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Arsenal have been linked to a La Liga gem as Mikel Arteta aims to bolster his squad this summer.

The transfer window officially opened on Wednesday, allowing clubs to manipulate their squads in preparation for the new season in August.

The Gunners have been linked with a host of talent already this summer, with the latest name having the potential to be an upgrade for a star expected to depart.

What’s the latest on Nico Williams to Arsenal?

As reported by 90min earlier this week, Athletic Bilbao forward Nico Williams is a player of interest for Arsenal.

The report follows the narrative of Aston Villa’s push for the winger, with mention of the Gunners being a club that have ‘appreciated’ the player as well as the understanding that they are ‘keeping close tabs’ on his situation.

The 20-year-old has a release clause of €50m (£43m) in place at his current club.

What could Nico Williams offer to Arsenal?

Lauded as “extremely dangerous” by U23 scout Antonio Mango, the Spaniard has excelled since graduating from Athletic's academy in 2021.

Deployed predominantly as a right-winger, Williams could prove to be a huge asset to Arteta’s side in years to come by competing with Arsenal star Bukayo Saka for a starting spot.

While Saka’s form has made his place virtually untouchable, the forward could help implement a higher quality of depth in the squad – forcing Nicolas Pepe even further out of the picture in the process.

The Ivory Coast international spent the past season on loan at OGC Nice, making the switch back to Ligue 1 last summer in a bid to relocate his form.

As reported by Sam Hill via football.london, the 28-year-old is ‘no longer’ in the Spaniard’s plans, with the report of the understanding that Arsenal have made ‘plans’ over the potential termination of his contract.

With the £72m forward looking unlikely to feature for Arsenal again, the club could recruit a worthy replacement in Williams, who has excelled Pepe this season in their respective leagues.

When comparing the two via FBref based on their 2022/23 performances, it’s clear to see that the Gunners could snatch a clear upgrade on the £140k-per-week dud.

The Spaniard averaged 5.90 progressive carries per 90 this campaign, placing him in the top 4% of those in his position across Europe's top 5 leagues, with Pepe averaging just 2.77 per 90 at Nice.

The 20-year-old also excelled in terms of successful take-ons via FBref, averaging 2.81 per 90 to the Ivory Coast international’s 2.05 per 90, highlighting why he has been identified as having significant strengths in dribbling by talent scout Jacek Kulig.

While the two scored the same number of goals with six, Williams has also provided four assists, showing the expansion of his game and level of performance at a tender age.

At just 20 years old, Arsenal could sign a player for the future in the Spaniard, who would undoubtedly be an upgrade on Pepe, who has failed to make things tick in north London.

Nick Kelly struck 118 runs and Scott Kuggeleijn and Jono Boult took three wickets each to lead Northern Districts to a 135-run win against Wellington in Whangarei.Choosing to bat, Northern Districts recovered from 62 for 3 in the 20th over to finish on 285 for 6 in their 50. Kelly was their innings’ primary driver; his 103-ball knock included partnerships of 89 with Daryl Mitchell (27), 52 with Kuggeleijn and an unbeaten 64-run with Brett Hampton, who hit 35 runs off 21 deliveries.Wellington’s chase started poorly. Opener Michael Papps fell in the third over followed by ducks from Stephen Murdoch and Hamish Marshall – all of them being dismissed by Kuggeleijn. Matthew Pollard scored 30 off 52 balls and by the time he was out, Wellington were struggling at 85 for 6. Matt Taylor hit six fours to score 45 runs, but there was too much for Wellington’s lower order to do. They folded for 150 in the 35th over courtesy three late strikes from Boult. The win took Northern Districts to the top of the Ford Trophy table.In Palmerston North, Otago completed a 23-run win over Central Districts after Jack Hunter’s four wickets dented the latter’s chase. This after Michael Bracewell struck 92 to take Otago to 287 in their 50 overs.The chase of 288 for Central Districts was hit by the constant fall of wickets. Hunter removed both openers in his first spell, Christi Viljoen removed the set Will Young (63) while Nathan Smith took two lower-order wickets. Their middle order chipped in with some useful contributions – notably Josh Clarkson’s 44 and Navin Patel’s 37 – but those knocks proved futile.Earlier in the match Liam Dudding took three wickets, but Otago went on to accumulate runs guided by Bracewell’s 92. He was ably helped by Josh Finnie (39), Anaru Kitchen (24) and Derek de Boorder (31).Canterbury chased down the target of 210 set by Auckland to complete a five-wicket win at Rangiora’s Mainpower Oval. The win was set up by a 105-run partnership for the second wicket between Tom Latham (59) and Henry Nicholls (76) after Canterbury’s bowlers troubled the Auckland batsmen.Auckland chose to bat and their openers Jeet Raval (30) and Glenn Phillips (33) gave them a 58-run partnership. But Tim Johnston struck three times between overs 14 and 21 to reduce Auckland from 58 for no loss to 71 for 3. Rob Nicol scored a patient 67 as Auckland managed 209 for 8 in their 50 overs.Canterbury’s chase was driven by the century-stand between Latham and Nicholls. Latham’s seven boundaries and Nicholls’ nine all but secured the win. Despite Auckland’s quick strikes that followed, they reached their target with 70 balls to spare. Todd Astle (24) and Johnston (21) took them home.

