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Aston Villa have a squad filled with players who shone for the club in the Champions League and Premier League this season.

It’s fair to say, though, that they haven’t been blessed with a natural, god-given talent since Jack Grealish departed in the summer of 2021.

The Englishman worked his way up from academy starlet to first-team sensation before leaving for £100m four years ago.

Why Jack Grealish was so good at Aston Villa

The 2024/25 season may not have been his finest at Manchester City, notably left out of the squad by Pep Guardiola for their final match of the season. Yet, he is still 28 and has plenty of football left in him.

“Of course, Jack has to play. That’s the truth. Jack is an unbelievable player that has to play football every three days. And it didn’t happen this season, and last season neither. And he needs to do it with us, or another place. But that is a question for Jack, his agent, and the club. If he stays, we’ll be fine, and he’ll fight like he fought since day one to make a contribution.” – Pep on Grealish.

During his spell with Villa, however, he was one of the finest talents in the country. He scored 32 goals and grabbed 43 assists across 213 matches, leading the club back to the Premier League in 2019.

As the years progressed, it became clear that Grealish was perhaps one of the finest academy graduates to play for the club. In his final season, the Englishman demonstrated his creative talents.

In just 26 top-flight games, he created 14 big chances for Villa, along with averaging an impressive 3.2 key passes and succeeding with 2.5 dribbles per game.

Jack Grealish’s Aston Villa statistics

Season

Games

Goals

Assists

2020/21

27

7

12

2019/20

41

10

8

2018/19

35

6

8

2017/18

31

3

6

2016/17

33

5

5

2015/16

21

1

1

2014/15

24

0

3

Via Transfermarkt

While Villa have gone from strength to strength under Unai Emery since 2022, the Spaniard must wish he had a talent like Grealish at his peak to utilise.

With the summer transfer window soon to open, can Emery sign the next best thing for the Midlands side?

Aston Villa could sign their new Grealish

The Villa Park side are showing plenty of interest in a move for Crystal Palace star Eberechi Eze after he enjoyed a stunning campaign.

This culminated with the winning goal in the FA Cup final against Man City and this has driven his price up. Indeed, the Englishman is wanted by the Villans and could cost around £65m according to reports, should any club wish to sign him this summer.

The fee would shatter Villa’s record transfer, but there is no doubt Eze would be worth the price.

In the Premier League this season, the 26-year-old averaged 1.7 key passes and succeeded with two dribbles per game. Furthermore, he even created 12 big chances for the Eagles.

These statistics are comparable to Grealish’s from his final league season at Villa, and it suggests Eze has the ability to become their new attacking sensation.

Analyst Ben Mattinson lauded the midfielder as a “superstar” in April 2024. Fast-forward 12 months, and this sentiment certainly continues to ring true with the England international scoring 14 goals and supplying 11 assists during an outstanding season.

Couple that with the flashy and carefree nature that Grealish also exudes, and the Palace sensation with his extra end product certainly has the potential to eclipse what the current City star achieved in the Midlands.

The only stumbling block might be the fact that Eze wouldn’t be playing Champions League football should he move to Villa. If he does, however, there is no doubt that the London-born dynamo can lead Emery’s side to another campaign in Europe’s premier club competition.

The next few weeks could be interesting, to say the least.

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Posts ByHenry Jackson May 26, 2025

Leeds United are currently preparing for their final match in the Championship, hopefully for a long time, against Plymouth Argyle at Home Park on Saturday.

The Whites can hit 100 points in the second tier for the first time in their history with a win against the Pilgrims this weekend, which will also confirm their position as champions of the division.

Daniel Farke’s side hammered Bristol City 4-0 last time out at Elland Road to set themselves up for a chance to hit a century of points in their final match.

Leeds will be beginning to think about how they will prepare for a season in the Premier League next term, as they aim to avoid an instant relegation back down to the Championship.

The official confirmation of Ipswich Town’s relegation from the top-flight last weekend means that all three newly-promoted sides have gone straight back down in the last two seasons, which illustrates the difficulty of the task ahead for the Whites.

Recruitment will need to be spot on from the club to give Farke and his staff the best possible chance of avoiding relegation, and signing loanee Manor Solomon could be one of the first bits of business on the agenda.

Why Leeds should consider signing Manor Solomon

The Israel international is currently on loan from Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur until the end of the season, which means that the clash with Plymouth this weekend could be his last outing for the West Yorkshire outfit.

TEAMtalk recently reported that the Whites are planning to pursue a permanent deal for the former Fulham star, and that Spurs are open to cashing in on the winger in the upcoming summer transfer window.

Leeds may look to press ahead with a swoop for the 25-year-old dynamo because of his impressive form in the Championship this season, as he has displayed his quality as both a scorer and a creator of goals for the Whites.

The Spurs loanee has been particularly impressive in recent weeks, during the business end of the campaign, with a return of two goals and five assists in his last five matches in the second tier.

Appearances

38

xG

7.93

Goals

9

Big chances created

21

xA

9.08

Assists

12

As you can see in the table above, Solomon has been directly involved in 21 goals in 38 appearances in the Championship so far this season, which speaks to how influential he has been in the final third for Farke throughout the campaign.

This is why he could be an excellent addition to the squad ahead of promotion to the Premier League, as the Spurs loanee could be a difference-maker at the top end of the pitch.

Leeds lining up move for 33-goal star

Leeds, however, could land an even better signing than Solomon if they can win the race for their latest reported transfer target in the summer window.

Transfer Focus

Mega money deals, controversial moves and big-name flops. This is the home of transfer news and opinion across Football FanCast.

According to The Boot Room, Leeds United are one of a number of clubs lining up a move for Celtic winger Daizen Maeda to bolster their attacking options.

The report claims that Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur, and Liverpool have been keeping tabs on the Japan international, who has scored 33 goals in all competitions this season.

It also reveals that Aston Villa, Brentford, Leeds, Crystal Palace, and West Ham United are among the other Premier League clubs interested in a deal to sign the Celtic superstar in the summer transfer window.

