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West Ham have had some brilliant attacking players in the past decade, with Dimitri Payet being the pick of the bunch.

The Frenchman was signed from Marseille for around £10.7m back in 2015, spending a year and a half at the club before returning to Marseille for nearly double the fee.

Payet made 60 appearances for the Hammers, scoring 15 goals and providing 22 assists in 4,981 minutes played.

They have signed a number of players since then in a bid to replace his genius in the final third, with Mohamed Kudus one such player.

However, there was a player who happened to earn even more, but whether or not he was a success is very up for debate.

Felipe Anderson at West Ham

One player that West Ham signed in an attempt to find their next superstar was Felipe Anderson, who arrived from Lazio in July 2018 for an initial fee of around £35m, with add-ons, making him a club-record signing at the time.

It caused quite a stir, with Mario Husillos, then West Ham’s director of football saying: “We believe we have signed one of the most exciting talents in European football. This is a very big statement.”

After joining the club in 2018, Anderson didn’t have the worst start to life in London, scoring ten goals and providing five assists in 40 appearances, totalling 3,199 minutes played.

However, the following season, the Brazilian only managed one goal, still getting six assists in all competitions, but starting to slack with his output.

This poor form in the 2019/20 season, alongside the success of Jarrod Bowen who signed in 2020, saw Anderson phased out, first on loan to FC Porto, before rejoining Lazio on a permanent deal for just £2.6m.

Anderson was reportedly earning £100k per week when at the club, representing a transfer fee and a wage fee – earning over £10m in salary – which didn’t reflect his impact on the side, especially when compared to someone like Mohamed Kudus, who is earning £90k per week.

First Impressions

What did pundits and fans alike think about their new star signing when they arrived? Football FanCast's 'First Impressions' series has everything you need.

How Kudus compares to Felipe Anderson

Kudus was signed from Ajax last summer, joining the Hammers for a fee of around £38m. The 24-year-old has already made 54 appearances for the club, scoring 15 goals and providing seven assists in his 4,118 minutes. That goal tally is already better than the 12 Anderson managed in London.

His debut season at the club was superb, settling in really quickly with his team, making 45 appearances in 2023/24, scoring 14 goals and providing six assists.

Another quality he has already shown is his positional versatility, playing on both the left and right wing, as a number ten, and even as a centre-forward last season for the Hammers.

Kudus (23/24) vs Anderson (18/19) comparison
Stats (per 90 mins)	Kudus	Anderson
Goals	0.37	0.28
Assists	0.17	0.14
xG	0.25	0.16
xAG	0.15	0.18
Progressive Carries	4.07	5.95
Progressive Passes	2.94	5.65
Shots Total	2.52	1.78
Key Passes	1.18	1.89
Successful Take-Ons	4.04	2.25
Shot-Creating Actions	3.62	4.11
Stats taken from FBref

These metrics tell us Anderson actually had quite a good campaign with the stats he was producing, offering good creative numbers, progressing play for his side, and constantly getting involved. However, he clearly wasn’t as efficient on the output end, with Kudus beating him for goals, assists, xG and shots taken per 90.

Perhaps Anderson was unlucky with his timing, as Bowen joined as he was being phased out, whilst Kudus now gets to link up with Bowen, who seems to get the best out of others, as well as Lucas Paqueta, another extremely talented playmaker.

Whilst the transfer fee paid clearly wasn’t worth it, as he left the club just two years later, he did seem to produce some top-tier metrics considering the side he was in, which has to be taken into account when assessing his wages compared to others in the squad at the time.

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Oct 10, 2024

Kalvin Phillips has been linked with potentially sealing a sensational return to Leeds United and now a new update has emerged regarding the situation.

Phillips struggling amid Leeds links

The 28-year-old was such an integral player for the Whites under Marcelo Bielsa, combining quality and energy in midfield and becoming a crucial part of Gareth Southgate’s plans for England.

In fact, Phillips was a key starter for the Three Lions at Euro 2020, helping his country reach the final that they eventually lost to Italy, and his form eventually earned him a £45m move to Manchester City in 2022.

The midfielder’s time at the Etihad has been hugely disappointing, however, with Pep Guardiola never making him an important player and injuries continually holding him back. He was shipped off to Ipswich Town on loan during the summer transfer window, but has struggled there, too, even being sent off in Saturday’s 1-1 draw at home to Leicester City in the Premier League.

