Manchester United have now joined the race to sign a “phenomenal” midfielder, who recently put in an impressive performance at Old Trafford.
Man Utd stepping up pursuit of new midfielder
Man United have set out to sign a new central midfielder in the January transfer window, and Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Joao Gomes is the object of their desires, with it recently being revealed the 24-year-old has said ‘yes’ to a move to Old Trafford.
INEOS are now working on a deal for the Wolves star, with David Ornstein revealing the Old Gold may choose to cash-in during the January transfer window, as his value may decrease if they are a Championship club by the time summer comes around.
The need to bring in a new central midfielder may also be exacerbated if Kobbie Mainoo moves on, with it now emerging that talks over the 20-year-old signing a contract extension have been put on hold, amid interest from reigning Serie A champions Napoli.
However, it would be understandable if Wolves were unwilling to sell Gomes, given that he has been one of their key players this season and remains contracted until 2030, and the Red Devils have now joined the race for a potential alternative.
That is according to a report from talkSPORT, which names Man United as potential suitors for Everton midfielder James Garner, who is also being targeted by Premier League rivals Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa.
The Toffees have little interest in sanctioning a departure, however, and have recently stepped up talks over a new contract, with Garner’s current deal set to expire at the end of the season.
David Moyes is personally keen to keep hold of the central midfielder, and it is no surprise, given that he recently played an instrumental role in his side’s 1-0 win at Old Trafford.
Garner impresses in shock Everton win at Old Trafford
After Idrissa Gueye was shown a red card for an altercation with teammate Michael Keane on Monday night, United would’ve been expecting to take all three points, but they were unable to take advantage of their numerical superiority.
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall scored the only goal of the game just before the half-an-hour mark, with Garner grabbing the assist, while also making three interceptions and one clearance to keep Ruben Amorim’s side at bay.
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He has a massive future in the game.
ByHenry Jackson Nov 25, 2025
Hailed as “phenomenal” by pundit Trevor Sinclair, a deal for the Englishman wouldn’t break the bank at £20m+, and he has outperformed Gomes across some key defensive statistics over the past year.
Key defensive statistics per 90 (past year)
James Garner
Joao Gomes
Interceptions
1.41 (85th percentile)
0.81 (34th percentile)
Blocks
1.41 (77th percentile)
1.31 (68th percentile)
Clearances
2.19 (80th percentile)
1.37 (40th percentile)
That said, both Garner and Gomes aren’t experienced at the highest level, and Real Madrid’s Aurelien Tchouameni would perhaps be a more exciting addition to the squad, with the Spanish side’s asking price recently being revealed.
The most prolific bowler in women’s T20Is talks about how she developed her key weapon, and her advocacy for various social issues
Firdose Moonda18-Jan-2025Megan Schutt doesn’t make it sound like she had a lot to work with.She described her pace as “perfect to be hit” and her action as “pretty horrible”. But two decades after she first took to cricket as a self-confessed “late bloomer”, she is the leading wicket-taker in women’s T20Is and has the most wickets in T20 World Cups. None of that happened by chance, but there was some kismet in how Schutt became an inswing bowler.Her cricketing journey started with her as the only girl in a group of boys, then “went a little backward” when she joined an all-girls’ team that played with a soft ball. She was then recruited into the age-group structures. “I bowled probably just straighties,” she says. “I was not so cluey about cricket or how to make the ball swing.” But a stress fracture she suffered at 16 forced her to think about her game.Related
