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Virgil van Dijk hasn’t been at his best for Liverpool this season, but he’s still Virgil van Dijk.

This is one of the best defenders of his generation, and though he turned 34 in June, the Netherlands and Anfield skipper renewed his £350k-per-week contract at Liverpool until 2027, and more stable defensive foundations would bring the Dutchman back to his usual imperious level.

A mini-revival in recent weeks has eased the pressure on Arne Slot’s shoulders, but there’s no question that the Reds need to sign a centre-back.

Liverpool's plans to sign a centre-back

FSG thought they had completed the perfect summer transfer window, but FSG thought wrong. So many things haven’t gone to plan for Liverpool this season, and the failure to sign an elite centre-half is chief among them.

Sporting director Richard Hughes did, in fairness, fork out £27m to bring Giovanni Leoni to Anfield. But the talented Italian, only 18, ruptured his ACL against Southampton on his debut, and we will not see him back on the grass for some time yet.

With Van Dijk getting on a bit and Ibrahima Konate having plummeted to the nadir of his career form, so many error-strewn and unconvincing performances, the Merseysiders surely need to sign a defender, with depth proving a massive issue for Slot.

According to TEAMtalk, that man might yet be Marc Guehi, who came within a whisker of joining Liverpool last summer, a deal falling through at the eleventh hour on deadline day.

Despite that, the central defender is still ‘hopeful’ of living out his childhood dream of playing for Liverpool, according to the report. He is said to be ‘very keen’ on a move to Anfield.

The England international has been immense this season, as he was last year, and while he is set to leave Selhurst Park on a free transfer at the end of the season, chairman Steve Parish would allow him to leave for a not-so-small fee of £35m in January.

Why Guehi could usurp Van Dijk as Liverpool captain

In short, stability and dynamism in defence, two areas in which the Reds have been decidedly lacking this season. Guehi is not only a “monster in defence”, as he has been described by Crystal Palace correspondent Bobby Manzi, but an intelligent, calculated player, instrumental in the build-up.

In the Premier League this season, there have been few better. Guehi has played 14 of the Eagles’ 15 fixtures, missing out once due to injury, and he has captained Oliver Glasner’s squad on each of those occasions.

Could we be looking at the man who will take the armband from Liverpool’s titanic captain? For sure, Guehi has what it takes to steal Konate’s starting berth from him, so far removed from the Frenchman’s abject performances.

Matches (starts)

14 (14)

15 (15)

Goals + assists

2 + 2

0 + 0

Clean sheets

6

2

Touches*

65.4

74.3

Accurate passes*

44.9 (86%)

54.7 (90%)

Chances created*

0.6

0.3

Recoveries*

4.0

2.7

Tackles + interceptions*

3.0

2.1

Clearances*

5.1

6.1

Duels (won)*

5.9 (67%)

6.3 (66%)

Errors

1

4

Guehi rarely makes a mistake. He is calm and composed, and composure and calmness have been in short supply across Liverpool’s backline this season.

Moreover, he would help fix Liverpool’s struggles in the build-up. Losing Trent Alexander-Arnold to Real Madrid was always going to force a rewiring of passing patterns, and Konate has been left exposed.

Guehi, however, ranks among the top 8% of Premier League defenders this season for progressive passes, the top 6% for shot-creating actions and the top 10% for tackles won per 90, as well as the top 8% for aerial duel success rate.

This is a complete defender at the top of their game, and with his prime years still in front of him, such an inspiring leader must be brought over to Anfield. Second time lucky? Liverpool could certainly do with a centre-back who has what it takes to grab the baton from Van Dijk.