With Phillips desperately looking to get his career back on track, Leeds have been linked with bringing him back to Elland Road, getting the best out of him and making him an integral figure under Daniel Farke. Now, a new update has dropped regarding a potential move.

New update on possible Leeds return for Phillips

According to a new claim from Football Insider journalist Pete O’Rourke, Leeds “are not expected to” seal a reunion with Phillips, despite rumours suggesting otherwise.

The report says that “there is a belief that his head is still at Elland Road and that Phillips would like a return to Leeds” but he may not be granted his wish.

It is sad to see how Phillips’ career has unravelled since he moved to City a couple of years ago, at which point the sky appeared to be the limit for him. Injuries have clearly played a massive part in his struggles, but Guardiola has still praised him at times, including during pre-season this year before he joined Ipswich:

“Kalvin was really good. When he can get the ball and see all of the pitch in front of him he is a really good player. When I have him in smaller spaces we have more problems. With the ball he was really good and helped us a lot. I am very, very pleased with his performance.”

The brutal truth is that there isn’t necessarily a great urge for Leeds to re-sign Phillips, even with the likes of Ethan Ampadu and Ilia Gruev out injured, with Ao Tanaka and Joe Rothwell starring in recent weeks.

If Farke doesn’t believe that the Englishman is at the level required fitness-wise to be an asset for his team, it is important that he goes with his head over his heart, considering the nostalgia that would come with him making a return to the club.

"We're told" – Adam Pope shares new update from Leeds on Patrick Bamford

His absence has been explained.

ByHenry Jackson Nov 3, 2024

Supporters may be divided when it comes to Phillips – a January move could go down well, in terms of adding depth – but there is no question that he doesn’t look the same player as the one who left.

Manchester United are eyeing up an audacious move to sign one of Europe’s best talents in 2025 as they look to continue their overhaul under Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS, according to one report.

Defensive issues continue at Manchester United

Despite heavy investment, Erik ten Hag’s Manchester United side continue to struggle defensively. Though they have only conceded eight goals in seven Premier League games thus far, six of those have come in heavy home defeats to both Tottenham and Liverpool, losing 3-0 on each occasion.

It comes after a season in which the club suffered an injury crisis at centre-back, one which saw Ten Hag forced into using 14 different centre-back partnerships which at times included defensive midfielder Casemiro.

They looked to remedy that over the summer, signing Leny Yoro from Lille and Matthijs de Ligt from Bayern Munich in deals worth close to £100m, but the former has been sidelined through injury and the latter is yet to impress, to the extent that for Manchester United’s most recent outing and with Ten Hag under pressure to save his job, the Dutchman reverted to veteran defender Jonny Evans in his place.

There have been ever bigger issues at fullback; 2022 signing Tyrell Malacia has been sidelined for much of his time at Old Trafford with an unspecified injury, while Luke Shaw has also failed to stay fit for any significant portion of time, leading to Diogo Dalot, Victor Lindelof and even loanee Sofyan Amrabat being asked to fill in at left back. Now, United are eyeing up a long-term fix to that problem, in the form of an audacious move.

Games played at left back 23/24

Tyrell Malacia

0

Luke Shaw

12

Diogo Dalot

15

Aaron Wan-Bissaka

7

Victor Lindelof

9

Sofyan Amrabat

5

Manchester United chase free agent

That comes as Sky Sports journalist Florian Plettenberg has revealed that the Red Devils are doing initial groundwork to try and pull off an audacious swoop to sign Alphonso Davies in 2025. The Canadian defender, who was the Bundesliga’s fastest player last season, is in the final months of his £181,000 a week deal at the Allianz Arena.

He has long been linked with a move to Real Madrid as a free agent, but Manchester United are also positioning themselves to try and bring him to Old Trafford.

Man Utd now consider eye-watering 2025 move for £612k-p/w title-winning duo

It would continue a theme at Old Trafford.

ByBen Browning Oct 15, 2024

It is claimed that United “have already gathered information” on the 23-year-old, as they look to address their long term problems at left-back. Davies would certainly be a massive upgrade at Old Trafford, having been labelled “unbelievable” by teammate Joshua Kimmich, while he missed just four games last season through injury.

