All posts by h716a5.icu

Leicester City have been linked with a move for Sporting Lisbon left-back Nuno Mendes as the upcoming transfer window approaches.

What’s the story?

According to Sky Sports, the Foxes are interested in acquiring the teenager’s services over the summer as Brendan Rodgers looks to address his left-back conundrum.

The report added that Leicester are eyeing up moves for Atalanta’s Robin Gosens and Southampton’s Ryan Bertrand to replace the departing Christian Fuchs.

Rodgers needs him

With Fuchs calling time on his six-year stay at the King Power Stadium and the highly-rated James Justin set for an extended stay on the treatment table, bringing in some competition for sole left-back Luke Thomas must be one of Rodgers’ top priorities.

Despite being just 18 years old, Mendes has attracted the attention of some of the continent’s biggest clubs this season after a string of impressive performances. The youngster started 29 Liga NOS games for Sporting in 2020/21 as the capital club won their first top-flight title in 19 years, earning a magnificent 7.24 WhoScored rating for his exploits.

While the purchase of Gosens or Bertrand would also be a sensible and logical option for the Midlands outfit, neither seems as exciting as Mendes.

His potential is astronomical, and Leicester’s ability to buy young talent for relatively cheap prices before developing them and selling them on for huge profits makes the Portugal under-21 international an ideal transfer target.

Rodgers undoubtedly needs a left-back this summer, and Mendes is surely at the top of his wish list. Sporting president Frederico Varandas couldn’t hide his admiration for the academy graduate last year, claiming that Mendes has a big future in the senior Portuguese national team, for whom he has already won three caps.

“Nuno Mendes is dazzling. I have no doubt that he will be the future left-back of the (Portuguese) national team,” he said [via Leicester Mercury].

Although his arrival would ultimately leave Leicester with two teenage prodigies as their only natural left-sided defenders, the potential positives outweigh the risks which would be attached to his arrival.

It’s not often that Rodgers has splashed huge sums of money on individual players during his time at the King Power, but breaking the bank for the £22.5m-rated Mendes (Transfermarkt) is certainly a gamble worth taking.

Securing his signature would be a masterclass from the Foxes’ director of football Jon Rudkin, given the level of competition for the precocious Portuguese prospect.

In other news… Huge LCFC transfer update emerges over “superb” £70k-p/w dynamo, fans will be buzzing 

Yorkshire have crashed to a comprehensive defeat in the opening game of their defence of the Frizzell County Championship, as Surrey completed their second consecutive win

Stephen Lamb26-Apr-2002
Taylor- battling half-century not enough
Photo CricInfo
Yorkshire have crashed to a comprehensive defeat in the opening game of their defence of the Frizzell County Championship, as Surrey completed their second consecutive win. Despite a battling, unbeaten 52 from Chris Taylor which restored a little pride after the champions had been reduced to 80/7, Yorkshire were bowled out for 202 to give Surrey victory in three days by an innings and 168 runs.While Yorkshire floundered, their former captain was carrying Lancashire to victory at Edgbaston. The Red Rose county made short work of polishing off Warwickshire’s second innings for just 150, with Peter Martin taking 4-41. David Byas then stroked an unbeaten 83 as Lancashire made the required total of 197 to record a six-wicket win.At the Rose Bowl, Hampshire were forced to follow on after being dismissed for 273, 155 runs behind Leicestershire’s first-innings total. Phil DeFreitas accounted for James Hamblin, and Alan Mullally was run out for a duck to leave Chris Tremlett unbeaten on 26. In their second innings Hampshire have reached 81/2, still 74 runs behind.At Hove, James Kirtley finished with 5-90 as Somerset were bowled out for 401, taking a first-innings lead of 64. Skipper Chris Adams has anchored his side’s second innings, making an unbeaten 68 as Sussex closed on 178/3.At Lord’s, where play didn’t get under way until quarter past five, Notts moved from 90/1 to 156/4 in the 20 overs of play possible. Ashley Noffke took all four wickets, and Notts still need another 147 runs to make Middlesex bat again.Just 32 overs were possible at Northampton, where the overnight pair of Mike Hussey and Mal Loye completed a first-wicket partnership of 290 before Loye was dismissed for 139. Hussey was eventually out for 170 as Northants reached 380/2 in reply to Worcestershire’s 524.Rain prevented any play today in the other two Division Two games at Derby and Chelmsford.