He'd revive Isak: "Unstoppable" PL star decides he wants to join Liverpool

Liverpool could be edging closer to a marquee January move…

ByRobbie Walls 2 days ago

Every part of his game is geared not just towards batting, but to the purpose behind it

Sidharth Monga20-Jun-2025

Yashasvi Jaiswal brought up his fifth Test hundred•PA Images/Getty Images

Yashasvi Jaiswal is insatiable. When he is training in Talegaon in Maharashtra at the Rajasthan Royals High Performance Centre, he can go through more than 100 overs of batting in one day. That’s sidearm, normal bowling, manual throwing, all by different people from different angles with little or no break. In a two-hour net session with teams he is with, he can hog one net for upwards of an hour. He has been talked into being more mindful of other players’ needs, which he has respected. So now he just waits for others to finish and takes the deliverers of balls back into the net at the end of the training.A day before the Headingley Test, after all the media work had been done, all the reels made, he was there in the corner net with net bowlers and one sidearm thrower from the team. Those who work with him worry they need to find ways to help him sustain this voracious appetite despite the lean frame, and a historic nutritional deficiency from when he grew up all alone, far away from home in Mumbai.With some batters, this obsessive nature can be detrimental, but Jaiswal has that balance right. He bats for the business of scoring runs not to perfect batting. He knows how to score runs. In a short career, he has played innings of markedly different tempo and method. As Rahul Dravid, the former India coach, told me once, Jaiswal says in almost every innings “I like scoring runs, I know how to score runs and I’ll do whatever it takes to score runs – sometimes bat aggressively, sometimes bat defensively, sometimes play from middle stump, sometimes play from outside leg stump”.Related

• Stokes repents in late spell after India capitalise on England's bowl-first call

• England the next stop in Jaiswal's audacious journey

By the afternoon drinks break on his first day of Test cricket in England, though, Jaiswal’s obsessiveness had begun to catch up with him. The support staff gave his arm under the arm guard a rubdown. His leading arm was cramping three hours into his innings on a pleasant day in Leeds.It had already been an innings in which he had had to change his method dramatically. Jaiswal was 67 off 112 then, but he had had spurts: 19 off 20, then just 12 off 39, then 26 balls in the 40s. England weren’t great with the brand-new ball, Jaiswal had no qualms flashing at them, but when they started bowling straight at his body, his limitations on the leg side showed up.In the first 20 balls that Jaiswal faced, only two balls swung or seamed in. He relished the room and the angle away. Then they started attacking the stumps more with a leg slip in place: 24 swung in or seamed in off the next 92. Add to it Josh Tongue’s angle from around the wicket, tucking him up, hitting him on the body.Jaiswal’s control percentage was 90 in the first 20 balls, it fell to 71 for the next 92 balls. One of the reasons for low control numbers was that he kept missing the cut, but he was going so hard at it that it is hard to see how an edge would go to hand. Otherwise, he just fought through the period, keeping the pull and fend away even as Ben Stokes moved to one of the Bazball fields.Yashasvi Jaiswal loves to bat and bat and bat•AFP/Getty ImagesAnd then came the cramps. Almost unnoticed, the intent went up as he realised he couldn’t keep fighting all day. The first ball after that drinks break was also the first ball of spin. You would imagine a forward-defensive to this full ball – 4.4m in front of the stumps – from almost any other batter, but Jaiswal hung back and managed to cut it for four. A flurry of runs, not visibly hurried, followed. Tongue was upper-cut for six, Shoaib Bashir lofted back over his head. By the time he reached the 90s, Jaiswal had had medical attention three times.The third of those came after a ferocious attempt at a cut that he missed. The umpires had a quiet word with him. Probably telling him he had to make a choice: play on without regular assistance or retire. Just like that, out came two dismissive shots through the covers to reach 99. Then the single to get to a hundred in his first Tests in the West Indies, Australia and England to go with an 80 in his first in India.It wasn’t a free-flowing innings. It had phases of brilliance, spells of knuckling down, and just the sheer physical battle with himself. Only ten of the 101 runs he scored came on the leg side. The limited range of his strokes on the leg side has always been a focus, but not to this extent. He completely shelved the pull and the hook, and sweated on any room. There were periods he was denied room, but he was prepared to wait it out.It was only when he began to cramp that an element of manufacturing shots appeared. It was just exceptional understanding of how to score runs and manage risk. Managing his body and his voracious appetite for hitting balls is an aspect he will still have to look at.

