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He will join CSK after clearance from Sri Lanka Cricket, while Shivam Dube has linked up with the side after rehab at NCA

Deivarayan Muthu and Andrew Fidel Fernando21-Mar-2024Chennai Super Kings’ designated death bowler Matheesha Pathirana will miss the initial stages of IPL 2024 with a hamstring injury. The 21-year-old Sri Lanka slinger sustained the injury during the second T20I against Bangladesh in Sylhet earlier this month, when he was unable to finish his spell.ESPNcricinfo has learned that Pathirana is likely to be unavailable for at least two weeks and will travel to the IPL only after getting clearance from SLC medical staff. Currently, he is undergoing rehab at the high performance centre in Colombo. With the T20 World Cup set to begin on June 1 in the USA and the Caribbean, just days after the end of the IPL, SLC want to manage Pathirana carefully. Pathirana is the second Sri Lanka fast bowler on the sidelines, with left-armer Dilshan Madushanka, who was due to make his IPL debut for Mumbai Indians, ruled out of the entire IPL season.Pathirana’s injury is a major blow to CSK, who are already without New Zealand opener Devon Conway, who has been sidelined until May with a thumb injury. Pathirana’s economy rate of 8.00 at the death (between overs 16 and 20) was the best among bowlers who had bowled at least 90 balls during this phase in IPL 2023. He also emerged as the leading wicket-taker during that phase, with 18 strikes in 12 innings.Related

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On the eve of the IPL season-opener against Royal Challengers Bengaluru, head coach Stephen Fleming focused on the positives, pointing out that CSK had gone through a far bigger injury crisis last season.”Injuries-wise, we’re going pretty good. Compared to last year, we’re flying,” he said. “But we’re a practice [session] away from a couple, so we’re always realistic. But what we do like is the depth of our squad, in particular, in the bowling this year. And the challenge will be getting those combinations right, based on form. But at this point, Pathirana is not with us [at the moment], but everyone else is going pretty well.”Pathirana’s absence could potentially open up a slot for Bangladesh left-arm seamer Mustafizur Rahman, who also operates at the death. Mustafizur had suffered cramps, and a stretcher was required to carry him off the field in the third ODI against Sri Lanka in Chattogram on March 18. But he has since recovered to join CSK in Chennai, and is available for the IPL 2024 opener against Royal Challengers Bangalore on March 22. If the Chepauk pitch is a turner, though, CSK also have the option of including Moeen Ali in their team ahead of Mustafizur, along with Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell and Maheesh Theekshana.Dwayne Bravo, CSK’s bowling coach, had stressed on the importance on death bowling in the lead-up to the tournament. Shardul Thakur, who has returned to CSK after two seasons, is among their options in Pathirana’s absence.”Death bowling is my speciality. I believe that in T20s, [death overs] is a very important segment of the game,” Bravo had said at an event in Chennai last week. “It requires a lot of skill, bravery and planning – from preparation in practice to the games, match awareness, and situations.”You have to implement it in practice and get these guys to believe in philosophy and work towards it. Last year, we had the best death-bowling team, and we look forward to repeating it… Shardul [Thakur] is also back, which gives more depth. It is always good to have depth in the squad.”Meanwhile, CSK’s designated spin-hitter Shivam Dube, who had missed the Ranji Trophy knockouts with injury, has also linked up with his IPL side after completing his rehab at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru.CSK, the defending champions, begin their IPL 2024 campaign with back-to-back home games against Royal Challengers (March 22) and Gujarat Titans (March 26).