It may be semantic nit-picking but the New Zealand tour was not called off

Omar Kureishi15-May-2002It may be semantic nit-picking but the New Zealand tour was not called off. The tour had proceeded without a hitch and the three One-day Internationals had been played as well as one Test match. It was just the last match that was abandoned for reasons that had nothing to do with cricket.It is imperative that it is understood that the New Zealand team was not the target if they were in any danger because of blast, so too was the Pakistan team who were staying in the same hotel. There is no denying that it must have been traumatising and cancelling the Test match was the most obvious course of action, players of both teams being in no mental frame of mind to play.There is much pessimistic talk that the future of Pakistan cricket has been put in jeopardy and no foreign team is likely to tour Pakistan in the near future. Particularly at risk is Australia’s tour. If Pakistan is a high risk country, so too is every other country in the world. We are living in extremely dangerous times.Unlike the IRA and the Tamil Tigers which can be described as vertical terrorism, the terrorism against which a war is being waged, is horizontal. It knows no frontiers, no boundaries. There are no obvious targets. Who, in his wildest imagination, could have foretold the attack on the World Trade Centre or the Pentagon? Or, for that matter, what happened at the Sheraton Hotel, in Karachi?International terrorism must come in the same category as a natural disaster. This is the case that the PCB must place before the Australian Cricket Board. Whatever is humanly possible to provide security to the Australian team will be done, as it was, in the case of the New Zealand team. Can the United Cricket Board of South Africa give a water-tight guarantee that terrorists will not strike during one of the matches of the World Cup 2003? Of course, it can’t.International media, particularly television channels, have done a loathsome job in projecting Pakistan as a volatile country. Pakistan’s law and order situation may not be as good as we would want it to be but life goes on as it does in other countries which are as safe or as dangerous. Let me just add here that as far back as 1974, when I was manager of the Pakistan touring England, we twice had to evacuate our hotel rooms because of bomb threats. The IRA was pretty active in those days. The thought of abandoning the tour never crossed our mind. These bomb threats were real.I think there is a need to be level-headed. At the time of the bomb blast, a certain amount of hysteria was perfectly understandable as it is understandable that the New Zealand players should feel traumatised though I must say that the Pakistan players who too were “five minutes away from death”, (Stephen Fleming’s words) seem to have steadied their nerves.The West Indies are concerned with the form of Brian Lara but the Indians should be concerned with the form of Sachin Tendulkar. At the start of the series, there was much hype about the series deciding who was the greater batsman. But cricket is a great leveller. As in the case of Inzamamul Haq who too went through a wretched lean patch and bounced back with a triple century, I am sure that both Lara and Tendulkar will soon shrug off this lean patch and runs will start flowing from their bats. Presently, they are proving that, like the rest of us, they are mere mortals. And a good thing too because cricket is a team game and no individual is bigger than the game. But what you lose of the swing, you gain on the roundabout.Tendulkar’s failure have placed a greater responsibility on the other Indian batsmen and Saurav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and Vangipurappu Laxman are coming through and as a bonus so too is Ratra with a superb hundred.For the West Indies, Carl Hooper and Shivnarine Chanderpaul seem to be in top form while Ramnaresh Sarwan continues to bat with great fluency but seems to lose his concentration just when it seems that he is set for the big one.Sri Lanka will find the going tough since they are touring in the first half of the summer when it is cold and wet and the ball seams about. Without Muttiah Muralitharan, they are half the team.England have chosen to go backwards and have recalled Alec Stewart and John Crawley and Sri Lanka on its part have included that old war horse Aravinda de Silva. Strange that I should call him an old war horse since I first saw him play as a teenager and I still remember him hooking Imran Khan for a six at Faisalabad. I was doing the commentary and was momentarily speechless.The recall of these ‘veterans’ is an admission that there is a lot of difference between Test cricket and the one-day game. In Test cricket, the premium is on experience.Sir Vivian Richards was a part of the commentary team for the Antigua Test match. I think it would be fair to say that he was a better batsman than he is a commentator. But he is still capable of being outrageous. He was asked by Harsha Bhogle (with great reverence) why he (Richards) did not wear a helmet. He said that he liked to chomp on his chewing gum and the helmet interfered with that.”You have to be comfortable when you are batting,” he said. What an advertisement for chewing gum. He could have made a fortune from Wrigley’s.Viv is also somewhat guarded in his comments. He would have liked to say more about Hooper’s decision to put India in after winning the toss. Hooper probably thinks he still has Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose in his team.Star Sports interviewed Wasim Jaffer and the interview ended up as a coaching lesson by Geoff Boycott. The young batsman had played a jewel of an innings. It seemed singularly inappropriate to be telling what he was doing wrong.

