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As reported by The Sun, Manchester United may have to pay an eye-watering £100m if they want to secure the signature of Fulham prospect Ryan Sessegnon.

What’s the story?

Sessegnon is undoubtedly one of, if not the, most exciting homegrown players in the country and this summer is set to be full of speculation about whether he will leave Fulham for a bigger club.

The Sun report though that the Craven Cottage side value him so much that they’re willing to dig their heels in on a potential transfer and demand any suitors pay £100m for his signature.

That would make him the most expensive English player in history.

The paper reckon that while that prices Tottenham Hotspur out of a move, Manchester United could be ready to push on with the transfer, despite the fee, with Jose Mourinho looking for a long-term option at left-back.

A good buy?

With 15 goals and six assists this season from the left flank in the Championship, there is not another English teenager as exciting as Sessegnon, but is he worth paying nine figures for?

Sessegnon is still just 17, but will be 18 by the time the transfer window opens. His young age and lack of senior experience means that despite his obvious potential and despite the stellar season he has had this term, paying £100m for his services is wholly unrealistic.

That kind of money would put massive pressure on his move to Old Trafford and could hamper his development.

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Of course Fulham don’t have to think of his sale in those terms, they have every right to protect what is a massive asset, but from United’s perspective, if the London side are so intent on not selling him then maybe they have to play a long-term waiting game to secure his transfer.

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When Arsene Wenger dropped summer signing Sead Kolasinac following an impressive start to his Arsenal career in favour of academy product Ainsley Maitland-Niles, the decision certainly raised some eyebrows.

We’ve seen this kind of thing before from the Gunners gaffer – unexpectedly axing a senior player enjoying good form to make room for a younger alternative – with incredibly mixed results.

Manchester United legend Gary Neville was one of the first to raise concerns after Maitland-Niles, a midfielder first and foremost, struggled at left-back in a 3-3 draw with Liverpool a fortnight ago. As quoted by The Express, he said during the clash at the Emirates Stadium…

“Maitland-Niles, I always say that when the ball’s on your side it’s fine, but when you have to start searching for people you get drawn into a position you should never be. You can talk about not being targeted, but he has been targeted at that back post.

“It’s been a real problem for him and there’s been big, big chances for Liverpool. Again, look at the back post, ball-watching, not knowing the position. It’s tough on the kid, I’m not sure why you would put him in this game. When I look at that first half, he has struggled for me.”

But there are few greater endorsements for a young and promising 20-year-old in the Premier League than making such a reputed pundit completely change his tune after just two more starts and 13 days, which is exactly what Maitland-Niles did last night as Arsenal duked out a thrilling 2-2 draw with Chelsea.

While the Gunners struggled defensively and although Maitland-Niles wasn’t directly involved in either of his side’s goals, it was an incredibly composed and promising performance from the England U21.

Indeed, the youngster actually finished up with the most successful dribbles – most notably a darting run inside the box that almost drew a penalty – and the most tackles to his name of any Arsenal player -including a clean challenge to nick the ball from Eden Hazard, something even the best defenders in the world struggle with.

On top of that, Maitland-Niles whipped three crosses into the box, created one chance, completed 88% of his passes and had the most touches of any Arsenal player not playing in midfield.

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Accordingly, Neville’s assessment of the versatile 5 foot 10 hotshot was markedly different last night, even describing him as ‘absolutely fantastic’.

“He looks absolutely fantastic. It’s so early in his Arsenal career and to play in huge matches out of position… to show that quality and confidence – it’s great to see.”

Clearly Neville thinks Maitland-Niles has a great future and early performances back up that evaluation. But lacking vital experience and playing out of position, should he be Arsenal’s first-choice left-back at this moment in time?

Wigan have received no offers for midfielder James McCarthy, reports The Metro.

The Irish star has been heavily linked with a return to the Premier League, after the Latics were relegated to the Sky Bet Championship last season.

Newcastle, Everton and Tottenham have all been linked with McCarthy, but Wigan boss Owen Coyle has revealed the club are yet to receive a bid for the 22-year-old.

