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Arsenal could secure a very astute striking option at an affordable rate in the summer transfer window, with manager Mikel Arteta in clear need of a new centre-forward for next season.

Arsenal targeting new striker this summer

The north Londoners have their preferred options behind-the-scenes when it comes to striker targets, and their shortlist is said to include some very interesting names.

Arsenal told new Alexander Isak price tag in boost for Mikel Arteta

He’s a reported top target for the Gunners.

ByEmilio Galantini Feb 18, 2025

Chief among them is Newcastle United superstar Alexander Isak, who has marked himself out as the Premier League’s arguable best marksman in terms of form right now.

However, while some reports suggest that Eddie Howe’s side have placed a price tag in excess of £83 million on his head, reliable journalist David Ornstein has said that RB Leipzig starlet Benjamin Sesko is a more realistic potential signing.

“There’s no doubt that he is the player that Mikel Arteta has at the top of his list,” said Ornstein on the Sky Sports Back Pages podcast recently.

“If he was to sign a striker, he’s seen as perfect for Arsenal’s system and everything he offers. They’ve [Newcastle] got no intention of seeing him go anywhere. They want him to sign a new contract. If they don’t qualify for the Champions League, maybe there’s a consideration, but the price will be phenomenally high.

West Ham (home)

February 22nd

Nottingham Forest (away)

February 26th

Man United (away)

March 9th

Chelsea (home)

March 16th

Fulham (home)

April 1st

“Really, clubs like Arsenal should be looking for the next Alexander Isak, not the one who’s on the market if he was to come on the market. And also, we don’t even know that Isak would want to join Arsenal. I think it’s more realistic that Arsenal need to look for other targets, such as a Benjamin Sesko or whoever else is on the market.”

Arsenal are apparently prepared to bid for Sesko again, following their rejected proposal to the Slovenia international last summer, while it is believed that Sporting Lisbon’s Viktor Gyokeres is another target for Arteta.

All the aforementioned stars would come at a premium, which is to be expected given their prowess in front of goal, but an equally prolific striker who may well be available at an attainable fee is Fiorentina’s Moise Kean.

Arsenal can sign Moise Kean for just £43m in July

According to Italian journalist Niccolo Ceccarini, in a piece for TUTTOmercatoWEB, Arteta’s side are indeed interested in the former Everton and PSG forward amid a phenomenal breakout campaign at La Viola.

The 24-year-old has netted nearly 20 goals in all competitions so far, attracting attention from a host of top sides, with Arsenal among the teams targeting Kean ahead of a potential summer move.

Ceccarini writes that Kean’s contract includes a release clause, set at around £43 million, which will become active from July.

While the Italy international had a failed stint at Goodison Park in the Premier League, he appears to have really discovered his best in Serie A, and there is no reason to suggest he wouldn’t thrive with the service of Arsenal’s world-class current attacking players.

If you watched video footage of this match a dozen times you would struggle to understand what on earth was going on

