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Things are looking up for Chelsea.

Despite a couple of poor results earlier in the season, Enzo Maresca’s side are second in the Premier League, with a chance to cut Arsenal’s lead to just three points on Sunday.

Then on Tuesday night, they showed the continent just how dangerous they are by beating Spanish champions Barcelona 3-0.

One of the stars of that game, and of Chelsea’s season, was Estevao, and so fans should be excited about reports linking them to someone who could be seen as the original version of the wonderkid.

Chelsea target the original Estevao

The transfer window is still over a month away from opening, but that has not stopped Chelsea from being linked with a host of potentially game-changing signings.

Transfer Focus

Mega money deals, controversial moves and big-name flops. This is the home of transfer news and opinion across Football FanCast.

For example, Nottingham Forest’s man-mountain Murillo has been touted for a £79m move to Stamford Bridge, as has Athletic Bilbao’s £62m Nico Williams.

However, as talented as those two are, neither one can accurately be described as the original Estevao, unlike Vinícius Júnior.

Yes, according to a recent report from Football Insider, Chelsea are one of a couple of teams interested in signing the Real Madrid superstar.

In fact, the report goes further, revealing that should the Brazilian be up for sale in the summer, the Blues will be one of the frontrunners for his signature, alongside Manchester City.

However, the report has confirmed that, even though he’d have just a year left on his deal, Los Blancos would demand a fee of around £80m.

Even so, Vini Jr is a genuinely world-class player and someone Chelsea should be happy to break the bank on, especially as he’s the original Estevao.

Why Vini Jr is the original Estevao

Now, when it comes to the similarities between Vini Jr and Estevao, there are a few that are quite obvious and somewhat surface-level.

For example, they’re both exciting wide players, they’re both Brazilian, and now they’ve both played for the national team.

However, what makes the Madrid star the original version of the Chelsea star is how they were both spoken about prior to their big-money moves to Europe.

The Blues ace, for example, was labelled a “future Ballon d’Or winner” by respected analyst Ben Mattinson a few months before his deal was agreed.

Likewise, when the 25-year-old arrived in Spain over seven years ago, president Florentino Perez said: “He’s a player who is already considered one of the great hopes of Brazilian and world football.

In short, the West Londoners’ new prospect looks to be following in the footsteps of the former Flamengo ace, and they’ll certainly hope he continues.

After all, despite having a slow start to life in the Spanish capital, the São Gonçalo-born monster has now amassed 340 appearances for the biggest club in the world, during which he has scored 111 goals and provided 89 assists.

Appearances

340

Starts

267

Minutes

24,291′

Goals

111

Assists

92

Points per Game

2.15

Moreover, he’s helped the club win everything there is to win in the game, including two Champions Leagues, three La Ligas and one Copa del Rey.

Finally, he also has some sensational underlying numbers to his name, with FBref ranking him in the top 1% of attacking midfielders and wingers in Europe’s top five leagues for progressive carries, the top 3% for successful take-ons, the top 6% for shot-creating actions and more, all per 90.

Ultimately, with all that in mind, it’s hard to disagree with Ronaldo’s assertion that Vini Jr is “the best player in the world,” and therefore, Chelsea should be doing all they can to sign him next year, especially as he could help Estevao’s development.

Chelsea have already signed another exciting star who's "just like Estevao"

Chelsea have already signed another youngster who could become another Estevao for Enzo Maresca.

ByJack Salveson Holmes Nov 26, 2025

While England managed only eight wickets with the two new balls, India nearly doubled that tally

Sidharth Monga06-Jul-20252:38

Aaron: Akash has been through so much turmoil

India came to Birmingham having lost a Test they had no business losing. It could have been their first win since Durban 2010-11 without any of Virat Kohli, R Ashwin and Rohit Sharma. A landmark win such as this just had to be more dramatic, hadn’t it?They went on and made it without Jasprit Bumrah, the transcendental leader of their attack. They thought about beefing up their bowling, but took what most of us thought was the conservative route of sticking with batting depth. Then they had a combination of pitch and ball that gave them 30-over windows with the new ball to take wickets with.One of the final punctuation marks was a lovely delivery from offspinner batting-depth-provider Washington Sundar, but India won this Test through spectacular results with the new ball. With the first new ball in both innings, India took ten wickets for 243 runs, and 5 for 57 with 9.3 overs of the second new ball. England bowled 93 overs with the two new balls and managed eight wickets.Related