Known as the tournament’s ‘entertaining team’, Rajshahi suffered due to a lack of form and seemingly team spirit too

Mohammad Isam07-Dec-2017Tournament reviewRajshahi Kings, last year’s runners-up, did not make it to the top four in this year’s BPL. They had only four wins, hardly looking like a contender for the play-offs.Darren Sammy, who continued as captain, tried his best this time too, but to no avail. A captain is only as good as his team and the likes of Mushfiqur Rahim, Luke Wright and Samit Patel hardly delivered.
Particularly disappointing for Rajshahi was how their two local big guns – Mushfiqur and Mustafizur Rahman – didn’t fire. Mushfiqur made only 185 runs in 11 innings with one fifty, while Mustafizur took four wickets in five games. Among their overseas recruits, Sammy fired at times while James Franklin made some important runs, but batting lower down the order did not always give him enough deliveries to score off.What didn’t workInjuries to Sammy, Luke Wright and Lendl Simmons may have frustrated them during the different stages of the tournament but Rajshahi, as they showed in 2016, are supposed to be a different breed. Spirit alone could have taken them through, but that too was missing this season.What workedThere were some impressive performances from Sammy, Zakir Hasan, Qazi Onik and Mominul but it was all individual; there was hardly a game in which two or three performed in unison. Mominul was their highest run-getter but with just 230 runs, while the veteran Mohammad Sami’s 11 wickets was the most among their bowlers. Sammy, Patel and Dwayne Smith topped the strike-rate charts but the last two weren’t regular in the XI.Tips for 2018A higher investment on run-getters should be Rajshahi’s priority for next season. Better research on local players would be helpful.

The DC head coach also called Jake Fraser-McGurk one of the “standout powerplay batsmen” of IPL 2024 along with Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma

ESPNcricinfo staff11-May-20242:34

What’s clicked for Abishek Porel?

Delhi Capitals head coach Ricky Ponting has lavished praise on Abishek Porel, the left-hand batter who has sparkled in multiple roles during IPL 2024, and indicated that he will don the keeping gloves against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) on Sunday in the absence of the suspended Rishabh Pant. Capitals signed Porel in 2023 as a replacement for Pant, who missed the entire season after sustaining multiple injuries in a car crash, and Ponting has predicted that the Bengal keeper-batter has “a really bright future”.Porel has scored 267 runs in ten innings this season at a strike rate of 157.98. He began the campaign batting at No. 9 against Punjab Kings, coming in as an Impact Player and smacking an unbeaten 32 off just ten balls. Since then, he has been promoted to a top-four role, and in DC’s last game against Rajasthan Royals, he opened the batting and put on 60 in just 4.2 overs with Jake Fraser-McGurk. Porel went on to score 65 off 36, his first IPL half-century, studded with seven fours and three sixes.”I’ve seen extreme growth in Abishek Porel in this IPL,” Ponting said in Bengaluru ahead of the match against RCB. “In fact, looking back to the start of last season, obviously [with] Rishabh’s accident, we needed to bring in some wicketkeepers into our squad after the auction. We tried a lot of guys, a lot of guys that played, more senior guys than Porel, but the moment that I laid eyes on him, I knew that he was a very special talent.Related

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• 'Don't feel like I've earned that yet' – Fraser-McGurk fine with missing T20 World Cup

“I think, what we’ve seen in the last half a dozen games in particular, that talent’s really starting to shine through. He’s starting to work out what IPL cricket is all about. He’s had a couple of different roles as well. In the first game of the season for us, he came in as a No. 9 batsman, Impact Player, and made [32] off ten balls there, and now we see him opening the batting and he’s got better and better every game.”I’ve got huge raps on him. I think he’s a very, very good young player, obviously we’ll probably get to see him with the keeping gloves on tomorrow as well, with Rishabh not being there. And then we’ll work out, when we finalise our team, with the batting order and stuff, but I’ll be surprised if he’s not at the top of the order again, because he has played really well, and he’s someone that I think has got a really bright future.”Porel has hit 31 fours so far this season, the joint-most for DC along with Pant, even though he has scored only 267 runs to Pant’s 413. Until this IPL season, he had played just four games in the tournament – all in 2023 – scoring 33 runs at a strike rate of 106.45. He was among the retained players for DC coming into this IPL.Ricky Ponting has termed Jake Fraser-McGurk’s IPL performances ‘electrifying’•Getty Images

‘Fraser-McGurk among the standout powerplay batsmen this IPL with Head and Abhishek’