Unfortunately though, the report adds that “don’t consider their chances to be very high”, something that will likely only be decided by whether or not Manchester United qualify for next season’s Champions League, and Real Madrid’s ultimate decision on whether or not to try and sign the Canadian,

Celtic head coach Brendan Rodgers was a busy man during the summer transfer window as he had to oversee a number of changes to his playing squad.

There was plenty of movement in and out of Parkhead before the deadline in August, with the most notable departure being Matt O’Riley’s move to Premier League side Brighton & Hove Albion.

Mikey Johnston, Gustaf Lagerbielke, and Tomoki Iwata were among the other players to move on from Glasgow, either permanently or on loan, to make way for a raft of new signings.

The board illustrated their immense faith in Rodgers by smashing the club’s transfer record to sign Belgium international Arne Engels from Augsburg for a reported fee of £11m.

They also brought in Adam Idah, Paulo Bernardo, Alex Valle, Luke McCowan, and Auston Trusty to bolster the manager’s options across the park before the end of the summer transfer window.

Engels, Bernardo, and McCowan have all come in to compete for a starting spot in the middle of the park and the Hoops will be hoping to have more luck in that position than they did with the signing of Ismaila Soro back at the start of 2020.

How much Celtic paid for Ismaila Soro

It was reported that the Scottish giants splashed out a fee of around £2m to sign the central midfielder from Israeli side Bnei Yehuda ahead of the second half of the 2019/20 campaign.

Neil Lennon brought him to Parkhead on a contract till the summer of 2024 and it was claimed, at the time, that he was a tough-tackling midfielder who could handle the ball in tight spaces.

It was also revealed that the club’s close links with the player’s agent – Dudu Dahan – helped them to secure a deal for the Ivorian youngster.

The youngster only made one appearance – in the SFA Cup – during the second half of that season before he played 19 times in the Scottish Premiership during the 2020/21 campaign.

Appearances

19

Goals

1

Assists

1

Big chances created

0

Duel success rate

52%

As you can see in the table above, Soro was an average performer in the middle of the park for the Hoops in those 19 outings, as he was only directly involved in two goals and barely won the majority of his physical duels.

His performances were not good enough to convince Ange Postecoglou, who arrived in the summer of 2021, to make him a regular in his side, with the midfielder playing eight games and starting once in the Premiership under the Australian boss.

Celtic then sent Soro out on loan to Portuguese side Arouca for the 2022/23 campaign before allowing him to leave on a free transfer, a year before his contract was due to expire, in 2023.

One that got away

The transfers that nearly happened but never did. This article is part of Football FanCast's One That Got Away series.

Things could have been so different for the Scottish giants, however, if they had landed one of their central midfield targets from the 2019 summer transfer window – Scott McTominay.

Celtic's interest in Scott McTominay

Ahead of the 2019/20 season, a transfer document detailing a number of targets for the Hoops was leaked and the Scotland international was one of the names on the list.

Alongside the likes of Neal Maupay, Reece James, and Fikayo Tomori, Celtic were interested in potentially swooping to sign the central midfielder from Manchester United to bolster Lennon’s squad.

The Scottish giant had already made his breakthrough at first-team level for the Red Devils but only featured in 16 of their 38 Premier League games during the 2018/19 campaign.

His lack of regular minutes in the top-flight for the English giants may have led Celtic to believe that they had a chance to bring him to Parkhead in the summer of 2019, although it remains unknown as to whether they were keen on landing him permanently or on loan.

Ultimately, the Hoops did not secure a deal for the central midfielder and ended that summer transfer window without signing any senior players in that position.

They eventually swooped to fill that role five months later, in the January window, with the addition of Soro, but McTominay’s rise since 2019 suggests that he was one that got away from the Scottish giants.

Scott McTominay's current market value

At the time of writing (09/10/2024), Transfermarkt has the central midfielder’s current market value at a whopping €32m (£28m), following on from his move to Italian side Napoli in the recent summer transfer window.

After Celtic failed to secure his services, McTominay went on to score four goals in 27 Premier League matches during the 2019/20 campaign and established himself as a regular with the English outfit over the subsequent years.