Match facts

October 20-24, Chittagong
Start time 10.00am (0400GMT)

Big picture

The first Test is the meeting of a major force in Test cricket and an irregular participant. Bangladesh are resuming the format after a gap of more than 14 months, while by the end of year England will have played 17 Tests in 2016 including seven in eight weeks on the subcontinent.England have won all their eight Tests against Bangladesh – by comfortable margins as well, although sometimes after plenty of toil – but arguably are not the overwhelming favourites that history would suggest given the potential of a youthful top order and continued questions over their spin bowling.While they should still be the front-runners – the success in the ODI series will have boosted confidence in the conditions, although there is a significant turnover in personnel – given the oppressive heat and humidity, the lack of preparation time for some players and inexperience in others, they will be guarding against being too comfortable.Alastair Cook will become England’s most capped Test player, and will have to lead from the front in conditions he is familiar with, having toured Bangladesh as the U-19 captain in 2004 and later in his first assignment as Test captain in 2010. He is set to open with a newcomer, either Haseeb Hameed or Ben Duckett. The latter has impressed having scored four fifties during this tour – he could yet slot in at No. 4 – and Hameed showed his willingness to battle the new conditions during the warm-up matches.Joe Root, Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow will have to take care of the rest of the batting line-up while Stuart Broad and Chris Woakes will have to lead the bowling attack in the absence of James Anderson. Much focus will be on Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali and they are set to be joined by a third spinner with 39-year-old Gareth Batty, who played his previous Test in 2005, the favourite.The home side has a solid top six but due to injuries, loss of form and their 14-month break from Test cricket, have to make five changes since their last game. Much of their fortunes will depend on Tamim Iqbal and Mushfiqur Rahim, though England will know not to count out Imrul Kayes and Mahmudullah.But Bangladesh’s bowling will depend heavily on Shakib Al Hasan, who will have Taijul Islam for help though the rest of the attack may contain two Test debutants.Chittagong will pose the usual Bangladeshi challenges for the visiting team but, so far, England have been willing to roll up their sleeves. They have trained extra hard to get used to the heat and the pitches, as was seen during their sessions since the ODI series.So in their first meeting in more than six years, England and Bangladesh both have significant challenges to face. Once they come face to face, it could turn into a better contest than on paper.

Form guide

(completed matches, most recent first)Bangladesh DDDLD
England LWWLD

In the spotlight

When it is England, much of the focus is on Tamim Iqbal who made the four Tests in 2010 memorable with his rapid scoring which including two centuries. His average against England, 63.12, is his highest against teams off which he has taken more than 500 runs.Ben Duckett has made four fifties on tour so far, and has looked more comfortable applying his own game into the local conditions than many of his more accomplished team-mates. Duckett is likely to make his debut, and could be a handful for the Bangladesh attack.

