Tag Futebol

Former Everton star Michael Ball has hailed Abdoulaye Doucoure as the club’s most important player.

The French midfielder has enjoyed an exceptional start to the season under the management of Rafael Benitez.

Doucoure has made six appearances in the Premier League and has scored twice, while also providing three assists.

Signed from Watford for a fee of £20m, the midfielder has developed into one of the first names on the team sheet at Goodison Park.

Last season, he played 29 times in the league, and the Toffees struggled immensely when he was injured towards the end of the campaign.

Indeed, he missed a total of eight games between March and May and Everton only won two of them.

And Ball believes that Doucoure can now claim to be the club’s single most important first-team player under the management of Rafael Benitez.

He said: “Doucoure is our key guy. If he’s missing out of that central midfield role, no matter who’s alongside him, we’ll struggle.

“Allan can’t do it by himself, Tom Davies can’t do it by himself, they need a guy like Doucoure to run over every blade of grass and I think one of the fans said he saw him running past his window once when he was playing a game because he’s everywhere.”

Doucoure has a contract until 2023 and is valued at £22.5m by Transfermarkt.

MatériaMais Notícias

Lucas Lima tem em mãos uma proposta do Santos para ficar no clube, mas ainda não respondeu à diretoria e também se recusa a comentar o assunto publicamente. Depois do 0 a 0 diante da Ponte Preta, neste sábado, no Pacaembu, o meia apenas assegurou que fica até dezembro, quando encerra o seu vínculo atual.

– Quero ser feliz onde eu estiver. Fico aqui até o fim do ano. Mas não quero mais falar sobre isso. Quanto menos falar e mais jogar melhor para mim. Tenho que mostrar serviço para estar na Seleção – comentou o jogador.

RelacionadasBrasileirãoCom ‘sorte de Levir’, Santos empata com a Ponte Preta no PacaembuBrasileirão17/06/2017BrasileirãoATUAÇÕES: Lucas Lima vai bem e Vanderlei faz boas defesas de novoBrasileirão17/06/2017BrasileirãoNúmeros da Bola: Estatísticas de Santos 0x0 Ponte PretaBrasileirão17/06/2017

A avaliação do armador é que ele, realmente, está jogando bem. Recém-recuperado de contusão, Lucas Lima deu trabalho à defesa da Ponte Preta nesta noite e acredito que pode evoluir ainda mais.

– Eu me senti bem melhor. Lógico que com um pouco de cansaço. Creio que venho fazendo boas partidas. Dei muitas assistências. É daí para mais a minha atuação. Ainda falta ritmo de jogo, mas vou buscar melhorar isso.

Lucas Lima só lamentou pelo resultado, mas valoriza o goleiro da Ponte Preta pelo ponto que a equipe campineira conseguiu somar nesta noite. O meia acredita que o Peixe criou oportunidades para voltar para o litoral com três pontos e a quarta vitória consecutiva.

– Tivemos algumas chances. Pecamos nas finalizações também. Nosso time está evoluindo e jogou bem, a pegada é essa. O Aranha estava em uma noite feliz e conseguiu salvar – analisou o meio-campista.

– O time deles veio com os 11 aqui atrás, e para jogar no nosso erro.A equipe deles veio com a proposta de defender e conseguiu. Com certeza, vão comemorar esse ponto mais do que a gente. Cada um tem uma maneira de jogar, temos que respeitar a maneira deles.

Chris Gayle’s magnificent 197 ensured West Indies held seventh spot on the rankings after securing a draw in the second Test

The Bulletin by Marc Ellison23-Dec-2008
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

