All posts by h716a5.icu

Tottenham Hotspur are set to continue their revolution under Ange Postecoglou, with one more creative target having piqued their interest.

What's the latest on Hakan Calhanoglu to Tottenham?

The latest player in question is Hakan Calhanoglu, with his links to a north London switch coming courtesy of InterLive.it.

Appreciated by the Lilywhites among other English clubs, the report suggests that Inter Milan must keep an eye out on the growing Premier League interest, with special reference to Spurs.

This is due to the €35m (£30m) bid they could be set to make, in an effort to force the hand of the Nerazzurri.

Would Hakan Calhanoglu improve Tottenham?

With a past as a leading attacking midfielder, but having since reverted into more of a well-rounded deep-lying playmaker of late, the Turkey international could offer impeccable balance to Postecoglou's new-look side, and hand James Maddison a perfect new partner with which to kickstart his career at this club alongside.

The early parts of his career in the number ten role have afforded this 29-year-old magician remarkable technical prowess, however with a work rate and defensive know-how that few would have predicted to emerge, Calhanoglu has arguably never been as influential as he is right now.

He starred in the heart of Simone Inzaghi's side that reached the Champions League final, whilst also thriving in the Serie A too.

In fact, his 7.31 average rating in the league was the highest in the entire division. This was a figure largely buoyed by his nine goal contributions, 88% pass accuracy, 2.2 key passes and 1.5 tackles per game, via Sofascore.

This has hardly been a surprising season though, as former boss Stefano Pioli always expected big things from him. Especially given he had branded him a "leader on the pitch and "an intelligent player" only in 2020.

Having slowly slipped further down the pitch as he has grown older, it is hard not to draw comparisons with another ageing creator in Christian Eriksen.

The Denmark international spent seven fine years in north London, recording 159 goal contributions across 305 games, and becoming a fine fan favourite before his eventual exit to the Milan club in question. The 2016/17 season arguably saw him at his offensive best, with his 7.46 average rating feeding into the eight goals and 15 assists he would record in the league, via Sofascore.

Given the 31-year-old now plies his trade at Manchester United, in a role similar to the one Calhanoglu occupies for Inter, these similarities are only intensified.

To place him alongside Maddison, who would offer a much-needed injection of goals to the Spurs midfield, could see them strike up a fine partnership which is both balanced enough to defend, but potent enough to threaten opposition defences.

Last term the former Leicester City man notched ten goals and nine assists in a league campaign where his team would fall to the drop. However, averaging 1.7 tackles per game suggest he is more than capable of operating alongside another, to share both the offensive and defensive workload.

As Postecoglou has earned success in the past by deploying two attack-minded eights within his systems, these two creative leaders could provide the ideal balance to spearhead a press and back up the imperious Harry Kane.

Ravi Shastri, the former team director, felt that the current compensation structure for India’s cricketers left a lot to be desired

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Apr-2017Former team director Ravi Shastri has issued heavy criticism of the recently revised payment structure for India’s cricketers.Two weeks ago, the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators that now runs the BCCI had doubled the Grade A contracts from INR 1 crore to INR 2 crore (USD 300,000 approx). However, it was later learnt that the hike did not meet the player’s demands. Shastri felt similarly underwhelmed. “Two crore is nothing, two crore is peanuts,” he told reporters in Mumbai.The major point of contention centred around the current method of revenue sharing. The board receives a lion’s share of its income through television rights and 70% of it goes to the state associations. Additionally, the players were not pleased that their salaries were lower than counterparts in Australia and England.Sources suggested that Joe Root and Steven Smith were paid INR 8 crore to INR 12 crore. In comparison, the Grade A contracted players in the Indian team – Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Ajinkya Rahane, M Vijay and MS Dhoni – were on INR 2 crore retainers.”The grade contracts of a Test player should be the highest.” Shastri said. “Pujara should be the highest, on par with the top players. Your A grade contracts should be massive. I know it has been increased by double but there is room for [more].”An ‘A’ grade cricketer like Pujara should get a massive amount where he is not bothered whether he plays IPL or not. In fact, he will be happy, he can say ‘I will play two months of county cricket’.”There had been no changes to India’s retainer contracts since 2010. The first steps to the current revisions were taken earlier this month when head coach Anil Kumble met with the CoA on behalf of the players.

