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Micky van de Ven has opened up on the departure of Ange Postecoglou just weeks after Tottenham won the Europa League.

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• Postecoglou sacked due to Premier League form
• Players believed to be unhappy at decision
• Van de Ven opens up on 'strange' decision

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• WHAT HAPPENED?

  Despite ending their 17-year wait for silverware, Postecoglou was dismissed by chairman Daniel Levy less than three weeks after winning the Europa League in Bilbao. The Australian head coach did the unthinkable but sacrificed the club's Premier League campaign for the run in Europe.

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  THE BIGGER PICTURE

  After his dismissal, reports emerged that several Spurs players were unhappy at the decision, with Postecoglou creating a tight-knit dressing room atmosphere. Nearly the entire squad took to social media in thanks for the former Celtic boss, and now Van de Ven has spoken out on international duty.

• WHAT VAN DE VEN SAID

  Speaking to Voetbal Zone after scoring his first goal for the Netherlands in an 8-0 win over Malta, Van de Ven said: "That was ultimately a choice from the club. We, as players, have little to say about that.

  "Of course, he is the first coach in a long time who has won a trophy has had success at Spurs. So if you look at it that way, it is of course a strange choice.

  "It is a choice from the club about which we have little to say, so we will see what happens now. Of course, we see some rumours about the Brentford head coach [Frank], who it will probably be. So yes, a choice from the club about which we have little to say.

  "I think many of the players got along with [Postecoglou] well. And of course, what I say, he is the first coach who has brought success to Spurs in a long time. That also shows that he has a certain quality. That also means that he has a winning mentality. 100 per cent.

  "From that, you would of course say that it is strange that he was fired. What we have shown in the Premier League is, of course, unacceptable. That would, of course, have multiple factors, but that would not only have been the coach."

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  WHAT NEXT?

  Thomas Frank is on the verge of being named as Postecoglou's replacement but the Brentford head coach may have some damage control to manage on his arrival in North London. Frank will however have a chance to immediately win silverware when Spurs face Champions League winners Paris Saint-Germain in the Super Cup on August 13.

“There’s a lot of good that can come from it if guys have the right attitude,” says former England captain

Vithushan Ehantharajah09-May-2024

Joe Root was positive about using the Kookaburra ball in county cricket•Getty Images

Joe Root has backed the use of the Kookaburra ball in the County Championship, believing it can help upskill domestic cricketers and bridge the gap to Test cricket.The Australian-made ball was used for the first two rounds of the Championship season, in which there were 17 draws across 18 matches. Though a large part of that was down to rain – Durham vs Hampshire and Derbyshire vs Gloucestershire were abandoned without a ball bowled – players complained the flatter seam was ineffective on damp, soft pitches and that the ball lost its shape quickly, compared to the regular Dukes.Those first two sets of fixtures saw a wicket fall every 73.7 balls, compared to 54.9 balls in the first two rounds of 2023. Among a large volume of runs was more playing time for spinners, with Surrey legspinner Cameron Steel topping the wicket-taker charts. The Kookaburra will return for another two rounds in August and September, when better weather should help produce firmer surfaces and lend itself to a fairer assessment.Related

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The Kookaburra trial, one of the recommendations from Andrew Strauss’ high-performance review to encourage fast bowlers and spinners, began in 2023. While panned in some quarters – Surrey director of cricket Alec Stewart regards the experiment as “the worst decision ever” – England men’s managing director Rob Key has suggested the Kookaburra could replace the Dukes as the domestic ball of choice.Root, who recently completed a five-game stint with Yorkshire – his first County Championship appearances since 2022 – has plenty of experience with the Kookaburra overseas, particularly in Australia, and sees the benefit of its use in England, not just for the Test side.”I don’t think it’s all about being able to use the Kookaburra ball when you go to Australia or South Africa,” Root said. “I think it’s about finding ways of taking wickets when nothing’s in your favour – and that’s a great skill.””I guess you could look at it and think: ‘there’s been a load of draws’ but also you could think: ‘well, this is an opportunity to upskill’ as well. ‘How am I going to take wickets with this ball in this format on these kinds of pitches? How can I become better?'”I think there’s a lot of good that can come from it if guys have the right attitude.”Root cited England’s progression in limited-overs cricket since 2015 as something that could be replicated by regular use of the Kookaburra. The evolution under Eoin Morgan, which saw ODI and T20I World Cup success in 2019 and 2022 respectively, trickled down and has resulted in a pool of high-calibre white-ball cricketers, many of whom missed out on selection for next month’s T20 World Cup.”Look at the progression and the development in white-ball cricket in this country over a five-year period. Look at the amount of players that we’ve got that can do special things. Look how quickly that transition has been made through the mindset shift in white-ball cricket in our country. I think the same thing can happen in red-ball cricket.”You’ve got to be open minded enough and understand that you might have to go through a little bit of pain to get there.”If we want to keep upskilling and getting the standard as close to Test cricket as we can, it’s not going to happen overnight. But in five, six, seven years’ time, if we can bridge that gap then that transition for guys coming into Test cricket will be a lot smaller.”

