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Everton have finally got their head above the water, and David Moyes is planning on strengthening his squad this summer to ensure Bramley Moore has a good chance of tasting more lucrative successes than Goodison Park has been treated to in recent years.

While fans will hope for a flashy new forward, a rock-sold defender with a modern twist, it’s important to remember that a couple of under-the-radar, pragmatic signings will be essential in establishing a balanced and dynamic team.

Central midfield probably needs the least amount of work, but Moyes is planning on signing a former favourite to complete his set.

Everton chasing PL midfielder

According to Wednesday’s edition of MF Dnes – via Sport Witness – Tomas Soucek has major reservations about continuing at West Ham United, given Graham Potter views him as a utility option.

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The experienced star is seemingly keen to remain loyal to his current employers, with two years left on his current deal, although he seemingly won’t accept an ‘inferior’ role under the new Potter regime.

This opens the door for Everton, with Moyes taking the Czech midfielder under his wing for the lion’s share of his Premier League career.

However, newly-promoted Leeds United are also keen, so The Friedkin Group will need to act quickly to avoid any embarrassment in securing a shrewd summer signing.

Why Moyes wants Soucek at Everton

Hailed as a “machine” by former West Ham correspondent Tom Clark, Soucek has been a regular feature for West Ham across the 20s, signed by Moyes from Slavia Prague on loan in January 2020 before his signing was wrapped up on a permanent basis for about £19m at the end of that season.

The 30-year-old played a vital role in winning the Conference League and challenging in European competition across three seasons in Moyes’ system, scoring 39 goals across 240 Irons appearances, including seven in the Premier League this term.

In spite of his prolificness and strong presence in the middle of the park, Potter’s not convinced, and it seems like Everton are ready to pounce on this opportunity and sign a replacement for Doucoure, 32, who is indeed out of a deal this summer.

This is probably the right decision, given he’s the club’s top earner at £130k per week. Moreover, the well of goals, Doucoure’s trademark, has dried up, with just three Premier League goals to his name this season.

1.

Martin Peters

355

98

2.

Sir Trevor Booking

514

81

3.

Mark Noble

550

62

4.

Billy Bonds

645

49

5.

Tomas Soucek

240

39

He knows how to find the back of the net, but Soucek, once remarked to be a “revelation” at West Ham by Sky Sports’ Jamie Carragher, certainly isn’t a one-trick pony, with his physicality and industriousness forging a complete midfielder, perfect for Moyes’ system.

It’s no surprise the Scottish manager wants his towering 6 foot 3 general back in his fold, and with the likes of Idrissa Gueye getting on a bit, making a summer move makes sense irrespective of the Moyes factor.

West Ham might not be the most exciting team in the Premier League this season but Soucek has retained his threatening presence in the final third nonetheless, with FBref ranking him among the top 5% of centre-midfielders in the division this term for goals scored and the top 1% for touches in the box per 90.

Given that the data-driven site list Doucoure as one of Soucek’s most statistically comparable players, it feels like something of a no-brainer, not least because Moyes knows Soucek well, trusts him.

Moreover, Soucek’s scoring knack from midfield offers shades of Tim Cahill.

Cahill is one of Everton’s most memorable stars of the Premier League era, having scored 56 goals from 226 matches for the Toffees, predominantly from an attacking midfield standpoint.

Despite his smallish stature, Cahill was something of an aerial monster, a further similarity to Soucek, who, albeit, is much taller.

It feels important that Everton address their goalscoring issues with a wider scope this summer, not just bagging a new centre-forward but indeed signing a player such as Soucek who could add a much-needed dimension from deeper, making those effortless runs into dangerous positions to emulate Cahill and add a string to the manager’s tactical bow.

Hailed as one of Europe’s “prolific central midfielders” by esteemed analyst Michael Cox, Soucek has the qualities to step into Cahill’s boots, so to speak, fuelled further by the past connection with Moyes.

The Malian’s offensive sharpness has waned in recent years, and Soucek could be the perfect addition to uphold Moyes’ values at Bramley Moore.

The Czech international has averaged 5.1 successful duels per game, as per Sofascore, and would freshen up the Toffees ranks for sure.

With Potter not all that enamoured, West Ham’s loss will prove to be Everton’s gain.

Moyes' biggest star since Rooney: Everton leading race to sign £38m star

Everton appear to be making moves to land a talented youngster ahead of this summer.

