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Celtic have the chance to win the domestic treble for the second time in the last three seasons when they face Aberdeen in the final of the SFA Cup.

Brendan Rodgers clinched his second Scottish Premiership title in as many seasons last weekend when his side swept Dundee United away with a 5-0 win.

The Hoops will want to continue their dominance for seasons to come, and have already swooped to make one high-profile signing in the form of Kieran Tierney.

Why Kieran Tierney is an impressive signing

The Scotland international will officially join Celtic on a free transfer when his contract at Arsenal expires at the end of June, returning to the club after six years in England.

As you can see in the graphic above, the academy graduate enjoyed a phenomenal first spell in Glasgow, winning five league titles and making 170 first-team appearances.

At the time of writing (01/05/2025), Transfermarkt currently values Tierney at £8.5m, which is a drop from the £25m he was sold for, but that still means that the club are signing an £8.5m-rated asset for £0. He is an impressive addition for the Hoops because he is a proven Premiership star and a valuable asset.

Celtic do, however, have numerous valuable assets at the club, in what is a very talented squad, and one of those who is worth even more than Tierney is Daizen Maeda.

Celtic have hit the jackpot with Daizen Maeda

The Hoops swooped to sign the Japan international, who was described as a “snip” by pundit Chris Sutton, for a fee of just £1.6m, in the summer of 2022 from Yokohama F. Marinos.

Maeda, who was recently hailed as “brilliant” by Rodgers, has soared in value over the past three years in Glasgow, and is currently enjoying his best season at the club.

The 27-year-old forward has plundered 33 goals and provided 11 assists in 47 appearances in all competitions, which is a tally of 44 goal contributions that beats his return of 14 and 18 in the 2022/23 and 2023/24 campaigns, respectively.

Date

Market value

March 2025-present

£9.3m

December 2024

£6.8m

October 2024

£6.3m

May 2024

£5.9m

December 2023

£5.5m

June 2023

£5.1m

December 2022

£4.2m

June 2022

£2.9m

Valuations via Transfermarkt

As you can see in the table above, Maeda’s value has skyrocketed as a result of his improved output at the top end of the pitch in the current season, going from £5.9m last summer to £9.3m at the time of writing.

His current market valuation of £9.3m also means that his value has soared by 481% from the £1.6m that Celtic paid for his services back in 2022, and that he is now worth even more than Tierney, who was once sold for £25m.

This shows that the Scottish giants have hit the jackpot with Maeda because he has provided sensational performances on the pitch this term, and the Japan international is now an incredibly valuable asset who is worth even more than a big summer signing.

Related Worth less than Nawrocki: Celtic must axe flop who "wants to be at the club"

Celtic must ruthlessly bin this player who is now worth even less than Maik Nawrocki.

Posts ByDan Emery Apr 29, 2025

The leader of South Africa’s bowling attack talks about the team’s philosophy, and how he approaches his own bowling

Firdose Moonda04-Nov-2024Kagiso Rabada doesn’t get too excited about being the most lethal bowler in the 300-wickets club, or about his other records, because all he wants to do is play for South Africa.”Every kid dreams of playing for South Africa and that was my dream,” Rabada says from Chattogram, where South Africa won their first series in the subcontinent since the start of his career. “My dream was to represent South Africa and to be the best and to be a part of winning South African cricket teams. Along the way, you don’t really think about stats.”Except one number: 0.That’s how many times South Africa have won a World Cup, and like so many who have gone before him, Rabada says it’s what he most wants to achieve. “I just want to win the World Cup. That’s literally my dream. So, hopefully, I don’t have any other metrics really.”Rabada was part of South Africa’s disastrous 2019 ODI World Cup campaign and the much better 2023 one, in which they reached the semi-finals. He has also played in four T20 World Cups, and experienced exiting after the group stage three times before South Africa pulled off an eight-match unbeaten run to reach this year’s final. He described the current group of players as having found a “sweet spot” between experience and youth without being haunted by the ghosts of greats gone by.Related

Rabada – the most lethal bowler in the 300-wicket club

Rabada back at No.1 in Test bowling rankings; Ravindra, Shakeel break into top 10

Spinners, Rabada's complete performances hand South Africa their biggest innings win

'Worth the hours, worth the sacrifice' – SA savour subcontinent high after a decade's wait