Team news

Bangladesh’s top six will be exactly the one that played the last Test, but the rest of the line-up will be changed. Sabbir Rahman and 18-year-old offspinner Mehedi Hasan are most likely to make their Test debuts and if the home side go with two pace bowlers, Kamrul Islam Rabbi would also be making his debut. If Mushfiqur keeps wicket, Nurul Hasan will be sitting out.Bangladesh (probable) 1 Tamim Iqbal, 2 Imrul Kayes, 3 Mominul Haque, 4 Mahmudullah, 5 Shakib Al Hasan, 6 Mushfiqur Rahim (capt & wk), 7 Sabbir Rahman, 8 Mehedi Hasan, 9 Shafiul Islam, 10 Taijul Islam, 11 Kamrul Islam RabbiEngland will have to make at least three changes from their last Test XI, with Alex Hales (opted out), James Vince (dropped) and James Anderson (injured) unavailable. There was a late move which favoured Duckett opening with Cook and Hameed missing out, which would mean Gary Ballance retaining his place. The third spinner spot is between the Surrey pair of Batty and the uncapped Zafar Ansari.England (probable) 1 Alastair Cook (capt), 2 Ben Duckett, 3 Joe Root, 4 Gary Ballance, 5 Ben Stokes, 6 Jonny Bairstow (wk), 7 Moeen Ali, 8 Chris Woakes, 9 Adil Rashid, 10 Gareth Batty, 11 Stuart Broad

Pitch and conditions

There is likely to be a slow pitch, which wouldn’t give any batsman a comfortable start. The spinners are likely to get more purchase after the first day but again it will be on the slower side. Dust bowls could appear but not until later in the contest. After the rain which threatened the ODI, the forecast is for it to be hot and sunny.

Stats and trivia

• The 14 months and 20 days since their last Test is Bangladesh’s longest duration between two Tests. The previous longest was exactly 14 months between June 4, 2010 and August 4, 2011.
• None of those in the Bangladesh squad has played 50 Tests, with Mushfiqur the highest with 48 caps.
• England are likely to have just two survivors from their previous Test in Bangladesh – in Dhaka during 2010 – with Cook and Broad having played on that occasion, although Steven Finn was also in the XI.
• Jonny Bairstow needs 43 runs for 2000 in Tests.

Quotes

“It is nice to be addressed as captain after a long time.”
“It’s going to be a very special day tomorrow on a personal note. This game is not going to be remembered for a personal thing, it’s going to be a team performance, but it’s going to be a special day to overtake a record of such a fantastic England cricketer.”

Shadab Khan followed up his maiden first-class century with a five-wicket haul as Pakistan A knocked off a 37-run target, winning by eight wickets in Bulawayo on Wednesday

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Oct-2016
ScorecardBrian Vitori’s performance was one of the positives for Zimbabwe A•AFP

Shadab Khan followed up his maiden first-class century with a five-wicket haul as Pakistan A knocked off a 37-run target with eight wickets to spare in Bulawayo on Wednesday, thereby taking the series 1-0.Shadab, batting at No. 10, made 132 in Pakistan A’s 512 after Zimbabwe, driven by centuries from Brian Chari and Sean Williams, posted 346. Their 199-run third-wicket stand helped the hosts recover from Ghulam Mudassar’s early twin strikes. Zimbabwe A lost their last five wickets for 48 runs, with Shadab taking 4 for 84 in 24 overs.Pakistan A’s first-innings total was set up by Zain Abbas (78), but a mini-collapse resulted in them slipping to 289 for 6. That they managed a 167-run lead was largely due to the seventh-wicket stand of 130 between Saad Ali (97) and Shadab. The hosts let it slip away further by allowing the last three wickets to add 93 runs.Zimbabwe’s hopes of emulating their first-innings batting performance received a fillip courtesy Tarisai Musakanda (87) and Williams (42). But left-arm spinner Mohammad Asghar dismissed Williams to trigger a collapse in which Zimbabwe A tumbled from 113 for 2 to 202 all out. Shadab’s maiden five-for meant he finished with a match haul of 9 for 166.Pakistan A’s openers took the side to within three runs of a modest target before Brian Vitori dismissed Abbas and Umar Amin. Saad knocked off the winning runs off the first ball he faced, with Pakistan A completing the formalities in seven overs.