CSK captain also admits lack of wickets in the powerplay has been an area of concern for his side this season

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Apr-2024Chennai Super Kings suffered their third loss in seven games going down to Lucknow Super Giants by eight wickets at the Ekana Stadium on Friday, their total of 176 not stretching the opposition. Speaking after the game, CSK captain Ruturaj Gaikwad agreed they were short on runs – by about 10-15, he said – and put it down to their middle-overs slowdown.”I know we finished off really well – couldn’t have asked for more – but I think after the powerplay, we couldn’t just kick off from the start we got until the 14th or 15th over,” Gaikwad said. “We kept losing wickets at regular intervals. I think [we were] 10-15 runs short.”After getting to 51 for 2 in the powerplay, CSK managed only 62 runs in the ten overs after that, losing four wickets along the way. That included a period where they went 34 balls without hitting a boundary, with one in the tenth over followed by another only in the 16th. Five out of the ten middle overs were bowled by LSG’s spinners Ravi Bishnoi and Krunal Pandya. Those went for only 29 runs, and Pandya bowled a well-set Ajinkya Rahane for 36 off 24 balls and had CSK’S Impact Sub Sameer Rizvi stumped for 1.Related

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LSG captain KL Rahul said that it was a pre-planned strategy from his side to use a mix of pace and spin in the middle overs to not allow the opposition batters to get set against “one type of bowling”.”It depends on the kind of wicket we are playing on, and the kind of batters there are [in the opposition],” Rahul said. “Obviously, there’s a bit of time we spend on doing homework, [and] talking about tactics and strategies against the opposition. And yeah, that was one of our strategies: to use pace, use spin, and make sure that they don’t get settled into playing one type of bowling. So [I] tried to mix it around.”And I think credit goes to the bowlers: I can do all the changing, but if they don’t execute, then all of us look stupid as a team. They executed really well. We work really hard at training, and it’s good to see that the team is sticking to the plans.”Despite MS Dhoni thumping 28 not out off only nine balls and Moeen Ali hitting 30 from 20 including three successive sixes in the 18th to raise the tempo at the death, and Ravindra Jadeja playing anchor to hit 57 not out off 40, CSK’s total of 176 was chased down with an over to spare. Gaikwad felt that the pitch was “slightly difficult” to score on in the first innings, and that the presence of the Impact Player meant teams need to have “maybe 20 runs extra”.”Even on these kind of pitches – I felt it was a sluggish one to start off with, with dew coming later [and the pitch] getting better – I still feel 180-190 would have been a good score,” he said.Gaikwad also said that CSK needed to strike more with the ball in the powerplay. Tonight, LSG’s openers Rahul and Quinton de Kock did not let them do that, putting on 134 in 15 overs. Overall this season, CSK have taken just seven wickets in the first six overs, which is the second-least by any side behind RCB. Their bowling average of 56.85 in that phase is also the second-worst.”[That] is the one area where we would like to improve going forward,” Gaikwad said. “It really puts the opposition on the back foot if we get wickets in the powerplay – especially when we are about ten runs short – and definitely that is one area we need to work on.”CSK play LSG again on Tuesday, but this time back home in Chennai.

They might not have won anything, but Mauricio Pochettino’s peak Tottenham Hotspur team was packed with talent.

The North Londoners were blessed with some truly sensational players from front to back during that period.

