All posts by h716a5.icu

Leeds employee Noel Whelan has been left extremely impressed by the durability of goalkeeper Illan Meslier, Football Insider report.

The Lowdown: Meslier’s recovery

Meslier has kept up his record of starting every Premier League game this season, despite suffering an injury against Wolves last month.

[web_stories_embed url=”https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/web-stories/latest-leeds-united-updates/” title=”Latest Leeds United updates!” poster=”https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/cropped-2022-04-02T155252Z_391313781_UP1EI421841M9_RTRMADP_3_SOCCER-ENGLAND-LEE-SOU-REPORT.jpg” width=”360″ height=”600″ align=”none”]

The 22-year-old, who has made the most saves in the Premier League this season, has featured against Southampton and Watford following the international break.

He was going to miss the win at Vicarage Road due to his hip issue, however, Jesse Marsch revealed after the win that Meslier made a ‘miraculous’ recovery 24 hours before the game to start.

The Latest: Whelan’s comments

Former Leeds striker Whelan, who is now an employee of the club, labelled Meslier as ‘an important player’ and hailed his mentality regarding that miracle recovery.

“He’s a really young, talented player.

“It’s good to see him hungry to play, no matter what the circumstances – and that’s the mentality with the young players all through this squad.

“Everyone wants to be a part of this because they know that Jesse Marsch will be taking stock ahead of next season.

“He’s such an important player for us, and it’s good to see him out there after that injury worry and getting a clean sheet.”

The Verdict: Fine for Palace?

Leeds aren’t in action now until April 25 when they travel to Crystal Palace, so the enforced break appears to have come at a good time for Meslier and the Whites.

Adam Forshaw missed the win at Watford with a calf strain, while Junior Firpo and Jamie Shackleton appear to be close to making a return to training.

Liam Cooper and Kalvin Phillips will also get the chance to build up their fitness with no game this weekend, so it does look as if Marsch could benefit from having no fixture this weekend.

In other news: Fabrizio Romano reveals big transfer blow for Leeds as key 21 y/o target now set to move elsewhere

Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s first transfer window in charge of Rangers has been a rather uneventful one at Ibrox.

They have secured the acquisition of James Sands and let Nathan Patterson walk out the door, while the Gers have agreed to bring John Souttar to the club on a pre-contract arrangement too.

However, it looks as though Ross Wilson and co could bring an offensive player into their ranks before the window closes next Monday.

One player regularly linked with a move to Glasgow is Bologna’s winger Andreas Skov Olsen, but according to one source, that now looks unlikely.

As a result, van Bronckhorst must urgently work on a deal to bring Akinkunmi Amoo to Scotland.

It’s thought Rangers are plotting a late move for the Nigerian teenager who is plying his trade in Sweden for Hammarby.

Valued at £3.6m by Transfermarkt, a move might not be cheap to complete but it’s clear he possesses all the tools to thrive in Scottish football.

In short, he’d not only be the perfect Skov Olsen alternative, but also a player capable of linking up with new loan signing Amad Diallo in devastating fashion on the flanks. After all, Amoo is a box of trickery, capable of beating opponents for fun and also scoring goals on a regular basis.

A review from Hammarby’s director of football, Jesper Jansson, tells you all you need to know about the 19-year-old star: “With Akin, we get an explosive, skilled and offensive player with a nice left foot,” he said.

That sounds incredibly exciting and when you combine those offensive attributes with his numbers, a deal simply has to be completed.

Amoo has scored 13 goals and registered six assists across his 48 appearances for his current club and although it’s difficult to compare the Swedish and Scottish top-flight, he has performed in European football before.

What also makes this deal attractive is his age, with the youngster possessing a wonderful amount of potential, something van Bronckhorst will undoubtedly be hoping he realises at Rangers.

There are only a few days left in the winter window but he must be someone the club pursue strongly.

They may have agreed a deal for a winger already in Diallo but they cannot stop there; the duo has the potential to frighten defences up and down the country.