ByEthan Lamb Apr 24, 2025

She isn’t used to batting too early in the innings in ODIs, but it’s happened two games in a row now, and Chloe Tryon has come good on both occasions

Vishal Dikshit14-Oct-20253:33

Review – South Africa find ways to win under pressure

“We like the challenge, we like the pressure.”South Africa have flipped the script in this World Cup more than once since being rolled over for 69 in their opening game against England. And even though the routes they have taken to get to two points in their last two fixtures haven’t been cruises, they have almost started to enjoy the obstacle-ridden paths, as their latest hero Chloe Tryon put it.If stumbling to 142 for 6 in a chase of 252 against India was not enough, South Africa tottered to 78 for 5 chasing 233 against Bangladesh on Monday. Nadine de Klerk smashed the winning six on both occasions, but what will really soothe South Africa’s nerves heading into the second half of the league stage is that they have had a new batting star in each game since Tazmin Brits’ century against New Zealand, South Africa’s only convincing win so far. After de Klerk silenced the home crowd the other night, half-centuries from Marizanne Kapp and Tryon against Bangladesh have given their batting a new lease of life.Related

• From 69 all out to statement win – SA restore credentials

• 'Simplicity is everything' and impossible is Nadine

Despite the staggering form Brits has been in this year – a record five centuries so far – such was her fate that on one of the best batting tracks of the tournament, she bagged back-to-back ducks and couldn’t even get the ball past the bowler. Against Bangladesh, the lower order would have felt the glare of the spotlight even more after Laura Wolvaardt fell for 31 – Sune Luus sat out with a hip flexor strain. When they were five down, Tryon joined Kapp, who has batted from No. 3 to 8 and turned out in more than 20 ODIs in India. Tryon, a lower-order specialist, found herself in the middle in the 23rd over, not too far from her entry point in the 20th over against India.Tryon is not used to batting so early in the innings: she had faced more than 70 deliveries only twice before in 96 ODI innings. It was not just an unfamiliar situation but unknown territory too. While the crowd against Bangladesh was sparse, she had been in front of over 12,000 vocal home fans in the fixture against India.As much as the WPL in particular and the women’s game in general have seen crowds of over 50,000 on occasion in India in recent years, Tryon has hardly been part of the party. She has been in the Mumbai Indians squad in all three WPL seasons but somehow never got a game. She last toured India in July 2024 for three T20Is but barely faced 35 deliveries in the whole series, and her last ODI assignment in the country was over ten years ago. It didn’t matter as she put her head down and narrowed it down to spending time in the middle to get South Africa closer.

“Yeah, I wish I could stay in for the last couple of runs and actually take the team over the line, but yeah, I’ve just been taking that responsibility”Chloe Tryon

“I was still quite positive the way I wanted to go about it, and so really good intent,” Tryon said after the Bangladesh game – she scored a 69-ball 62 to go with Kapp’s 56 in 71 balls. “I think, the other day with India, the crowd can play into it a lot and you can kind of put pressure on yourself for no reason. So, I think for me, it’s just cutting all of that out and just going, sticking to my plans and what works best, but still trying to be really positive and just building really good partnerships.”In both games, Tryon had the advantage of stitching stands with more experienced batters – Wolvaardt and Kapp – but she had to grind it out for over an hour-and-a-half on both occasions, battling a fitness issue that has left her left leg completely strapped; she even needed some attention in both chases.”It’s just something that’s there,” she said of her leg. “But, yeah, I don’t think too much about it, whether I’m batting or bowling.”I feel like, in a tournament like this, you want to be batting as long as you can and getting good partnerships and once you get a really good partnership going, it can thrive off that. And yeah, we then got finishes at the back end, that make it look nice and easy. But I think, for me, just making sure that I’m taking the responsibility. You know, I’ve been at my third or fourth World Cup, so a lot of experience on that, but just knowing that the longer you bat, the easier it can get. So just grinding a little bit more in the beginning.”Chloe Tryon did not let the momentum slip for South Africa at any stage•Getty ImagesThat grinding paid off most against Bangladesh – although with a slice of luck – when Kapp fell with 70 to get from 58 and de Klerk was fresh in the middle. Tryon soon whacked legspinner Rabeya Khan to wide long-on but knew she didn’t get enough to clear the rope. Once she saw the catch slip through Sumaiya Akter’s hands for a four, she added more muscle for the slog sweep the next ball and this time sent the ball sailing for six.When she ended the over with a four on the other side of the pitch, the equation had come down to nearly a-run-a-ball, which tilted the scales heavily in South Africa’s favour. Even though she was run-out trying to pinch a single in the next over, she knew most of the job was done.”Yeah, I wish I could stay in for the last couple of runs and actually take the team over the line, but yeah, I’ve just been taking that responsibility,” she said. “And now coming in really early in the India game and today as well, myself and Marizanne just spoke about taking it as deep as we could and just take it over. We knew we had time on our hand and we knew we had Nadine in the back end. We didn’t want to bring [her] in too early, so we kind of went low risk and still kind of chipped away at the runs as much as we could. And I’m just happy we still find ways to get over the line.”Tryon and South Africa know they “haven’t played our perfect game yet” but for now they sit third on the points table and such is their tried-and-tested batting depth that their remaining three oppositions have to start finding new ways to put pressure on this batting order.