Ponting also hailed Jake Fraser-McGurk, the swashbuckling 22-year-old batter who has taken this IPL by storm, but didn’t find a place in the Australia squad for the T20 World Cup next month. Fraser-McGurk himself had said he felt he hadn’t earned a place in the final 15-member squad.Fraser-McGurk was picked by DC as a replacement player just before IPL 2024, after fast bowler Lungi Ngidi was ruled out. Fraser-McGurk has since then, in many ways, reset the T20 batting template in the powerplay, just like Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma have while batting for Sunrisers Hyderabad this season. Fraser-McGurk has scored his 309 runs while striking at 235.87 and averaging 44.14, with the help of four half-centuries. That strike rate is even better than Abhishek’s 205.64 and Head’s 201.89.”I don’t think Jake expected to get picked in the first place,” Ponting said of his absence from the T20 World Cup squad. “It was only a few weeks ago that he turned up here as a replacement player, and probably the furthest thing from his mind was actually getting a chance to be in that World Cup squad. It’s just been how electrifying he’s been in this IPL. Some of the things he’s done – I think he’s made three 20-ball fifties in this tournament, so he along with Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma have been the stand-out powerplay batsmen in this entire tournament.”I saw some quotes from him the day that the squad was announced or the day after – he wasn’t surprised that he wasn’t in the squad, he wasn’t disappointed at not being there. I’m sure he would have liked to have been in it, but I think he would have been more surprised to be named than left out. He’s focused now, like all of us, he’s making sure that we’re ready to go tomorrow. For us, it’s not about what happened yesterday, it’s about what we can do today to get better, and then make sure that we’re ready to play our best game of cricket tomorrow.”

Claude Makelele believes Chelsea can emulate Paris Saint-Germain's Champions League triumph even with a young squad.

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Chelsea have qualified for UCL after a brief hiatusThey have one of the youngest squads in the PLMakelele wants further reinforcements at Stamford BridgeFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?

Chelsea wrapped up their 2024–25 campaign with a flurry of positive results, including Champions League qualification secured with a dramatic victory over Nottingham Forest on the final day. Just days later, the Blues capped their season by lifting the UEFA Europa Conference League trophy following an emphatic 4-1 triumph over Real Betis.

AdvertisementGetty Images SportTHE BIGGER PICTURE

Remarkably, Chelsea achieved these feats while fielding the youngest average starting XI in Premier League history – a clear indicator of their long-term vision under the Todd Boehly-Clearlake Capital regime. With a roster full of emerging stars and a revamped backroom structure, the club has embarked on a new chapter of strategic rebuilding, with Maresaca masterminding their progress.

WHAT MAKELELE SAID

Reflecting on Chelsea’s recent progress, Makelele expressed that the managerial turnover and sweeping changes at the club initially raised concerns, but he now sees signs of growing stability under new head coach Maresca.

"I think Chelsea are doing well. They are starting at the beginning [of their project], very slowly," he said to .

"In the beginning, they changed a lot of players and managers. The new manager [Enzo Maresca] made sure Chelsea finished the season in a good way. They qualified for the Champions League and won a trophy. I think this new Chelsea can be successful now."

DID YOU KNOW?

Makelele emphasised the importance of allowing Maresca the time to implement his ideas. Drawing parallels with PSG’s decision to back Luis Enrique, the Frenchman suggested Chelsea should follow suit by giving Maresca the room to grow and lead.

"We need to wait for Chelsea to win the Premier League again, and they are starting to build a strategy and some stability," he said. "But, for me, the most important thing is they need to leave Maresca working in a good way, like Paris St-Germain did with Luis Enrique.

"They need stability if they are to fight for a title. I am a Chelsea fan, and I was worried when I saw Chelsea struggling in the beginning [under new owners Clearlake-Boehly], but now they are on a positive path and can return to the Chelsea of the past, which was at a high level."

Chelsea returned to winning ways last night, ending their run of three straight defeats, beating Southampton 4-0 at Stamford Bridge in the Premier League.

The victory takes the Blues back up to fourth, taking advantage of Bournemouth’s defeat, sitting two points clear of defending champions Manchester City.

