Mohamed Salah admits he was 90 per cent sure he was going to leave Liverpool before striking a two-year agreement with Arne Slot's side.

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Article continues below

Article continues below

• Salah in contract impasse for months
• Then signed two-year Liverpool deal
• Says he was 90 per cent sure he would leave

• WHAT HAPPENED?

  Salah sent the footballing world into overdrive when he said at the start of this season that this would be his last year at the club, as he entered the final 10 months of his contract. In late December, the 32-year-old revealed he and the Reds were still "far away" from agreeing new terms before he finally put pen to paper on a contract until 2027 in April. Now, he has admitted that he was not confident of extending his stay as he knows how owners, Fenway Sports Group, operate when it comes to contracts for players over 30.

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  WHAT SALAH SAID

  He told Sky Sports: "Based on the club's history, 10 per cent [chance of staying]. Because we know the philosophy of the club, I'm not attacking them. I know how they deal with players over 30 in the past and I know how the situation will be so I never expect the club is going to be, 'Okay, you have two years there'. We reach a point in the money [negotiations], all of us are happy so I didn't expect I was going to stay. I think it took six months for the negotiation to go really quick and I think from January, I go, 'Okay, now things are getting better and better'. It took a while. I think the club tested me to see if I can provide or not (laughs). I didn't want more than that, just the two years."

  When asked who was more important to tie down to a new deal, him or Virgil van Dijk, he laughed and replied: "I think both. You need clean sheets and goals, without goals and clean sheets you won't win trophies."

• THE BIGGER PICTURE

  In the end, Salah and Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk both penned two-year contracts – much to the relief of the entire club. They have just won the Premier League, the duo are playing some of the best football of their career, and now they will be hungry to win more trophies next season. The Reds would have been in a much weaker position if Salah, Van Dijk, and Trent Alexander-Arnold – who is set to join Real Madrid – all left in one fell swoop this summer.

• Getty Images Sport
  

  WHAT NEXT?

  Salah will hope to continue his excellent season, where he has scored 33 goals in all competitions, when Liverpool take on Brighton on Monday in their penultimate Premier League game of the campaign.

Despite defeat on Tuesday night, there’s still so much for Aston Villa to play for in the remaining months of the season.

In mid-week, Unai Emery’s team were hammered 4-1 by Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park, meaning the Claret and Blue Army have won only one of their last seven in the Premier League, thereby slipping down to tenth.

Nevertheless, the Villans have reached the FA Cup fifth round for the first time since being runners-up a decade ago, welcoming Cardiff City to Villa Park on Friday night, before travelling to Jan Breydelstadion for the first leg of their Champions League last 16 tie against Club Brugge.

However, not so long ago, being in the Champions League and aiming to win domestic cups was a mere pipe dream for Villa supporters, personified by their former club-record signing, compared to one of the club’s best-ever Premier League strikers, who has completely fallen off the radar.

Christian Benteke's time at Aston Villa

Christian Benteke was only at Aston Villa for three seasons but made quite the impression in the Midlands, scoring some pivotal goals and making the club a huge return on their investment.

The Belgian, only 22-years-old at the time, arrived from Genk for a reported £7m on deadline day in the summer of 2012.

He would go on to score 49 goals in just 101 appearances in a claret and blue shirt, averaging a goal every 171 minutes, firing Villa to the FA Cup Final in 2015, as well as being a key figure as Tim Sherwood’s team avoided relegation that same season.

Hailed as “world-class” by another of his former managers Paul Lambert, Benteke remains one of only seven players to have scored 40+ goals for Villa in the Premier League.

Gabriel Agbonlahor

73

356

Ollie Watkins

71

206

Dwight Yorke

60

237

Dion Dublin

48

227

Juan Pablo Ángel

44

271

Christian Benteke

42

175

Gareth Barry

41

757

As the table shows, Benteke has, by far, the best minutes-per-goal ratio of any Villa forward in the Premier League-era, well apart from Jhon Durán, whose 12 goals came in just 1,214 minutes, which equates to a goal every 101 minutes.

Nevertheless, his prolific figures saw Benteke join Liverpool for £32.5m in 2015, later admitting his three years at Villa were “the best time” of his career, but the supposed heir to the Belgian’s throne didn’t quite live up to these high standards.

