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Aston Villa have shown that they are not averse to spending significant amounts of money when it comes to bringing new players to the club if they feel that doing so can strengthen their squad and take the club forward.

Nor have Villans been shy when it comes to moving players out of the Midlands if they don’t think they have the quality on the pitch to match the club’s ambitions.

One player who was moved on in recent times is midfielder Henri Lansbury, who originally arrived at Villa Park from Nottingham Forest in January 2017 in a deal worth more than £2.75m.

During his time in the Midlands, the midfielder – who was slammed for his “anonymous” performances at times – made 53 appearances across all competitions, chipping in with two goals and nine assists along the way.

In January 2021, Villa called time on Lansbury’s spell at the club by securing a deal with Bristol City to take him on a free transfer.

The Englishman made just 16 appearances for the Robins in the Championship and failed to impress, earning an underwhelming overall performance rating of 6.39/10 from WhoScored, making him one of the lowest-rated players to have started more than three league games for them.

Presumably as a result of his lacklustre spell in Bristol, the former Villa midfielder then found himself on the move again with another free transfer, this time to Luton Town last summer.

Since then, things haven’t gone too well for the 31-year-old once again, with no goals or assists to his name but with more yellow cards than any other Luton player (eight), also lumped with an underwhelming overall performance rating of 6.53/10.

According to Transfermarkt, the ex-Nottingham Forest man’s current market value stands at just £720k, which is a 73.8% decrease from the £2.75m that Villa paid for him.

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Taking all this into account, it seems that Villa made the right decision in getting rid of Lansbury when they did, as they presumably signed him to help them get out of the Championship – which they did in  2019 – rather than go on to be a prominent player for them in the Premier League.

However, with the way things have gone for him since leaving the Midlands, it’s hard to suggest that he is even suited to playing in the second tier anymore based on what he’s done since his Villa Park exit. NSWE can count themselves lucky to have offloaded him when they did.

In other news – Fewer passes than Martinez: Anonymous Aston Villa star let Gerrard down against Leeds

	Nearly two years after his debut, Stuart Clark tasted his first Test defeat © Getty Images

A hurt Stuart Clark believes the Australians will usethe pain of defeat as a spur for the series-decidingTest in Adelaide on Thursday. Clark experienced hisfirst loss in whites with the national team in Perthon Saturday, which ended the winning run at 16.After the game the players spoke about the streak anda few of them got together over a beer to discuss theonly time they had worn the baggy green and notexperienced success. “This loss hurts as much as anyother loss,” Clark said. “It would have been a nicerecord, but losing is losing. It doesn’t matter how orwhere, whether it’s a one-dayer, a Twenty20 or a Test,it’s not a great feeling, and it drives a lot of us.”Clark had a fine match, picking up six wickets,including 4 for 61 in the second innings, and strikingan entertaining 32 as Australia fought to the finish.While Clark performed strongly, there were seriousconcerns over Shaun Tait’s inability to fire in thepace quartet.Tait, who was playing his third Test, delivered only21 overs for the game and did not capture a wicket.Brad Hogg is likely to return in Adelaide as Australiause a more traditional attack of three fast bowlersand a spinner.”Shaun hasn’t had much bowling,” Clark said. “He’s hada little bit in the one-dayers and Twenty20 and thereis a difference for Tests. He didn’t have the bestgame of his life, but he’s a quality player.”On the first day Tait started operating above 150kph,but his accuracy became an issue in subsequent spellsand his desire for a long bowl in the second inningswas ended by Australia’s slow over-rate. DespiteTait’s problems, Ricky Ponting was not overlyconcerned.”It’s pretty hard for someone coming in who has notplayed a Test for a while, trying to impress and dothe right thing,” he said. “He bowled 20 overs andprobably didn’t get the bowling right. The conditionscaught us off guard and the pace in the pitch wasn’tthere. Shaun’s pace through the game levelled out at145kph and above, that’s pretty good.”Clark and Brett Lee were impressive during the matchand Mitchell Johnson provided capable support, but thehome team was out-bowled by India’s swing men, whoupset Australia’s batting rhythm and exposed theirproblems when the ball moves around. Aiming for seammovement is more of an Australian trait than weavingit through the air, although they have been trying toimprove their methods since 2005.”It’s something we’ve worked on with [the bowlingcoach] Troy Cooley,” Clark said. “It’s important forsome places and one of the things to do to make usbetter cricketers.”Adelaide is a ground where reverse-swing is morelikely – Tait is particularly dangerous there in PuraCup games – and the pitch also helps the spinners,giving India a chance to level the series. “LikeMelbourne and Sydney, I suppose the conditions willsuit them,” Clark, who has complained previously aboutsurfaces not helping the home team, said. “Hopefullywe can play well and put them back on the back foot.”

