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Newcastle United are reportedly now eyeing up a transfer move for Rayan Ait-Nouri.

The Lowdown: Lots of potential…

Ait-Nouri obviously impressed Wolves enough to sign him on a permanent deal following his loan spell there last season, during which he won 3.8 of his duels and averaged 1.4 tackles and 1.2 successful dribbles per game in the Premier League, scoring one goal and making one assist, emphasising both his attacking and defensive potential (SofaScore).

Upon signing him permanently, Molineux technical director Scott Sellars claimed that he is a ‘very talented’ player with ‘lots of potential’ and is ‘only going to get better’ (Wolves).

Nonetheless, at just 20 years of age, Ait-Nouri is certainly one for the future.

The Latest: Newcastle hovering

As per Jeunes Footeux, Ait-Nouri is now ‘of interest’ to the St. James’ Park faithful as well as Crystal Palace, who are both ‘closely following’ his situation at Molineux.

However, as he has a contract at WWFC until 2026, he will not be sold for anything less than €25-30m (£21.4-25.7m).

The Verdict: Ritchie upgrade

Ait-Nouri would certainly be an upgrade on Matt Ritchie at left wing-back, given that he is averaging more tackles, interceptions, shots, dribbles and passes than the Scotland international in the top flight so far this term (WhoScored).

The Frenchman has that extra attacking mindset that will be needed from January onwards, as the North East club look to create enough chances and score enough goals in order to escape the drop.

The Express & Star journalist Liam Keen claimed last month that Ait-Nouri is a player who ‘gets the crowd on their feet’, and his runs up and down the flank should give the Toon Army some excitement going into the second half of the campaign.

Nonetheless, he is someone that they and Eddie Howe can get behind straight away.

In other news, find out which former Magpie NUFC are now eyeing here!

Aston Villa CEO Christian Purslow was blown away by the vision Steven Gerrard set out in his Villa Park interview, The Athletic’s Gregg Evans writes. 

The lowdown

Gerrard is preparing to take charge of his first Aston Villa game on Saturday, with Brighton and Hove Albion travelling to the Midlands.

His appointment was made official on 11 November, just four days on from the sacking of Dean Smith.

The Liverpool icon joins from Scottish giants Rangers, where he broke Celtic’s stranglehold with an unbeaten run to the 2020/21 title in what was his first senior managerial role.

The latest

Evans lifts the lid on some of the ‘finer details’ of the ‘five hours of talks’ that took place following Smith’s dismissal.

Gerrard explained how he would make Villa ‘exciting and attractive to watch’, which particularly delighted sporting director Johan Lange.

He also offered a ‘thorough’ analysis of the current squad and a plan for blooding youngsters from the academy.

Purslow apparently regarded it as ‘one of the most engaging’ interviews he’s ever conducted.

“What a start,” Evans wrote in an accompanying tweet.

The verdict

This could well be music to the ears of many Villa fans with the Gerrard era about to get underway.

His promises regarding young players are particularly noteworthy given the strength of Villa’s academy roster.

Cameron Archer might be among those fancying his chances of breaking into the first-team if he can catch the manager’s eye.

Villa handed Gerrard a contract that runs until 2025, which has to be seen as a significant show of faith in his ability to nurture and develop the current squad.

That’s a year longer, for example, than Newcastle’s new owners have initially given Eddie Howe.

In other news, fans react to updates on two midfielders.

Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan has said the ground conditions at the Shere Bangla National Stadium are “almost unplayable and unfit to play” with regard to the evening dew