Goals from Marc Cucurella, Levi Colwill, Pedro Neto and Christopher Nkunku secured the win for Enzo Maresca’s men, ending their drought in convincing fashion.

The last few weeks have seen the club’s top four ambitions take a hit, but the victory in West London could allow for a mini-revival as the season edges towards its conclusion.

However, despite the huge win, numerous players failed to make a positive impression at the Bridge, putting their position in the starting eleven at risk over the next few matches.

Chelsea’s poor performers against Southampton

Cole Palmer has for so long been the star man for Chelsea, often being the man to get the side out of trouble – as seen by his tally of 20 combined goals and assists in the Premier League this campaign.

However, despite his impressive tallies, he’s been unable to register a single goal contribution in any of the last six league outings, struggling to match his early-season form.

The 22-year-old missed two big chances during the triumph, registering seven shots on goal, but was unable to find the back of the net with any of his efforts – showcasing his wasteful nature in the final third.

Moises Caicedo has been the go-to man at the base of the midfield during Maresca’s reign at the Bridge, but last night was an abnormally quiet showing from the Ecuadorian.

He failed to win any of the two tackles he entered, winning just 40% of his duels before receiving a booking for the ninth time in the league – just one away from a two-game suspension.

Despite the outings of the two aforementioned players, one other Blues talent was unable to impress, leading to criticism over his showings as a result.

The Chelsea player who needs to be benched by Maresca

Winger Jadon Sancho impressed during the first few weeks of his spell as a Chelsea player, registering an assist off the bench against Bournemouth – in what was his debut for the club.

However, over the last couple of weeks, he’s found form hard to come by in attacking areas, falling to register a single goal or assist in any of his last nine outings across all competitions.

Despite his struggles, Maresca opted with the 24-year-old for the clash against the Saints, but was unable to end his run, being withdrawn in the 68th minute as a result of his lack of impact.

The winger created two chances during the win, but was unable to register a single effort on goal, unable to shine against the side occupying the bottom of the table – an indication as to his recent decline in form.

Sancho, who was dubbed “horrendous” by one content creator, also only completed 50% of his attempted dribbles, also failing to find his teammates with any of his crosses.

=Sancho’s stats for Chelsea against Southampton
Statistics	Tally
Minutes played	68
Touches	43
Chances created	2
Shots taken	0
Dribbles completed	1/2 (50%)
Crosses completed	0/1 (0%)
Possession lost	7x
Stats via SofaScore

To make matters worse for the Manchester United loanee, he was replaced by youngster Tyrique George, with the teenager registering an assist for Cucurella’s strike in the closing stages.

As a result of his showing, Sancho was handed a 7/10 match rating by Football London journalist Bobby Vincent, the joint-lowest of any player who started the encounter.

Given his showing, Maresca should consider dropping the £100k-per-week earner, putting faith in the likes of George, with the youngster the future of the football club.

It’s sad to see his lack of form given his start to life at the Bridge, with the Italian needing to take him out of the firing line, making him work for a starting role after his lack of tangible impact.

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West Ham United have now received a boost in their pursuit of a “magnificent” striker, who could be available for £21m this summer, according to a report.

West Ham's striker pursuit

With Graham Potter currently severely lacking options in the striker department due to Michail Antonio and Niclas Fullkrug’s injury issues, West Ham have now started to look at new forwards to potentially bring in this summer.

AS Roma’s Tammy Abraham has emerged as a target for the Hammers, and there is a feeling a move to the London Stadium would be of great appeal to the Englishman, given the opportunity to work with Potter.

Potter has also instructed the board to sign Lille striker Jonathan David, with the Canadian set to be available on a free transfer this summer, at which point his contract with the French club is set to expire.

There will be no shortage of options for the Irons, with a report revealing they are also determined to sign Fenerbahce star Youssef En-Nesyri, who has been a long-term target.

It is possible West Ham could look to bring in more than one striker this summer, with Strasbourg’s Emanuel Emegha also under consideration, and there has now been a development in their pursuit of the 22-year-old.

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The Hammers have set their sights on a new centre-back.