An ACB statement says that Naveen-ul-Haq is still recovering from a shoulder injury and has not been declared fit by the medical team

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Sep-2025Afghanistan fast bowler Naveen-ul-Haq has been ruled out of the ongoing Asia Cup, and Abdollah Ahmadzai has been named his replacement.Naveen had been named in the Asia Cup squad despite missing the UAE tri-series prior to the tournament. According to an Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) release, Naveen is still recovering from a shoulder injury and has not been declared fit by the medical team. “Naveen will continue to undergo intensive treatment and rehabilitation until he is fully fit,” the statement said.Ahmadzai, who was originally in the list of reserves for the Asia Cup, was a part of the UAE tri-series with Naveen out of action. He made his international debut in the series – also the only T20I he has played so far – where he took 1 for 31 in three overs against UAE. Overall in T20s, he has 15 wickets from 11 games.Naveen last played for Afghanistan in December 2024, against Zimbabwe in a T20I in Harare. He was part of the SA20 earlier this year, taking five wickets in eight games for Durban’s Super Giants. He also played MLC in June where he took eight wickets in five games for tournament champions MI New York.Fazalhaq Farooqi and Fareed Ahmad are the other specialist quicks in the squad, with Azmatullah Omarzai, Gulbadin Naib and Karim Janat the fast-bowling allrounder.Afghanistan have played only one match at the Asia Cup so far, the tournament opener, where they beat Hong Kong by 94 runs. Their next group match is against Bangladesh on September 16, and they play Sri Lanka on September 18.

Tonda Eckert has been asked if he is hoping to become the next permanent manager of Southampton after guiding the club to a win over QPR on Wednesday evening.

It has hardly been the season that Southampton would have expected. In the 2024/25 campaign, they became the first team to be relegated from the Premier League with as many as seven games left to play. Even still, they were expected to be in contention for a swift return to the top flight.

Having established himself as a promising young coach in Ligue 1 with Reims and Lens, Will Still was appointed as Southampton’s new manager in May. Despite an influx of summer signings, however, Still struggled to have the impact he would have wanted at St Mary’s.

After just two wins in 13 Championship games, Still was dismissed following a loss to Preston, which was Southampton’s third successive defeat. In his place, Eckert was named interim boss as the club continue their search for a new manager.

Eckert answers questions about Saints future

Eckert’s first game in charge of the Saints was an away clash against Queens Park Rangers. The 32-year-old, picked out personally by sporting director Johannes Spors in the summer to take charge of their under-21s, guided Southampton to a 2-1 win at Loftus Road.

As reported by The Daily Echo, the young coach was then asked about his desire for the permanent job.

Evidently, Eckert is focused solely on guiding Southampton through their immediate future, with the club set to host Sheffield Wednesday in their next league game. Should they win, it would be the first time this season that they have won consecutive matches in the Championship.

Given their current position in the league, though, it would be a massive gamble for the Saints to hire a young and inexperienced manager, regardless of how much potential they may have.

Saints could turn to veteran to fill managerial vacancy

He has been found guilty of breaching the Emirates Cricket Board anti-corruption code during the 2021 season of the Abu Dhabi T10

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Aug-2025

Saliya Saman was found guilty of breaching three articles of the ECB’s anti-corruption code•kkr.in

Saliya Saman, the former Sri Lankan domestic cricketer, has been banned from all cricket for five years. An ICC anti-corruption tribunal found him guilty of breaching the Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) anti-corruption code.Related