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“I had to change my action a little bit and it changed my wrist somehow and turned me into an inswinger [bowler],” she said at the T20 Women’s World Cup in Dubai last year. “I can’t even tell you how – it was not on purpose, it was not shaped by anyone. I changed a little bit of my jump because I used to jump directly up. I then became a swing bowler.”It didn’t take her too long to see the advantages. “No one really bowled inswing when I was growing up, so it was just nice to be different,” she said. “Because I didn’t have the raw pace, if I didn’t have the swing, it would be very boring, I liked the X factor of how the ball moved and decided I would just rather focus on that than trying to bulk up and bowl fast when everyone was just getting injured anyway, so I stuck to what I knew.”Schutt may not be the biggest fan of her own bowling action but there’s no denying it has been effective•Getty ImagesWithin three years of that, Schutt was called up to Australia’s ODI squad and was given the new ball on debut but went wicketless. After picking up two wickets in her next match, she was included in the squad for the 2013 World Cup, against all expectation,. “My first two games were very average in my opinion, and so when I got the call, I was shocked. Obviously I was also absolutely over the moon, but I just didn’t expect it and I thought I was just going there to serve drinks, but it turned out extremely differently.”Schutt ended up playing every game and was the tournament’s leading wicket-taker, which set the tone for a career of big-tournament success. Looking back more than a decade later, she’s only willing to take some of the credit for that breakthrough performance. “It helps when you’re new and no one knows who you are and what you do and you get a little bit of beginner’s luck,” she said. “I was just lucky to start with a bang.”This may sound a bit like she struggled with imposter syndrome but it was actually complete ignorance of the kind of environment she was stepping into: a team that was way ahead of its time, where professional structures were developed as early as 2008 and a winning culture was well established early.”I was so ill-informed,” Schutt said. “I didn’t know much about the whole cricketing world and probably didn’t know there was an Australian women’s cricket team until I was about 16. I didn’t know they were in their own dominant era and I probably didn’t grasp the concept of what I was a part of until I really appreciated my spot in the side.”I guess that came with the patch of learning, hard work and discipline. I didn’t deserve my position in the XI when I first came, so I definitely earned that eventually, but it took some time.”Rainbow warrior: off the field, Schutt has advocated for gay rights and other causes•Getty ImagesAustralia did not make the final of the next ODI World Cup, in 2017, after also losing in the 2016 T20 World Cup final to West Indies. The 2017 defeat to India in the semi-final had a massive impact because it was seen as an indicator that power dynamics in the women’s game were shifting. At least that is how Schutt would label it. “Everyone talks about the gap [between Australia and the rest]. I hate that. Other teams are building and it’s absolutely amazing because we’re only going to get more and more competitive teams,” she said.The last year underlines that point. Sri Lanka won T20 series in England and South Africa, and Bangladesh won an ODI and a T20 for the first time in South Africa. Among the results that affected Schutt directly, West Indies beat Australia in a T20 in Australia in 2023, and so did South Africa the following year. In two of the upsets of the year, West Indies knocked England out of the T20 World Cup in the group stage; South Africa won the semi-final of that tournament, against Australia; and New Zealand took the title after a string of defeats earlier in the year.Schutt, who had no boundaries scored off her in the first three matches of last year’s T20 World Cup, and had the second-lowest economy rate, will have been disappointed not to end up with the trophy, but secretly she might also have been pleased to see the game grow. “We’re not unbeatable. We would never say that we are, and we definitely want other teams to develop,” she said. “Realistically, you want this to be a 16-team tournament.”As the men’s cricketing world looks to concentrate resources and fixtures around the Big Three and there’s talk of a two-tier Test league, Schutt’s expansionist view makes her refreshingly different but that’s only the half of it. Off the field, she is known for being the most vocal member of the Australia team on a range of social issues.In you go: Schutt swings one through Tammy Beaumont’s defences in a 2023 Ashes game•PA Photos/Getty ImagesIt started with a personal quest: her advocacy for gay marriage when it became a subject of a postal-order survey in Australia in 2017. By then, Schutt and her partner, Jess Holyoake, were in a serious relationship and ready to take the next step. They were initially considering going to New Zealand, where same-sex marriage was legalised in 2013, but decided to wait and see if it would be possible to do it at home, all the while advocating for their rights.”One of my favourite quotes is, if you don’t like gay marriage, don’t get gay married, and it’s as