Andrew Symonds is on target for Australia’s group match against South Africa and could return even earlier © Getty Images

Andrew Symonds could return from his biceps injury even sooner than anticipated, with Australia revealing they might play him against Netherlands on March 18. That is nearly a week before the South Africa group match that was his original priority.Alex Kountouris, Australia’s physiotherapist, said Symonds’ rehabilitation was going so well there was a slight chance he could be ready ahead of schedule. “It’s unlikely but I won’t rule it out,” Kountouris told the .”The 24th [for the South Africa game] was what we were roughly looking at. If he happens to get ahead of time, we won’t discount that. He is making good progress. He is meeting all the rehab goals we have set, so he is on target to what we expected. We haven’t had any setbacks.”Symonds, who had surgery on his ruptured right biceps on February 4, continued his recovery with his first catching practice at St Vincent before Australia’s warm-up win over England. The previous day he faced genuine spin bowling for the first time since the operation.Kountouris said Symonds was keen to keep pushing himself harder but his biggest challenge would be when he started more strenuous activities. “The plan next week is to do the more dangerous things for him, which is throwing, bowling and more aggressive batting,” Kountouris said.Should Symonds make a surprise appearance against Netherlands, it would be exactly six weeks since his surgery. Some sports physicians said at the time six weeks was the minimum recovery he would need, although it was more likely to be a three-month injury.

Faisalabad Wolves stormed into the semi-finals of the Twenty20 Cup thrashing Rawalpindi Rams by 10 wickets. Imran Khalid cleaned up the Rawalpindi lower order picking up 4 for 21, bundling them out for a poor total of 105. The Wolves, led by Mohammad Hafeez, who scored 66 off just 33 balls, needed just nine overs to overhaul the target. Khalid also picked up the Man-of-the-Match award for his spell.Qaiser Abbas and Mohammad Asif propelled the Sialkot Stallions to the semi-finals as they continued their unbeaten run in the tournament, beating Multan Tigers by 66 runs. The Stallions justified their decision to bat first, piling up 189 for the loss of three wickets with Abbas remaining undefeated on 75. Asif continued his rich vein of form from the previous game, picking up four wickets and stifling the batsmen with his accuracy, conceding only 14 from his four overs. Bilal Khilji (46) lacked support from the rest as the Tigers were bundled out for 123. The Stallions will meet the Karachi Dolphins in the semi-final.Ashraf Ali led the Karachi Zebras to a three-wicket win over Lahore Eagles with an unbeaten 52. Choosing to bat first, the Eagles were dismissed for 150 in 19.5 overs. Imran Farhat, fresh from his century on Wednesday, managed 35 with two sixes and four fours. Kamran Sajid top-scored with 40 but the total of 150 was well short of what they would have expected. The Zebras were in trouble at 7 for 98 but Ashraf and Rizwan Saeed (32*) kept their cool and guided their team through.