Ravindra Jadeja, Cheteshwar Pujara and M Vijay have been included in Grade A category of annual contracts announced by the BCCI today

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Mar-20171:46

Kalra: Test performers not shortchanged

The BCCI’s contract list for 2016-17

Grade A (Rs 2 crore): Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, R Ashwin, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Ravindra Jadeja, M Vijay.
In: Pujara (moved up), Jadeja (up), Vijay (up).
Grade B (Rs 1 crore): Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Wriddhiman Saha, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuvraj Singh.
In: Rahul (moved up), Saha (up), Bumrah, Yuvraj.
Out: Suresh Raina, M Vijay (moved up), Pujara (up), Rayudu (down), Dhawan (down).
Grade C (Rs 50 lakh): Shikhar Dhawan, Ambati Rayudu, Amit Mishra, Manish Pandey, Axar Patel, Karun Nair, Hardik Pandya, Ashish Nehra, Kedar Jadhav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Parthiv Patel, Jayant Yadav, Mandeep Singh, Dhawal Kulkarni, Shardul Thakur, Rishabh Pant.
In: Dhawan (moved down), Rayudu (down), Pandey, Nair, Pandya, Nehra, Jadhav, Chahal, Patel, Jayant, Singh, Thakur, Pant.
Out: Stuart Binny, Mohit Sharma, Varun Aaron, Karn Sharma, Harbhajan Singh, S Aravind, Jadeja (moved up), Saha (up), Rahul (up).

Ravindra Jadeja, Cheteshwar Pujara and M Vijay have broken into the Grade-A category of the new annual contracts announced by the BCCI today. The trio joins Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, R Ashwin and Ajinkya Rahane in the top bracket, the upgrade recognition of a prolific home season. The annual retainership for this grade of contract has also increased to INR 2 crore (USD 300,000 approx), double what was offered to Grade-A contract holders when the previous list was out in November 2015. The new contracts are for a year from October 1, 2016, to September 30, 2017.The BCCI has also doubled the retainers for the remaining two categories. Players in Grade B will now earn INR 1 crore (USD 150,000 approx) while those in Grade C will get INR 50 lakh (USD 75,000) per year. The match fee per ODI and T20I has also been increased* from INR 4 lakh to INR 6 lakh (USD 9,000 approx) per ODI and from INR 2 lakh to INR 3 lakh (USD 4,500 approx) per T20I. For Test-match fees, the BCCI has stuck to the decision taken last October to increase the amount from INR 7 lakh (USD 10,000 approx) to INR 15 lakh (USD 23,000 approx).The biggest beneficiaries in the new contracts are the Saurashtra pair of Jadeja and Pujara. The hike for Jadeja, who moved past Ashwin to become the No. 1 Test bowler after the Ranchi Test, is eight times his previous contract, which was worth INR 25 lakh (Grade C). Pujara, who plays only Tests and is currently No. 2 on the batting rankings, will get four times his previous retainer of INR 50 lakh (Grade B).The highest-profile name to miss out on the list of 32 is Suresh Raina; he was not given a contract, having been slotted into Grade B the previous time.KL Rahul and Wriddhiman Saha have moved up into Grade B, while limited-overs specialists Jasprit Bumrah and Yuvraj Singh are awarded contracts (both Grade B) after not featuring in the previous list. Shikhar Dhawan and Ambati Rayudu have moved down from Grade B to C.The decision to revamp the central contracts and match fees was taken by the BCCI management in conjunction with the Supreme-Court appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA). Kohli had conveyed to the BCCI top brass last October that the players wanted their central contracts revised. Reportedly, Kohli met with CoA head Vinod Rai earlier this month, after the Bangalore Test against Australia, to offer his thoughts. The issue was also discussed in several meetings among the CoA, BCCI chief executive officer Rahul Johri and MV Sridhar, the board’s game development manager.Vinod Rai, the chairman of the CoA, said the revision of the central contracts was long overdue. “From 2010 onwards it [the central contracts] has not been been reviewed. So we have taken inputs from lots of people and we have reviewed it,” Rai said. Ramachandra Guha, part of the four-member CoA, said the hike was also an “acknowldgement” of India climbing to No. 1 in Tests.An important consideration for the BCCI in revising the contracts was to safeguard the interests of players like Pujara, who do not play in all three formats and lucrative tournaments like the IPL.*18.00GMT, March 22: The article had previously said the ODI and T20 match fees had been doubled.