He hasn’t reinvented the wheel just yet, but the last thing you can accuse Shan Masood of is sleepwalking through the role

Danyal Rasool02-Jan-2024They might have got there in their own colourful way, but perhaps serendipity has got Pakistan to the right place after all. Pakistan’s appointment of Shan Masood as Test captain wasn’t so much a carefully managed transition of an experienced player into a position of responsibility as it was throwing names at a wall and hoping one would stick.But that kind of al fresco decision making at least meant the appointment wasn’t the wrong way around, as most captaincy appointments are in cricket now. Many captains are often criticised for captaincy by autopilot, but the same charge could be levelled at the appointments themselves. Pakistan, for one, didn’t appoint Babar Azam as skipper, not because there was a long and promising history of strategic nous, but because he was comfortably the side’s best batter across formats, and didn’t need to worry about his spot in the side for the foreseeable future. Shan wasn’t appointed for the guarantee he had locked down a place in the team, but in spite of the fact that he never has.Related

• Jamal's 82 saves Pakistan after another Cummins five-for

• Afridi rested for SCG Test; Ayub to debut and Imam dropped

• Cummins hopes for 'a silver bullet' to halt Test cricket's devaluation

• Pakistan cautious over Abrar's participation in Sydney Test

There can be plenty of cynicism around every aspect of Masood’s involvement in any aspect of Pakistan cricket, but perhaps only because that’s the easiest thing to do. The PCB didn’t manage Babar’s departure from the captaincy with great decorum – not that anyone expected them to – but in naming his successor, the thinking was fairly simple: appoint a captain who can be a good captain. And sometimes, that kind of simplicity is the highest form of sophistication.Masood wasn’t reinventing the wheel with the approach he brought to the role, but the last thing you could accuse him of is sleepwalking through the role. He had barely landed in Perth before he began to speak of the approach Pakistan needed to adopt to take on Australia, and, despite his soft-spoken, non-confrontational demeanour, he has been demanding it of his team all series. When Abdullah Shafique and Imam-ul-Haq adopted the antithesis of that approach to score 74 runs in 36.2 overs, Shan charged down the wicket off the second ball he faced, tonking Nathan Lyon over long-on for four. It felt as much a message to his own side as it did to Australia.It is an approach that risks looking silly – as it has perhaps done with some of Masood’s dismissals, but as he said on the eve of the third Test, there is a risk-reward calculation that supersedes specific optics. Two expansive drives off fast bowlers in Perth to get out looked technically deficient, and dancing down the track to Lyon only to hole out in Melbourne appeared irresponsible.But across the two Tests, no other Pakistan player has two half-centuries, none of his team-mates have scored more runs and Mitchell Marsh aside, no player across both units can boast a higher strike rate. According to ESPNcricinfo’s ball-tracking numbers, only Travis Head – who has faced around half as many balls as Masood – has managed to exceed the Pakistan captain’s attacking shot percentage of 22.39% across the series. And his defensive shot percentage is significantly lower than everyone else’s at 30.85%; for all of Head’s belligerence, he defends over 37% of balls he faces.Masood’s Pakistan have made a point out of not hanging anyone to dry•Getty ImagesIt is something he has spoken of so frequently even if he was bashful about coming off as repetitive.”I’ll sound like a broken record but there are some things you have to do in Test cricket,” he said. “The first thing is to take 20 wickets; we had that box ticked [in Melbourne]. The second is the scoring rate. If you score at the significantly lower rate than your opposition like happened in Perth, where there was a difference of two runs an over at least, then you’ll be way behind in the game. We batted 100 overs and they batted 110. That’s not much of a difference but the scoring rate set us back quite a bit. Our target is to hopefully bat at a quicker rate and obviously bat a decent amount of overs too.”His cynics will argue about how likely it is that Pakistan bat the same number of overs if they’re scoring at higher run rates, and