A report has revealed that Atletico Mineiro sacked Savinho's Under-14s coach after the manager left the winger out of his team.

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Savinho shining at Man City this seasonFormer coach reveals Atletico Mineiro storyCub sacked U14 coach for benching SavinhoFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?

Savinho has been one of few bright sparks at Manchester City this season as the defending Premier League champions have struggled for consistency from the start. The Cityzens signed the winger from sister team Girona for a reported fee of £21 million ($26m) last summer and Savinho has made 29 appearances for the side.

Advertisement@ManCityTHE BIGGER PICTURE

Savinho's former coach, Joao Paulo Alves de Paula, has revealed to that Atletico Mineiro sacked the winger's U14 coach for benching the uber-talented winger constantly as he did not like the starlet. The top brass of the Brazilian club were afraid of losing Savinho to another club if he wasn't happy and therefore proceeded to part ways with the coach immediately.

WHAT DE PAULA SAID

Speaking to The Sun, De Paula said: “Savio was in a group of 20 kids and the only one we picked. He was only 12, a year younger than the others but overwhelmingly the best. Back then Atletico Mineiro did not have an Under-12s, so he was against older kids from the start. And he stood out above everyone. When I saw him on trials day I almost fell over. His technical ability and dribbling were extraordinary for a child of that age. I was so excited to see him with the ball at his feet.

“Over the next three years he took huge strides, made decisions in seconds and finished like an adult — all with boundless confidence and a smile. But it wasn’t all a walk down the red carpet because when Savio moved to the Under-14s, the coach just didn’t like him. He kept leaving him on the bench. He barely played and when he did, it was at left-back. My hair was standing on end.

“Savio can play on either side but he’s a winger. I couldn’t believe what the coach was doing. That mistake, that lack of judgment, could have cost Savinho his football career and seriously damaged the club. So, with such crazy things and wrong decisions, the coach was fired and I took over the Under-14s. The smile was back on Savio’s face.”

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Getty Images SportWHAT NEXT FOR SAVINHO?

The Brazilian has quickly become a favourite for Pep Guardiola at Manchester City and will be in action next when they take on Arsenal in the Premier League later today, in what could be a crucial clash for both sides.

Glasgow Rangers quickly bounced back from their Europa League disappointment on Thursday night with a relatively comfortable 2-0 win over St Johnstone on Sunday night in the Scottish Premiership.

The Light Blues, playing at Ibrox for the second time in a week, secured all three points thanks to goals either side of half-time from Wolfsburg loanee Vaclav Cerny.

They were made to work for the win late on, however, as Ianis Hagi – on his return to action – was shown a red card for a studs-up challenge in midfield, but held on to keep a clean sheet.

One of the most impressive performers for Philippe Clement’s Rangers side on the night at Ibrox was, of course, the scorer of the two goals – Cerny.

Vaclav Cerny's performance in numbers

The Czechia international opened the scoring in the 34th minute of the match by brilliantly nutmegging the defender on the edge of the box before bending a left-footed finish into the far bottom corner.

That was a moment of individual brilliance from the right winger but the second goal came from the creativity and passing range of Hagi, who was later sent off, as the Romania international fizzed a superb pass into the forward, who controlled well and finished with his weaker right foot inside the box.

Cerny’s all-round play did still leave a little bit to be desired, however, as the winger completed one of his combined eight cross and long pass attempts.

He also lost five of his six duels against St Johnstone defenders, which shows that they found it too easy to get the better of him in physical contests.

His two fantastic goals more than made up for any other weaknesses in his performance on Sunday, but he was not the top performer for Rangers, as John Souttar excelled at the back.

John Souttar's performance in numbers

The Scotland international was colossal at the heart of the Rangers defence and dealt with almost everything that was thrown at him to help his side to a clean sheet.

In the first half, Souttar marshalled the back line brilliantly and won 100% of his ground duels before he had to deal with the pace of Adama Sidibeh off the bench in the second half.