Southampton have been linked with a move for Blackburn Rovers striker Adam Armstrong recently and he could be a superb addition to Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side this summer.

What’s the word?

According to the Daily Express, Southampton, West Ham and Newcastle United are all keen on the English forward, who hit 28 goals for Blackburn in the Championship last season.

It is suggested that the Saints are ready to bid £15m for the 24-year-old striker, with Hasenhuttl keen to add a striker, a full-back and a midfielder to his squad ahead of next season.

Would he be a good signing?

Armstrong has been hugely impressive for Blackburn since joining on a permanent deal from Newcastle in the summer of 2018, with 64 goals and 19 assists to his name in 160 appearances for the Ewood Park outfit.

Last season was comfortably his best as a professional, as he contributed 28 goals and five assists in just 40 Championship appearances for the Lancashire side, which helped him average a superb 7.15 rating for his performances from WhoScored.

If he had produced the same performances in Southampton’s side last season, he would have comfortably been rated as their best player, which certainly suggest that he could be a worthwhile addition to Hasenhuttl’s side ahead of next season.

[snack-amp-story url=”https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/read-the-latest-southampton-transfer-rumours-and-news” title=”Read the latest Southampton transfer rumours and news!”]

The Austrian is certainly lacking in quality depth up front, as the Saints struggled in the absence of Danny Ings last season, with youngsters Michael Obafemi and Dan N’Lundulu both given very few opportunities to impress in attack.

Considering Ings has been heavily linked with a move away, signing a young striker such as Armstrong would make a lot of sense for the Saints, as he could step up should the former Liverpool man depart, either this summer or next summer when his contract at St Mary’s expires.

Hasenhuttl also favours smaller, pacy strikers in his side, as evidenced by Ings, Che Adams and Nathan Tella all featuring there this season, so the Austrian would definitely love a striker in the mould of Armstrong next season.

Given Armstrong’s superb performances in the Championship both this season and last, he deserves a chance to show what he can do in the Premier League, so Martin Semmens should definitely look to bring the “special” striker in this summer.

And, in other news… Semmens should seal Southampton swoop for 21 y/o tipped to become “one of the best in Europe”

Many Everton fans have been left fuming as a transfer update emerged on Chris Wood.

According to a report this week by Football Insider, which has since been shared by The Toffee Blues on Twitter, the Goodison Park club have joined West Ham and Aston Villa in the race to sign the Burnley striker.

The Clarets will demand a fee of at least £30m for him, which could potentially rise to as much as £40m if there is a bidding war.

Despite scoring an impressive tally of 17th, a lot of Everton supporters do not seem to fancy the New Zealand international.

[web_stories_embed url=”https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/web-stories/everton-updates-3/” title=”Everton updates! (3)” poster=”” width=”360″ height=”600″ align=”none”]

Perhaps too similar to Dominic Calvert-Lewin in terms of physical stature and playing style, Wood is also 29 years of age, so paying up to £40m for him would not really make sense as his resale value is likely to only decrease and his best years may well be behind him.