Manchester United are yet to confirm their first signing of the summer with Mason Mount's arrival at Old Trafford set to be announced imminently, but now the club have agreed terms with another transfer target.

What's the latest on Man United's interest in Sofyan Amrabat?

According to La Nazione (via Sport Witness), Man United have agreed personal terms with Fiorentina midfielder Sofyan Amrabat.

As per the report, it is claimed that the Red Devils are strongly interested in signing the player this summer and have already found an agreement with Amrabat but will need to convince his Serie A club to part ways with their star, which would cost €30m (£26m) this summer.

Who would Amrabat replace in the Man United team?

Whilst Erik ten Hag's top priority will be to strengthen the centre-forward role ahead of next season, there is no doubt that the midfield personnel could benefit from a refresh this summer.

Casemiro, Christian Eriksen and Fred are all in their 30s at this point, so injecting some more youthful long-term prospects in the centre of the pitch would be advantageous in the manager's pursuit to get Man United consistently winning trophies and challenging for the Premier League title again.

As a result, the signing of Amrabat would be a great piece of business for Ten Hag if the club can reach an agreement with Fiorentina, as he could be a worthy competitor for Fred in the deep-lying role alongside Casemiro next season.

When comparing the Serie A star with his Brazilian positional peer last season, Amrabat comfortably outperformed Fred in a number of key attributes including pass completion rate (88.8% v 79.1%), percentage of tacklers dribbled (55.2% v 39.5%), successful take-ons (70.6% v 37.5%), progressive passes (176 v 76) and ball recoveries (157 v 127), as per FBref.

This demonstrates that the ball-playing defensive midfielder – hailed "outstanding" by Joe Cole – would provide Ten Hag with a much more solid and consistent option to bring into midfield next season and a player who can build a much-needed partnership with Casemiro in front of the back four that can be trusted.

According to WhoScored, Fred was the seventh lowest-rated player (6.48) in the entire squad last season and was slammed by Roy Keane after his lack of discipline gave Kevin de Bruyne a free-kick in a dangerous position which ultimately killed their hopes of winning the FA Cup at Wembley last month.

"Fred had Kevin De Bruyne where he wants him," the former Man United captain told ITV Sport.

"De Bruyne has his back to goal and then Fred fouls him. It's the height of stupidity. But we've seen that from him so many times over the years."

With that being said, it would be a major coup if Man United could secure the services of Amrabat to bolster the midfield options, as he is the exact profile of player that the team is crying out for and could significantly improve how clinical the midfield needs to be when it matters most.

Everton could potentially complete the signing of Leeds United striker Rodrigo this summer, according to an update from journalist Paul Brown.

Have Everton been linked with Rodrigo move?

The Blues remained in the Premier League by the skin of their teeth last season, staying up on the final day after a nerve-shredding 1-0 victory at home to Bournemouth.

After two poor years in the top flight, it is essential that Everton now kick on and look to finish higher up the table, but new signings will be required in order for that to happen, with quality too often lacking all over the pitch of late.