“I’ve not had any enquiries, let alone offers, for any of my players. But ultimately good players attract attention and there’s no getting away from it, James McCarthy is such a hugely talented player,” Coyle said.

“If there is any interest, he’ll be the first to know. Then as a club we decide what happens from there”

The youngster impressed for Wigan last season, and the midfielder played a huge part in the Latics’ route to lift the FA Cup. Roberto Martinez has been heavily linked with a move to bring McCarthy to Goodison Park to reunite the pair, while Tottenham manager Andre Villas-Boas has also reportedly shown interested.

McCarthy played the full 90 minutes in Wigan’s 4-0 victory away at Barnsley on the opening day of the new season, and is expected to start in the Community Shield against Manchester United on Sunday at Wembley.

Who should McCarthy join this summer? Is he ready for a fight to get Champions League football?

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With the season now firmly under way, only to be interrupted by a brilliantly times international break – thanks for that FIFA – some sides have been straight out the traps, Chelsea and Barcelona have collected the maximum points available to them and have made nothing short of a brilliant start, whilst other teams such as PSG and Real Madrid have performed shall we say less than acceptably and are propping up the middle of the table. It might only be three games in, but fans and the media are debating said results with gusto, and their effect on the rest of the season, raising the question just how vital is a good start to the league?

If someone tries to tell you a good start to the season is detrimental to a team’s campaign I will show you a liar or indeed someone with an I.Q that rivals Joe Cole’s, who after 9 months in France was learning to say Je Voudrais – as much as you may dislike a rival, if they have collected 9 points from 3 games it is impressive and any fan would much rather their side be sat at the top of the table than in a spot that would not even get you into the Europa League next season. A good start sends a message and is never a bad thing.

Of course it cannot be described as the be all and end all – otherwise the season would be over by October. Some teams perform much better in the second half of the season – United are prime examples of this, and always come to the fore after Christmas, meaning that a few points gap is not the end of the world for them. In fact fans have come to expect it. Who a team has played can also be significant – Southampton have faced nothing short of a nightmare first couple of fixtures and it does not get much better for them in the near future but their fans will know they are playing well and beating United or City will not keep them up – beating the teams around them will, and if they lose to them it is time to worry. As for now, their start is not as bad as it may seem on paper.

There is also the small matter of the period over Christmas and Easter – far away they may seem, but they are the most significant periods of the season and if a side can collect maximum points from these jam packed periods they can go a long way to atoning for dropped points earlier in the season or making the gap at the top even wider.

The ACON – yes it is back again to the lamenting of City fans – is also a major factor which is yet to weigh in on matters, but teams with a big or significant African presence will struggle during these months and again even if they have collected maximum points at the start of the season, all that hard work can be derailed during the most inconveniently timed competition.

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Only a fool would tell you they wanted a bad start to the season for their team – as I cast an envious glance up the table to where Barcelona sit I can assure you no matter how hard I try and tell myself 4 points from 3  games is A ok, and Real are doing fine this is about as truthful as when Ronaldo protests he doesn’t care Messi is lorded above him – but there are many more factors to come in to play yet, and whilst the teams who have excelled thus far will be hoping to carry on in the same vein, the ones below them will certainly be relying on the fact it nothing is decided in the middle of September – thank God.

Everton fans have been discussing which Swansea players they would like to poach this summer, and they all agree on one man.

Swansea City were relegated on Wednesday night after Huddersfield picked up a heroic point at Stamford Bridge.

The Swans probably shouldn’t be going down given the quality of their squad, and there are more than a few players that will be looking for a new home in the Premier League this summer.

One such player is Alfie Mawson, who has been one of the surprise packages of the season at the back for Swansea.

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The 24 year-old centre back averages a remarkable six clearances per game in the Premier League, and has put his aerial prowess to good use on the attacking end too by grabbing two goals and an assist.

Everton have had their own defensive problems this season, with Michael Keane failing to live up to expectations and Phil Jagielka and Ashley Williams both showing their age.

