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Aston Villa have made no qualms in strengthening their squad during the current January transfer window with Philippe Coutinho, Lucas Digne and Robin Olsen all being brought in to help strengthen Steven Gerrard’s squad.

With those players now through the door and integrating themselves in the squad, the Midlands club look set to try and tie down the future of one of their key current players.

What’s the news?

According to a recent Twitter post from journalist John Percy, Villa are “are poised to open talks” with midfielder Douglas Luiz over a new contract following interest from Premier League clubs in the current window.

The midfielder, whose current deal at the Midlands club is set to expire in the summer of 2023, has garnered interest from Arsenal in recent weeks.

Gerrard will be thrilled

Villa signed the Brazilian from fellow Premier League side Manchester City back in the 2019 summer transfer window in a deal worth a reported fee of £15m.

Since then, the 23-year-old has gone on to cement himself as an important figure for the Villans by making 94 appearances across all competitions with three goals and eight assists under his belt.

Having started 16 of the 17 Premier League games he’s appeared in this season as well as racking up an overall performance rating of 6.91/10 from WhoScored, making him Villa’s third-highest rated player, it’s easy to see why the club would want to open talks with Luiz over a potential new contract to tie him down to Villa and shoo away any interest from Arsenal, which would surely please a lot of fans.

If the £31.5m-rated ace does end up signing a new deal at the Midlands club, this would surely please Gerrard as well the fans given how he clearly recognises Luiz’s talents by playing him so regularly.

The Villa boss made this clear by recently saying that he and his coaching staff rate the midfielder “extremely” highly.

Moving forward, if the Villans can get Luiz to sign a new deal in the coming days and pledge his future to the project that Gerrard is building, this could be seen as just as important as their recent transfer deals earlier in the window.

In other news: “I’m hearing”: Insider drops “emerging” AVFC transfer claim, Gerrard would be furious – opinion

Durham’s Michael Di Venuto made a fine century but was the only batsman who came to terms with the Chester-le-Street pitch as 17 wickets fell on the first day against Yorkshire

16-Aug-2010
ScorecardDurham’s Michael Di Venuto made a fine century but was the only batsman who came to terms with the Chester-le-Street pitch as 17 wickets fell on the first day against Yorkshire. With both teams in contention for the title, Durham recovered from 54 for 5 to reach 213 and Yorkshire reached the close on 125 for 7.Tim Bresnan left afterwards to link up briefly with the England squad in London, but he was outshone by Ajmal Shahzad, who took a career-best 5for 51. Bresnan took only one wicket but was sent in to bat at number three and made 25 before heading for Newcastle Airport. He will return to Durham on Wednesday if not required for the Oval Test and during his absence will be replaced by Oliver Hannon-Dalby.Yorkshire put Durham in and the ball nipped around under heavy morning cloud, but Shahzad had to settle for coming on as first change. He pinned Gordon Muchall lbw with his fourth ball and two balls later produced a beautiful delivery to knock over Dale Benkenstein’s off stump.Shahzad later rattled the stumps twice in three balls as he was rewarded for bowling full and straight with just enough movement to beat the bat. The fall of 17 wickets was unlikely to have unduly worried pitch liaison officer Mike Denness. There was some variable bounce, but generally the bowling was better than the batting and only Phil Mustard gave Di Venuto, who made 117, any support for Durham.Yorkshire’s most obvious resistance came from Anthony McGrath, whose 28 not out took him past 1,000 runs for the season, as Mitch Claydon removed the openers and then Steve Harmison took three wickets. Harmison’s victims included Yorkshire captain Andrew Gale, who was given out lbw first ball but indicated that he had nicked it.Two Durham batsmen were also reluctant to depart as neither Mustard, who made 53, nor Mark Stoneman thought they had touched the ball when given out caught behind. Di Venuto edged Steve Patterson just short of Adil Rashid at second slip on 9 and grafted his way to 43 at lunch. Both he and Mustard were beaten in the first few overs of the afternoon, but as the cloud broke up runs suddenly began to flow.They put on 115 and the next highest stand was 30 for the last wicket, in which Harmison equalled his season’s best score of 4. Di Venuto was on 97 when Harmison was dropped at third slip by Jonny Bairstow off Shahzad.Although he held two catches, that was Bairstow’s second miss and it allowed Di Venuto to complete his fourth century in three seasons against Yorkshire. He turned a short ball from Richard Pyrah to fine leg for his 14th four to reach his hundred off 156 balls and straight drove the next for another four to bring up the 200 and earn a batting point.