Chris Gayle fell three runs short of a double-century, but did enough to keep West Indies above New Zealand on the rankings © Getty Images
Chris Gayle’s magnificent 197 ensured West Indies held seventh spot on the rankings after securing a draw in the second Test that left the series squared at 0-0. Gayle’s hundred pushed the tourists to 375 in their second innings and despite some nervous moments while Jesse Ryder, Ross Taylor and Jamie How were in full flow, New Zealand were unable to move within reach of the target of 312. Ryder finished with 59 not out as the hosts ended the day at 220 for 5.New Zealand knew there was no hope in continuing the pursuit after Brendon McCullum was given out by Rudi Koertzen after he heard an edge on the way through to Denesh Ramdin. McCullum was unhappy with the decision and asked for a referral, with the third umpire sending the judgment back to Koertzen after the replays were inconclusive. That made McCullum even grumpier and he exited swinging his bat in disgust. The call left New Zealand at 203 for 5 and 6.5 overs later the captains agreed to end the game early.Ryder scored his third consecutive half-century of the series and played sensibly to act as the mainstay of the innings in the end. He looked to bat around Taylor initially and then McCullum before their dismissals. The result kept New Zealand in eighth, one spot above Bangladesh.Taylor was very much the aggressor after tea, slog-sweeping Gayle for two consecutive sixes over midwicket, the second of which landed on the roof of a stand. However, he walked across his stumps and was trapped in front by Suliemann Benn, leaving the field annoyed at the end of his 46 off 50 balls. Taylor and Ryder added a brisk 74 for the fourth wicket, with the pair playing intelligently and rotating the strike as they considered their tactics for the challenging target.How breathed some life into the New Zealand innings by taking 19 off an over from Fidel Edwards, with four sweetly struck boundaries and a straight drive for three. In the next over he went to fifty off 62 balls with consecutive boundaries off Sulieman Benn, but with a distant victory in mind he edged a cut shot to Gayle at first slip. He left after a verbal exchange with Edwards, who earned his eighth wicket of the match.The opener Tim McIntosh (3) became another victim of the referral system after Koertzen had initially turned down a close leg-before shout. West Indies asked to have another look at McIntosh pushing half-forward to a Jerome Taylor inswinger and Koertzen was forced to change his decision. West Indies gained their second wicket from a poor piece of running by How, who pushed to cover and called Daniel Flynn through but he was caught short on 33.The draw was made possible because of Gayle’s marathon innings, which finally came to an end in unlucky fashion just three short of his third double-century. Jeetan Patel dropped short and Gayle looked to pull through the vacant fine-leg position, but got a bottom edge which bounced off McCullum’s right boot and rebounded for a simple catch. It was a sad way for such a fine display to end after Gayle had played in uncharacteristic fashion for a large part of his 514-minute and 396-ball display.He began with his usual flair and panache, going to fifty off 65 balls, before knuckling down when he realised the importance of his contribution. Gayle was brutal against anything short, pulling strongly through and over square-leg and midwicket, as well as driving powerfully straight down the ground. He hit 20 fours and seven sixes and provided a strong late-innings push on the fifth day after they resumed at 278 for 7.Edwards’ long occupation ended shortly after Gayle’s when Patel had him edging to Taylor at first slip for 20. The partnership between Gayle and Edwards was extremely important as they added 70 in 170 balls and took the game further from the hosts. Patel was the best bowler for the hosts, taking 5 for 110, while Daniel Vettori and James Franklin grabbed two wickets apiece.

Sunderland’s current stint in League One stems back to their last relegation from the Premier League at the end of the 2016/17 campaign.

The Black Cats were sent down to the Championship in 2017, before failing to beat the drop for a second successive season and dropping into the third tier – where they have been ever since.

What went wrong that year? Was it spending £18m on Didier Ndong? Was it the appointment of David Moyes? What about the signing of Papy Djilobodji for £8.55m from Chelsea?

It would be ridiculous to pin their relegation down to just one factor, but there was one noticeable departee who has since gone on to have an impressive career – Sebastian Coates.

The former Liverpool central defender, aged 26 at the time, was sold to Portuguese giants Sporting for a reported fee of £4.25m. He had played 16 Premier League games the previous year as Sam Allardyce led the club to survival ahead of their local rivals Newcastle, whilst also bidding farewell to Norwich and Aston Villa.

All three of those clubs are now playing Premier League football in the present day and Coates has established himself as a defensive powerhouse at the back for Sporting.

At the time of writing, Coates has won one league title, one Portuguese Cup and two Portuguese League Cups with the club he left Sunderland for, racking up over 200 appearances and playing in the Europa League and Champions League.

Per Transfermarkt, his current market value stands at £12.6m. This is a 196% increase from the £4.25m Sunderland sold the Wearside flop for in 2016.