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That is where the match was won and lost: 15 for 300 vs 8 for 399. We all say Test cricket is won over five days of hard work and a well-rounded attack, but this one was sealed in these three brief windows. In particular, they were lethal with the second new ball in the first innings coming on the back of a back-breaking 303-run stand. In overs 31 to 80, Jamie Smith and Harry Brook had added 244 runs without looking like they could play a false shot.India have been at the receiving end of something similar not long ago. In Bengaluru, against New Zealand last year, they were bowled out for 46 to the new ball on a green seamer, but in the second innings, they looked as invincible as Smith and Brook did here. New Zealand then struck with the second new ball to win that Test.All new balls put together, India created false shots from 20.87% of the deliveries, England only 14.88%. At the end of day four, Marcus Trescothick was asked if he saw a difference between the skills of the two bowling units. With respect, he said, not really.Akash Deep and Mohammed Siraj took 17 of the 20 England wickets•Getty ImagesTrescothick wasn’t off the mark, really. Not by far anyway. India seamed the ball less, and swung the ball marginally more. In a Test where the average seam was well under 0.5 degrees, we need to look at the number of high seam deliveries. England seamed 23.6% deliveries more than 0.75 degree in the first innings, and 16% in the second. The numbers for India were 16% and 21.3%.With the first new ball, England seamed 38% and 17.9% deliveries more than 0.75 degrees in the first and second innings. The same numbers for India were 14.2% and 22.8%. India seamed the second new ball more: 27.1% high-seam deliveries as against 18.2%.The differences between the two units were subtler. Akash Deep, who came in as the target for people waiting to see how big a drop it would be from Bumrah but instead took a ten-wicket haul, used the crease better than others. When he aimed to bowl in the channel, Akash Deep went wider on the crease than anyone other than Josh Tongue, who barely bowled in the channel.Akash Deep and Mohammad Siraj took 17 of the 20 England wickets•Getty ImagesTongue himself acknowledged the angle created doubt and sometimes left the batters playing inside the line. An example was Ollie Pope. Tongue would go on to implement it himself to bowl KL Rahul out with one that angled in and seamed away. Akash Deep did him one better by knocking Joe Root over in the same fashion.India didn’t aim at the stumps more often, they weren’t quicker, but with the new ball, they bowled good length more often. Even there, England bowled just as much as India did in the 6-7 metre band: around 20% of the times. However, England bowled around 15% deliveries with the new ball in the 7-8 metre band, but India could do it around 30% of the times.Part of the reason has to be that England kept playing shots, which encouraged Akash Deep and Siraj to keep bowling a tighter cluster. England’s bowlers saw no hope from more sound India batters, and were forced to go searching full or short. They were sound but not slow by any means.Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley were true to their Bazball philosophy, but on this new-ball pitch, it paid to have wickets in hand for when the ball got softer. As much as India’s bowlers stayed on good lengths, it was England’s batting that rewarded them. Test matches are almost always won by the bowlers, but these are not ordinary Test matches. These are pitches and balls that shouldn’t be producing results, but the way England are batting is contriving results. Batting might not be able to win you Tests, but it can lose you on the odd occasion.

Tottenham Hotspur are back in action in the Premier League this evening as they prepare to welcome rivals Chelsea to North London.

The Lilywhites are looking to bounce back from their 2-0 defeat to Newcastle United in the League Cup at St. James’ Park on Wednesday night.

Thomas Frank may look to make several changes to the starting line-up from that loss to the Mapgies, which should include dropping Brennan Johnson.

Why Brennan Johnson should be dropped

The Wales international kept his place in the starting line-up after the 3-0 win over Everton in the Premier League, but he failed to justify his inclusion in the side.

Per Sofascore, Johnson produced no shots on target and no key passes in 65 minutes on the pitch against Newcastle, whilst he also failed to complete any of his four attempted crosses.

This shows that he had no impact at the top end of the pitch for the Lilywhites from a right wing position, as he failed to cause any problems for the Magpies in the final third.

Chalkboard

Football FanCast’s Chalkboard series presents a tactical discussion from around the global game.

That dismal showing came after he also played 89 minutes without registering a single shot or key pass against Everton in the previous game, per Sofascore, which means that the forward has failed to deliver much in the way of quality in his last two starts.

This is why Frank should ruthlessly drop him from the XI, after two ineffective showings, and unleash Mohammed Kudus in his place this evening.

Why Mohammed Kudus should replace Brennan Johnson

Unlike Johnson, the summer signing from West Ham United has provided plenty of quality and proven himself to be a consistent threat in the Premier League this season.

The £150k-per-week star, who Erik ten Hag claimed has “incredible potential”, came off the bench to replace the Welshman for the last 25 minutes against Newcastle, and should now come back into the XI to face Chelsea tonight.