point to the irrefutable fact that he, like every Pakistan captain before him in 24 years, has overseen a series defeat in Australia. But being cynical about Masood is somewhat easier than winning Test matches in Australia. Few will disagree that Pakistan pushed Australia closer than most expected in Melbourne, and while that in itself may not guarantee this strategy’s long-term effectiveness, there is a serious attempt at problem-solving not always evident with Pakistan.It has also been evident in the way Pakistan’s fielding positions keep twitching and tinkering. Short legs have come in and gone out depending on the batter and the tone Pakistan have looked to set in the field. Marnus Labuschagne was most notably done in by squeezing him down the legside moments after Masood went to have a word with Shaheen Shah Afridi; Pakistan put in a leg slip and Afridi sent one down legside that he nicked off to the keeper. Against Marsh, Pakistan tried to smother him by bringing short midwicket up and bowling straighter. In Perth, when Australia threatened to get away on the first day, Pakistan put fielders in catching positions behind the stumps and bowled short, getting three cheap wickets towards the end of the day.Masood may not be the guy to read out the riot act in the dressing room, but ten years on and off with the national side, as well as many across the red-ball and franchise circuit, has exposed him to various ideas and multiple leaders.Masood fidgeting, tinkering and thinking, in pursuit of a solution he will eventually stumble upon•Getty Images”In 10 years, you play under a lot of captains and you learn a lot from different individuals,” he said. “I’ve learned a lot from the captains I’ve played under, be them international, domestic, County or PSL. When you meet different characters, your horizons expand. But you need to bring your own individuality to the role as well.”The circumstances that he took over in meant this could have been one of those Pakistan tours where the dressing room becomes a toxic environment, and the fighting spirit disappears completely. But even with a severely depleted bowling line-up against what he called “the best Test side in the world”, there is little doubt that Pakistan are scrapping for every possible advantage, even if they come up short.Masood’s Pakistan have made a point out of not hanging anyone to dry. There was a protective wall around Abdullah Shafique after a Test where his spilled chances likely cost Pakistan a win. On the eve of the second Test, when Pakistan announced Sarfaraz Ahmed had been dropped for Mohammad Rizwan and he was asked about it, Masood began his response with a lengthy riposte defending Sarfaraz’s inclusion in the first place.

“There are ups and downs but you be there for people. It’s easy to reward a good player or praise them, but how you look after someone who’s not playing well or having a rough time is something that’s at the forefront of my mind as a captain”Masood on the importance of a unified front

It’s a philosophy he appears to have sworn by. “I believe as a captain, you need to stand up for your players, and for their wellbeing,” he said. “Sometimes you need to leave cricketing performance to the side. You need to care for and understand your players. Off and on the field.”Sometimes you have to take such decisions because you can only play 11 players and have 18 in a squad. If you don’t understand your players well you can end up making mistakes. My first thought is not to do anyone injustice. There are ups and downs but you be there for people. It’s easy to reward a good player or praise them, but how you look after someone who’s not playing well or having a rough time is something that’s at the forefront of my mind as a captain. It’s impossible to be everyone’s favourite; there will be people who won’t be happy with you, but you do whatever you can for someone.”Masood will never have the mass support his predecessor Babar enjoys, or the lengthy, unencumbered run Misbah-ul-Haq got with his Test side. It is hard to say where Pakistan, and Masood, will be by the time Pakistan play their next Test series, which could potentially be another 10 months away.But until then, he’s doing with the armband what he’s always done with bat in hand: fidgeting, tinkering and thinking, in pursuit of a solution he will eventually stumble upon. And if this doesn’t work, he’ll always have one more thing he can try. He always does.