Dan Norcross at Chelmsford04-May-20181:46

BIzarre day at Chelmsford as bowlers dominate

ScorecardThere’s a scene in Where Eagles Dare in which Richard Burton with solid support from Clint Eastwood reveals the identity of the Nazi double agent contained within a notebook. The notebook, perplexingly, is empty. The agent is both revealed within its covers and yet simultaneously not there. Shroedinger’s double-agent if you will. Burton delivers every line with mesmeric and gravelly perfection, but after watching that film at least a dozen times, I defy anyone to make sense of what the hell is going on.For Burton and Eastwood read Sam Cook and Peter Siddle. Given the opportunity to bowl first on a brownish pitch under cloudless skies after Yorkshire elected for and won the toss, they delivered their lines and lengths with irreproachable professionalism and no little flair, but Yorkshire’s batsmen were in no mood to match them.To call the Yorkshire innings a procession would be to do a grave disservice to processions in modest churches up and down the land. It more resembled an unseemly stampede to the bar by smokers in a pub garden on hearing the bell for last orders. The upshot was their lowest first-class score since 1973.Cook made the initial breakthrough in his first over when Harry Brook poked hesitantly at a ball just outside his off stump and guided the ball into Harmer’s enormous mitts at second slip, but this merely brought Che Pujara to the wicket. Yorkshire had also “strengthened” their batting with the inclusion of Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow, granted leave by the ECB to get some much needed middle practice before the Test series against Pakistan begins in three weeks time, so the visitors boasted five recent and current front line international batsmen in their top six.None presented a problem for Cook. In his second over he induced a thin edge from Lyth through to the evergreen Foster which brought forth Joe Root, shuffling and sidewinding into the middle for his first innings since April 1st. A bumper crowd got to see the familiar guard, the couple of paces to square-leg, the look round the field and one firm push at a ball beautifully landed on an off-stump line that travelled gently into the gleeful hands of his former captain Alastair Cook at first slip.Then 9 for 3 swiftly became 11 for 4 when Pujara was trapped lbw by Jamie Porter. Pujara was less than gruntled at the decision, but he wouldn’t be the last man to be undone by moderately low bounce from the Hayes Close End.Cook was not yet done with wrecking England’s Test match preparations. Next to go was Bairstow, bowled by the ball of the day; a beauty that held its line and thudded into off-stump. By the time he had Bresnan trapped in front it truly was a Wonderful Life for Cook as he registered his third five wicket haul in just his sixth championship appearance.Joe Root returns to the pavilion after a first-baller•Getty ImagesHis 5 for 28 was notable for great control. He was willing to pitch the ball up and make the most of what movement there was off a helpful but far from capricious pitch, was supported by superb close fielding and was aided by a truly abysmal display by Yorkshire with the bat.By the time Siddle had wrapped up the tail with a spell of 4 for 7 in 22 balls, Yorkshire had been obliterated in just 18.4 overs before lunch for 50, coincidentally exactly the same length of time it took for Australia to be famously dismissed at Trent Bridge in 2015.Sages shook their heads in bewilderment but resembled teenage headbangers by the time Alastair Cook wafted a catch to Bairstow – the second England captain to make a duck in a couple of hours – and Tom Westley played a shot uglier than a Communist-era Bucharest tower block, hurling an injudicious bat at an away swinger from Brooks and dragging back on to his middle stump to depart first ball.The opening session had yielded 61 runs for the loss of 12 wickets. By this stage, four of England’s regular top seven last summer had been dismissed for seven runs between them.The afternoon session produced no let-up in the mayhem. Ben Coad and Tim Bresnan, showing due deference to the eternal verities of line of length but at no great pace, made the ball do “just enough”, and Bresnan in particular exploited the tendency of the ball to keep slightly (but really only slightly) lower from the Hayes Close End and was rewarded with a couple of lbws for his troubles.Dan Lawrence tried the novel tactic (up to this point) of going hell for leather and for a while looked to have cracked the code with a 77 ball 48, up to that point by far the most authoritative, if still somehow skittish innings of the day. But aside from a late flurry from Simon Harmer (36) who briefly cover drove with the elegance of Wally Hammond, left the ball with the acuity of Steve Smith and marshalled what was left of the tail better than Angelo Mathews, Essex’s innings offered little more sense of permanence than the Mayfly effort that had preceded it.Three wickets apiece for Bresnan, Coad and Brooks had done the damage and tea was taken with Essex bowled out and in possession of a more than handy 92 run lead.Record books were dusted down. When was the last time a match was completed in one day (1960 Kent v Worcestershire since you ask)? Might Essex be in a position to take claim the extra half hour? Would this day ever end?Yorkshire decided to counter attack themselves. Bairstow replaced Brook at the top of the order and went after the new ball. His 44-ball 50 was full of familiar punch drives and lofted shots over the infield. Siddle managed to get the ball changed, immediately bowled Bairstow and had Lyth nibbling to second slip. At 96 for 2, Yorkshire were just in front but a late flurry of wickets would send them back to square one.Enter Brook. The press box in Chelmsford was full of the great and the good, all come to watch Root, Cook, Bairstow, Pujara, maybe Ballance and Lawrence. Instead it was the 19-year-old Brook who provided the innings of the day. Entirely untroubled, possessed of a sound technique and keen to rotate the strike, his was the only performance that will have excited the selectors.Marshalling Yorkshire, in tandem with Pujara to 161 for 2 at the close, and a more than useful lead of 65, he has the opportunity tomorrow truly to overshadow his more illustrious colleagues. Root, however, may yet have a say in that.The pitch did ease as the day went on. Wise locals will tell you that it’s hardest to bat on day one, but I defy anyone to watch today’s play 12 times and explain to me what the hell was going on.