Sriram Veera at the Shere Bangla National Stadium04-Jan-2010Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan has said the ground conditions at the Shere Bangla National Stadium are “almost unplayable and unfit to play” with regard to the evening dew. In fact, he proposed that the subsequent games in the tri-nation tournament start earlier to avoid such a situation.”It was almost impossible to grip the ball as the dew started at 6:00 pm and we had four spinners in our team,” Shakib said. “If the conditions remain like this, even 300 won’t be difficult to chase. I even discussed the matter with [Kumar] Sangakkara, who agreed. We might speak to the officials and try to change the timing of the games to a 12:00 pm start.”His opposite number, Sangakkara, admitted that the dew was a big issue. “I had spoken to the groundsman earlier and therefore decided to chase,” he said. “Tomorrow this could happen to us. I can understand Shakib’s views but I don’t know what you can do about it [changing the time].”Of course, if the start time changes, it would make for better cricket. But I guess you take the good with the bad. You do feel sorry for the fielding side as dew kicked in the evening.”India captain MS Dhoni had expressed his concerns yesterday. “It would be good if we can start the match at 11:00 am, so that it gets over by 8:30 pm or 9:00 pm, at least an hour earlier than what it is now,” Dhoni said. “That is the time it really gets wet, but we have to play at whatever timings are given to us. We don’t decide on these matters.”The dew certainly played its role today, killing the excitement during the chase as the spinners found it difficult to grip the ball. But the game was lost while batting. It was the first game of the tournament and, ideally, it should have been exciting.However the dull, drab and low-quality contest witnessed half the crowd, which was never strong to begin with, heading for the exits mid-way during the chase. Perhaps it was the cold that was the catalyst behind the exodus, but the quality of play certainly wasn’t rivetting enough for them to brave the elements and come in numbers or stay till the finish.Bangladesh suffered from the old problems that have derailed their progress at the international level. Their top order struggled, rather surprisingly, against bounce on such an easy-paced wicket. The first four wickets all fell to short-pitched deliveries.Interestingly, around the time of the toss, the top order were practicing pull shots. They stood in line and kept pulling the balls which were thrown at them on to a net flung to their left. One was curious whether they were expecting short deliveries on this track or were they simply practicing big swings to the on side?And when it came, it didn’t seem like a plan. “On these wickets, you can’t go with a short-ball plan,” Sangakkara said. “But we found out that they were facing some problems with bounce and Suranga Lakmal later exploited it well.”Chanaka Welegedera bowled one short in the fourth over and Imrul Kayes was slow on the pull. The ball brushed the shoulders en route to Sangakkara. Another short ball, in the seventh over from Nuwan Kulasekara, saw Kayes mistime another pull but it cleared midwicket. The third bouncer though, in the 13th over, undid him as he got a fatal top-edge trying to pull.That seemed to kickstart a collapse. Lakmal got one to kick up to Raqibul Hasan’s shoulder height, who stabbed it straight to slips, while Shakib upper cut another lifter straight to thirdman. Mohammad Ashraful and Mahmudullah did the repair job, but on this wicket, with dew waiting to play havoc later in the day, 260 was never going to be enough.

Taking to Twitter, Sky Sports reporter Lyall Thomas has now broken a ‘boost’ for Tottenham Hotspur boss Antonio Conte ahead of Leeds United as Ryan Sessegnon returns from injury.

The Lowdown: Sessegnon sidelined…

September’s torrid international break, which Spurs fans will certainly believe to be the worst in recent memory, saw a plethora of Lilywhites stars return from their duties with various problems.

Indeed, the likes of Steven Bergwijn, Oliver Skipp, Son Heung-min and Sessegnon picked up knocks before their trip back to Hotspur Way.

Meanwhile, South American trio Cristian Romero, Giovani Lo Celso and Davinson Sanchez had to spend a 10-day training camp in Croatia due to quarantine rules before returning to London (Evening Standard).

Sessegnon, the last player to finally recover from this nightmare period, is reportedly back in contention as Sky reporter Thomas shares a social media update.

The Latest: Conte gifted Sessegnon ‘boost’…

As per the journalist, Conte is set to see the defender return to full training following his hamstring injury – and he could even be available to face Leeds United.

“Ryan Sessegnon will return to full training this week from the hamstring problem suffered in September and could be available for Leeds clash on Sunday,” he explained.

Sharing his piece, which describes the 21-year-old’s return as a ‘selection boost’, Thomas details that Sessegnon’s comeback could come of use to Conte given his preferred 3-4-3 formation – coming as just ‘the sort of player’ who could become ‘rejuvenated’ in the Italian’s system (Twitter).

The Verdict: Crunch time for Sessegnon…

Under former bosses Jose Mourinho and Nuno Espirito Santo, combination of injury issues and loan spells out of the club haven’t really handed Sessegnon a chance to cement his place in the Spurs team.

However, if Conte can be the man to full implement the Englishman, it’s safe to say Tottenham can have a more-than ideal rotational option to Sergio Reguilon and, potentially, one of the strongest left-back rosters in the Premier League.

Lauded as an ‘outstanding player’ with the potential to become worth around £50 million (Noel Whelan, Football Insider), former Fulham boss Slavisa Jokanovic’s praise for the ‘special’ starlet highlights his quality.

It is no coincidence that Nuno was a ‘big fan’ of the left-wing back, as reliably reported by Alasdair Gold (via Spurs Web), and these next few months could well be a crunch time in his Spurs career.

Time will tell whether he goes on to become a favourite, but the quality is certainly there for him to do so.

In other news: ‘I understand’, ‘In recent weeks’…Alasdair Gold shares exciting development out of Hotspur Way, find out more here.