Raw power meets technique and instinct in a shot the batter has made uniquely her own

Valkerie Baynes01-Mar-2022She’s been called “Harmanpreet Thor” and when she’s raining hammer blows on the opposition, it’s rather apt. And yet to put the word “slog” in front of Harmanpreet’s glorious sweep sounds so unrefined, and not entirely accurate, for her version is more nuanced. Sure, the aggression, power – and result – are there, but the effortlessness of her action makes it a thing of beauty as well as brutality. Dropping to her back knee, head over the front one to form a perfectly balanced base as she brings her bat down and lets her levers do their devastating work – pow!Slog, conventional, paddle, reverse. Watch Harmanpreet and you forget momentarily that her way is not the only way. Her action looks infinitely repeatable, from the set-up through the swing to the sight of the ball sailing over the fence, often several times in an innings. Brisbane Heat witnessed it during her 23-ball fifty for Sydney Thunder. And again as she slugged their attack for six sixes en route to 65 off 32 for Melbourne Renegades last November.India are no strangers to Harmanpreet’s impressive array of strokes, in which that sublime sweep features heavily, like during her unbeaten 171 in the 2017 World Cup semi-final.Biju George was India Women’s fielding coach at the time before going on to join Sunrisers Hyderabad and now the Sports Authority of India, and he reckons Harmanpreet’s sweep is as much about instinct as technique. “Normally, what the batter will hear taught right from the beginning is, if the spinner flights the ball, you come out and play the ball. The sweep is like a secondary shot, not your main shot,” he says. “But for Harmanpreet it’s an expression of her identity, her individuality.”While many players sweep late and fine, Harmanpreet takes the ball early and hits it square of the wicket or ahead of square – and hard. Once set, she’s not afraid to play the shot against medium-pacers either. A combination of coordination and bat speed enable her to generate huge power.”She hits it like a rocket,” says George. “She is there to dominate, make no mistake about that. When she goes out to bat, in my mind I see a big flag waving over her: ‘Here I am.'”She has thought out her game really well. People might think she’s an impulsive player [but] she’s an instinctive player. She reacts to the ball, she reacts to the situation.”Like Harmanpreet, England captain Heather Knight has a wonderful collection of strokes, her reverse sweep particularly effective. And while her vice-captain, Nat Sciver, has the inventive “Natmeg” in her bag – threading a full delivery between her feet and fine to the leg side – she can also produce a powerful conventional sweep.Sophie Devine admits there’s little more satisfying as a batter than punching a straight drive back past the bowler, but she values the rewards the sweep – or slog sweep as she is quick to clarify – has brought her. It is a shot players often learn later, after coaches teach the “safer” strokes, but Devine has advice for those wanting to add it to their game: “I just say, hit the ball hard. That’s the great thing about cricket, you’ve got to commit fully, whatever shot it is.”Who Does it Best?: The cutter | The pull | The googly | The cover drive | The yorker | The cut | The bouncer | The sweep

Nothing sets the mood for playoff baseball quite like a Capital One ad.

As the Blue Jays were two outs away from their first World Series appearance since 1993, the Fox broadcast cut to an advertisement for Capital One, a move that did not gel well with the built-up tension for fans watching at home. Check it out below:

The importance of each pitch in playoff baseball, let alone in the ninth inning of Game 7 in the American League Championship series, is impossible to overstate. So viewers were not happy about the interruption, to say the least:

Toronto prevailed in the end, shutting the door on the Mariners in a 4-3 win thanks to George Springer's electric go-ahead home run in the seventh inning. Springer's dinger powered the Blue Jays to overcome homers from Seattle stars Julio Rodríguez and Cal Raleigh earlier in the game.

Game 7 of the ALCS lived up to the hype despite the vibe killer of an ad during the ninth inning. Let's all hope Fox learns from its mistakes during the World Series, where the Blue Jays are off to meet the defending champion Dodgers in a Game 1 slated for Friday at 8 p.m. ET.

Postseason baseball is the best, with drama on each pitch. Let's keep it that way.

حسم منتخب مصر مواليد 2007، بقيادة المدير الفني وائل رياض، تفاصيل برنامجه استعدادًا للمشاركة في تصفيات شمال إفريقيا المؤهلة لكأس أمم أفريقيا.

