri Lanka in Cape Town in January.Why Petersen always comes under scrutiny could have more to do with the people he bats with than who he is on his own. Four of South Africa’s top five are ranked in top ten Test batsmen by the ICC. Guess who is not?Graeme Smith, Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis and AB de Villiers have all scored runs in enough places for their positions not to come into question. They are the spine of South Africa’s line-up and it is easy to forget that for that spine to function properly, it needs all its vertebrae.Over the last few years, many different batsmen have been asked to slot in alongside the bigger names. Neil McKenzie did to acclaim for a while, Boeta Dippenaar never really fused with Smith the way he should have and although Ashwell Prince could do it, he simply did not want to play in that position. Unlike Matthew Hayden, Smith has never found his Justin Langer. The closest he came to that was Herschelle Gibbs and since the maverick opener’s retirement, no-one has really been able to call themselves his replacement.

Petersen has showed that the ocean floor is a lot lower than England thought and South Africa’s depth is multi-layered.

Batting with the ghost of opening batsmen of the past may have placed a subconscious burden on Petersen, especially when he was dropped after nine Tests having not done much wrong. Jacques Rudolph’s prolific form at Yorkshire and then the Titans forced his way back into the international game and the only way to include him in the starting XI at the time was to do away with Petersen. Ironic then, that Petersen has taken a big step to cementing his own position at the same ground which revitalised Rudolph’s career.What Petersen also showed is that the ocean floor is a lot lower than England may have thought and South Africa’s depth is multi-layered. He outbatted Graeme Smith to reach his first fifty in 78 balls. Despite the chances he gave and the number of times he played and missed, Petersen’s confidence did not appear to dip. He dug in and no matter how many times the ball beat his bat, he did not shy away.When England bowled the wrong line on his legs, he took advantage on his favoured on-side. When the short ball came, he pulled, twice to bring up his fifty and again to raise the hundred. In between that, he ground it out, particularly after lunch when England found an extra gear. Run scoring became almost as rare as England wickets, especially as Petersen eked over the 80s and into the 90s but his temperament remained solid.”He paced his innings so well,” AB de Villiers, who was with him when the century came up, said. “I found it really difficult out there for my 40-odd and he supported me. The way he played was inspiring.”If De Villiers found it difficult to face 107 balls, Petersen’s struggle can only have been magnified. He spent 266 balls at the crease in an all-day effort that was about batting ugly to usher the team through, not batting beautifully for personal glory. Convincing shots were not in abundance as he contended with old-fashioned line and length but hard fought ones were. Even right at the end of the day, Petersen did not look entirely control but until the last two wickets fell, he made sure South Africa were.

It’s a typical afternoon at the National Cricket Academy in Edinburgh, where a small, but fiercely energetic staff, are multi-tasking with a resolve that belies the governing body’s dearth of finance

