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Lee Johnson has provided an update on the current state of Sunderland’s transfer business.

What’s been said?

In recent comments cited by Chronicle Live, the Black Cats manager revealed that he is confident of landing at least two new signings ahead of the club’s upcoming League One campaign, with kicks off against Wigan Athletic on August 7th.

The report goes on to mention the fact that Sunderland have been linked with two right-backs in recent weeks, Nottingham Forest’s Jordan Gabriel and Exeter City’s Josh Key, although there has been no breakthrough in discussions regarding either player as yet.

However, the 40-year-old nevertheless appears upbeat concerning the club’s transfer business, stating: “We’re working really hard behind the scenes and a lot of that is to put yourself in a position where you’ve got the options.”

“They [Key and Gabriel] are not our players and so I can’t talk about them, as you know. You have a list, sometimes five, ten, and you’ve got to make sure it’s a quality list and that it fits with what you’re trying to do.

“They’ve got to be affordable, available and fit the club’s philosophy. It’s not easy but to be fair, I do feel like we are getting there in a couple of positions. My hope is that in the next week to ten days, we’re able to bring a couple in.”

Music to the ears

With there having been something of an exodus at the Stadium of Light this summer – with eight first-team players leaving the club – while incoming business has been slow – so far Sunderland have signed just Alex Pritchard, Corry Evans and loanee Callum Doyle – the fact that Johnson seems confident the Black Cats will be bringing in a few more new faces ahead of next season is sure to be music to the ears of fans.

Indeed, it is easy to see why the likes of Key and Gabriel are attracting the interest of Sunderland, as, other than Luke O’Nien – a central midfielder who often filled in in the middle and on the right of defence last season – the 40-year-old does not have an out and out right-back in his first-team squad.

The Mackems are also short on the opposite side of the backline, with Denver Hume being the club’s only option as a natural left-back.

As such, should Johnson wish to take his side further than last season’s play-off semi-final defeat in their upcoming campaign, both left and right-back are positions in which the former Bristol City manager simply must strengthen over the coming weeks.

However, the 40-year-old will know more than most exactly what he needs to do in what remains of the transfer window, and, with the Black Cats boss appearing upbeat regarding the club’s potential incoming business, Sunderland fans will undoubtedly be breathing a sigh of relief.

In other news: Bye-bye Flanagan: Johnson must seal Sunderland swoop for 22y/o gem, fans would love it

Tim Southee, the New Zealand fast bowler, is a doubtful starter for Friday’s one-off Twenty20 international after he sprained his right ankle during practice

Cricinfo staff10-Jun-2008
Tim Southee may miss the Twenty20 international against England on Friday © Getty Images
Tim Southee, the New Zealand fast bowler, is a doubtful starter for Friday’s one-off Twenty20 international against England at Old Trafford after he sprained his right ankle during practice in Nottingham on Monday.An MRI scan cleared Southee of serious injury, but he will miss New Zealand’s warm-up one-dayer against Worcestershire on Wednesday. Southee played in the first Test at Lord’s, but a stomach bug saw him miss the second at Old Trafford. The 19-year-old was fit for the Trent Bridge Test, but Iain O’Brien was favoured over him.New Zealand, who lost the Test series 2-0, will be seeking revenge in the limited-overs games against England, and Wednesday’s fixture is their only practice match ahead of one Twenty20 international and five ODIs. The visitors have been boosted by the arrival of Scott Styris and Mark Gillespie, and both will play at New Road. Jeetan Patel, Michael Mason and Peter Fulton find a place in the XI, while Kyle Mills, James Marshall and Gareth Hopkins miss out.New Zealand XI: Jamie How, Brendon McCullum (wk), Peter Fulton, Ross Taylor, Scott Styris, Daniel Flynn, Jacob Oram, Daniel Vettori (capt), Jeetan Patel, Mark Gillespie, Michael Mason.

Matt Maher has dropped a promising update on the future of Aston Villa captain Jack Grealish… 

What’s the talk?