The speedy St Johnstone substitute was no match for the former Hearts star, however, as he failed to beat the Scotsman in any foot races, with the centre-back maintaining his 100% ground duel success rate.

John Souttar	Vs St Johnstone
Sofascore rating	7.7
Duels won	5/6
Tackles + interceptions	4
Blocks	1
Clearances	3
Stats via Sofascore

As you can see in the table above, Souttar won 83% of his duels in total during the game and earned himself a Sofascore rating of 7.7 for his superb defensive display.

The central defender also completed 91% of his attempted passes and created one chance for his teammates, which shows that he was composed and reliable in possession for the Light Blues.

Overall, the Scottish titan was crucial to Rangers’ play out of possession to provide a platform for the attackers and enjoyed a terrific all-round performance, which is why he was even better than Cerny – who struggled at times aside from his goals.

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Oct 2, 2024

It has been a simply outrageous few years for Ipswich Town and their fans.

Kieran McKenna has led the club from the depths of League One to the heights of the Premier League, and while it’s too early to say, their performances thus far suggest that they could stay up this season.

Moreover, the club went big in the summer and brought in several talented first-teamers to ensure that even if they do go down, coming back up should be much more straightforward.

However, while buying gifted players is certainly one way to help the club grow, the Tractor Boys will want to start producing more of their own talented prospects in the academy, as doing so in the past has made them a pretty penny, especially one gem who was once compared to Alan Shearer.

Notable Ipswich academy players

Okay, before we get to the star who earned the club a hefty sum of money, let’s start with another academy product who might’ve done the same had he not been released before making a first-team appearance: Nick Pope.

Yes, the English shot-stopper, who supported the Tractor Boys, was part of the club’s youth set-up as a teenager but moved to non-league outfit Bury Town at just 16 years old in July 2008 before moving to Charlton Athletic in 2011, where his professional career kicked off with several loan moves.

Nowadays, the Soham-born star has 201 Premier League appearances to his name between Burnley and Newcastle United and has represented the Three Lions on ten occasions – so it would be fair to say that releasing him was probably a minor mistake.

However, spotting young talents is an incredibly difficult thing to do, and for every player a club releases too soon, there is usually another gem they can cash in on, and in the Blues’ case, that gem was Connor Wickham.

Unlike Pope, the Hereford-born poacher made it into the senior side and became the club’s youngest-ever player when he debuted in April 2009 at 16 years and 11 days old.

Over the next few seasons, the tremendously exciting prospect would score 15 goals and provide four assists in 72 games and win the EFL’s Young Player of the Season and Championship Apprentice Award in 2011 before earning an £8m move to Sunderland that same summer, which was a record sale for Ipswich.

Now, while fans would probably have rather kept the up-and-coming striker at the time, the following years would show that the ownership was 100% correct in their decision to take the profit and run.

Wickham's post Ipswich career

Now, the most important thing to mention when discussing Wickham is that, unfortunately, his has been another career ravaged by injury, as in the 13 years following his departure from Portman Road, he has missed a staggering 170 games through problems with his hamstrings, ankles, calves, knees, thighs, groin and back.

Not only was the promising centre-forward beset by physical issues, he also had to deal with unfair expectations during his stint at the Stadium of Light, as during one of his very few hot streaks in 2014, Black Cats legend Niall Quinn made the frankly insane claim that the then 21-year-old could be “Sunderland’s Alan Shearer” – talk about setting someone up to fail.

During his time as a Sunderland player, the former Ipswich prospect was sent on loan to Sheffield Wednesday and Leeds United, and when he was finally sold to Crystal Palace for just £7m in August 2015, he had 15 goals and three assists to his name in 91 appearances.