AND in other news, Forget Hagi: GVB must solve Rangers nightmare with “pure” £4.5m-rated “innate talent”…

Andrew Flintoff’s future is once again in major doubt after he was ruled out for the remainder of the season after failing to recover from the knee injury that has sidelined him since last year’s Ashes

Cricinfo staff03-Aug-2010Andrew Flintoff’s future is once again in major doubt after he was ruled out for the remainder of the season after failing to recover from the knee injury that has sidelined him since last year’s Ashes.It had been hoped that Flintoff would return to second XI action with Lancashire this week but his comeback was initially delayed following concerns over how his knee would react to a one-day game. Now the decision has been taken that he will not be able to resume playing at all this summer.”Whist Andrew has made significant progress, the combined opinion is that he is not quite ready for a return to cricket,” Mike Watkinson, Lancashire’s cricket director, said. “He will continue his rehabilitation into the winter months and we will constantly monitor and review his progress so that he is better equipped for a return to action.”This latest setback means he won’t be fit to take part in the Champions League Twenty20 in South Africa during September after he’d been named in Chennai Super Kings’ provisional squad for the tournament. There must also be serious doubts over his winter plans which had been expected to included Twenty20 spells in Australia and New Zealand before next year’s IPL.Flintoff underwent knee surgery two days after England regained the Ashes last August and initially aimed to be ready for the start of the season. That soon became unrealistic and he required a further operation to clean up the knee earlier this year which put his recovery back another six months.Throughout his rehabilitation Flintoff, who retired from Test cricket following the Ashes, has said he is determined to win back his England one-day place and had even set his sights on next year’s World Cup in India. That chance now appears to have vanished although there was already a growing feeling that Andy Flower had moved on without Flintoff.

England’s coach, Andy Flower, admitted that his bowlers were finding it tough to readjust to the disciplines of five-day cricket after another chastising day in the field

Andrew Miller at Lord's30-May-2010England’s coach, Andy Flower, admitted that his bowlers were finding it tough to readjust to the disciplines of five-day cricket after another chastising day in the field against Bangladesh at Lord’s. Barely a fortnight ago, Flower and his charges were in the Caribbean, celebrating England’s triumph in the World Twenty20, but right now, the short-form bowling skills that were instrumental in that victory are proving insufficient to dislodge an obdurate Bangladesh batting line-up.Bangladesh were asked to follow-on after being dismissed for 282 on the fourth morning, but reached a confident 328 for 5 in their second innings, a lead of 105. Tamim Iqbal led the way with a brilliant 94-ball century, and was expertly assisted by Imrul Kayes, who made 75 in an opening stand of 185, before Junaid Siddique (66 not out) and Jahurul Islam (46) propped up the middle order.England’s attack was led once again by Steven Finn, who took his match tally to six with two further scalps, but for James Anderson, Tim Bresnan and even Graeme Swann, who have all missed out on first-class practice during the World Twenty20, there was a lot of toil with very little reward, at least until the second new ball was claimed late in the day.”I think in both innings the bowlers themselves would acknowledge they have not performed as they would have liked,” said Flower. “We let them get away in the first innings, then dragged it back. But today I thought their openers played superbly. Imrul Kayes left the ball well, and Tamim obviously played a great aggressive innings. We do acknowledge that and give them credit, but we know that we were a little below-par.”England’s toils also led to inevitable questions about the balance of the attack, with Jonathan Trott’s medium pace being drafted in to bolster a struggling four-man attack. But Flower disagreed that an extra front-line seamer would have made any difference to the scoreline, and instead hinted that Bresnan and Anderson in particular needed to raise their game.”I don’t think the number of bowlers is the issue. I think the way we bowled is the issue,” said Flower. “Finn has been excellent, especially in the first innings. He’s been superb, quite accurate and surprisingly so for a young man of that sort of pace. But Jimmy Anderson, after a long break and with not much first-class cricket under his belt, is not really hitting his straps – until this evening when, with the new ball from the pavilion end, he looked superb. He was a little bit more like the Jimmy Anderson we know.”Tim Bresnan was superb in the West Indies in the Twenty20 stuff. But that’s a different type of bowling, the type where he can come wide of the crease and angle the ball into the right-handers and swing is not all that important. He hasn’t had a chance to get any first-class cricket under his belt for I don’t know how many weeks, since three games at the start of the season.”Flower conceded that he had considered selecting a bowling line-up that had been playing more first-class cricket this season, but added that it would have set an unwanted precedent. “I did think about that,” he said, “but in the end you also want to pick the right guys.”You have to make do with whatever schedule you are given, and we got Jimmy back as soon as we could from the West Indies – and he played the second half of that first-class game for Lancashire. Bresnan needed to rest a niggling knee, so couldn’t do that. We just make the best of the situation we’ve got.One man who did miss out for this match was Stuart Broad, but though Flower conceded that his aggression might have made a short-term difference to the quality of the attack, he reiterated his belief that his key players would need to be rested during the course of a long season. “The Stuart Broad decision is one based on what’s best for English cricket and Stuart Broad, looking to the medium and long term,” he said. “Sometimes, you have to make those tough decisions.”Looking to the match situation, with England needing five quick wickets to avoid the prospect of an embarrassing draw against the weakest team in Test cricket, Flower insisted that there had been no under-estimating of opponents who had proven tough to beat in their own conditions two months ago. “Other people have talked them down a bit, and talked us up. But we certainly haven’t done that in our own changing room.”We respect them, and they fought very hard in Bangladesh and very hard here. But we’ve got a brand new ball, and it always does a bit more in the morning – so we’ve got a good opportunity we need to take then. I personally think there’s enough in this pitch to get a result.”