It's starting to get a bit repetitive, but that was another real Jekyll-and-Hyde performance from Liverpool.

The Reds extended their opening unbeaten run to the season with victory over LASK in Austria, with Jurgen Klopp's side starting their Europa League campaign off triumphantly, but another slow start allowed midfielder Florian Flecker to score a scintillating goal from the edge of the box.

While a disjointed Liverpool fell flat before the break, they emerged revitalised in the second half, with the devastating offence wreaking havoc once more, and The Athletic's James Pearce heralding the "powers of recovery."

How did Wataru Endo perform vs LASK?

Having produced a similar result of first-half misfortune against Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League last week, Klopp fielded a much-changed XI in Linz, and it's perhaps understandable that an unfamiliar crop took a little time to click into gear.

Regardless, reporter Neil Jones lamented the English outfit's "sloppiness" and while Nunez and Luis Diaz's swift double turned the tide, with substitute Mohamed Salah scoring late on (of course he did), the club's German manager will rue the failure to take control in the early stages once again.

Such was largely compounded by the midfield's inability to produce composed and cohesive patterns of play, with £16m summer signing Wataru Endo failing to craft a commanding performance despite flashes of dogged defending.

The Japan captain wasn't horrific, per say, but did fail to take his moment to dazzle and misplaced some simple passes while winning just one ground duel all night, also dribbled past once and making just one tackle.

The Liverpool Echo's Ian Doyle perhaps put it best in his post-match player ratings, stating: "Appeared half-a-yard short in the opening exchanges and too often gave the ball away. A difficult night."

That said, he wasn't the only underperformer on Thursday evening.

How good was Kostas Tsimikas vs LASK?

While Endo's overall quality was at times laid awkwardly bare, it was left-back Kostas Tsimikas who endured the most substandard of showings for Klopp's side, with Paul Gorst remarking that he didn't have his "finest hour" down the left channel.

The Greek ace has played second fiddle to Andy Robertson ever since joining from Olympiakos for around £12m in 2020, and while he is a creative player with a wand of a left foot, producing 12 assists from just 63 appearances, he would be fortunate to have avoided a scolding.

Indeed, the 27-year-old did play the full 90 minutes, making three interceptions and one tackle, but failed to contribute with a single key pass and actually succeeded with only four of his 14 ranged passes, conjuring up nothing of note.

There was one moment, late into the first half, when Liverpool had defended a set piece and were presented with a glorious chance to counter.

The ball fell fortuitously to the defender, who barrelled forward and had apt time to unleash a through ball to either Ben Doak or Darwin Nunez – forwards of equally electric measure – but instead proved indecisive and got tangled up in the centre of the pitch, squandering possession.

That just so happened to be one of 25 times that he gave the ball away, a mind-blowingly high number and worrying indeed.

One LFC podcaster even went as far as to brand the 86-touch dud as “abysmal, and while this may be a tad harsh, it's fair to say that Tsimikas did not enjoy a match to hold in memory.

Also failing to make a single successful dribble, it was a pretty dire showing from the £50k-per-week left-back, who has done little to convince Klopp of his worth and will count his lucky stars that Liverpool's incisive attack salvaged three points to kick off the European journey.

“I have to be very careful with how I go forward with my cricket,” the India captain said, welcoming the break he has been on

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Mar-2018India captain Virat Kohli has welcomed the short break from cricket that he is on currently, saying it has helped him recover from a “few niggles”. Kohli opted out of the ongoing Nidahas Trophy, the T20 triangular series also featuring Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, with Rohit Sharma captaining the Indian team instead.”Physically, I had a few niggles, I am just getting over those,” Kohli said at a promotional event in Mumbai. “The workload has started to disagree with me a little bit. I have to be very careful about how I go forward with my body, my mind, my cricket. Times like these are very, very important. I am totally enjoying it; I do not even have an inch of me missing out on anything because my body really needed this.”Kohli was rested for the tri-series on the back of an almost two-month-long South African tour, where he played every match barring one T20I. The Indian contingent for the Nidahas Trophy excluded several notable limited-overs regulars, including Kohli, MS Dhoni, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Hardik Pandya and Kuldeep Yadav, with MSK Prasad, the chairman of selectors, explaining that the selection committee was mindful of their workload and upcoming schedule.This is not the first time that Kohli has raised concerns about workload management. He had been pretty vociferous about it during the home Test series against Sri Lanka last year. “Definitely, I do need a rest. Why not? When I think of the time when my body needs to be rested, I’ll ask for it. I am not a robot, you can slice my skin and check, I bleed,” he had said then. He was subsequently rested for the limited-overs leg of the tour.India’s players have a long season ahead of them. After the tri-series in Sri Lanka, they will be engaged in the IPL through April and May, then host Afghanistan for a one-off Test in June, before heading England for three T20Is, three ODIs and five Tests starting in July and running through to September.