Neil Drysdale10-Jul-2006

Scotland: lacking finance but not resolve © Getty Images
It’s a typical afternoon at the National Cricket Academy in Edinburgh, where a small, but fiercely energetic staff, are multi-tasking with a resolve that belies the governing body’s dearth of finance.A year ago this week, Craig Wright’s team triumphed in the ICC Trophy, thereby securing World Cup qualification and earning automatic ODI status, whilst climbing to a global ranking of 12th. There were plenty of lofty promises about how the game was poised for all sorts of monetary windfalls, but as it transpired these forecasts sprung from the Wilkins Micawber School of economics.The reality for Wright and the national coach, Peter Drinnen, is that they must keep advancing in spite of a system that is absurdly obsessed with medals, and seemingly designed to deny cricket any of the same advantages afforded to other pursuits.Drinnen shrugs his shoulders when confronted with these issues. As somebody who inherited the job, in controversial circumstances, from Andy Moles, the Australian has stepped up to the plate in stirring fashion, orchestrating a series of victories for the Saltires in the revamped C&G Trophy and watching proudly as his charges rallied from 20 for 4 to push Pakistan hard at The Citylets Grange last month.Elsewhere, concerns have been expressed as to the validity of the ICC’s philosophy of introducing half-a-dozen new countries onto the ODI circuit – and the sceptics’ fears were borne out by Sri Lanka amassing a record-breaking 443 runs in 50 overs against hapless Holland – but Drinnen is unrepentant in his assertion that Scotland has the ability to rise above Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and Kenya in the next 18 months. If he was allowed access to a bigger annual budget than £180,000, there is no inherent reason why his personnel can’t be beating anybody in the planet by the start of the next decade.”Of course, we would benefit from extra cash,” says Drinnen, “and I have the plans in place if it happens to create an A team, packed with 18, 19 and 20 year-olds, who would go to Bangladesh, to India and Sri Lanka, and test themselves in high-pressure contests, which would allow a natural progression through to the senior side.”That contrasts starkly with the present situation where we are shoving in guys from the SNCL and expecting them to tackle professional rivals head-on but, to be fair, we have definitely increased our strength in depth in the last 12 months.”Drinnen highlighted the example of Neil McCallum, who made a conscious decision to put himself in the spotlight, thrived at the Grange, and forced himself into the Saltires’ scene through sheer 100% commitment and application. It was he who marched to the crease at 20 for 4 against Pakistan, and proceeded to dig his side out of a huge hole with a gritty 68.”I am always asking questions of players and Neil has responded,” added Drinnen. “What I would ask of some others is: are you equally determined to invest in the hours of practice and demand an opportunity? Even six months ago, there were some individuals who probably imagined they had booked their World Cup berths, but I have told a lot of them to take nothing for granted.”I have 18 or 19 names in my mind for 15 spots, and there is still time for one or two others to stick themselves in the frame, before the squad is announced in September. But if anybody is half-hearted, or believes they have enough talent to sit out net sessions, or doesn’t understand they have to be fit, I am afraid they are in for a disappointment when the party is announced for the most intense period in Scotland’s history.”Drinnen, a reticent character by nature, was disinclined to indulge in specific selection discussions. Nonetheless, he has been significantly impressed with Paul Hoffmann (“the lad has bowled beautifully”), Ryan Watson (“he refuses to stay out of any game”), whilst his warm words for Dewald Nel, Ross Lyons and Gavin Hamilton and for Wright and Dougie Brown’s “innate professionalism” suggest that they can anticipate a winter abroad.That winter could possibly begin with a trip to Bangladesh in November, followed by the inaugural World Cricket League, prior to meeting the UAE in the Intercontinental Cup. Then it’s off to St Kitts for their hat-trick of World Cup assignments with Australia, South Africa and Holland.It is a daunting schedule and one which promises to tax the players’ employers and spouses alike. But if Drinnen is feeling the strain of existing on a shoestring budget, he is keeping it remarkably well-hidden.”I know that some of the lads will have to make sacrifices and tough choices, which isn’t ideal, and although we are grateful for the sponsorship of Lloyds TSB and the funding from Sportscotland, it would clearly be fantastic if we could offer contracts to seven or eight players and progress towards a scenario where they were full-time cricketers.””All the same,” he added, “I’m both pragmatic and excited about our prospects, because I genuinely, 100% reckon that we can have a very good Scottish cricket team for years to come, the foundations have been laid, and an awful lot of development has occurred in a short time. What we need now is the funding to take a big leap, instead of moving forward in short steps.”Drinnen’s ultimate fantasy is for Scotland to take part in the 2014 Commonwealth Games, which could even be held in Glasgow if their bid is successful. “If it is, then Twenty20 cricket could be included on the programme and we could have a pop at chasing a medal. Why not? If we can score 200-plus against Pakistan and have them at 93 for 5, without several of our key performers, why shouldn’t we dare to dream?”Drinnen is currently debating the logistics of sending a couple of players to Australia and two more to India this winter, as part of his fast-track policy. He may speak in measured tones, but this man is on a mission and has no truck with part-timers or pessimists.

Glasgow Rangers have been backed to make a move to sign a new free agent, with a BBC pundit believing he’d be the perfect fit for the Scottish Premiership.

What new players have Rangers signed?

Over the summer, Michael Beale entered the market to secure nine fresh faces, with Danilo, Sam Lammers, Cyriel Dessers and Jose Cifuentes being purchased, whilst the likes of Jack Butland and Dujon Sterling joined for free.

In terms of outgoings, Glen Kamara, Fashion Sakala and Antonio Colak were the three permanent sales to take place, whilst Ryan Kent and Filip Helander led the departures of squad members that had reached the end of their contracts, as per Transfermarkt.