Wickham’s senior career

Team

Appearances

Goals

Assists

Goal Involvements per Match

Ipswich Town

72

15

4

0.26

Sunderland

91

15

3

0.19

Crystal Palace

50

11

5

0.32

Sheffield Wednesday

30

11

3

0.46

Forest Green Rovers

20

9

0

0.45

Leeds United

5

0

1

0.20

Cardiff City

12

1

2

0.25

MK Dons

15

1

0

0.06

Charlton Athletic

4

1

1

0.50

Preston North End

2

0

0

0.00

Total

301

64

19

0.27

All Stats via Transfermarkt

The same poor form and poor luck followed him to Selhurst Park, and over his six years with the Eagles, he racked up 11 goals and five assists in 50 appearances while also spending another season on loan with Wednesday.

Following the expiration of his contract with Palace, Wickham has spent the last few years on short-term deals with Preston North End, MK Dons, Forest Green Rovers, Cardiff City and, most recently, Charlton, but as of July, he has been without a team.

Ultimately, Wickham has been extraordinarily unlucky with injuries throughout his career, and with that in mind, it would be hard to deny that Ipswich did very well to get £8m for him back in 2011, as had he stayed in Suffolk, they may well have struggled to get anything from him in the long run.

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Newcastle United could smash their transfer record by signing an £80m player in the January transfer window, according to a new transfer update.

Newcastle transfer news

It was a disappointing summer window at St James’ Park, with sporting director Paul Mitchell and manager Eddie Howe reportedly clashing over the club’s transfer approach.

Hopefully, the pair’s relationship improves moving forward and the PIF also provides enough funds for new signings. In the meantime, Newcastle have continued to be linked with moves for various targets.

Lille star Jonathan David is one player who has emerged as an option for the Magpies, with the Canadian excelling for the Ligue 1 club, scoring 92 goals in 197 appearances, highlighting his attacking prowess.

Meanwhile, David’s teammate, Angel Gomes, has also been touted as a target for Newcastle, with one report even claiming that he is the club’s top choice ahead of January. The midfielder recently broke into the England team under Lee Carsley in the Nations League, earning his first three caps.

Newcastle eyeing record-breaking £80m signing

According to TEAMtalk, Newcastle want to sign Marc Guehi in an £80m move in January, which would shatter their transfer record set by Alexander Isak following his £60m move in 2022.

The Magpies are “ready to relaunch” their assault on the 24-year-old, although it is stated that he “would actually prefer to join Liverpool”, which will be a concern for the likes of Mitchell and Howe.

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At this point, it would arguably be a surprise if Guehi was still a Palace player at the end of the season, especially following their poor start to the campaign, but whether he joins Newcastle or Liverpool remains to be seen.

A switch to the Magpies would arguably be better for the England international’s development, considering he would likely have a greater chance of being an immediate key starter at St James’, which wouldn’t necessarily be the case at Anfield alongside the likes of fellow international defenders Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate.

Alexander Isak

£60m

Sandro Tonali

£55m

Anthony Gordon

£45m

Bruno Guimaraes

£41.6m

Joelinton

£40m

Tino Livramento

£40m

Harvey Barnes

£38m

Lewis Hall

£35m

Sven Botman

£34.5m

Chris Wood

£25m

Guehi’s performances for his country during Euro 2024 saw his stock rise, with the Palace man standing out as one of the best defenders at the tournament.

Newcastle legend Alan Shearer said of him: “He looked good,didn’the? I thought his passing wasreally good. You know whenyou’refizzing it into the middle and having to get through and break the line.Ithought some of his passing was superb. Hedidn’thave to defend too much, but thenyou’reon the ball and with possession, you need someone like that.”

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Granted, £80m is a huge amount of money for any player, and the price of British players can sometimes be bloated, but Guehi could be a leader of Newcastle’s defence and prove to be the perfect long-term centre-back partner for Sven Botman.

