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Mitchell Johnson, the Australia fast bowler, has been ruled out of cricket for “five to six months” after undergoing surgery on the big toe of his left foot in Melbourne

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Dec-2011

Mitchell Johnson, the Australia fast bowler, has been ruled out of cricket for “five to six months” after undergoing surgery on the big toe of his left foot in Melbourne. He sustained the injury while batting in the second Test at the Wanderers in South Africa earlier this month. Not only will he miss the home season as a result, but also the tour to the West Indies in March and April next year.”Mitchell sustained a severe injury to ligaments, commonly referred to as ‘Turf Toe’, when batting in the second Test in South Africa,” Cricket Australia doctor Trefor James said in a release. “Although lesser degrees of this injury can be managed without surgery, Mitchell’s injury was a severe form and surgery was clearly the best option. I would expect Mitchell to be able to return to cricket in five to six months.”This lay-off could make it difficult for Johnson, 30, to force his way back into the national side. He had a disappointing tour of South Africa, where he took 3 for 255 during the two Tests, and in the past 18 months he has taken 35 Test wickets at 45.71. Teenager Pat Cummins impressed during the Test series, and fellow seamers Mitchell Starc and James Pattinson made their debuts in the first Test of the summer, against New Zealand in Brisbane.It was during Australia’s series-levelling victory at the Wanderers that Johnson’s foot problem became apparent, when he stumbled while taking off for a run during Australia’s chase. Johnson was hobbling for the rest of the innings but stayed at the crease until the target was reached.

Namibia completed a 6-2 thrashing of Kenya with a convincing seven-wicket win in the final match of the Twenty20 series

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Nov-2011
Scorecard
Namibia completed a 6-2 thrashing of Kenya with a convincing seven-wicket win in the final match of the Twenty20 series at the Wanderers Cricket Ground in Windhoek.Kenya chose to bat and folded for 93 in 18.1 overs, as only three of their batsmen got into double figures. Wicketkeeper Peter Kituku was their top scorer with 31. The Namibia bowlers shared the wickets around, but Louis van der Westhuizen had the best figures after he ran through the tail to finish with 3 for 19 in 3.1 overs.Van der Westhuizen then powered the small chase, slamming 32 off 15 balls with four fours and two sixes, to take his side home with over five overs to spare. Captain Sarel Burger, who opened the innings, anchored the chase with an unbeaten 30, while Craig Williams also contributed with a rapid cameo.

Brendan Taylor ended his poor run of scores in this series with a century full of conviction and responsibility, but his side collapsed to a comprehensive defeat

