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An update has emerged regarding Newcastle United’s pursuit of Lille forward Yusuf Yazici…

What’s the talk?

According to Turkish outlet Takvim, the Magpies are already in talks with his representatives over a potential January move, with the attacker said to be valued at €15m (£12.5m).

The report claims that Lille want to loan him out during the second half of the campaign and Newcastle are one of the clubs actively pursuing a deal.

Dream deal

Yazici could be a dream signing for Newcastle next month due to the structure of the move. The Magpies are currently 19th in the Premier League and at risk of relegation to the Championship, which means that permanent signings could be tricky to complete without worrying about how much they could cost the club in the second tier.

However, a loan deal works perfectly for them as it allows Newcastle to cut ties with the player if they fail to avoid the drop. It also means that they can potentially negotiate an option to sign him permanently in the summer if they retain their top-flight status, whether that is for the £12.5m quoted or another price.

For example, if Yazici comes in and scores the goals to keep the club in the Premier League, then they could snap him up permanently; or, if he struggles to adapt to English football and Eddie Howe’s team finish in the bottom three, then he can be sent straight back to France.

Former Lille coach Christophe Galtier once lauded the forward and his connection with Jonathan David, saying: “Yusuf has caught a good dynamic, and he is finding his direction. There is a lot of competition in his position, which drives him to perform well. It takes a lot of effort. I spend too much time with him. He is a very talented player in front of the castle. He plays like the second striker or the number 10.

“If you have such a talented player, the possibilities increase. He has a strong relationship with Jonathan David. They were also together in the Milan match. They were also good defensively in this game and made good placements. I find the two complementary. Such a relationship between the two players is a good thing for the coach.”

This highlights the quality he could bring to Newcastle and suggests that he could strike a chord with Callum Wilson up front. Yazici could look to form a partnership with the former Bournemouth man to complement him at the top end of the pitch, making him an ideal signing to bolster the attack.

He managed 14 goals and five assists in 18 starts for Lille across Ligue 1 and the Europa League last season, showing that he has the quality to provide regular contributions in the final third. This is another reason why it could be a dream deal for Newcastle if they pull it off, as the 24-year-old has proven that he can find the back of the net regularly at the top level.

AND in other news, PIF could save NUFC’s season with £20m move for “decisive” gem likened to N’Golo Kante…

Leeds United star Kalvin Phillips’ next move could be one of the biggest transfer stories of next summer, according to journalist Pete O’Rourke.

The Lowdown: Phillips’ future up in the air

The 25-year-old has been a colossal performer for the Whites over the years, with his reputation growing all the time for both club and country. Indeed, England manager Gareth Southgate has hailed him as “excellent”.

With Leeds struggling this season, though, Phillips has been linked with a high-profile move away in the summer, with both Liverpool and Manchester United tipped to sign him.

The Englishman’s current deal runs until the summer of 2024 but there has been no progress with regards to a new contract being signed.

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The Latest: Journalist hints at Phillips exit

Speaking to Give Me Sport, O’Rourke claimed that there will be a battle to sign Phillips at the end of the season, perhaps suggesting that his time at Leeds is reaching its conclusion. He said:

“Kalvin Phillips could be a big story in the summer. Before his injury, he just kept improving. I think he proved what a top performer he is for England.”

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The Verdict: Will he move on?

The idea of Phillips signing a new contract at Leeds can never be ruled out, but he may well feel that he has come as far as he can in a Whites shirt. He is only averaging 0.6 key passes, 2.3 tackles and 1.2 interceptions per game in the Premier League this season, compared to 1.2, 2.6 and 1.6 respectively last term (WhoScored).

He hasn’t necessarily been in top form in the current campaign, with injuries holding him back, and it could be that his mind is focused on a fresh challenge.

In truth, having excelled on the big stage at Euro 2020, Phillips deserves to be playing Champions League football given the quality of his performance in recent years. Sadly, that is not something Leeds can currently offer, nor are they likely to in the foreseeable future.