The Light Blues might already be assessing their options ahead of the January window opening, and one star that they could target is Stefan Johansen, who most recently played his football for Queens Park Rangers in the English Championship.

The Norway international, who is naturally a central midfielder, decided to mutually terminate his contract at the end of last season meaning that he is now a free agent on the market and waiting to be snapped up, and the 32-year-old has been mooted to move to Ibrox.

Are Rangers signing Stefan Johansen?

Speaking to Football League World, BBC pundit Carlton Palmer named Rangers as a potential destination for Johansen, who he believes would easily slot into their style of football, especially having previously been coached by Beale during his time at Loftus Road. He said:

"Stefan Johansen is a very, very good footballer. I think maybe Glasgow Rangers might have a little look at him on a free. He is an experienced midfielder that can play really, really well, and play at a high level. Maybe someone like Glasgow Rangers may look at him on a free. He’s available, has experience, and has worked with the previous manager."

What could Stefan Johansen bring to Rangers?

Being 32, Rangers will know that Johansen isn’t getting any younger, but with age comes experience and he’s had plenty of that having been dubbed the “ultimate professional” by journalist Josh Bunting, so he could prove to be a fantastic short-term addition for Beale.

The TP Sport Management client is naturally stronger in the offensive aspect of his game having clocked up 19 contributions (13 assists and six goals) in 88 appearances during his time at QPR, whilst whipping 73 crosses into the opposition’s box last season, which was the fourth-highest total throughout his squad, via FBRef.

The Hoops’ former left-footed ace is also a versatile operator having been deployed in six different positions over the pitch since the start of his career, including everywhere across the midfield and even at centre-forward, so he would be a wonderful option for the boss to have in the building should any unexpected injuries occur in other roles where cover is needed.

Finally, Johansen was the captain of Gareth Ainsworth's side which means he will possess extremely strong leadership qualities, so for all the atrributes that he would add to the boss' ranks, alongside the fact he's available for free, this is a no-brainer of a deal to complete.

Newcastle United's season has not gone off without a hitch, but the quality and potential within Eddie Howe's blooming side is crystal clear, summed up in the recent drubbing of Sheffield United at Bramall Lane.

8-0. A record-equalling victory in the top-flight for the Tyneside club (the other match, interestingly, came against the Blades' city rivals Sheffield Wednesday in 1999), Newcastle can delight in the incisiveness and ruthless edge to their efforts, exactly what is needed for a side pushing for Champions League qualification once again.

Indeed, the Magpies defied expectations last season by finishing in fourth place in the Premier League, transferring some fine form from the 2021/22 season – form that ensued from the PIF takeover and Howe's subsequent appointment – and making it something lasting, tangible.

Where once the devout Newcastle faithful hoped for a sustained spot away from the jaws of relegation from the top flight and pushed for a bit more ambition on the transfer front, their stoical support has been duly rewarded with a war chest fit to serve an outfit at the very forefront of the game.

Now within Champions League competition and boasting a squad fit for purpose in Europe's elite club competition, Howe deserves all the plaudits for the work that he has forged at St. James' Park, making good use of supplies and investing in players who would fight for the badge and contribute toward the revival.

Who better to typify this than captain Kieran Trippier, with the veteran right-back joining from the genesis of the creation of this new-look Newcastle side and serving with aplomb, paramount to the rise.

Against Sheffield United, he became the first Magpie to bag a hat-trick of assists since Allan Saint-Maximin against Bournemouth in 2020, but then this is just one – admittedly sensational – performance from a player who has already etched his name into the record books for his role in rebuilding a football club desperate for an escape from obscurity.

How much did Newcastle sign Kieran Trippier for?

In October 2021, Mike Ashley's tyrannical reign of Newcastle came to an end. One month later, Howe was appointed in the managerial role, replacing Steve Bruce.

As the Magpies made merry and the brilliant red of the carpets rolled from St. James' Park, welcoming a new era and a clean slate, glimmering in the Tyneside sunlight after years of hurt, the club still languished at their nadir in the Premier League, but a revitalised strategy and some astute business on the transfer front worked wonders for an outfit targetting a renaissance.

Howe had the plan, but he needed the tools to rebuild the outfit and was granted a significant pool of expenditure to set his idea into motion, and the moves made in January 2022 proved to catalyse Newcastle's hopes for an illustrious new chapter.

