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Manchester United have now made contact with a January target who could become their record signing, according to Fabrizio Romano.

Fabrizio Romano reveals Man Utd talks to sign £100m star

INEOS weren’t shy when it came to backing Ruben Amorim in the summer and it seems as though they may show similar intent in the January transfer window.

The former Sporting Club boss has improved in the current campaign, but a new midfield problems has arrived and after INEOS rebuilt Man United’s attack in the summer, they must do the same for the heart of their side.

Those problems have especially been on show as of late with Bruno Fernandes and Kobbie Mainoo sidelined, forcing Lisandro Martinez to play out of position. As such, to no surprise, a number of potential targets have emerged.

That includes names like Ruben Neves, Conor Gallagher and even young star Christos Mouzakitis in what could be another impressive overhaul at Old Trafford.

Having his say on potential January arrivals recently, Amorim told reporters: “The transfer window is not going to change. We have no conversations in this moment to have any change in the squad.

“There’s a process, there’s an idea that is going to continue. We are near the places of the Champions League, but we are near also for like eight teams behind us so let’s focus on the next game. Just that. Our focus is to win the next game.”

Those “conversations” could include the topic of Carlos Baleba. According to transfer expert Romano, speaking on his YouTube channel on Saturday evening, Man United have now held talks with Baleba and his camp as they look to land a big-money deal this month.

£100m Baleba would transform Man Utd

As transformative signings go, Baleba would be right up there with the best that Man United could land. He’d instantly end Manuel Ugarte’s run in the side and hand Amorim a solution for his problems for years to come, given that he’s still just 22 years old.

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Speaking about Man United’s pursuit of the Brighton midfielder, Romano told his YouTube channel: “Man United remain in contact with the player. It’s not a secret since August, I’ve been telling you, that Carlos Baleba would love to move to Man United.

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“Man United are on it. Baleba remains one of the main names on their shortlist. But in terms of making a deal happen in the January transfer window, from Brighton the message is very clear – they want to keep hold of Baleba in January. So I think the only way to make a deal happen in January would be a very big, crazy proposal.”

Previous reports have claimed that Baleba could cost any potential suitor in January as much as £100m this month and that would break Man United’s transfer record – highlighting the lengths they’ll have to go to if they want to get their man.

ScorecardFile photo – Shreyas Gopal picked up four wickets•BCCI

Govinda Poddar’s fourth first-class ton was the only bright spot in Odisha’s innings which was terminated for 232 by Karnataka’s bowlers in Mysore.Electing to bat, Odisha lost Natraj Behera in the third ball of the innings to Karnataka captain Vinay Kumar, but Poddar, along with Rajesh Dhuper, added 42 runs for the second wicket. However, after Dhuper was dismissed by Stuart Binny, two more wickets fell in quick succession to leave the visitors struggling on 73 for 4.Poddar and Pratik Das, then, added 93 runs for the fifth wicket before Udit Patel had Pratik caught by Binny. There was little resistance in the Odisha innings thereafter, as legspinner Shreyas Gopal and left-arm spinner J Suchith spliced through the lower order. Poddar was the ninth man out, bowled by Suchith. Gopal and Suchith finished with seven wickets between them.
Scorecard.Seamer Navdeep Saini’s six-wicket haul, his maiden five-for in first-class cricket, shot out Maharashtra for 80 inside 26 overs at the Feroz Shah Kotla.Electing to bat, Maharashtra were reduced to 8 for 3, with Saini accounting for all the wickets, including those of captain Rohit Motwani and Kedar Jadhav. Harshad Khadiwale, who top-scored with 21, and Ankit Bawne did some damage control with a 38-run alliance. But, once Saini had Khadiwale lbw, Maharashtra were on a freefall and their innings didn’t last more than two hours.Delhi’s reply began as shakily as the visitors’ innings, with openers Gautam Gambhir and Unmukt Chand dismissed inside four overs to leave them on 9 for 2. However, a 99-run partnership between Dhruv Shorey and Nitish Rana steered them out of trouble, and Delhi ended the day with a lead of 77 runs.
ScorecardBengal squandered a strong start after being put into bat by Vidarbha in Kolkata. Openers Abhimanyu Easwaran and Sayan Mondal put on 118 runs, but after Easwaran was caught behind off Shrikant Wagh, the hosts’ innings began to disintegrate, as they slipped from 118 for 1 to 140 for 4.A 42-run stand between Sudip Chatterjee and Pramod Chandila helped Bengal stage a mini-recovery before offspinner Akshay Wakhare, who claimed four wickets, prised out Chandila. Wicketkeeper Amol Ubarhande collected five dismissals.
ScorecardAssam seamer Krishna Das and Dhiraj Goswami picked up seven wickets between them after Haryana opted to bat in Rohtak. Only Himanshu Rana and Rohit Sharma resisted for Haryana, adding 73 for the third wicket. But, apart from them, only one more batsman managed to reach double figures.