Stuart Broad believes that the same professionalism that helped England to victory in the World Twenty20 in the Caribbean back in May has enabled them to keep their focus amid a torrid week

Andrew Miller at Cardiff06-Sep-2010Stuart Broad believes that the same professionalism that helped England to victory in the World Twenty20 in the Caribbean back in May has enabled them to keep their focus amid a torrid week for world cricket, but says that international cricketers have only themselves to blame if they allow themselves to be drawn into corrupt practices.With the eyes of the world focussed on Sophia Gardens for all the wrong reasons, following a week of newspaper allegations surrounding the Pakistan team and the recent Lord’s Test, England overcame a “slight hiccup”, in the words of their captain Paul Collingwood, to chase down a modest target of 127 with 17 balls to spare in the first Twenty20 in Cardiff. It was the team’s first outing in the format since overcoming Australia on a memorable afternoon in Barbados four months ago, and while the circumstances of this contest were far from ideal, the end result was pleasing nonetheless.”We’ve been very focused on what we have to do on the pitch,” said Broad. “You can get distracted by everything going on. But at the end of the day, that doesn’t help you bowl the ball and hit it out of the park. Speaking personally, I’ve kept myself pretty well away from it. I’ve tried not to read too much or get myself too involved in it, because I want to focus on these two Twenty20 games here.”After the Twenty20 World Cup, last night was a good statement that we want to take this team forward,” he added. “It would be easy for us to sit back and say ‘we’ve won a Twenty20 World Cup, and that’s brilliant’. But last night saw a determination, everyone hurling themselves around in the field, to win and carry this streak on. We showed a lot of character to come back from five down (for 62), with the game looking a little bit iffy.”Broad, whose career-best 169 in last week’s fourth Test was quickly overshadowed by the spot-fixing furore that erupted at the close of that third day’s play, insisted – with good personal justification – that he had no sympathy for the situation in which the Pakistan squad now found itself.”I’m sure for the Pakistan team, there’s everyone following them around and there’s a lot of hype around them at the minute, and that would be difficult to deal with. But at the end of the day, that’s not our problem,” said Broad. “There are always distractions in international cricket because that’s part of being an international sportsman. There are probably more than most this week, to be honest, but that’s why as players you’ve got to be able to shut things out and focus on what you’ve got to do.”Nor did he believe that any of the team had any excuse for not being aware of the threats posed by illegal bookmakers – not even the teenager Mohammad Amir – seeing as Broad himself had had the dangers drummed into him from the age of 19, when he first became part of the England set-up.”I don’t know what other boards do, I can only speak as an England player,” he said. “But the ECB are very regimented in the advice they give us, because that’s the responsibility that they have to take to make sure every player is educated. I don’t think any player could ever have an excuse – ‘I didn’t know’, or ‘We weren’t educated’.”We get hand-outs, handbooks. With the amount of books I’ve got from the ICC at home, full of information, there’s certainly no excuse as players. As soon as you come into the England team, the ICC get hold of you; you’re put through this video, which is very watchable, very clear – it takes you back to when you were five or six, that’s how clear it is. It outlines everything you’re not allowed to do, everything you are allowed to do.”Broad conceded that the newspaper revelations had left the teams somewhat distanced from one another off-the-field, but he added that there had not been a lot of interaction beforehand, because the nature of modern-day sport doesn’t allow much down-time for socialising. “I think that’s gone out of the game a little bit, because obviously you don’t want to give away little secrets about what you are planning,” he said. “It’s only after a series that you tend to have a drink with them and chat.”Nevertheless, Broad did regret not having had the chance for a proper catch-up with his former Leicestershire colleague, Mohammad Asif, whose bowling had been one of Pakistan’s few high spots on their tour of Australia at the beginning of the year. Given everything that has now transpired, the chance to pick his brains on Australian conditions has surely been and gone.”It’s a difficult position and hard to comment on,” he said. “He’s a lovely fellow, I got on really well with him and he’s obviously a world-class bowler. He is very open and willing to help and was a good overseas player for the six weeks he was at Leicestershire. But obviously these allegations have come from the News of the World and it will be interesting to see how it curtails and when it curtails.”He is a seriously talented bowler,” added Broad. “I only played about three games with him, I think. But he talks very much about getting close to the stumps and bowling wicket-to-wicket, and he was fantastic to learn from. Throughout this series I was saying to him ‘at the end of this series I would like to have a chat with you about Australia’ because he got a six-for (6 for 41) in Sydney and how he bowled over there. But with him being left out of the squad now, it’s probably not going to happen.”For the time being, England and Pakistan have six more contests to get through before the end of the tour, starting with Tuesday’s second Twenty20, and while the spot-fixing storm shows no sign of abating, Broad predicted that both sides would seek to immerse themselves in the remaining matches.”We’ve just got to go out there and try to win,” he said. “In international sport you get distractions all the time, but at the end of the day that shouldn’t affect how you deliver a ball or how you hit a ball. That’s one of the nice things about being a sportsman is that once you cross that white line, it is a freedom, you are away from everything in life really. You are playing cricket and that’s an escape from everything. That’s as clear as you get really.”