The first Test at the Gabba may have been embarrassingly one-sided but Tim Nielsen, Australia’s coach, expects stiffer resistance in the second starting Friday

Cricinfo staff30-Nov-2009The first Test at the Gabba may have been embarrassingly one-sided but Tim Nielsen, Australia’s coach, expects stiffer resistance in the second starting on Friday. West Indies are likely to have experienced middle-order batsman Ramnaresh Sarwan back, but the batsman-friendly pitch at the Adelaide Oval could be as beneficial to the visitors.”They come here where the wicket probably won’t bounce,” Nielsen said, “and the ball won’t swing as much naturally so the conditions will suit them.”West Indies were rolled over inside three days in Brisbane, folding for 228 and 187 to slide to an innings defeat. Nielsen doesn’t expect conditions to suit Australia’s attack as much in Adelaide.”I think it’s probably a different Test than it was in Brisbane,” Nielsen said of the second Test. “In Brisbane the real challenge was not to get too carried away and try and bowl too fast and see the ball swing and bounce and zip all over the place.”Here we see a real challenge for the blokes just to keep doing the right things for as long as they possibly can. It’ll be another learning curve, not dissimilar to what we face in India or those sorts of places.”Nielsen insisted there was no danger of complacency setting in the Australian camp. “There is no series of Test cricket that’s too easy, we had a good result last week but if we are not on our game Friday morning things could start poorly for us,” he said. “We know they can be a damaging team and we need to be right on our form to go well.”

James Hopes has been ruled out of the second match while Brett Lee and Mitchell Johnson are not yet certainties

Cricinfo staff26-Oct-2009Australia have been hit with injury worries to their bowlers just one game into the seven-match series against India, with James Hopes ruled out of the second match and a question mark over the availability of strike bowlers Brett Lee and Mitchell Johnson.Allrounder Hopes suffered a hamstring strain during the first match in Vadodara on Sunday. Mitchell Johnson left the field briefly with a left ankle problem while Lee complained of a sore elbow. Lee managed only six overs during the chase, left the field after his second spell and later returned.”Hopes, Lee and Johnson all underwent scans in Vadodara this morning,” team physiotherapist Kevin Sims said. “James has suffered a minor right hamstring strain. He will therefore be unavailable for the next game… however [he] is expected to be available for the latter games of this series.”Brett Lee has a mild right elbow strain and will continue to be treated and assessed prior to the next game.”Mitchell Johnson suffered an inversion strain of his left ankle. He will now receive treatment and, as with Brett, it will depend on how he responds to treatment over the next two days before a decision is made on his availability for the second game of the series.”Australia lost key players Michael Clarke, Brad Haddin and Nathan Bracken to injuries before the tour began. The captain Ricky Ponting didn’t hide his displeasure over the scheduling of the ODI series, which began just three days after the Champions League Twenty20, where the New South Wales players arrived in Vadodara to join the rest of their Australia team-mates less than 12 hours before the match.The second ODI is in Nagpur on Wednesday.

With 17 games played in the Championship so far this season, only three outfield players have played more minutes than West Brom captain Jake Livermore, who has appeared in all but two of their league games in this campaign.

During those appearances, the 31-year-old, who is currently valued at £2.25m according to Transfermarkt, has played in the central-midfield and defensive-midfield positions, as well as grabbing an assist in their 1-0 win over Birmingham City back in October.

Despite being a regular figure for Ismael this season, Livermore is one of West Brom’s oldest players and has a contract that’s set to expire in the summer, which says to us that his time at the Midlands club could be coming to an end sooner rather than later.

With this in mind, the Baggies could already have their ideal long-term replacement for the veteran who has made a total of 172 appearances for the club, with 19-year-old midfielder Aurio Teixeira.

As a product of West Brom’s youth academy, Teixeira has made 23 appearances and scored one goal for their U18 side and 12 appearances for their U23 side with one assist under his belt.

So far this season, Teixeira has made seven league appearances for West Brom’s U23 side, playing as a central-midfielder, right-midfielder and as a right-back on occasions, highlighting his versatility.

Also, Teixeira has been described as being a “very intelligent footballer with a high football IQ”, as well as being “tenacious in his game and another combative midfield player who uses his body well” by U18s manager Peter Gilbert, which should be very exciting for the Baggies fans to have a player such as Teixeira with those attributes in their youth ranks.

This could also make him a solid long-term replacement for Livermore given how the senior West Brom midfielder has had no issue showing his tenacity on the pitch, racking up a total of 33 yellow cards during his time at The Hawthorns as well as making an average of 1.9 tackles per game in the league this season.

Moving forward, if Teixeira can keep playing regularly for West Brom’s U23 side, he definitely has the potential to start knocking on Ismael’s door to get some minutes in the senior side to give himself the chance to show he has what it takes to play alongside the senior players and potentially go on to become Livermore’s long-term heir.