Shoaib Akhtar’s pace, and change of pace, will make a difference © AFP

Aaqib Javed believes Shoaib Akhtar’s return to national colours will make Pakistan one of the favourites for the Twenty20 World Championship in South Africa in September.Shoaib has played only a handful of ODIs and a single day of Test cricket for Pakistan since January last year, since when a combination of injuries, fitness troubles and a doping scandal have kept him out of the side.But he is finally back to full fitness and strength and, according to Javed, hungry to return to the spotlight. “Shoaib is fit and is bowling really fast. He has been down and out for a long time and is hungry for wickets, which is why I am sure he is going to be the biggest star in the tournament,” Aaqib told .Pakistan’s players are currently involved in the third leg of a gruelling summer camp schedule in Karachi, where they players are taking part in a series of Twenty20 games as practice for the tournament. Shoaib has been among the wickets in most games, selectors reporting that his pace has been swift. Though he isn’t at the camp yet, he is due to join on Sunday. Aaqib, who is head coach at the National Cricket Academy in Lahore, is part of the camp as a bowling coach.Shoaib’s famed slower ball, which so flummoxed English batsmen in the 2005 home series, will be a useful weapon again, believes Aaqib. “With the sort of pace he has, Shoaib’s slower delivery comes as a major surprise and in fast-paced matches it is going to cause major damage to any opposition.”Aaqib said that the support Shoaib will get, from the likes of Mohammad Asif and Umar Gul, makes Pakistan one of the favourites. “I count us among the favourites to win the tournament because we have some world class bowlers and a strong batting line-up.”The Australians are a very balanced side and they would be the team to beat. South Africa and New Zealand also have the firepower to go all the way.”

Kent 213 for 8 (Bravo 45) beat Somerset 104 (Henderson 5-28) by 109 runs
ScorecardA brilliant spell of accurate and incisive swing bowling from Kent’s Tyron Henderson condemned Somerset to a thumping 109-run defeat in the latest Pro40 encounter at Taunton.Henderson, who bowled unchanged for his entire eight-over spell, returned figures of 5 for 28, as Somerset slipped to an embarrassing 58 for 5. He started the rot by bowling Justin Langer for 5 (14 for 1) to bring a tame end to his extraordinary five-week stint with the county, and then ran through the middle order, aided by some slapdash shots, before crowning his spell with a perfect inswinging yorker to trap Wesley Durston lbw for a first-ball duck.James Hildreth and Andrew Caddick helped Somerset scrape into triple figures as Somerset’s spinners came on to mop up the tail, but by then the game was long dead. Earlier, Dwayne Bravo had top-scored for Kent with 45, as they mustered 213 in their 40 overs. It looked like setting up a tight encounter, but Henderson had other ideas.