Daniel Hughes half-century the only shining light for NSW on a rain-affected second day

Alex Malcolm06-Nov-2021New South Wales lost 4 for 4 in a disastrous final-session collapse to give Victoria a huge first innings ascendency on a rain-affected second day at the MCG.Victoria lost Jon Holland in the opening session to concussion following a heavy blow to head while batting. Holland was replaced by concussion substitute Wil Parker and will take no further part in the game.But the home side bowled superbly with Scott Boland, James Pattinson, Will Sutherland and Mitchell Perry all playing a part in New South Wales’ collapse late on day two as they slumped from 3 for 98 to 9 for 132 in the space of 16 overs before a heavy downpour ended play with an hour remaining.Daniel Hughes had played very nicely in the face of sustained pressure from the Victoria quicks to reach 59. He scarcely made an error in his 132-ball stay. But his first error was a huge one after he played a ball into the gully region and started to run before Sutherland made a diving save. A mix-up ensued with Hughes stuck mid-pitch ball-watching as Jack Edwards responded to his call and Sutherland’s throw to Pattinson beat Hughes’ desperate dive.Pattinson and Sutherland then ripped through the middle order, rewarded for a fuller length on an MCG surface with a lot of bounce, carry and sideways movement. Edwards, Lachlan Hearne and Sean Abbott all fell to outside edges as the Blues lost 4 for 4 in 15 balls. Boland returned to pick up some reward for his outstanding work earlier in the day. He finished the day with 3 for 33 having made the first breakthrough of the innings. Trent Copeland came out to bat at No. 11 with a runner after injuring his lower calf on day one and struck a powerful blow down the ground. He will start day three alongside Peter Nevill in the hopes of limiting the Blues’ first-innings deficit.Earlier, Victoria’s tail lasted just 12 overs after Liam Hatcher and Nathan Lyon wrapped up the innings. Hatcher finished with career-best figures of 4 for 86 and also delivered the bouncer that ended Holland’s match. He was hit flush on the helmet attempting a pull and was immediately concussed. Victoria declared and Holland was ruled out of the game.”He’s gone home, a bit of a headache,” Boland said post play. “So we wish him well and hopefully he comes good in a couple of days.”

Vikram Rathour, India’s incumbent batting coach, has revealed that he has reapplied for the role. The former India and Punjab wicketkeeper-batter was originally appointed to the post in 2019, for a period of two years, starting with the home series against South Africa in September and running till the ongoing T20 World Cup in the UAE.”The experience has been great,” Rathour said on the eve of India’s group-stage fixture against Afghanistan in Abu Dhabi. “It has been a great learning experience. It’s great to work with a team of such highly motivated and skilfull players. So, it has been a good experience. Going forward, I’ve already applied for the batting coach’s job. If I get that job, there’ll be a lot of work to be done. We will take it as it goes.”Related

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India’s coaching group is set to undergo an overhaul after the T20 World Cup. Current head coach Ravi Shastri, 59, is ineligible to re-apply for his position when his term expires, because of age-related restrictions. Rahul Dravid is the frontrunner to take charge of the India side, having already formally applied for the job.B Arun and R Sridhar, the incumbent bowling and fielding coaches respectively, are also likely to leave along with Shastri after the World Cup. According to PTI, former India seamer Paras Mhambrey, and former wicketkeeper-batter Ajay Ratra have applied for the positions of India’s bowling and fielding coaches. Abhay Sharma, who has worked with Dravid at the NCA (National Cricket Academy) in Bengaluru and with India A, has also applied for the fielding coach’s role.India are also set to have a new T20 captain after the World Cup, with Virat Kohli deciding to step down from the role after the tournament. Though the BCCI is yet to announce his successor, Rohit Sharma is the favourite to take over from Kohli.When Kohli was asked about the coaching reshuffle in the lead-up to the tournament, he downplayed it and said India’s main focus was to win the World Cup.”Our ultimate goal is to win the World Cup,” Kohli had said. “I honestly have no idea about what’s exactly happening on that front yet. We haven’t had any detailed discussions with anyone, but winning the World Cup is definitely our goal like any other team. But, I think, what we’ve been able to create in the last five-six years is beyond titles and tournaments to be honest. We’ve been able to create a culture which I think is going to be lasting a long time where people want to be the best they can be when they enter the Indian cricket team, the fittest they can be, and that culture we’ve driven with utmost passion and utmost honesty, which we hope will continue to be the case in years to come.”But, yes winning an ICC tournament will definitely be a wonderful moment for all of us, for him [Shastri] as coach and me as captain. It’ll be an amazing achievement and something that we’re absolutely motivated to do so and we’ll give everything that we have.”

