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Rangers are now well-placed to sign an “excellent” English striker as they search for replacements for Cyriel Dessers, according to a report.

Gers planning for the summer

Although hopes of winning the Scottish Premiership have long since faded, there is still a lot to play for this season, with Rangers booking their place in the Europa League quarter-final after a penalty shootout victory over Fenerbahce on Thursday night.

However, the Gers must try and bridge the gap to Celtic in the league next season, and they are now starting to make plans for the summer, at which point their first priority is likely to be bringing in a new permanent manager.

Rafa Benitez and Russell Martin are among the names most recently linked with a move to Ibrox this summer, at which point there could also be a revamp of the squad.

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There have recently been suggestions that Mohamed Diomande and Hamza Igamane could depart in the summer, and the latter’s potential exit, coupled with the doubt over Dessers’ future, means it may be imperative to bring in a new striker.

According to a report from Football Insider, Rangers are now looking at St Mirren striker Toyosi Olusanya as a replacement for Dessers, and they are well-placed to get a deal done.

The Gers are willing to sell Dessers in the summer, and Olusanya is at the top of the list of potential replacements, having performed well at Ibrox earlier in the campaign, scoring in his side’s 2-0 victory back in February. The St Mirren star is viewed as a player who would tick lots of boxes, irrespective of who is brought in to replace Barry Ferguson this summer.

"Excellent" Olusanya impressing for St Mirren

The 27-year-old has been on quite a journey, spending a lot of time in the English lower leagues before making the move to St Mirren, and a move to Ibrox would be by far his biggest transfer to date. The London-born forward has already eclipsed his goal tally from last season, netting 12 times in all competitions, and he has received high praise from manager Stephen Robinson.

“He missed a chance last week. He missed a penalty. He showed great character and bravery. For anybody who takes a penalty credit to them, he stepped up. Our penalty taker had gone off at the time.

“For a player, you miss a penalty, you miss a penalty. He’s shown a great response to that with two great goals. His movement was excellent and he gave us a comfortable lead.”

However, there are doubts over whether the Englishman is at the level to be a real upgrade on Dessers, considering this is his first majorly impressive season in front of goal, so Rangers should continue to monitor his performances between now and the summer.

Raheem Sterling's son Thiago has signed for Arsenal's academy but his dad faces an uncertain future after a disappointing loan spell with the Gunners.

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Sterling's son joined Arsenal's Under-9sSet to start his journey with the GunnersHis dad's career remains uncertainFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?

Thiago has officially been welcomed into Arsenal’s prestigious Hale End academy, joining the under-9 team and marking the beginning of what could be a promising football career. The news was shared on social media by Sterling’s partner, Paige Milian, who posted a heartfelt message celebrating their son's accomplishment.

AdvertisementGetty Images SportWHAT MILIAN SAID

In a touching Instagram post, Paige expressed overwhelming pride in her son's achievements, noting the hard work he has put in to reach this milestone.

She wrote: "Beyond proud of my firstborn son Thiago for signing with @officialarsenalacademy U9’s. The growth, dedication, and hard work you’ve shown over the past year have been incredible to watch; you’ve earned this. This is just the beginning, so keep your feet on the ground, stay humble, and keep grinding, the journey doesn’t stop here. Let’s go TT❤️".

THE BIGGER PICTURE

While Thiago is taking his first steps with the Gunners, his father Raheem Sterling finds himself at a career crossroads. After being sidelined by Chelsea’s current manager Enzo Maresca at the start of last season, Sterling made a surprise switch to Arsenal on deadline day, joining on a season-long loan deal.

Sterling’s time at the Emirates failed to live up to expectations. Despite early optimism, he managed only seven starts in the Premier League and struggled to make a significant impact. Over the course of the entire campaign, he found the back of the net just once across all competitions.

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Although Thiago is only just officially joining Arsenal’s youth ranks, he’s already had a taste of the club’s first-team environment. Last October, he had the honour of walking out as a mascot for Bukayo Saka during a Champions League match at the Emirates Stadium, when Arsenal secured a win over Paris Saint-Germain.