Chris Rogers uses his feet during Leicestershire’s tour match against the Australians © Getty Images

Chris Rogers, the Western Australia opening batsman, will replace Martin Love as an overseas professional at Northamptonshire next season. A familiar face in England, Rogers has had stints with Derbyshire and earlier this season made a double-century for Leicestershire against the touring Australians.”I am very excited about a full season in England,” Rogers said. “There is some excellent young talent at the club and with the senior pro’s experience I am looking forward to being a part of the continuing good work that has already been achieved.”Rogers, who has played 52 first-class matches, made his highest score of 209 from 274 balls in the drawn game against Australia at Grace Road, but was unable to secure a full-time place with the county. After 11 Championship games Love has scored 1114 runs with four centuries at 58.63, while Northamptonshire are third last in Division Two.

Rina Hore, a former New South Wales player, has become the first woman to be appointed to the state’s cricket board. The six-member board endorsed Hore’s induction to the panel for “her skills and experience”, according to Bob Horsell, the chairman of the NSW board.Hore, who was also manager of the women’s under-19 team, was happy with her appointment and positive about the future. “In accepting the nomination, I thank people for their hard work that first led to a woman being nominated,” quoted Hore as saying. “Now that I’m on the board I look forward to working hard with a talented and committed group of people and continuing to promote women’s cricket.”While serving as vice-president of the Women’s Cricket Australia Board, Hore played an important part in bringing men’s and women’s cricket under one body.

Hampshire II’s continued their fine run of form as they beat Worcestershire at the Rose Bowl, making it six wins out of six in the Second Eleven Trophy.Chasing 213 for victory, it was some good batting from Jimmy Adams (72) and Lawrence Prittipaul (62no) that paved the way to the finish line, despite another middle order wobble from the young Hawks.Looking to be cruising home, with the score at 180/2, Hampshire proceeded to lose 6 wickets for 21 runs, to give the away team a chance of an unlikely win, but Prittipaul guided his side to a two-wicket win.Worcestershire will be sick of the sight of Adams, who smashed 127no against them last week at Kidderminster, and he continued where he left off on home turf. The left-hander played off the new ball well, before accelerating as the change bowlers came on, with one huge pulled six into the golf course sticking in the memory.However, his demise as he got a thin edge through to the `keeper, sparked off the tumble of wickets for Hampshire.Prittipaul played with supreme confidence again, with several cheeky sweep shots finding the boundary, and he kept his head well to finish off the win.Chris Tremlett (1/27) and James Hamblin (2/27) were the pick of the bowlers earlier in the day, as both bowled their allotted ten overs economically, and picked up vital wickets.Hamblin clean bowled ex-England wicket-keeper Steve Rhodes for 41, as he looked dangerous, and 17 year-old Steve Davies batted well for his 60no, but it was in vain as Hampshire clinched victory with seven overs to spare.