Glasgow Rangers will be hoping to return to winning ways on Thursday evening as they take on Romanian side FCSB in the Europa League.

The 1-0 Premiership loss vs Kilmarnock wasn’t a shock, especially considering how poor the Light Blues played during the tie. Philippe Clement must make several changes to his starting XI this evening, otherwise it could be another defeat.

There wasn’t a single standout performer at Rugby Park, as even those who have been bright recently struggled to break down Killie, including left-back Jefte.

Jefte’s performance against Kilmarnock

The Brazilian has impressed in spells since deputising for Ridvan Yilmaz on the left side of the defence, but he wasn’t quite at the races against the Ayrshire side at the weekend.

While he certainly was dynamic, succeeding with three of his five dribbles, making one key pass and delivering an accurate cross, things didn’t seem to click, especially from a defensive viewpoint.

Indeed, the youngster won just seven of his 14 attempted ground duels, lost possession a staggering 23 times and was dribbled past once during the 90 minutes.

He was given a match rating of 5/10 for his display by Scotsman journalist Matthew Elder, and it was a fair reflection of how he performed.

Dribble attempts (successful)

5 (3)

Ground duels (won)

14 (7)

Touches

81

Key passes

1

Possession lost

23

Tackles

4

Clement could drop him to the bench to unleash another one of his summer signings, one who shone during the Gers’ opening Europa League tie against Malmö last month – Neraysho Kasanwirjo.

The Rangers star who can replace Jefte

Signed on loan from Feyenoord during the dying embers of the summer transfer window, the Dutchman’s versatility was expected to be a big bonus for Clement, as he can play across the entire back four.

He made his first start against the Swedish side in what turned out to be a routine 2-0 win for the Gers.

Kasanwirjo played the full 90 minutes and finished with a pass success rate of 89%, while also delivering eight accurate long passes from ten attempts, indicating a wonderful passing range.

Defensively, the Dutchman won two of his three contested duels, made one tackle and lost possession just six times, delivering an extremely solid display on his very first start for the club.

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He could even have added a goal during the final minutes, missing a fairly straightforward chance by blazing his shot over the crossbar.

Since then, he has been forced to make do with substitute appearances, but against FCSB, Kasanwirjo has to be unleashed from the start.

Following his performance, writer Gavin Kelly hailed the defender, saying:

“Kasanwirjo has to start against the better teams now for me. Instantly more aggressive with his defending and gave less space and time for wingers to get going.”

Clement is a man under pressure, no doubt about it. Will he continue to play with the same starting XI? Or will the Belgian make a few changes this evening?

Whoever starts, three points is an absolute must tonight.

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Bangladesh allrounder overtakes Lasith Malinga’s tally of 107

Mohammad Isam17-Oct-2021

Day one of the 2021 Men’s T20 World Cup was a record-breaking day for Shakib Al Hasan•ICC/Getty Images

Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan became the highest wicket-taker in men’s T20Is when he dismissed Scotland’s Michael Leask in his side’s opening match of the T20 World Cup 2021. He overtook Lasith Malinga’s tally of 107 wickets when he slowed up the pace a tad and Leask was through his shot early, lofting a drive to long-off.The left-arm spin-bowling allrounder now has 108 wickets in 89 T20Is. When he claimed his 100th wicket against Australia earlier this year, he became the first cricketer in T20Is to score 1000 runs and take 100 wickets.Related