Wolves will clinch a permanent move for loanee Hwang Hee-chan in the summer transfer window, according to reliable journalist Tim Spiers.

The Lowdown: Hwang hit-and-miss on loan

The 26-year-old joined Wanderers on loan from RB Leipzig last summer as he looked to make his mark in the Premier League. In truth, Hwang’s time at Molineux has been up-and-down so far, with four goals scored in 11 league starts but none of those coming since late October.

Last week, Wolves announced that they have exercised the purchase option on the South Korean’s loan move which will see him become a permanent signing from 1 July 2022 following the conclusion of his loan spell.

The Latest: Spiers clarifies Hwang’s situation

Spiers took to Twitter on Monday night with a summary of the ins and outs from Molineux during the January transfer window, and after one fan queried why Hwang was not included, the journalist offered some clarity on the 26-year-old’s situation.

Spiers replied to the supporter by stating: “Committed to signing him in the summer yeah but technically he remains on loan until then”.

The Verdict: Worth signing him

While Hwang may have blown a little hot-and-cold in a Wolves shirt, the positives have still outweighed the negatives overall. The attacker has provided quality out on the left-hand side – he has also been deployed centrally, highlighting his versatility – and dovetailed nicely with Raul Jimenez.

A current injury absence has played a part in Hwang’s stock falling a little, but once he is fit again, there is no reason why he can’t continue to prove his worth for years to come, now that we know he will be at Molineux beyond the summer.

In other news, Wolves were offered the chance to sign one player on deadline day. Find out who it is here.

Aston Villa have spent the last two transfer windows strengthening their attacking threat with Leon Bailey, Emi Buendia, Danny Ings and Philippe Coutinho all joining the side over the last nine months, and now Steven Gerrard will surely have a headache over selecting his strongest forward line.

Amongst these recent signings, Villa already had Ollie Watkins, Bertrand Traore, Mahmoud Trezeguet and Jacob Ramsey who has risen through the academy to become a regular first team starter, meaning Gerrard must make a decision on which players have a future in the side and in rotation, potentially needing to let go of some attackers in the summer to boost funds for other areas of the team that require attention.