As balls hit hands, helmets and the tiers of grandstands all around him, Sean Clingeleffer hit all the right notes to lead Tasmania out of trouble on the second day of its Pura Cup match against South Australia here in Hobart today.Though the visitors encountered only fleeting alarms on the way to a mark of 1/108 by stumps in a generally confident reply, Clingeleffer offered Tasmania a significant safety valve as it reached a mark of 7/382 before a mid-afternoon declaration.The 21-year old wicketkeeper-batsman had walked to the crease shortly before tea yesterday with his team struggling to come to grips with a pitch offering the bowlers plenty of encouragement in the way of variable bounce and consistent seam movement.But, by the time he left it upon captain Jamie Cox’s decision to close the innings nearly a day later, he had struck a sparkling unbeaten 141 to lift his rapidly swelling first-class average to a shade under 30. He hit the ball beautifully to all parts of the wicket and even showed he might be willing to assist in stage two of the Bellerive Oval redevelopment when he slammed one delivery viciously into the roof of a stand at mid wicket.”It’s a good feeling, that’s for sure,” said Clingeleffer of the attainment of his first century at this level.”It would have been nice for us to get a couple of wickets there at the end but, overall, it wasn’t a bad day.””Last year, I was a bit loose at times and I wanted to be a bit more patient early in my innings this year. I’ve worked pretty hard (in the off-season) with a few of the coaches, particularly off the front foot and in trying to be a little more solid.”For as well as he played, though, the passage to his total wasn’t always smooth. He should have been caught at 94, when he lifted a flighted Brad Young (1/97) delivery to Greg Blewett at around waist level at mid wicket. The same fieldsman also grassed a chance after standing and waiting underneath a shot which had lobbed the ball high in the air toward mid on.And there was a missed stumping opportunity off the desperately unlucky Young when the former Australian under-19 gloveman advanced and played around a flighted delivery with his score at 136.On 80, Clingeleffer had also benefited from an obscure clause in the rule book. More specifically, the provisions of Law 32 meant silly mid off fieldsman David Fitzgerald’s juggled interception of a drive at Darren Lehmann (0/24) didn’t count as a catch because the ball had struck his helmet before reaching his hands.As the response began, Jeff Vaughan (0*) then met the pitch at its most capricious, ending a distant second best in a battle with a vicious rising delivery from David Saker (1/27) that smashed its way off a length and into the visor on his helmet. Vaughan was felled, had to be assisted from the field, and was still drifting in and out of bouts of sleep by stumps. Team manager Andrew Sincock said he would only bat again tomorrow if he experienced a comfortable night.Blewett (45*) and Fitzgerald (31) opted upon steady accumulation as the best method of counter-attacking before the latter fell to what looked a tough lbw decision as a tailing Saker inswinger struck him low on his front pad.Blewett was more fortunate, surviving imploring lbw appeals against the bowling of Shane Watson (0/46) and Shane Jurgensen (0/18) when on 31 and 44 respectively. Around several trademark cover drives and square cuts, he also miscued more than once and didn’t always look at ease in still-tricky batting conditions.After receiving another near-unplayable Saker bouncer as his first delivery, Lehmann (28*) typically injected fresh life into the cause in the lead-up to stumps. He showed emerging star Watson the ropes in more ways than one, dealing with loose deliveries so harshly that he even sent the ball rocketing to the boundary four times in the space of three minutes late in the afternoon.

With his England career now firmly behind him, Kevin Pietersen will return to his roots in Kwa-Zulu Natal this winter having signed to play for the Durban-based Sunfoil Dolphins in their Ram Slam T20 campaign.Pietersen, who was educated at Maritzburg College and emigrated from South Africa in 2001, played two first-class matches for the Dolphins in October 2010 in the build-up to England’s successful Ashes campaign but has never yet played in the country’s T20 competition.”I’m very excited to return to Durban in a few weeks’ time and contribute towards the Sunfoil Dolphins’ cause,” Pietersen said. “Having grown up in KZN it is obviously a place that means something quite special to me and to have the opportunity to play there again is something I’m really looking forward to.”Pietersen, who scored a national-record 13,779 runs across all formats for England in the course of a nine-year career, has not played for England since being sacked in the aftermath of 5-0 Ashes whitewash in 2013-14.Clamours for a recall intensified earlier this season following England’s ignominious group-stage exit at the World Cup, with Pietersen warming to the theme with a career-best 355 not out for Surrey against Leicestershire at The Oval.However, Andrew Strauss, the incoming director of England cricket, closed the door on that prospect in a face-to-face meeting in May, before confirming this week that England had “moved on” from Pietersen in the wake of their 3-2 victory in the recent Ashes.South Africa’s Ram Slam will be the fifth domestic T20 competition that Pietersen has featured in, following stints with Deccan Chargers, Delhi Daredevils, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League, St Lucia Zouks in the Caribbean Premier League, Melbourne Stars in the Big Bash League and Surrey in the NatWest T20 Blast.”The Ram Slam T20 looks to be an exciting tournament and I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to be a part of the action for the first time this summer,” Pietersen said. “The Dolphins have some talented individuals and hopefully I can contribute towards the team’s success during my time with them.”Lance Klusener, the Dolphins head coach, believes that Pietersen can help his team win back the title they last held in 2013-14. Pietersen will be available for five Ram Slam matches in a two-week spell from late October until mid-November.”It’s very exciting to have a player of Kevin’s ability join us for a portion of the Ram Slam T20 tournament,” Klusener said. “We’ve won the tournament before and hopefully his presence will aid in us challenging for the title once more.”