In other news: Massive blow: West Brom dealt injury setback that will leave fans absolutely gutted – opinion

The match, scheduled for June 19, will be England’s second visit in three seasons, following the inaugural game held in Edinburgh last year

Cricinfo staff24-Sep-2009England will play Scotland in an ODI at Edinburgh next year, the two boards confirmed today. The match, scheduled for June 19, will be England’s second visit in three seasons, following the inaugural game in Edinburgh last year.In recent years, Australia (2005 and 2009), Pakistan (2006), Pakistan and India (both 2007), New Zealand and England (both 2008) have played international cricket in Scotland. And even though Scotland’s fixture list for 2010 is yet to be confirmed, England’s trip will be one of the highlights of the home international season.Roddy Smith, Cricket Scotland’s chief executive, said: “This is great news, and we are delighted that England will visit Scotland again next year for the second official ODI between the two sides.”The all-round support we receive from the ECB is fantastic, not only with the visit of their national side but also their assistance with our national development programmes. With the game taking place on a Saturday in June, I am sure that we will get a bumper crowd to support the Scotland side.”

As per reliable reporter Mark Palmer of The Sunday Times, an exciting transfer claim has now dropped involving star J-League striker Daizen Maeda and Celtic.

The Lowdown: Ange eyes move…

Speaking ahead of their clash with St Johnstone in the SPFL today, Ange Postecoglou was forthright on the subject of fresh faces at Parkhead in January.

Indeed, the Hoops head coach revealed that the process of identifying transfer targets mid-season has already started and hints Celtic ‘will’ make signings ( via Sky Sports).

Now, an exciting claim has dropped on who could be making his way to Glasgow.

The Latest: Hoops ‘step up’ Maeda chase…

As per Palmer of The Times, sharing his article on Twitter, Celtic now ‘step up efforts’ to sign ‘another’ J-League star in the January window.

After snapping up Kyogo Furuhashi in the summer, well placed sources in Japan have told The Times and Palmer they expect a move to be completed for clinical Asian forward Maeda.

Scoring 18 goals and assisting three others over this current campaign so far, Celtic are apparently confident they can sign the 24-year-old for Ange.

The Verdict: Get it done…

His ruthless goalscoring record is just one reason why Ange simply must make a move for Maeda.

The Japan international has also been labelled a ‘stone cold killer’ by members of the press in his country (via Celts Are Here) and he could be exactly the kind of player to inject even more quality at Celtic.

If they are to re-gain their SPFL dominance back from arch rivals Rangers, signing Maeda would certainly be a step in the right direction.

With Ange Postecoglou’s Celtic side heading into Thursday night’s Europa League clash in rather poor form, with the Bhoys having lost four of their last seven fixtures in all competitions, the 56-year-old Hoops manager would have undoubtedly been hoping for a positive performance and result against Bayer Leverkusen in order to kickstart the club’s European campaign.

However, first half strikes from Piero Hincapie and Florian Wirtz gave the Bundesliga side a 2-0 lead at half-time in the fixture, before a 58th-minute Lucas Alario penalty and a stoppage time Amine Adli saw the visitors run out comfortable 4-0 winners, a result which leaves Celtic rooted to the bottom of the Group G table.

As evident from such a result, a number of Hoops players failed to impress over the course of the 90 minutes, with Kyogo Furuhashi, Tom Rogic and David Turnbull all receiving SofaScore match ratings of 6.4 or lower. However, it may be Cameron Carter-Vickers who is left most disappointed with his performance on Thursday night.

No tackles made

Despite having been in impressive form in the league for Celtic – with the centre-back averaging a SofaScore match rating of 7.60 over his three Premiership appearances, ranking him as the Bhoys’ fourth-best performer in the top flight – the 23-year-old very much had a game to forget against Leverkusen.

Indeed, over the course of his 90 minutes on the pitch, the £1.8m-rated defender failed to make a single tackle, blocked no shots and made just one clearance, in addition to – perhaps unfortunately – giving away the penalty for Leverkusen’s third goal of the match after being judged to have handled the ball in the box.

The £20k-per-week man also committed one foul, picked up a yellow card, ceded possession of the ball on 12 separate occasions and completed just two of his eight attempted long balls. These returns saw the Tottenham Hotspur loanee receive a hugely disappointing SofaScore match rating of 5.7, with no player from either team earning a lower score than the centre-back on the night.

As such, should Celtic wish to have any chance of qualifying from their Europa League group this season, Carter-Vickers will undoubtedly need to up his game over the club’s remaining fixtures in the competition as, even more so than his centre-back partner Carl Starfelt – who also struggled on the night – the American badly failed his manager on Thursday.

In other news: Forget Ralston: 28 y/o Celtic dud who had fewer touches than Hart badly let Ange down