South Africa's batting close to finding the 'sweet spot' again

When Dean Elgar played his final Test earlier this year, he was the last player of a South Africa side that had been ranked No. 1 in Tests. His exit may also have been the last in a steady stream of big-name retirements that began with Mark Boucher in 2012. Back then Rabada was a schoolkid with stars in his eyes. Three years later, he was an international, in the side in place of an injured Morne Morkel, and playing a Test alongside Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander. Three years after that, in March 2018, as the other three struggled with fitness concerns, he found himself the leader of the attack in a home series against Australia, which South Africa won 3-1.Throughout, Rabada has had the opportunity to play alongside a range of bowlers, from the ones he idolised to ones he grew up with. It is with this current generation that he feels the most settled.”Those guys [Steyn, Philander, Morkel] were my heroes growing up and I played with them. And now I’m playing with guys I played with at school, so there’s more familiarity because we grew up together – played against each other at school, played together at the provincial level, at Under-19…”Rabada went to school with Ryan Rickelton and Wiaan Mulder, who is three years his junior. He won the 2014 U-19 World Cup under the leadership of Aiden Markram. Lungi Ngidi and Kyle Verreynne were among the top performers in the national schools weeks in 2013 and 2014. All of them now represent the country. “We play for each other,” Rabada says.After he won the Player-of-the-Series award in Bangladesh for his 14 wickets at an average of nine, Rabada first showered praise on the batters for giving the bowlers over 500 runs to work with in Chattogram. And even though their coach, Shukri Conrad, wasn’t convinced about enforcing the follow-on, Markram, the captain, was certain that Rabada, who had taken a five-for in the first innings, was fresh enough to have another go at Bangladesh. As it turned out, South Africa’s spinners did the job the second time round, but the point holds that Markram would likely have batted again if he did not believe the leader of his attack could do the job, which speaks to Rabada’s continued importance to the side and the significance of managing his workload.”Pace is important but you need the skill with the pace. When you combine the two, you can become very lethal. The older you get, the harder you have to work”•Matthew Lewis/ICC/Getty ImagesThis year Rabada was rested from white-ball series in the UAE to focus on Test preparation, and he will similarly sit out the four-match T20I series against India to get ready for the home Test summer.By his own admission, more of that needs to happen to prolong his time at the top level. “I’m not getting any younger, and with the amount of cricket that’s being played, you have to think about it in terms of finding periods when you’re going to rest in order to be the most effective you can be.”But he does not put his success down to that alone. “It speaks to hard work,” he says.Over the last few years Rabada’s work has been less about speed and more about skill. He regularly swings and reverse-swings the ball, and always seems to know when to bowl with the most intensity. He identifies the new ball and periods just before or after a break as being times when he has to be particularly switched on.”Pace is important but you need the skill with the pace. When you combine the two, you can become very lethal. In Test cricket, you have to maintain the pace, but when it’s not there, you obviously have to be a bit crafty because, especially in the subcontinent, it’s hot. Obviously you want to really make an impact with the new ball. It’s about being consistent with it and bowling at a good pace. The older you get, the harder you have to work. You won’t get away with what you got away with when you were younger.”If Rabada sounds older than his 29 years, that’s because in Test cricket terms, he probably is – with 66 caps across nine years, he is the most experienced player in the side. In that time, while he has experienced highs like beating Australia home and away, he has also seen South Africa go from No. 1 to No. 7 on the rankings.”Of course, there were times where I was like, ‘Man, what’s going on here?’ But then in the morning, you wake up and you just have to front up. People go through that on the daily, but as players, we have a spotlight on us. Everyone’s going to comment on whatever we do. There have been times in my career when I’ve been disappointed, but it becomes worth it when you do achieve what you want to achieve.”Some would say being back at No.1 on the ICC’s rankings for Test bowlers, having occupied that spot for most of 2018 and 2019, is one kind of achievement, but it’s not Rabada’s favourite one. “If I was No. 5 or No. 3 and we’re winning, then I’m really happy. If I’m No. 1, I’m even more happy, but as long as we’re winning – that’s the major thing for me. It’s not about being No.1 the world, it’s all about the process and being obsessed with that. I know it sounds so cliché, but cliché is a kind of reality.”He acknowledges that his numbers do have some effect on him in that “they motivate me, but I’m not fixated on them”. Then he goes back to his original mantra: that as long as the team is winning, that means more than anything else, and there are still a few big things he wants them to win. “I’m happy with it [the No. 1 Test bowling ranking], but I’m not going to think about it too much. The work continues.”