According to Matt Maher of the Express & Star, Aston Villa are determined to keep hold of star player Jack Grealish this summer and will look to rebuff any interest from Premier League champions Manchester City.

The report claims that Villa are preparing to offer him a significant wage increase from the £125k-per-week he is currently earning in an attempt to stop him from completing a switch to The Etihad.

Fans will be buzzing

Villa fans will be buzzing with this update as it is a promising piece of information in regards to the hopes of Grealish remaining at the club beyond the end of the transfer window.

This news comes shortly after Football Insider reported that City are lining up a £90m offer for the midfielder, which is said to have piqued his interest.

However, the club are seemingly ready to counter that by offering him fresh terms. Hopefully, awarding him a lavish new contract will change his mind and convince him to stay ahead of next season. This would leave fans on cloud nine as there is no doubting his importance to Dean Smith’s side.

Grealish averaged a WhoScored rating of 7.56 in the Premier League last season, the highest of any Villa player, as he provided six goals and 10 assists from 24 starts.

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola made his feelings on Grealish clear back in 2019. The Spaniard called him “incredible” and admitted that he was too expensive to sign at the time. 

He told The Mirror:

“He’s incredible.

“A top player. I’m happy he [initially] stayed in the Championship to defend his club.

“He’s a talented player who always creates something.

“An exceptional player but too expensive for Manchester.”

This shows that there has been a long-standing interest from the ex-Barcelona man in Grealish and that level of determination to sign him could be an attractive proposition for the winger.

Villa fans will be hoping, however, that this update on the club’s attempts to pin him down to an extended deal will override that and allow them to continue to enjoy watching him dazzle in the Premier League in claret and blue next season.

AND in other news, “Villa are willing to accept that” – Journalist drops verdict on AVFC star amid £60m claim…

The Jodhpur one-day international was different from the previous fivegames for one reason – the nature of the pitch

EAS Prasanna22-Nov-2002The Jodhpur one-day international was different from the previous fivegames for one reason – the nature of the pitch. It was not an idealtrack for one-day cricket, with the ball not coming on to the bat.Stand-in skipper Rahul Dravid’s decision to bat second, then, musthave been based on the inferior spin bowling attack of the opposition.Against the likes of Sri Lanka and Pakistan, chasing a total on atrack that was keeping low and getting slow would have provedsuicidal.
© CricInfoThat said, even against the West Indies, India almost stumbled atJodhpur, making heavy weather of a modest run chase. What was requiredwas for somebody to play through the innings. But sadly none emerged.In the end, it was left to Sanjay Bangar to steer India home with abrilliant cameo.I feel all young players must look to emulate Bangar’s example. Hereis the most unassuming cricketer of recent times, one who has provedhimself to be the ultimate team man. In Test cricket, he plays therole of the sheet anchor to perfection, while his attacking brand ofbatting in one-day cricket is the result of a lot of hard work.The team management must feel proud for having found a player like himjust ahead of the World Cup. I also thought that Bangar bowled verywell in the Jodhpur one-dayer, claiming the valuable wicket of CarlHooper. But it was with the bat that he proved what a champion playerhe is.When all the players around him threw away their wickets, Bangarcalled upon his tremendous powers of concentration to make sure thathe stayed on to score the winning runs. He is not a flamboyant player,but his utility value is immense. Bangar was my Man of the Match atJodhpur.But some of the other players, who had been given an opportunity bythe selectors to prove themselves failed.Dinesh Mongia, for one, made a mess of a great opportunity. I am surethat he would have come across similar tracks on numerous occasions indomestic cricket. But that did not seem to help him. With the level ofcompetition for the batting places being high, his failure could costhim dearly. As for Reetinder Singh Sodhi, I just do not know what wasgoing through his mind; he seemed to have forgotten that there was ajob to be done.Probably what these players need to do now is to spend some timeplaying in Ranji trophy matches. Over the last few years theimportance of the tournament has diminished somewhat with therelentless amount of international games. But what needs to beremembered is that it still can play a vital role in moulding aplayer’s career. Ask Ajit Agarkar.After he was dropped from the Indian team, Agarkar took eight wicketsin the Ranji Trophy game against Delhi and forced his way back. Theresults were there to be seen; at Jodhpur, Agarkar bowled with a greatdeal of confidence, and importantly he picked up crucial wickets totake the Man of the Match award.
© ReutersAnother man who covered himself in glory was Murali Kartik. A left-armspinner in Indian cricket these days is a forgotten breed. I rememberthe days when I had the legendary Bishen Singh Bedi as my fellowspinner. >From my experience with Bedi, I am sure that Harbhajan Singhwould be a far better bowler, if he were bowling in tandem withsomeone who can turn the ball the other way.It is in this context that the success of Kartik was particularlyheartening, The young left-arm spinner has worked hard over the lastfew years in Indian domestic cricket and has been one of the mainstars behind Railways’ success in Ranji Trophy in recent times. I amglad to see him succeed at the highest level of the game, and thecraft he showed in the Jodhpur one-dayer should make any spin bowlerproud.I was also delighted to see Dravid leading the side so well. Hiscaptaincy was excellent – his bowling changes, in particular, alwaysspot on. Dravid’s success only underlines the key role he has playedas a deputy to Sourav Ganguly in India’s recent successful campaigns.Moving on to the final one-day international, I think India are thefavourites to win it and take the one-day series. Having said that,they should not take their opposition lightly, for the West Indieswith their rejuvenated batting line up could seize even the slightestof opportunities.