The Report by Siddhartha Talya19-Aug-2011
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Brendan Taylor and Elton Chigumbura added 94 for the fifth wicket, but in vain•Zimbabwe CricketBrendan Taylor ended his poor run of scores in this series with a century full of conviction and responsibility, bailing Zimbabwe out of trouble only to watch his side slide back into it and collapse to a comprehensive defeat. He was deprived of his top and middle-order partners thanks to some excellent fielding and smart wicketkeeping, but overcame the declining scoring-rate wrought by the spinners with a positive approach that freed a stifled Zimbabwe innings. However, Rubel Hossain returned in the batting Powerplay to wrest control as the hosts botched up an attempt to step up the scoring rate, losing their last six wickets for 16. Tamim Iqbal then sparkled in the chase to set up his team’s first win on what had so far been a disappointing tour.The fluent approach of fellow opener Vusi Sibanda rubbed off on Taylor, enabling the pair to set up a solid partnership. Rubel Hossain doled out a couple of freebies in his first over that Sibanda duly dispatched, and Taylor joined in, driving Shafiul Islam imperiously down the ground and clearing the in-field twice off the same bowler, over square leg and point. Sibanda’s threatening innings ended when he was sucked in by a teasing outswinger from Shafiul; it marked the beginning of the Zimbabwean slide and undermined an encouraging start.The Bangladesh spinners are not known to produce vicious turn but are quite effective with their variations in length, and capitalised once the openers were separated. They gave the ball plenty of flight and were helped by a hint of turn. While Taylor handled them expertly, sweeping, cutting and working the ball around, they produced plenty of uncertainty in the others. Hamilton Masakadza played out five deliveries before chasing one down the leg side; Mushfiqur Rahim collected and appealed vociferously and the umpire bought it, though there was plenty of doubt as to whether the batsman nicked it. Tatenda Taibu was run out brilliantly, Nasir Hossain diving full length to his left at extra cover and returning an accurate throw amid a mountain of confusion in the middle of the pitch. Shakib Al Hasan then dislodged Forster Mutizwa while Taylor could only watch.Forty for no loss became 89 for 4, but Taylor and Elton Chigumbura ensured there was no stagnation. Though the spin trio of Abdur Razzak, Mahmudullah and Shakib were accurate for the most part, there were the occasional horrific long hops that the pair seized upon. They ran well between the wickets and batted with measured positivity to retain enough ammunition for an explosion at the death. There was a powerful six from Taylor off Nasir over long-on and a steady accumulation that brought up his fourth ODI century before the decision to take the batting Powerplay was made at the start of the 44th over. What transpired was decisive.Chigumbura had batted with uncharacteristic restraint because the situation demanded it, but that approach was shunned when the Powerplay was taken. Just as Rubel was brought back into the attack, he tried to take advantage of the field restrictions but holed out to deep midwicket. It should have prompted Taylor to tone down slightly but he erred by trying to chip Rubel into the leg side with a long-on in place, and was caught.Those dismissals triggered a fall that was interrupted, only briefly, by a couple of meaty shots by Malcolm Waller. In Rubel’s next over, Waller was out hit-wicket when his bat scraped the stumps as he tried to fend a short ball away and Ray Price was caught superbly by Mushfiqur, who stretched all the way to his right to take a low chance. It wasn’t long before the rest of the tail disappeared.It seemed the visitors were intent on making a statement by approaching a target of 200 with absolute aggression from the outset, following defeat in a series they would have expected to win. Imrul Kayes, dropped off his third ball, smashed a massive six over long-on in the first over. Tamim stroked two imperious fours off Kyle Jarvis, who wasn’t spared by Kayes either; he was taken for five fours and six in his first two overs that yielded 30.Junaid Siddique played a brief attacking cameo and fell, but Tamim looked good to stay for the long haul, scoring at a brisk pace with few risks. He was especially harsh on Prosper Utseya, punching him twice to the cover boundary and through midwicket and past long-on. With the enterprising Mushfiqur at the other end, the running between the wickets improved markedly and the scoring-rate was well under control. But there was a minor hiccup. Shortly after notching up his 3000th ODI-run, Tamim was trapped in front by Price while playing the sweep and Mushfiqur followed, spooning a catch off a slower ball.At 129 for 4, Zimbabwe were still in with a chance but the experienced Shakib and the novice Shuvagoto Hom batted maturely to seal the chase. Shuvagoto took the lead initially, employing the slog-sweep against Price. There was no respite for Utseya despite the dismissal of Tamim, as Shuvagoto lofted him over the in-field. Shakib took on the seamer Chris Mpofu at the other end in a well-paced, unbeaten half-century stand that won some pride back for the struggling visitors.

A spirited West Indian counterattack wasn’t enough to prevent India from retaining control of the third Test, but rain continued to threaten the possibility of any outright result, wiping out almost the entire final session