Everton were met with a frenetic finish to the summer transfer window, with several key comings and goings reshaping Sean Dyche's squad at the early stage of a crucial Premier League campaign.

Who did Everton sign?

The Toffees were linked with a wealth of attacking talent over the past few months after narrowly avoiding relegation from the Premier League last season, with a Goodison Park victory over Bournemouth on the final day of the term relegating Leicester City in their stead.

Finishing as the division's second-lowest scorers, Dyche understandably focused on the reshaping of the frontline, with the misfiring woes compounded by talisman Dominic Calvert-Lewin's incessant injury setbacks, missing 21 matches since the start of last season.

Versatile veteran Ashley Young has completed a free transfer, Arnaut Danjuma and Jack Harrison have arrived on loan, and forwards Youssef Chermiti and Beto have been signed to offer a new frontal focal point, the former deemed one for the future and the latter expected to lead the line for much of the campaign.

However, a certain El Bilal Toure also needed to be signed after links during the summer.

How good is El Bilal Toure?

With Calvert-Lewin's fitness levels unreliable, Beto's £30m acquisition from Serie A side Udinese was viewed as imperative to combat the dismal start to the campaign that has seen three league losses preceding an away draw against newly-promoted Sheffield United.

It all could have been so different, though. Earlier in the transfer window, Dyche's outfit were fiercely pursuing the signature of Malian striker El Bilal Toure, who had just enjoyed a tremendous breakout year with Spanish side Almeria, posting seven goals and two assists from just 15 starting LaLiga appearances.

While the Premier League club were in advanced negotiations in July, it was Italian team Atalanta who won the race, offering the player European football and a starring role as Rasmus Hojlund's replacement, with the Danish striker joining Manchester United in a £72m deal this summer.

Also with five goals from 15 international caps, the 21-year-old has been described as a "major talent" by 90min's Graeme Bailey, and given that he ranks among the top 4% of forwards across Europe's top five leagues over the past year for clearances and the top 24% for aerial wins per 90, as per FBref, looks to fit the mould of forward Everton desire.

Also boasting a scoring rate of 0.50 – effectively netting once every two games – Bilal Toure clearly offers a rising striking skill set that will only develop as he rises to prominence; for reference, Hojlund boasts a scoring rate of 0.46 per game.

Beto scores at a rate of 0.30, and while he does rank among the top 11% of forwards for successful take-ons and the top 10% for clearances per 90, likely does not hold the same level of potential as his younger peer.

Ultimately, the Toffees missed out, and the £10k-per-week phenom penned a £25m deal with Atalanta. While the fates have laid waste to the young gem's season, suffering a severe tendon injury to rule him out of contention for many months, such does not negate the quality at his feet.

Beto scored on his Everton debut in the Carabao Cup against League Two strugglers Doncaster Rovers and impressed during the 2-2 draw at Bramall Lane, hailed by The Athletic's Patrick Boyland for his "fantastic" hold-up play and ability to send "defenders sprawling to the turf" with his brutish physicality.

At no criticism to the Portuguese talisman, the "impressive" Bilal Toure – as praised by James Dodd – boasts the qualities to soar right to the top, and as he rises to the fore after recovering from injury in Italy, his prolific exploits might receive a rueful gaze from those over at Goodison Park.