Therefore, Coates may have been a player that the Black Cats let get away too soon. He has shown, since leaving the club, that he can be a solid defender at a very good level, with his soaring value in recent years highlighting this.

Sunderland’s 2016/17 season may not have been saved by keeping the central defender around, but his form for Sporting in recent years suggests that they could have fared better if they managed him correctly and got the best out of him.

AND in other news, Speakman must avoid January howler with £6.5k-p/w SAFC dynamo who “knows League One”…

بشكل رسمي ودع أهلي جدة دوري كأس الأمير محمد بن سلمان لموسم 2021-2022 عقب تعادله سلبيًا أمام الشباب بملعب الأمير فيصل بن فهد “الملز” مساء الإثنين في الجولة 30 والأخيرة من عمر المسابقة.

الأهلي رفع رصيده للنقطة 32 في المركز الخامس عشر في جدول الترتيب ليفشل في إنقاذ نفسه من خطر الهبوط

اقرأ أيضا..فيديو | إيجالو يسجل هدف الهلال الثاني أمام الفيصلي

وكان الحزم ودع المسابقة بشكل رسمي بتواجده في المركز السادس عشر والأخير برصيد 17 نقطة.

وانضم الفيصلي للحزم والأهلي، ليودع الدوري السعودي هذا الموسم عقب خسارة بهدفين لهدف أمام الهلال في جولة الحسم ليتوقف عند 33 نقطة بالتساوي مع الباطن لكن أفضلية فارق المواجهات كانت لمصلحة فريق الباطن. الأندية الثلاثة الهابطة من الدوري السعودي موسم 2021-2022

الأهلي
الفيصلي
الحزم

The Transfer Tavern’s EFL spy has suggested that Birmingham consider signing Cardiff centre-back Curtis Nelson.

Despite ending the last campaign with two heavy defeats, Blues boss Lee Bowyer has already made a huge impact during his short spell at St Andrew’s.

And having led Birmingham to Championship safety, Bowyer will now be hoping to strengthen in the transfer window in hope of improving on their 18th-place finish.

The Blues manager has already been a busy man this summer, adding nine players to his squad, but the majority of those have been in attacking areas following their serious struggles in front of goal in 2020-2021.

Birmingham scored just 37 times, although they suffered equally as much in a defensive sense, shipping 61 goals in the Championship.

With that in mind, the EFL insider exclusively told The Transfer Tavern that Nelson, who’s been a regular for the Bluebirds since moving from Oxford, could be a good addition for Bowyer’s squad:

“With Birmingham changing a lot of things behind the scenes you could see them surprise a few this season with Bowyer.

“Good centre-backs at Championship level cost very good money but with Birmingham being a big attraction, you can see you Premier League players looking to get game time there.

“However, Curtis Nelson from Cardiff is an experienced one, and could fit well.”

Manchester City begin their Premier League title defence with a trip to Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday afternoon, and Pep Guardiola should unleash Jack Grealish from the start.

The new £100m signing was limited to an appearance from the bench against Leicester City in the Community Shield last weekend, and whilst the Citizens would go on to lose that game, Grealish showed glimpses of what he will offer City with his dribbling and passing technique.

As City will be without Kevin De Bruyne and Phil Foden for their trip to North London, the England international could be the man to unlock Nuno Espirito Santo’s defence, as only the Belgian contributed more key passes per game than City’s new signing in the top-flight last season.

You could also argue that the former Aston Villa man will have a point to prove against Spurs, after seeing a move to the Lilywhites break down in 2018 due to Daniel Levy’s refusal to pay the Villans’ £40m asking price, which would have perhaps proved to have been a bargain, in hindsight, considering his superb form since then.

[snack-amp-story url=”https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/read-the-latest-manchester-city-transfer-rumours-and-news” title=”Read the latest Manchester City transfer rumours and news!”]

Whilst the Spanish manager has several options on the wing available to him, Raheem Sterling didn’t feature at all in pre-season due to England reaching the final of the European Championships this summer, with Foden absent through injury for at least another month.