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According to a report from The Boot Room, the Hammers remain keen on signing Emegha, given the lack of options in attack, and the striker wants to move to the Premier League this summer.

Strasbourg are now ready to sell the forward, who is attracting a lot of attention from the Premier League, with Newcastle United and Chelsea also named as potential suitors, alongside Everton, and the Merseyside club are believed to be leading the race.

"Magnificent" Emegha enjoying another impressive campaign

The Dutch forward has been lauded as “magnificent” by football talent scout Jacek Kulig this season, and with good reason, given that he is enjoying his most prolific season to date in front of goal.

Since first making his breakthrough with Sparta Rotterdam, the Den Haag-born striker has improved year-on-year, and he has regularly been amongst the goals for Strasbourg in Ligue 1 this season.

2021/22

19

2

2022/23

27

9

2023/24

28

8

2024/25

21

11

The former Sparta Rotterdam man’s goal record can be put down to his ability to constantly get in the right areas, ranking in the 97th percentile for non-penalty xG per 90 over the past year when compared to other forwards.

As such, it is promising news that Emegha, who has a £21m price tag, is now keen on a move to the Premier League, and he could soon move up West Ham’s list of striker targets, given that David is now reportedly closing in on a move to Barcelona.

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers was heavily backed by the board in the summer transfer window last year as they made several big-money signings to bolster his squad.

USA international Auston Trusty was brought in from English side Sheffield United for a reported fee of £6m to compete with Liam Scales for a starting berth at centre-back.

The Hoops also agreed a £9.5m deal, with an initial fee of £8.5m, to sign Ireland international Adam Idah from Norwich City on a permanent basis, after he spent the second half of last season on loan and scored the winner in the SFA Cup final against Rangers.

Idah was not the only signing to threaten Odsonne Edouard’s club-record deal – a £9m move from PSG in 2018 – as Belgian central midfielder Arne Engels arrived from Augsburg for a reported fee of £11m.

The 21-year-old talent has racked up nine goals and 12 assists in all competitions so far this season and has the potential to be one of the club’s next big sales in the future.

Celtic are no strangers to cashing in on their best players as they have made millions over the years by doing exactly that, with Matt O’Riley’s move to Brighton & Hove Albion last summer being the most recent example.

Celtic's biggest sales

The Scottish giants have made a habit out of making big money on their stars and it shows that the club have an excellent recruitment strategy, as they have consistently found quality young prospects and developed them into hugely valuable assets.

O’Riley is a brilliant example of that because Celtic swooped to sign him from English League One side MK Dons for a fee of £1.5m in the January transfer window at the start of 2022, before going on to sell him for a significantly higher fee just two-and-a-half years later.

Matt O’Riley

Brighton

£24.5m

Jota

Al-Ittihad

£24.1m

Kieran Tierney

Arsenal

£24.2m

Moussa Dembele

Lyon

£18.2m

Odsonne Edouard

Crystal Palace

£13.5m

As you can see in the table above, current Celtic forward Jota, who re-joined the club in the recent January window, is among the club’s biggest-ever sales.

Kieran Tierney has agreed to join the club on a free transfer from Arsenal in the summer, which means that two of Celtic’s top three record sales will be back at Parkhead together for the 2025/26 campaign.

One player the Scottish giants may wish they could bring back to Parkhead is central defender Virgil van Dijk, whose move away from the club does not crack the top five biggest sales in the team’s history.

How much Celtic sold Virgil van Dijk for

In the summer of 2015, Premier League side Southampton swooped in to sign the Dutch centre-back for a reported fee of £11.5m, with a further £1.5m in potential add-ons.

The Hoops had signed the Netherlands international from Groningen for a fee of €2m (£1.7m), according to manager Neil Lennon, ahead of the 2013/14 campaign and this means that the club made a huge profit on him by cashing in for just shy of £10m more up front.

Van Dijk racked up a staggering 115 first-team appearances for Celtic in just two years at the club and contributed with an eye-catching 15 goals and seven assists from a centre-back position.

The giant central defender then proved his worth in the Premier League with the Saints over the next two-and-a-half years before being snapped up by Liverpool for a record fee.