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Shakib also recently reached the No. 1 position in the ICC’s T20I allrounders’ rankings, while also holding the top position in the ICC ODI allrounders’ charts.In July, Shakib became Bangladesh’s highest wicket-taker in ODIs, going past Mashrafe Mortaza who has 269 wickets for the country (and one for Asia XI). He is already Bangladesh’s highest wicket-taker in Tests as well. He is also among only four allrounders to score more than 6000 runs and take 250-plus wickets in ODIs.In T20 cricket, he is currently sixth on the overall wickets charts, with 388 wickets in 346 games. He is one of only four players in T20 cricket – Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Bravo and Andre Russell are the others – to have 5000 runs, 300 wickets and 50 catches.

West Ham have had some brilliant attacking players in the past decade, with Dimitri Payet being the pick of the bunch.

The Frenchman was signed from Marseille for around £10.7m back in 2015, spending a year and a half at the club before returning to Marseille for nearly double the fee.

Payet made 60 appearances for the Hammers, scoring 15 goals and providing 22 assists in 4,981 minutes played.

They have signed a number of players since then in a bid to replace his genius in the final third, with Mohamed Kudus one such player.

However, there was a player who happened to earn even more, but whether or not he was a success is very up for debate.

Felipe Anderson at West Ham

One player that West Ham signed in an attempt to find their next superstar was Felipe Anderson, who arrived from Lazio in July 2018 for an initial fee of around £35m, with add-ons, making him a club-record signing at the time.

It caused quite a stir, with Mario Husillos, then West Ham’s director of football saying: “We believe we have signed one of the most exciting talents in European football. This is a very big statement.”

After joining the club in 2018, Anderson didn’t have the worst start to life in London, scoring ten goals and providing five assists in 40 appearances, totalling 3,199 minutes played.

However, the following season, the Brazilian only managed one goal, still getting six assists in all competitions, but starting to slack with his output.

This poor form in the 2019/20 season, alongside the success of Jarrod Bowen who signed in 2020, saw Anderson phased out, first on loan to FC Porto, before rejoining Lazio on a permanent deal for just £2.6m.

Anderson was reportedly earning £100k per week when at the club, representing a transfer fee and a wage fee – earning over £10m in salary – which didn’t reflect his impact on the side, especially when compared to someone like Mohamed Kudus, who is earning £90k per week.

First Impressions

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How Kudus compares to Felipe Anderson

Kudus was signed from Ajax last summer, joining the Hammers for a fee of around £38m. The 24-year-old has already made 54 appearances for the club, scoring 15 goals and providing seven assists in his 4,118 minutes. That goal tally is already better than the 12 Anderson managed in London.

His debut season at the club was superb, settling in really quickly with his team, making 45 appearances in 2023/24, scoring 14 goals and providing six assists.

Another quality he has already shown is his positional versatility, playing on both the left and right wing, as a number ten, and even as a centre-forward last season for the Hammers.

Goals

0.37

0.28

Assists

0.17

0.14

xG

0.25

0.16

xAG

0.15

0.18

Progressive Carries

4.07

5.95

Progressive Passes

2.94

5.65

Shots Total

2.52

1.78

Key Passes

1.18

1.89

Successful Take-Ons

4.04

2.25

Shot-Creating Actions

3.62

4.11

These metrics tell us Anderson actually had quite a good campaign with the stats he was producing, offering good creative numbers, progressing play for his side, and constantly getting involved. However, he clearly wasn’t as efficient on the output end, with Kudus beating him for goals, assists, xG and shots taken per 90.

Perhaps Anderson was unlucky with his timing, as Bowen joined as he was being phased out, whilst Kudus now gets to link up with Bowen, who seems to get the best out of others, as well as Lucas Paqueta, another extremely talented playmaker.

Whilst the transfer fee paid clearly wasn’t worth it, as he left the club just two years later, he did seem to produce some top-tier metrics considering the side he was in, which has to be taken into account when assessing his wages compared to others in the squad at the time.

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