The City academy graduate sung Grealish’s praises earlier this week and suggested that he was looking forward to being in the same side as him, saying:

“He’s fearless on the ball. He can just change a game on his own, so I believe that he’s a really special player and he’s going to be key for us.”

[freshpress-quiz id=“577936”]

Spurs are arguably weakest at right-back, with both Matt Doherty and Serge Aurier struggling to perform last season, so the £58.5m-rated beast could cause them all sorts of problems down the left and be Guardiola’s game-changer, in a game that City should be targeting three points from if they are to win the title again this season.

United set the marker on Saturday, so City must spark a reaction here – the inclusion of Grealish could well be key to their hopes of achieving that.

And, in other news… Guardiola provides injury update, City fans will be fuming

John Ward reports on the second day of the Championship match between Worcestershire and Glamorgan at New Road

John Ward at Worcester18-Jul-2008Glamorgan 136 for 4 (Rees 59*) trail Worcestershire 457 for 8 (Smith 99, Davies 83, Mitchell 78, Solanki 69, Moore 57) by 321 runs
ScorecardAfter conceding a total of 457 to Worcestershire, Glamorgan found their top-order batting shattered by a remarkable spell of genuine pace bowling from the home side’s overseas debutant, Imran Arif. In his first six overs in first-class cricket, the 24-year-old former Yorkshire Academy bowler, born in Kashmir and with a Pakistani passport, ripped out three top-order wickets to give his team a fair chance of winning this match – weather permitting.In the morning, Worcestershire continued very capably from their overnight score of 307 for 4. Overnight batsmen Ben Smith and Steven Davies again had to face some good deliveries early on from Jason Gillespie – who again had no luck – but otherwise they had no problem in taking control of the bowling. Davies, who played some superb off drives in particular, dominated the partnership, gaining steadily on Smith, and one wondered if he might beat him to the century.In the event, neither was to reach the landmark. Smith moved smoothly through the nineties, with Davies about 20 behind, until he reached 99. Then came an unexpectedly awkward delivery just outside the off stump from the persevering seamer James Harris, that bounced at some pace and, caught in two minds, Smith appeared to decide too late not to play it and was caught at first slip. The pair had added 143 for the fifth wicket, and Davies soon followed, driving a hard catch straight at cover, where Gareth Rees held it at the second attempt.After lunch, Kabir Ali made 12 before being caught by Mark Wallace at the wicket down the leg side, sweeping at the left-arm spinner Dean Cosker, and by now Worcestershire were looking for a declaration. This was not immediately obvious, as Simon Jones bats the same way in most circumstances. His 25 off 23 balls was very much block-and-slog, containing as it did four sixes, a single, and 18 dot balls. He got off the mark with a six off none other than Gillespie, over long-on, and followed with three more off Cosker, the biggest being over cow corner over the trees into the car park. Going for a fifth, he was held off a skier near the midwicket boundary.Worcestershire immediately declared, with Gareth Batty undefeated with a sedate 18. Their 457 for 8 was their highest total of the season to date. Harris and Cosker took three wickets each, with Alex Wharf the most disappointing bowler, going for more than five an over.Richard Grant began Glamorgan’s reply positively, with some good strokes and some fortuitous ones, mostly off Jones, who was quick but a little erratic at times. At the other end Kabir bowled five tight overs for five runs before Rees off drove him superbly for four. At 42, Grant (27) was strangled down the leg side off Jones, and soon after Imran was called upon to bowl his first over for the first time. He managed two balls before a drizzle started and an early tea was called.It took almost two hours for him to complete that over, and he showed some impressive pace. He struck in his third over, as David Hemp (3) flashed outside the off stump and edged a catch to the keeper. Michael Powell soon followed, after a handsome cover drive for four, also caught by the keeper, a harder one at the second attempt, diving to his right. Two balls later, Jamie Dalrymple no doubt hoped to get away with four leg-byes; unfortunately for him, he was instead adjudged lbw without scoring, and Glamorgan were in trouble at 56 for 4. Imran had taken three wickets in 11 balls; in his spell, he took 3 for 22 in six overs.Not wanting to burn him out, Vikram Solanki rested him after this, and this enabled Rees and Mark Wallace to bat with considerable freedom, the former running to his fifty off 105 balls, after a slow start. It was surprising that the captain did not give Imran even two more overs before the belated close of play – a combination of rain and an abysmal over rate – as by the close the pair had added a further 80 runs with little difficulty.