A look at how this unglamorous shot made all the difference for India, and why Australia could not employ it effectively themselves

Karthik Krishnaswamy19-Feb-2023Cheteshwar Pujara faced five of the last six balls of the Delhi Test match. First, he levelled the scores with a flicked single to deep square leg after skipping out to Travis Head. Then, getting the strike back at the start of the next over, he played two more flicks off Todd Murphy, one to square leg, one to short midwicket.After another dot ball not involving a flick, Pujara hit the winning runs: down the track again, and a firm whip over midwicket for four.Five balls, four variants of the leg-side flick. And in that lay a story, perhaps even story of the 2022-23 Border-Gavaskar Trophy.The flick can be a delightful stroke to watch, but it isn’t always a glamorous one. ESPNcricinfo, for instance, runs a video series titled , where current or former players pick their favourite exponents of eight shots that circle the dial: straight drive, cover drive, cut, reverse-sweep, scoop, sweep, pull and the lofted hit down the ground. The flick, as you may have noticed, isn’t one of them.The flick, however, is the Test batter’s run-scoring lifeblood. Since the start of 2021, according to ESPNcricinfo’s data, the flick has brought batters more Test runs than any other shot – 17,697, to be precise – with the cover drive way behind in second place at 12,979.Related

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• Rohit: 'The confidence Jadeja has in his ability is massive'

In that time, batters have played the flick a whopping 22,373 times. It’s in third place behind defended (62,637) and left alone (25,277), of course, but those aren’t scoring shots.The reason why the flick is such a key part of Test cricket is simple. Bowlers target the top of off stump constantly, and when they miss their lines and lengths at Test level, they usually only miss it by small margins. So while the rank long-hop and the wide half-volley are rare occurrences, the ball that’s a touch straighter than ideal, or a touch fuller or shorter, is more frequent. Test batters can flick balls from all sorts of lines and lengths – if the angle is just right, a back-of-a-length ball can be worked to deep backward square leg from a fourth-stump line.Spinners are particularly prone to getting flicked, and not just with the turn. Top batters can use their feet to get to the pitch of the ball, or go deep in their crease to give themselves time, and twirl their wrists to play the shot against the turn too. Because of the pace spinners bowl at, their margin for error is smaller, and the more turn there is, the smaller that margin becomes – the ball turning into the batter is likelier to end up on the pads, and the ball turning away is likelier to start from a line closer to leg stump.The first two Tests of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy have been played on pitches with plenty of help for the spinners, and the margins for error have consequently been fairly small.Over these two Tests in Nagpur and Delhi, India’s batters have been able to play the flick far more frequently against the spinners than Australia’s batters. They’ve also had to defend significantly fewer balls.There are many ways of looking at these numbers. You could say Indian batters are naturally wristy and fond of playing the flick. You could say they use their feet better to get down the pitch or go deep in the crease, to create opportunities to play the flick. You could say that the two teams have employed different batting gameplans, India’s revolving around positive footwork and shots down the ground or through the on side, and Australia’s around the sweep.This last argument is particularly compelling if you watched the closing stages of the Delhi Test, and watched and read the post-mortems. Australia lost a lot of wickets to sweeps and reverse-sweeps, and India barely ever played those shots. The experts shook their heads and told you how unwise these shots were on this third-day surface, where the ball was frequently shooting through low.But here’s the thing. Australia’s players and team management know this. They know how dangerous cross-bat shots can be on pitches like this. But R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja have bowled with the sort of control that has left them with few other scoring options. They’re certainly not getting drive balls and cut balls, and they’re not getting a whole lot of flick balls either.They’ve chosen two different responses to this challenge in the two Tests of this series. In the second innings in Nagpur, Australia defended for their lives and were bowled out in 32.3 overs. In the second innings in Delhi, they swept at everything and were bowled out in 31.1 overs. Their captain Pat Cummins said their batters had underplayed their hand in Nagpur and overplayed it in Delhi.Against spinners with the control of Ashwin and Jadeja and on pitches with both turn and natural variation, those can be the only options for visiting batters. Neither is the right answer, but there’s no real middle way either, unless the bowlers have an off day.In the given conditions, the sweep shot was fraught with danger, but Australia were left with little choice•Getty ImagesAnd in Delhi, the sweep helped Australia compete on a level footing with India over the first two days. It was a defining feature of Usman Khawaja’s 81 on day one, and of Marnus Labuschagne’s batting when Australia raced away to a quick start in the third session of day two.The sweep, therefore, was a symptom of Australia’s problems and not its cause.And the problem hasn’t been that they’re a bad team. The problem is that they’re just not as good as India in Indian conditions. You would only back a handful of teams over the game’s history to beat this Indian team in Indian conditions.Australia’s spin attack on this tour is among the best that has visited this country in a decade – Nathan Lyon is a world-class offspinner with more than 450 Test wickets, while Todd Murphy and Matthew Kuhnemann have bowled with terrific control for visiting spinners who’ve made their Test debuts on this tour. They’ve bowled with better control than a lot of overseas spinners who’ve come to India with a lot more Test experience, and they’ve barely bowled any long-hops or genuine half-volleys.But it’s only natural that Australia’s spinners don’t have the inch-perfect control of Jadeja and Ashwin on Indian pitches. The margins for error are tiny. Minute errors in line and length don’t leap at you in real time, but they all add up over the course of a series, one flick at a time.