Recalled Durham batsmen Mark Stoneman and Gordon Muchall assembled an unbroken partnership of 61 in a seriously truncated first day in the County Championship clash with Warwickshire at Edgbaston

29-May-2010
ScorecardRecalled Durham batsmen Mark Stoneman and Gordon Muchall assembled an unbroken partnership of 61 in a seriously truncated first day in the County Championship clash with Warwickshire at Edgbaston.After a five-hour wait for play to get under way, further showers and bad light caused three stoppages as the struggling champions – on the rebound from a two-day defeat by Kent – reached 65 for 1 in 21 overs.With Durham starting the game three points ahead of bottom-of-the-table Warwickshire, there was a different edge to last summer when the northerners won both meetings on their way to retaining the Division One crown. Consistently undermined by fitness issues this season, Durham were without Steve Harmison because of an ankle problem and they also left out opening batsman Kyle Coetzer and all-rounder Gareth Breese.They even managed to pick up another injury during a football kick-about on the outfield, although Callum Thorp, who needed stitches in a cut eyebrow, was not scheduled to take part in the match.Losing a wicket in the first over was the last thing they would have wanted, but Michael Di Venuto was a victim of early movement after collecting a boundary off Chris Woakes. The England Lions seamer immediately took his revenge with a successful lbw appeal. That brought together two batsmen making their first championship appearances since last August.Stoneman took 18 balls to get off the mark and Muchall came through a difficult start. Dropped at second slip in Woakes’ second over, he survived again when two edges off Andrew Miller failed to carry to the catching cordon.The initial uncertainty gradually eased as Stoneman, in particular, played some pleasing shots. The left-hander seized his opportunity, having waited more than three weeks since scoring a career-best 118 against Durham MCCU in his only previous first-class innings this season.Seven fours helped him to an undefeated 31, and when the gloomy weather closed in again at 6pm, the umpires called time for the day with Muchall on 21. By then the injury troubles had spread to Warwickshire with Darren Maddy forced to leave the field after bowling five balls in his third over.

The defending champions Pakistan play Australia in a match that will be crucial to the group