The Boot Room adds that the Scottish Premiership sensation is set to be available for a fee in the region of £25m, which means that he will not come cheap, and Leeds must push to win the race for his services because he could be an even better signing than Solomon.

Why Daizen Maeda could be an even better signing than Manor Solomon

Both Maeda and Solomon are right-footed forwards who predominantly cut in from the left flank and attempt to impact matches with goals and assists on a regular basis.

The Celtic star has racked up a staggering 33 goals and 11 assists in 47 games in all competitions, including four goals in nine Champions League matches.

Solomon, on the other hand, has scored nine goals and provided 13 assists in 40 matches in all competitions for Leeds, which immediately suggests that Maeda could offer more consistent quality, particularly as a goalscorer, for the club next season.

It is not only their quality in possession that should be taken into account, however, as the Whites are going up to the Premier League knowing that the last six teams have come straight back down, which means that they will have to do plenty of defending and are likely to be on the back foot in plenty of matches.

With this in mind, the Celtic star could be an even better signing than Solomon because of the work that he puts in out of possession to be a positive for his side defensively, whether that be tracking back to help his full-back or in counter-pressing situations.

38

31

Tackles + interceptions per game

1.1

1.7

Dribbled past per game

0.6x

0.5x

Clearances per game

0.1

0.3

Aerial duel success rate

0%

40%

Aerial duels won per game

0.0

0.5

As you can see in the table above, Maeda offers more than the Leeds loanee from a defensive perspective, with more tackles, interceptions, and clearances made per game, whilst being dribbled past less often.

Maeda, who has been described as a “machine” by coaches, can also defend the back post when dropping in to help his full-back out, as shown by his aerial duels won, whereas Solomon struggles a lot in those situations.

Therefore, Leeds could be better of pursuing a deal for the Celtic star, despite there also being a lot of reasons why Solomon could be a great addition, because of his potential to offer more than the Spurs loanee both in and out of possession in the Premier League next season.

Farke could sign Piroe upgrade in Leeds swoop for "electric" £40m "monster"

Leeds could immediately land an upgrade on Joel Piroe by swooping for this £40m star.

ByDan Emery Apr 29, 2025

Playing his first Border-Gavaskar Trophy, the 22-year old opener is emerging as one of India’s key players

Alagappan Muthu16-Nov-20243:31

Straight Talk: How can Jaiswal succeed in Australia?

There is a pretty cool bunch of people at the top of the list of Indians with the highest strike rates in Test cricket. Only four of the first ten are specialist batters. One of them is Yashasvi Jaiswal.Players at the top of the order in a game that can go on for five days are meant to try and avoid risk. The lists they would rather be on are most runs, or most hundreds, or best averages. And would you look at that, Jaiswal is there too. He is going to be important for India’s chances in Australia. But he has never faced a challenge like this.Five Tests. Away from home. Against a bowling attack that has quality, depth, variety and venom.Related

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In a career that is now little over a year old, Jaiswal has had occasion to taste bits of those separately. He played five Tests against England, but that was at home. He faced seam-friendly pitches and rip-snorting bowling in South Africa, but that was just two Tests. The Border-Gavaskar Trophy will combine the worst of those two events together.India’s training sessions since they landed in Perth earlier this week have been focused on getting their batters used to pace and bounce, to the extent that one of them, KL Rahul, suffered an injury scare, because they know what they are up against. In the last three years, only two countries, where at least two Tests have been played, have been less hospitable for run-scoring than Australia (27.08).And that is fine. Test-match batting is supposed to be difficult, particularly when the red ball still has its shine. It’s on you to stay out there until it gets soft, and then cash in. Except, over the same period, the batting average against the old ball in Australia – assuming it starts to get old after 30 overs of wear and tear – is almost identical to the batting average against the new ball: 27.81 vs 26.64.That may be testament to the discipline of Australia’s bowling attack, and how well they function together. Jaiswal hasn’t really had a chance to face any of them, barring a few balls here and there in the IPL. He is going to have to do a lot of learning on the job, which began in earnest on Tuesday when he joined India A’s net sessions at the WACA, and hit one so hard and so far that the ball ended up on the street outside the ground. It seems he is comfortable that the methods he has been using so far don’t need too much fiddling. There are others who share the same opinion.They stray, he flays: Yashasvi Jaiswal could be key in Australia•Associated Press”He has the ammunition. He has the game to do well in Australia,” former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar said on his ESPNcricinfo’s Straight Talk.Give Jaiswal half a chance to play an attacking shot and he will, whether it’s the first ball of the innings, or the second one in a chase. Put him in front of someone who is approaching 700 wickets or someone else who gets it up to 150kph, it’s all the same. They stray, he flays. That’s why a 22-year-old is shaping up as one of India’s most important players on a tour that is going to be long and tough, and lousy with consequence. Even the Australians know it.”He’s scored runs very quickly, but he hasn’t made a mistake. He hasn’t really given the opposition a chance to be able to get him out,” former allrounder Shane Watson said. This was pre-New Zealand though, when Watson was answering a question about whether India will miss someone who is capable of batting time and absorbing pressure, like Cheteshwar Pujara.”I think if those type of batters come out to Australia and play aggressively – just put the bad balls away and put pressure on the Aussie bowlers – then they can still have the same effect, and they keep the game moving as well.”Yashasvi Jaiswal perhaps has work to do in terms of shot selection when the ball is in an in-between length•AFP/Getty ImagesWith 10 of his 14 Tests have come at home, there has been a pattern to Jaiswal’s run-scoring – 902 have come against spin at an average of 75.16, and the remaining 505 have come against seam at an average of 38.84. He likes to take on short-pitched bowling, which he showed once again in a match simulation setting against India A in Perth. But there is perhaps some work to do in terms of shot selection when the ball is in an in-between length. It accounts for seven of Jaiswal’s 13 dismissals to pace so far, at an average of 18.42, and it happened again at the WACA when he was caught in the slips for 15. But he batted again and scored 58.”In Australia, you have to be to the pitch of the ball [to drive] unless the ball gets older, then you can drive on the up,” Manjrekar said. “But Yashasvi will play the new ball, so [he has to be] be careful when he wants to play that drive because that is one of his favourite shots.”Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins will be tempting him to make that mistake over and over, again and again. Nathan Lyon won’t let him rest easy either, because even if he bowls the kind of stuff Jaiswal likes, Jaiswal is the kind of batter Lyon likes – a left-hander, against whom he averages 24.20. At every turn, there is an obstacle. At no point can you feel safe. This series, with its relevance, profile and the baseline skill-level it demands from everyone involved, is fire, and Jaiswal will be stepping into it for the first time.He is the kind of batter whose success will breed success for the team because he can upset the opposition’s plans and take their rhythm away. But he is young, and he has never been here before. His success is far from guaranteed, though perhaps his growth is. Jaiswal has a high ceiling, and win, lose or draw, the experience of this Border-Gavaskar Trophy will help him reach it.