West Bromwich Albion are close to securing a deal to bring Alex Mowatt to The Hawthorns this summer.

What’s the talk?

That’s according to a claim made by The Telegraph journalist John Percy, who revealed in a post on Twitter that the out of contract Barnsley central midfielder is scheduled to have a medical at West Brom in the coming days, and, barring any 11th-hour hitches, he will complete a free transfer to the Championship side later this week.

It had previously been reported that Valerien Ismael was extremely keen for a quick reunion with his Barnsley captain at Albion, something that now appears to be have been pulled off by the Frenchman rather efficiently.

Ismael will be buzzing

Considering just how impressive Mowatt was under Ismael last season, the fact that the 45-year-old appears to have snapped up the 26-year-old on a free transfer is sure to have left him buzzing.

Indeed, over his 44 Championship appearances for Barnsley last term, the £3.6m-rated midfielder scored eight goals, provided seven assists and created nine big chances for his teammates, as well as taking an average of 1.8 shots and making 1.5 key passes per game.

The £6.5k-per-week man also made an average of 0.8 interceptions, 1.7 tackles, 1.3 clearances and won 4.9 duels per league fixture, with these metrics seeing former England U20 international earn an average SofaScore match rating of 7.10, ranking him as Ismael’s best performer in the second tier of English football.

His displays played a massive role in helping the Tykes defy their pre-season expectations last time out, with Ismael guiding the highly unfancied side to a rather extraordinary fifth-place finish in the Championship – the club’s highest final league position since their Premier League campaign back in 1997/98.

As such, with West Brom hoping to secure an immediate return to the top flight next season, the addition of a player who very nearly fired Barnsley up last term would appear to provide Albion with a huge boost to their chances of going on to achieve this feat, as well as with a player who Ismael trusts completely.

In other news: Get it done: Ismael must sanction West Brom summer swoop for “fantastic” £12k-p/w gem

An update has emerged on Sunderland transfer target Owen Dale, regarding Portsmouth’s interest in his services.

What’s the talk?

The Sun journalist Alan Nixon has reported that Portsmouth are set to join the race for Crewe Alexandra winger Owen Dale if they sell Ronan Curtis before the end of the transfer window. Nixon has also stated that fellow League One outfits Wycombe and Ipswich are out of the running for financial reasons.

Earlier this summer, Football Insider claimed that Sunderland are one of a number of clubs eyeing up the attacker following his impressive season for Crewe. He is under contract at the League One club until the summer of 2022 after a 12-month extension clause was triggered by the club this year.