The Bulletin by Siddhartha Talya07-Jul-2011
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Ishant Sharma took his series tally to 21 wickets with another five-for•AFPA spirited West Indian counterattack wasn’t enough to prevent India from taking control of the third Test, but rain continued to threaten another draw with almost the entire final session washed out. In the 49.2 overs that were bowled, Carlton Baugh and Darren Bravo rescued the hosts from 99 for 5 but India hit back in the latter part of the second session. Ishant Sharma removed Bravo and cleaned up the tail to pick up another five-for, while Harbhajan Singh dislodged Darren Sammy and Baugh to become the 11th bowler – and the third Indian – to take 400 Test wickets.Baugh batted with typical Caribbean flair after the West Indies innings appeared to stagnate against the determined Indian seamers in good batting conditions. His busy approach was key to propping up West Indies, who lost Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Marlon Samuels in fairly quick time in the morning. Baugh’s presence was infectious, spurring Bravo to open up after a quiet start to the day. The introduction of spin a few overs before lunch was Baugh’s opportunity to step up, and he announced himself with a slog-swept six off Harbhajan. The pair then dispatched part-timer Suresh Raina’s long-hops for boundaries, and sustained the pace after lunch against the seamers.Ishant was still trying to hit his straps when Baugh cut him for four, and Bravo joined in to glide him to the third-man boundary and then past extra cover in an over that fetched 15. Only 53 runs were scored in the first session in 23.5 overs, but West Indies had doubled the day’s tally by the tenth over after lunch. Munaf Patel was the most impressive of India’s bowlers, making the batsmen play more than his partners did and varying his lengths superbly. He produced a couple of thick edges off Baugh’s bat, but both found the boundary. The 50-stand came off 66 balls, but Ishant’s persistence broke it.He maintained a round-the-wicket line to Bravo despite being hit for successive boundaries, and got him to edge a full delivery to Rahul Dravid at slip, but the ball seemed to bounce even as he got his fingers to it. The next ball was slipped wide but Ishant angled one in immediately after and produced an edge to the wicketkeeper even as Bravo looked to withdraw his bat. The counterattack, however, didn’t stop.Baugh was undeterred and it helped that his new companion was the naturally aggressive Darren Sammy, who slashed a couple of boundaries and lofted Ishant cleanly over long-off for the shot of the day. But the spin that had triggered the West Indies recovery also ended it.India had expected more out of Harbhajan on the fifth day in Barbados, and his effectiveness has declined in recent times, but his landmark today was one to savour. Bowling with a scrambled seam from round the wicket, he dismissed Sammy with a bit of extra bounce to end the stand. He moved to 400 in his next over when Baugh chose the wrong ball to cut, bowled by one pitching on off and turning in a touch. Ishant finished the innings by castling Nos. 10 and 11. The Indian openers played out four overs but rain, bad light, and more rain ensured there was no further play.The performance of Ishant and Harbhajan backed up a disciplined effort from Munaf and Praveen Kumar in the morning session. Munaf took the lead, working on Chanderpaul with a bouncer, then drawing him forward, angling the ball across and eventually ending his stay with a short-of-a-length delivery that moved away enough to produce a tickle to birthday-boy MS Dhoni. With India’s traditional tormentor out of the way, Munaf gave Samuels a working over with a series of bouncers, one of which thudded into the helmet. Samuels responded with two languid drives but the potentially intriguing mini-battle was cut short by a lazy shot when he hung his bat at a shortish delivery from Praveen and dragged it back onto the stumps. That brought Baugh to the crease, and ushered in a lively passage of play before the weather had the final say for the second straight day.

انتقد معتز إينو لاعب الأهلي السابق، أداء المارد الأحمر تحت قيادة المدير الفني السويسري مارسيل كولر، أمام سموحة في الدوري المصري الممتاز.

وحسم التعادل السلبي نتيجة مباراة الأهلي وسموحة، التي أقيمت على ملعب السلام، في إطار مواجهات الجولة التاسعة من عمر المسابقة المحلية.

وقال إينو في تصريحات لبرنامج “بوكس تو بوكس” عبر قناة “etc”: “كولر نال إشادة كبيرة في البداية، ولكن تغييراته في المباريات متأخرة جدًا، وأيضا شادي حسين بعيد عن المشاركة، إذُا فإن اللاعب خارج حساباته تمامًا”.

وتابع: “تغيرات كولر كانت روتينية، لمجرد إشراك اللاعبين فقط دون الاستفادة منهم، فما هي الإضافة التي تحققت؟، كان عليه الدفع بـ ثنائي هجومي في أخر ربع ساعة، والابقاء على محمد شريف مع حسام حسن لزيادة الهجوم على مرمى سموحة”.

طالع أيضًا| سيد معوض: فيتوريا في ورطة بسبب الأهلي والزمالك.. وننتظر قرارات رادعة بعد أزمة الترسانة والسكة الحديد

وأوضح: “الطبيعي أن أي فريق يواجه الأهلي يلعب مدافعًا من أجل الخروج بنقطة؛ لذلك كان على المارد الأحمر عمل كثافة هجومية، وكولر سبب تراجع المستوى الفني، ويتحمل مسئولية نتيجة لقاء سموحة، من الوارد أن يكون غير موفق في بعض المباريات هذا أمر طبيعي لأي مدرب”.