Where Are They Now

Your star player or biggest flop has left the club but what are they doing in the present day? This article is part of Football FanCast’s Where Are They Now series.

What happened to Aston Villa's next Christian Benteke

Following their promotion back to the Premier League in 2019, Aston Villa went big, spending a reported £140m on 12 new recruits.

The most expensive of those was Wesley, who arrived from Club Brugge for £22m, at the time a club-record.

The previous season, the Brazilian had scored 17 goals for the Belgian Blue-Blacks, on target home and away against Monaco in the Champions League, with Luke Hatfield of the Daily Express comparing him to Benteke, who’d also arrived from Belgium, stating ‘both bring a sizeable frame and exciting physical traits’.

Welsey did make a decent start to his Villa career, scoring six times during the first half of the season, earning him his senior international debut for Brazil against Argentina, only to rupture his anterior cruciate ligament during a 2-1 victory at Burnley on New Year’s Day.

From that moment on, his Villa career never recovered, spending 480 days on the sidelines, but barely featuring in claret and blue again, loaned back to Club Brugge for the following season.

So, let’s look at Wesley’s post-ACL injury career.

2020/21

Aston Villa

16

0

2021/22

Club Brugge & Internacional

1,187

2

2022/23

Levante

1,864

4

2023/24

Stoke City

873

0

2024/25

Fatih Karagümrük

1,964

14

As the table shows, Wesley’s career has never really recovered, Adam Cleary of Football League World describing his one-season stint at Stoke as ‘miserable’ and a ‘disaster’. That is until now.

Last summer, the hulking striker joined Fatih Karagümrük, who were relegated from the Turkish Süper Lig last season, for whom he has been on fire, scoring 14 goals, two more than current Villa star Morgan Rogers, making him the division’s leading scorer, with his team second, on course for automatic promotion.

Of course, the Turkish second-tier isn’t the highest level of football around, Football Data Base believes Fatih Karagümrük to be the 1,418th strongest team in the world, just below Reading and Portsmouth for context, but it’s great to see Wesley enjoying his best scoring season since that horrific injury at Turf Moor.

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da realbet： Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has told the Gunners board to try and sign a marquee player this summer, with this next month described as pivotal in determining whether the Premier League heavyweights can get a deal done.

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The 53-year-old left Atletico after 12 fruitful years at the Wanda Metropolitano, and his availability piqued serious interest from Arsenal, who entered negotiations and sought to tempt him with a move to the Emirates.

Following positive talks with the Italian, both Arsenal and Berta shook hands on an agreement for him to succeed Edu Gaspar, following his departure from N5 in November.

Arsenal’s next five Premier League games

Date

Chelsea (home)

March 16th

Fulham (home)

April 1st

Everton (away)

April 5th

Brentford (home)

April 12th

Ipswich Town (away)

April 20th

This comes as excellent news for Arsenal and Arteta, with Berta expected to immediately get to work on the club’s transfer activity. According to reliable journalist Ben Jacobs, the chief has already identified targets ahead of next season, and one of them is Newcastle United star Alexander Isak.

The Sweden international, who currently stands out as a superstar striker in the Premier League, is enjoying yet another fine season at St James’ Park with 22 goals from 32 appearances in all competitions.

Two of those strikes actually came against Arteta’s side, once in the top flight and another in the first leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final, so Arsenal know full well just how dangerous he can be in front of goal.

Newcastle are adopting a firm stance when it comes to selling Isak, though, with some reports suggesting that the Magpies won’t even entertain bids of less than £150 million (Ben Jacobs).

However, Arteta is believed to be a massive fan of Isak, and won’t completely call time on the chase for his signature this summer – despite the many hurdles in Arsenal’s way.

Arteta has told Arsenal to sign Alexander Isak from Newcastle United

According to a report from Spain, the tactician is more determined than ever to land him.

Indeed, it is believed that Arteta has told the Arsenal board to try and strike a deal for Isak, who has become their main target ahead of next campaign. The club are prepared to mount a challenge for the 25-year-old in response to their manager’s request, and Arsenal believe he could be the player who transforms them into eventual Premier League champions.