Shaun Pollock will be the key to South Africa’s success in the Caribbean© Getty Images

Ray Jennings, the South Africa coach, is looking to inflict a 4-0 whitewash on the West Indies when the first Test begins on March 31 in Guyana. South Africa, who arrive this week in the Caribbean, were likely to face a West Indies side minus their leading players, including Brian Lara, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Chris Gayle, after the sponsorship dispute failed to reach a resolution.”With or without their best players I want to come back with wins in the Tests and ODIs,” Jennings, who is looking for a long term position as coach, told Reuters. “It’s the most crucial series of my career. I’m looking for a whitewash.”West Indies selectors omitted the leading players from the side due to their personal endorsement contracts with Cable and Wireless, a rival of the current team sponsor Digicel. Shivnarine Chanderpaul was named the captain after Brian Lara gave a non-committal response to an invitation sent by the West Indies Cricket Board asking him to join the team.However, South Africa was hoping that the matter was resolved before the team arrived later this week. “I’m sure they’ll work something out before the first Test,” said Shaun Pollock to . “The missing guys form the core of their side and it would be silly if they missed out. From a personal point of view, I would be disappointed if we didn’t play against their strongest team.””People need to understand that the West Indies are unique in that, strictly speaking, they’re not playing for their country; they’re playing for a collective entity made up of different independent islands,” said Pollock, who also led the side during the 2001 tour of the West Indies when they won the Test series 2-1 and the ODI series 5-2. “That makes a big difference to their outlook and can lead to complications.”Pollock, who has not yet recovered from his ankle injury, said that he could miss the first two Tests if his injury persisted. “It’s still niggling me. I can run okay, although there’s a little bit of pain, but it’s slamming the left foot down that is the problem. It’s basically a wear and tear injury that’s been equated to patella tendonitis [tennis elbow] that’s difficult to get rid of unless you rest it.”South Africa enjoys an overall impressive record against the West Indies. In the 15 Tests played between these teams, South Africa have won 10 and lost only two.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has decided to pay tribute to their former Test captain Wasim Bari by awarding the first one-day international between Pakistan and South Africa as his benefit match."Wasim Bari is being honoured for his meritorious services to the game of cricket and the country," said the PCB’s chief executive Rameez Raja. "He has been and is still one of the greatest ambassadors of the country. A certain percentage of the income from the proceeds will be awarded to Wasim as his benefit."Wasim had originally been allocated a match on October 26, but this had to be rearranged after South Africa’s security fears ahead of the tour. Lt Gen Tauqir Zia, the PCB chairman, is expected to present him a memento in recognition of his services to Pakistan cricket."I grateful to the PCB Chairman for making the match as my benefit," said Wasim, who also served as chairman of selectors between 2000 and 2003.

Controversial United Cricket Board president Percy Sonn is on his own in believing that banned former captain Hansie Cronje should be allowed back into cricket at this stage.Sonn has been widely quoted as saying that there should still be a place in South African cricket for Cronje, who was banned for life last year for his part in the match-fixing scandal."Who are we to damn people forever?” said Sonn on Australia radio this week. “Our board is not god in terms of determining what rehabilitation is sufficient. Hansie deserves to enjoy all the freedom of South African society. He is a child of the United Cricket Board."Sonn’s comments have taken South African administrators, not to mention the International Cricket Council aback. The president was at the forefront of moves to have Cronje banned in the first place, at one point saying that the disgraced cricket "should not even be allowed to play beach cricket".UCB vice-president Robbie Kurz said on Friday that he believed Sonn was speaking in his personal capacity."It’s not really my place to comment on matters such as these," said Kurz, "but UCB policy has always been that Cronje should be banned until such time as he has shown he has rehabilitated himself. This policy has not changed and I don’t believe the time is right yet for the ban to be lifted."Department of Sport spokesman Graham Abrahams told PA International: ""I don’tthink it would be a good idea at this moment to bring him back into thegame."In fact, it would be a mistake and the UCB should think twice about it."He has made no gestures to the UCB, and it would be more appropriate forhimto approach the UCB in an amicable fashion rather than for the UCB to go tohim."Sonn’s motives for this about turn have been questioned in the aftermath of the controversy provoked when he vetoed the South African team for the third Test and had Jacques Rudolph replaced by Justin Ontong.Sonn’s actions and opinions this week have been privately questioned in some UCB circles and are likely to be the subject of intense deiscussion the UCB executive committee meets later this month.UCB chief executive Gerald Majola will fly to Australia early next week in an attempt to put out some of the fires raging since Sonn vetoed the Test team. At the very least he is expected to reassure Shaun Pollock’s side that they still have the full backing of the UCB, a point that has been questioned over the past few days.

