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Liverpool are reportedly closely monitoring the progress of Villarreal winger Arnaut Danjuma ahead of a possible move.

What’s the story?

According to Dutch publication Voetbal International, the Anfield outfit are tracking the skilful attacker as manager Jurgen Klopp plans a potential refresh of his ageing forward line.

The report states that: “Sources confirm to Voetbal International that the 24-year-old attacker is being closely monitored by Liverpool.”

It then claimed that the Reds’ recruitment team were set to scout Danjuma during Wednesday night’s Champions League clash with Manchester United.

“There he will be watched with above-average interest by Liverpool,” it states. “The Reds are particularly charmed by Danjuma and see him as a possible successor to Sadio Mané.

“Last summer, manager Jürgen Klopp’s club was also associated with the two-time Orange international, so that interest has still not cooled.”

Jurgen Klopp would love him

The former Bournemouth ace was one of the Championship’s standout performers in 2020/21, bagging 15 goals and laying on a further seven assists in 33 appearances for the Cherries.

His impressive performances on the south coast caught the eye of several impressed onlookers, including his ex-boss Jonathan Woodgate.

“He’s an exceptional player, in a really good place at the minute, Arnie,” claimed the 41-year-old back in April.

“He’s another one who I’ve always done a lot of work on him at his previous clubs, so I knew all about him coming into this role, I knew what type of player he was.”

Although Danjuma added a further two strikes to his tally during the two-legged play-off semi-final against Brentford, his efforts weren’t enough to see off the capital club, leading to his departure for Villarreal.

The Spanish side stumped up £21.3 million to secure the wing wizard’s signature over the summer, but it appears as though his time in La Liga could be a short-lived one.

His impressive start to life with the Yellow Submarines has seen Danjuma bag three goals and provide one assist in just seven appearances, and Klopp would surely love to be able to call upon his services in the future.

It remains to be seen whether the club’s hierarchy make a concrete offer for Danjuma, but Liverpool’s attack would certainly benefit from his arrival on Merseyside.

And, in other news…Reliable journalist drops exciting Liverpool transfer update, Klopp would love him 

Steve Waugh, the former Australia captain, has said he has no plans at the moment to coach Kolkata Knight Riders

Cricinfo staff19-Jun-2009Steve Waugh, the former Australia captain, has said he has no plans at the moment to coach Kolkata Knight Riders, the IPL team that on Thursday sacked John Buchanan as its director of cricket. Waugh’s name has been doing the rounds along with those of two fellow former Australian cricketers, Dav Whatmore and Michael Bevan.”Twenty20 is an exciting format,” Waugh said. “It’s surely captured people’s imagination [and] I like watching it. But coaching-wise I’m not so sure. It’s not my priority yet.”I don’t know about the future but at the moment I am certainly not doing it as I have no time,” he said on the sidelines of an event in New Delhi to launch the India chapter of the Steve Waugh Foundation Global.Waugh has no coaching experience but has close links with Kolkata – he has set up homes for children in the city and is a regular, and hugely popular, visitor there. His profile in Kolkata is very different to that of Buchanan, who antagonised local fans by overseeing the team’s disastrous season – one in which the local hero, Sourav Ganguly, was stripped of the team captaincy.Opinion over Buchanan’s coaching style has been split but on Thursday Chris Gayle, the West Indies captain who also plays for Kolkata, said he had learned a “lot of good points” from working under Buchanan. “Whenever you are around someone different, you tend to learn different things,” Gayle told reporters at The Oval ahead of his team’s World Twenty20 semi-final.”Sometimes you can take it back to your country. It was something different for me and it was good,” Gayle said. “A lot of good points were made there. The experience was really good.”Buchanan was released from his contract by the Kolkata franchise on Thursday after weeks of speculation following a disastrous season when the team ended bottom of the table and was plagued by a series of off-field controversies. No replacement has been announced as yet.

Speaking to Football Insider, Lilywhites club source/insider John Wenham has made a rather exciting claim on an unseen talent at Tottenham.

The Lowdown: Amo-Ameyaw turns heads…

In what is an exciting time for Spurs’ academy, it appears yet another teenage talent is turning heads at Hotspur Way.

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

Indeed, Amo-Ameyaw is the latest in a long line tipped for stardom after he bagged a head-turning four goals against Arsenal for Tottenham’s Under-17s last week.

This has prompted the club to offer him a scholarship contract at Spurs and nip in ahead of the competition.

The Latest: Source makes exciting claim…

Sharing what he has seen from the young attacker, Wenham has said that it is ‘brilliant’ news that Spurs have offered Amo-Ameyaw a deal and explains just how high his ceiling is.