Rodrigo is one player who has been linked with a summer move to Elland Road, having suffered relegation with Leeds United last month. It is highly unlikely that he will stay on and play in the Championship in 2023/24, so a new challenge will appeal to him instead, with his current deal expiring next summer.

Are Everton being backed to sign Rodrigo?

Speaking to Give Me Sport, Brown talked up the idea of Everton making a move for Rodrigo during the summer transfer window, saying they would be able to fund his services:

"Rodrigo, clearly, is the kind of signing that Everton could currently fund. Until new investment comes in and the board is properly reshuffled, it's difficult for Everton to commit huge funding to any kind of transfer at the moment.

"That is an interesting one. He does have a pretty good goalscoring record in the Premier League, particularly if you compare him to Everton's current strikers."

Rodrigo could be a strong short-term signing for Everton, providing Sean Dyche with the extra firepower that is needed, considering they only scored 34 goals in 38 Premier League games last season, highlighting the importance of bringing in more natural goalscorers.

At 32, the £100,000-a-week Leeds man isn't getting any younger, but eight goals in 28 caps for Spain outlines his pedigree as a footballer, and he is still at a level where he can be a key man for the Blues for a couple of years. He was also described as "absolutely sensational" by Gary Neville last season.

Of course, the hope is that Everton become more financially strong this summer if the ownership issue changes, but for now, players of Rodrigo's ilk are ideal, with his experience and eye for goal both weapons that can aid Dyche's side and help them pull away from the relegation zone.

Sri Lanka’s chief selector has said that the team’s failure to adjust quickly to foreign conditions is a hurdle to their success

Andrew Fidel Fernando08-Feb-2017Players’ failure to adjust to foreign conditions – rather than sweeping flaws in the domestic system – are to blame for the Sri Lanka’s plight in South Africa, chief selector Sanath Jayasuriya has said. Sri Lanka won the T20 series 2-1, but have been clean-swept in the Tests, and are presently 0-4 in the five-match ODI series. Until Tuesday, no Sri Lanka batsman had made a century on tour, and only three half-centuries were hit in the Test series.”We should be able to play under any conditions, not just at home,” said Jayasuriya. “There’s no point giving excuses or blaming our domestic structure after we lose a series. Your success depends on how fast you adjust to these conditions but sadly we have taken too long to do that.”Sri Lanka’s domestic structure has been the subject of increasing criticism over recent years, not least from recently retired players. It has been repeatedly claimed that the Premier League Tournament – the main first-class competition, which features 14 teams – is too inflated to allow for adequate concentration of talent. It has also been suggested that domestic surfaces are too spin-friendly. Fourteen of the 15 top wicket-takers of the ongoing Premier League Tournament are spinners – the previous season’s final statistics had laid out a similar breakdown.”I wouldn’t say there’s a dearth of talent but we don’t produce those champion cricketers as much as we did in the past,” Jayasuriya said. “I don’t think it’s a problem with the domestic structure or the school structure, because it’s the very system that produced all those champion cricketers in the past. So, we need to assess this situation and find out where the problem is and correct it.”The problem I see here is not lack of talent but their inability to adjust quickly to situations and handle the pressure. You can’t play cricket, if you can’t absorb pressure.”Sri Lanka have, nevertheless, unearthed cricketers the team’s coaches and managers believe are capable of becoming world-class players. Two of those, Kusal Mendis and Lahiru Kumara, had had substantial exposure to overseas conditions before they were picked in the national side – Mendis having spent a season playing club cricket in Middlesex, and Kumara having toured England with the Under-19s side. Jayasuriya said this kind of exposure may mark Sri Lanka’s route to better overseas performance on future tours.”If we can do a player programme at least at the Under-19 level that will do a world of good for the players,” he said. “We sent Kusal Mendis to England and we all know how well he performed in England last year. We’ve also seen South African players being sent to India to get use to spin wickets. This is one area we could really look at in the future.”We really need to find a way to play outside of our comfort zone. We do better in our own conditions and win matches, but when we go out, we struggle. If we don’t change this situation fast, we will only be winning matches at home.”