Bruno Guimaraes

£40m

Chris Wood

£25m

Dan Burn

£13m

Kieran Trippier

£12m

Matt Targett

Loan

Some standout names in there that play a big role at the club to this day, but none more so than the cheapest permanent signing of that decisive winter transfer market, with diminutive right-back Trippier embodying everything that Howe has striven to achieve since taking the helm at the Toon.

Trippier, a £12m acquisition, had played the lion's share of his career in his English homeland but was actually signed for Newcastle from Spanish side Atletico Madrid.

The dynamo had made 86 appearances across two-and-a-half seasons in LaLiga, registering 11 assists and playing a key role in winning the 2020/21 LaLiga title – his only major honour to date – and was heralded for his "very important" standing in the squad by Atletico manager Diego Simeone.

While there were murmurings from certain segments of rival fanbases that he was moving to Newcastle for a big payday in the later phase of his career, he has quashed such ludicrous claims with a staunch devotion to the rise of this exciting side, and he has arguably been their most important player.

How good is Kieran Trippier?

The 43-cap England international is a distinguished presence down the right flank and a proven force as one of the most creative and influential in his position.

As per FBref, he ranks among the top 6% of full-backs across Europe's top five leagues over the past year for assists, the top 1% for shot-creating actions, the top 5% for passes attempted and the top 2% for progressive passes per 90, evidently a playmaker with an "elite output", as praised by Statman Dave on Twitter.

Having now completed 60 matches, scoring three goals and providing 13 assists, the £120k-per-week phenom has been hailed as a "revelation" by talkSPORT's Simon Jordan, and there is no question that the side's ascendancy might not have been quite so profound had he not been signed.

Boasting commanding leadership qualities to blend with his talent and technicality on the pitch, Trippier has been integral and actually earned an impressive average Sofascore rating of 7.61 in the Premier League last term, keeping 14 clean sheets, making 1.9 tackles and two clearances per outing, creating 2.9 key passes per game and succeeding with 60% of his attempted dribbles.

So much so, that perhaps he has had an even greater impact than Bruno Guimaraes, who has recently penned a lucrative new contract with the Tyneside outfit after arriving in the same month as his English peer.

The Brazilian has been a "world-class" addition to Newcastle's squad, as has been said by Dan Burn, and is undoubtedly one of the most technically proficient midfielders in the Premier League.

Having forged 40 displays last term and started every match so far this season, the 25-year-old ranks among the top 20% of midfielders for goals, the top 15% for assists, the top 19% for shot-creating actions, the top 16% for progressive passes and the top 13% for successful take-ons per 90.

He is undoubtedly a starring member of Howe's team, the orchestrator in the middle and the conduit between the thirds, but with Trippier's authority and dynamism, he might not be the man to have made the biggest impact, albeit he has been absolutely sensational.

Trippier is 33-years-old and ostensibly approaching the twilight of his career, but based on the evidence from his dismantling creative display against Sheffield United, he is still every bit the multi-functional phenom Newcastle signed to spearhead a way out of danger at the bottom of the division.

I'd say he's ticked all the boxes, wouldn't you?

It would be fair to say that Manchester United’s lacklustre summer took a turn for the worse on Tuesday afternoon.

While the Old Trafford faithful have been crying out for the club to go out and sign some players, fierce rivals Liverpool have been doing precisely that, and now it looks like they are on the hunt for Alexander Isak.

In fact, according to some reporters, they are now preparing a £130m offer for the Newcastle United star, despite already spending around £116m on Florian Wirtz earlier in the window.

However, there might still be some good news for United fans, as reports suggest they are looking to bring in someone who could be their answer to the Swede before next week.

Manchester United's underwhelming summer

While it certainly doesn’t feel like it at the moment, the summer transfer window actually started in a rather positive fashion for United.

Transfer Focus

Mega money deals, controversial moves and big-name flops. This is the home of transfer news and opinion across Football FanCast.

After recovering from their Europa League final defeat, the club went out and activated Matheus Cunha’s £62.5m release clause.

With the Brazilian being Premier League-proven and amassing an impressive haul of 23 goal involvements in 36 games last season, it is undoubtedly a great signing; however, the problem is that the club haven’t made another since.

Fortunately, that might be about to change. At least that is according to a recent report from the Manchester Evening News, which has revealed that United are closing in on Bryan Mbeumo.