The South Africa opener had dislocated his finger while taking a diving catch to dismiss Mitchell Starc in Australia’s second innings

Firdose Moonda in Durban03-Mar-2018South Africa opener Dean Elgar will bat in the second innings against Australia, at Kingsmead, despite dislocating a finger in the field. Elgar suffered the injury to his right little finger while taking a diving catch in the covers, to dismiss Mitchell Starc. Elgar did not even celebrate the wicket but immediately ran off the field to receive treatment.”Dean is a tough cookie,” Malibongwe Maketa, South Africa’s assistant coach, said. “He was really keen to go back out there and to bat. There’s no concern about him.”Elgar is well known for fronting up and even thriving on adversity. Against England last winter, he was hit by Toby Roland-Jones in the third Test at the Oval. He went on to score 136 and said he would not be ruled out of the match that followed in Manchester, even if the finger was broken. And he said he would not go for an X-ray to determine the extent of the damage, calling it a “waste of money.”Elgar then explained that body blows spur him on. “It puts me in a different mindset,” he had said. “It’s like the challenge is a little bit more. I guess only an opening batsman could see it that way.”South Africa will hope Elgar has adopted that mindset now. Although Elgar will not be needed at the get-go on the fourth morning, with South Africa still needing a wicket before they bat again, he will have a great responsibility when his time comes. South Africa will have to chase over 400, and after their first-innings collapse, will want to put on a better show in their second dig.

USA’s head coach is optimistic as they prepare to take part in West Indies’ regional limited-overs tournament ahead of theT20 qualifiers and ICC WCL campaigns later this year

Peter Della Penna12-Jan-2018USA coach Pubudu Dassanayake has labeled USA’s upcoming tour of the Antigua for the West Indies Regional Super50 tournament as the team’s “most important preparation” for their upcoming tournaments this year, including the start of the qualifiers for the World Twenty20 in 2020, and the ICC WCL Division Three.”When you are playing those kind of tournaments, you have to play proper cricket and learn from those 20 days and you don’t get that opportunity for Associate players all the time,” Dassanayake told ESPNcricinfo following the news last week that USA will be a part of the ten-team competition this season.”If you take Ireland, Scotland, Netherlands especially, they benefited from being a part of the English system. Namibia continuously played in the South African first-class system. Afghanistan players individually have gotten to play in the Pakistan first-class system.”All of these things have really contributed for those countries. When we’re trying to develop as a country, neighbouring Full Member countries are important. If you can be a part of their first-class system, that’s the fastest way to develop a country,” Dassanayake said.Since the team returned in early December from their tour of the UAE and Oman, Dassanayake has been holding weekend camps with subgroups of the USA squad in Chicago as well as at his home base just outside of Toronto, with players traveling into Canada to meet him in preparation for the upcoming trip. Though the overall results were not great – USA beat Nepal but then lost four matches to Kenya and Oman – Dassanayake focused on the silver lining of building more cohesion and identifying more defined roles as a playing group while in the Middle East.”I’m happy about the bigger picture where we are playing as a team,” Dassanayake said. “I liked some of the plans that the captain and the bowlers are using. We have confidence slowly building on our fielding. We know if we put runs on the board then we are competitive at that level. [The batting] is an area we need to work on for the coming tour.”Dassanayake coached the combined ICC Americas squad at last year’s Super50 tournament which included players from USA, Canada and Bermuda. The idea behind a combined squad was to have strengthened quality by picking the best from each country. However, the squad lacked chemistry and Dassanayake says it was a challenge juggling selection at times taking into consideration the sensitivity of satisfying each country’s development interests.”We were not competitive because of the dynamic of the team with three countries’ players playing but of course it was a good experience for the individuals,” Dassanayake said. “There’s always pressure to give everybody opportunities because its three different countries, but the best performers were given opportunities to continuously play. The rotation was happening mainly with players who were not performing. But I was obligated to give opportunities to everyone.”Dassanayake also felt that the dangling carrot for squad members, a chance at being one of six players drafted by a CPL franchise team through good performances, was good for individual players but at times undermined team results. Even though it was a 50-over tournament, Dassanayake felt that the lure of the CPL draft, however well intended, influenced some players to play in T20 mode with an eye toward future opportunities rather than stay focused on the task at hand. It’s another reason why he feels being in charge of just the USA squad this time around will lead to better results.”When you get a combined team, to have the focus being on the team rather than a future with a T20 cricket [franchise] – it wasn’t easy,” Dassanayake said.”More than anything what hurt [team results] was that mainly the players were taking the tour as an entry for the CPL and the focus was on T20-type cricket [to get drafted], and we were not really looking to play as a team to win games and be more competitive. We got through games and were able to win one. I thought we could have won two or three more if we had been playing basic cricket right. But I think going as the USA team is going to have big value especially when we can play as a team.”USA’s squad for the Super50 is expected to be named over the weekend. They will depart for Antigua in the last week of January for four to five days of preparation locally ahead of their first match on January 31 against Leeward Islands.