ESPNcricinfo experts Aakash Chopra and Tom Moody put their heads together to figure out the best spinner in T20 cricket

ESPNcricinfo staff31-Oct-20207:37

Moody: Rashid never shirks away from the workload

Aakash Chopra: What is it about Rashid that is so, so special and unique?Tom Moody: Firstly, forget about his bowling as such, (it is) his character. He is an enormously gifted character that loves the contest. He is a real fighter. And when he was selected out of the (2017) auction, that was probably something that wasn’t known. What was known was what we’re seeing quite regularly everytime we watch him bowl – and that is his genius with the ball, his ability to spin the ball sharply, more so into the right-hander and away from the left-hander, but also generate that great deal of pace off the wicket, which is his greatest asset.Chopra: Let’s dive deeper and dissect the craft of Rashid’s legspin because that is unique. A quick bowling action, fairly flat and quick in the air, off the surface as well. But it was felt that he was figured out last season (2019 IPL) when people were just playing him out: “don’t attack him, he can’t get you out”. This season we have seen a different side to Rashid Khan. He’s picking wickets even when people are defending. How has he been able to do it?Moody: As you said, last year, and I think around the world, a lot of people have decided against attacking Rashid Khan, “let’s just preserve wickets and accept that his four overs are going to go for 24, and on a good day, we might get 30 off him”. So they’ve taken that strategy. So they’ve really taken away the ability for him to take wickets with batsmen looking to be positive against him.In the early parts of his career, batsmen were trying to dance down the wicket, hit him down the ground or sweep him or reverse sweep him or give themselves room and try to hit through the off side. And on every occasion… well, certainly more often than not, they were found unstuck because he’s a very, very difficult prospect to face.Rashid Khan sets off in celebration•BCCIAnd one of the main reasons he’s so difficult is because of that speed he gets off the wicket and the fact that the batsmen aren’t reading which way it is turning. He doesn’t turn his legbreak enormously, but he turns it enough. It is mainly that wrong ‘un. And that is his main weapon.One of the reasons he probably is having more wicket-taking success this year is that batsmen, when they’ve come across Sunrisers, have found that there’s been a little bit more pressure at both ends. So, therefore, they can’t just sit on Rashid when they are not scoring as freely as they’d like at the other end. So what they’ve had to do is take a little bit more risk against him. He is obviously a year older and a year smarter. He’s come into this tournament, having played a full Caribbean Premier League. So he’s got a lot of overs under his belt. So he’s ready and prepared.Chopra: The pitches in the UAE are a lot faster off the surface, so you can’t possibly just see him out. Secondly, earlier when he used to come to play the IPL, he would have bowled 12 months of non-stop overs in T20 cricket. And over a period of time, if you have bowled a lot of overs, sometimes that fizz, that zip actually goes away. You want to be accurate, but you are not that accurate because the limbs are tired. Could that be a factor? Could just the faster nature of these pitches as compared to a lot of pitches in India in April and May could that be a factor – people who are defending now, they are not even going against him. He is now conceding like three-and-a-half runs an over in a lot of games, but he’s still picking up two or three wickets.Moody: It is a good point you make about the surfaces being a little bit quicker. And there is probably a little bit more bounce as well at a couple of the stadiums in the UAE. Spinners do relish that extra little bit of bounce. I still feel that the overs that he’s had leading into this tournament in the Caribbean were important. I don’t think anyone can come into the tournament cold and expect to hit the ground running. He’s coming in ready to go. He’s had that rest in quarantine anyway, so freshened up in quarantine.

One of the reasons he probably is having more wicket-taking success this year is that batsmen, when they’ve come across Sunrisers have found that there’s been a little bit more pressure at both ends. So, therefore, they can’t just sit on Rashid when they are not scoring as freely as they’d like at the other end. So what they’ve had to do is take a little bit more risk against himTom Moody, former Sunrrisers’ head coach