Kudus scored his first goal for the club in a 2-1 win over Leeds United at the start of last month, but it has been his creativity on the ball that has made him a standout star for the Lilywhites in the Premier League.

The left-footed star has provided four assists in nine appearances in the top-flight, per Sofascore, and ranks highly at the club in a host of metrics as a creative force at the top end of the pitch.

xG

1.39

3rd

xA

1.26

1st

Assists

4

1st

Big chances created

2

1st

Key passes per game

1.9

1st

Dribbles completed per game

3.6

1st

As you can see in the table above, the former Hammers star has been the most influential attacking player in the Tottenham squad in the Premier League this season, leading the way for xG and in every key creative statistic.

Kudus, who was dubbed a “dribbling demon” by U23 scout Antonio Mango, has averaged at least 2.3 more completed dribbles per game than any other player in the squad, which speaks to how integral he is to how Spurs bring the ball up the pitch.

Meanwhile, Johnson, who struggled against Newcastle and Everton, has no assists and no ‘big chances’ created in 14 appearances in all competitions for Tottenham this season, per Sofascore.

Kudus provides a level of creativity that means that Frank can rely on him to create something out of nothing with a moment of pure quality, which he cannot rely on Johnson to do, based on his form this season.

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Tottenham Hotspur are reportedly interested in a deal to sign a star who would be a Mohammed Kudus repeat.

2 ByDan Emery Oct 31, 2025

Therefore, the manager should ruthlessly ditch the former Nottingham Forest star from the starting line-up in order to bring the left-footed winger back into the XI.

Mohammed Shami, Mayank Markande, Nitish Rana, Donovan Ferreira and Arjun Tendulkar will also play for new teams in IPL 2026

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Nov-2025Rajasthan Royals (RR) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) have finalised the player trade that will see Sanju Samson headed to CSK in exchange for allrounders Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran, the IPL confirmed on Saturday morning.It is one of the most high-profile player trades in IPL history. Samson, who led RR from 2021 until the previous season, had been retained for INR 18 crore ahead of IPL 2025. CSK had also retained Jadeja for the same amount, while they had acquired Curran in the auction for INR 2.4 crore. Samson will go to CSK for the same fee, but Jadeja’s fee has been revised to INR 14 crore. Curran’s fee remains the same.”Rajasthan Royals gave me my first platform and my first taste of victory,” Jadeja said in a RR statement. “Coming back feels special – it’s not just a team for me, it’s home. Rajasthan Royals is where I won my first IPL, and I hope to win more with this current group of players.”Samson spent 11 years at RR, but had indicated after IPL 2025 that he was looking for a change and wanted to be released by RR.For Jadeja, it is a return to the franchise with whom he started his IPL career, in the inaugural season in 2008. Jadeja had been with CSK since 2012 barring the 2016 and 2017 seasons when the franchise was suspended, and was even appointed captain in 2022 but handed the captaincy back to MS Dhoni after a poor start to the season.For Curran, it will be a third IPL franchise, having shuttled between CSK and Punjab Kings between 2019 and 2025.”Jadeja coming back to the Royals is incredibly special for all of us. He understands the franchise and the fans, having been part of RR’s IPL-winning campaign,” Kumar Sangakkara, RR’s director of cricket, said. “Over the years he has grown into a player who can influence the game in every department. His experience, composure, and competitive edge will add immense value to our group.”Sam brings a different but equally important dimension. He’s fearless, adaptable, and thrives in pressure situations with both bat and ball. Together, Jadeja and Sam give us balance, leadership, and the kind of match-winning depth we want as we build for the future.”Letting go of Jadeja and Curran was done after consultations with the players, CSK managing director Kasi Viswanathan said. “The decision was taken with mutual understanding with both Jadeja and Curran. We are deeply grateful for Jadeja’s extraordinary contributions and the legacy he leaves behind. We wish both Jadeja and Curran the best for the future. We also welcome Sanju Samson, whose skill-set and achievements complement our ambitions. This decision has been made with great thought, respect, and a long-term vision.”Nitish Rana will now turn out for Delhi Capitals•BCCIShami, Nitish Rana, Ferreira, Tendulkar tradedAs reported by ESPNcricinfo on Friday, Mohammed Shami will turn out for Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in IPL 2026 after being traded by Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). Shami, the second-most expensive acquisition for SRH ahead of the IPL 2025 season at INR 10 crore, will move to LSG at his existing fee.Some of the other updates on the day were those involving Mayank Markande, Arjun Tendulkar, Nitish Rana and Donovan Ferreira.Rana, who has featured in over 100 IPL games and has even led Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), moves from RR to Delhi Capitals (DC), and will continue at his existing fee of INR 4.2 crore.For Markande, it’s a return home of sorts, as he returns to his original team Mumbai Indians (MI) from KKR. He will also be at his existing fee of INR 30 lakh.Ferreira, the South African allrounder, returns to his first team, RR, after being traded out by DC, that too with a salary hike. His fee has been revised from INR 75 lakh to INR 1 crore.Tendulkar, meanwhile, travels from MI to LSG at his existing fee of INR 30 lakh.