simple as that,” Schutt said. “Jess and I are two very different humans and she was a bit scared to have the pride flag out on the window, but I said, this is exactly the time we need to be showing our flag and making sure we’re all together on this. I was pretty vocal about it.”A little under two-thirds of Australians (61.6%) voted in favour of same-sex marriage, a number that disappointed Schutt because “that’s still 38% that don’t agree with it”, which makes her feel uncomfortable. “There was a lot of misinformation out there and the campaign for the ‘no’ vote was pretty brutal,” she said. “Some of the pamphlets we got when we were living in Brisbane were pretty woeful, and I remember burning a couple of them in the sink of our little unit.”Since then, Schutt has gone on to campaign in the Indigenous Voices Referendum, which sought an alteration to the Australian constitution that would recognise indigenous Australians. And she raises awareness about the plight of Palestinians on her social media platforms. She is particularly moved by the deaths of children there, especially after her own child was born in 2021.Schutt, right, with her partner Jess Holyoake and their daughter Rylee, after the 2022 T20 World Cup win•Getty ImagesRylee now three, is what Schutt describes as a “wild child,” who was born three months prematurely and is autistic. That has given Schutt two other causes to raise awareness for. She is open about the challenges of going through neonatal intensive care and of living with neurodiversity. “Having Rylee early was really scary but it banded us together and it just shifted my whole world. It put cricket into perspective – suddenly that wasn’t the be-all and end-all. I didn’t realise that I probably had it on too much of a pedestal,” she said. “It’s also been the most amazing journey of my emotional side of things and seeing how I’d sometimes shut things off. It makes you do a lot of self-reflecting.”She has now done a “180-degree flip as a person, except for my sense of humour” and described motherhood as a process of finding out “who I am more and who I want to be and breaking some cycles that you know were there and you didn’t realise it as a kid”.Does that mean there’s a potential future as a human-rights campaigner? “I’m still trying to figure that out,” she said. “I want to do something that feels really worthwhile, and I’d like to do a little bit of coaching.”I’d love to teach inswingers around the world. It’s a real niche. I understand the art to it and I understand the game pretty well, and I feel like no one currently in bowling coaching around the world completely understands inswing bowling and the niches of it, and so I’d obviously love to do all kinds of bowling coaching. I’d love to teach inswingers around the world.”And this time, with plenty to work with.
Everton are reportedly pushing hard to complete the signing of Sevilla right-back Juanlu Sanchez, but there is more Premier League interest in him, too.
The 22-year-old is an exciting young talent who has already won an Olympic gold medal with Spain, winning a total of four caps for his country and hoping to be a part of their 2026 World Cup squad.
Juanlu emerged as a target for Wolves during the summer transfer window, with talks opening at one point and a move to Molineux potentially looking on the cards.
In the end, he rejected their advances, however, and decided to remain at Sevilla for the time being, continuing to be an influential player for the Spanish giants this season.
Juanlu has made 10 La Liga appearances in 2025/26 to date, assisting once in the competition, but it looks as though his long-term future may lie away from the club, with Everton seemingly in the mix to acquire his signature.
Everton applying "strong pressure" to sign Juanlu
According to Diario de Sevilla [via Sport Witness], Everton are putting “strong pressure” on to sign Juanlu from Sevilla, with Crystal Palace also in the same boat.
Sevilla’s financial issues could see them forced into selling the wide man, with as much as £17.6m possibly needed to prise him away from Spain.
Juanlu looks like such a shrewd target for Everton, with the Spain international possessing the versatility to add so much depth to David Moyes’ squad, being able to thrive on the wing and even in midfield alongside his natural right-back role.
Still only 22, his best years are ahead of him, with former manager Xavier Garcia Pimienta heaping praise on his qualities as a player in the past.
“He has played as an inside midfielder [before], we were short on space in midfield due to Saul’s [Niguez] suspension and [Albert Sambi] Lokonga’s injury. I spoke to him, I knew he could do well in that position. Juanlu has an incredible present and a better future.”