Alastair Cook has said that England will seek to ‘park’ all of the off-field hype surrounding Mohammad Amir’s comeback to Test cricket

Andrew Miller07-Jul-2016Alastair Cook has said that England will seek to “park” all of the off-field hype surrounding Mohammad Amir’s comeback to Test cricket, despite reiterating his belief that players who get involved in corruption ought to be banned for life.However, he also admits that the distractions may help to galvanise a Pakistani team that is eager to make amends for the controversies of their 2010 tour.”We’ll spend a lot of time talking about it in the build-up,” Cook told ESPNcricinfo during a Yorkshire Tea event at The Oval, “but once we get out there we’ll just be thinking about playing.”Obviously it’s more of a distraction on the Pakistan side, but we know they tend to get united behind distractions. But all that stuff off the field, we’ve just got to park it, and we’re pretty good at that.”Nevertheless, ignoring the hype of Amir’s comeback is not the same thing as ignoring the threat that he will pose in his first Test appearance since the lifting of his five-year ban for spot-fixing, and Cook in particular remembers the challenge he posed as a teenaged prodigy that summer.Cook was dismissed three times each by Amir and his then new-ball partner, Mohammad Asif – who was also implicated and jailed in the News of the World sting, as he mustered 57 runs in six innings, either side of a cathartic and career-changing century at The Oval in the third Test.”It was warm and humid, it was muggy,” Cook recalled. “When the sun was out it was hot and there was rain around. The ball swung.”He bowled brilliantly as a youngster on his first tour, in good conditions he was an absolute handful,” he added. “But a lot of water has gone under a few bridges since then, so it’ll be interesting to see how he copes and see the crowd reaction is.”But as an England side, we’ve got to stay away from that sideshow. Whether you agree with him playing or you don’t, that’s not for us to say as players. It’s down to us to play him as a fantastic bowler.”Nevertheless, memories of the 2010 Lord’s Test are sure to come flooding back when the players take the field for the first Test next week, and Cook admitted that the atmosphere on that fourth and final day six years ago, on the morning after the newspaper’s revelations that Pakistan’s bowlers had been bribed to bowl no-balls to order, was one of the most peculiar he had ever experienced on a cricket field.”It was very surreal, horrible,” he said. “Did Swanny [Graeme Swann] get a five-for? I don’t think anyone celebrated any wickets. It was a disappointing day as we were on the verge of what we thought was a genuine win.”And that’s the problem when you fix games of cricket, or spot-fix, you tarnish games of cricket for the players, the crowd, everyone. The punishment should be befitting of someone who does that.”Guys who are paying a lot of money to watch us want to see a genuine spectacle, they want to know the 22 players, and the two umpires, are trying their best, and nothing should distract from that.”My feelings are clear, if you get caught matchfixing, you should be banned for life.”England come into the Test series off the back of a convincing 2-0 victory over Sri Lanka but with recent memories of their own 2-0 loss against Pakistan in the UAE last winter – when a near-miss in the first Test at Abu Dhabi gave way to two comprehensive defeats at Dubai and Sharjah. Cook, however, is confident of setting that record straight.”They are massively different conditions,” he said. “Misbah scored about 95% of his runs against spin, I don’t think he’ll be facing as much spin as he did there.”They’ve got a very good bowling attack, with a lot of variety, backed up by good spin. But it was a very close series. I don’t think 2-0 quite reflected the sides. We are a bit more comfortable in those conditions, but we were unlucky in that first Test.”