He is the poster boy for all formats of cricket. If only we could have watched him turn out for the WTC final at The Oval

Mark Nicholas05-Jun-2023Last Monday night, when Ravi Jadeja turned the ball off his toes to win the IPL, one door closed for a while and another opened. Nothing quite consumes the game like the ten-team, two-month IPL marathon. A 41-year old wicketkeeper-batter out of Ranchi, dressed in yellow and flying the flag not of India but of Super Kings from Chennai, lifted the trophy for the fifth time to an ecstatic reception – testament, surely, to a game that has a bit of everything for everyone and a whole lot of love.Of all the cricketers who sparkle, to this onlooker at least, MS Dhoni has led the way. The sum of his parts has been greater than the whole. At once aesthetically thrilling and grittily effective, he has won many a game from nowhere, and lost a few too; he shells the catches that don’t much matter and snaffles most that do; he inspires the young and backs the old; always he answers the inevitable questions but somehow keeps his counsel. Have you ever really known what MS was thinking? Imagine the poker player he might have been.Dhoni captures the essence of cricket without ever becoming its slave. One minute he is an unpredictable ride, the next a sure-footed compadre. He is cool, classy and at times crazy; he is creative and yet practical; he can bat hectic and keep wicket messy, but hands down, he is the go-to guy. Once a ticket collector on the railways and now among the most admired cricketers in a land teeming with them, I’ve spent hours watching him and rarely focused on much else. Of late, only Tiger Woods and Roger Federer have made me do that.Related

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Cricket is for young and old; slim and less so; athletic and not so; myriad backgrounds, abilities and ambitions. Cricket comes in all shapes and sizes, formats and interpretations. It is no better or worse over five days at the Sydney Cricket Ground than 15 minutes in the schoolyard: it is just cricket, the game of bat and ball that appeals variously to those fortunate souls who have let it into their lives.Cricket is frequently difficult and mainly frustrating but pleasure can come when least expected, from a single or sudden moment that changes a game. It requires instinctive skills every bit as much as method and relies on eye and commitment. It is fragile. One minute you have it, the next it is gone. Cricket is played out on the edge of nerves, examining character like no other. No one has known this and applied it so well – over a 20-year-career, we should add – than the winning captain of Chennai Super Kings.

Dhoni captures the essence of cricket without ever becoming its slave. One minute he is an unpredictable ride, the next a sure-footed compadre. He is cool, classy and at times crazy; he is creative and yet practical

To take this a tad further and explain where it is going, Dhoni averaged 38 with the bat across 90 Test matches, in which he has also caught batters 256 times and stumped 38 . In one-day internationals – 350 of them – these figures are 50, 321 and 123 – wondrously symmetrical for a man who was anything but symmetrical.It is an amazing career portfolio. In everything, which includes captaincy, he amazes and delights. I think back to him marching to the wicket in Test cricket – shoulders back, big strides, long hair flowing – to “helicopter” fours and sixes to all parts. How we marvelled at the unbridled joy he brought to a format of the game more often identified with the long grind.Like Adam Gilchrist, the one wicketkeeper-batter who stands clearly above them all in the stats ratings, Dhoni has been a forebear to the style of cricket England now play – the game without fear. For if you discard fear, you have the perfect launchpad, no? Fancy hitting the ball like it doesn’t matter, because in the end, there’s the truth: it doesn’t really matter. That’s MSD, the man with no apparent fear; the man who transcends the formats, sticks with the rough and ready origins of his god-given talent and looks his opponent in the eye in search of the first to blink.This past week the England players began their summer of six Test matches with a one-off against Ireland. It was an important occasion for both the aspirational and improving Irish team – if in the end a rather dispiriting one – and for Ben Stokes, who has the Ashes to fill his dreams but Ireland to see where it’s at.Cricket matches between England and Australia were first played in 1877 and have long had a visceral quality that affects the supporters of both sides every bit as much as they do the players. India-Pakistan matches would still have the same feel, but sadly, they remain at the gate.Virat Kohli vs Australia: a contest you can’t look away from•Getty ImagesPretty much the whole of India has been gripped by the progress of their IPL teams since the start of April; now England will spend seven weeks in thrall as five matches are played between old enemies who give no quarter in their quest for a little urn. It was ever thus and is more so when the rivalry appears balanced and the outcome impossible to predict. In 2005 the England captain, Michael Vaughan, said that he didn’t sleep for six weeks. Arguably it was the greatest series ever and held the country alive to the tune of this strange old game that sleeps for a while and then bursts into life with a kind of magic.Good judges, at least most of those outside India, are worried about losing this magic. The extraordinary advance made by the franchised short formats threatens the longer forms, and now that Saudi Arabia seems to be in the mix, terrifies traditional thinkers. If the Saudis buy up all the good players, the question is how can Test cricket survive the exodus forced upon the game by a free market? And, of course, LIV golf is the way in which the question points.Strong leadership is essential to chart the course ahead; protection and regulation are required to ensure that the game retains its appeal within the principle of a broad church. Regions such as the Caribbean, South Africa, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and New Zealand need money (which is not to mention the Associate nations, who feed from crumbs). Without it, their players are ripe for picking. Down the track, there won’t be many countries left to play Test cricket against India, England and Australia – the Big Three – because, elsewhere, the cash will have run out and the players gone.Equally, the governing bodies and subsidiary associations of those outside the IPL need compensation. Not legally, because that’s close to impossible to apply, but morally. If you keep producing and then sustaining players at club, county, provincial and state level, who are traded around the world for millions of dollars and occupied abroad for nine months of the year, you will eventually shout “Enough!” It should be a given that the game takes care of its own.