In other news, Leeds are reportedly keen on signing a striker. Find out who it is here.

In the absence of any likely bilateral series, it appears the IPL’s third season could be the icebreaker

Osman Samiuddin05-Nov-2009

Signs are emerging that Pakistan is pushing to normalise cricketing relations with India, after the meeting last week between PCB chairman Ijaz Butt and officials within the BCCI in India and, in the absence of any likely bilateral series, it appears the IPL’s third season could be the icebreaker. Pakistan’s board has cleared its players for the tournament, reversing a decision it took for the second season, and has received inquiries from the IPL on the status of its players.Pakistani players were not allowed to take part in this year’s edition of the IPL after their own government refused to give them permission to travel to India. The decision was based primarily on security concerns and whether or not Pakistan’s players would be safe in India in the aftermath of the Mumbai terror attacks a year ago. The tournament was eventually shifted to South Africa for security reasons but Pakistan’s players were still not allowed to take part.However, the board is hoping the situation may be different this time round, indicating that permission has been granted to the players by the board and higher authorities. “The PCB has given permission to players to take part in the IPL,” Butt told Cricinfo. “Abdul Razzaq recently approached me and he has been given permission as well as others. Lalit Modi emailed to ask what the status of our players regarding IPL was and, when I met him in India, I told him the players were available and the relevant authorities had given permission.”Whether they get the opportunity to take part this time, however, is not in the hands of the PCB or the Pakistan government for clearance will have to come from the Indian government. The first push for a thaw in cricketing relations from the Indian side has come from its IPL franchises, not bound by political and geographical considerations, seeking simply the best players to take the field.Most IPL franchises were quick to seek the return of Pakistan players to the 2010 edition of the lucrative Twenty20 league after Pakistan won the ICC World Twenty20 in June. Modi, the IPL commissioner and BCCI vice-president, subsequently clarified that the IPL had no problems in letting Pakistani players participate, subject to government clearance from both sides; even if Pakistan has given them permission, ultimately the decision will be made by the Indian government.Florida as neutral venue?

Reports in Pakistan upon Butt’s arrival claimed that a series with India was scheduled on a neutral venue next year, possibly in the USA, a suggestion first mooted by Shashi Tharoor, Indian minister of state for external affairs. But no such thing has been discussed, Butt said, only that Florida might emerge on cricket’s map as a neutral venue at some point soon.

Eleven Pakistani players – including Shahid Afridi and Umar Gul, the stars of Pakistan’s World Twenty20 campaign – were recruited by the Kolkata, Rajasthan, Delhi, Hyderabad and Bangalore franchises before the inaugural IPL. However, the franchises opted to retain the contracts of only four of them – Akmal and Tanvir (Rajasthan), Misbah-ul-Haq (Bangalore) and Gul (Kolkata) – after it became clear that they would not be able to play in the second season of the league following the Mumbai attacks. But players such as Saeed Ajmal, Mohammad Aamer, Razzaq and Umar Akmal are likely to attract interest this time round, as is a revitalised Afridi who was dumped by the Deccan Chargers after a poor first season with them.That is as far as the door between the two boards will be nudged open for now. Hectic schedules for both teams means that it is unlikely there will be a bilateral series between them till at least 2011, Butt said, confirming what the BCCI said last week. “Right now it is too premature to give a time frame for a return to bilateral ties. Schedules are tight for both of us till 2011 and an appropriate window has to be found for the series. It will come out over the passage of time,” he said.Though it is still over a year away, the 2011 World Cup on the subcontinent could play a critical role in deciding which way the relationship goes thereafter. Concerns have been raised over whether or not Pakistan will play any of its matches in India; currently they are scheduled to play most of their games in Sri Lanka, but if they go far, then playing in India will be unavoidable. Butt said no discussions on the topic had taken place yet and was unwilling to comment on the possibility of Pakistan playing in India then, but it is likely to become a significant issue over the next year.