The Scottish ace went on to rack up 255 appearances for United in all competitions, scoring 29 goals and providing eight assists, before his departure earlier this year.

This suggests that, from the player’s perspective, he was right to avoid a move away from Old Trafford in the summer of 2019 as he was able to play the best part of 300 games for his boyhood club.

McTominay, who has scored nine goals in 52 games for Scotland, then completed a permanent move to Napoli to play under Antonio Conte this summer and has enjoyed a strong start to the season.

Appearances

4

Goals

1

Assists

1

Pass accuracy

83%

Tackles + interceptions per game

2.3

As you can see in the table above, the 27-year-old star has already produced two goals and assists in four Serie A appearances for the Italian giants.

McTominay, who was hailed as a “real threat” in the air by journalist Josh Bunting, proved himself at the top level in England by playing 255 games for United and now appears to be on his way to proving his quality in Italy.

Therefore, the Scottish gem was one that got away for Celtic as they missed out on a £27m star in the making, and went on to land Soro – who was a flop in Glasgow – instead.

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ByDan Emery Oct 9, 2024

The hosts were bowled out for 69 in Dublin, with only eight of their XI falling for single-digit scores

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Jun-2022

Sune Luus and Shabnim Ismail combined picked up 6 for 32 in 13 overs•Getty Images

Ireland crumbled to 69 all out against South Africa on Saturday, with eight of their 11 batters falling for single-digit scores. There were four ducks in the innings, which lasted only 27.2 overs, as fast bowler Shabnim Ismail and legspinner Sune Luus went on a wicket-taking spree. Their combined figures read 13-4-32-6.The carnage began almost as soon as Ireland won the toss and opted to bat and soon enough they were 14 for 4. Shauna Kavanaugh (15), Sophie MacMahon (13) and Georgina Dempsey (19) were the only players to get into double-figures as South Africa took control and simply never let up. Ismail was responsible for three of the four ducks in the innings, even as her new-ball partner Ayabonga Khaka proved herself to be unhittable, getting through 5.2 overs for just six runs (one of those was a wide) and picking up two wickets. Luus took care of the middle and lower order to bowl Ireland out in 27.2 overs.The chase was little more than a formality, although Ireland did manage to pick up an early wicket – Laura Wolvaardt out for 8 in the fifth over. Andrie Steyn (21 not out) and Laura Goodall (32 not out) ensured there were no other hiccups as South Africa secured victory with nine wickets and 204 balls to spare.

The homegrown duo were crucial to Ruben Amorim's side collecting a fifth consecutive European win to take their place in the last 16

There are four days left in the January transfer window and when it shuts on Monday Manchester United better make sure that Kobbie Mainoo and Alejandro Garnacho are still at the club. The homegrown duo both starred as Ruben Amorim's side demonstrated their quality to overpower FCSB 2-0 and take their place in the knockout stage of the Europa League without having to resort to a unwanted play-off tie.

United looked the better team from the off in Bucharest but couldn't take their chances, with Mainoo surprisingly blazing over with a glorious chance from close range. Garnacho and Amad Diallo were summoned from the bench after a goalless first half and the winger should have broken the deadlock when he hit the post. Bruno Fernandes then also bothered the woodwork before United found the breakthrough, Mainoo teeing up Diogo Dalot to tap in at the far post on the hour-mark.

Garnacho and Mainoo, who inspired United to win the FA Youth Cup three years ago, then combined to get the all-important second goal, after the hosts' striker Daniel Birligea had smashed the crossbar with a lethal effort.

So after failing to win any of their first three games, United picked up a fifth consecutive Europa League victory which saw the finish third in the standings, ending as the only unbeaten side in the competition. Full steam ahead to Bilbao…

GOAL rates Man United's players from the Steaua Stadium…

Getty Images SportGoalkeeper & Defence

Altay Bayindir (6/10):

Didn't have a save to make until the 80th minute but mighty lucky that Bigligea's thunderbolt didn't drop in. That said, could have commanded his box better.

Noussair Mazraoui (6/10):

Better in the back three than at wing-back as in the past few games.

Matthijs de Ligt (7/10):

Commanded the defence well.

Lisandro Martinez (8/10):

Played a quarter-back role from deep and alert to all the danger down his side.