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Fans weren’t too happy about the links to Stoke’s Xherdan Shaqiri this week, but it doesn’t seem they’re completely against signing relegated players, as they’re all saying the same thing about Swansea’s relegation.

Some of the best Twitter reactions can be found below…

Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini believes that Raheem Sterling is worth the £49million the club used to prize him away from Liverpool, according to reports from ESPN.

The 20-year-old was being chased by the Citizens throughout the majority of the summer transfer window, with several bids being rejected before the Reds finally agreed to a £49million sale.

The transfer and manner in which he left Anfield did not please the Kop faithful, with many believing that the Sky Blues overpaid for the Engand international.

WANT MORE? >> Manchester City Transfer News | Latest Transfer News

However, Pellegrini claims that his new signing is worthy of the incredible price tag after Sterling scored three goals in two games during pre-season.

“He is a very good player, that’s why we brought him to our team,” he said. “He has a lot of things we didn’t have in our squad. If you watch the way he played tonight he has a lot of pace and I am sure in the future he will demonstrate why we paid so much money for him.

“I was very surprised because it is not easy to score eight goals, but Vietnam is a team that must prepare for qualification for the next World Cup, and they have time. They start playing in September or October so have to work hard, but they have very good players.”

The Citizens have also signed Fabian Delph from Aston Villa via a £10million deal, but are still targeting more players before the transfer window closes at the end of August.

Wolfsburg star Kevin de Bruyne has been heavily linked with a switch to the Etihad of late, with a £40million bid being mooted by several sources.

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Mike Phelan and Eric Steele are believed to have left Manchester United as David Moyes assembles a new backroom staff.

Assistant manager Phelan and goalkeeper coach Steele were integral parts of former manager Sir Alex Ferguson’s coaching set-up.

Phelan, who played under Ferguson at Old Trafford from 1989-94, was brought back to the club in 1999 and promoted to first-team coach in 2001 after Steve McClaren left to go to Middlesbrough.

He eventually succeeded Carlos Queiroz as assistant to Ferguson in 2008 when the Portuguese left to take his country’s national team job.

During his five seasons next to Ferguson in the dugout, United won three Premier League titles, a Club World Cup, two League Cups and made two runs to the final of the UEFA Champions League.

Steele, a former Manchester City and Blackburn Rovers goalkeeper coach, replaced Tony Coton in the position at United in 2008 and worked alongside Edwin van der Sar and David de Gea with great success for five seasons.

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The club have not confirmed either departure yet, but Moyes is ready to make changes to the team he inherited from Ferguson to make room for some of his own men.

The season kicks off today and Swindon Town blogger Calvin Hothi is just as excited as every other football fan around the country. Here he has look back over pre-season and give his thoughts about  the upcoming season for the Robins.

For Swindon pre-season has been a good one which is unusual for Robins fans as last year we were facing the basement division of English league football and the season before our ex captain Gordon Greer had completed a move to Brighton who would go on to become champions that year.However, this year saw business completed early with seven new additions and some promising pre-season performances.

Paolo Di Canio had strengthened the squad before they jetted out to Lake Garda for their pre-season training. First of all we were introduced to Andy Williams, a signing that had dragged on for at least a month and fans were just waiting for confirmation. He has looked lively in pre-season and has put in man of the match worthy performances so I can’t wait to see him bang in the goals for us like he did for Yeovil last season. Next was the surprising capture of Gary Roberts. He has looked good in the games I have seen him play and will release some pressure of Ritchie as teams won’t be able to stick two men on both wingers. The final signing of that day was the biggest coup of them all with James Collins arriving at the County Ground. The striker had many Championship clubs sniffing around him but Paolo Di Canio managed to persuade the Republic of Ireland U21 international to sign on the dotted line for the Robins and even though I have only seen glimpses of him he has looked like the 20 goal a season striker we didn’t have last season although I’m sure Williams will be targeting that as well.