Chopra: What is his training procedure, Tom? Is he actually one of those who does sit and analyse the opposition? How does he actually prepare for a game?Moody: Rashid is someone that is very thorough with his training. I wouldn’t say he’s someone that over-analyses the game. He does keep it very simple. He’s got very simple plans, which in a way works to his advantage, because he knows that his strength is this, don’t overcomplicate it and try to bowl three or four different (types of) balls in one over just to confuse the batsman. His good ball on a repeated loop is good enough for 24 balls in a four-over stint.What he does do is he definitely bowls a lot of overs at training. He doesn’t shirk away from the workload. He’s very aware that he needs to maintain his rhythm in his bowling. Yes, he would want to bowl specifically to left- and right-handers, according to who we are playing against. So if you are playing against a side that’s got a heavyweight in their top order of left-handers, for instance, he’ll want to bowl the majority of his overs in training to the left-handed batsmen just so he could formulate his lines and these lengths.He will look at some video, particularly if he hasn’t seen a batsman. But in this day and age, the players know, you know each other inside out, they play against each other at various leagues or on the international stage often enough, they know each other’s strengths and weaknesses.Rashid Khan finished his spell with a double-wicket maiden•BCCIChopra: But that information is not always knowledge and wisdom. He does get taken for runs once in a while. I remember that one game against Kings XI Punjab in Mohali when Chris Gayle just went after him. And that was the first time I saw him getting clobbered in that fashion. How did he actually bounce back in the reverse fixture? How does he come back from fear failure, a rare one?Moody: Yeah, that was a rare one. And it was a space that he hadn’t been in. It was very interesting, actually. He was very reflective of his performance. He didn’t shirk away from analysing and reflecting on that effort. I remember sitting with him for a period of time and discussing it. It was really him that, which was the important thing, came to the conclusion that really the thing that was undoing him was his length to Chris Gayle on that day, it was just probably a foot to two too full.And the harder he tried, the harder he found it to find the right length because he was putting himself under pressure. So instead of just taking a step backwards and taking a deep breath, and just getting his rhythm and finding his right length, he was rushing himself through his overs and therefore presenting the wrong length, which proved to be the right length for Chris Gayle.Chopra: Would it be fair to say that in terms of success formula, length is the critical component: if you pitch too full you get taken for runs, if you pitch too short you don’t pick up those many wickets?Moody: That’s pretty much the formula for any spin bowler, or any bowler, period. But, particularly for Rashid, for him to be in that space where he is a nightmare to face to where he’s someone that you can actually rotate strike if not hit boundaries against, and once he gives that a little bit of freedom it is welcomed by the batsman because they are sitting and waiting for options and opportunities to score. Because, unlike a lot of spinners, when he hits his right lengths, it is very hard to change that length by using your feet because of his speed through the air.A lot of spinners you can use your feet and throw them off their length. But, with Rashid, batsmen have found it very difficult to be able to come down the wicket and put the spinner under pressure with his length. So he’s got that ace up his sleeve always.Chopra: Can people play him as an offspinner? I’m just finding ways to counter him because if you keep playing dot ball after dot ball, eventually you get dismissed trying to go for a big one? Moody: Good luck, just playing him as an offspinner!Chopra In terms of scoring areas, Tom – instead of off side, you are looking to score, say, long-on, midwicket. Robin Uthappa got the better of him one season where he decided he was going downtown and nowhere else?Moody: I remember that clearly too. Robin Uthappa was playing (Rashid) nearly like a straight sweep slog over sort of straight midwicket to midwicket, and he did it did very effectively, as you said. So he was just banking on the ball turning in, but you are talking about a player that is an established and very good player of spin.A lot of batsmen have talked about trying to cover their stumps and play Rashid Khan through mid-on, midwicket, go with the tide of what they think the spin is. And if Rashid does see batsmen look to do that, what he will look to do to counter that is just change his release position at the crease. So he’ll just change the angle of the balls coming down. He may not necessarily change the delivery, but he’ll change the arrival of the delivery. So it may come six inches or a foot wider over the crease than it would have done in the previous six balls.

Bruno Fernandes has for so long been Manchester United’s shining light, often being the man to get themselves out of trouble during the Ruben Amorim tenure.

The Red Devils may have finished in 15th place last campaign, but it didn’t stop the Portuguese international from ending 2024/25 with a total of 37 combined goals and assists.

However, the £200m spending spree during the recent summer window has seen some of the responsibility taken off his shoulders – as seen by the goals scored by Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo against Brighton.

As a result, the 31-year-old has since dropped into a slightly deeper midfield role, resulting in Bruno only registering two goals and one assist from his first nine Premier League outings in 2025/26.

Amorim could be utilising the club captain in such a role to try and bridge the gap to one player who has prematurely offloaded during the tenure of the previous management team.

Man Utd’s mammoth mistake in selling McTominay

To combat their heavy spending in recent years, the United hierarchy have had to offload numerous players from their books to prevent any financial problems.

Midfielder Scott McTominay was one of the players sacrificed by the board, with the Scottish international leaving in a £25m deal to join Napoli in the summer of 2024.

Such a deal was seen as excellent business at the time, with the midfielder often receiving a fair amount of criticism from the supporters over his displays at Old Trafford.

However, he’s taken his career to the next level in Naples, thriving under Antonio Conte’s guidance in 2024/25 as the Italian outfit claimed the Serie A title.