The board elections will be held on October 6 after plenty of controversy in the lead-up

Mohammad Isam05-Oct-2025BCB president Aminul Islam has said he operated within the board’s constitution in the election process last month. His statement was in reference to a letter he issued to the country’s sports secretary on September 18, in which he asked to cancel the previous councillor nomination forms and instructed them to submit new forms.A writ petition challenged the validity of Aminul’s letter, and on September 22, the country’s High Court had issued a ruling along with an interim order suspending the effectiveness of the letter.On Sunday, the chamber judge of the appellate division, Justice Farah Mahbub, ruled that the High Court’s suspension order would remain in force. It paves the way for the BCB election to be held on October 6 amid a cloud of controversy, including manipulation and interference.Aminul explained he had issued the letter as he had not received sufficient names of cricketers or organisers from the country’s districts and divisions.Related

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“I want to clarify one thing. There was a writ against my letter,” Aminul said. “The letters that were addressed to me as the BCB president had mentioned clearly the three important areas in the BCB election. The chairman of the district or divisional sports body, who is usually the district or divisional administrator, has to sign it. Since these sports bodies don’t exist now, there are ad-hoc committees which must have a cricketer and an organiser in the body.”When these lists reached me, I saw only three [districts/divisions] qualified [in the criteria]. Shariatpur and Jamalpur were among those that qualified. So we couldn’t do an election with three individuals. I was forced to send the letter [on September 18], based on the constitution. Thereafter, there was a writ against the letter. It was cleared today. This election is such that a lot of things came against my name. I want to defend myself [by saying] that I was always within the constitution.”Aminul also ruled out government influence or interference and said that the country’s sports adviser was trying to “ensure a fair election”.”I don’t remember exactly when I said that the sports adviser requested me [to participate in the elections]. The sports adviser always helped me during my tenure [as BCB president]. I want to thank him for it,” Aminul said. “He is a person at the ministerial level but I know that he spent night and day, going to different places so that we can have a fair election and we can form a good board.”I didn’t think there was any influence. I feel I need to continue for Bangladesh cricket. If anyone feels I am not good enough, I am ready to leave any time.”Aminul Islam was named BCB president in May•BCBAminul did not answer questions about Tamim Iqbal’s withdrawal from the election and Faruque Ahmed’s return to the BCB, after being ousted from the president’s position in May. Tamim had alleged interference in the election process, particularly referencing Aminul’s letter.Faruque’s return has come as a surprise, as he reportedly had a falling out with the country’s sports ministry. He then became a BCB councillor, which was also controversial as he had sent his nomination form a few hours after the deadline. Aminul said that if he gets re-elected as president on Monday, he will have zero tolerance against conflict of interest, a problem that has plagued the BCB for years.Aminul, at the start of his BCB presidency on May 30, had said his term was going to be a “quick T20 innings”. At the end of his tenure [on October 5], he used another cricketing term to describe his experience.”[On the field] there is a technique. You can’t bowl more than one or two bouncers in the over. You can’t bowl a no-ball. Here, there were plenty of no-balls. Beamers were not judged as no-balls.”

Callum McGregor’s stunning winner for Celtic against St Mirren on Saturday night in the Scottish Premiership looks even more important with the benefit of hindsight.

Hearts went on to lose to Aberdeen on Sunday in their match, which means that the Hoops are only four points adrift of the Jam Tarts and have a game in hand over them.

Martin O’Neill has done a terrific job in interim charge, winning all of his Premiership matches so far, but some of the players who struggled under Brendan Rodgers have also struggled under him, including Michel-Ange Balikwisha.

Why Balikwisha looks like a misjudged signing by Celtic

The Hoops signed the Belgian forward from Royal Antwerp in a deal worth up to £5m during the summer transfer window, but it was an odd piece of business because Sebastian Tounekti, who plays in the same position, was also brought in from Hammarby.

Tounekti has since started all 12 of his appearances in the Premiership and the Europa League, per Sofascore, whilst Balikwisha has started twice in the Premiership and is yet to start in Europe.