The next week Di Canio added three more signings to the squad with the first of them being Tommy Miller. The centre midfielder has looked like he will be a good signing although he continuous efforts to the play the diagonal ball over to Ritchie keep failing as 9 out of 10 times it ends up a throw in for the opposition. Then the signing of Alan Navarro was confirmed. He has said not to expect many goals from him this season but he netted twice against his former employers Brighton two days ago to progress Swindon to the second round of the Capital One Cup and his defensive work has been top notch in pre season. Finally that day saw Jay McEveley return to the County Ground on a permanent basis after impressing on loan last season. The final signing we made was Troy Archibald-Henville (imagine the price of that name on your shirt eh) from Exeter. The young Centre Back has been outstanding in pre season and scored a couple of goals as well. Him and Flint will be battling it out next year. We have been promised two more signings with one being finalised next week as well and hopes are high for the new campaign.

Well… to narrow it down to one word it is promotion. With the signings we’ve made and the squad we have got, play-offs should be a very sensible aim with a view of finishing second would realistic aim as the squad is very capable of this. Di Canio will have them putting every ounce of effort in and it will be a very exciting season ahead with big games against clubs such as Sheffield United and Coventry to look out for (many would say Preston is a big game with all the signings they’ve made but I doubt they will be a big threat).

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“That’s the main focus, because we know we have the power at the end”

Sidharth Monga23-Jun-2024Needing to win three out of three to win a home World Cup and recreate the joy they did at Kensington Oval when they beat USA, West Indies clearly know where they need to get better: when they are batting in the middle overs. Both their average and run-rate have been the lowest in that phase this World Cup. They are losing a wicket every 20 balls in the middle overs despite scoring just 123 per 100 balls. Even these numbers make them look better than they have been as it includes the onslaught against USA when they were assured of a win and had to go hard in order to improve their net run-rate.It was in the middle overs against England, their only defeat so far, that West Indies let the game slip away. Especially in the first half of the middle overs, when they scored just 40 runs from overs seven to 11 in batting-friendly conditions. They had resolved to do better in those periods but never got tested when they played USA.”When we lost to England, we struggled in that period after the powerplay,” Roston Chase admitted. “I mean USA and South Africa is two different opponents, but we spoke about that, and the guys came out and executed it well today. It was only four overs outside of the powerplay, but that’s the main focus, because we know we have the power at the end. So it’s just for us to control that powerplay with the batting and our bowling, and then for us in the batting to keep the momentum going through that 7 to 15 period where we fell down horribly against England.”Related

• West Indies and South Africa face off in virtual quarter-final at T20 World Cup

• Maharaj: South Africa have found a way to win 'small moments' at the T20 World Cup

• Shai Hope silences strike-rate critics, with bat and words

• Chase, Hope help West Indies thump USA for NRR boost

Middle overs is also where Chase might have a role to play. Just to be able to stay busy and not starve the in-form hitter of the strike. “Easy for me because my job is just to give them the strike and let them hit it for six,” Chase joked when asked how it was playing in a team full of power hitters. “So that’s right up my alley. I guess that’s why I’m pencilled in at 4 to just be that transition between the boundaries and just keeping the strike rotated as well. Because I find that most of the time the boundary hitters, they usually hit boundaries, but then they may get a few dot balls. And then it equals out the equation. But if you have me there just to stroke it around and look nice, that’s good.”If he hasn’t batted till the 10th or the 11th over, though, Chase’s role is likely to be restricted to bowling in the middle overs and fielding at backward point, where he pulled off a stunning catch against USA. “If I see 10 overs come and I haven’t gone up there yet, I just keep my eyes on Rovman [Powell, the captain] all the time,” Chase said. “Once I see he give me a look, I go, yeah. Yeah, it’s for the better of the team. And the guys go out there and execute and give it their all. I’m happy with that.”In the absence of Brandon King, West Indies are now likely to open with Shai Hope, who was tried in the Chase role once earlier during the tournament. If Hope bats through into the middle overs, he is not the one to get bogged down. Undefeated South Africa are not the usual South Africa unit that used to stall in the middle overs. They in fact choked out England in the middle overs in the last match. Don’t be surprised if this contest comes down to the middle overs.