Harry Kane, Son Heung-min and Dele Alli were scoring for fun, Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld created one of the best defensive pairings in Europe, and Hugo Lloris was, more often than not, a rock at the back.

However, perhaps the most underrated player – among non-Spurs fans – of them all from that period was the incredible Mousa Dembélé, and it looks as if Ange Postecoglou may have just uncovered his own version of the Belgian.

Mousa Dembélé's Spurs career

In the summer of 2012, after spending just over two seasons with West London side Fulham, Dembélé completed a £15m move to Spurs.

The former AZ Alkmaar star made an instant impact in North London, scoring on his debut – against Norwich City – and ending his first campaign at the club with 42 appearances across all competitions.

Already an established part of the first team, the Belgian “monster,” as dubbed by Eric Dier, took yet another step forward when Pochettino joined the club in May 2014.

Under the Argentine’s leadership, the Antwerp-born dynamo turned into one of the very best central midfielders in the Premier League, someone capable of winning the ball in his own half and carrying it all the way up the pitch for someone else to finish.

His immense abilities weren’t lost on his teammates or manager either, with Kyle Walker describing him as “the best player I’ve ever seen play football” and Pochettino claiming that he was a footballing “genius.”

In all, the 37-year-old made 249 appearances for the Lilywhites, scoring ten goals and providing ten assists, before moving to the Chinese Super League in January 2019 and retiring four years later.

Dembélé was an utterly sublime footballer, and while the club haven’t been able to replace him, Postecoglou may have just stumbled upon the club’s next version of the Belgian.

Appearances

249

Starts

181

Minutes

16115′

Goals

10

Assists

10

Goal Involvements per Match

0.08

Minutes per Goal Involvement

805.75

Spurs' next Dembélé

Now, we are aware that such a label can be both a blessing and a curse for players, but we reckon Lucas Bergvall has more than enough talent to make good on it.

The young midfielder was signed from Swedish outfit Djurgårdens for around £8.5m last winter but didn’t officially join the squad until last summer, and while it took him some time to get up to speed in the first team, he has recently been one of the club’s most impressive players.

Like Dembélé, the young Swede is seemingly a natural in a few positions in midfield, making 34 appearances in central midfield, 16 in attacking midfield and 13 in defensive midfield.

Moreover, while each role requires something a little different from the 19-year-old, be that a dangerous final ball from the ten position or a brilliant interception at the base of midfield, he’s shown one quality that the Belgian star was known for: ball-carrying.

According to FBref, the “generational” talent, as dubbed by journalist Mitch Fretton, sits in the top 3% of midfielders in the Premier League this season for total carrying distance, the top 5% for successful take-ons, the top 7% for progressive carrying distance, the top 10% for carries and more, all per 90.

Finally, while the “uber-complete” teenage phenom, as dubbed by analyst Ben Mattinson, certainly has what it takes to play in the number ten position in the future, it does seem like Postecoglu and Co will be able to get more out of his incredible skillset by playing him in the middle of the park, where Dembélé used to boss games.

Ultimately, while he’s still incredibly young, and a lot could happen over the coming years, it looks like Spurs might just have their next genuinely great central midfielder in Bergvall.

Leading candidate to replace Ange: Spurs want "special" Iraola alternative

The experienced manager could be just what Spurs need.

ByJack Salveson Holmes Mar 19, 2025

رد فينيسيوس جونيور نجم ريال مدريد على منتقديه بأسلوب رائع خلال الفوز بهدفين لهدف ضد ريال مايوركا على ملعب سانتياجو برنابيو في الدوري الاسباني لكرة القدم.

وكان فينيسيوس قد جلس على مقاعد البدلاء في وقت سابق، قبل أن يعود ويقدم أداء رائعًا ويتسبب في مشاكل مستمرة لدفاع ريال مايوركا.

وإلى جانب تألق فينيسيوس الهجومي فقد أبهر الجميع بأدائه بدون كرة حيث واصل الركض والضغط بقوة، وهذا الأمر لطالما كان ينادي به تشابي ألونسو جميع لاعبيه في الخط الهجومي.

وحرص ألونسو بعد المباراة على تسليط الضوء على جهود فينيسيوس في غرفة الملابس ووفقاً لصحيفة “ديفينسا سنترال”: “إذا لعبت بهذه الطريقة، ملتزماً دفاعياً وحاسماً هجومياً، فأنت لا تقهر”.