AdvertisementGetty Images SportMidfield

Diogo Dalot (7/10):

Got the breakthrough goal and helped break the play up for the second.

Toby Collyer (6/10):

Gave United energy and control through the middle. Sacrificed at half-time despite a solid showing.

Christian Eriksen (7/10):

Another decent display in the Europa League, which appears perfectly suited for his blend of high-level passing but low energy

Tyrell Malacia (5/10):

Erratic. Got a booking for giving away a dangerous free-kick and didn't offer much going forward.

Getty Images SportAttack

Bruno Fernandes (7/10):

A quiet first half but much improved in the second, rattling the bar with a long-range howitzer and missing a big chance to put the icing on the cake.

Rasmus Hojlund (5/10):

Improved hold-up play but his finishing was still poor.

Kobbie Mainoo (8/10):

Thrived in the advanced role. Missed a first-half sitter but made amends by creating the first goal and scoring the second.

Getty Images SportSubs & Manager

Amad Diallo (5/10):

Didn't have a huge impact in his 45 minutes.

Alejandro Garnacho (7/10):

Blew the game open, causing chaos down his side. Should have scored when he hit the post but made the second goal.

Leny Yoro (5/10):

Helped see out the win.

Casemiro (5/10):

Got 18 minutes in his first appearance of 2025.

Joshua Zirkzee (N/A):

Didn't get involved much.

Ruben Amorim (7/10):

His half-time changes made all the difference and suddenly he has won three games in a row.

No press accreditation, interviews with registered players or access to cricket facilities owned by BCCI or its member associations

ESPNcricinfo staff04-May-2022The BCCI has banned Boria Majumdar, the Kolkata-based journalist Wriddhiman Saha had pointed at for “threat and intimidation”, for two years. Majumdar will not get press accreditation for domestic or international matches in India, interviews with any “registered players”, and access to cricket facilities owned by the BCCI or the state/member associations.In a missive sent to its members, the BCCI said that a three-member committee comprising vice-president Rajeev Shukla, treasurer Arun Dhumal and councillor Prabhtej Singh Bhatia had spoken to both Saha and Majumdar and concluded that Majumdar’s actions “were indeed in the nature of threat and intimidation”. They recommended the sanctions to the BCCI’s Apex Council, which agreed and imposed the ban.In February, Saha, who had been dropped from India’s Test team for the home series against Sri Lanka, had taken to Twitter to publish a screenshot of messages that a journalist had sent him on WhatsApp. The screenshot showed the sender requesting Saha “to do an interview with me”, to which Saha did not respond. The messages eventually took a more aggressive tone: “You did not call. Never again will I interview you. I don’t take insults kindly. And I will remember this. This wasn’t something ypu [sic] should have done.”Though Saha hadn’t named the journalist in question, Majumdar responded on March 5, saying he would serve a legal notice to Saha for defamation. Majumdar, in a video he put out on social media, said the screenshot Saha had put out was a doctored version of an exchange between the two.The BCCI, as it says in the message to the member associations, “had taken congnizance of this incident and deemed it necessary to investigate and probe the matter to avoid the recurrence of such instances with other players”, and formed the three-member committee. The committee subsequently “considered the submissions” of Saha and Majumdar before arriving at their decision.

أعلن كارلو أنشيلوتي، المدير الفني لفريق ريال مدريد، تشكيل اللاعبين لخوض مباراة آرسنال في منافسات دوري أبطال أوروبا.

ويواجه ريال مدريد نظيره آرسنال في إياب دور الـ8 من دوري أبطال أوروبا، في نظامها الجديد على ملعب “سانتياجو برنابيو”، في تمام الساعة التاسعة مساءً بتوقيت القاهرة.

وانتهت مواجهة الذهاب بين الفريقين بفوز آرسنال بثلاثية نظيفة في اللقاء الذي أقيم على ملعب “الامارات”.

ويلتقي المتأهل من ريال مدريد وآرسنال مع باريس سان جيرمان، وذلك في مرحلة نصف نهائي البطولة، حسب القرعة التي تمت في وقت سابق من شهر فبراير الماضي.