Johnson needs him

Sunderland sporting director Kristjaan Speakman must sanction a swoop for Dale this summer because Lee Johnson needs him. The Black Cats boss was working with a squad bereft of regular goalscorers last season, with Charlie Wyke the only player who managed more than five goals excluding penalties.

This suggests that Speakman bringing in a wide player who can contribute with goals could be a major boost to the former Bristol City head coach.

If Pompey are waiting to cash in on Curtis before moving for Dale then that could give Speakman a window of opportunity to make his move.

The Wearside chief could swiftly wrap up a deal before Danny Cowley is even able to think about using any money from the Irishman’s exit to swoop for him.

Dale could be exactly what Johnson needs. The 22-year-old provided the League One outfit with 13 direct goal involvements last season, including 11 goals and two assists. Last year, his Crewe boss Dave Artell hailed him as being “very brave” and praised how ambitious he is with what he tries to do on the pitch. 

He told Cheshire Live:

“He is very brave. He is physically brave in terms of he wants to head the ball and he is not afraid of tackling and all that. But he is actually brave in what he tries to do, he is ambitious.

“When he reflects, sometimes he is very critical of himself and beats himself up about it. But he is trying things that a lot of people don’t see or can’t do. Well, that’s alright.

“There is a consistency element, the right time and the right place.”

This shows that the wing wizard could be a terrific signing for Sunderland solve a key problem for Johnson next season.

He could be the player to provide a regular goal threat from the wide positions, to supplement the strikers and give teams something else to think about instead of just worrying about Charlie Wyke or whoever else may be the number nine at the Stadium of Light.

AND in other news, Speakman dealt huge transfer blow over “fantastic” 21 G/A gem, SAFC fans surely gutted…

The second days play at Taunton ended neatly balanced with Yorkshire 261 runs ahead of Somerset with just one second innings wicket left.From their overnight score of 186 for 6, Somerset added another 46 runs before they were all out for 232 a lead of 19 over the visitors.Ian Blackwell who helped to claw the Cidermen back into the game on Wednesday was eventually out for 114 and Keith Dutch was out for 46, just 4 runs short of his half century.The Yorkshire second innings got off to a good start and seemed to be heading for a substantial total, but a tidy performance from the Somerset bowlers saw then reigned back to 280 for 9 at the close.After the close of play Somerset coach Kevin Shine told me: "It’s been another entertaining day’s play. From Yorkshire being 186 for 3 we have made a good fightback to get them to 280 for 9.It’s been a good hardworking performance in the field today by the Somerset team.

Ashley Preece has dropped a major transfer update on Aston Villa’s plans to potentially recruit a new centre-back in the summer window.

What’s the story?

Dean Smith’s side saw the surprise departure of Bjorn Engels in recent days, with the Belgian defender making the permanent move to Royal Antwerp.

Preece has indicated that Smith will now look to dip into the transfer market to bring in some cover for Engels, with a replacement for the 26-year-old possibly made clearer “next week”.

He said: “Engels was a bit of a flash sale; happened so quickly last Friday. Engels knew he wouldn’t feature and jumped at chance to return to Belgium. Smith wasn’t keen on that happening but he’ll look to replenish that gap now. Villa would be an injury or two away from a disaster at the back. They’ll need one more, I think.

“It’s quiet on the CB front because the Engels transfer happened so quickly. I’ve said this; Smith didn’t envisage Engels leaving. It’s happened and targets are being checked out now. We should have a good idea of an Engels replacement next week. Villa didn’t want to spend money in that position but it’s looking likely. U23 Dom Revan just had knee op unfortunately.”

Fans will be buzzing

As everybody would have seen with Liverpool last season, all it takes is for a couple of injuries to key members of a defence for things to really expose the lack of strength in depth in a first team squad.

Jurgen Klopp’s side saw both Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez go down with lengthy injuries, and the Reds were ultimately forced to go into the January transfer market to bring in some cover while holding midfielder Fabinho dropped into the defence as well.