Lots of Wolves fans have been left fuming as some news emerged involving their Under-21 team.

As shared by the official Twitter page of the Wolves Academy, the Under-21 side lost 3-0 away at Crewe Alexandra in the Papa John’s Trophy, meaning that they have now exited out of the competition.

The result left them in third place in their group, having picked up two losses in total and one draw, only managing to score one goal whilst conceding six in their three games (Sky Sports).

Considering that other Premier League side’s Under-21 teams have flourished in the group stages, such as West Ham United, Aston Villa and Chelsea (Sky Sports), the frustrations of the Molineux faithful are understandable, and questions may now have to be asked of coach James Collins as a result.

Finishing their Papa John’s Trophy campaign winless and bowing out with a lacklustre 3-0 defeat certainly won’t shed much favourable light on the Wolves academy boss with supporters already voicing their displeasure on social media.

Wolves fans on Under-21 result

Indeed, these WWFC supporters fumed as the update was shared on Twitter, with one even going as far as to claim that it was ‘abysmal’.

Find all of their verdicts on the news down below.

“Abysmal!”

Credit: @MrR1g4t

“#CollinsOut”

Credit: @Wolves_Ay_We_

“We need to look at the team”

Credit: @AndreNixon19

“Unfortunately until we become a top 6 side we’ll never be able to attract the top youngsters. Many of this side will have careers in the game but, it’ll be in the lower leagues not the Premier or Championship levels.”

Credit: @WWFC09

“It’s not just tonight’s result and performance, for some time the U23s have lacked any identity of purpose. Questions need to asked about the quality of coaching, especially as we are supposed to have signed some promising talent. #CollinsOut”

Credit: @HwlinWlf

“Complete rubbish, a disgrace. No tackling, go slow all game. Ruddy must have had the ball more than any of the other players because of the stupid back passing, truly a gutless performance. Collins needs to wise up this is not anywhere near good enough”

Credit: @kevinwwfc666

In other news, find out what Hwang Hee-chan news has Wanderers buzzing here!

Ian Chappell, the former Australia captain, has backed captain Ricky Ponting to stay on as the leader despite being the only second Australian captain to lose two Ashes. Chappell said that he was impressed with his leadership of a team that is still rebuilding after the retirement of several seniors in quick succession.Ponting has already conceded two Ashes series to England this decade, the latest defeat coming after a 5-0 drubbing of England at home in 2006-07. But Chappell cautioned that Ponting’s performance as captain will be scrutinised when the team returns home.”Obviously with Australia losing the series and Ponting losing the Ashes in England for the second time, there will be some queries about his captaincy, there will be some sniping about his captaincy,” Chappell said while reviewing the series for Cricinfo. “Overall I thought he did a pretty fair job as a captain. And when you consider the turnover of very good players that he has had under his captaincy – no other Australian captain has had to cope with that. And I think he has done remarkably well to keep Australia afloat in a situation where they are still a team in transition.”Chappell agreed with Cricket Australia’s chief executive James Sutherland that Australia would not benefit from a kneejerk captaincy change. Chappell felt that sacking Ponting at this stage could have a negative impact on the team.”Now is not the right time to sack Ponting as captain,” Chappell said. “For starters if you sack him you will probably lose your best batsman because I don’t think he would want to continue if he was sacked as captain.But the most important thing is I don’t believe that he deserves to be sacked as captain, he’s still the best man for the job.”Chappell however added that some of Ponting’s captaincy moves in the series will come up for sharp criticism. He pointed to England’s jailbreak in the first Test in Cardiff, when the Australian spinners failed to dislodge the last-wicket pair of James Anderson and Monty Panesar in the fourth innings. Ponting was slammed for bowling spinners for the sake of rushing through the overs.”Australia failing to finish off England at Cardiff when they had them on the mat turned out to be a really big turning point in this series,” Chappell said. “There I guess you could perhaps query Ricky Ponting’s choice of bowlers at the end. I think he went for quantity of overs rather than quality of overs and that was a mistake.”Speaking at the presentation ceremony at The Oval at the defeat, Ponting said he was prepared to face the music back home, adding that it was all a part and parcel of leading a major Test team.