اقرأ أيضاً.. رجل مباراة ريال مدريد ومايوركا في الدوري الإسباني

وقد غادر البرازيلي أمس الملعب مبتسماً حيث يدرك أنه استعاد ثقة مدربه الكاملة، وسيستفيد اللاعب من فترة التوقف الدولي إذ لن ينضم إلى تشكيل المنتخب في تصفيات كأس العالم.

ونشرت الصحيفة الإسبانية أيضاً أن فلورنتينو بيريز رئيس ريال مدريد حرص على التوجه لغرفة خلع الملابس وقد أشاد بالوافد الجديد ألفارو كاريراس وأدائه في مباراة أمس.

ووصف بيريز مساهمات كاريراس في دفاع ريال مدريد بأنها كانت حاسمة، وبشكل خاص وجه لتشابي ألونسو رسالة عن الظهير الأيسر بعد صافرة النهاية: “إنه لاعب رائع، لقد أنقذ المباراة بفضل مساهماته الحاسمة”.

MatériaMais Notícias

da betano casino： Lesionado no dia 2 de fevereiro por conta de um problema nos ligamentos do tornozelo direito, Carlos Alberto retornou aos gramados no último sábado, no Mané Garrincha, em Brasília. O atacante entrou em campo aos 15 minutos do segundo tempo para dar velocidade ao setor ofensivo, mas não conseguiu impedir a vitória do Flamengo em cima do Botafogo por 1 a 0.

Apesar da derrota no clássico pelo Carioca, Carlos Alberto mostrou muita dedicação e personalidade. O jogador vinha sendo um dos destaques da equipe alvinegra antes da contusão e volta para ser opção em um setor considerado “carente”.

+Com Marcelo no Fluminense, Brasileirão chega a 23 jogadores que já disputaram Copa do Mundo

RelacionadasFora de CampoMauro Cezar critica postura do Botafogo em derrota para o Flamengo: ‘Terapia coletiva para essa gente’Fora de Campo27/02/2023BotafogoPartida entre Botafogo e Portuguesa, pela última rodada da Taça Guanabara, muda de localBotafogo26/02/2023BotafogoLuís Castro admite preocupação com fortes dores de Patrick de Paula em derrota do BotafogoBotafogo26/02/2023

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A ponta direita vem sendo uma das principais preocupações dos torcedores. Lucas Piazon e Gustavo Sauer têm sido utilizados na posição, mas ambos não estão conseguindo desempenhar atuações constantes neste começo de temporada.

O Botafogo busca um atacante no mercado e chegou a procurar nomes do futebol europeu. Os dirigentes demonstraram interesse em jogadores como Facundo Pellistri e Edigar Junio, mas as negociações não avançaram.

Carlos Alberto é jovem e conta com apoio de boa parte da torcida. O jogador tem apenas 20 anos e chegou ao Glorioso no início deste ano após boas atuações no América-MG. O atleta está emprestado até dezembro deste ano.

A tendência é que ele seja utilizado por Luís Castro nos próximos jogos e ganhe respaldo do clube para se desenvolver e amadurecer. O atacante mostrou muita personalidade nas partidas que atuou e retorna para ser um reforço importante ao longo da temporada.

O Glorioso entra em campo na próxima quinta-feira, diante do Sergipe, às 20h, fora de casa, pela terceira fase da Copa do Brasil. O time de Luís Castro precisa apenas de um empate para se classificar para próxima fase da competição. Relembre a vez que Botafogo e Sergipe se enfrentaram na Copa do Brasil.

da mrbet： Wolverhampton Wanderers are now eyeing a move to sign an “excellent” soon to be free agent ahead of their former manager Bruno Lage, who is now in charge of Benfica.

Wolves prepare for summer as Semedo exit links heat up

da jogodeouro： As Wolves prepare for their Premier League game against Everton on Saturday, manager Vitor Pereira has received some good news, as according to Molineux News, Rodrigo Gomes has now returned to training and could be in contention for the game against the Toffees.

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He could ease their Cunha blow…

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The Portuguese winger has missed the last four games in all competitions, including the defeat to AFC Bournemouth last time out, but his return comes at a crucial time for Wolves, as talisman Matheus Cunha begins his suspension.