ويضم الجهاز الفني لمنتخب مصر للشباب مواليد 2007، وائل رياض مديراً فنياً ويساعده شريف عبد الفضيل وأحمد رؤوف وإبراهيم عبدالجواد مدرب حراس المرمي ومحمود حرب المدير الإداري والدكتور قاسم قدري مخطط أحمال وأحمد مصطفي محلل أداء.

طالع.. خاص | إصابة لاعب منتخب مصر في كأس العرب

وأوضح مصدر خاص بمنتخب 2007 لـ”بطولات”: “المنتخب سينتظم في معسكر منتصف الشهر الجاري في مشروع الهدف استعدادًا لتصفيات شمال أفريقيا المؤهلة لكأس أمم أفريقيا”.

وحتى الآن لم يحدد الاتحاد الإفريقي لكرة القدم البلد المستضيف لتصفيات شمال إفريقيا المؤهلة إلى كأس الأمم.

 

رد لويس روبياليس، رئيس الاتحاد الإسباني السابق لكرة القدم، على هجوم رئيس نادي ريال مدريد، فلورنتينو بيريز ضد برشلونة خلال الأيام الماضية.

بيريز شن هجوما كبيرا على برشلونة خلال الأيام الماضية، موضحًا أن الفريق الكتالوني قد استفاد بصورة كبيرة من التحكيم ومن الاتحاد الإسباني بقيادة رئيسه الحالي خافيير تيباس.

وأشار روبياليس في تصريحات نقلتها صحيفة “موندو ديبورتيفو”، إلى أن بيريز قد تواصل معه بنفسه من أجل العمل على تعديلات على تقنية الفار بالفعل.

وقال روبياليس: ”أرسل لي صديق فيديو يروي كيف اتصل بي فلورنتينو بيريز، رئيس ريال مدريد، ومنذ ذلك الحين طرأ تغيير على تقنية الفيديو المساعد وأرغب في شرح ذلك”.

وأضاف روبياليس في حديثه: “واجهنا مشكلة مع تقنية الفيديو المساعد، مع التقنية الأولى لم تكن عدسة الكاميرا متوافقة مع خط التسلل، كانت هناك مشكلة فنية وكانت هناك حالات تسلل لم يكن من الممكن رصدها بشكل صحيح، ولكن تم تصحيحها عند اختيار تقنية الفيديو المساعد الثانية”.

اقرأ أيضًا .. تيباس عن تصريحات بيريز الهجومية: “متطرف وعنصري”

وأوضح: “اتصالات تيباس كانت لخدمة مصالح ذاتية، تلقيت اتصالات من جميع الرؤساء والمديرين العامين والرؤساء التنفيذيين وبعض المديرين الرياضيين، خلال خمس سنوات لي كرئيس للاتحاد الإسابني، اتصل بي جميع فرق الدرجتين الأولى والثانية للاحتجاج وطلب عقد اجتماعات”.

وأردف روبياليس: ”علاوة على ذلك، تم وضع بروتوكول يسمح لهم بالاتصال بنا وإرسال الرسائل إلينا وكتابة خطابات إلينا ونتيجة لهذه الاتصالات، تم تحديد مواعيد مع هيئة الاتصالات الإسبانية”.

وتابع: “خلال السنوات الخمس التي قضيتها هناك، أعتقد أننا تلقينا اتصالًا أو اتصالين من ريال مدريد وهناك العديد من الأندية الأخرى التي تلقينا منها اتصالًا واحدًا أو اثنين أو ثلاثة أو عشرة أو حتى خمسة عشر اتصالًا حول تقنية الفار”.

واختتم روبياليس: ”هناك أمور أخرى لا يحسن ريال مدريد التعامل معها، على سبيل المثال مع دوري السوبر كان لدينا خلاف، أو مع قضية البث التلفزيوني كانت هناك أمور لم تعجبنا وناقشناها مع النادي، لكن قضية تقنية الفيديو فاجأتني، لأنني أصر على أن ريال مدريد اتصل بنا مرة أو مرتين بينما اتصل بنا آخرون أكثر”.

Manchester United are pursuing new reinforcements in January and could now be set to submit a bid for one of Europe’s most high-profile midfielders.

Man Utd looking towards the January window

Admittedly, the Red Devils have enjoyed a mixed start to the Premier League season and will now look to take advantage of the chance to move up a few places within a tight collective of sides all vying for a spot in the European slots.