Everton may have finally found Anthony Gordon's successor, with the Toffees interested in Manchester United winger Anthony Elanga.

Everton latest transfer news – Anthony Elanga price tag revealed

After narrowly avoiding relegation from the Premier League for the second straight season, the blue side of Mersey are looking to significantly strengthen the side ahead of what will be Sean Dyche's first full season at the club.

Recently relegated Leeds United are reportedly set to be raided by Everton, with FootballTransfers revealing that talks are underway over signing both Jack Harrison and Wilfried Gnonto from the Whites.

The two aren't the only wingers that Dyche's side is interested in, though, with United's Elanga also on their radar.

Having failed to sign the 21-year-old on loan in January, it seems Everton are once again pursuing him, reports the Liverpool ECHO, who claim that he will be available for as little at £10m.

How does Anthony Elanga compare to Anthony Gordon?

With a talent of Elanga's calibre on the horizon, the Toffees could have finally found a worthy replacement for Gordon following his departure to Newcastle United in January.

In the Sweden international, Dyche may have found an attacker who could replicate the level of output that Gordon brought to the team, with the mooted transfer target receiving some illustrious praise in the past.

Indeed, the United academy graduate has been favourably compared to Cristiano Ronaldo by former West Ham United defender Anton Ferdinand – speaking on talkSPORT's Kick-Off show, he said:

"He looks like one of the only young players who actually tapped into Ronaldo.

"His movement was Ronaldo-esque, when Ronaldo was younger."

Elanga plays a very similar style to the Newcastle dynamo, with the two taking on an opposition defender and successfully dribbling past them at a similar rate.

Elanga successfully dribbled past opposition defenders with 33.3% of his attempts, while Gordon put up the exact same number following his move to the Magpies in January.

Both wingers love to carry the ball forward, with the United gem doing so 12 times in limited appearances this year, while Gordon did so 48 times for both the Toffees and Newcastle throughout the campaign.

The two also put up very similar numbers in terms of creativity, with Elanga successfully completing 76% of his passes for United during his 16 league appearances, while Gordon completed 75.1% himself for Everton before he departed for St James' Park.

Offensively, the Toffees really struggled last season, with only Wolverhampton Wanderers scoring less than their 34 goals in the Premier League, and Gordon's departure in January only made things worse, so adding a "Ronaldo-esque" talent like Elanga to finally fill the hole he left would do wonders to Dyche's chances of avoiding another relegation battle next season.

Smriti Mandhana had hurt her knee in the Women’s Big Bash League and won’t be able to play for India in the World Cup Qualifiers in February

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Jan-2017Allrounder Mona Meshram has replaced the injured Smriti Mandhana in India’s 14-member squad for the Women’s World Cup qualifiers, which begin in Colombo from February 7.Mandhana, who represented Brisbane Heat in the Women’s Big Bash League, had hurt her knee during a match against Melbourne Renegades on January 15.Updated squad for WC qualifiers

Mithali Raj (capt), Ekta Bisht, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Jhulan Goswami, Thirush Kamini, Harmanpreet Kaur, Veda Krishnamurthy, Mona Meshram, Shikha Pandey, Sukanya Parida, Poonam Yadav, Deepti Sharma, Devika Vaidya, Sushma Verma (wk)
Out: Smriti Mandhana

Meshram was originally left out for the World Cup qualifiers though she was part of the ODI squad in India’s most recent series – against West Indies in November. She has played eight 50-over matches for her country having made her debut in June 2012.India play a practice game against South Africa on February 5 before they start their World Cup qualifiers campaign against hosts Sri Lanka on February 7.The tournament also includes Pakistan, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, Ireland, Scotland, Thailand and Papua New Guinea. The top four teams go through to the World Cup, joining Australia, England, New Zealand and West Indies who automatically qualified through the ICC Women’s Championship. World Cup 2017 will be held from 26 June to 23 July in England.