One player that Gerrard must axe moving forward is Mahmoud Ahmed Ibrahim Hassan, better known as Trezeguet, with the Egyptian failing to make an impact worthy of a consistent call up to the starting XI, and it’s clear the former Rangers manager recognises this due to his marquee signing of Coutinho last month.

The £47k-per-week dud who was criticised for being “disappointing” by former Villa player Gabby Agbonlahor, has fallen out of favour in the side due to a long term ACL injury, but was given a chance upon recovery after nine months, in which he made a controversial dive in the loss against Brentford last month.

Since joining Aston Villa in 2019, the 27-year-old has made 64 appearances with nine goals and five assists, averaging at a goal involvement every 4.5 games played.

That is not good enough when you compare him to his competitors for the position, with Coutinho also a player who had become out of favour at his club making just 105 appearances for Barcelona after signing in 2018, but maintaining a goal involvement on average every 2.7 games. He already has more goals than the Egyptian winger for the side this season, scoring on his Premier League debut.

Trezeguet was linked with a move away from Villa Park on Deadline Day to Turkish side, Istanbul Basaksehir, but nothing materialised despite Gerrard hinting at an exit saying it would be “challenging” for the attacker to get game time in his side last month. Consequently, he is surely unlikely to play for Villa again before the season is up.

The Liverpudlian will have some important decisions to make on the future of players like Trezeguet in his side, and will surely be planning his next moves for the summer transfer window to further the club’s progression and strengthen ahead of his second season in charge.

In other news: Gerrard must axe Danny Ings

Australia captain Michael Clarke has said his side were outplayed by Sri Lanka in the only Twenty20 game between the two teams

ESPNcricinfo staff31-Oct-2010Australia captain Michael Clarke has said his side were outplayed by Sri Lanka in the only Twenty20 game between the two teams before they play three one-day internationals starting on November 3.Sri Lanka cruised to a seven-wicket win at the WACA, restricting Australia to 133 for 8, their lowest ever total at home.”They [Sri Lanka] played really well,” Clarke said. “We were a little bit disappointing with the bat, especially up front losing four wickets early. I think we got outplayed. No doubt conditions were different to what we just faced in India, but look, we’ve had great preparation here, the nets are very similar to what we faced out in the middle so we have no excuses. Sri Lanka bowled really well.”Kumar Sangakkara made an unbeaten 44 off 43 balls to see Sri Lanka home with 3.3 overs to spare, sharing a 71-run partnership with Tillakaratne Dilshan. Both batsmen looked at ease at the crease, unlike the Australians, who struggled with the bounce offered by the WACA pitch.”They played the cross-bat shots really well on a bouncy wicket,” Clarke said. “I think we can learn from that, I think we tried to bowl a bit too short because there was a bit of pace and carry.”Sangakkara was full of praise for the way his bowlers and fielders performed. “We played a pretty good game from the start. We knew them winning the toss was an advantage for them but it just kept getting better for the batsman. I think the way we played first up with the choice of deliveries and the way we fielded, it was a great achievement to keep them down to around 130.”

Crystal Palace make the mighty 298 mile trip to St James’ Park tonight, as they take on fellow mid-table settlers Newcastle United.

Although both sides are believed to be safe from relegation obscurity, they share the mutual ambition of reaching the traditional safe haven that is the 40 points mark.

A win for either side tonight would allow them to achieve that very ambition, though only one side can prevail.

Speaking in his pre-match press conference on Tuesday afternoon, Vieira revealed that the Eagles’ recent loss to Chelsea was a “massive disappointment” and ordered his side to answer questions raised.

In the same press conference, Vieira gave some succinct team news over his side’s injury status heading into this clash with the Magpies:

“Our captain Luka [Milivojevic] will not be part of the group. He felt something in his hamstring so he won’t be part of the team. Nathan [Ferguson] is still injured. Outside of those two, everybody is good.”

With that update, we at Football FanCast anticipate two changes from Palace’s loss against Chelsea in the FA Cup.