As well as this, the next few weeks are apparently “key” when it comes to Isak’s future and a potential move from Arsenal.

Ex-Nigeria international Sunday Oliseh has described the former Real Sociedad star as one of the most exciting and “underrated” players in the division, and there is no arguing Isak’s quality. That being said, it is exactly why Newcastle will come as a major hurdle for Arsenal.

Their demands are set to be extravagant, so Arteta’s side may need to smash their transfer record if they have any hope of reaching an agreement.

Troubling display from out-of-sorts quick leads to questions about wisdom of selection

Andrew Miller02-Sep-2023Heather Knight, England’s captain, admitted her young team had been handed some “humble pie” after a chastening eight-wicket defeat against Sri Lanka in the second T20I at Chelmsford. However, she defended the decision to give a recall to the visibly out-of-sorts Issy Wong, whose troublingly erratic display put an extra dampener on what Knight admitted had been a case of her team “all [having] a bad day at the same time, unfortunately”.England had come into the contest brimful of optimism after an emphatic victory in the series opener at Hove on Thursday. However, faced with a sensational captain’s performance from Chamari Athapaththu, they were this time routed for 104 in 18 overs, then clubbed to defeat with a massive 40 balls to spare. Athapaththu herself led from the front with 55 from 40 balls, as Sri Lanka secured a famous maiden T20I victory over England at the tenth time of asking.”We’ve had a bad day, we’ve lost a game of cricket,” Knight said. “There’s not going to be a big inquiry about it. We haven’t played well and Sri Lanka have played very well, and given us a bit of humble pie to be honest.Related

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“Credit to Sri Lanka, but sometimes that happens in cricket,” she added. “We’ve got a very inexperienced side, a lot of guys are learning their trade, and we can identify some areas we can get better at. It’s obviously quite a humbling day, but also an opportunity for us to really home in on what we need to do better, moving forward.”England’s batting was clearly to blame for the defeat, as a succession of players succumbed to the hard lengths of Sri Lanka’s spinners – most notably the recalled Inoshi Fernando, who offered little width on a hybrid wicket and turned the screw relentlessly after a dominant powerplay.However, it was Wong’s performance with the ball that attracted the most attention after the match. She was visibly struggling with her run-up in a grim first over that contained a wide and three front-foot no-balls, and it was something of a surprise when Knight entrusted her with a second over with Sri Lanka needing just 13 runs to win. Three driven fours later, the scores were level and Wong’s comeback figures read 2-0-24-0.”It was a tough day and sometimes, when you’re exposed to that sort of pressure situation, it can make it tougher, but she’s a pretty resilient character,” Knight said. “She’s a pretty positive person, so I don’t think it will affect her too much.”Nevertheless, Wong’s display – in her first international appearance since December – was an alarming one for those who recall the ebullience and optimism of her initial England performances, particularly her three-for on her ODI debut against South Africa in July 2022, when she was being earmarked as the obvious pace-bowling successor to Katherine Sciver-Brunt.Since then, however, Wong was a notable omission from England’s T20 World Cup squad in South Africa, and this summer she has seen the likes of Lauren Filer and, latterly, Mahika Gaur leapfrog her in the pace pecking order.And though she remains a hugely marketable asset for English cricket, as evidenced by her memorable hat-trick for Mumbai Indians in the inaugural WPL in India earlier this year, Wong’s performance in this year’s Hundred – a total of 30 balls and one wicket across five matches as Birmingham Phoenix finished rock-bottom and winless – left England, as Knight put it, “looking for a bit of context for where she’s at”.”She’s been struggling a little bit for rhythm the whole summer,” Knight said. “She’s been given five balls at a time in the Hundred. She hasn’t had a chance to come back from spells, and that’s probably put a lot of pressure on how she starts.”She has been trying a few things and listening to a lot of different voices, which has probably led to her run-up issues. She didn’t really have those earlier in the summer. We know what sort of cricketer she can be, which is why we’ve backed her when she’s been struggling a little bit.”Knight added that Wong’s next step would be to work closely with Matt Mason, England women’s bowling coach, “to get back to where we know she can be”.”Issy’s got a clear plan over the next month about what she’s going to do. Matt Mason’s an outstanding bowling coach. We wanted to get a bit of context of where she’s at, and Issy wanted a bit of context of where she’s at as well. She had a few good sessions, and don’t regret playing her at all.”Overall, however, Knight insisted that the lessons that Sri Lanka had meted out at Chelmsford would be valuable ones for her young team, and far from exposing the limitations of an untested group of players, the added jeopardy of a series decider in Derby on Wednesday would be a further chance to fast-track their growth.”It wasn’t about underestimating Sri Lanka at all,” Knight said. “It was about what’s best for us as a side, moving forward. We want to expose people to international cricket, we were pretty clear that that was the goal at the start of this series, and no one was [complaining] at Hove when we were smashing 180 off 17 overs, so I wouldn’t change anything.”It’s a good lesson for youngsters that, if you’re not able to execute your skills how you want to, you’re going to get punished. Unfortunately it’s gone wrong for pretty much everyone, so it’s a bad day at the office. But we’ll go to Derby, still looking to play exactly how we want to play, and obviously it’s a series decider, which is exciting.”