Celtic have suffered a blow in their pursuit of Leighton Clarkson, with news from Football Insider reporter David Lynch that Aberdeen are now leading the race for the player's signature.

Are Celtic linked with Leighton Clarkson?

The current Liverpool player was given the chance to shine out on loan in the 2022/23 season, joining up with Aberdeen on a short-term basis to get valuable first-team minutes. He went on to manage more games than ever before in his career, featuring on 34 occasions as the side finished in third place. The 21-year-old also managed a haul of five goals and eight assists along the way – career best totals for the youngster.

Prior to his spell in the Scottish Premiership, his only other gametime had come during a loan with Blackburn. He managed only seven league games for the Championship side though and couldn't produce any goals or assists.

Given plenty of minutes in Scotland, he impressed many and there is now a race for his signature. Celtic are one of the clubs that had been mentioned as having a keen interest in the player this summer, with the Hoops eager to add him to their ranks.

Even though the club have been managerless, Brendan Rodgers is now close to securing the job and he could have been one of the first signings to arrive for the new boss.

However, according to a report from Football Insider, Celtic – and perhaps Rodgers – will not get their wish.

That's because Aberdeen are believed to now be leading the race to sign him above the league winners and it means that they could now miss out on his signature. Having had the player on loan last season, the Dons have the advantage of knowing the youngster well and it would likely not take much for him to slot back in.

Has Leighton Clarkson played for Liverpool?

The 21-year-old has never managed to play in the Premier League for Liverpool and it now appears that he could be off in pursuit of regular first-team football. It's unclear how much he would cost the interested parties, although CIES Football Observatory suggest his value is around 5 million Euros (or £4.2m).

It means that any deal would likely not break the bank for Clarkson and he could be a bargain deal for any club that does sign him. Considering the player is now experienced in Scotland and has the ability to both score and assist in the league, he looks like he could be a solid purchase for any club – and Celtic likely wouldn't be happy to therefore see him join Aberdeen.

The India offspinner opened up a 37-point lead over the second-placed Rangana Herath in the ICC Test rankings among bowlers after taking 12 wickets against England

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Dec-2016R Ashwin, the India offspinner, opened up a 37-point lead over second-placed Rangana Herath after taking match figures of 12 for 167 in the Mumbai Test.Ashwin now has 904 points, the second best by an offspinner after Muttiah Muralitharan (920), and the fifth-best among spinners after Tony Lock (912), Derek Underwood (907) and Shane Warne (905).ICC top five rankings

Test batsmen: 1. Steven Smith 2. Virat Kohli 3. Joe Root 4. Kane Williamson 5. Hashim Amla

Test bowlers: 1. R Ashwin 2. Rangana Herath 3. Dale Steyn 4. James Anderson 5. Josh Hazlewood

Test allrounders: 1. R Ashwin 2. Shakib Al Hasan 3 Ben Stokes 4. Ravindra Jadeja 5 Moeen Ali

Ashwin, who has scored 239 runs in six innings, including three half-centuries, in the ongoing Test series, also consolidated his position as the No.1 allrounder with 483 points, 78 ahead of the second-placed Shakib Al Hasan.Ashwin’s spin partner Ravindra Jadeja is ranked fourth in the allrounder’s list, just one point behind Ben Stokes’ 341. Jadeja’s six wickets in the Mumbai Test meant he rose to a career-best sixth in the bowlers’ list.India Test captain Virat Kohli, meanwhile, reached a career-best second rank among batsmen after his 235 in Mumbai. The knock earned him 53 points and an average of over 50 in Test cricket too. Australia captain Steven Smith occupies the top spot with 897 points, 11 ahead of Kohli.Kohli, who is also placed second in ODIs, and first in T20 internationals, has the chance to secure the top ranking in all three formats next year.India opener M Vijay and offspinning allrounder Jayant Yadav also moved up the batting rankings following their centuries in Mumbai. Vijay jumped up five places to 24th while Jayant vaulted to 56th from 87th.