The 28-year-old scored 12 times and registered four assists in Italy’s top-flight, subsequently winning the division’s MVP award, whilst also being nominated for the Balon d’Or.

The former Red Devil has continued his phenomenal form into the current campaign, with his sensational strike against Inter Milan on Saturday securing the club all three points.

His £25m departure now appears to be a huge mistake, but Amorim shouldn’t be worried with the manager already stumbling upon his next version of the Scotsman.

The United star who’s becoming their next McTominay

Whilst Bruno has largely operated in the role vacated by McTominay, numerous other talents have also shared the responsibility at the heart of the United side.

Manuel Ugarte joined a £50m transfer from PSG last summer, with the hierarchy seeing him as the perfect player to fill the void left by the departing academy star.

However, the Uruguayan has subsequently fallen way below the expectations of the fanbase, with Amorim only starting two of the club’s nine Premier League outings in 2025/26.

Kobbie Mainoo was a first-team mainstay before the 40-year-old’s arrival last year, but like Ugarte, he’s found minutes extremely hard to come by within the starting eleven.

The Englishman has failed to start a single game and only appeared for a total of 138 minutes off the bench in England’s top-flight during the current campaign.

The aforementioned duo’s lack of impact is largely due to the performances of Casemiro, with the Brazilian international nailing down a starting role to the surprise of many.

He’s previously been slated by numerous figures over the years, with Jamie Carragher infamously stating ‘the football has left him’ and that he needs to move to Saudi Arabia.

Such a situation is similar to that of McTominay, with the former United star taking his career to unimaginable heights after his own switch out of Manchester.

However, Casemiro has managed to turn his Red Devils career around in recent months and subsequently shut up a lot of his doubters along the way in the process.

The “world-class” star, as dubbed by Gus Poyet, has started seven times in the Premier League this year, registering two goals and an assist within his recent outings.

His latest showing against Brighton was arguably his best of 2025/26, scoring once and teeing up compatriot Cunha for his goal for the Red Devils.

Minutes played

70

Touches

48

Passes completed

25

Passes into final third

7

Tackles made

3

Clearances

1

Interceptions made

2

Recoveries

5

Casemiro’s underlying stats further showcase how impressive he was against the Seagulls, with the 33-year-old having a huge effect at both ends of the football field.

Tallies such as three tackles and five recoveries made highlight his importance without the ball – arguably being the perfect all-round option at the heart of the side to allow Bruno to express himself in attacking areas.

Such a turnaround in form is huge credit to the experienced midfielder, with his recent outings making him one of the club’s most important players at present.

His partnership with Bruno has allowed for the recent impressive form – potentially saving Amorim’s job and allowing him to reach new heights in his tenure.

Forget Cunha & Mbuemo: Man Utd star was the shining light against Brighton

Manchester United secured their third win in a row against Brighton & Hove Albion last night.

ByEthan Lamb Oct 26, 2025

يستعد منتخب مصر الثاني لخوض مباراة قوية أمام الأردن، في المواجهة التي تجمع بينهما في إطار لقاءات بطولة كأس العرب 2025.

ويلتقي منتخب مصر الثاني نظيره الأردن، اليوم، في إطار لقاءات الجولة الثالثة من دور المجموعات ضمن منافسات بطولة كأس العرب.

ويتواجد منتخب مصر الثاني في المجموعة الثالثة في بطولة كأس العرب، رفقة منتخبات الأردن والإمارات والكويت.

بالمواعيد | مواجهات دور الـ 8 من كأس العرب 2025 (محدث باستمرار)

وكان منتخب مصر قد تعادل في الجولة الأولى مع منتخب الكويت، بهدف لكل فريق، ثم تعادل بالنتيجة ذاتها مع الإمارات.

ويشهد التشكيل المتوقع لمنتخب مصر الثاني مفاضلة بين الثنائي محمود حمدي الونش ورجب نبيل في مركز قلب الدفاع، وكذلك هناك حيرة بين مشاركة محمد النني أو عمر السولية بـ خط الوسط. تشكيل منتخب مصر المتوقع أمام الأردن اليوم

حراسة المرمى: محمد بسام.

خط الدفاع: يحيى زكريا وياسين مرعي ومفاضلة بين الونش ورجب نبيل وكريم العراقي.

خط الوسط: أكرم توفيق ومحمد مجدي أفشة ومفاضلة بين النني والسولية.

وفي الهجوم: ميدو جابر ومروان حمدي وإسلام عيسى.

Rob Edwards will be under no illusions about the size of the job ahead of him after his first Premier League match in the dugout for Wolverhampton Wanderers ended in a defeat last weekend.