Justin Langer, Australia’s coach for the West Indies tri-series, said that he’s in awe of the young fast bowling talent he saw in the West Indies

Brydon Coverdale28-Jun-20162:47

Langer hopes for no more ‘dead’ WI pitches

West Indies cricket would go a long way to reaching its potential if Caribbean pitches regained the pace and bounce of yesteryear, according to Australia’s stand-in coach Justin Langer. After Australia won the tri-series final against West Indies on Sunday, Langer said he had been in awe of the talent he had seen among local net bowlers over the past month.However, the pitches offered up during the series tended to be on the slower side, as has been the case in the region for many years. Langer said he found it baffling that pitches were prepared that would help spinners such as Sunil Narine, who he said was “still going to be a star” on any surface due to his natural talent, instead of fast bowlers who could rattle opposing batsmen.”There is so much fast-bowling talent here,” Langer said. “You’ve got big, tall, beautiful athletes, and they run in and bowl fast and they keep bowling all day, but I don’t understand why they play on such dead, low, lifeless wickets. It doesn’t make any sense to us.”If you could harness the natural ability you’ve got in the West Indies with those tall fast bowlers … it would get the batsmen more used to facing fast bowling, more used to facing short-pitched bowling. And with the natural talent they’ve got it won’t take long. But you’ve got to face it. You’ve got to be exposed to it.”There’s so much natural talent. We’ve seen it in the net bowlers. I’m in awe of how many young fast bowlers you’ve got in the West Indies. We’ve seen it in Guyana, we’ve seen it in St Kitts, we’ve seen it in Barbados, and yet you play on wickets that bounce about this high. It doesn’t make sense to me.”The 19-year-old Leeward Islands bowler Alzarri Joseph was one such talent who impressed Langer with his work in the nets against the Australians during the St Kitts leg of the tour. Joseph was part of the West Indies side that won the Under-19 World Cup in Bangladesh earlier this year, and Langer said he was seriously impressed by what he saw at training.”He reminded me of Andre Russell,” Langer said. “He bowled fast, beautiful yorkers – and what an athlete. I reckon I’ve seen four or five who have really, really raw talent, and they just kept bowling. That’s what I kept loving. They just kept running in and bowling all day.”In a lot of parts of the world now it’s so structured with workloads and bowling loads. These kids just kept running in and bowling fast, and it was bloody hot … I do know they gave our batsmen a workout, and there was talent. The talent is very obvious.”Langer, in charge of the Australian squad while Darren Lehmann had a break at home, emerged from the tour with a series win to his name, but he said West Indies should have a bright future judging by their performances this year.”West Indies cricket is so exciting,” he said. “They won the T20 World Cup, they’re so dangerous. They’re like a boxer who’s got the big right hook and could knock you out at any time. They’ve got so much talent.”I really respect and admire the guys who are playing, Jason Holder and Darren Bravo, Carlos Brathwaite to name a few – Narine, Pollard is always dangerous. [Johnson] Charles is a very dangerous player. Until we got him out I was nervous for the game, because he’s a serious player. He whacks it – not a lot of foot movement but he’s a dangerous player. If he could harness his ability and go out and score more hundreds … Darren Bravo got a brilliant hundred the other day.”There’s a lot of talent and I think they’re playing really well. They made the final, they beat South Africa very well, who are on paper an unbelievable cricket team. West Indies have a lot to look forward to.”

Ahead of South Africa’s departure for the World T20, coach Russell Domingo feels that his side’s consistency in the shortest format will hold them in good stead at the tournament

Firdose Moonda10-Mar-20164:14

‘We have to learn from our mistakes’ – Du Plessis

For all the unwanted accolades Russell Domingo earned this summer – he oversaw South Africa’s longest winless streak in Test cricket since readmission in which they were also bowled out for their two lowest scores – he remains their most successful major tournament coach and therein lies the chance for him to declare this season a success. Domingo has been in charge for two ICC tournaments, the World T20 in 2014 and the 2015 World Cup. South Africa reached the semi-finals in both tournaments and he has reason to believe they can go one, or even two better at the World T20 in India.”We’ve got a chance. We are one of the most consistent sides in this format. We can go there very confident,” Domingo said on the eve of South Africa’s departure for India. “We have prepared very well. We have some of the best players in the world. We’ve got a seriously good side. We’ll be there and thereabouts.”