Air India completed a 70-run victory against North Zone in theCricInfo Rani Jhansi Trophy for women (50 overs) at the CentralPolytechnic ground in Chennai on Sunday. North suffered a doublesetback with their captain, Richa Dubey, sent to hospital with aligament tear in her knee, which might put her out of the rest of thetournament.Set to score 196, North Zone made a sedate start with openers Gulshanand Jaya Sharma adding only 19 runs before Gulshan, looking tentativewas caught in the slips off the bowling of Smita for 11 of 28balls. Air India’s Smita and Kusumlatha pegged North Zone further onthe back foot with some good bowling especially by the former who keptpegging away at the batswoman’s off stump but failed to find the edge.The 14th over saw the off spinner Seema Pujari replacing Kusumlathaand she immediately struck a good line and length. After Richa hadtwisted her knee in the field, the 15th over witnessed the secondcasuality of the day when Mamta Maben dislocated her shoulder tryingto dive and field the ball at mid wicket. Immediately after theincident, Jaya Sharma (13 runs off 41 balls) was stumped off thebowling of Seema Pujari with only 39 on the board. The start of the22nd over saw Seema grass a second caught and bowled chance, but sheimmediately struck back in three balls, having M Raji caught at midwicket,trying to get on with the scoring.In the same over Seema again picked up a wicket with the last ball.Beating the batswomen through the air she bowled Reema Malhotrawithout troubling the scorers. The match shifted well and truly infavour of Air India as a reault of that single over. Seema went on tocontain the newcomers Gurdeep Kaur and Seema Wadwa and in an eightover spell she gave away only 15 runs.The North Zone innings lay inshambles and even a valiant effort of 40 runs by B Rajini could notcome to their rescue as she quickly ran out of partners. The next fivewickets fell with only 65 more runs being added to the total.Earlier put into bat, Air India openers Anju Jain and Anjum Chopramade an earnest start adding 87 runs in 23.2 overs. Both Anju Jain andAnjum Chopra mixed caution with agression as they picked easy singlesand never failed to despatch the loose balls to the boundary.The session after the first drinks saw the first bowling change withoff spinner Anjuman Bassi replacing Asha Jain in the 20thover. Anjuman struck immediately in her second over when she had AnjumChopra (38 runs of 71 balls) caught behind at the score of 87 in the24th over of the match. Then Mithali Raj joined Anju Jain who wasgrowing in confidence with every over.In the ensuing overs, Anju and Mithali played the North Zone bowlingwith aplomb as they churned Anjuman Bassi and leg spinner RimaMalhotra for some easy pickings. And in the course of the partnership,Anju Jain reached a sedate half century after facing 80 balls.The end of the 35th over saw Air India at 139 for the loss of onlyAnjum. But the drinks break saw the luck changing in North Zone’sfavour as Anju Jain was dismissed immediately, stumped of the bowlingof Anjuman Bassi, adding one more to the total. This brought captainPurnima Rau to the crease but some disciplined bowling from ReemaMalhotra saw her early exit after scoring only eight runs in 19balls. The introduction of Reecha Dubey (5/24 in six overs) proved tobe a big boon as she managed to pick up Mithali Raj (40 runs of 82balls). She then sent back Smitha (1), Kusumlatha (5) and Sunaina fora duck. Air India thus failed to capitalise on the good start andmanaged to put up only 195 for eight wickets on the board.