Peter English01-May-2010Match FactsSunday, May 2, St Lucia
Start time 1330 (1730 GMT)Shahid Afridi is a severe threat with bat and ball•Getty ImagesThe Big PictureThe defending champions play one of the first-round losers from 2009 in a match that will be crucial to the group. Pakistan started their tournament strongly with a 21-run win against Bangladesh on Saturday and are faced with the unusual situation of back-to-back games over the weekend.Australia have had a leisurely start to the campaign, which has included some training, jet-skiing and a warm-up loss to Zimbabwe. In the past two Twenty20 tournaments they have been defeated in their opening games and the coaching staff has lectured them on the importance of beginning well.Michael Clarke is in charge of his first major tournament and has a team dotted with Twenty20 specialists, although there is a feeling the outfit is still too traditional to reach the finals. David Warner, Cameron White, David Hussey, Shaun Tait and Dirk Nannes provide some specialist limited-overs knowledge and will be relied on to gain or recapture momentum.The slow St Lucia surface will have a big say on the result and there is an outside chance of up to eight spinners being employed. Pakistan should have the upper hand in both the quality of slow bowlers and their ability to play their opponents’ options.Dealing with a pace trio of Mitchell Johnson, Shaun Tait and Dirk Nannes won’t be quite as comfortable. Pakistan have recovered well since their practice loss to Zimbabwe and seem desperate to extend their global reign.Form guide (most recent first)Australia LWWWW
Pakistan WWLLW
Watch out for…David Warner is a tiny man with massive power and a huge job at the top of Australia’s order. Warner must give Australia a swift start to allow Michael Clarke, the No.3, to have a base from which he can feel comfortable chipping the ball around. Warner owns two of the fastest fifties in Twenty20 – one took 18 balls, the other 19 – but he will have to conquer the spinners to match those efforts in this event.The last time Shahid Afridi played against Australia his stomach grumbled and he chomped at the ball. In this match the rumbling must come from his batting and bowling, which is well suited to the format. Over 28 games he has achieved a strike-rate of 144.04 with the bat and his average is 17.32 with the ball. Now he is captain and in charge of guiding the defending champions.Team newsThe big questions centre around the make-up of the spinners. Should Nathan Hauritz be the first choice despite no wickets in the lead-up games? Do they want the big-hitting of Steven Smith as well as his legspinners? And can they both fit into the side? Michael Clarke and David Hussey will chip in with overs as well. Ryan Harris, a late replacement for Brett Lee, will almost certainly be allowed some extra rest but the other 14 players in the squad are available.

Australia (probable) 1 Shane Watson, 2 David Warner, 3 Michael Clarke (capt), 4 David Hussey, 5 Cameron White, 6 Brad Haddin (wk), 7 Michael Hussey, 8 Steven Smith, 9 Mitchell Johnson, 10 Dirk Nannes, 11 Shaun Tait.After their impressive opening Pakistan have no reason to change, unless they want another slow-bowling option. Abdul Razzaq was expensive in two overs, giving up 23 runs, and could make way if the team management is in a tinkering mood.Pakistan (probable) 1 Salman Butt, 2 Kamran Akmal (wk), 3 Shahid Afridi (capt), 4 Abdul Razzaq, 5 Misbah-ul-Haq, 6 Mohammad Hafeez, 7 Umar Akmal, 8 Fawad Alam, 9 Mohammad Sami, 10 Mohammad Aamer, 11 Saeed Ajmal.Pitch and conditionsIt seems slow and low pitches will dominate the first week of the tournament at least. Hauritz was surprised by the lack of speed during the practice games in St Lucia. “It was slower than what we’re used to,” he said. “We’re going to have to adapt to it very quickly.” The Pakistanis also felt the conditions were difficult during their opening success. Scattered showers are tipped for Sunday along with a top temperature of 30C.Stats and trivia Pakistan have a relatively fresh squad but they still have more experience than Australia. Afridi’s men have appeared in 188 T20 internationals to their rivals’ 153 Kamran Akmal (29), Shahid Afridi (28) and Misbah-ul-Haq (24) have all played more than 20 matches, while Michael Clarke (24) is the only Australian to have managed that many The teams met in the semi-final of the inaugural World Twenty20, with Pakistan winning by six wickets in Johannesburg. They have played three times overall, with Pakistan victorious twiceQuotes”On these types of tracks he’d be very difficult for the opposition.”
Shahid Afridi wants Nathan Hauritz to play. But does he really think he’ll be a threat or does he just want to face him?

“They’re not going to be bowling short. They’re going to be bowling full and they’re going to be going further. So we’ll see what happens.”
David Warner is eying the straight boundaries in this tournament

Tottenham insider John Wenham believes the club could seal the signing of AC Milan midfielder Franck Kessie in a number of days, Football Insider report.

The Lowdown: Talks at an advanced stage

Managing director at Spurs Fabio Paratici has been linked with a move for Kessie for a number of months now.

The Ivorian, capable of playing as a central or defensive midfielder, has just six months remaining on his AC Milan contract.