ScorecardIndia Emerging Players kicked off their Australian tour with a facile win over the Australian Institute of Sports with nine balls to spare in the opening match of the two-week tournament. The tourists made regular inroads and were lead by their new-ball pair of Sudeep Tyagi and Pradeep Sangwan, who picked up two wickets each as Australia were restricted to 101.Tom Cooper, the No. 3, held Australia together with an unbeaten 63 from 57 balls but there was absolutely no support. The home side was rocked first ball when Tyagi took out Rob Quiney, and then slipped to 4 for 24 with each of India’s first five bowlers finding success. Cooper’s innings contained six fours and a pair of sixes and stood poles apart from the next highest contribution, 8.India themselves were in a spot of bother at 3 for 19, Peter George taking 2 for 9 in four overs, but Ajinkya Rahane and Abhishek Nayar steered the chase thereafter. Rahane finished unbeaten on 43 from 55 balls while Nayar (30 from 19) assisted capably.
ScorecardSouth Africa Emerging Players began their tournament on a high with a last-ball six-wicket win over New Zealand Emerging Players. Chasing 130, South Africa sealed a tight victory thanks to some clinical hitting from the captain Vaughn van Jaarsveld, who made 53 from 47 balls, and a steady unbeaten 58 from the opener Henry Davids.After opting to bat first, New Zealand posted 9 for 129 thanks to Colin de Grandhomme’s 49 from 34 balls. BJ Watling contributed 29 off 37 balls in an opening stand of 72 in 9.2 overs before being run out. Reece Young celebrated his call-up to the senior side by smashing an unbeaten 24 from 14 balls as slow left-armer Dean Elgar snared three victims to ruin the lower order.New Zealand’s attack, led by Tim Southee’s successive strikes in the third over, hurt South Africa’s top order but crucially failed to dislodge Davids, who shored up the chase. van Jaarsveld, batting at No. 4, played an excellent hand to ease the chase and though he fell with 22 needed, Davids finished matters off.

Celtic chiefs have been left unimpressed at the Republic of Ireland’s treatment of Hoops defender Liam Scales, according to Extra.ie.

The Lowdown: Scales’ international break

Scales was a late inclusion in Stephen Kenny’s squad for a World Cup qualifier against Azerbaijan and a friendly with Qatar after replacing Swansea City’s Ryan Manning who withdrew through injury.

Ireland won both games without conceding, however, Scales didn’t feature in either.

He made the 6,400-mile round-trip from Dublin to Baku for the meeting with Azerbaijan but was left out of the squad and also didn’t make the team sheet at home to Qatar.

The Latest: Hoops not happy

Extra.ie shared a story on Thursday, looking at Kenny’s future as manager.

Towards the end of their report, they suggested that Celtic aren’t happy with the FAI with their treatment of Scales after not using him in a matchday squad following a late call-up.

The Verdict: Not ideal

Scales has made just one Celtic appearance following his £540,000 move from Shamrock Rovers in the summer, so his international break appears to have been a waste of time.

He’s made a long journey to sit around and is still awaiting his first cap for Ireland. It would’ve made more sense for Scales to have remained at Lennoxtown to work with Ange Postecoglou ahead of the first game back against Motherwell, which could have helped him force his way into the manager’s Parkhead plans.

In other news: BBC man thinks Ange will now axe big earner who’s been a regular after update from Celtic source. 

As per Football League World, a significant update has emerged on the future of Tottenham Hotspur winger Jack Clarke.

The Lowdown: Clarke struggles continue…

Since his move to N17 from Leeds United in 2019 for an initial £10 million fee, it’s safe to say the youngster’s Tottenham career has been a complete non-starter so far.