Leeds United are reportedly ‘in position’ to sign versatile Nantes winger Moses Simon this summer but face stiff competition from Newcastle United.

The Lowdown: Simon a key man for Nantes

The Nigerian is enjoying a productive season for the Ligue 1 outfit, registering an impressive seven assists in the league, as well as chipping in with three goals for good measure.

Simon also bagged a goal and assist apiece for Nigeria at the Africa Cup of Nations, averaging an incredible 4.3 dribbles per game in the competition.

While the 26-year-old’s current Nantes deal doesn’t expire until the summer of 2024, it could be that he feels a fresh challenge is required this summer as he enters his prime.

[freshpress-quiz id=“383507″]

The Latest: Leeds still eyeing up move

According to French outlet BUT Football [via Sport Witness], Leeds ‘remain in position’ to sign Simon ahead of next season but Newcastle are also showing strong interest.

The Magpies see him as someone who can take the pressure off Allan Saint-Maximin, adding more creativity to Eddie Howe’s side.

[web_stories_embed url=”https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/web-stories/latest-leeds-united-news-37/” title=”Latest Leeds United news!” poster=”” width=”360″ height=”600″ align=”none”]

The Verdict: Tough to compete with Newcastle

Simon could be a superb signing by Leeds – Mauricio Pochettinho admitted his Paris Saint-Germain side couldn’t handle him last month – given his aforementioned end product and the fact that he can thrive on either wing or even in a central role.

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He is predominantly left-sided, too, so if Raphinha stays put this summer, it could give the Whites a genuinely top-quality wide option on both flanks.

This could all depend on whether or not Leeds avoid relegation to the Championship, though, while Newcastle’s newfound wealth arguably puts them in a stronger position, in terms of offering bigger wages.

In other news, a source has dropped a key update regarding one massive Leeds player. Read more here.

Scorecard
A six-wicket haul by seamer Jason Bennett helped bundle out Barbados for 139 and gain a first-innings lead of 63 on the second day at the Three Ws Oval. Barbados fought back to reduce the opposition to 138 for 7 in the second innings, leaving CCC with an overall lead of 201. Barbados never recovered sufficiently from their overnight wobble at 15 for 4, as Bennett returned to claim the wickets of Ryan Hinds and Dwayne Smith for 35 each. The last-wicket pair of Sulieman Benn and Corey Collymore added 30 in an hour to frustrate the bowlers before Shirley Clarke wrapped up the innings. In reply, CCC got off to a brisk start as their openers Romel Currency and Simon Jackson added 60 in just over 10 overs. Tino Best then struck back with three quick wickets for the addition of just one run and CCC were in further trouble as Benn later took three middle-order wickets to leave the match evenly poised. Best ended the day with figures of 4 for 39.
Scorecard
Half-centuries by Wavell Hinds and Brendan Nash, who remained unbeaten on 91, helped Jamaica gain a valuable first-innings lead of 69 against Guyana at Sabina Park. Nash faced 254 balls in his dogged knock, which included six fours and a six, before Jamaica were bowled out for 240 at tea. Hinds made 53 while Nikita Miller chipped in with 34, during which he added 81 for the seventh wicket with Nash to frustrate Guyana. Trevon Garraway and Veerasammy Permaul were the leading wicket-takers for Guyana, picking up four each. In reply, Guyana lost Gajanand Singh early for 2, but Assad Fudadin and Leon Johnson and remained unbeaten to end the day at 59 for 1.
Scorecard
The second day’s play in St Maarten was hampered by poor weather where only six overs were possible. Rain forced the players off the field 23 minutes into the morning session, during which T&T added 12 to their overnight score with captain Rayad Emrit going on to score a half-century. Rain intervened again early in the afternoon and the umpires decided to abandon play for the day after a 4 pm inspection.