That means Tottenham will have the chance to seal pre-contract terms in the January transfer window, with The Daily Express reporting in recent days that talks are at an advanced stage.

Arsenal and Manchester United are also keen, but it’s believed Antonio Conte’s side are at the front of the queue for the 25-year-old’s signature.

[web_stories_embed url=”https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/web-stories/spurs-latest-updates-5/” title=”Spurs latest updates!” poster=”” width=”360″ height=”600″ align=”none”]

The Latest: Wenham’s comments

Spurs insider Wenham was talking to Football Insider in a story on Thursday evening regarding Kessie.

He feels that a move could be finalised in ‘days’, labelling Paratici as a ‘specialist’.

“The Franck Kessie stuff is still going on.

“The opportunity to get him on a pre-contract is coming up in a few days and I think that’s one to keep an eye on.

“I’ve mentioned before about Paratici’s links with Serie A and how he is a specialist at getting these deals done.

“That one would not surprise me. There are reportedly a lot of clubs interested in him.

“But now we have the pulling power of Antonio Conte, which could give us an edge.”

The Verdict: Brilliant…

Should Spurs land Kessie on a pre-contract agreement over the coming days, it could turn out to be an excellent piece of business both in the short and long term, with Paratici then able to look at immediate January additions.

Tottenham would be getting a £43.2m-rated midfielder seemingly in his prime for nothing, with Kessie bringing a wealth of international and European experience to north London.

There could also be a number of midfield departures at Spurs over the next few weeks, with Dele Alli and Giovani Lo Celso linked with exits. Should the pair move on, that would leave Conte with just four senior midfield options, so bringing in Kessie would help bolster the numbers in the middle of the pitch.

In other news: ‘I’m hearing’ – talkSPORT drop Spurs transfer update live on-air; Conte wants ‘world class’ ace. 

Raqibul Hasan’s decision to retire from international cricket has left both his team-mates and the national selectors bewildered

Andrew Miller in Chittagong11-Mar-2010The decision of Raqibul Hasan, Bangladesh’s 22-year-old middle-order batsman, to retire from international cricket on the eve of the Test series against England has left both his team-mates and the national selectors bewildered, as the squad sets about refocusing for the first Test in Chittagong in 24 hours’ time.Raqibul informed his team-mates of his decision on the team bus after practice on Wednesday, having sent a letter announcing his retirement to the Bangladesh board that morning. According to Jalal Yunus, the board director, his resignation has not yet been accepted, although neither his coaches, team-mates, nor his parents have appeared able to talk him out of the shock move.Mushfiqur Rahim, Raqibul’s closest friend in the squad, and a former Under-19 team-mate, told reporters at the Bangladesh training session that he had had no inkling of the decision that Raqibul was about to make. While the squad was shocked, they were doing their best to make light of the situation, with the Rajshahi batsman Jahurul Islam, drafted into the squad ahead of Mohammad Ashraful.”This came as a big surprise for us,” Akram Khan, a member of the Bangladesh selection committee, told Cricinfo. “I talked to him two days ago, and he had just been batting well against the England team. I never thought he’d do a thing like this, but this is not good. He is a young chap and this is a big decision. He should have thought more about it, both for himself and for our country. This is bad for Bangladesh cricket.”Despite cementing his place in the Test squad with a century and a fifty for Bangladesh A in the three-day warm-up against England in Chittagong earlier this week, Raqibul is understood to be angered at his omission from Bangladesh’s one-day plans. He was left out of the home ODI series against England that concluded last week, and perhaps more significantly the 30-man preliminary squad for the World Twenty20 in the Caribbean next month, a tournament regarded as a shop window for the riches on offer in the shortest and most lucrative form of the game.He was omitted from the team during the recent tour of New Zealand, and Cricinfo understands that there was a disagreement between the board and the selectors over his recall for the England Test series. The recommendation from above had been that Raqibul should be dropped along with Mohammad Ashraful, whose form has deserted him in recent months. Regardless of the apparent political manoeuvrings, however, his decision is being widely regarded as rash.”This sort of thing happens to everybody, it’s not only for him,” said Akram. “The most important thing is he has to perform. He didn’t get a chance in New Zealand, and he wasn’t in the one-day squad for this series, but he was in the Test squad. A lot of good players don’t get a chance every time. The England captain [Alastair Cook] is also not in the squad for Twenty20 cricket, but he’s still a very good player. I can’t understand why he’s done this.”