Manchester United have made contact regarding an experienced left-back who could be brought in to boost their numbers in the position before the transfer deadline, according to reports.

What's the latest Man United transfer news?

The Red Devils have a shortage at left-back following injuries to Luke Shaw and Tyrell Malacia and it looks like they could enter the market for another body to help remedy their current situation, as per 90min.

Several players have been offered to the club to accommodate their wish for a new left-back to come in and provide cover. Contact has been established between the Red Devils and Chelsea involving Marc Cucurella, while Tottenham Hotspur outcast Sergio Reguilon and Barcelona defender Marcos Alonso are two potential alternative solutions.

Free agent Ryan Bertrand has been placed on a shortlist as another option who could potentially provide depth on the left-hand side of defence, as per The Daily Express.

Bertrand has been available for nothing since leaving Leicester City at the end of last campaign and talks took place last week, albeit they were believed to be at the early stages of negotiations.

Brandon Williams would've potentially been in line for an opportunity to shine at Manchester United due to their dearth of available left-backs to call upon; however, he has since joined Ipswich Town on a loan deal for the duration of 2023/24.

Real Madrid youth product Alvaro Fernandez, who is a left-back, featured on the bench last weekend in Manchester United's 3-2 victory over Nottingham Forest at Old Trafford, though was an unused substitute as the hosts clawed back a two-goal deficit to secure a dramatic victory, as per BBC Sport.

Do Manchester United want to sign Leonardo Spinazzola?

According to Gianluca Di Marzio in the last 24 hours, Manchester United have initiated contact with Roma over 30-year-old defender Leonardo Spinazzola as their search for a new left-back continues to widen.

The report states that Spinazzola has also had a proposal from Saudi Pro League outfit Al-Shabab, providing competition for the Red Devils that they may need to overcome to complete any prospective deal.

Spinazzola, who has been labelled as "fast" and "technical" by Fiorentina full-back Fabiano Parisi, cited by Gazzetta dello Sport via Football Italia, has made 117 appearances for Roma during his time at the Stadio Olimpico, registering six goals and 17 assists in all competitions, as per Transfermarkt.

The Italy international has fared exceptionally well in comparison to his positional peers from Europe's top five divisions in the art of progressive carries, having made an average of 5.39 per 90 minutes across the last 365 days, putting him in the 99th percentile for this metric, as per FBRef.

Providing a valuable attacking outlet down the left-hand side, Spinazzola, primarily right-footed, has already made his influence known this campaign in Serie A, producing around one completed dribble and one key pass in his opening two appearances, according to WhoScored.

Manchester United will need to act fast to ensure that their injury situation involving Shaw and Malacia doesn't turn into a bigger issue than it already is, so bringing in someone like Spinazzola could be an excellent way to bolster the ranks and it looks as if t is one to watch.

Everton are now "weighing up a bid" for Chelsea winger Callum Hudson-Odoi, who could be available for a relatively low fee, as reported by Daily Express journalist Charlie Gordon.

What's the latest Everton transfer news?

In a recent interview with GiveMeSport, journalist Rudy Galetti has claimed that Everton are still "pushing hard" for Leeds United winger Wilfried Gnonto, who is Sean Dyche's priority target this summer, with the manager focused on signing a new attacker.

Gnonto is clearly thought of in very high regard by those at Goodison Park, as they are now weighing up making a new and improved £30m bid for the Italian, who is keen on a move away from Leeds this summer, so he can be considered for his country's European Championships squad.

The Toffees are closing in on a deal for Southampton striker Che Adams, having made progress towards finalising a £15m deal with the Saints, and he has now been given the green light to head up to Liverpool to complete his medical.

Adams is not Dyche's only target at striker, with Troyes striker Mama Balde recently being named as another potential option, although journalist Paul Brown is of the belief he may be viewed as a back-up, in case anything goes wrong with a move for someone else.

According to reliable Daily Express journalist Gordon on X, Everton are also "weighing up a bid" for Hudson-Odoi, who has also been of interest to Premier League rivals Fulham, but the Cottagers have been unable to get a deal over the line.