In fact, the former Antwerp star has been an unused substitute for O’Neill in the last two league games against Kilmarnock and St Mirren, which suggests that he has failed to impress the Northern Irishman in training.

Chalkboard

Football FanCast’s Chalkboard series presents a tactical discussion from around the global game.

Balikwisha has, therefore, been a bad signing for the Hoops because he has failed to earn a place in the team on a regular basis, and it was an odd move by the club given the deal they then clinched for Tounekti in the same area of the pitch.

The 24-year-old flop was not the worst attacking signing made by the Scottish giants in the summer, though, as that award may go to centre-forward Shin Yamada.

Why Shin Yamada was a worse signing for Celtic than Michel-Ange Balikwisha

He was a curious signing by Celtic in the summer transfer window because the Japanese forward only scored two goals in 21 J1 League matches in the 2025 campaign for his previous club, after a return of 19 goals in 38 matches in 2024, per Sofascore.

This suggests that the Hoops were signing a player who was on the decline, given his poor goalscoring record this year, and that made it a slightly puzzling move.

His time at Parkhead so far this season has done little to answer any questions around why the club decided to sign him on a permanent deal, as he has rarely featured or made an impact when given the opportunity.

25/26 Premiership	Shin Yamada	Michel-Ange Balikwisha
Appearances	4	7
Minutes played	137	236
Goals	0	0
Big chances missed	2	0
Big chances created	0	1
Assists	0	1
Stats via Sofascore

As you can see in the table above, Balikwisha has played more matches and more minutes in the league, delivering one assist, than the former J1 League marksman.

Shin was also left out of the squad for the league phase of the Europa League, as Johnny Kenny, Kelechi Iheanacho, Daizen Maeda, and Callum Osmand were picked ahead of him in his position, whilst Balikwisha has made three appearances in that competition.

Brendan Rodgers said that Shin was a “strong player who can score goals and create for others” in his unveiling, but a return of two goals and one assist in 27 games for Kawasaki Frontale and Celtic combined, per Sofascore, in 2025 does not back that up.

The 25-year-old striker is yet to deliver a goal or an assist for the Hoops in six appearances in his first three months at the club, and appears to be well down the pecking order after being left as an unused substitute against St Mirren last time out.

O'Neill could drop Tounekti by playing "tenacious" Celtic star in new role

Martin O’Neill could finally drop Sebastian Tounekti from the starting line-up by playing this star in a new role.

By
Dan Emery

Nov 24, 2025

Therefore, as it stands, Shin is looking like an even worse signing for the Scottish giants than Balikwisha, who has at least provided an assist in the league and been included in the European squad list.

Jon Lewis picks over the wreckage of failed campaign as Australia loom in the new year

Valkerie Baynes12-Nov-2024England will be seeking the ultimate response to their shock early T20 World Cup exit when they travel to South Africa for a multi-format series from the end of November.Last month’s failure to reach the knockout phase of a tournament where they were considered title contenders is still raw, but Jon Lewis, England Women’s head coach, has been unpicking what went wrong during a six-wicket defeat to West Indies in their final group-stage game in Dubai.The loss of captain Heather Knight once she retired hurt with a calf injury while in the midst of a free-flowing 21 off 13 balls emerged as a key factor at the time. With the exception of Nat Sciver-Brunt’s unbeaten 57, no other batter reached double figures after Knight’s exit as England collapsed to 141 for 7.Then, with Sciver-Brunt standing in as captain, England couldn’t contain a century opening partnership between Hayley Matthews and Qiana Joseph – the latter put down a staggering five times en route to 52 – and looked increasingly rattled in the field with every boundary and dropped catch.Related