Away from injury news, it has also emerged this week that Portuguese giants Benfica are set to advance talks over signing defender Nelson Semedo on a free transfer. The Portuguese will become a free agent at the end of the season, and given he has yet to sign a new deal, Lage has his eye on reuniting with the full-back in Portugal.

Should Semedo leave, it will put an end to five years at Molineux, after joining in 2020 from Barcelona.

Wolves eye move to sign £120k-p/w player ahead of Benfica

While Lage has his eyes set on signing a player from the Premier League side, according to Caught Offside, Wolves are looking to beat Lage and Benfica to the signing of defender Victor Lindelof, who is expected to become a free agent.

The Manchester United player is coming to the end of his contract at Old Trafford, and with no talks being held over a new deal, it is looking likely he will leave at the end of this season. That has alerted several clubs from England and abroad, with Wolves one side interested in a deal. But they do face competition from Benfica, who Lindelof played for before joining the Red Devils, as they want him to replace Nicolas Otamendi in defence.

Lindelof, who has been described as “excellent” in the past by Manchester Evening News’ Samuel Luckhurst, has been at Old Trafford for eight seasons, during which he has won the League Cup and FA Cup. The Sweden international featured heavily in his first couple of seasons under José Mourinho and then Ole Gunnar Solskjær, but in the last two or three seasons he has become more of a rotational player.

Victor Lindelof’s Premier League stats

Apps

184

Goals

4

Assists

5

Despite the 30-year-old having a lack of minutes on the pitch this season, he could be a decent free signing for Wolves. Lindelof would bring viable Premier League and European experience as well as being a defender who is comfortable coming out from the back with the ball. The defender is on £120,000 a week at United, so he would be an expensive pick up, but given he is a free agent, they could afford to bite the bullet somewhat on wages.

“We’re open and honest to say that we’re not getting what we would like out of the powerplay as yet, but we’re certainly very happy with other phases of our game”

Shashank Kishore09-Oct-2023Grant Bradburn, the Pakistan head coach, acknowledged their powerplay batting hasn’t clicked yet in India, but it’s something the team isn’t losing sleep over just yet.Much of those top order questions stem from Fakhar Zaman’s indifferent form. He has a highest of 33 in 11 innings since the unbeaten 180 he made against New Zealand in April. The team management insists they’re keeping all options open for the Sri Lanka match without giving away much.At training, Abdullah Shafique was among the first to stride out to the nets with Babar Azam a few kilometres down the road from Rajiv Gandhi Stadium. Whether that’s a hint of them already looking at a change, only time will tell.”We’re well aware that the first phase of our batting is not clicking as yet, which we think is a good thing, in a way, because we have full trust in all of the guys who are capable at batting within the powerplay,” Bradburn said. “And they’ve done it before. Over perhaps the last period between World Cups, the top three have scored the majority of our runs, which maybe is detrimental to other parts of our game.Related

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“So, look, we’ve got full faith in our top order. They will click at some stage. And we’re open and honest to say that we’re not getting what we would like out of the powerplay as yet. But we’re certainly very happy with other phases of our game which have kicked into gear and did enough the other night to get over the line and create a W, create two points for us coming out of that dressing room which was the ultimate goal.”Bradburn is big on team culture. Having already been a part of this group as a fielding coach under Mickey Arthur until June 2020, he’s had a bird’s eye view of the dynamics within the team. It also helped that he worked with a lot of the younger players during his short stint as head of at PCB’s High-Performance Coaching until 2021.One of the areas Bradburn touched upon was giving players what they want at training instead of laying down a set of rules for the group to follow. It’s perhaps a sign of them putting this into practice that a few key players like Imam-ul-Haq, Shaheen Afridi and Mohammad Rizwan opted to rest at the hotel instead of pushing themselves at training on match eve.”Our full trust is with our players in terms of understanding exactly what they need,” Bradburn said. “Especially the day before a game, to top off their training, to top up their training rather, and just prepare themselves mentally and physically to put in what we want on the park, which is commanding performances.”We want our players to produce impact performances. It’s not about them individually anymore. It’s about us as a team. It’s about us extracting another two points. And that’s our sole mission. We put full faith in the players to know exactly what they need to do to prepare. And some have chosen to prepare in other ways other than taking more energy out of their bodies today. From a coaching point of view, I’m very, very happy with that.”That said, Bradburn also emphasised on the need to move away from “comfort training” – essentially long net sessions involving bowling or hitting balls as against working on specific areas. Like Saud Shakeel did prior to their opening game, of working on shortening his backswing to give himself a split-second more against fast bowling (LINK Saud Shakeel post-match piece).Bradburn believes team director Mickey Arthur, who was with Sri Lanka as recent as November 2021, is Pakistan’s “secret weapon”•Getty Images