The Old Gold were beaten 2-0 by Crystal Palace at the Molineux, thanks to goals from Daniel Munoz and Yeremy Pino, and that leaves them bottom of the table with two points after 12 matches.

Edwards needs to find a way to turn results around in the short term, no doubt, but he also has the upcoming January transfer window to make some changes to the squad. One player, of many, who should be replaced is central midfielder Marshall Munetsi.

Why Wolves need to replace Marshall Munetsi

He started in the middle of the park against Crystal Palace on Saturday and won three of his 14 duels in 66 minutes on the pitch, per Sofascore, which shows how lightweight the midfield flop was.

The 29-year-old dud has failed to impress in the Premier League since his move from Stade Reims in February, with poor form in the second half of last season and in the current campaign.

Munetsi lost 51% of his duels and only completed 74% of his passes in the 2024/25 campaign, and has lost 54% of his duels with a dismal 62% pass accuracy this season in the top-flight, per Sofascore.

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These statistics show that the £70k-per-week midfielder has not been reliable enough in or out of possession, which is why Edwards should replace him by swooping for one of his former Middlesbrough stars, Hayden Hackney.

Why Wolves need to sign Hayden Hackney

During Vitor Pereira’s time in charge during the summer transfer window, it was reported that Wolves were willing to pay a fee of around £30m to sign the Boro ace, but a move never materialised.

Now, Edwards must reignite that interest in the January transfer window because the England U21 international could arrive at the club as a big upgrade on Munetsi in the middle of the park, allowing the manager to finally ditch him.

Hackney, who was hailed as a “fearless” talent by U23 scout Antonio Mango, has caught the eye with his performances in the second tier this season and could arrive with a positive mentality that could inject some energy into the currently dull Wolves squad.

As you can see in the table above, the English talent has shown a lot of quality in possession in the middle of the park for Middlesbrough, whilst Munetsi has struggled to make much of an impact with the ball at his feet.

Whilst Hackney has played in the division below the Premier League, the Boro star’s statistics suggest that he does have the potential to come in as an upgrade on the former Ligue 1 midfielder.

The 23-year-old star, who scored five goals for Middlesbrough in the 2024/25 campaign, is also six years younger than Munetsi, 29, which means that he has far more time left ahead of him to develop and improve as a player.

Wolves fans may not want to read this, but Hackney would also be a signing who could be incredibly useful for the club if they do get relegated, because he is a proven Championship star, whilst Munetsi has never played at that level.

Before Gomes: Edwards must sell Wolves star who's made them a "worse side"

This Wolves player has been disappointing this season

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Joe Nuttall

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Therefore, Edwards should push for a reunion with the English gem in January in order to finally ditch Munetsi from the starting line-up, hopefully improving the team in the process.

Everton have now reportedly joined the race to sign Daizen Maeda in the January transfer window after the Japan international made his exit stance clear to Celtic.

The Toffees’ search for a striker is beginning to become an open secret ahead of the winte window. Neither Beto nor Thierno Barry have hit the heights that those in Merseyside were expecting, with the latter yet to even score a goal this season, and they are now reportedly on the hunt for an extra reinforcement.

Everton hatch striker plan as Moyes moves for star with 18 goals this season

The Toffees’ strikers have struggled to convert and they now have a clinical star in their sights.

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Sean Markus Clifford

Nov 9, 2025

On that front, a number of names have already been mentioned as potential options. including Ivan Toney and Manchester United’s Joshua Zirkzee. There is a belief that the former will have to complete a return to Europe if he wants to earn a place in Thomas Tuchel’s England squad for the 2026 World Cup. Whether that will see Everton make their move remains to be seen, however.

Zirkzee would also be an interesting choice. The Dutchman has lost his place at Man United ever since the arrivals of Bryan Mbeumo, Matheus Cunha and Benjamin Sesko and now needs a similar revival to the one that Jack Grealish is currently enjoying.

Whether he’d solve their goalscoring problems is another question, though. The forward is more of a false nine than an out-and-out goalscorer, which suggests that he wouldn’t solve David Moyes’ current issue.

The Toffees may not necessarily turn to Premier League experience in 2026 either, with Maeda now also an option.

Everton join race to sign Maeda

As reported by TeamTalk, The Friedkin Group and Everton are now racing to sign Maeda after he told Celtic that he wants to leave the club in 2026. The forward was denied a move in the summer, much to his frustration, but has now told the Bhoys that he’s ready to complete an exit away from Glasgow.

Sending the Premier League on high alert, Everton, Brentford, Leeds United, Wolverhampton Wanderers and West Ham United have all reportedly formed the early race to secure Maeda’s signature, which is available for just £15m.