• Lewis: Staying on a roll poses biggest challenge as England Women scatter

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It all pointed to an inability to withstand the pressure of things not going their way, a scenario England had rehearsed throughout their home summer, even leaving Knight out of a match to simulate what turned out to be their worst-case scenario.Speaking on Tuesday from England’s high-performance base in Loughborough where he was working with the South Africa touring party – minus those in Australia playing in the WBBL – Lewis highlighted the difficulty of training for tournament cricket, despite that being a challenge for teams universally.”Yes, we have done a lot of work around how we how we work under pressure, and we’ve done a good amount of ‘what if’ planning, if our captain’s not around and so on,” Lewis said. “It’s not back to the drawing board, but it’s a continuation of that work, and to make sure that, rather than going, ‘oh, what we’ve done hasn’t worked, we can’t do this, and we can’t do that’, it’s, ‘okay, what is it we need to tweak, to improve, to make sure that if that situation ever happens again, we’re able to cope with it better than we did last time?’Once England are joined in South Africa by their WBBL players – including Knight, who is among the competition’s leading run-scorers – Lewis said attention could turn fully to moving forward.”When we get to South Africa, we’ll be doing some work around that and how we respond to those sorts of situations,” he added. “The tricky thing is, to recreate those situations is incredibly tough in training. However, we’ll just continue to plan, talk and think and develop, because we are a developing side with a lot of young players… with a young group of players, there’s a chance that they will make mistakes when the pressure goes up. The key bit is about what they learn from that, how they reflect on it.”England dropped five catches against West Indies•ICC/Getty ImagesOf the eleven players on the field in that game against West Indies, seven were aged 25 or younger. But, of those seven players, only two in allrounder Dani Gibson and seam bowler Lauren Bell had played fewer than 30 T20Is.Sophie Ecclestone, the spearhead of England’s four-pronged spin attack, has played 90 T20Is despite being just 25 years old, while legspinner Sarah Glenn is the same age and has played 68. Alice Capsey, England’s youngest player at just 20, has 37 T20I caps and was one of the busiest franchise players in the world in 2023-24 – she has made 124 T20 appearances in all during her relatively short career.Lewis said “I 100% don’t agree” with suggestions in the aftermath of that defeat that his team weren’t fit enough. Instead he highlighted – along with the youth of his team – inconsistent bowling and skill execution with regards to the dropped catches as reasons behind the World Cup exit. He also felt the side “became a little safer at times in our decision-making” and wanted to see a return to the more fearless approach of last year’s drawn Ashes, especially with a return series looming in Australia in January.”There’ll be some real strong group reflection when we get to South Africa,” he said. “I would expect a real response from the T20 team in particular in this series against South Africa. What I would like us to do is to go back to how we were playing last summer against the Australians, how fearless we were.Related

• Lewis: Staying on a roll poses biggest challenge as England Women scatter

• Sloppy fielding and low energy deflate England's campaign

• Alice Capsey omitted from T20Is as England name South Africa tour squads

• Kapp, Khaka rested for England T20Is; Naidu to skip for school exams

“What I’ve been able to do here with the players, in terms of one-to-one reflection, they’ve all been really honest and really understanding of what they got right and what they got wrong, and they’re all really clear about what the next steps are for them moving forward. And so the work begins now to put that right in terms of getting better at our skills and being braver with our skills, and then moving the team forward.”One player who won’t be part of the South Africa tour, which begins with the first of three T20Is on November 24 is Capsey, who was dropped as one of just two changes to the T20I squad, the other one enforced after Gibson underwent surgery on a knee injury sustained in the field against West Indies. Paige Scholfield has been brought in to add firepower with the bat at No. 6 or 7 and quick Lauren Filer returns after missing the World Cup where seam bowling played a bigger role than many teams had anticipated.Capsey’s omission comes amid an extended form slump in which she managed a top score of 19 in three World Cup innings and has made 64 runs in seven innings – with just two double-figure scores – for Melbourne Renegades in the WBBL. But, given that Lewis identified bowling as an issue at the World Cup, making her the only omission seems a one-dimensional response.Alice Capsey was dropped for the South Africa tour•ICC/Getty Images”The reason for leaving Alice out of the T20 squad was her inconsistency over a period of time, not just at the World Cup,” Lewis said. “Alice’s form has been trending downwards for probably the last eight to nine months. I felt that it’s a really good time for us and her to have a reset in how she goes about what she does, and give her a little bit more time to work out the issues that she’s having within her game and then come back stronger.”The most important thing from my point of view, in that position at No.3, is that she continues to try and impact the game and play the way that we’d like her to play, but we would also like her to be a little bit more consistent in that space. What I do know about Alice is that she’s incredibly strong-willed and really determined to be the best player she can be. There’s no doubt in my mind that, over time, she will play lots and lots of games for England in all formats but at the moment, she’s just trending in the wrong direction, and we just need to have a little reset.”Lewis also said there had been lessons learned off the field, especially with the optics of players posting on social media from a yacht trip during a day off in Dubai. While he was “really confident” in players’ off-field behaviour, he acknowledged that such posts could further arm critics.”I think that’ll be a sharp learning curve for the players involved in that,” he said. “What I would say is, I really trust our players and they train incredibly hard, but the female game particularly was getting a lot more scrutiny than ever before. Unfortunately for the players, that’s something that they’re going to have to think about and understand the consequence of those things, of the misconception of what they are doing and how people can misconceive a social media post.”I’ve got an incredibly diligent and incredibly hard-working group of players who I feel get the balance really right in terms of relaxing and having fun and being able to turn off from the high-pressure jobs that they do. I feel that they get it just about right. They won’t always get it right, because young people make mistakes, but I would say the vast majority of the time, they get it very right.”In South Africa, England face opponents sifting through World Cup disappointment of their own, having reached a second consecutive T20 World Cup final, only to lose it, this time to New Zealand. And their task won’t be any easier in the new year against Australia, the defending champions who were sensationally beaten in the semi-finals by South Africa.With so much to play for over the next two-and-a-half months, the trajectory of England’s education is sure to remain steep.