Aston Villa's move to sign James Garner amid new update on Everton future
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The lure of Palace may be big, given their status as reigning FA Cup holders, but Everton are enjoying life in their sparkly new stadium, with Jack Grealish a big-name loan signing, and Juanlu will hopefully see them as the more exciting proposition.
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Fast bowler wants to be “mint” for first Test as he looks forward to playing at “rapid” Perth Stadium
ESPNcricinfo staff07-Nov-2025Mark Wood says he is feeling the excitement of bowling once again, after coming through a “boring” six months of rehab following knee surgery, and is ready to be as “fresh as I can be” come the first Test of the Ashes at Optus Stadium in Perth in a fortnight’s time.Wood, England’s fastest bowler, played in four of the five Tests on England’s last Ashes tour in 2021-22, claiming 17 wickets including a career-best 6 for 37 in the final Test in Hobart.However, on that occasion, he missed out on the chance to play in Perth, traditionally the venue for the fastest pitches in Australia, because of Western Australia’s strict Covid policy. Instead, his only experience of the pace and bounce on offer came during England’s victorious T20 World Cup campaign in 2022.”It was rapid,” Wood recalled, having claimed five wickets in two wins against Australia (in a pre-tournament bilateral match) and Afghanistan. “I’m not sure my back is looking forward to it, but my bowling is definitely looking forward to it.”Related
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Wood’s ability to touch speeds in the mid-to-high 90mphs (155kph) is a central plank of England’s strategy as they seek to end a run of three deeply one-sided Ashes tours, dating back to their last win in the country in 2010-11.Asked if England had a back-up plan, if their policy of all-out pace proves to be the wrong one, Wood joked: “Don’t try as hard and bowl 130[kph]? We’ll be giving everything we’ve got. The type of bowlers that we are, I’m not quite sure that it’s in us to not give 100%. Whether it’s good enough, I don’t know, but we’ll wait and see. Australia are obviously the favourites going into the series, but I think there’s a quiet confidence within our group that we can do well here.”As Wood has shown in his previous comebacks from injury, however, he’s unlikely to hit full throttle until he’s out in the middle, with England’s warm-up fixture against England Lions looming next week as his one opportunity to test his match fitness.”I wouldn’t say I’m at 100%,” he said. “I think it’s very hard to train 100% all of the time. I’ve been off my full run-up and stuff, and I’ve been trying to just up the intensity as I go along. I’m sure in the practice game coming up, I can try and up it a little bit more again and gradually get ready for that first game.”England have attracted some criticism for their lack of meaningful warm-up games – a stark contrast from the intense preparations that went into their 2010-11 win. Wood, however, said he was unconcerned, and cited the team’s unlikely first-Test win over India in Hyderabad two winters ago as proof of what they can achieve in the series opener.Wood has been rehabbing after knee surgery•Getty Images”The schedule is the schedule, I’m happy with what we’ve done,” he said. “In India recently, we didn’t have many games there, and we went straight into that and managed to win that first game.”We’re going to have been here, what, two or three weeks as a group. That’s a good enough build-up to that first game in my eyes. I suppose everybody’s different, and some people might want more but, for myself, I want to feel fresh going in that first game, having done a little bit, but not too much. I want to be mint for that game, and as fresh as I can be. We’ve got a good depth of bowlers, and if one misses out, he’ll be prepared for the next game.”Either way, Wood said that England’s outdoor training sessions at Lilac Hill had been a significant improvement from the “damp and cold” back home, where much of his preparation was undertaken in a heated tent on the outfield in a bid to replicate the humid conditions in Australia.”It was boring to start with, bowling by myself, but to now bowl in front of the batters, it’s exciting,” Wood said. “It’s now feeling like the start of the tour, and I’m feeling that excitement building to the first game.”When I was running on the treadmill at home, I was visualising the stadium and my run-up, and using the experience of playing here before. It certainly helped the motivation, when I was running in a cool, dark garage at home. Gearing up for being here, I’m so much more aligned to it now.”It was never just a straight trajectory,” he said, recalling the ups and downs of his return to action from knee ligament surgery. “There were some bits where I wasn’t doing as well, and then I had to build it up again. So finally, it’s nice to be outside in some nice weather, and ramping it up.”England’s arrival in Perth has already generated a glut of headlines, not least in the West Australia newspaper which described their captain, Ben Stokes, as “England’s Cocky Captain Complainer”. Wood, however, said the squad had taken the pre-series excitement in their stride.”It’s been great,” Wood said. “That’s all part of it. I haven’t taken much notice of newspapers and things, but the reception we’ve had in general from Australians has been great.”Out and about in the hotel and around Perth, everyone’s been very friendly, and everyone’s excited for the series. It’s a big build-up, and there’s obviously huge amounts of press around it which makes it more exciting. There’s a lot of English coming … back home, I walked down the street and it seemed like every man from England’s coming across. So I think the Barmy Army will be in full voice and right behind us.”