I’ve been knocking on the door that holds the throne
I’ve been looking for the map that leads me home
I’ve been stumbling on good hearts turned to stone
The road of good intentions has gone dry as a bone
– Bruce Springsteen, “We Take of Care of Our Own”, 2012

India’s contribution to cricket’s modern progress is without compare. The Test team is all-in, the IPL is genius, and the power of television and streaming platforms quite incredible. But is it right to say that the three powerhouses of the world game deserve, respectively, more than 50% of revenue without adding that they receive it at the expense of many others who struggle to survive? The ICC should be on a mission to level up, reduce inequality and work with India to nourish cricket’s global reach. Right now the ICC operates as an event-management company, eager to keep its head down and nose clean. The game needs empathy, which can only be found from within.

Cricket is frequently difficult and mainly frustrating but pleasure can come when least expected, from a single or sudden moment that changes a game. It requires instinctive skills every bit as much as method

Meanwhile, Test cricket takes centre stage, which does not yet mean the Ashes. The final of the World Test Championship begins at The Oval on Wednesday, where it all began in 1882. The “Demon” Fred Spofforth bowled out the Poms cheaply and the English game was pronounced dead by the Sporting Times of London before being buried by the rest. A lot has happened since. Cricket is mainly unrecognisable from those early days and the riches now on offer beggar belief.Thankfully the battle between bat and ball remains much as it ever was; so too the private duels between players who know each other well but beaver away in search of an advantage. Virat Kohli versus Australia is a show of its own; Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill against the Australia new ball will demand close attention. Without Jasprit Bumrah, the Indian fast bowling looks one-dimensional. It is unlikely the Ravis, Ashwin and Jadeja, will both play, especially as there is a nip forecast in the London air. Steven Smith and Marnus Labuschagne take some shifting; Usman Khawaja and Travis Head some containing. Cameron Green lit up a few IPL nights and from such glory comes confidence amongst the big boys.Shorn of Bumrah and the recovering Rishabh Pant, India look a little less compelling and this makes the Australians marginal favourites. One imagines The Oval will hum to the sound of thousands of Indian fans who come to the altar and pay their respects in the only way they know how, through the worship of their cricketers. If only Dhoni was playing!What we know is that were he playing, he would adapt from the needs of last Monday to the demands of this Wednesday morning and the days that follow. Dhoni has played all formats of cricket with his mind running smoothly though the gears. After months of T20 where the game dictates almost every move, we now return to the five-day version, where the player has to think for himself. In Test cricket you make the play, in T20 you react to it. It is the reason we become absorbed: that patient wait to see who breaks from the pack and who is left treading water.Only the strong survive this examination. It is the unique selling proposition of Test match cricket and not to be underestimated in the growth of a talented player. Without it, a part of the DNA is missing.Dhoni has been a perfect example, a man for all seasons with a fast and flexible mind. He is a poster boy for all forms of cricket as entertainment and well illustrates that the lessons learned in one will always enhance the adventure in another. A proper hero.

The ACU general manager Alex Marshall on the extensive efforts being taken to clamp down on corruption in cricket

Peter Della Penna17-Mar-2021How do you distinguish between investigating activities such as illegal betting and pitchsiding [relaying info from inside the ground to beat the delay in live televised broadcast], and investigating specific approaches made to players for spot-fixing or match-fixing?All bookies in India are illegal and unregulated, because betting is illegal and the government has not legalised it. But betting in India is widespread and the volumes are absolutely enormous. You’ve been to matches where there’s 12 to 50 people in the ground and yet we know that the betting volumes on that match can be quite substantial.Related