On Monday, Manchester United’s frustrating defeat at home to Everton brought back some old scars that have been a feature of Ruben Amorim’s tenure at the club, with his side unable to break down a spirited Toffees outfit despite having a man advantage for most of proceedings.

Falling flat in attack, Joshua Zirkzee’s emergence after failing to earn a regular place in the side this season was questioned by BBC Radio Manchester’s Gaz Drinkwater, who believes Kobbie Mainoo and Mason Mount should’ve been brought into the starting side instead.

He said: “Bring Mount and Kobbie Mainoo into the starting XI. He obviously doesn’t see Mainoo as a midfielder because he can’t get in the team in that position. Amorim sees him as a number 10 or maybe even a false-nine type player where maybe they [the front three] interchange a bit.

“I don’t understand the logic of bringing in a totally cold Joshua Zirkzee into the game, who has basically had zero minutes this season, and he did nothing.”

Man Utd plotting "bargain" deal to sign "imposing" Ligue 1 defender who scouts love

He could complete Amorim’s back three.

By
Tom Cunningham

Nov 27, 2025

Without doubt, the Red Devils will need to recruit wisely in January as they begin to feel the effects of a hefty schedule, and they could now be set to lodge a bid for a high-profile midfielder.

Man Utd ready bid for Federico Valverde

According to reports in Spain, Manchester United are preparing a £87m bid for Federico Valverde, and he may be allowed to depart amid a spate of up and down performances for Real Madrid.

The Uruguay international may now be set for a change of scenery and would be open to a move elsewhere, potentially re-establishing himself as the central part of a project at Old Trafford.

Five similar players to Federico Valverde
Declan Rice	Arsenal
Bernardo Silva	Manchester City
Eduardo Camavinga	Real Madrid
Nicolo Barella	Inter Milan
Moises Caicedo	Chelsea
All data courtesy of Football Transfers

Labelled “superb” by Thibaut Courtois, Valverde has registered four assists in 17 appearances across all competitions this season. Overall, he has scored 32 times and laid on 35 goals for his teammates in 340 appearances for Los Blancos, cementing himself as a fan favourite.

Amorim is confident that his versatility, quality and combativeness could form a new dynamic in the engine room as they look to reclaim their place among the elite of English football.

Real Madrid aren’t totally closed off to selling Valverde, creating a scenario that could work out for all parties if the 27-year-old makes a headline-grabbing move to English shores.

MatériaMais Notícias

Artilheiro do Grêmio nesta temporada, Luis Suárez lidou com problemas físicos ao longo do ano, tentou forçar uma saída do Imortal e demorou para embalar na atual edição do Campeonato Brasileiro.

➡️ Siga o Lance! no WhatsApp e acompanhe em tempo real as principais notícias do esporte

Com apenas quatro gols nas primeiras 19 rodadas, o atacante chegou a negociar nos bastidores a rescisão de seu contrato, em uma tentativa de se juntar a Lionel Messi, que atua no Inter Miami, dos Estados Unidos.

No entanto, a equipe gaúcha fez jogo duro e a quebra do vínculo não se concretizou. Após o atrito, ambas as partes firmaram um acordo para que o uruguaio permanecesse no clube até dezembro de 2023.

Com a situação extracampo resolvida, Suárez elevou sua produção e passou a liderar a arrancada do Grêmio na competição nacional. No segundo turno, ‘El Pistolero’ anotou 10 gols e distribuiu seis assistência, com destaque para o hat-trick contra o líder Botafogo, que garantiu a virada do Grêmio fora de casa.

➡️ Confira a tabela de classificação do Campeonato Brasileiro

Com sua passagem no Imortal chegando ao fim, o atacante espera permanecer na “Zona Suárez” (entenda aqui) para liderar o Grêmio rumo ao título do Brasileirão. Com cincos rodadas para o término do campeonato, o Tricolor Gaúcho ocupa a terceira colocação, com 59 pontos.

Nesta reta final, a equipe encara a seguinte sequência: Corinthians (casa), Atlético-MG (fora), Goiás (casa), Vasco (casa) e Fluminense (fora).

To say that Arsenal are unrecognisable as a club today from the one Mikel Arteta took charge of over five years ago would be an understatement.

The Spaniard has helped to completely overhaul the club from top to bottom and has signed some incredible players in the process.