“He’s a schoolboy player and hasn’t signed the deal yet,” he explained to Football Insider.

“The news that he’s being signed up is brilliant. He’s played with the Under 18s at such a young age.

“He’s a really exciting young player and he looks to be a cracking talent. The kid is basically playing in three age groups shows how highly Tottenham rate him.

“This is what impressed me, Tottenham are willing to risk putting him on show.

“That makes him a target for other clubs before he signs those scholarship terms. It makes it far easier for other clubs to swoop in.

“It was a risk but he came in and scored four goals against Arsenal. I was lucky enough to be there, he was outstanding.

“He was really involved in linking up play and Tottenham have a proper player there who can be with us for years and years.”

The Verdict: Hugely promising…

As per Wenham, Spurs’ future could be gifted yet another boost with the possible addition of Amo-Ameyaw to their official academy list.

The fact Tottenham have moved early to offer him a scholarship deal proves just how highly he is rated at Hotspur Way and only time will tell whether he can follow in the footsteps of Dane Scarlett or Troy Parrott.

In other news: ‘Bargain’, ‘Perfect’, ‘Unreal’…Spurs pundit wowed as Paratici eyes ‘top signing’ for Nuno, find out more here.

Wayne Parnell, the South Africa fast bowler, has been signed by Kent for another five weeks during the domestic season

Cricinfo staff09-Jul-2009Wayne Parnell, the South Africa fast bowler, has been signed by Kent for another five weeks during the domestic season. Parnell impressed with both ball and bat during his initial six-week stint with the county and was one of the best bowlers during the World Twenty20 in June.”Wayne is very keen to get on with the job, he put a request in to come back and play county cricket,” coach Simon Willis told . “He felt it improved his game immensely last time so he’s keen to make an impression and hopefully that will start at the Oval.”There has been a lot of interest from IPL and other countries, with regard to his services. The World Twenty20 certainly put Wayne Parnell on the map.”Parnell is expected to play Kent’s Championship match against Surrey. He will be available for the Twenty20 Cup quarter-finals, three county championship games and a Pro40 match between July 10 and August 4.

Manchester United have received a double injury boost ahead of their Premier League clash with Leicester City this afternoon after it was revealed that both Harry Maguire and Marcus Rashford are progressing well in their respective recoveries.

What’s the word?

Rashford is yet to feature for the Red Devils this season after undergoing surgery for a persistent shoulder injury over the summer following his exploits for England in Euro 2020, while Maguire missed United’s 1-1 draw with Everton last time out after picking up a calf problem.

However, it seems as though the English duo could return to action at the King Power Stadium after Ole Gunnar Solskjaer gave a positive update on their fitness levels.

“Harry’s just joined us on the grass this morning, that’s the first time he’s been on the grass. Amad: first time on the grass today as well. So we look quite strong,” the Norwegian said in Friday’s press conference.

The United boss continued: “He’s (Rashford) in the squad, yes. If he’s going to start or not, I can’t tell you now, because it wouldn’t be right. He’s worked really hard throughout the whole lay-off. He’s been really bright this week and had a 60-minute involvement in a behind-closed-doors game last week, so he’s fit and raring to go.”

However, it wasn’t all good news for United on the availability front as Solskjaer confirmed that South American pair Edinson Cavani and Fred will be unavailable for selection.

“With regards to Fred and Edinson, they played a full game this morning, 1.30 am kick-off. So we’re not counting on them,” the 48-year-old stated.

“We have to give them time to rest and recover. You have to. They played well; that’s the good thing for us, not injured, but hopefully, they can be involved in midweek in the Champions League.”

Solskjaer will be delighted

News that Maguire and Rashford could play some part against Leicester will have Solskjaer feeling delighted ahead of what’s set to be a tricky encounter.

Only Bruno Fernandes topped the 23-year-old’s Premier League tallies of 11 goals and nine assists respectively last term, while none of his teammates could match his average of 2.2 dribbles per league game, as per WhoScored.

Maguire was also instrumental to the Old Trafford outfit’s fortunes last term, captaining the 20-time English champions in all 34 of his league starts and duly highlighting his importance to the side. Nobody won more headers per game than his four, while only one player exceeded his match average of 1.8 interceptions, as per WhoScored, emphasising the former Foxes’ defenders value to the United squad.

It seems unlikely that either of them will start in today’s fixture, but even having them in the matchday squad will be a welcome boost for Solskjaer’s stuttering charges.