اقرأ أيضاً.. أحدهما ريال مدريد.. يورجن كلوب يفاضل بين فريقين للعودة إلى التدريب

وتأهل ريال مدريد إلى منافسات دور ربع نهائي دوري أبطال أوروبا، عقب تخطي أتلتيكو مدريد، بينما نجح آرسنال في العبور إلى الدور ذاته عقب فوزه على آيندهوفن.

ويدخل ريال مدريد مواجهة اليوم، بعدما فاز في المباراة الأخيرة بالدوري الإسباني أمام ديبورتيفو ألافيس بهدف دون رد.

فيما يخوض آرسنال لقاء اليوم بعدما تعثر في المباراة السابقة أمام برينتفورد، في منافسات الدوري الإنجليزي، بعدما تعادل بهدف مقابل هدف.

ويقود المهاجم الفرنسي، كيليان مبابي، تشكيل ريال مدريد في مواجهة الليلة أمام آرسنال. تشكيل ريال مدريد اليوم أمام آرسنال في دوري أبطال أوروبا

حراسة المرمى: تيبو كورتوا.

خط الدفاع: ديفيد ألابا، أنطونيو روديجير، راوؤل أسينسيو، لوكاس فاسكيز.

خط الوسط: أوريلين تشواميني، فيديريكو فالفيردي، جود بيلينجهام.

خط الهجوم: فينيسيوس جونيور، كيليان مبابي، رودريجو. بدلاء ريال مدريد أمام آرسنال في دوري أبطال أوروبا

فران جونزاليز، سيرجيو ميستيري، فران جارسيا، فاييخو، لوكا مودريتش، أردا جولر، داني سيبايوس، إندريك، إبراهيم دياز.

📋✅ ¡Nuestro XI inicial!
🆚 @Arsenal pic.twitter.com/zJqkhVNhA9 — Real Madrid C.F. (@realmadrid) April 16, 2025

Despite reaching an agreement over the potential sale of one their most expensive players, Southampton now reportedly face a nervous wait for FIFA approval and the £17m involved in the deal.

Southampton transfer news

The Saints endured a mixed summer transfer window. Whilst they welcomed added experience in the form of the returning Adam Lallana and gave Russell Martin the reunion he so desperately desired with Flynn Downes, their recent results suggest that they still needed further reinforcements.

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Opening the campaign with three defeats from three and, as such, taking their place in the bottom three of the Premier League as the only newly promoted side without a point so far this season, not even fresh arrival Aaron Ramsdale could prevent his new side's most recent loss against a Brentford side in a clinical mood last time out.

Things may not get any better during the international break either, with those at St Mary's now facing a nervous wait over one particular sale. According to talkSPORT, Southampton are still awaiting FIFA's approval over their deal to loan Kamaldeen Sulemana to Ajax this season in a move that would include the option to buy at £17m.

The Dutch giants reportedly believe that they secured the deal before Monday's deadline in the Netherlands, but only time will tell whether FIFA deem that to be the case and the deal is ratified as a result.

Having signed Sulemana for a reported £22m back in 2023, it would represent quite the deal if Southampton managed to make back £17m next summer for a winger who has ultimately failed to make his mark at St Mary's.

Sulemana needs Ajax move

It would suit all parties if the deal went through and secured FIFA's approval. Ajax need a replacement for Steven Bergwijn, Sulemana needs a fresh start and Southampton would bite the Dutch giants' hands off to potentially receive £17m when all is said and done.

Things just never quite worked out for the 23-year-old at Southampton, even when the Saints dropped down the Championship just months after his arrival. For the £22m that they reportedly paid, the Saints would have been forgiven for expecting more when they dropped down to England's second tier, but Sulemana never found his feet under Martin.

Appearances

44

Goals

2

Assists

4

The numbers paint a picture that the winger will want to forget as he sets his sights on a move to Ajax. It's there that he will hope to rediscover the form that once attracted Premier League attention whilst at Stade Rennais.

As things stand, however, all parties face a nervous wait for FIFA's approval. In Southampton and Sulemana's ideal world, of course, the Saints will bank £17m next summer and watch on as their once big-money signing becomes an Ajax player on a permanent basis.