One European club is now ready to launch a move to sign a big-money Liverpool star in 2026, despite facing competition from the Saudi Pro League.

Slot expects "aggressive" Leeds vs Liverpool

Despite Wednesday night’s timid draw against Sunderland at Anfield, Arne Slot was in good spirits ahead of Liverpool’s next game against Leeds United this weekend. The Reds will be looking to stretch their mini-unbeaten run to three games in the same week, but must also get back to winning ways after Wednesday.

On paper, a trip to newly-promoted Leeds looks routine and once upon a time it was exactly that for the Reds. Those days, for the time being, are gone, however, and the Premier League champions are now set to square off against a side who could physically outmatch them once again.

Speaking in his pre-match press conference, Slot admitted that he expects to face an “aggressive” Leeds side: “Yesterday I looked at Leeds v Chelsea and I thought I saw a Liverpool game; Chelsea conceding a set-piece and for the third goal making a big, big error where they conceded a goal from. [It was] very difficult for them.

“Either Leeds went very aggressive to one-v-one or they went to a low block and it was really hard to create chances. It’s not only difficult for us, that playing style, it’s difficult for many teams – including us.”

It’s been the story of Liverpool’s season so far. Whenever they’ve encountered physicality, the Premier League champions have simply been bullied.

Something had to change and that has seen Mohamed Salah sacrificed. The struggling Egyptian has not started either of Liverpool’s last two games and reports suggest he could yet leave the club in 2026.

Galatasaray ready to launch Salah bid

According to reports in Spain, Galatasaray are now ready to launch their bid to sign Salah next year. The Turkish giants are looking to take full advantage of the winger’s situation and will reportedly aim to beat clubs in Saudi Arabia to his signature.

Whether Liverpool are willing to sell Salah remains to be seen, though. The Anfield icon only signed a new two-year deal last season, which is set to expire in 2027, but they must ask themselves if he is now past the peak of his powers.

Van Dijk raves over "world-class" Liverpool star who has been "really bad"

Liverpool have not been at the races of late.

By
FFC Staff

Dec 5, 2025

Former centre-back, turned Sky Sports pundit, Jamie Carragher certainly believes that’s the case, recently saying: “The catalyst for Liverpool at the very start of the run in 2018 with Jürgen Klopp was Alisson, Van Dijk and Salah.

“Alisson’s injured a lot now, he doesn’t play so much. But you watch Van Dijk now, not the same player, and Mo Salah looks like his legs have gone.”

The 33-year-old will be desperate to prove Carragher wrong and make his £21m-a-year contract worthwhile even if that is to be from the bench following Slot’s recent ruthlessness.

Huge Gakpo upgrade: £70m "superstar" now keen to join Liverpool in January

After a generally productive international break for many of Rangers’ stars, can they bring this form back to Glasgow?

John Souttar, Liam Kelly and Connor Barron were all part of the Scotland squad that remarkably qualified for a first World Cup in 28 years, while Nicolas Raskin started both of Belgium’s matches as they booked their spot in North America, thrashing Liechtenstein in the midfielder’s hometown of Liège.

On Tuesday, striker Bojan Miovski scored his ninth goal for North Macedonia, albeit there was little cause for celebration given that his team were demolished 7-1 by Wales in Cardiff, their heaviest defeat for two and a half years.

While Miovski being back among the goals is undoubtedly good news for Danny Röhl, he does need to improve his performances on the domestic stage.

Rangers' lack of attacking firepower

While many supporters would blame now-dismissed manager Russell Martin’s ineptitude, the club’s poor recruitment over the summer is surely the key factor behind their underwhelming form this season.

This is most abundantly clear in attacking areas where, despite being a goal machine during his two seasons at Aberdeen, Miovski has netted only twice since joining Rangers from Girona for £2.6m in August.

Meantime, Youssef Chermiti has scored only once for the club so far, despite arriving from Everton for £8m, potentially rising to £10m with add-ons, thereby making him the club’s most expensive signing of the post-liquidation era, surpassed only by Tore André Flo’s move in 2000.