In other news… MUFC could secure their next Pogba in “devastating” £74k-p/w gem, Ole would love him 

The BCCI’s decision to restrict KPL to an intra-state event is to prevent the possibility of such tournaments becoming potential rivals to its cash-rich IPL

Cricinfo staff13-Aug-2009The Indian board has rejected a request from its Karnataka state association to allow players from outside that state to participate in the proposed Twenty20 Karnataka Premier League (KPL). The BCCI’s decision to restrict KPL to an intra-state event – potentially a big spoke in the state league’s wheel – is to prevent the possibility of such tournaments diluting the concept of its cash-rich IPL.N Srinivasan, the BCCI secretary, said the decision that was taken during the Indian board’s working committee meeting in Mumbai on Thursday. “They [Karnataka] asked for the permission about KPL but we told them that as long as they do not include players from outside Karnataka we have no problem,” he said.Ratnakar Shetty, the BCCI’s chief administrative officer, said the decision was taken due to two reasons. “Primarily, the BCCI wants to ensure that the concept of the IPL, a hugely successful property, is not diluted,” Shetty told Cricinfo. “Besides, the board wants to avoid a situation where other state associations come up with similar demands and players end up playing for states other than their own. In the long term, this will affect the game’s development at the local level.”Brijesh Patel, secretary of the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA), indicated that the decision was on expected lines and said the tournament would go ahead as planned with an auction of 40 state cricketers in Bangalore on Friday. “It is a local tournament and to hire outstation players we need BCCI permission, and they have said no to that,” Patel told Cricinfo. “We are fine with that, and this won’t affect the tournament. We had already made it clear to the franchises that this proposal was subject to BCCI approval.”Charu Sharma, who represents the Frontier Group, KPL’s partner, also said the BCCI decision would not affect the popularity of the tournament. “It was only an opportunity for the development of players to display their Twenty20 skills but if the [Indian] board in their wisdom feel outstation players shouldn’t be included we will abide by it,” Sharma said.The KSCA had launched the league last month to expand the game to rural areas in the state, and bidding for eight franchises in the tournament had fetched Rs 35 crore. The concept of the tournament, however, has been questioned by Anil Kumble and Javagal Srinath, both of whom hail from Karnataka. Srinath and Kumble, who was captain of IPL’s Bangalore Royal Challengers this season, raised concerns over the franchise model that would allow people not associated with the game to play a significant role in the tournament and asked the KSCA to organise KPL with its own funds. Rahul Dravid, Kumble’s IPL teammate, will also not be part of KPL.

Michael Clarke believes talk of splitting the Australian captaincy is premature and Ricky Ponting remains the best man to take the team forward from their Ashes defeat

Peter English in Edinburgh27-Aug-2009Michael Clarke believes talk of splitting the Australian captaincy is premature and Ricky Ponting remains the best man to take the team forward from their Ashes defeat. Ponting landed in Sydney after his second consecutive series loss in England and indicated he would be open to the idea of playing in the side without leading it, although he has no plans to step down.Clarke, who is in charge as Ponting rests for the next two weeks, would not consider the idea as a realistic option. “No,” he said firmly when asked whether the captaincy should be split. As the Test vice-captain, Clarke would be next in line, but he is not in a hurry for promotion.”At this stage, we only have one leader and, in my opinion, ‘Punter’ is my captain,” Clarke said. “I’ve only had one captain in my career. Ricky is my leader.”Ponting is back in Australia on a two-week break and has come under fire for his role in the 2-1 result. “It’s very unfair for one guy to be criticised,” Clarke said. “Yes, he’s our captain, he’s our leader, but one of Punter’s greatest strengths is he never complains about that. The reality is the whole team lost the series. Every player in the squad takes some sort of responsibility. It’s not one guy’s fault.”The pain of Sunday’s defeat lingers for Clarke and his Test team-mates, but they have their first chance to start again with Friday’s one-day game against Scotland in Edinburgh. An influx of reinforcements has arrived to warm-up for the two Twenty20s and the seven one-day games against England.”The feeling is looking forward to moving on,” Clarke said. “No doubt the Ashes loss will stay in the guys’ minds for a long time, the ones involved.”Andrew Hilditch, the chairman of selectors, joined the team on Wednesday and will monitor the progress of the newer recruits as he starts to look ahead to the 2011 World Cup. Australia will field a new wicketkeeper in Tim Paine over the next month, with Brad Haddin undergoing surgery on his injured left ring finger. Dirk Nannes, David Warner and Adam Voges, who are picked in the Twenty20 outfit, will also be hoping to impress.Another player wanting to catch Hilditch’s eye is Brett Lee, who will appear in his first international match since the World Twenty20 after suffering an untimely side injury in July. Lee was not required for the final two games of the Ashes series as he regained fitness and will be desperate to show he is still a force. It won’t be much fun for the hosts if he gets it right.”Brett will be keen as mustard,” Clarke said. “He’s disappointed not to have taken part in the Test series, but has contributed a lot throughout the series. He’s itching to go.”Gavin Hamilton, the Scotland captain, has played Australia before but won’t be briefing his batsmen on what to do with Lee. “We’ve watched these guys on telly, we know exactly what they can do,” he said. “We’re not going to build them up. The last thing our batsmen need is to sit around and watch Brett Lee bowl at x miles an hour.”They say there is no plan to remind the Australians of their horror week in south London, although Hamilton won’t stop his younger players if they get a bit chirpy. One good thing for Scotland is the tourists’ ranking has dropped to three on the one-day table, bringing them closer towards the unranked hosts.”It’s one way of looking at it, but is there ever a good time to come across them?” Hamilton said. “It’s been a tough week for those guys, but looking from the outside, I have no doubts they will come back hard.”