Michael Clarke’s successful management of degenerative back trouble has been a triumph of meticulousness. But it will only get harder from here

Daniel Brettig20-Feb-2013Among the most revealing passages of , Mike Atherton’s autobiography, is his depiction of the compounding problems stemming from a back condition he carried into cricket. The cycle of misdiagnosis, treatment, medication, side effects and excruciating days robbed of all reasonable movement is told frankly and graphically, providing ample justification for why his batting seemed less than supple at various times, and how his career was shortened. Atherton retired at 33, and concludes he was lucky to get that far.Tellingly, the years in which Atherton was least hindered by his back were from 1993 to 1998. In that time he went from the age of 25 to 30, now widely regarded as the period most likely to represent an international cricketer’s physical peak. They also happened to be the years in which he was England captain, when the pressures and dramas of the job might have cracked a lesser man.The weight of expectation on Atherton, as England’s captain and most reliable batsman, and the nagging doubt created by a bad back, are feelings to which Australia’s captain Michael Clarke can easily relate. Clarke is also humbugged by a degenerative back condition dealt to him in his youth – believed to be the lingering cost of early attempts to bowl fast before he resorted to the gentler arts of batting and left-arm spin.He is also now leading a team that is set to rely on his batting as heavily as England leaned on Atherton’s – his wicket the one most valued by opponents who recognised the brittleness beneath. While Atherton was appointed captain early on and left the job before his body began to fail him, Clarke is entering the most vexing phase of his captaincy at an age when his physical durability is going to be increasingly tested. The imminent Test series against India, and those that follow against England away and at home, will be an examination of his batting, his captaincy and his physique – if the body fails, the other skills will be rendered useless.Few achievements in the game give Clarke more pride than never missing a Test match through injury. For all the handicaps presented by his back, which once confined him to bed for a day of the 2005 Old Trafford Ashes Test and has also forced him to miss numerous limited-overs engagements, his meticulous preparatory efforts have so far meant he has always been deemed fit enough, not only to walk out onto the field on day one but to still be thriving on day five.”I’ve been lucky throughout my career, to be honest, with the degeneration I have in my back, to have played 80-odd Test matches and not missed one is something I’m very proud of, but I certainly couldn’t do that on my own,” Clarke said recently. Alex Kountouris is the physio he has spent most of his career with around the Australian team; he also has a physio at home, and his trainer, Duncan Kerr. “I’ve been lucky to have so many people around me who know my body and have been able to get me up and continually get me on the park. It is something I’m very proud of.”Kountouris has been working with the national side since 2003, Clarke’s first year of international cricket. Over that time they have established a relationship of trust and honest judgement, making calculated gambles at various times along the way that have so far paid off handsomely in the Test match arena. Initially, Kountouris says, there was little indication to him of the back trouble that he had researched before working directly with Clarke.”When I came in I knew Michael had this history, and you do your homework on everyone, what they’ve got,” Kountouris said. “When I saw [Clarke’s first episode of back pain] I realised how much it affected him and how hard it was to do what he wanted to do. But he’s incredibly tough – tough mentally more than anything, getting himself up for games.Alex Kountouris on Michael Clarke: “He doesn’t accept second-best as an option when it comes to his preparation. He wants to be the fittest, he wants to be the strongest”•Getty Images”One thing he does do is work incredibly hard. He’s as professional as any athlete I’ve ever seen. He crosses every ‘t’ and dots every ‘i’, and that’s the key for him. He has his treatment he needs to, he does his rehab every day. If you tell him, ‘This is what you need to do’, he’ll do it. He doesn’t accept second-best as an option when it comes to his preparation. He wants to be the fittest, he wants to be the strongest.”He’s got a set-up at home to do his rehab as well – he does it in the clinic, he does it when he’s on tour. He’s up every morning, having treatment or whatever he needs to get done.”The maintenance work Clarke has done almost continually since his international career began has been focused on keeping his core as strong as possible, while also maintaining flexibility for his back. Conditioning has been vital too, and there is always a balance to be struck around training intensely to ensure he is able not only to bat but dive around in the field. He has also needed to avoid an excess of the sort of activity that might cause his back to lock up at the wrong moment. Clarke’s habit of standing up for long stretches of team bus or plane trips to save his