Cleared action doesn’t guarantee Phangiso spot in XI

Despite having his bowling action declared legal, Aaron Phangiso may still be on the sidelines for the World T20, as he was during the 2015 World Cup. Phangiso was the only member of South Africa’s 2015 party who did not play a single game and has since struggled to establish himself against an array of personal problems. He remains back-up to Imran Tahir.
“I can’t guarantee anybody a spot. We need to get there and play our best starting XI,” Russell Domingo, South Africa’s coach said.
Phangiso’s remodeled action has not yet been tested in international cricket. He was rushed through two tests after being reported for a suspect action during a domestic game last month. Phangiso’s action was found to be illegal after a first round of tests.
Domingo explained Phangiso will get a chance to put his new action to the test in the warm-up matches before South Africa decide on their final XI.
Phangiso is one of only two black African players in the squad and there could be pressure to play him as the country’s sports minister got involved in the controversy around the bowler’s action.

South Africa signed off on their home season with a 2-1 series defeat to Australia, but victories over England and India in India in the shortest format would seem to put them among the favourites. However, a difficult few months headlined by Test defeats and talk of AB de Villiers’ workload management means they will fly under the radar for a change and Domingo is quite happy with that. “We are all pretty chilled. I don’t think there is a weight of expectation around our team or any of the teams because of the nature of the competition,” he said.The structure of the tournament – two groups of five teams with each team playing each other only once – means the chances of slipping up are greater, so Domingo is encouraging his team to “keep it simple,” and not look for a special formula. “You can’t get too fancy, you can’t get too funky. There is no magic wand to wave. The sides that do the basics really well in high-pressure games, they usually come out on top,” he said.South Africa were that side for five successive limited-overs matches at home when they came from behind to beat England 3-2 in an ODI series and win the first two T20s. All those wins and the first against Australia came chasing, which has allowed South Africa to bury one ghost but resurrect another. “We’ve chased really well which is a big bonus but we need to defend a score. We need to find ways of scraping,” Domingo said.Domingo’s way of helping them find that is to ensure they have clarity of thought rather than an overload of technical expertise. “I can’t hit my players if they bowl a no-ball, or slap them on the wrist,” he said. “If you make a mistake, the last thing a player wants to hear is, ‘Why did you bowl that?’ Encouraging them and working on their thought processes is the key. If your thoughts are clear you have got a better chance of executing your plan.”Faf du Plessis has already bought into that philosophy and emphasised that the fundamentals should be South Africa’s focus as they head to into the World T20: “This team has had really good results in the subcontinent but we’ve got some of work to do to make sure we are ready for that first game. We’ve got to work on the basics.”

England will assess the knee problem that saw Fran Kirby pulled from the starting lineup to face Austria, but there is good Chloe Kelly news.

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• Kirby to be assessed
• Injury ruled her out of Austria win
• Wiegman also gives Kelly update

• WHAT HAPPENED?

  Having initially been down to start the friendly in Spain, Kirby's absence from the eventual 7-2 win over Austria was put down to some "irritation" with her knee suffered in the warm-up. Chloe Kelly, meanwhile, was already set to miss out due a minor training injury but has every chance of being involved for the upcoming Italy game.

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• WHAT WIEGMAN SAID

  Wiegman said: "Fran had some little irritation on her knee. In this moment, we're not going to take any risks with anyone. We just said: 'We'll take you off and assess it tomorrow.'

  "Hopefully it's just a little bit of irritation and we can move on. Chloe is doing better and we hope she will be back for Tuesday."

• Getty
  

  THE BIGGER PICTURE

  Kirby has featured regularly for Chelsea this season, recording four goal contributions in 14 WSL appearances, but was forced to miss last summer's World Cup after undergoing surgery on her knee, and has yet to get back to top form for the Lionesses.

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  WHAT NEXT FOR THE LIONESSES?

  The Italy friendly is scheduled for Tuesday. It remains to be seen whether Kirby will be involved, but Wiegman has alluded to Kelly being declared fit and featuring. After that, the Lionesses will wait for their next set of fixtures to be announced ahead of the April international break.