Crystal Palace predicted XI: Guaita (GK) Clyne (RB) Andersen (RCB) Guehi (LCB) Mitchell (LB) Gallagher (RCM) Kouyate (DM) Schlupp (LCM) Eze (RW) Mateta (ST) Zaha (LW).

A return back to the 4-3-3 system after two games, and two losses without it makes sense for Patrick Vieira.

Perhaps the biggest boost is the return of 22-year-old Eagles loanee Conor Gallagher who has been dubbed a “sensation” by Zach Lowy. He comes in for the £1.4m-rated James McArthur, with Gallagher proving to be one of Vieira’s biggest creative threats this season having bagged eight goals and three assists.

Our predicted line-up also sees Nathaniel Clyne restored in place of Joel Ward, who started the FA Cup semi-final last time out.

The return of Eberechi Eze will be welcomed too, after the 23-year-old completed his first full 90 minutes against Chelsea in the last game, with the player who has been dubbed “special” by CoachesVoice now over his achilles tendon problem.

Jordan Ayew, a player described as “magic” is also an unfortunate drop-out with Vieira hoping to secure victory.

In other news: Vieira could terrify Newcastle by unleashing CPFC’s “special” £37k-p/w livewire…

Tauqir Zia, the former chairman of the PCB, has said the board was warned before the tour of England that some of its players had links to illegal bookmakers

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Oct-2010Tauqir Zia, the former chairman of the PCB, has said the board was warned before the tour of England that some of its players had links to illegal bookmakers. Zia, who was chairman from 1999 to 2003, made his claims on a special episode of the Australian investigative journalism TV program , which will air on Monday.”They were warned,” Zia said. “The Pakistan Cricket Board should have been very careful. The Pakistan management, the manager, and everybody should have been careful. I have been told…that six, seven players they ought to be careful because they (the ICC) have seen their connections or read their SMSs.”Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir were suspended after allegations they were involved in spot-fixing during the series in England. Zia also said that during his time as chairman, he had been asked to select a player who was allegedly involved in fixing, but refused to choose the player.”I was a serving army officer and there’s a gentleman who rings me up and said ‘so and so should be included in the team because he fixes matches and we get money’. So I said you are threatening a man in uniform … you go to hell and that man is not going to be put in the team. And he never was included in the side.” also reports that the ICC had concerns about the player agent Mazhar Majeed when he was in Australia during Pakistan’s tour in 2009-10, but did not pass on their concerns to Cricket Australia. Months later, Majeed was secretly filmed by the , apparently correctly predicting no-balls that would be bowled in the Lord’s Test.”These are leads that we have to follow through and be quite confident before we make allegations, and it was the subject of an ongoing investigation,” the ICC’s chief executive Haroon Lorgat said. “We were not satisfied of the extent of his activities and we needed to be quite confident before we levelled any accusations.”

A round-up of the second day of the second round of matches in the Super League of the Ranji Trophy

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Nov-2010Group AR Ashwin was in his element on the second day•ESPNcricinfo LtdRohit Sharma may have been demoted in the BCCI contracts lists that were announced today, but he hit back, pounding his third first-class double-century as Mumbai bossed over Bengal at Eden Gardens in Kolkata. Resuming at 287 for 4, Mumbai suffered early setbacks when Abhishek Nayar and Ajit Agarkar fell within the first eight overs of play. Rohit was in no mood to relent though, and found a willing partner in No. 8 Iqbal Abdulla to take the game away from the hosts. Abdulla fell 18 short of his second first-class ton, after swinging 12 fours in an aggressive effort. Rohit had looked ominous in his brief stay on the first evening and carried on in the same vein, stroking 23 fours and three sixes to push Mumbai towards 600. Butter-fingered Bengal let themselves down in the field, with Shreevats Goswami, Wriddhiman Saha and Ashok Dinda dropping easy catches off Rohit. Ramesh Powar and Dhawal Kulkarni chipped in to help Rohit reach 200 at which point Wasim Jaffer declared. There was more trouble for Bengal before stumps, with Aavishkar Salvi removing opener Arindam Das cheaply, leaving them facing a mountain on day three.Form Guide – Tracking ESPNcricinfo’s players to watch this season