Everton fans slam Chris Wood transfer update

These Toffees fans fumed as the transfer update was shared on Twitter, with one supporter even going as far as to claim that it was ‘ridiculous’:

“Wouldn’t / shouldn’t pay half of that for him. Not what we need #EFC”

Credit: @chriswatson187

“It’s terrible, but it’s Everton”

Credit: @MatthewCharle3

“We are banter FC”

Credit: @FerganDuncason

“That’s the worst one yet.”

Credit: @wescart_

“I’m giving up football if we pay £30m for him”

Credit: @Ian_efc81

“Ridiculous”

Credit: @efac1878

In other news, find out what manager update has left these Everton fans fuming.

The venue for Australia’s cricket series against Pakistan later thisyear remains a mystery after the Pakistanis rejected another alternativesuggested by the world champions.

AAP28-Jun-2002The venue for Australia’s cricket series against Pakistan later thisyear remains a mystery after the Pakistanis rejected another alternativesuggested by the world champions.Pakistan is still determined to host the three Tests in October despitethe recent escalation in tensions with India.The Pakistan Cricket Board has rejected Australia’s proposal to swap thetour and host two Tests after also knocking back its suggestion ofstaging matches in neutral Colombo, Dhaka and Sharjah.Australian Cricket Board chief executive James Sutherland and PCBdirector Munawar Rana have held discussions this week while in Londonfor a meeting of ICC delegates and say they hope to reach a decisionsoon.Sutherland says the decision will come down to advice the ACB receivesfrom political and security experts who advised the Australians not totour Zimbabwe earlier this year.ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed insists the tour is still on buthinted that it will likely take place at a neutral venue such as Moroccoor Sharjah.

Flocking to Twitter, many Tottenham Hotspur fans are talking after Fabrizio Romano shared managerial news involving Paulo Fonseca.

Fonseca is now the overwhelming favourite to take over at Spurs and succeed former boss Jose Mourinho, potentially bringing the long wait for a new boss to an end.

Tottenham have been without a manager since dismissing Mourinho at the end of April, with many names entering the fray since then.

Julian Nagelsmann and Brendan Rodgers started out as top contenders for the role, but their lack of interest prompted the club to turn towards Mauricio Pochettino and Antonio Conte.

[web_stories_embed url=”https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/web-stories/spurs-latest-updates/” title=”Spurs latest updates!” poster=”” width=”360″ height=”600″ align=”none”]

Complications with both candidates resulted in Spurs missing out, but talks seem to be progressing nicely with Fonseca.

The former AS Roma boss, as explained by Romano, is now in talks on the final details with Tottenham.

Romano also claims that Fonseca is set for a drastic move behind the scenes in changing his entire backroom staff around, coming after his Roma team suffered consistent injury issues.

As such, there have been no shortage of diverse verdicts from Spurs supporters in reaction to this news – with a handful worried by the development.

Find out a flavour of their opinions from social media, in reply to both Hotspur Related and the Spurs Express, down below.

Romano’s news has many Spurs fans talking

“We are finito”

Credit: @ftbljamie

“This is concerning. JM changed some of his staff coming to Spurs and I never felt they were a tight team who knew what was required. Poch came with his established team and they knew their game plan perfectly. I hope this doesn’t bite us”

Credit: @MattyFrench82

“We are pathetic”

Credit: @Craig1Osullivan

“Unbelievable, so not only do we get a 6th choice manager he will come with loads of new people he’s never worked with”

Credit: @DianeGreen_thfc

“Not even his main assistant? Strange.”

Credit: @COYSeminoles

“Bloke will literally be our Manager until Poch is available. Talk about a cheap stop gap.”

Credit: @LGW77

“In other words – he’s getting the backroom staff Levy is giving him”

Credit: @Adam_James2206

“Questionable”

Credit: @thfckieron

In other news: ‘Have now been told’…Alasdair Gold shares transfer development coming out of Spurs, find out more here.