West Brom were relegated back into the Championship last season as they were unable to retain their Premier League status. It was a disappointing year which saw them finish 19th, 13 points off safety.

The Baggies were second in the Championship in the 2019/20 campaign. It is a division they know very well. This time the club will be hoping they can claim the title as well as promotion back into the lucrative land of the Premier League.

The Midlands club have made a positive start to their season. They have won seven of their opening 13 matches, which leaves them second in the standings, behind only Bournemouth. West Brom have English Championship betting odds of 17/10 for the title. They are odds-on at 2/5 in the promotion betting, such is the confidence behind them.

Valerien Ismael’s side have lost just two games so far through the opening three months of the Championship season. They lost 0-1 to Stoke in a tight Midlands derby, while more recently they were defeated by Swansea City.

Summer Signings Have Bolstered The Squad

West Brom did some smart business during the summer and they have added players who have not only strengthened the squad, they have also added depth in all areas. Alex Mowatt was one of their new additions. He arrived on a free transfer from Barnsley to hook up with his former head coach again.

Mowatt has been impressive for the Baggies, scoring three goals in the league. He has scored two fantastic goals, both of which could be contenders for the goal of the season. Those strikes came from outside the box and have been on the volley. They are a great example of how technically gifted the midfielder is.

Another notable signing for the Baggies came through the loan market. They signed Norwich’s Jordan Hugill until the end of the season. The forward played an instrumental role in helping Norwich win the Championship title last year. He played 31 games for the Canaries during their promotion campaign.

Goals Spread Amongst Team

Unlike some of their promotion rivals, West Brom have shared the goals amongst their squad so far this season. This means they are not reliant on one player. Karlan Grant leads the way with six Championship goals. He is a striker who is proven in this division as the last time he played in the second tier, he scored 19 goals for Huddersfield.

Callum Robinson and Matt Phillips have both had good starts to the season. They have supported Grant well, operating as a front three in many games. Both players have lots of experience of playing in the Premier League so should find this level much easier.

At the other end of the pitch, West Brom did well to retain goalkeeper Sam Johnstone over the summer. He was their Player of the Year last season. If they can make a quick return to the Premier League, he will get to prove himself again as one of the best ‘keepers in England.

Promotion is the minimum aim for West Brom this season but if they can do it as the champions this time, it will be the cherry on the cake at the end of the campaign.

Cricinfo previews the BCCI Corporate Trophy final between Air India Red and Air India Blue