back is well known.Just as Atherton’s batting form ebbed away on the 1998-99 Ashes tour of Australia, when his troublesome discs flared badly, and Mark Taylor’s infamous drought of Test runs was preluded by his own bout of back trouble, Clarke’s lowest series as an Australian cricketer followed one of his most unfortunately timed relapses. In the Sheffield Shield match immediately before the first Test against England in 2010, he felt the familiar pain, and hobbled through the latter stages of the match in obvious discomfort.By the time the Gabba match rolled around, his condition had improved, but there was ample evidence of restricted movement in one of his least characteristic innings, a tortured 9 from 50 balls that ended with a pained half-pull shot and an edge behind. It was an innings that more or less defined his series. Looking back, Kountouris remembers a race to get Clarke fit enough to play, though he denies he was still struggling with movement when he was cleared to play.”It was a race around the clock. He had the Shield game and then it was only a week before the first Test in a massive series and he was keen to play and the team was keen for him to play,” Kountouris says. “But by the time it got to the Test, he was pretty good. Once you’ve had an injury, you’re a bit ginger and a bit hesitant to throw yourself around and it’s a natural process to be protective and look after yourself. If he’d made a hundred, everyone would have said fantastic, but because he didn’t make runs and they bounced him, everyone said, ‘He’s restricted.'”We wouldn’t have played him if he was carrying back pain. One thing about Test cricket is how tough a game it is. It goes for five days, and you don’t want to bring people in with things like that because over the five days they’ll be exposed. That’s one of the hardest parts of the job, trying to predict what’s going to happen over five days. If the game goes for two hours, a different story, you can cope. But six hours, five days in a row, it’s pretty tough.”Conversations with the players are along the lines of, ‘Can you do this? Can you bowl 40 or 30 overs in the second innings?’ We work on the worst-case scenario in the game. When Michael Clarke goes into a game I expect him to be fit to make 150… although now I have to be sure he’s fit to make 200. We literally have that conversation: ‘Can you make 150 with how you are?’ And that’s the expectation.”The back injury has forced Michael Clarke to miss a number of limited-overs matches, but never a Test yet•Getty ImagesIt will be no tougher than over the next five weeks in India, where Clarke’s fitness will be central to his team’s chances. Towards the conclusion of each of the past two summers, Clarke has battled hamstring trouble, linked to his back, and the stubborn nature of the problems has forced him to miss numerous limited-overs matches, though not yet a Test. Kountouris is aware that Clarke is no longer the young man who burst into the side in 2004, and the captain’s management must reflect his advancing years.”You’ll say to him, ‘Yeah, you want to do that but we need to get there a different way than you used to when you were 23-24,'” Kountouris says. “With him it’s been more tinkering with what he does now, the way he goes about training. He’s 31 now, not 21 anymore, so we adjust that and then hope he gets through. He knows he’s had these injuries in the past, so because of that he does his rehabilitation or pre-habilitation, or strength training to make sure he remains strong.”There’s always times when there’s something he can go down with, like the hamstring injury in the Melbourne Test match – it happened seven days before the Boxing Day Test [against Sri Lanka]. There was concern he wasn’t going to get up for that game, and when you play someone that soon after a hamstring injury there’s a risk of re-injury. But it’s an informed decision. He’s a senior player and he’s comfortable, he understands his body. If he says he’s confident he can do it then you trust him. Fortunately we manage him on a constant level, try to be as regular as we can with his strength and his treatment and stuff like that, and we don’t get into those scenarios very often.”There will be times ahead when Clarke may need to manage himself extra carefully. The IPL that follows the India Tests is a period of particular concern. Other moments may arise when self-preservation precludes him from taking part in training, or he may disappear from the team’s inner sanctum for a visit to a clinic. Clarke’s longevity in the game is as much about his desire to continue doing all the extra work that has become a part of his career, doubly so since he became captain. After ten years there will be times when it becomes tiresome.In 1998, with England on the brink of their much-celebrated victory over South Africa at Headingley, Atherton was not in the field, nor the dressing room. He was in a cab scuttling through Leeds, having gone to hospital for a check-up on stomach problems related to his back treatment. His oblivious driver listened to , and at the moment of the final wicket exclaimed: “I knew we’d win something, now that Atherton’s not in charge.” For Clarke, the physical ailment is familiar, but the team scenario quite different – right now, no one can imagine Australia winning a series without him.