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The Afghanistan Premier League (APL) has significant sums of money being bet on it. What you need to distinguish though is that while all the bookies are illegal and unregulated, most of them are just bookies. All they’re doing is taking bets on cricket and we’re not interested in them. Let’s say there are 1,000 bookies. Of all those bookies, a very small portion are corrupt and they are the ones we are interested in because what they then do is use their wealth to find intermediaries – people who know the players and might trust them – to make approaches in return for a sum of money to underperform in a phase of the match.Mohammad Naveed and Shaiman Anwar are really good examples. The [corruptors] wanted to control the opening batting, the opening bowling and the captain. So that is the absolute ideal for them. The opening batsmen both score slowly. Those small number of corrupt bookies take unlimited bets on how many runs will be scored in the opening phase of the match or the powerplay, and they’ll also take unlimited bets on the number of runs conceded by those bowlers because if they manage to corrupt the bowlers, they know they’re going to concede more than 12 or 15 runs in an over.They’ve got no connection to pitchsiders who are feeding information. In some countries it is illegal and therefore the police can take action, but it’s not in the anti-corruption code. It happens in every single sport. They are a nuisance and to the legitimate regulated betting industry, they create a loss problem for them because they’re getting an advantage over the normal punter who is sitting at home and is getting the broadcast. So it’s worth separating the pitchsiders, which is a thing in every sport including cricket.The Afghanistan Premier League (APL) has significant sums of money being bet on it•Afghanistan Cricket BoardThe sums mentioned in the Shaiman Anwar and Mohammad Naveed investigation would have been anywhere from seven to ten years of the annual salary in the UAE central contract structure at the time..What makes the top Associates so attractive to the corruptors is the relatively low cricket income of people from Nepal, UAE, Oman, some of the African cricket nations. They are being paid very little if anything at all. If you look at the bottom end of the Full Members, Zimbabwe would be a good example. They are among the poorest of the Full Member nations and we see players there being offered $30,000 to commit corrupt conduct. We see players in the Associates getting offered $10,000. We see players in European club matches getting offered 3,000 Euros. So that’s the sort of scale of the offers. An offer of $10,000 to someone in some of these places is an awful lot of money. An offer of $30,000 in Zimbabwe would probably buy you a house.So taking that into consideration, including the resources available to the ICC to police events such as the ICC regional ones that are now going to be broadcast, what kind of enhanced strategies do you plan to employ to curb some of these activities? The principle is that we all at the ICC, including the integrity unit, want to see the growth and development of cricket. The idea that the Associates are going to get better and more extensive coverage is absolutely brilliant and we celebrate it along with everyone else. We also recognise that the more popular any form of cricket becomes, the more likely it is that corruptors will target it. So we’re doing a whole load of different things. One of the things is we’re working with all the Associates, but particularly the ones who are higher risk, to provide them with material around education and what they should do in the event of anyone receiving an approach or things for them to look out for in the way they run their matches. We will also risk assess which of those matches are most likely to be targeted and then we put anti-corruption resources into that particular match.We’ve done that for example in matches involving UAE, Oman, Nepal and others recently, particularly where they’ve had three and four-team series events, and we then put an anti-corruption person at the event. But the best protection of all is that anyone in that squad who has any suspicious social media approach, comment, a new sponsor who suddenly comes in…. anything that seems too good to be true, as long as they alert us immediately, we can intervene against the corruptors.We generally know who the corruptors are and who is behind the approaches and then we can disrupt them. The playing group are getting better and better and more confident at sharing with us anything that seems a bit odd or dodgy. In the last couple of years, we’ve gone from 200 pieces of intelligence coming in each year to over 1,000 pieces of intelligence. Most of that comes from people within cricket saying, ‘This slightly odd thing happened’ or ‘My agent had an odd approach’ or the classic line, ‘We can probably get you into this tournament, but you’ll have to do some things for the owners.’ That would be the line you hear a lot. It’s absolutely spot on that for the corruptors, if they can corrupt someone in a small franchise tournament who might then go on and play international Associate member cricket, they’ve then got an investment in that player who is completely compromised and they’ll utilize that when it comes to the international matches.”Mohammad Naveed and Shaiman Anwar were late in their careers and about to retire. They were seen as worth approaching”•Peter Della PennaI know there were at least three USA players – according to a USA Cricket official who then forwarded the information on to the ICC ACU – that prior to the Global T20 Canada were approached and told, ‘We will draft you in if you help us fix games. If you don’t want to help us fix games, then we just won’t draft you.’ Those are the classic lines. ‘You come in. We’ll get you a place. Everyone else is doing it.’ They’ll probably throw in a few names that the player has heard of and say, ‘They’re already doing it. All you have to do is do what the owners say in a couple of matches. It won’t affect whether you win or lose and we’ll give you an extra whatever the figure is on top of your tournament fee if you work with us.’ So what you’re describing is absolutely the classic approach by the 10 or 12 corruptors that we know are operating around all these events.Most of the Associate players at the 2019 Global T20 Canada were setting reserve prices for the draft at the $3,000 minimum. A few elite Associate players had reserve prices set at $10,000 or $15,000. Sandeep Lamichhane set his price at $60,000. Shaiman Anwar and Mohammad Naveed had their reserve prices originally set at the minimum and then a few days before the draft, suddenly they were resubmitted into the draft with new reserve prices of $25,000 and $30,000 respectively, and both of them were drafted. When things like that happen, being sold for a much higher value than the market would indicate, does that raise a red flag?Yes. A couple of things raise red flags in those franchise tournaments. One is unusual pricing of the players. The other, which you also mentioned, is late changes just before the draft or someone is brought in who the coach or management weren’t asking about and then suddenly they appear as a player. We’ve covered recent franchise tournaments where you see exactly that type of behavior and in some cases it’s because the owners – who are shown as the official owners – actually are not. They’ve been put forward by corruptors who are behind the scenes. They put forward names of people who when checked won’t cause any problems. But once the activity starts and once the corrupt approaches start, we then normally can work out who these new owners are really connected to, who is behind it, and disrupt it.You also have to remember you get a lot of people prior to tournaments who pretend that they are involved in the tournament for the owners and still try and corrupt the players. So alongside corrupt owners, which does happen sometimes, are people who claim to be connected to the owners but they really are freelance corruptors who are claiming that connection just to get the player who has already been selected to do corrupt activity for them.Payments are offered, compromises are attempted. Even honey traps, which seems like something from the 1970s but very recently we dealt with cases with the use of a prostitute to compromise a player and then the corruptors move in the next day and try to get the person to work for them. I think perhaps reassuringly, the fact that we usually pretty quickly identify who the corruptors are, how they’re operating, which new phone they’ve got, which new name they’re using, means we tend to disrupt them and in recent franchise events we’ve snuffed it out just before the start of the event because we realised what was happening. In the Qualifiers in the UAE, we took that action just before the start of the event and we’re pretty certain we prevented corrupt activity from happening in that tournament.

“It goes back to the basic principle, which is to recognise that something about this doesn’t feel right. Reject it, if it’s a stranger bearing gifts, just start by rejecting it. Talk to your agent, talk to your manager, and then report it to us.”