Scorecard
Tamil Nadu faced a strong challenge from Karnataka in Chennai as Ganesh Satish and KB Pawan led them to a strong 239 for 3•K Sivaraman

Odisha made Delhi work hard for their wickets, but the hosts put in the hard work to end the day hopeful of an outright win. Their quicks persevered even as Odisha resisted, and by stumps Odisha were only 41 ahead with four wickets in hand.Govind Podder was the main irritant for Delhi, scoring 85 runs and denying the hosts for close to three-and-a-half hours. He added 84 for the third wicket with Biplab Samantray. Sumit Narwal, though, found a way to hit Podder’s stumps. Narwal had also scored crucial 66 runs to help Delhi build up the lead.That wasn’t the end of the resistance as Samantray and Natraj Behera added 59 to make sure Delhi will have to bat again. Pawan Suyal now found Samantray’s wicket, and two more fell quickly to send Odisha from 202 for 3 to 225 for 6. Behera, their last hope, was still at the wicket, unbeaten on 35.
Scorecard
In a match that is bad news for spin enthusiasts in India, only seven wickets have fallen in three days on a square turner. Spin was introduced as early as the sixth over of the match. Keeping in with the Tamil Nadu trend, all six of whose batsmen scored at least fifty, no Karnataka batsman, with the exception of Manish Pandey, fell before reaching the half-century.They ended the day at 239 for 3, needing another 300 to take the first-innings lead. If neither Karnataka are bowled out nor 539 is reached, both teams will have to do with one point each.The scores, though, are misleading. They suggest an airport road, but it simply wasn’t the case. The ball jumped, kicked, turned a long way throughout the three days, but the wickets just didn’t arrive.Robin Uthappa was the first to reach fifty on the third day, but fell playing across the line soon after. KB Pawan, who looked good for much more, scooped a full toss from part-timer Abhinav Mukund to mid-on. Pandey edged M Rangarajan behind, raising Tamil Nadu’s hopes at 184 for 3, but Ganesh Satish and Amit Verma batted out the 25.4 overs to stumps.
Scorecard
Yusuf Pathan smashed 78 off 36 balls to lend energy to a meandering match, giving Baroda enough time to push for an outright win over Vidarbha. Before Yusuf’s intervention, Baroda had claimed the three first-innings points through a century from Abhimanyu Chauhan, but the rest didn’t show much intent to set up a declaration.Rakesh Solanki, too, got a hundred, but at a strike-rate of 40. However, Yusuf walked in at 364 for 4 in 139.2 overs and left at 473 in 147.5. The game’s complexion had changed through his six fours and five sixes, and Baroda could now ask Vidarbha to bat before stumps. And in those four overs Firdaush Bhaja bowled Aniruddha Chore to leave Vidarbha needing 247 to make Baroda bat again.
Scorecard
Another pitch has produced just seven wickets over three days, but this one is a bona fide airport runway. Which is perhaps why Maharashtra didn’t look too keen to declare despite crossing 700 on the second evening. They even added 26 on the third morning before finally asking Uttar Pradesh to bat.The worst fears about the pitch came true when UP cruised to 287 for 1 by stumps. Mukul Dagar joined Jiwanjot Singh and Paras Dogra as centurions in both the matches of Ranji Trophy so far. This was his second century in a three-match career. Tanmay Srivastava scored his seventh first-class century. The only wicket went to part-timer Kedar Jadhav, who scored a triple-century on day two.If Maharashtra can’t do better with the ball on the final day, a first-innings result will not be achieved. Both the teams will get a point each, and the local association might have to face questions regarding the quality of the pitch.For more on the third day’s play from Pune, click here.