R Ashwin: Came into his own on the second day, running through Delhi with his ninth first-class five-for

Rohit Sharma: Made the most of three dropped chances and scored a fluent double-ton

Virat Kohli: Could not convert his century into a mammoth effort and his untimely exit gave TN an opening

Piyush Chawla: Scored a sparkling 79, but the real challenge will come when he bowls tomorrow

Ravindra Jadeja: Failed with the bat in the first innings, but will hope to make it up with the ball

Jaidev Unadkat: Made an instant impact before stumps and will want to make further dents on the third day

Abhinav Mukund: His cheap dismissal heralded a top-order collapse for TN

Delhi ran into an inspired spell of offspin from R Ashwin to stumble from a position of strength, before their bowlers wrested back the initiative against Tamil Nadu on an intriguing day of cricket at the at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. The slide began early, with centurion Virat Kohli driving Ashwin straight to midwicket after adding 20 to his overnight 119. His exit gave TN an opening and Ashwin pushed through with purpose, registering his ninth five-wicket haul at the first-class level, as Delhi lost 7 for 23 to fold up for 318. The hosts held the upper hand when they came out to bat, but they had to contend with Delhi’s fired-up attack. Pawan Suyal removed Abhinav Mukund cheaply and, despite holding firm for a 45-run stand, neither Srikkanth Anirudha nor Arun Karthik could kick-start TN’s reply. Dinesh Karthik and R Satish fared even worse as left-arm spinner Vikas Mishra got into the groove, reducing the home side to 82 for 5. Delhi bowled to a plan, with Suyal and Parvinder Awana bowled fast early on and used the short ball to good effect before Mishra dried up the runs with a good line and length and forced the batsmen into mistakes. S Badrinath responded with a mix of caution and aggression, striking two sixes and three fours in his unbeaten 45 off 127 balls, to take his side to stumps without further loss.Assam got themselves back into their match at the Karnail Singh Stadium in Delhi, reducing Railways to 164 for 8 by stumps on the second day. Resuming their innings at 174 for 7, Assam added only 13 more runs in the hazy morning before being bowled out. Dhiraj Goswami, the fast bowler, then struck twice in his opening spell as Railways stuttered to 33 for 4. TP Singh scored 41, but Assam continued to take wickets at regular intervals and it took a 30-run eighth-wicket partnership between allrounder JP Yadav and left-arm spinner Murali Kartik to get Railways close to Assam’s score. While it was the spinners who had taken the bulk of the wickets for Railways, the seamers did the damage for Assam, with Goswami taking 4 for 43 and Ranjitkumar Mali finishing with 2 for 31. Railways will start day three 23 runs behind in a match that looks destined for a result.Gujarat seamer Ishwar Choudhary picked up four wickets as Saurashtra folded up for 262 in their first innings at the Lalabhai Contractor Stadium in Surat. Rains stayed away after washing out the opening day, and Gujarat dominated from the outset after choosing to field. Opener Bhushan Chauhan resisted with a doughty 41, but regular strikes at the other end reduced the visitors to 104 for 4. Captain Jaydev Shah counterattacked, hitting three sixes and eleven fours in his 94, and repaired the innings in a 119-run stand for the fifth wicket, with Sagar Jogiyani. The lower order, however, could not contribute much and Gujarat wrapped up the innings with six overs to stumps. Seamer Jaidev Unadkat made a breakthrough in the final passage of play, leaving Gujarat at 20 for 1 and the game evenly poised going into the third day.Group BRobin Uthappa celebrated his 25th birthday by marching to his 11th first-class ton as Karnataka seized the first-innings lead against Punjab at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium in Mohali. The visitors finished the day at 346 for 6, 103 runs ahead of Punjab who were bowled out on the opening day. It was a tough day for the home bowlers after the early hope fuelled by the cheap dismissals of Karnataka’s openers. Ganesh Satish blunted the attack with a half-century and added 130 runs for the third wicket with Uthappa as Karnataka assumed control of proceedings. Uthappa was in his usual attacking mindset, caning 16 fours and two sixes in his 149 that came off 182 balls. After Satish was run out, Manish Pandey joined in the fun, scoring 49 off 61 balls. After conceding the lead, Punjab managed to pull things back marginally with three late wickets, but Karnataka held all the aces going into the third day.Yusuf Pathan piled up the misery on Haryana with a typically brutal 195 off 138 balls as Baroda took a 343-run first-innings lead at the Bansi Lal Cricket Stadium in Rohtak. Haryana had been bowled out for 127 on day one and had an equally disastrous start to the second day, with Yusuf and opener Connor Williams (114 off 316) adding another 192 to their overnight stand of 87. Haryana captain Rahul Dewan was forced to use nine different bowlers before eventually dismissing Baroda for 470. Yusuf bashed nineteen fours and ten sixes, before he was bowled by part-timer Nitin Saini, five short of his second first-class double century. Thanks to Yusuf, Baroda maintained an innings run-rate of 4.12, giving them ample time to push for a win.Parvinder Singh and Piyush Chawla scored contrasting half-centuries for Uttar Pradesh as they reached 403 in their first innings against Orissa at the Dr Akhilesh Das Stadium in Lucknow. While Chawla scored at a strike-rate of more than 70, middle-order batsman Singh took 206 balls for his 78. It was slow progress for UP who only marginally improved on their slow first-day run-rate, getting 229 runs at 2.65 on day two. Orissa were left with just one over to face, which they negotiated safely.