Stewart’s hat-trick ices victory as Middlesex crash back down to earth

ECB Reporters Network23-Jun-2023A brilliant 111 from Daniel Bell-Drummond and a Grant Stewart hat-trick helped the Kent Spitfires to an emphatic 55-run win over Middlesex in the Vitality Blast at Canterbury.Bell-Drummond’s joyous innings lasted 58 balls and included four sixes as for the second consecutive evening Middlesex shipped way in excess of 200. Kent posted 228 for 3, but having stunned Surrey with a Blast-record run chase the previous evening, this time Middlesex subsided to 173 all out, with George Linde and Joey Evison also claiming three wickets apiece. Luke Hollman was the visitors’ top scorer with 48 from 20 balls, but the required rate became unmanageable and they were all out with an over to spare.The Spitfire Ground was sold out on a sweltering Friday night, with over 5,000 packed in to watch the hosts, resurgent after five consecutive wins, take on a Middlesex side who were still bottom of the South Group, despite Thursday night’s miracle.An early chance went begging when Tawanda Muyeye, who was on 8, holed out to Toby Greatwood, only for Hollman to miss an over-the-shoulder catch. Muyeye smote the next ball for six and the openers put on a stand of 127 before he was bowled by Josh de Caires for 50.Related

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The run-rate slowed slightly and Joe Denly was on 12 when Martin Andersson missed a difficult chance to catch him off Hollman, but it picked up again as Bell-Drummond reached his second Blast century with a classic cover drive for four off Greatwood and when Ryan Higgins’ 17th over only went for three it felt like a minor triumph for the visitors.Bell-Drummond was one short of his best Blast score when he hoicked Max Harris to Jack Davies at square leg and he departed to a standing ovation.Denly went for 30 driving Higgins to Andersson at long on but Sam Billings smashed 22 off the final over, meaning Middlesex had conceded exactly the same number of runs they did a week ago when Kent won the reverse fixture at Lord’s.

All class and style as always @deebzz23 reaches his second Blast 100!#Blast23 pic.twitter.com/2zbvn5sL4e

— Vitality Blast (@VitalityBlast) June 23, 2023

The decision has been made for Bukayo Saka to sit out England's next 2026 World Cup qualifier against minnows Andorra on Saturday.

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Saka out of matchday squad vs AndorraWinger has hardly trained in build-upMajor doubt for Senegal game tooFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?

Saka is not part of the England matchday squad that will face Andorra on Friday evening. The game at RCDE Stadium in Barcelona will also be played without Aston Villa forward Ollie Watkins and Atletico Madrid midfielder Conor Gallagher. Injury means Watkins has withdrawn from the camp altogether to return home. Saka and Gallagher remain with the group for now.

AdvertisementGetty Images SportTHE BIGGER PICTURE

Saka's absence is most likely linked to his fitness after England manager Thomas Tuchel explained on Friday that the Arsenal star has only completed a single training session during the week. He had earlier missed three months of the club season after undergoing hamstring surgery in December, although did return to play the whole of April and May for the Gunners.

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Saka is yet to play for Tuchel since the ex-Chelsea boss began work with England in January, having been sidelined for the previous international break in March.

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Getty Images SportWHAT NEXT?

Saka hasn't yet been ruled out of England's follow-up game against Senegal on June 10, a friendly taking place at Nottingham Forest's City Ground. But, as a result of sitting out the Andorra clash and his lack of training since reporting for international duty, he will be a major doubt to feature.

While there are a few areas of the team that need to be addressed in the summer, Arsenal are most desperately in need of attacking reinforcements.

Specifically, the club must sign a new striker, as with Gabriel Jesus set to be out until the new year, Mikel Arteta’s only option up top for the start of next season will be Kai Havertz.

Moreover, even when the German was fit earlier in the season, it was clear that the Gunners were not scoring enough goals to seriously challenge Liverpool in the Premier League.

As a result, they need to bolster their forward line in the summer.

Arsenal's striker search

Fortunately, the club look ready to address this problem at the end of the season, and if reports are to be believed, one of their key targets, who has been compared to Kylian Mbappé, has now set his sights on joining Arsenal.

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According to a recent report from Spain, Newcastle United star Alexander Isak has made it clear that he wants to join Arsenal in the summer.