Although the versatile forward has struggled for goals so far this season – scoring just four goals in 17 games – it’s worth taking Celtic’s own struggles into accout and looking back to just how impressive Maeda was last season.

The 28-year-old scored 33 goals in all competitions last time out and eared justified praised from former manager Brendan Rodgers, who said: “If you are a young player coming through and want to give your honesty to the game, work, intensity and everything.

“No cheating, no nothing – even away at St Mirren, the penalty we got last week he tried to stay on his feet – he’s so honest to the game. Natural isn’t it? He’s been absolutely brilliant.”

Everton now exploring James Ward-Prowse move with Janaury exit expected

A surprise guest was introduced over the Oakland Coliseum loudspeakers on Thursday to sing the national anthem for the Oakland Athletics' final home game in the East Bay—former AL Cy Young winner Barry Zito.

Zito, who pitched for the A's from 2000 to '06 and rejoined the club for three appearances in '15, sang "The Star Spangled Banner" in front of a sold-out crowd of 46,889 fans.

After 57 years in the Oakland Coliseum, the A's will play their home games at Sutter Health Park, the home of the Triple-A Sacramento River Cats, in California's capital city for the next three seasons as they attempt to relocate the franchise to Las Vegas by 2028.

"You can't prepare for something like this," Zito said of the final Coliseum game on the NBC Sports California broadcast. " … I had to be a part of this. This is just so special. I love seeing all the fans and all the green and gold, man."

Zito's singing talent didn't come out of nowhere. He has a long history as a musician, as he began playing guitar in the minor leagues and played with his sister Sally's band during each offseason from 2000 to '07. After he retired from baseball in 2015, Zito released his first EP in 2017 and appeared on season three of on Fox.

Although he has plenty of talent on the microphone, Zito was even better on the mound. Across 15 seasons, Zito was a three-time All-Star and logged a 165–143 record and 4.04 ERA. He was named the 2002 AL Cy Young winner after registering a 23–5 record, 2.75 ERA and 182 strikeouts in 35 starts, leading the "Moneyball A's" to an AL West division title.

Hetmyer hit Fabian Allen for five sixes in an over, while Motie followed figures of 3 for 9 with 19 runs in the chase

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Jul-2025Shimron Hetmyer went 6, 6, 6, 6, 2, 6 off Fabian Allen to pump life into Guyana Amazon Warriors’ (GAW) chase of 126 against Hobart Hurricanes (HH), as Amazon Warriors warmed up for the GSL final by beating Hurricanes by four wickets. From 43 for 3 after nine overs in pursuit of 126, Amazon Warriors won with more than three overs to spare as Hetmyer crashed 39 off just ten balls – including another six, off Usama Mir.But the win was set up by Gudakesh Motie’s economical spell of 3 for 9, and Moeen Ali’s twin strikes in the second over of the Hurricanes innings, after they elected to bat first. Moeen got Bhanuka Rajapaksa and Jake Doran within three deliveries to reduce Hurricanes to 14 for 2.Dwaine Pretorius then bowled Ben McDermott for 21 off nine balls to make it 28 for 3 in the third over, which had begun with McDermott smashing Pretorius for three boundaries in a row. Despite the three early wickets, though, Hobart didn’t take a step back. Nikhil Chaudhary and Macalister Wright added 29 runs in the second half of the powerplay, including three fours and a six.But Amazon Warriors introduced Motie in the seventh over, and there was a turnaround. Motie had Chaudhary stumped first ball for 21, and trapped Wright in front for 16 off his fourth ball. What was 65 for 3 became 77 for 6 when Imran Tahir cleaned Odean Smith up. Mohammad Nabi and Allen staged another brief recovery with a 35-run stand, but Tahir and Motie cleaned the tail up to bowl Hurricanes out for 125.In reply, Amazon Warriors had their share of worries as well. They were 29 for 2 after seven overs, as Nabi, Billy Stanlake, Chaudhary and Usama Mir kept a lid on the scoring. Stanlake had bowled Johnson Charles for 8 in the first over while Nabi got Rahmanullah Gurbaz lbw for 7 in the fourth.Moeen, who had walked in at No. 4, was struggling to get going, with only eight runs coming off his first 17 deliveries. But he ended the eighth over by swinging Nabi for a six. Next over, Mir got Evin Lewis for 7, and with GAW three down and stuck at 43 in nine overs, it looked like HH would give tough competition despite a small total to defend.But Hetmyer’s six-laden cameo provided a dramatic twist. Although Stanlake had Sherfane Rutherford caught for 3 after Hetmyer fell to Mir, Motie’s 19 off 13 balls and Moeen’s patient 30* from 36 deliveries took Amazon Warriors home.