You said before that when you identify higher risk players in teams, then you put extra resources in place. How do you define “high risk” or “higher risk”? It’s usually a combination of the interest in that team or those teams, the profile of the match or tournament, and then the susceptibility of the people taking part possibly because of low wages or they haven’t been paid recently. So when I talk about growth and development, which is what we all want, if you look at the women’s game for example, there was very little interest at one point in the women’s game. Clearly, interest has risen significantly recently. As you’ve seen its profile rise and more interest in the matches, that’s always then matched across in the betting market and therefore we finally saw the first proper corrupt approaches made to women’s players. Compared to trying to corrupt a top-level men’s game where the squad is really well-protected, they know everyone, they know what to look out for, you can’t just come in as a bat sponsor offering $10,000 because they’ve already got a bat sponsor offering $200,000.That’s just an example but Under-19 cricket, I’d say the same thing. As Under-19 cricket becomes more popular and the tournament gets more prominence, the corruptors will look for the most vulnerable teams taking part. Within the teams, anyone they might spot that they think will be susceptible to going out for a shopping trip and spending $2,000 on trainers and t-shirts, that might be enough with a 17-year-old who is very poor and its their first time away from home at an international event. It’s the same with Associate level cricket. If there is interest in the match, interest in the profiles of the teams, there will be a decent betting market. They then look for which of those players might be susceptible. In the UAE example, Naveed and Shaiman Anwar fit into that very well. They were late in their career. They’re about to retire. They were seen as worth approaching.Alex Marshall – “We currently have got 42 live investigations. In the last couple of years, we usually have between 40 and 50 live investigations”•Getty ImagesWhen you say ‘interest in a team’ or in a T20 franchise league, comparatively speaking the APL was happening at the same time as an Australia vs Pakistan Test match. Traditional metrics would indicate that interest would be more focused on a match between two highly ranked international sides. Yet, the betting volume for the APL was out of proportion dwarfing the Test match…But if you look at where the interest is in India which is the betting market that we’re talking, the APL was being broadcast in India. It was being done in the short form which is most popular and compared to a Test, with its evening short form matches the APL is a much more attractive option to the viewing audience. Therefore, they’re going to bet on it. Therefore, the bookies have got decent liquidity in the market. Therefore, it was worth approaching people in that tournament, and they did and we’ve still got investigations coming to an end from that event.They would seek broadcasts particularly in the subcontinent because of who they were getting to take part. So it already had a particular exposure on television in the subcontinent. But you then also have to look at…. corruptors like weak governance and they like chaos because it allows them in. They love franchise events where all the teams have not been sold with three weeks to go and the people running the event are desperate to secure the next owner or the next two owners at the last minute. So corruptors look for those opportunities and I’m afraid the APL is a very good example of poor governance, an appalling run event, dreadful accreditation and a whole host of other issues that just meant it was very attractive to corruptors.What kind of factor does that make in terms of it being easier to police or track movements at regional ICC T20 World Cup qualifier events?The qualifier events and regional events will all operate to ICC standards. They’re still much lower key events without the resources you would see in a global event. But nevertheless they will all have the Player and Match Official Area, which will be properly set out. There will be a form of security at the ground. There will be monitoring of those matches closely by us because we get alerts in the legitimate betting markets if anything strange is going on. There will be a proper match manager that we can talk to and understand where everyone is and that they’re all complying with the rules. Of course what you don’t have in these events are the franchise owners, which very often is the route in for the corruptors.What percentage of cases are linked to suspicious franchise owners?We currently have got 42 live investigations. In the last couple of years, we usually have between 40 and 50 live investigations. About half of those will be to do with franchise cricket and very often when it’s to do with franchise cricket, then it’s to do with owners – the real owners behind the front people who are put up as the owners – or people pretending to be a part of the ownership group who actually have nothing to do with the owners but they’re claiming an association to influence people. So quite a significant proportion of our live investigations is from that area.Associates are represented quite heavily across those 40 to 50 cases. But in a way we don’t spend too long saying, ‘This is franchise corruption’ or ‘This is Associate corruption’ because it’s the same corruptors. They just look for the opportunity and the ideal for them is to get a player compromised who is playing in franchise cricket and then two weeks later is playing in an international match. So they don’t make any distinction really. It’s about opportunity and risk for them.”As Under-19 cricket becomes more popular and the tournament gets more prominence, the corruptors will look for the most vulnerable teams taking part”•Afghanistan Cricket BoardFor Associate teams, a disproportionately significant number are made up of expatriates in their mid to late 30s with a prior professional career in their native country. Does that raise a red flag?What I would say is that the corruptors will look at what they believe to be the motivation of the people they are approaching. So if the corruptors think that someone’s sole motivation is money, whatever country they’re in is just to earn money and they have no particular allegiance, then certainly the corruptors think that person is more susceptible than someone who is not just playing. Among the Associates, there are plenty of countries where the players are amateurs, it’s costing them money to play for their country but they’re doing it because they’re very proud and they love the sport. If you look at it from the corruptors point of view, and I keep going back to the UAE players because there are some cases still coming through the system, it’s quite clear that the corruptors felt that they were motivated by money, some of them, and they felt it was worth approaching them.There was a recent article in , which mentioned that approaches have been made via Twitter or Instagram DMs. What kinds of things are key to reducing the risks to players at these ICC qualifying events?The way most players receive some form of approach is that it might start as someone pretends to be a fan, someone wants to be a new sponsor, someone wants to offer them a place in a franchise league. It’s very often via one of the social media channels. So part of the education we do is we play very up-to-date videos showing exactly how the corruptors are operating. An education for some of the top Associate members is not just about telling them what the anti-corruption code says.We show them a very professionally made video showing exactly how the corruptors are approaching people in the previous three to six months. We show them the pictures of those corruptors and we give them their names and aliases. Very often at the end of that session, one or two will come forward and say, ‘I had this strange message on Instagram from this guy who said he wanted to be my agent and you’ve just shown him in the slides.’ I can think of someone who says he’s an agent who has come up frequently, probably more than 20 times now, at those education sessions. By just sharing honestly with them the people who are likely to be approached by them – their pictures, names and aliases – very often someone will pick them out.”About half our investigations in franchise cricket have to do with suspicious owners – the real owners behind the front people who are put up as the owners”•Hindustan TimesSome of the players, particularly at the lower level, they haven’t really had much profile. The idea that they have people contacting them on social media is quite attractive. We build that into the education to help them try to protect themselves a bit more. It goes back to the basic principle, which is to recognise that something about this doesn’t feel right. Reject it, if it’s a stranger bearing gifts, just start by rejecting it. Talk to your agent, talk to your manager, and then report it to us.What else do you think is important for people to understand about these ICC events that comes from an anti-corruption perspective?We absolutely want to see a higher profile for Associate cricket. I think it’s coming and I think some of the pathway and qualifier events are going to be excellent cricket. I think new people will come through. Look at what has happened to some of these Afghan players who then got prominence and then are playing around the world. So I think it’s fantastically exciting that all that is happening. We just have to always remember that every bit of growth and development is also attractive to the corruptors. The integrity unit has to keep upping our game to make sure that we disrupt them from those forms of cricket in the way that I think we are actually pretty successful at disrupting and keeping them away from Full Member cricket.