The Swedish international, who has been a target of the Gunners for some time now, wants to join a side capable of winning the league and views the North Londoners as just that.

However, the report claims that Liverpool are also keen on the striker and that to let him go, the Magpies will demand a potentially record-breaking fee from the Gunners, which other stories from earlier this season claimed could be up to £150m.

It would be an incredibly costly and complicated transfer to get over the line for Arsenal, but given Isak’s unreal ability, one well worth fighting for, especially as he’s won comparisons to Mbappé.

How Isak compares to Mbappé

So, before addressing the other reasons why Arsenal should go all out to sign Isak this summer, it’s worth first examining this comparison to Mbappé and where it comes from.

It primarily stems from FBref, which looks at players in similar positions across Europe’s top five leagues, the Champions League and Europa League then creates a list of the ten most comparable players for each one, and, in this instance, has concluded that the Frenchman is the fifth most similar forward to the Swede.

The best way to see where this comparison has come from is to look at the underlying metrics in which the pair rank closely, including, but not limited to, non-penalty expected goals plus assists, key passes, goal-creating actions, tackles won, aerial duel win percentage and more, all per 90.

Non-Penalty Expected G+As

0.78

0.75

Key Passes

1.54

1.53

Goal-Creating Actions

0.57

0.40

Tackles Won

0.22

0.20

Aerial Duel Win %

32.2%

33.3%

However, a comparison to one of the best players in the world is obviously not the sole reason Arteta and Co should break the bank to sign the former Real Sociedad star.

In fact, the most significant argument for bringing him to the Emirates this summer is his utterly sensational output.

For example, in just 33 appearances, totalling 2613 minutes, the Solna-born marksman, whom teammate Anthony Gordon dubbed the “best striker in Europe,” has scored 23 goals and provided five assists.

That means he is currently averaging a goal involvement every 1.17 games, or every 93.32 minutes, which is the sort of output that could clinch the title for Arteta’s side next season.

Ultimately, Arsenal need a new number nine this summer, and while he will undoubtedly cost a king’s ransom to get out of Newcastle, they should be doing all they can to secure Isak’s services.

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Leeds United dropped more points in the race for promotion after a 2-2 draw against Swansea City, in which there were two last-gasp goals, one for each side.

The Whites are now two points behind Championship leaders Sheffield United and level on points with third-place Burnley. They are in serious danger of dropping into the playoffs before long.

It was the perfect start for Daniel Farke’s side, who scored in the first minute. Attacking midfielder Brendan Aaronson, who has struggled for consistent form this term, ended his eight-game goal drought with a strike inside the six-yard box, latching onto the end of a loose ball.

Just over ten minutes later, goalkeeper Illan Meslier pulled off a brilliant penalty save to deny Josh Tymon from 12 yards, and it took the Swans until the 64th minute to finally draw level. Harry Darling pounced on a mistake from the Leeds goalkeeper from a corner to equalise.

Young attacker Wilfried Gnonto thought he had won Leeds the game just one minute after stepping on the pitch in the 85th minute. It was a thunderous strike, running onto a clearance from a corner and firing home into the back of the net.

However, Swansea scored a late equaliser through Zan Vipotnik, which was another strike Meslier could have done better with.

Meslier’s stats vs. Swansea

It was very much a mixed bag of a game from Leeds’ number one. On the one hand, he saved a penalty, guessing correctly and diving low to his left to keep out Tymon. However, he made a huge blunder for the Swans’ first goal and should have done better with the second.

His mistake for the goal from Darling was really poor. Meslier rose highest to claim the corner but dropped the ball and spilled it into the defender’s path, who gratefully poked home.

For the equaliser, the strike went under Meslier’s outstretched right hand, another effort he could have saved.

One person who was critical of Meslier’s performance was Leeds Live journalist Isaac Johnson. He gave the Frenchman a 4/10 for his showing, explaining that he made ‘yet another blunder’ for the Swansea goals, something he seems to do far too often.

As poor as Meslier played against the Welsh outfit, he was by no means the only Leeds player who struggled. In fact, someone at the other end of the pitch also put in a disappointing performance.