Brad Haddin insists Twenty20 is not just a young man’s game

Peter English22-Apr-2010Brad Haddin insists Twenty20 is not just a young man’s game and is confident Australia will be successful at the World Cup by employing similar fundamentals to the ones that work in Test and one-day cricket. Haddin, 32, has been encouraged by the high-class performers who have stood out in the IPL and expects more of the same in the Caribbean over the next month.”I think everyone around the world is just starting to take Twenty20 seriously,” he said. “I don’t think it’s a young person’s game. You look at the success of Haydos, Gilly, Tendulkar, Roy and the likes at the IPL, the best players are still the ones that are performing.”The only problem for Australia with Haddin’s theory is that their most experienced batsmen are no longer with the squad. Ricky Ponting has retired and Adam Gilchrist, Matthew Hayden and Andrew Symonds only play in the domestic leagues. Even when they were with the national side it struggled to stay in touch with the trend-setting outfits.On Friday Michael Clarke departs from Sydney in charge of a fresh-faced unit that will attempt to avoid a repeat of Australia’s first-round exit in England last year. Despite the personnel changes, Haddin is not forecasting a dramatic overhaul in the way the team operates and said the fundamentals that ensure success in the other formats remain relevant.”I find if I get in trouble in Twenty20 cricket it is when I’m trying to reinvent the wheel,” he said. “We’ve sort of seen as the game has started to progress, the guys who are leading the run-scorers in the IPL now, it’s Kallis, Tendulkar, and those sorts of players. The fundamentals are still pretty similar. If I try to get too funky, it’s only going to lead to my downfall.”As the Australians completed their pre-tournament camp there were batsmen trying to learn – or perfect – the ramp shot over the wicketkeeper and the bowlers were testing different variations in an effort to stay ahead. They have two warm-up games next week in St Lucia before the group matches against Pakistan and Bangladesh.Last year Australia were knocked out by West Indies and Sri Lanka, but Haddin doesn’t expect the situation to be any easier this time even though the group looks friendlier. “The beauty of Twenty20 is because it’s such a short form of the game, any team on any day only needs a couple of players to go off to be in the contest,” he said. “For an easy part of the draw, I don’t read too much into that. Bangladesh are a very dangerous team in the shorter form and with Pakistan you don’t know what you’re going to get.”Despite the growing status of Twenty20, the format is still well short of ODIs and Tests in terms of respect. Haddin couldn’t remember appearing in the inaugural World Twenty20 in South Africa in 2007, when Australia lost their opening game to Zimbabwe. He wants this trip to be much more memorable.

Journalist Pete O’Rourke has suggested that Leeds United ‘like’ Ross Barkley ahead of the January window, Give Me Sport report.

The Lowdown: Barkley links

Barkley, described as ‘first class’ by former Chelsea manager Frank Lampard, spent a brief time at Elland Road on loan back in 2013.

The attacking midfielder made just four Championship appearances for the Whites and has now been linked with a return to Yorkshire.

Leeds are short of midfield options at this moment in time and are thought to be monitoring the 28-year-old ahead of the New Year.

The Latest: O’Rourke’s claim

O’Rourke was talking to Give Me Sport in a story shared on Wednesday evening – 24 hours on from Leeds’ 7-0 defeat to Manchester City.

This is what he had to say, believing an attacking midfielder isn’t a priority for Marcelo Bielsa.

“They do like him [Barkley], but I don’t think it’s a major priority for Marcelo Bielsa to bring in another attacking midfielder.”

The Verdict: Avoid…

Leeds have Rodrigo and Tyler Roberts who can play just in behind the striker, however, their only out and out defensive midfielder, Kalvin Phillips, is sidelined for two months with a hamstring issue.

On that basis, a move for Barkley should be avoided, with the main aim to bring in a defensive-minded midfielder.

Hopefully, that is what happens over the coming weeks, as failing to add to their defensive and central ranks could prove costly with Leeds currently flirting with the bottom three after just three wins all season.

In other news: Second Leeds man injured vs City alongside Shackleton; issues reach breaking point.