وأردف: “الفوز كان هامًا للأهلي بعد هدية الزمالك بالتعادل مع المقاولون، الجميع كان حزينًا للغاية، ومواجهة الفريق القادمة أمام سيراميكا كليوباترا لن تكون سهلة أمام مدرب كبير مثل احمد سامي، خصوصا بعد الخسارة الأخيرة له أمام الاتحاد السكندري”.

واختتم: “أحمد سامي يجيد دائما أمام الفرق الكبرى، ولكن أتمنى آلا يفقد الأهلي نقاطا آخرى، وأن يتعلم من درس مباراة سموحة، أي إهدار للنقاط في المباريات المقبلة سيكون صعبا على الفريق”.

MatériaMais Notícias

Bastou o Corinthians eliminar o São Paulo, nos pênaltis, para Andrés Sanchez, presidente do clube alvinegro, apontar seu time como zebra na final do Campeonato Paulista. Dudu avalia a declaração do dirigente como uma tentativa de jogar a responsabilidade só para o Palmeiras.

– Ele (Andrés) está querendo tirar a responsabilidade do time dele. É um jogo igual, de duas equipes grandes, uma final – disse o capitão do Verdão nesta quinta-feira, avaliando que o rival, como outros adversários, valoriza as vitórias que conseguiu recentemente sobre o Palmeiras.

– Eles supervalorizaram a vitória contra a gente porque sabem que a gente é um grande time. De 2015 para cá, todo time que entra contra a gente vem engasgado, vem forte. Temos que entrar mais fortes ainda. São quatro jogos que não ganhamos deles e temos que fazer um bom jogo no sábado – indicou.

O primeiro Dérbi da decisão do Paulista ocorrerá às 16h30 deste sábado, na Arena Corinthians, com a volta marcada para o dia 8, no Allianz Parque. Para a primeira final, foi sorteado como árbitroLeandro Bizzio Marinho, que terá a missão de apitar o primeiro clássico desde a vitória alvinegra por 2 a 0, em 24 de fevereiro, em Itaquera, cheia de polêmicas e reclamações palmeirenses.

– Acho que são árbitros diferentes, vi hoje que quem vai apitar é o Leandro. É um bom árbitro. Sempre que apitou jogos nossos fez a coisa certa, não teve reclamação. A gente espera que possa ser um jogo normal, sem nada para atrapalhar. Que quem vença, possa vencer jogando futebol – disse Dudu.

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The IPL player auction for the 2011 season will be held on January 8 and 9 in Mumbai

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Nov-2010

The IPL player auction for the 2011 season will be held on January 8 and 9 in Mumbai, the league’s governing council has announced. The tournament itself will feature eight teams, playing 60 matches, and run from April 8 to May 22.Key IPL dates

November 27, 2010 – Kochi franchise deadline

January 8,9, 2011 – Player auction for IPL 2011

April 7, 2011 – Opening ceremony

April 8, 2011 – First match

May 22, 2011 – Final

The tournament, which begins a week after the World Cup ends, will involve each of the eight sides playing playing 14 games, adding up to 56 matches, the same as in previous IPL editions. The top two from the league rounds will then contest a play-off match, with the winner qualifying for the “Grand Final.” The teams that finish third and fourth in the league stage will contest the other play-off, and the winner of that game will play the defeated team from the first play-off to decide the second finalist.The auction is likely to be on the scale of the first one, held in 2008, with teams starting largely from scratch, and will be held under rules framed in September. One difference will be the absence of “icon” players – originally, five franchises had one player each named as its icon. The auction was initially to have been held this month but uncertainty over the composition of the tournament – with two franchises expelled and a third, Kochi, in limbo – forced a postponement.The governing council, which met in Mumbai on Wednesday, was expected to have discussed the status of the Kochi franchise but Rajiv Shukla, a BCCI vice-president and council member, said it did not figure. He did, however, reiterate that the 2011 season would have eight participating teams.Kochi have until November 27 to reply to the IPL’s notice asking it to set its house in order; if, as seems likely, the franchise owners decide to call it quits, the IPL will start the auction process for a replacement team. With a majority of the current franchises in the southern half of the country, any new franchise is likely to be from the north – Ahmedabad being the front-runner.The new auction rules governing player retention, which have been criticised by the franchises, allow a team to keep up to four players but at a steep price.The first player retained will cost a team $1.8 million against the salary cap of $9 million, regardless of the amount the player is actually paid. The second player will cost $1.3 million, the third $900,000 and the fourth $500,000.