The Leeds player who struggled vs. Swansea

Playing against your former club can bring the best or worst out of a player. Well, for former Swans star Joel Piroe, who played 96 games and scored 46 goals for Saturday’s visitors, he certainly struggled.

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The 25-year-old Dutchman never really got into the game against his former club, and although he had one effort saved in the second half, he was largely not involved in the game. He received a 5/10 from Johnson, who said he said he ‘didn’t do much’, particularly after his strike.

Indeed, that is reflected in his stats via Sofascore. The former PSV Eindhoven striker had just 37 touches in the game and completed just 70% of his passes. Off the ball, he won just two of his ten attempted duels. It was a really tough day at the office for Piroe.

Touches

37

Pass accuracy

70%

Passes completed

14/20

Number of times ball lost

9

Ground duels won

2/6

Aerial duels won

0/4

Big chances missed

1

Perhaps this performance will raise concerns about his suitability to the Premier League. The top flight is no doubt a step up, and although he has managed 15 goals this term, his lack of involvement in the overall game today might become an issue for Farke.

Just as Meslier’s future will surely be questioned after this game, perhaps a few more disappointing performances from Piroe, who has now gone five games without a goal, will also raise similar questions.

Two have two key individuals underperforming at either end of the pitch really is cause for concern, with Leeds in very real danger of missing out on automatic promotion once again.

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Visitors manage to defend 135 at Edgbaston to hand hosts their first defeat of the tournament

ECB Reporters Network23-May-2023Northern Diamonds maintained their 100 percent start to the 2023 Charlotte Edwards Cup with a three-run victory over Central Sparks at Edgbaston.With both sides having won their first game, something had to give and it was Diamonds who preserved their perfect record thanks principally to an impressive bowling display.Put in, Diamonds were bowled out for 135, far less than looked likely when they were motoring nicely along at 73 for 1 in the ninth over. The fall of Leah Dobson for 41 off 25 balls was the first of nine wickets to fall for 62 runs in 67 balls as Georgia Davis bowled her off-spin beautifully for 4-0-13-3, well-supported by Emily Arlott and Erin Burns who took two wickets each.The total looked a little under par but Sparks fell just short on 132 for 7 after their batters never escaped the shackles imposed at the start by accurate opening spells from Lizzie Scott and Katherine Fraser. Chloe Tryon bounced back from conceding 11 in her first over to take three vital wickets and end with 3 for 30.Only Eve Jones and Arlott passed 25 as tight bowling and a sluggish, used-pitch combined to make run-scoring difficult.After Sparks chose to bowl, they soon struck a big blow when Lauren Winfield-Hall lifted the seventh ball of the innings, from Arlott, to extra cover.Dobson and Hollie Armitage responded positively and raised the 50 from 37 balls. Their well-constructed stand stood at 68 from 43 balls when Davis bowled Dobson through an attempted leg-side flick.That wicket started a big slide as four fell for 19 runs in 23 balls. Davis had Sterre Kalis smartly stumped by Amy Jones, Bess Heath was brilliantly run out by Katie George’s direct hit from midwicket and Armitage skied Burns to mid off.Davis had her third victim when Tryon lofted to deep midwicket and only Fraser kept the innings from complete freefall. Fraser was ninth out when she top-edged a return catch to Burns and the last pair mustered just a single from five balls before Grace Hall was superbly caught by Davina Perrin at point off Arlott.Diamonds also took an early wicket when Perrin lofted Fraser to mid off and the bowlers applied good pressure as only four fours arrived in the first eight overs. England star Amy Jones was never fluent before she was deceived by a lovely flighted ball from Tryon and bowled off her pads.Katie Levick cranked up the pressure by conceding just six runs in two overs which also brought the crucial wicket of Eve Jones, caught at midwicket. Burns also fell on the offensive when she was well caught at wide long on by Abi Glen off Tryon.As the required rate escalated, Sparks, with half their batters out, required 38 from the last 18 balls. Abbey Freeborn struck the first four of those 18 for four to dent Scott’s figures but then lifted the fifth ball to point and 13 from the final over, delivered with great composure by Tryon, proved too many.