MatériaMais Notícias

Corinthians e Nacional-PAR se enfrentam nesta terça-feira (2), às 19h, pela segunda rodada da fase de grupos da Copa Sul-Americana. O jogo será na Neo Química Arena, em São Paulo, e terá transmissão da ESPN e Star+.

continua após a publicidadeRelacionadasNotíciasAmbos marcam! Com R$50, você pode levar mais de R$124 se Corinthians e Nacional-PAR balançarem as redesNotícias08/04/2024DicasCorinthians x Nacional-PAR: odds, estatísticas e informações para apostar na Sul-AmericanaDicas08/04/2024CorinthiansTorcedores elegem craque do Corinthians no PaulistãoCorinthians08/04/2024

➡️ Siga o Lance! no WhatsApp e acompanhe em tempo real as principais notícias do esporte

Na primeira rodada da fase de grupos Sul-Americana, o Timão empatou com o Racing-URU, enquanto o Nacional-PAR perdeu em casa para o Argentinos Juniors.

Confira abaixo todas as informações que você precisa saber sobre o confronto (onde assistir, horário, escalações e local).

➡️No Lance! Betting, você pode levar mais de R$124 se Corinthians e Nacional balançarem as redes

✅ FICHA TÉCNICA
CORINTHIANS X NACIONAL-PAR
COPA SUL AMERICANA – FASE DE GRUPOS – SEGUNDA RODADA
Data e horário: terça-feira, 9 de abril de 2024, às 19h (de Brasília);
Local: Neo Química Arena, em São Paulo, no Brasil
Onde assistir: ESPN e Star+
Árbitro: Jhon Ospina (COL)

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➡️ Veja tabela com datas, horários dos jogos da Libertadores

⚽ PROVÁVEIS ESCALAÇÕES
CORINTHIANS (Técnico: António Oliveira)
Cássio; Fagner, Félix Torres, Gustavo Henrique e Hugo (Matheus Bidu); Raniele, Fausto Vera e Rodrigo Garro; Wesley, Romero e Yuri Alberto

NACIONAL-PAR (Técnico: Victor Bernay)
Antony Silva; Blasi, Claudio Nuñez, Ojeda e Rivas; Juan Alfaro, Cáceres e Santacruz; Gaona, Arévalo e Tiago Caballero.

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CorinthiansSul-Americana

Everton’s good form continued with an impressive 3-0 win at the Hill Dickinson Stadium over Nottingham Forest.

The Toffees move into fifth in the Premier League, taking their record since the start of November to four wins, one draw and one loss.

It was a fast start for David Moyes’ side. Just two minutes into the clash with the East Midlands outfit, Forest centre-back Nikola Milenkovic headed a cross into the back of his own net, to give Everton the lead almost immediately.

Then, in the third minute of stoppage time before half-time, the Evertonians doubled their lead. It was a significant moment for Thierno Barry, who got off the mark in that famous Blue shirt after some impressive performances of late.

Iliman Ndiaye carried the ball to the edge of the Forest box before laying it into the path of Barry, who slotted home.

The perfect day for Moyes’ side was capped off in the 80th minute when another summer signing, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, drilled home a volley after the ball bounced to him from a corner. Everton ran out deserved winners to continue their excellent form.

It was a day to remember for the Toffees, with some standout performances.

Everton’s standout players vs. Forest

This will certainly be a day that Thierno Barry remembers. The Frenchman bagged his very first goal in an Everton shirt, showing the sort of quality in front of goal that earned him the big move to the Premier League from Villarreal in the summer.

What a tidy finish it was from the Toffees’ number 11, too. Ndiaye drove towards the penalty box, with Barry making a good diagonal run to find space.

The finish was composed, slotting it past Matz Sels.

Speaking of Ndiaye, the Senegalese attacker was in imperious form once again. So often the source of everything the Merseysiders do well in attack, he was a handful for the Forest defence and, of course, set Barry up.

One person who was impressed by Ndiaye’s efforts was Chris Beesley, Everton reporter for the Liverpool Echo. He gave the attacker a 7/10 rating, praising him for ‘always providing an outlet for his side’ throughout the night.

However, neither Barry nor Ndiaye were the stars of the show for Moyes’ side in a fantastic win.

Everton’s best player in their 3-0 win

What a performance it was from another of the Everton summer signings, Dewsbury-Hall.

The Englishman was at the heart of the Toffees’ midfield today, scoring his excellent goal late on, putting in the cross for the own goal, and offering plenty more on the ball.

The stats reflect just how well Dewsbury-Hall performed against the East Midlands outfit. He had 56 touches and 86% of his passes.

Off the ball, it was a masterclass from the former Leicester City star. He won an exceptional 8/13 ground duels and made five ball recoveries.

Touches

56

Pass accuracy

86%

Opposition half passes

16/20

Ground duels won

8/13

Ball recoveries

5

Tackles won

3/4

Goals

1

Dewsbury-Hall left thousands of Toffees fans impressed with his performance against Forest. Well, the same can be said for journalists, with Beesley giving him a 9/10 for his efforts, explaining he was ‘bright from the start’.