According to BBC Sport, Jurgen Klopp’s side made Van Dijk the most expensive defender in the history of the game with a £75m swoop for his services in January of 2018.

2023/24

Yes

2022/23

No

2021/22

Yes

2020/21

No

2019/20

Yes

2018/19

Yes

2017/18

No

As you can see in the table above, the Dutch star has been included in the Premier League PFA Team of the Year in four of his six full seasons at Anfield, after joining them midway through the 2017/18 campaign.

Celtic, however, were once able to cash in on a centre-back for even more than they got for van Dijk, despite what the Dutchman has gone on to achieve, as they hit the jackpot with Kristoffer Ajer.

Celtic struck gold with Kristoffer Ajer

Back in February 2016, the Hoops swooped to sign the Norwegian giant for a reported fee of just £650k after a trial spell at the club from Start in his home country – a fee that would go on to look insignificant in the face of the money they raked in for his services.

The young defender arrived as a youth team player at first, playing five times in the UEFA Youth League in the first half of the 2016/17 campaign, before being sent out on loan to Kilmarnock to gain some valuable experience in senior football in Scotland.

Ajer returned to Celtic for the 2017/18 season, with Rodgers in the dugout in his first spell at the club, and emerged as a regular first-team player for the Hoops, as he went on to play 176 times for the Hoops in total throughout his spell in Glasgow.

The Norway international, who scored seven goals for the Bhoys, won three Scottish Premiership titles, three League Cup trophies, and three SFA Cup trophies, which shows that it was a successful period for him and the club.

In the summer of 2021, Premier League side Brentford swooped in to sign the centre-back for an initial fee of £13.5m, with an undisclosed amount of add-ons that could increase it, which meant that he was sold for £2m more than van Dijk – not including add-ons – was six years earlier.

This shows that Celtic hit the jackpot with Ajer because they turned a £650k signing for their development squad into an incredibly successful player, given the nine trophies he won with the Scottish giants, who was then sold for a mammoth profit.

At the time of writing, the Norwegian titan is valued at €18m (£15m) by Transfermarkt. This suggests that the Hoops did well to cash in on him for an initial £13.5m as his value has only marginally increased over the past three-and-a-half years, whereas van Dijk’s soared to a staggering £75m in a similar timeframe.

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Rodgers will, now, hope that he can help the current crop of Celtic youngsters to develop and improve, to the point where they go on to become the next big-money sales to propel their careers to the next level.

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

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• 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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• Getty Images Sport
  

  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.

Newcastle United have now turned their attentions to a new forward as they look to move on from Callum Wilson this summer, it has been reported, with Eddie Howe’s side now looking across the Premier League to find their next marksman.

Newcastle set for attacking changes

There is set to be plenty of change for Eddie Howe’s Newcastle side in the summer, with their attack a key area that they are looking to strengthen.

Having sold Miguel Almiron to Atlanta United in January, they are expected to move to sign another winger in the summer amid links to Celtic standout Nicolas Kuhn, while they have also been strongly linked with a move for Brentford forward Bryan Mbeumo, though they will not be the only side chasing the Cameroonian international.

Centrally, there is also going to be change. Callum Wilson is out of contract at the end of the season and, after another disappointing season with injuries, he is not expected to be offered a new deal on Tyneside, meaning that he will become a free agent amid interest from sides across England.

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Another player with significant interest is Alexander Isak, though Newcastle will be desperate to keep hold of their talisman, who has scored 17 times already this season. Arsenal and Liverpool have both been linked with the Swede, who is under contract at St James’ Park until 2028, and who Newcastle are hoping to tie to a new contract.

Whether they do or not, it is clear that Howe’s side will be on the hunt for at least one new striker this summer, and now a new target has emerged for the Magpies.

Newcastle eye move for striker

Now, a report in Spain [via Sport Witness] has revealed that Newcastle United have now made Chelsea forward Nicolas Jackson their “priority” to strengthen their attack this summer.