Nasir Hossain banned for two years

Bangladesh allrounder Nasir Hossain faces corruption charges

The ban is backdated to September 13, 2023, when Saman was provisionally suspended, as one of eight people – all associated with the Pune Devils franchise in the 2021 Abu Dhabi T10 tournament – charged with breaching the code. Those eight included the Bangladesh allrounder Nasir Hossain, who in January 2024 was banned for two years after being found guilty of the three charges against him.The charges against Saman relate to three articles of the ECB’s anti-corruption code. 2.1.1 – Being party to an attempt to fix, contrive or influence improperly matches or aspects of matches in the Abu Dhabi T10 2021. 2.1.3 – Offering a Reward to another Participant in exchange for that player engaging in Corrupt Conduct under the Code. 2.1.4 – Directly or indirectly soliciting, inducing, enticing, instructing, persuading, encouraging or intentionally facilitating any Participant to breach Code Article 2.1.In its final order, the three-member tribunal – comprising Nigel Peters KC, Justice Zak Yacoob and chairman Harish Salve KC – held that Saman had sought to recruit a player for the Abu Dhabi T10, offering that the player “would play all the fixtures, in two of those he would agree to do something that is commonly understood as match fixing.”The 39-year-old Saman, an allrounder who has played 101 first-class matches, 77 List A games and 47 T20s, last played a recognised fixture during the SLC Twenty20 Tournament in March 2021.

The Los Angeles Angels battled the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday night in the second matchup in the three-game set, and fireworks came to the forefront in the top of the sixth inning, with the best player in baseball at the plate.

Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani stepped up to bat with the game tied at six and runners on first and second with nobody out. Ohtani has seen this situation plenty in his baseball career, and it's an opportunity he usually cashes in with a runner in scoring position.

Angels reliever Brock Burke reeled back on the 2–2 pitch and fired a 97 mile-per-hour fastball on the outside corner. Ohtani was all over it, lining it right back up the middle. The only issue was that Angels shortstop Zach Neto was playing in double play depth and caught the screamer right behind second base. He quickly stepped on the bag to double up pinch runner Miguel Rojas and fired to first to complete the triple play with Dodgers catcher Dalton Rushing scrambling to get bag to the bag.

What a thing of beauty.

Nottingham Forest are now targeting an “incredible” Europa League midfielder, amid Elliot Anderson continuing to attract attention from some top clubs.

Anderson's City Ground future up in the air

Forest could have their work cut out trying to keep hold of Anderson, given that the midfielder is of major interest to the Premier League’s biggest clubs, with it recently being revealed that Manchester United have identified him as their number one target.

Manchester City are currently the favourites to win the race for the former Newcastle United man, however, with the Blues ready to hijack their rivals, given that Pep Guardiola is a huge admirer, and there is a feeling that a deal could be possible for a fee of £88m.

Alex Crook has also revealed that United would probably have to fork out a club-record fee to sign the England international, with the Tricky Trees in a strong negotiating position, given that he remains under contract until 2029.

With Anderson’s future at the City Ground up in the air, Nottingham Forest have now started to run the rule over potential new additions in midfield, according to a report from TEAMtalk, which states they are now targeting Lyon star Tyler Morton.

Morton has put in some eye-catching performances since moving to the Ligue 1 club for £15m in the summer, and he could now be in line for a swift return to the Premier League, with the likes of Crystal Palace and Brighton & Hove Albion also keen.

Lyon are reluctant to sell the midfielder, but cashing-in for a higher price than they paid might be too good an opportunity to turn down, considering their financial difficulties, so the door could be open for a move to Forest.

"Incredible" Morton now ready to prove himself in England

The 23-year-old never really managed to make the grade at Liverpool, being shipped out on loan to Hull City and Blackburn Rovers, and never making a Premier League appearance, but he has proven he’s now ready to test himself in England.

The Englishman has emerged as a key player for Lyon in Ligue 1, chipping in with one goal and one assist in 12 outings, while also putting in a solid performance in his most recent Europa League match, with Lyon battering Maccabi Tel Aviv 6-0.

Tyler Morton’s key statistics vs Maccabi Tel Aviv

Number completed

Tackles

4

Interceptions

2

Duels (won)

8 (6)

Accurate passes

60/63 (95%)

Journalist Bence Bocsak is clearly a big admirer of the Wallasey-born midfielder too, saying: “Out of all the young players who left Liverpool this summer I’m absolutely convinced Tyler Morton is the most likely to return. He’s a fantastic footballer. Incredible IQ.”