One of his very best additions to the squad has undoubtedly been Declan Rice, who was once again incredible in the Champions League this week.

And now, it looks like another of Arteta’s signings is transforming into a Rice-type player this season.

Rice's best European nights for Arsenal

Since joining the club for £105m in the summer of 2023, Rice has made 26 appearances for Arsenal in the Champions League, in which he has scored four goals, provided four assists and averaged 2.12 points per game.

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It would be fair to say that across those 26 games, he has been pretty incredible for the North Londoners, but when it comes to picking out his best European nights in red and white, there are three that stick out, the first of which is the home game against Paris Saint-Germain in the league phase last season.

It was a game the Gunners comfortably won 2-0, and one in which the former West Ham United captain totally bossed the Parisians’ smaller and, at the time, out-of-form midfield.

The Englishman didn’t pick up a goal or assist in that game, but he did do that in his second-best Champions League display for the club, which came on Wednesday this week.

Arteta started his record signing in the left eight against Atlético Madrid, and as fans have now come to expect, he was cool, calm and composed on the ball and a physical monster off of it.

Moreover, he provided the assist for Gabriel Magalhães’ opener, and then it was his corner that eventually led to Viktor Gyokeres’ second goal, and the team’s fourth.

However, while the 26-year-old was great against Atleti, he was out of this world against Real Madrid in the quarter-finals last season.

The midfield machine put in an extraordinary shift at the Bernabéu, but it was the home leg where he was utterly sublime, stopping everything in the middle of the park and then scoring those two world-class free-kicks.

In short, while he cost a lot of money, Rice has been worth every penny for Arsenal, and now another of Arteta’s signings is starting to embody some of his best traits.

Arsenal's new Rice-type star

Due to Arteta’s brilliant signings and Hale End’s production of talent, there is no shortage of incredible players in Arsenal’s squad, but the player who is becoming something of a Rice-type star is Riccardo Calafiori.

Now, it’s worth noting that this doesn’t mean they are the same type of player, as that would be a silly thing to suggest.

However, there are some increasingly obvious similarities between the pair, with the first being their mentality.

Like the Englishman, since coming back from his string of injuries that kept him out for most of last season, the former Bologna star has played like a man possessed.

Not only is he someone who can and does bound forward with the ball at his feet, but he’s also more than happy to get into a physical duel with an opponent to try and keep the ball or win it. As The Telegraph’s Sam Dean aptly put it, he plays like a “wild horse on the loose.”

On top of that, he is also a sensational striker of the ball, and while he isn’t delivering set-pieces, it has been on show in the goals he has scored over the last year, and even those that have been disallowed, like that unreal volley against Fulham last weekend.

Moreover, like the former West Ham man, the Italian international seems to have limitless energy, and this season has been allowed the freedom to roam here, there and everywhere on the pitch.

This “positionless” approach in games, as one analyst puts it, makes him a nightmare for opponents to defend against and could help him snuff out counters before they have a chance to get out of their half at times.

Finally, the Rome-born titan is also one of the best in his position in the league, as according to FBref, he ranks in the top 2% of full-backs for expected goals, shots, goal-creating actions, the top 6% for shot-creating actions, the top 17% for tackles in the attacking third and more, all per 90.

Calafiori’s Scout Report

Statistics

Per 90

Percentile

xG: Expected Goals

0.28

Top 2%

npxG: Non-Penalty xG

0.28

Top 2%

Shots Total

2.35

Top 2%

SCA (Fouls Drawn)

0.29

Top 2%

Goal-Creating Actions

0.73

Top 2%

GCA (Defensive Action)

0.15

Top 2%

SCA (Shot)

0.44

Top 6%

GCA (Shot)

0.15

Top 6%

Touches (Att Pen)

3.96

Top 6%

Goals + Assists

0.44

Top 10%

SCA (Defensive Action)

0.15

Top 10%

GCA (Live-ball Pass)

0.44

Top 10%

Goals

0.15

Top 13%

Assists

0.29

Top 13%

Non-Penalty Goals

0.15

Top 13%

npxG/Shot

0.12

Top 13%

Tackles (Att 3rd)

0.44

Top 17%

All Stats via FBref

Ultimately, Calafiori has been unreal for Arsenal this season, and as he has got better, he has become more and more of a Rice-type player.

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Posts ByJack Salveson Holmes Oct 23, 2025