David Hussey’s Super Over pyrotechnics have spiced up the race for the semi-finals in Group A, one that would have been decided had Chennai Super Kings beaten Victoria Bushrangers

The Preview by Siddhartha Talya19-Sep-2010Match factsMonday, September 20
Start time 1730 (1530 GMT)Big PictureJohn Hastings has been a key player for Victoria since the start of the Australian domestic season in 2009-10•AFP

David Hussey’s Super Over pyrotechnics have spiced up the race for the semi-finals in Group A, one that would have been decided had Chennai Super Kings beaten Victoria Bushrangers on Saturday. That result has offered a ray of hope for laggards Wayamba, who’ve belied expectations thus far. Mahela Jayawardene and Jehan Mubarak, their experienced top-order batsmen, have failed to fire, while their bowling, including Ajantha Mendis and Chanaka Welegedara, was torn apart in a dispiriting defeat against Chennai. Another flop will knock them out of the tournament.Victoria bounced back from their opening defeat with some fiery batting up front led by Aaron Finch, and good support in the bowling line-up, to the opening seamers Peter Siddle and Dirk Nannes. Their two consecutive wins, however, have both gone into the final over. In what is effectively a must-win encounter, they will want a big margin of victory on Monday given their net run-rate of -0.407, behind table leaders Warriors and Chennai. If they do that, they’ll remain in the hunt but with their fate at the mercy of other results in the group.Team newsBrad Hodge returned to the line-up for the game against Chennai while Rob Quiney slipped down the order. Injuries notwithstanding, Victoria could retain the same XI.
Victoria: 1 Aaron Finch, 2 Brad Hodge, 3 Matthew Wade (wk), 4 David Hussey (capt), 5 Andrew McDonald, 6 Rob Quiney, 7 John Hastings, 8 Clint McKay, 9 Peter Siddle, 10 Dirk Nannes, 11 Bryce McGain.There were problems aplenty for Wayamba against Chennai. Welegedara was smashed for 47 in four overs while Mendis went wicketless for 45. The allrounder Farveez Maharoof missed that game with injury and, if he recovers, will be a boost in both departments.Wayamba: 1 Mahela Jayawardene, 2 Jeevantha Kulatunga, 3 Jehan Mubarak (capt), 4 Kushal Perera (wk), 5 Farveez Maharoof, 6 Thissara Perera, 7 Shalika Karunanayake, 8 Isuru Udana, 9 Rangana Herath, 10 Ajantha Mendis, Chanaka Welegedara.Watch out for …Watching Isuru Udana bowl sometimes makes one think if he is a spinner with a longish run-up. Such is his preference for the slower ball. But he’s been very effective, with 25 wickets in 16 games at 15.32 for his team. Far less sparing in his use of variation than most other seamers, Udana’s skill will be tested against an explosive Victorian opening pair.
John Hastings mixes it up well when bowling and was Victoria’s best bowler against Chennai, picking up 2 for 22 in four overs. He’s been quite successful in the domestic arena, finishing the 2009-10 season as Victoria’s highest wicket-taker in the three competitions including the KFC Big Bash. His career economy rate of 7.76 is slightly on the higher side, something he’ll want to address given how heavily Victoria rely on their support seamers for containment.Key contestsVictoria batsmen v Wayamba spinners: Against Chennai, Hussey and Finch picked R Ashwin’s variations well and targeted him for harsh treatment. The rest of the line-up, however, floundered against Muttiah Muralitharan and Suresh Raina. Like Ashwin, Ajantha Mendis has a deceptive carrom ball, but is coming into the match after a thrashing at the hands of Chennai’s batsmen, a game in which Rangana Herath fared marginally better. Given Victoria’s mixed show against Chennai, their tussle with Wayamba’s under-fire spinners could be filled with intrigue.Stats and triviaThe Chennai-Victoria game was the 32nd tie in seven years of Twenty20 cricket and the second in the Champions League’s history.Dirk Nannes has picked up 59 wickets in Twenty20 games this year, second in the list behind Kieron Pollard who is on 60