Brentford now look set to make a new bid for Celtic defender Kristoffer Ajer, according to Football Insider.

The Lowdown: Ajer not happy; Celtic sticking to their guns

Ajer has made it clear this summer that he wants to leave the club, however, the Hoops haven’t made it easy.

Norwich and Bayer Leverkusen had offers in the region of £10m turned down, whereas Brentford saw a bid which could’ve totalled to £15m rejected.

The 23-year-old was left furious at the situation earlier this week after a new £20m valuation emerged, but it seems as if the Bees haven’t given up hope of signing the Norwegian just yet.

[web_stories_embed url=”https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/web-stories/celtic-updates-9/” title=”Celtic updates!” poster=”” width=”360″ height=”600″ align=”none”]

The Latest: Source shares update

According to Football Insider, Brentford are returning with a new offer for Ajer.

A £15m bid will include a higher guaranteed payment, with this story coming after Celtic agreed on a deal with Rubin Kazan for centre-back Carl Starfelt.

You’d expect Starfelt could well end up replacing Ajer, should both moves officially go through.

The Verdict: McKay seems to have worked his magic

With no director of football in place yet, CEO Dominic McKay will of course be at the heart of discussions regarding Ajer’s Parkhead future.

The club have rejected three bids, two of which were worth £10m and another worth an initial £12m.

Should they now accept a fee closer to an initial £15m, McKay seems to have worked his magic by getting more than those three figures upfront, allowing cash to be invested towards the likes of Starfelt.

Of course, the Hoops may still decide to turn the new Bees bid down once again, but McKay is continuing to get clubs to increase their bids closer to the club’s demands.

Remember, Ajer is into the final year of his Celtic deal, so it’s a risky game to play by McKay, but one which could come with a huge pay-off if Brentford and others get desperate.

In other news: Celtic now want to sign £6.3m-rated defender as well as Starfelt; talks already opened. 

West Bromwich Albion have been dealt a blow in their efforts to bring Harry Wilson to The Hawthorns this summer.

What’s the talk?

That’s according to a report by Football Insider, who claim that newly-promoted Premier League side Brentford have made an approach to Liverpool regarding a deal for the winger, with an offer expected to be made in the coming days.

It has been reported that Jurgen Klopp’s side would be willing to part with the 24-year-old in the summer transfer window, as long as a buyer meets the club’s £15m asking price for the Wales international.

West Brom and Fulham were both believed to be keeping tabs on the situation of the forward ahead of a potential move this summer, however, with a top-flight side now firmly interested in his services, it would appear both teams will struggle to get a deal over the line for Wilson.

Ismael will be gutted

With Wilson having proven to be a fantastic player in the Championship in recent years, the fact that a deal to bring the winger to West Brom now looks unlikely is sure to have left Valerien Ismael gutted.

Indeed, during his most recent loan spell in the second tier with Cardiff City, the £15.3m-rated man highly impressed over his 37 Championship appearances for Mick McCarthy’s side, scoring seven goals, registering 11 assists and creating 11 big chances for his teammates.

These returns saw the man Marcelo Bielsa dubbed an “exceptional” player earn a rather remarkable average SofaScore match rating of 7.20, ranking him as the Bluebirds’ second-best performer in the league last season.

These impressive stats only add to the £41k-per-week forward’s impressive returns in the Championship, having scored seven goals and provided four assists over 13 appearances for Hull City and 16 goals and four assists over 43 appearances for Derby County.

As such, with Ismael hoping to build a West Brom side in the summer transfer window that is capable of securing an immediate return to the top flight next season, the addition of Wilson would have certainly appeared to provide the club’s chances of going on to achieve this feat with a huge boost.

However, with Brentford now appearing to be leading the race for the 24-year-old this summer, the Frenchman may well have to turn his focus elsewhere in the transfer market in order to add more goals to his Albion side.

In other news: Get it done: West Brom plotting swoop for “quality” £5m machine, Ismael would love him