Under pressure, Bangladesh dropped three catches – two towards the end – to let South Africa escape to a win
Vishal Dikshit13-Oct-20253:33
Review: SA find ways to win under pressure
Seventy-eight for 5 in Guwahati and 78 for 5 in Visakhapatnam.These are not Bangladesh’s scores at the Women’s World Cup 2025 but the precarious positions they reduced two top oppositions in in their last three games and ended up on the losing side on both occasions. In the first, they were defending a modest 178 and gave England a scare, and on Monday against South Africa, they put up a much more competitive 232 with a bowling line-up that looked capable of defending it. However, they went down largely because of several fielding lapses that included three catches put down and South Africa clinched the thriller by three wickets.The Bangladesh bowlers were also not able to bowl accurately towards the end and bowled full tosses or in the range of the batters, which their captain Nigar Sultana said was because of dew. She also said that the result might have been different if the players had calmed their nerves.Related
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“Gripping the ball was quite difficult, there was dew around,” she said at the press conference. “The ball was wet. I tried to use our best bowlers at the death. Sometimes it is hard to hold on to the momentum, but our bowlers did well. But we learned a lot today, which we can use in the future.”It happens sometimes during the game,” she said of the fielding errors. “It was very difficult. Pressure is on and it was very difficult for the bowlers to grip the balls and for the fielders also. I don’t want to give any excuses. But still, in this sort of condition, you have to keep your nerves calm. We missed those chances, maybe if we could hold on to those catches, the result would be different.”Bangladesh spilled a few chances towards the end•ICC/Getty ImagesRabeya Khan missed a caught-and-bowled chance in the fifth over to reprieve South Africa captain Laura Wolvaardt on 11, and she went onto score a steady 31. Bangladesh then dropped two chances towards the end with the chase getting tense. Substitute Sumaiya Akter couldn’t hold on to Chloe Tryon’s offering at wide long-on when on 46 when South Africa needed 53 off 42. And when Shorna Akter dropped a sitter at long-off with South Africa needing 9 off 8, it drew a dramatic reaction from the bowler Rabeya. The dangerous Nadine de Klerk was on 26 with No. 9 Masabata Klaas at the other end. In the next over, de Klerk smashed the remaining eight runs with a four and a match-winning six for the second game in a row.”I am not disappointed, I am proud,” Nigar said. “The way the girls fought for every ball. It wasn’t easy for us to keep a close game in control. I am happy as a captain seeing my team give 110%.