It is claimed that “Newcastle in particular are keen on the Chelsea man as they fear losing Alexander Isak in the summer”, and that he is also wanted by Arsenal, Atletico Madrid and Aston Villa.

Currently out injured, Jackson had an excellent start to the 2024/25 campaign, but his form has struggled in recent months,

Appearances

23

Goals

9

Assists

5

Minutes per goal involvement

125

However, he was singled out for high praise by ex-Chelsea man Emmanuel Petit earlier in the campaign, who dubbed his goal against Leicester in November “remarkable”.

“The first touch to avoid the defender is brilliant, the way he won the ball, the first touch is beautiful, just remarkable”, he explained.

Chelsea are believed to be in the market for a new forward this summer and as a result Jackson could be moved on, but should he depart the report adds that the Blues will ask for a fee around €50m (£41.6m).

That could prove too much for Newcastle unless they cash in on Isak, something that few will want to do. However, Jackson would represent an upgrade on Wilson were the Magpies willing to splash the cash.

da poker： Arsenal’s victory against Leicester City yesterday was a vital one in terms of their slim hopes of claiming the Premier League title by the end of the 2024/25 campaign.

da betano casino： Mikel Merino was the unlikely hero off the substitutes bench, scoring a double after replacing Raheem Sterling who had an afternoon to forget in the East Midlands.

The result puts the Gunners just four points behind Liverpool ahead of their clash with Wolverhampton Wanderers this afternoon – extending their unbeaten run to 15 league matches in the process.

The result was made all the more impressive given the injury crisis currently facing Arteta after Kai Havertz was the latest player to face a spell on the sidelines.

Such a situation needs to see the Spaniard’s senior options in the squad step up to the plate, but one of his regular starters was unable to have a huge positive impact on the result yesterday.

Martin Odegaard’s stats for Arsenal against Leicester

Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard has so often been the player to provide the goods in the final third for the Gunners in recent years, playing a huge role in their respective title charges.

The Norwegian has struggled to get going this season, only registering five combined goals and assists in his 17 outings, failing to register any contributions in each of his last two matches.

His latest display was evidence that he’s failing to match his high levels of performance, losing the ball 14 times during his 90-minute display and failing to complete any of his attempted crosses.

Odegaard only won 38% of his duels and was dribbled past once in the process, unable to make an impact at either end of the pitch at the King Power Stadium.

The same can’t be said for one player, who appears to be rapidly becoming the manager’s most important player after his showing against the Foxes yesterday.

The player who’s becoming Arteta’s most important player

The recent injury crisis to players within the final third has seen Arteta hand valuable first-team minutes to players who wouldn’t normally claim a starting role.

Sterling was one of the beneficiaries yesterday, but his dismal outing saw him replaced just after the hour, unable to take advantage of the chance handed his way.

However, fellow attacker Ethan Nwaneri was also handed a start in the Premier League, producing an outstanding display, softening the potential blow in Bukayo Saka’s absence.

The 17-year-old stepped up to the plate, registering an assist in the victory, whilst completing six of his seven attempted dribbles – the most of any player on the pitch.

Nwaneri also won 13 ground duels, hitting the woodwork twice, ultimately being desperately unlucky not to add himself to the scoresheet alongside Merino.

It was a display way beyond his tender teenage years, subsequently receiving a 9/10 match rating from the Daily Express’ Sam Smith, the highest of any starting player in Arteta’s side.

Ethan Nwaneri’s stats for Arsenal against Leicester

Statistics

Tally

Minutes played

90

Touches

62

Assists

1

Dribbles completed

6/7

Ground duels won

13

Times hit the woodwork

2

Shots taken

4

Stats via SofaScore

Such a performance has demonstrated his serious qualities, with Arteta simply not able to drop him upon the return to action for multiple first-team players in the near future.

His ability to create carnage is something which Odegaard was unable to do in the win, with his showing demonstrating his importance to the side, arguably making him the club’s most pivotal star at this moment in time.

Related Leicester 0-2 Arsenal player ratings: Was anyone else as bad as Sterling?

The Gunners struck late to keep their title hopes alive.

Posts ByBen Browning Feb 15, 2025