Tottenham Hotspur are now ready to fight for the signature of an “amazing” in-demand striker, with talks potentially set to commence in the coming weeks, according to a report.

Spurs in need of a striker

Prior to Dominic Solanke’s return from injury, Ange Postecoglou experimented with a number of different options in attack, but none of the replacements have managed to consistently find the back of the net.

Richarlison has scored just two Premier League goals this term, having also struggled with injuries, while Mathys Tel has just one goal in six games since arriving on loan from Bayern Munich until the end of the season.

As such, there are clear signs Postecoglou will need to bring in a new striker this summer, and Spurs have identified a number of potential targets, although they have recently been dealt a blow in their pursuit of RB Leipzig’s Benjamin Sesko.

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Arsenal are said to have overtaken Tottenham in the race for Sesko’s signature, which means Postecoglou’s side may be forced to move on to other targets, and a report from Spain has now revealed they are ready to fight it out for Lille’s Jonathan David.

David is one of the most sought-after strikers in Europe, given that he is available on a free transfer at the end of the campaign, and there may be competition for his signature from the likes of Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea and Newcastle United.

The English clubs view the Canadian as a perfect target, given the level of his performances in Ligue 1 and the Champions League, and talks are expected to start in the coming weeks, although it is unclear whether Spurs specifically will start negotiations.

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Lille still have a good chance of progressing to the Champions League quarter-finals, having drawn 1-1 with Borussia Dortmund in the first leg of their round of 16 tie, and their striker has been one of their key players.

The Canada international has scored six goals in nine games in Europe’s elite competition, while also providing two assists, showcasing he is capable of performing at the very highest level.

After scoring against Montpellier at the weekend, the 25-year-old is remarkably now on 32 goal contributions in all competitions this season, indicating he very much deserves a move to one of Europe’s top clubs.

The Lille star has impressed in Ligue 1 for quite some time, being lauded as “amazing” by journalist Rick Westhead during the 2022-23 campaign, at which point he was outscoring the likes of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe.

Given that David is set to be available on a free transfer, he could be the perfect striker target for Tottenham, but they may find it very hard to compete for his signature, unless they manage to qualify for the Champions League via a Europa League triumph.

Incident occurred during a Legends League T20 match in Surat

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Dec-2023Former India fast bowler S Sreesanth has accused his former team-mate Gautam Gambhir of calling him a “fixer” during a Legends League match in Surat. Gambhir is the captain of India Capitals while Sreesanth is playing for Gujarat Giants in the T20 tournament.After the match, which Capitals won by 12 runs, Sreesanth posted on Instagram a video that was shot on the sidelines of the post-match presentation ceremony. “Without any provocation, he kept on calling me something which was very rude and shouldn’t have been said by Mr Gautam Gambhir,” Sreesanth claimed. “I am not at all at fault, I wanted to clear the air straight away. The things he said on a cricket field live is not acceptable.”While Sreesanth did not immediately mention what was allegedly said to him by Gambhir, he revealed more details in a second video posted on Instagram on Thursday, the day after the match.