“I am not disappointed, I am proud. The way the girls fought for every ball. It wasn’t easy for us to keep a close game in control. I am happy as a captain seeing my team give 110%.”Nigar Sultana
“Certainly, there’ll be regret because if we would have won such close matches, it would have been a great moment for the team. We have a lot of room for improvement. We want to do better in the last three games.”There was dew from the start of South Africa’s chase when Bangladesh’s swing bowler Marufa Akter was seen frequently use the towel to wipe the ball dry. Since a fair bit of dew was expected later in the evening and Australia had shown against India on Sunday evening that batting second was not a bad idea even while going after a big total, it was a curious decision by Bangladesh to bat first after winning the toss.”Chasing actually was not working for us,” Nigar said. “We saw that in the last game. Our batters couldn’t get runs in the powerplay. We lost also early wickets. Initially, it was our plan to bat first and give the bowlers something [to defend] because they have been doing well. This is the only department [bowling] I think we are in a very good control. That’s why we took the decision [to bat first].”We wanted to give our batters a pressure-free time. We wanted to put pressure on them [South Africa] with our bowling strength, with a bit of runs behind them.”Bangladesh were reeling at 33 for 6 and skittled for 128 in their 228-run chase against New Zealand in Guwahati, where none of their top five reached double-digits. Against South Africa, the Bangladesh top order started steady, even if slowly, to try and accelerate later, which they did with the help of 18-year-old Shorna’s 51 not out off 35 balls after she came out to bat in the 41st over. But even 232 wasn’t enough in the end.”We were 15-20 runs short [of] our target,” Nigar said. “We could have scored those runs had our top order rotated the strike more. We could have given better effort in the fielding. We shouldn’t be disappointed or heartbroken.”
Celtic are currently searching for their permanent successor to Brendan Rodgers, who resigned last month, but there have yet to be any reports that suggest that an appointment is close.
Martin O’Neill has been in interim charge at Parkhead, winning three of his four matches in the dugout, but it remains to be seen whether or not the 4-0 win over Kilmarnock in the Scottish Premiership will be his last outing.
Bodo/Glimt head coach Kjetil Knutsen, Cardiff’s Brian Barry-Murphy, and Columbus Crew’s Wilfried Nancy are among the managers who have been linked with the vacant job in Glasgow.
However, no deal has been agreed with any of those candidates at the time of writing, which is why it is unclear as to whether or not O’Neill will still be in the dugout after the international break.
Whilst there is plenty of speculation over who the next manager is going to be, and understandably so, there has also been speculation over what the club could do in the January transfer window.
One player who has recently been linked with a possible move to Parkhead is Liverpool left-back Andy Robertson, but it is a move that may not make too much sense for the Hoops.
Why Celtic should avoid a deal for Andy Robertson
It was recently reported that the Scotland international is ‘open’ to the idea of putting pen to paper on a pre-contract agreement with Celtic in January, which would see him sign for the club on a free transfer next summer.
The left-footed star’s contract at Anfield expires at the end of the season, opening the door to a potential exit from Liverpool, and it appears as though a move to Parkhead could be on the cards.
At face value, signing a 31-year-old star who has won two Premier League titles and a Champions League trophy, on top of delivering 68 assists in 314 games for the Reds, would be a phenomenal piece of business for the Hoops.
Robertson, who assisted 12 goals in the Premier League in the 2019/20 campaign (Transfermarkt), is an attack-minded left-back who would bring quality, experience, and creativity at left-back.
However, Celtic already signed Kieran Tierney, who spent six years at Arsenal, to provide those three things when they brought him back to the club earlier this year on a free transfer.
25/26 Premiership
Kieran Tierney
Percentile rank vs FBs
xG
0.67
Top 10%
Goals
1
Top 20%
xA
1.48
Top 10%
Successful crosses
13
Top 10%
Chances created
13
Top 10%
Assists
2
Top 1%
Cross accuracy
52%
Top 1%
Stats via FotMob
As you can see in the table above, the Scottish defender has been one of the best attack-minded full-backs in the Premiership so far this season, which shows that he has provided the expected creativity.
Tierney is three years younger than Robertson and signing another left-back who will want to play week-in-week-out and offer the same qualities may not be a logical move for the Hoops.