Fulham and Chelsea are deadlocked over the proposed £8m price tag, despite signs of a breakthrough earlier this month, meaning the Toffees could have a chance to hijack the deal, should they be willing to stump up what the Blues are asking for.

Nottingham Forest are also interested in signing the 22-year-old, but there has been nothing concrete from the Reds at this stage, so it could be a two-way race for his signature.

Read The Latest Everton Transfer News HERE

How good is Callum Hudson-Odoi?

It would be fair to say the Chelsea ace is yet to fulfill his lofty potential, having failed to break into the first team on a consistent basis at Stamford Bridge, before being sent out on loan to Bayer Leverkusen, but he is still very young and has time on his side.

FourFourTwo Writer Mark White lauded the Englishman just over a year ago, saying:

"Hudson-Odoi is special. He can breeze past full-backs and has unbelievable vision. But what was mad about him from a young age was the sheer mentality. The confidence. The control. He exuded a vibe like nothing ever seen in English football."

Having been lauded as a "talent" by other members of the media, it is clear the left-winger can still make a huge success of his career if he gets his next move right, after making it clear that he wants to leave Chelsea.

A fee of just £8m for a player with the potential of Hudson-Odoi could be a real steal, and Everton should seriously consider targeting him instead of Gnonto, given that he is available for far cheaper.

A copy of the incoming FTP shows that 41 out of 81 Test series between May 2019 and May 2023 will be two-Test series

Osman Samiuddin14-Dec-2017How often have you been left frustrated by a great Test series that ended too soon, and without a decisive result because there was no third Test? Well, be prepared to get used to that feeling because at least half of all Test series in cricket’s new calendar will likely consist of just two Tests.A copy of the incoming Future Tours Programme (FTP) obtained by ESPNcricinfo shows that 41 out of 81 Test series between May 2019 and May 2023 will consist of just two Tests. For a number of countries the two-Test series will be the predominant type of bilateral contest.The FTP is not final yet and could still be subject to change, but this is the model to have emerged from the latest scheduling workshop undertaken by members earlier this month in Singapore. It may yet undergo tweaks before it is presented to the ICC board in February, and voted on at the annual meeting next summer.ESPNcricinfo LtdIn one sense, the FTP will only be formalising a distinct modern-day trend. More and more Test nations have opted for two-Test series in recent years – New Zealand, as just one example, recently dropped one Test from their series hosting West Indies.Still, there will be fewer two-Test series in the current FTP – from May 2014 to May 2019. If there is no further change to the existing FTP, there will have been 34 two-Test series by the cycle’s end, though tellingly ten of those will be between now and May 2019, when members have in any case been keen to start replicating the format of the next FTP.Indeed, the new Test league is essentially built on the two-Test format. Of the 57 Test series that constitute two cycles of the Test league in four years, near enough two-thirds (36) will be two-Test series.The four-year calendar shows 81 Test series in all, meaning that there are 24 Test series outside the league structure. For the most part these will involve Afghanistan, Ireland and Zimbabwe, who are not part of the nine-team league. But they also include a number of one-off Tests (and five two-Test series) that countries within the league – such as Australia, England and Bangladesh – play against the three non-league sides.New Zealand, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and West Indies are the countries that play the most two-Test series. Ten out of Sri Lanka and Bangladesh’s 12 Test commitments in the league are two-Test series (and for Bangladesh, a further three outside the league are scheduled to be two Tests). For West Indies that number is nine.Meanwhile, 11 of New Zealand’s 12 are two-Test series. “It’s far more logical for us to play two-test and even one-test series, and certainly no more than three,” NZC chairman Greg Barclay was quoted as saying by in October, just ahead of ICC meetings. “All the smaller Full Member countries won’t get penalised for playing shorter series.”The biggest casualty in all this is the three-Test series, hitherto the cornerstone of the modern calendar. In the current FTP, there will have been 34 three-Test series in the five years to May 2019 – the same number as two-Test series. In the new four-year FTP, there will only be 14, less than half. .There are 19 one-off Tests scheduled for now in the new FTP – almost three times as much as the current FTP – most of them involving the three non-league teams, Afghanistan, Ireland and Zimbabwe. None of these Tests will be part of the Test league. In addition, there are three four-Test series and four five-Test series, all played between the Big Three (India, Australia and England) and South Africa. In the current FTP there were 13 Test series of four or more Tests.