Federico Valverde has posted a crude "three legs" message to Real Madrid superstar Jude Bellingham, in reference to his celebration against Girona.

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• Bellingham starred as Real won 4-0
• England international scored twice
• Valverde posts joke on Instagram

• WHAT HAPPENED?

  Bellingham turned in a brilliant performance against Girona as Real won 4-0, scoring a brace. He subsequently posted a photo on Instagram of himself celebrating, and Valverde posted a joke in reference, seemingly, to the England international's genitalia.

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• WHAT BELLINGHAM AND VALVERDE SAID

  Bellingham wrote: "Nothing's decided yet, we'll keep pushing. 20 piece. #HalaMadrid." The "20 piece" refers to a celebratory bucket of chicken.

  Valverde responded: "You can't play with three legs."

• @RealMadrid
  

  THE BIGGER PICTURE

  The angle of Bellingham's celebratory picture shows that he maybe enjoyed it a little too much, and Valverde made sure to make crude reference to it. The real story, though, is that Real are now five points clear of second-placed Girona at the top of La Liga after Saturday's win.

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  WHAT NEXT FOR BELLINGHAM?

  Real are next in action in the Champions League, against RB Leipzig, in the first leg of their Round of 16 clash on Tuesday. They will then return to La Liga action against Rayo Vallecano on Sunday.

Newcastle United are still active in the transfer window even though the new Premier League season is well underway. Transfer expert Fabrizio Romano has offered an update to GIVEMESPORT on their pursuit of Arsenal and Scotland fullback Kieran Tierney.

Something stands in the way of Tierney transfer?

Newcastle got off to the best possible start last weekend as they put Aston Villa to the sword, romping past them at St James’ Park to a 5-1 victory. Alexander Isak scored a brace whilst the opener was grabbed by none other than debutant Sandro Tonali.

An even bigger test is up next as the Magpies prepare to face Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City who are fresh off of their Super Cup victory.

Dan Burn started at left-back against Unai Emery’s Villa and will surely hold on to that spot for the trip to the Etihad. That being said, Eddie Howe and co are on the hunt for an upgrade in that position with Kieran Tierney at the top of their list, along with Chelsea’s Marc Cucurella.

This Tierney saga has gone back and forth with Real Sociedad and Celtic also interested in striking a deal for the Scotsman. The major sticking point has been surrounding whether it would be a permanent deal or a loan, something which La Real and the Gunners have been unable to agree on.

What is Fabrizio Romano's update?

Transfer expert Fabrizio Romano gave his opinion on what we can expect regarding Tierney and Newcastle to GIVEMESPORT.

"There is interest from Newcastle United, it's true, but again, with Arsenal asking for a permanent transfer, we know the Newcastle situation with Financial Fair Play is not that easy.

"So they have to be careful on how they spend money, what kind of proposal they can offer to Arsenal.

"So that's why the deal is not so easy. But it's true that he's appreciated. So, I think in the next few weeks, something could happen for Tierney."

Should Arsenal let Tierney leave?

A lot of the chatter amongst the Emirates faithful relates to these Tierney links and whether or not their club should allow him to move on to pastures new.

Ben Jacobs revealed on the Loaded Mag NUFC podcast the position of Arteta on the future of Tierney.

“The starting point of Arteta, I understood, was that if Tierney was happy at Arsenal, Arteta was happy with Tierney staying because he’s hugely valued as a squad player and they’re going to have a lot of important games now that they’re back in the Champions League.

Jacobs then went on to echo a sentiment shared by a large amount of Arsenal fans, saying that, “What if Zinchenko gets injured? You’d love a player like Tierney there that can come in.”

As previously mentioned, the Gunners now have UCL action to contend with as well and Zinchenko hardly boasted the most positive fitness record last term. Knee problems and two separate calf issues kept the Ukrainian international out of action for over 150 days in 2022/23, as per Transfermarkt, so the decision to part ways with his only realistic replacement would certainly raise eyebrows across the Premier League landscape.