In fact, in some much-needed good news, the report claims that the Red Devils are working hard to bring the Brentford man in before they begin their pre-season next week.

The club have already seen two offers rejected, with the latest being around £60m, but according to stories from earlier this week, they’ll need to pay £65m to get this deal over the line.

It’s certainly a lot of money to spend on one player, but given Mbeumo’s ability, it would be worth it, and it could be United’s own Isak-type addition.

Why Mbeumo could be United's Isak

Now, the first thing we’ll say is that, no, we don’t think Mbeumo is as good a player as Isak, but that doesn’t take away from the fact he’s still brilliant, and that isn’t really what we’re trying to say either.

Instead, we’re arguing that the Cameroonian international could have the same sort of impact on United in an attacking sense that the Newcastle ace could have for Liverpool.

That might sound absurd to some, but it’s really not, especially considering the difference a seriously dangerous Premier League goalscorer could have on this Red Devils side is far greater due to their current position, and the Brentford man is most certainly a dangerous goalscorer.

For example, in 38 league appearances last season, totalling 3417 minutes, the Bees’ “mini-Salah,” as dubbed by pundit Jason Cundy, scored 20 goals and provided eight assists.

That comes out to a brilliant average of a goal involvement every 1.35 games, or one every 122.03 minutes.

That would have made him comfortably the top scorer and most productive player in Ruben Amorim’s squad last season, ahead of Bruno Fernandes with eight goals and 11 assists in 36 games.

More impressively, however, it wasn’t too far off Isak’s tally.

Appearances

38

34

Minutes

3417′

2774′

Goals

20

23

Assists

8

6

Goal Involvements per Match

0.73

0.85

Minutes per Goal Involvement

122.03′

95.65′

In a far better team, the Swedish striker scored 23 goals and provided six assists in 34 league appearances, totalling 2774 minutes, which comes out to a goal involvement every 1.17 games, or every 95.65 minutes.

Finally, with the “phenomenal” Bees gem, as dubbed by one analyst, being able to play off the right or up top, he’d have even more opportunities to influence proceedings at the Theatre of Dreams next season.

Ultimately, Mbeumo is not as good a player as Isak, and nobody would suggest otherwise, but he is still an incredible attacker, and there is every chance that he could be as game-changing for United as the Swede might be for Liverpool.

Amorim's own Pogba: Man Utd leading race to sign "sensational" £42m star

Manchester United could be about to make a move to land a key target in their plans for the 2025/26 campaign.

ByEthan Lamb Jul 16, 2025

Daryl Tuffey cut down on pace, and concentrated on off-stump accuracy to embarrass India on the final day at Mohali

Dileep Premachandran11-Jul-2005When India’s batsmen emerged this morning, they would have expected Daniel Vettori to be the main obstacle between them and the follow-on target of 431. But as it turned out, he was relegated to bit-part status by a magnificent spell of controlled medium-pace from Daryl Tuffey, which pushed India over the edge and into the humiliating situation of following on in a home Test match.Tuffey never attempted to match the pace of Ian Butler, bowling most of his deliveries at around 125kph, but he compensated with an unerringly accurate line that gave the batsmen no room to take liberties. His spell in the morning – straddling two innings – produced 4 for 14 from 10 overs, and was characterised by his ability to put the ball on a spot just on or about off stump, while also obtaining occasional steepling bounce. Of the 60 balls he bowled, 55 pitched on or outside off stump, and all four wickets came courtesy of edges to the wicketkeeper or slip.LineBallsOutside off47off08Middle Off01Leg03Outside Leg01He started off by snipping off India’s excuse of a tail to enforce the follow-on. L Balaji and Zaheer Khan were both undone by deliveries that pitched bang in the corridor of uncertainty outside off stump. Two feathered edges did the rest.But Tuffey wasn’t done. Virender Sehwag, who lashed a cavalier 130 in the first innings, was tempted into slashing at one that was just a mite too close to his body, while Rahul Dravid played a more hesitant stroke to one that was pitched on off stump. Stephen Fleming took both catches, and Tuffey went to lunch well pleased.As if to prove that he wasn’t just a morning person, he came back after the interval to castle Sachin Tendulkar. Medium-pace bowling in Indian conditions doesn’t get much better than that.