The 20-year-old has since endured several Football League stints out on loan in an effort to nurture his development, most recently Stoke City for the second half of last campaign as Spurs sanctioned his 2021 January loan move.

Now, as per FLW, Nuno Espirito Santo has personally sent a message to the player.

The Latest: Spurs set to sanction another move away…

According to their sources, the Spurs head coach has now told Clarke he is free to leave as a plethora of lower league clubs take interest in signing him on loan.

As well as this, Tottenham are now ‘ready to sanction’ another move away for the attacker after his most recent temporary move to the bet365 stadium in January last year.

AFC Bournemouth are apparently the most keen to snap him up mid-season with Spurs’ stance made crystal clear.

The Verdict: Last chance saloon?

With his contract expiring at the end of next season in 2023, we believe it could be last chance for Clarke to resurrect his career and prove to Spurs he still possesses the quality to come good.

Signed after an impressive start to his original career at Leeds, the forward simply must rediscover that form and send Nuno his own message that he may have a part to play in future.

In other news: Not just Winks & Alli: Paratici told to sell vulnerable senior man who’s stuck in a rut at Spurs, find out more here.

Sky Sports reporter Keith Downie has suggested Mike Ashley could sack Steve Bruce if Newcastle United lose their next two matches.

The Lowdown: Bruce unpopular

It is no secret Bruce is not the most popular man in the north-east, but he has been dealt another blow via a recent Newcastle United Supporters Trust poll.

It has emerged 95% of surveyed supporters want him to walk away from St. James’ Park – a resounding majority, and yet some of them may even wonder what the other five per cent are thinking.

The Latest: Downie provides Bruce update

Speaking on Sky Sports, Downie shared an update on Bruce’s future, claiming that Ashley being ‘desperate’ to sell the club may impact the decision. He said:

“So if Steve Bruce is to carry on and have Newcastle down there, marooned in the bottom three, that is when it becomes a situation where he [Mike Ashley] may have to, you know, make a change at the top.
“I don’t think that will happen in the next few days but should they lose against Spurs and then potentially the game [Palace away] after that, I think Mike Ashley may have a decision to make.”

The Verdict: Matter of time

Quite frankly, it does seem like it is only a matter of time before Bruce is relieved of his duties at the club, and the longer he stays the more damage they will suffer.
So far this term, the Toon have not won any of their seven Premier League matches, and the Magpies’ football remains dismal – for example, only three sides have averaged less than their 42.7% possession in the league (via WhoScored).
In the likes of Miguel Almiron and Allan Saint-Maximin, Newcastle do possess some talented and exciting players. They need to get someone in who is able to get the best out of the players at their disposal, as it looks like Bruce is uncapable of delivering that.
In other news, this man could replace Bruce as boss.

Many Everton fans have been left fuming over an update on their Carabao Cup third round tie away at Queens Park Rangers on Tuesday night.

As per Phil Kirkbride, Kevin Friend is set to referee the game against the EFL Championship team next week.

Incidentally, he has given more yellow cards to the Goodison Park faithful (57) than all but one other side in his career, and they have only won one of their last six games in which he has been in charge (Transfermarkt).

There has been some controversy between Friend and the Merseyside club in the past, and so it is not a surprise to see so many Toffees supporters against his appointment, as Rafa Benitez’s team will look to book their place in the fourth round of the competition with as little trouble as possible.

Everton fans on Friend news

These Blues fumed as the news of Friend’s appointment was shared on Twitter:

“Is there some agenda to give us the worst of the refs?”

Credit: @Toffeelewl

“And they get worse”

Credit: @paulhalligan29

“Boooooooo”

Credit: @bluesofgoodison

“We are out we never win when he refs”

Credit: @barryho55127160

“God help us.”

Credit: @KelvinPhelpsk

“NOOOO”

Credit: @TheDanMox

In other news, find out why James Rodriguez’s summer move fell through here!