Meanwhile, though, the Scottish giants have been linked with another Premier League defender who would be a better signing than the Liverpool full-back.
Celtic offered chance to sign Premier League defender
According to 67HailHail, Celtic have been made aware of the potential availability of three Chelsea players ahead of the upcoming January transfer window.
The report claims that Deivid Washington, Raheem Sterling, and Axel Disasi are all set to move on from Stamford Bridge for the second half of the season, as they do not feature in Enzo Maresca’s plans in London.
Transfer Focus
Mega money deals, controversial moves and big-name flops. This is the home of transfer news and opinion across Football FanCast.
67HailHail adds that there is nothing at this stage to suggest that the Hoops will definitely make a move for any of those three players, but the club have been offered the chance to swoop for the Chelsea outcasts.
Disasi is possibly the most intriguing name on the list because of the long-term injury that central defender Cameron Carter-Vickers recently sustained.
The £80k-per-week France international could come in as an even better signing than Robertson in January, if the Hoops decide to dip into the Premier League to make an addition to their defence.
Why Celtic should sign Axel Disasi
Carter-Vickers suffered an Achilles injury against Sturm Graz in the Europa League and is expected to be out of action for up to five months, which means that he may not return until March.
That has come as a big blow for the Hoops because he is the first-choice right-sided centre-back and it is has left Auston Trusty and Liam Scales, two left-footed players, as the first-choice pairing.
Whilst the Hoops have kept back-to-back clean sheets in the Premiership, Scales and Trusty struggled in the 3-1 loss to FC Midtjylland in the Europa League, as the hosts created four ‘big chances’ and 2.73 xG.
Therefore, bringing in a right-footed centre-back with European experience in January could make a lot of sense for Celtic with Carter-Vickers’ injury situation, which is why Disasi could be an excellent signing.
Whilst the Hoops, for the aforementioned reasons, have little need to push the boat out for Robertson, who is reportedly on £160k-per-week, the Chelsea centre-back could be worth the wages to sign him on loan to fill a glaring hole.
24/25 Champions League
Axel Disasi
Appearances
3
Tackles + interceptions per game
2.7
Ball recoveries per game
3.7
Dribbled past per game
0.3x
Ground duel success rate
55%
Aerial duel success rate
80%
Error led to shot, goal, or penalty
0
Stats via Sofascore
As you can see in the table above, Disasi put in a few dominant performances in the Champions League for Aston Villa on loan in the second half of last season, showing that he can compete at the top level in Europe.
The 27-year-old star also made 13 appearances in the Premier League, per Sofascore, and won 62% of his aerial duels, whilst completing 90% of his attempted passes, featuring at both right-back and centre-back.
Disasi, who was described as a “complete” and “dominant” defender by talent scout Jacek Kulig, also put in a performance against Manchester City last year that was heralded as the best Jamie Carragher had seen that campaign, which is further evidence of his potential to deliver high-quality performances at the top level.
The right-footed star, therefore, could be an excellent signing to fill the hole created by the injury to Carter-Vickers because the Chelsea outcast is a Premier League and Champions League-proven defender, who should be in the prime years of his career at the age of 27.
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For whatever reason, possibly due to the volume of players signed by the Blues, Disasi has become available to the Hoops in January and they should take advantage of that, because he would be an even better signing than Robertson, based on the team’s current needs.