Sriram Veera07-Sep-2009Match factsTuesday September 8
Start time 14.30 (9.00 GMT)Robin Uthappa has done the hard yards since being dropped from the national side, but whether he can translate that into big scores remains to be seen•AFPBig PictureQuestions were raised about the need for this corporate tournament before it began but, on the eve of the final, it seems to have allowed India’s leading players to ease into form ahead of a typically heavy season. The positives include MS Dhoni’s whirlwind hundred which, even though it obviously didn’t come against an international attack, would provide some confidence for someone unable to hit the high notes of late. Amit Mishra, who replaced Pragyan Ojha in the Indian ODI team, bowled well through the tournament and Ishant Sharma put in a couple of good spells with a standout performance against Air India Red, where he troubled Yuvraj Singh – and Suresh Raina to a lesser extent – with bouncers. Raina did hit a sparkling 92 in one of the games but whether he is any better now against the bouncers remains to be seen.So, after seven days of cricket, spread across four venues, the final sees the two Air India teams pitted against each other. Air India Red hold the advantage with their power-packed batting line-up. Yuvraj, Raina, Naman Ojha, Robin Uthappa, the in-form Sushant Marathe and the experienced Hrishikesh Kanitkar form a potent batting force on a flat track. The bowling doesn’t look too flash, though, with the absence of a quality spinner and an inexperienced seam attack in Dhawal Kulkarni and the rookie Saurabh Netravalkar. However, Yuvraj seems to hold the view that his team can chase down any total, for he has chosen to field first in all the games. It will be interesting to see how they approach their batting if they are forced to bat first in the final.Air India Blue have Dhoni and the experienced Mohammad Kaif but the rest of the batting line-up wouldn’t give sleepless nights to any opposition. However, Chandan Madan, who hit a sparkling ton in the semi-final, and Manvinder Bisla have stood up to be counted though it has to be seen how they handle the pressure of a final. RP Singh and Pankaj Singh have bowled well with the new ball, and Air India Blue are better in the spin department with the presence of Harbhajan Singh. The pitch at the Chinnaswamy Stadium has been slow, favouring spin, and Harbhajan could play a vital role tomorrow.Key contestsYuvraj Singh v Harbhajan Singh: Barring the IPL games, they don’t face off against each other too often so this should make compelling viewing. On a turning track, Harbhajan would fancy his chances against Yuvraj, who, for his part, would be looking to unfurl his big sweep shots.Suresh Raina v RP Singh: Among the intriguing sights of this tournament has been watching Raina trying to cope with bouncers from seamers. This is the first big tournament after his World Twenty20 debacle, and nearly every seamer, irrespective of his pace, has bowled bouncers against him. Raina hasn’t looked too convincing, though he hasn’t lost his wicket to one yet. Facing RP, therefore, will throw up an interesting contest. RP isn’t known for his bouncers but may have a couple up his sleeve if he gets a chance to bowl against Raina.Robin Uthappa v himself: He’s had a topsy-turvy few months ever since he was dropped from the national side. A very good domestic season was followed by an indifferent IPL. In this tournament, he has failed in one game and hit a forty-plus in the other before being done in by the guile of Mishra. He’s been doing the hard yards at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) but whether he can translate it into big scores when it matters is a different matter altogether.Team newsThere should be no changes, with the teams likely to retain their winning combinations.Air India Red: (probable) 1 Naman Ojha, 2 Robin Uthappa, 3 Suresh Raina, 4 Yuvraj Singh (capt), 5 Sushant Marathe, 6 Hrishikesh Kanitkar, 7 Ankit Chavan, 8 Saurabh Netravalkar, 9 Dhawal Kulkarni, 10 Mundeep Mangela, 11 Ajit Chandila.Air India Blue: (probable) 1 Manvinder Bisla, 2 Chandan Madan (wk), 3 Mohammad Kaif, 4 MS Dhoni , 5 Shafiq Khan, 6 Sachin Rana, 7 RS Sodhi, 8 Harbhajan Singh (capt),, 9 Sonu Sharma, 10 Pankaj Singh, 11 RP Singh.Pitch and conditionsThere was a sharp shower the evening before the game and the conditions are expected to be cloudy on match day with the threat of rain.

Some Everton fans have been left buzzing as some international news emerged involving Richarlison.

As per The Athletic journalist Patrick Boyland, the former Watford ace has not been named in Brazil’s latest squad for their upcoming FIFA World Cup qualifiers, as he is not considered 100 per cent fit.

There is a desire to manage his fitness carefully, so that he can return to the squad fully firing in the continued absence of Dominic Calvert-Lewin.

Richarlison only just returned to the team in their 5-2 loss to Watford at Goodison Park (Transfermarkt).

Unfortunately for the Merseyside club, the games that he has missed have been detrimental ones, as they have lost two and drawn one of the four matches that he has missed in the Premier League, and went out of the Carabao Cup to EFL Championship side Queens Park Rangers (Transfermarkt).

It is clear just how important he is to Rafa Benitez, and him not going away on international duty allows him to work on his fitness, getting back to his very best for the Toffees while also avoiding any quarantining difficulties upon his return.

Everton fans on Richarlison international news

These Blues buzzed as the news was shared on Twitter, with one even going as far as to claim that it is ‘great’:

“Great news”

Credit: @THT1878

“Well done Rafa”

Credit: @FactsRafa

“A good sign that we can concentrate to getting him back to full fitness.”

Credit: @MacdoonJnr

“<taps noise> well in RB”

Credit: @NubiBlue

“We need him more than ever to save us from Rondon”

Credit: @richythepigeon

“Fantastic news, really glad the Eve/Brazil bond is so strong.”

Credit: @Ianfindmybrew

In other news, find out what team news before Wolves has Evertonians fuming here!