There is a case to be made that Dewsbury-Hall, described as the club’s “most important and best” player by journalist John Merro, is their best signing since Ndiaye.

The Senegalese attacker has been sensational since moving to Merseyside last summer, racking up 17 goals and assists in 54 games.

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As for the English midfielder, he has brought creativity and final third threat to Moyes’ side in just 15 games, with four goals and two assists so far.

However, the tenacity off the ball, on full show against Sean Dyche’s side, has been crucial this season too. It is certainly easy to see why Merro is of that opinion.

After paying just £28m for him this summer from Chelsea, it is looking like one of the biggest bargains in 2025. The all-action midfielder has shone so far, just like Ndiaye has on Merseyside.

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When the world's Catholics welcomed Pope Leo XIV Thursday—a Chicago native—citizens of his home city quickly had one question: Is the Supreme Pontiff a Chicago Cubs fan or a Chicago White Sox fan?

In an interview with WGN, Leo's brother John Prevost put rumors of his Cubs fandom to rest.

"He was never, ever a Cubs fan. I don't know where that came from. He was always a Sox fan," Prevost said. "Our mother was a Cubs fan… and our dad was a Cardinals fan. I don't know where that all came from. And all the aunts, our mom's family, came from the North Side, so they were Cubs fans."

But Leo, John insisted, always rooted for the White Sox. The pope was born Robert Prevost in 1955 and raised in Dolton, Ill., just south of the Chicago city limits.

Following on avid soccer fan Pope Francis, the athletic world appears to have received another sports-loving pope.

Still on the hunt for their next manager, Celtic have now reportedly been “granted permission” to take a major step towards hiring Columbus Crew boss Wilfried Nancy.

The Hoops have been in no rush to make what is a crucial decision, but the November international break has at least given them the opportunity to advance their search for a permanent long-term manager. In the meantime, of course, Martin O’Neill has been doing an excellent job as interim boss — rolling back the years to get his side back on track in the Scottish Premiership.

It’s always a sign of just how well an interim manager is doing when rumours arrive that they could yet take the job on a permanent basis and those very rumours have arrived regarding O’Neill. The 73-year-old, however, has consistently distanced himself from the role.

As impressive as he’s been, it looks unlikely that O’Neill will be taking the permanent position. Instead, it could be the likes of Kieran McKenna, Kjetil Knutsen at Bodo/Glimt or other standout options.

With the Scottish League Cup final coming up against St. Mirren on December 14, Celtic will hope to have made their all-important decision in time to be ready to seal even more silverware and perhaps the first of their manager’s tenure.

Celtic "granted permission" to take Nancy step

As reported by Sky Sports’ Anthony Joseph, Celtic have now been “granted permission” to speak to Nancy by current club Columbus Crew. The MLS side are not standing in the 48-year-old’s way, and he’s now set to “hold discussions” with the Bhoys as early as this weekend.

Whilst not many saw Nancy as an option at the start of Celtic’s search, his reputation in America speaks for itself. Thierry Henry, who made the 3-4-2-1 manager his assistant at Montreal, previously told reporters: “I kept him because I knew the great brain that he has.

“I knew where he wanted to go. My philosophy is very close to his philosophy, so I knew it wasn’t going to be a clash or so right from the start. One thing that was very important for me was to keep the core of the club. Wilfried was happy because of my philosophy; we played with a back three.”

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Following Henry’s praise and a productive career across the Atlantic thus far, it appears Nancy could well be heading to Glasgow.

Nancy alternative: Celtic can hire their own Knutsen with "unbeatable" boss

Tottenham Hotspur have now submitted an enquiry to sign FC Barcelona defender Eric Garcia, with Thomas Frank personally an admirer.

Spurs lost their second game on the bounce on Saturday afternoon, succumbing to a 1-0 defeat at home against Chelsea, and the overall performance was extremely disappointing, recording an xG of just 0.10, their lowest total on record.

They would’ve lost by a greater margin too, if it hadn’t been for Guglielmo Vicario, with the goalkeeper putting in a top display, making seven saves from inside the box and preventing 2.17 goals.

Frank came out to defend two of his players after the match, saying: “We have Micky van de Ven and Djed Spence who are doing everything they can. They perform very well so far this season and everyone is frustrated.”

Van de Ven has been particularly impressive, most notably scoring a brace in the 3-0 victory against Everton last month, but the manager is now looking to sign a new centre-back.

Tottenham make enquiry to sign Eric Garcia

According to a report from Spain, Tottenham have been enquiring about a deal for Garcia for the past few months, with Frank viewing the defender as perfect for his system, given that he is able to play the ball out from the back.

Chelsea are also in the race for the Spaniard, but he is now set to put pen to paper on a new contract with Barcelona to extend his stay beyond 2026, which is news that has come as a shock for the interested Premier League clubs.

With the 24-year-old committed to his boyhood club, Spurs will have to move on to alternative options ahead of the January transfer window.

The north Londoners will no doubt be very disappointed to have seemingly missed out on the centre-back, given that Frank is personally an admirer, while he has also received very high praise from Xavi in the past.

The former Barcelona manager said: “Eric is extraordinary. I value him a lot, he is important to us. He plays in a very complicated position because, at Barca, a centre-back is always exposed. But he is a role model in the dressing room and we value him a lot.”

Tottenham have "one of the most exciting" teenage centre-backs

The 19-time Spain international has also performed very well over the past year, showcasing his passing, tackling and even goal-scoring ability on a regular basis.

Statistic

Average per 90

Non-penalty goals

0.19 (99th percentile)

Passes attempted

83.24 (97th percentile)

Progressive passes

6.99 (98th percentile)

Tackles

2.16 (91st percentile)

A move for Garcia may well be off the cards, but other exciting options remain on the shortlist, with it emerging they are now serious contenders to sign Lazio defender Mario Gila in January, while they already have a highly-rated young centre-back they could call upon.

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