The defending champions have lost three in a row, leaving their hopes of a three-peat greatly diminished
Firdose Moonda14-Jan-2025As far as title defences go, it’s fair to say Sunrisers Eastern Cape have gotten off to the worst possible start. They’ve slumped to their three biggest defeats in their history – their largest by runs in the tournament opener against MI Cape Town – and their two biggest by balls remaining in their losses to Paarl Royals and Pretoria Capitals, and thoughts of a trophy three-peat have become ever-more distant.It’s still early in SA20 2025 but the initial indications are that a significant part of the problem is in the top order, where Sunrisers have not fired. Across the three matches, their highest score by a top-three batter is Zak Crawley’s 27 against Royals, and collectively, their top three has scored 85 runs at an average of 9.44. In season 1, the top two averaged over 30 and in season 2, 22.67. There is time to build back up to that but they will need to turn things around quickly and that may start with settling on their opening pair.With Dawid Malan not part of the squad this season, Sunrisers started with Jordan Hermann and Crawley but then played against Capitals with Crawley and David Bedingham. Batting coach Russell Domingo explained that Hermann’s omission was to open up a spot for allrounder Patrick Kruger.”It was just to bring in another option. Patrick Kruger was available for the first time because he had been struggling with a cough and he is a starting player for us,” Domingo said. “David Bedingham’s obviously a quality player so we decided to give him an opportunity up the order where he’s probably best suited.”ESPNcricinfo LtdBut Bedingham has been struggling recently. Since his 59 in the Chattogram Test, he has had 12 innings across formats and been out in single figures six times. On five occasions, Bedingham has been caught by the wicketkeeper or in the slips and there may be concerns around how tight he is outside off stump.The reading is not much better for Sunrisers’s key batter Tristan Stubbs. He was their top-scorer last season but is also in a rut. Since his second-innings century in the Durban Test against Sri Lanka, Stubbs has been out in single figures five times in nine innings. His most common mode of dismissal is with deliveries in line with the stumps, when he has been late on shots and either bowled or lbw, which suggests there’s an issue with the timing of his strokes.Through Bedingham, Stubbs and captain Aiden Markram, Sunrisers will expect to score most of their runs, especially as they carry a fairly long tail. Marco Jansen’s form at No.7 is a welcome bonus though his main job is to operate as their strike bowler, another area they seem to be lacking in.Ottneil Baartman, who enjoyed a breakthrough tournament last year, missed out on the first match, returned with figures of 0 for 33 in 2.4 overs in Paarl and then took 1 for 9 at SuperSport Park. In Craig Overton and Richard Gleeson, Sunrisers have the personnel but the attack needs their batters to give them something to work with, which Markram knows. In the post-match presentation, he acknowledged lack of runs as the main concern but cited the quick turnaround between games as being one of the hurdles that can be difficult to overcome. “When you’re trying to look for form, it can be quite tough,” he said.Zak Crawley hasn’t yet fired as Sunrisers Eastern Cape’s opener•SA 20This is already a slightly different line to the one he had voiced two days ago, when Sunrisers lost to Royals. That defeat came two days after they lost to MICT in the tournament opener and Markram was asked how a team can properly address form concerns in a schedule where matches come thick and fast. His answer suggested they just have to roll with the punches.”You almost get used to dealing with things really quickly and then moving on. I don’t think you have much of a choice nowadays with the amount of cricket that we play,” he said then. “Of course, pay attention to areas that need attention but it’s really important to bank that, make notes of it and then to wake up the next day and either do something about it or play another game of cricket. From an emotional side, I think each person is quite different. I generally don’t try to get too high when things are going well and low when things aren’t going well. I try to stay consistent. Obviously, easier said than done.”That day, Markram also said his is an outfit that “are all not really good at losing” and would be able to pick themselves up quickly. Two more days have gone past and they find themselves at an even lower point.”We know we haven’t played well in these last three games and we need to make our own luck,” Domingo said. “We need to do the basics a little bit better which we’re not doing at the moment. Fortunately there’s still seven games to go. We know it’s a long competition. We haven’t started well in this competition in previous editions and managed to find our way and hopefully we can get into that sort of form, and that sort of confidence in the next couple of weeks because we’re running out of time and we need to make a play.”Sunrisers did not win either of their opening matches in season one or two but this is their third successive defeat in SA20 2025. So they’re already further behind than they have been before. That means the need to turn things around is more pressing and their attempt to do that will take place in three days’ time. They travel to Kingsmead for their next match against Durban’s Super Giants on Friday.