Three “women’s festival” matches to be played in Rawalpindi alongside ongoing men’s PSL

Umar Farooq04-Mar-2023Laura Wolvaardt, Lea Tahuhu, Danni Wyatt and Chamari Athapaththu are among the 10 overseas cricketers named to feature in three women’s exhibition games during ongoing PSL. They will help form two playing XIs, namely Amazons and Super Women, to compete next week in Rawalpindi.Bismah Maroof, who recently quit the national captaincy, will lead Amazons and Nida Dar will take the reins of Super Women. Three “women’s festival” games are slotted to be played midway through the PSL, involving local and overseas players, in what will be a case of the PCB testing the waters ahead of a full-fledged women’s T20 league in the future. The fixtures, to be played on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, are all day games at Pindi Stadium and part of double-headers, with men’s PSL games to follow in the evening.The women’s exhibition games will feature a roster of 36 cricketers equally divided into two squads, with the playing line-ups to include a maximum of four and minimum of three foreign players and a minimum of one emerging or Under-19 player. Bismah will have three England players to call on – Lauren Winfield-Hill, Maia Bouchier and Tammy Beaumont – alongside Australia’s Tess Flintoff and Ireland captain Laura Delany. Dar will be leading Sri Lanka captain Athapaththu, England batter Wyatt, fast bowler Jahanara Alam from Bangladesh, South Africa’s Wolvaardt and Tahuhu of New Zealand.

Overseas players for ‘women’s festival’ games

• Chamari Athapaththu

• Danni Wyatt

• Jahanara Alam

• Laura Delany

• Laura Wolvaardt

• Lauren Winfield-Hill

• Lea Tahuhu

• Maia Bouchier

• Tammy Beaumont

• Tess Flintoff

“I am delighted to lead the Amazons team in the three exhibition matches of the women’s league,” Bismah said. “This is a great opportunity for our players to express their talent. The involvement of foreign players in the exhibition matches will provide a perfect opportunity to our players to learn from them.”Wolvaardt top-scored for her country in the final of recently completed Women’s T20 World Cup in South Africa, while Wyatt is the joint-second most-capped player in women’s T20Is, with 143 appearances. The 10 oversees players are from seven nationalities, with eight recently representing their country at the T20 World Cup.The opening game is slotted to celebrate International Women’s Day with the second exhibition match, on Friday, to create awareness about breast cancer in partnership with Pink Ribbon Pakistan.”I am thrilled and excited that the exhibition matches for the Women’s League are taking place,” PCB head of women’s cricket, Tania Mallick, said. “These exhibition matches provide an exposure to our players to exhibit their talent and play at their best. When you play a league with foreign players it provides the local players an opportunity to know about their skill level and it also motivate the players to improve their game. This will go a long way to empower our women, not only as cricketers but will provide them a platform and with an opportunity other than playing cricket.”The PCB had previously planned to have the inaugural women’s league run concurrently with the men’s PSL, but that was shelved. As things stand, the aim is to launch a standalone project later this year. The new league will have four teams and is expected to function as a separate entity, with a different name and identity to the men’s PSL.Amazons: Bismah Maroof (capt), Aliya Riaz, Anam Amin, Areesha Noor, Eyman Fatima, Fatima Khan, Fatima Sana, Ghulam Fatima, Gull Feroza, Kainat Imtiaz, Laura Delany (Ireland), Lauren Winfield-Hill (England), Maia Bouchier (England), Nashra Sundhu, Sadaf Shamas, Tammy Beaumont (England), Tess Flintoff (Australia), Umm-e-HaniSuper Women: Nida Dar (capt) Aimen Anwar, Chamari Athapaththu (Sri Lanka), Danni Wyatt (England), Iram Javed, Jahanara Alam (Bangladesh), Laura Wolvaardt (South Africa), Lea Tahuhu (New Zealand), Muneeba Ali, Natalia Parvaiz, Omaima Sohail, Sadia Iqbal, Shawaal Zulfiqar, Sidra Amin, Sidra Nawaz, Syeda Aroob Shah, Syeda Masooma Zahra, Tuba Hassan