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It would be an absolute nightmare for Villa if Tyrone Mings and Ezri Konsa suffered something similar and robbed Smith of his stalwart centre-back partnership – Kortney Hause is now the only other senior player in that role at Villa Park.

It’s exactly why Preece’s update that the club will now look to bring in some much-needed defensive cover after the departure of Engels will surely have Villa fans buzzing.

Meanwhile, Villa could finally replace Idrissa Gueye with this man…

MatériaMais Notícias

Em duas rodadas de Campeonato Carioca, o Fluminense ainda não sofreu nenhum gol. A defesa, que recebeu inúmeras críticas na temporada passada, finalmente parece que está se acertando. Com Abel de volta ao comando, a zaga passou a contar com Renato Chaves, que atuou pela Ponte Preta em 2016 e aos poucos, o time vai conseguindo se manter firme.

Para Matheus Dantas, setorista do Fluminense no L!, três jogos ainda é pouco para afirmar que o elenco está forte. Afinal, alguns times se destacaram no estadual, mas acabaram indo mal nos torneios principais.

– Qualquer decisão tomada com base nos três primeiros jogos de 2017 será precipitada. Não são poucos os exemplos de times que têm bons rendimentos no Estadual e fraquejam nos principais campeonatos, como o Vasco nas últimas temporadas.

O setorista ainda afirma que a lateral-esquerda do Fluminense precisa encontrar um jogador rapidamente.

– No caso do Fluminense, mais importante que os nomes, é preciso que o sistema defensivo seja organizado por Abel Braga. No momento, apenas a chegada de um lateral-esquerdo é emergencial.

Para Duilio, ex-zagueiro e campeão brasileiro de 84 pelo Fluminense, Henrique e Chaves, formam uma dupla de peso na defesa.

– Com essa nova dupla, o Fluminense está começando a se entrosar. Os jogadores estão se conhecendo, o trabalho do Abel está aparecendo. Acredito que o tempo vai dizer se Chaves e Henrique vão ser uma dupla perfeita ou se o Fluminense vai precisar contratar jogadores para fortalecer a posição futuramente. Acredito que a tendência é a defesa continuar sem tomar gols e o meio de campo pressionando. Abel é um cara muito inteligente, vai saber aproveitar bem o time. Inclusive porque já foi zagueiro, então tem experiência na função e pode escolher bem os jogadores que vão defendero time este ano.

Croatia manager Zlatko Dalic has revealed Glasgow Rangers left-back Borna Barisic has had an MRI scan and could miss a large chunk of the rest of Euro 2020.

The Lowdown: Barisic struggling

Barisic was selected by his national team manager to represent his country at this summer’s European Championships.

However, he was not in the squad for the clash against England, which Croatia lost 1-0, and the boss revealed he was struggling with an injury.

The Latest: Still out

Speaking after that defeat to The Three Lions, Dalic provided an update on the £5.4m-valued 28-year-old (Transfermarkt). He said (via The Daily Record):

“Borna arrived to the camp and missed two training sessions because of a back injury he had previously with his club.

“He started working out again but unfortunately he’s not in the same shape as he was during the whole season.

“He did an MRI scan today so we will see exactly what the situation with him is over the next few days.

“It is a problem for us, especially against Scotland when he would be at home.

“We will have to see his results then we will know more about his status going forward.”

The Verdict: Knock-on effect for Gers?

In the short-term, this is a blow for Barisic. He will have been eager to represent his nation at a major tournament, and it now appears he may not even have the chance to take the pitch.

It remains to be seen how big the issue is when the the results from the MRI scan come in.

For Rangers, though, it could be a big issue in the longer-term. Dalic has suggested he has been struggling with this back problem for quite a while, and he has a history of injuries at Ibrox (Transfermarkt).

The last thing Steven Gerrard will be wanting is to be without his first-choice left-back when the club’s Champions League qualifying campaign begins.

In other news, Rangers fans laud this man’s Euro 2020 performance.