William Porterfield, Niall O’Brien and Gary Wilson have returned to Ireland’s squad for the upcoming tour of Zimbabwe after missing the recent trip to Canada.The 14-man squad will head out to for an Intercontinental Cup tie against a Zimbabwe XI starting September 20, which is followed by three one-day internationals against the full Zimbabwe team.Niall O’Brien returns after surgery on his finger while captain Porterfield and Wilson are both released from county duty to play in the full tour.The trio’s inclusion is particularly important with senior paceman Boyd Rankin out with a recurrence of his foot injury and Alex Cusack also recuperating following surgery on his leg muscles. Both hope to be back by the end of the year for Ireland’s tour to the subcontinent.Ireland are currently languishing in the middle of the Intercontinental Cup table – 25 points adrift of leaders Afghanistan – but Phil Simmons, the Ireland coach, thinks his side still has a chance of challenging for the title.”It’s an important trip for a variety of reasons,” he said. “We’re currently ranked 10th in the world above Zimbabwe, and we want to not only keep our position but close in on, and possibly overhaul Bangladesh. We haven’t given up hope of still qualifying for the final of the Intercontinental Cup. A full points win would keep us in with a chance, so we’ll be striving all out to achieve that.”The World Cup is now only five months away, and for the fringe players these fixtures represent a mammoth opportunity to convince me and the selectors that they should be on the plane to Bangladesh and India. I hope that they take their chance and make a name for themselves .I have most of the squad in my mind, but there’s still a few places up for grabs.”There was good news elsewhere for Ireland after Trent Johnston climbed up to 20th place in the ICC’s ODI bowling rankings – the highest of any Associate bowler – while Paul Stirling is in 37th place in the batting after his epic 177 in Ireland’s ODI victory over Canada earlier this month.Ireland squad: William Porterfield (captain), Andre Botha, George Dockrell, Allan Eastwood (Pembroke), Trent Johnston, Nigel Jones, John Mooney, Kevin O’Brien, Niall O’Brien (wkt), Andrew Poynter, Paul Stirling, Albert Van De Merwe, Andrew White, Gary Wilson (wkt).

Sharing news midweek, 90min journalist and ‘insider’ Graeme Bailey now has a major player update for Manchester City supporters out of Eastlands.

The Lowdown: Sky Blues in contract flurry…

City sporting director Txiki Begiristain and the club have seemingly been renewing contracts left, right and centre over 2021/2022 as Pep Guardiola aims to tie down both future and first team stars.

[web_stories_embed url=”https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/web-stories/man-city-newest-updates/” title=”Man City newest updates!” poster=”” width=”360″ height=”600″ align=”none”]

The likes of John Stones, Joao Cancelo, Ruben Dias, James McAtee and Ederson, to name a few, have all put pen to paper on fresh terms in the past 12 months.

According to reports, Guardiola and co aren’t done there, with the likes of Rodri and Ilkay Gundogan also tipped to receive the option.

Superstar playmaker Phil Foden is yet another, and if Bailey is to be believed, a major development has come to light on City’s attempts to tie down the England international.

The Latest: Bailey shares Foden development…

Taking to Twitter, the 90min insider says Man City are now closer to agreeing a new deal for the 21-year-old.

“Man City close to finalising Phil Foden contract extension,” he explained.

“Talks have been ongoing since last year but Premier League champions confident their prized asset will re-sign by end of the season.”

The Verdict: Absolutely huge…

As perhaps best summed up on Tuesday night, Foden looks set to be an absolutely crucial player for City for years to come.

The Sky Blues struggled to break down a resilient Atletico Madrid side in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final tie in Manchester, but thanks to their homegrown starlet’s cameo off the bench, Guardiola’s men eventually found a way through.

Foden’s delicate through ball to Kevin De Bruyne, who subsequently fired home past Jan Oblak, gifted City a 1-0 aggregate advantage as they gear up for their Wanda Metropolitano visit next week.

The midfield gem’s introduction was a crucial one and this is just one example of his importance at the Etihad Stadium.

As City take one step closer towards tying him down further, it’s safe to say this midweek update could be looked back on as massive for years to come.

In other news: Blues now preparing bid to sign ‘special’ £67m star alongside Haaland! Find out more here.