Nottingham Forest now keen on £117k-a-week UCL defender who may replace Murillo

The Tricky Trees are looking at signing a new centre-back in the January transfer window, amid doubts over Murillo’s future.

ByDominic Lund Dec 2, 2025

While Arne Slot’s side making a move would be understandable, with any luck Nottingham Forest will be able to win the race for Morton’s signature, as he could be a fantastic addition to Sean Dyche’s squad.

Tottenham have been given some encouragement over the prospect of signing a Brazil international as his agents work to find him a new club.

Tottenham targeting new attacker in January amid creativity issue

Thomas Frank faces mounting pressure at Tottenham just six months into his tenure, with serious questions surrounding the Dane’s future.

Spurs sit 11th in the table with just 19 points from 13 games, and their home record tells a catastrophic story.

With only one Premier League win at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium all season, not to mention 10 home defeats this calendar year, they currently boast the joint-worst record in that regard in the club’s history.

Winless in five matches across all competitions, including losses to Arsenal, PSG and Fulham, their controversial 2-2 draw at Newcastle on Monday evening prevented a fourth straight defeat.

16. Burnley

2

1

4

7

-2

17. Nottingham Forest

2

1

4

7

-5

18. West Ham

2

0

5

6

-9

19. Tottenham

1

2

4

5

-1

20. Wolves

0

1

6

1

-11

Cristian Romero rescued Frank with a dramatic stoppage-time overhead kick. The Argentine scored twice at St James’ Park, his header and acrobatic finish earning a vital point, and his heroics seriously spared Frank’s blushes.

Dressing room unrest is reportedly growing, with reports suggesting players are confused by Frank’s constant tactical tinkering.

Fabrizio Romano shares Thomas Frank update amid mounting Tottenham pressure

The reliable journalist has some information.

ByEmilio Galantini Dec 4, 2025

Summer signing Xavi Simons symbolises Frank’s struggles. The £55 million playmaker has started just six league games, relegated to the bench for crucial fixtures despite Spurs’ creative drought, and former defender Ramon Vega has accused Frank of “changing his mind every two seconds.”

Frank apparently retains board backing until at least new year, but improvement must arrive quickly.

January reinforcements remain crucial, with FC Porto striker Samu Aghehowa heavily linked alongside Bournemouth star Antoine Semenyo, who has a tantalising £65 million release clause in his contract which will be active next month.

If Spurs cannot win the race for Semenyo amid interest from Man City, then RB Leizpig’s Yan Diomande is believed to be an alternative, with Sky Switzerland’s Sacha Tavolieri reporting they’ve already held advanced discussions on the player’s side.

Tottenham given Rodrygo boost as agents work on Real Madrid exit

Now, according to TEAMtalk and journalist Graeme Bailey, the north Londoners have been given a boost in their pursuit of Real Madrid star Rodrygo.

It is believed that Tottenham have emerged among the Premier League clubs that Rodrygo would consider joining, with his representatives actively working to secure a January departure from the Bernabeu.

The Brazilian has seen his situation deteriorate dramatically since Xabi Alonso replaced Carlo Ancelotti over the summer, becoming the most high-profile casualty.

Only four of his 15 appearances this season have exceeded 45 minutes, with Rodrygo regularly deployed as an impact substitute and falling behind Arda Güler in the pecking order.

Intermediaries representing the 24-year-old are working diligently to identify potential destinations, with Arsenal and Liverpool already engaged in discussions.

Rodrygo himself has made clear he would welcome moves to Man City, Man United, Chelsea or Tottenham too, though currently only Arsenal, Liverpool, City and Spurs are actively monitoring his availability.

Real value him between £70-79 million, and the Spanish giants ideally want to retain Rodrygo until the summer, when Nico Paz’s expected return will likely accelerate his departure.

It isn’t an easy deal to do by any means, with Spurs potentially needing to break their transfer record whilst fending off elite competition from their rivals.

However, there is little doubt this would be a statement move by the Lewis family as they look to usher in a new era post-Daniel Levy.