Leeds United are nine points clear of the bottom three and can now start to plan for life in the top-flight for another season, barring a late collapse.

Jesse Marsch will be making key decisions over what he wants to do in the transfer market and will surely be looking at the current weak points in his side.

One player who may find himself on his way out of the team is central midfielder Mateusz Klich as he has struggled in the middle of the park.

The Poland international has averaged an underwhelming SofaScore rating of 6.69 across 22 starts, losing 59% of his duels and making 1.9 tackles and interceptions per game. These statistics show that he has been below par this term as he has been unable to perform to a high level on a consistent basis.

[snack-amp-story url=”https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/read-the-latest-leeds-news-transfer-rumours-gossip-marsch-raphinha-dest-philhay” title=”Read the latest Leeds news!”]

Marsch will have the opportunity to finally replace him in the summer and he can do just that by securing a deal to sign Josh Cullen.

Leeds are reportedly interested in a swoop for the ex-West Ham battler and he has the potential to be an excellent replacement for Klich.

His former manager Lee Bowyer previously lauded his performances, saying: “Every single game he’s outstanding, very rarely does he do anything wrong.

“Again he protected the back four so well in the middle of the park. Josh doesn’t really give the ball away. He tidies things up, he breaks things up well. He was outstanding.”

Although he was speaking about his displays for Charlton, these comments are also an apt way to describe his form for Anderlecht. In the Belgian Pro League, he has averaged a SofaScore rating of 7.22 as he has won 60% of his duels and made 3.5 tackles and interceptions per game.

This shows that he can be an improvement on Klich in the midfield as he is stronger in his individual battles and has been able to perform to a higher level on a consistent basis.

Although, it is impossible to say whether or not he will be able to adapt to playing in the Premier League, which is one question mark that can be put on the move.

Cullen has, however, shown that he can perform at an international level, with his former Ireland boss Mick McCarthy commenting: 

“He’s technically very good and a tough little sod. He puts his foot in and stands his ground. You wouldn’t think he’s a little fella that gets knocked around. He handles the ball particularly well. He’s got good legs and gets around the pitch.”

It is now down to Victor Orta and Marsch to work together to bring Cullen to Elland Road in the summer to see if he can replicate his dominant midfield displays for Anderlecht in the English top-flight next term.

AND in other news, “Really significant”: Insider drops huge Leeds claim that’ll get supporters bouncing…