This is in complete contrast to last season when Rangers’ top three scorers, namely Cyriel Dessers, Václav Černý and Hamza Igamane, bagged 63 goals between them across all competitions, which represented 55% of all goals the club netted.

With the trio having all departed, new manager Röhl requires the attacking players he has inherited to step up and start contributing, something one “huge talent” in particular is yet to do thus far.

Thelwell signing has been a bigger waste than Chermiti & Miovski

In the summer, Rangers spent around £30m on 13 new recruits, including splashing a reported £5m to sign Thelo Aasgaard from Luton Town.

Upon his arrival, Scottish football analyst Kai Watson labelled him a “technical dribbler” who “loves to take on opponents and get shots away”, while journalist Jamie Allen asserted that he was a “huge talent”.

However, supporters have not seen very much of that thus far, with Aasgaard’s most noteworthy contribution being that red card he received during the League Cup semi-final defeat to Celtic at Hampden.

The table below underlines the fact that Aasgaard has not performed as expected to date. Aasgaard’s statistics are not terrible when compared to his Rangers teammates, ranked second for shots, first in terms of shots on target as well as in the top four when it comes to successful dribbles per 90.

Minutes

1,041

9th

Goals

1

7th

Assists

1

8th

Shots per 90

1.7

2nd

Shots on target per 90

1

1st

Big chances missed

2

2nd

Accurate passes per 90

19.2

12th

Key passes per 90

0.8

8th

Successful dribbles per 90

1.4

4th

Average rating

6.76

8th

Ultimately, however, he has scored only one for the club to date, on target against Dundee United last month, registering his first assist at Dens last time out, albeit scorer Djeidi Gassama did do most of the work.

This lack of end-product has seen his estimated market value, as recorded by Football Transfers, drop to around £3.4m, well below the fee Rangers paid to sign him.

Meantime, the Merseyside-born winger has been on fire for Norway, scoring four times in 24 minutes as his national team demolished Moldova 11-1 at the Ullevål in September, having marked his international debut with a goal in the reverse fixture in Chișinău back in March.

Thus, with Norway back at the World Cup for the first time since France ’98, Aasgaard will certainly be included in Ståle Solbakken’s squad that travels to North America next summer, but he’ll be desperate to improve his club form before then.

In Glasgow, Aasgaard has started three of Danny Röhl’s six matches in charge, but was introduced off the bench during the last two against Roma and Dundee.

With Röhl having switched to a 3-4-2-1 formation, there is one fewer attacking position up for grabs, and Aasgaard so far is not doing enough to suggest he should be ahead of Gassama, Miovski, Chermiti, Danilo or Mikey Moore in the pecking order.

Considering he cost £5m, surely Sporting Director Kevin Thelwell envisaged that the Norwegian would be a guaranteed starter, but this is certainly not the case. Considering he was a player that Martin pushed to sign, it isn’t ideal when the manager is sacked after just 15 matches in charge.

Thus, while Chermiti and Miovski have established themselves as key figures in Röhl’s team, one could certainly argue that Aasgaard has been the biggest waste of money from last summer.

Rangers star looks set to become Ibrox's new Hamza Igamane under Rohl

As Rangers seek to replace Hamza Igamane, who has been on fire for Lille, which “exciting” forward, not Youssef Chermiti, could replicate his success?

ByBen Gray Nov 16, 2025

Blake Snell was electric in the Los Angeles Dodgers' 5-0 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Wednesday night, twirling seven innings of scoreless ball and surrendering just two hits. The veteran lefty racked up 12 strikeouts and the final one came in interesting fashion after he talked manager Dave Roberts into keeping him in the game.

Holding a 3-0 lead with two outs in the seventh, Snell was working with runners on first and second. With the tying run at the plate and 107 pitches already delivered, it looked as though Roberts would be making a move to bring in Alex Vesia from the bullpen. Vesia certainly thought that was happening as his skipper jogged on the field but Snell had a different plan.

Snell was able to successfully lobby to keep competing and Roberts did a quick U-turn toward the dugout after hearing what he needed to hear from his starter. Vesia, who thoughtfully was trying to keep up the pace of play, was forced to stop his jog toward the mound and return to his perch behind the left-field fence.

"I was excited," Snell said after the game, via MLB.com. "I don't like the bullpen finishing my innings. I'm very adamant about that. I don't want them in that situation. I put myself in this, I can pitch my way out of it."

Roberts's trust was immediately rewarded as Snell fanned Otto Kemp to end the threat. Loving the moment, he raised his fist in celebration.