“Early on, from our training point of view there was lots of energy and excitement to get the pads on, to get into the nets and to get into action on Indian soil,” Bradburn said. “The facilities here are excellent so everyone’s been wanting to train. But as a coaching group of course we’ve got to balance that because number one – we want our tanks full of energy for game day. And we’re trying to wean our players off from comfort training and we want them really to have all aspects of their training to be done with purpose in relation to their clear individual roles and our clear game roles.”On the strategy front, Bradburn talked up team director Mickey Arthur’s intel on the Sri Lankan team, having worked with them until as recently as November 2021. Bradburn was all about the markers they’d taken from their most-recent experience of having lost an agonisingly tight game off the last ball that cost them a berth in the Asia Cup final.There was no talk of revenge; just simple acknowledgement of what they needed to do better. “Yeah, look, we’re really looking forward to playing Sri Lanka,” he said. “They’re a team that we’ve become familiar with over recent times, obviously with the Asia Cup, and we know well that they have had the upper hand on us over the last year in white-ball cricket.”But we know their players very, very well. We have a secret weapon, if you like, in Mickey Arthur, who has coached them before. So, in our scouting meetings this morning and our video meetings this morning, Mickey was a very, very handy addition to those meetings to be able to add in some intricate points around their batters and bowlers.”We’ve worked hard on gaining some absolute crystal clarity around what we’re trying to do as a unit to win games of cricket, what the process of that is, what the little battles are along the way to win. And together with that, we’ve also worked very, very hard on giving each of our players absolute clarity of their individual roles within that. So, it’s now not about individuals, it’s now about the group and I’m really excited just sensing that this group is starting to come together really nicely, not only on the park, not only in training, but just as a group.”

Manchester United are now involved in a sensational transfer battle with Real Madrid for the signing of a “special” talent from Madrid’s biggest rivals, according to a new report.

Man Utd injury news

The Red Devils ended their losing streak in the Premier League after coming from two goals down to rescue a point at Goodison Park against Everton on Saturday lunchtime. The result doesn’t do much for United in the league, but Ruben Amorim will have been pleased to see his side show some fight and desire to get back into the game.

Amorim suffers injury scare as £135k-p/w Man Utd ace set to undergo test

United and Amorim are sweating on the fitness of one key player ahead of their game against Ipswich Town.

ByBrett Worthington Feb 24, 2025

However, it wasn’t all good news for the Portuguese as it’s been revealed that Noussair Mazraoui picked up a knee injury in the draw and is set to undergo tests. The defender seemed to have a problem in the second half, and he was replaced after 70 minutes by Leny Yoro. He is now set to be assessed before a decision can be made as to whether he can feature against Ipswich Town on Wednesday evening.

United have already struggled with injuries in recent weeks, with Amad Diallo being ruled out for the rest of the season, along with Lisandro Martínez. Midfielder Kobbie Mainoo is set to miss the next few weeks and there is still no sign of Mason Mount or Luke Shaw returning to the matchday squad.

Man Utd set to battle Real Madrid for the signing of £26k-p/w gem

As Amorim tries to keep as many players fit as possible, INEOS are already turning their attention to the summer, as according to Spanish media reports, relayed by 90min, Man United have made contact with agent Jorge Mendes over the possibility of signing Lamine Yamal from FC Barcelona.

The report states that United, along with Liverpool, Real Madrid and other European heavyweights, have made enquiries over the availability of the young sensation.

Barcelona’s ongoing financial issues mean they will be looking to sell players in the summer, and while they will of course not want to lose Yamal, there is no doubting he would bring in a massive cash pile for the Catalans to get on the right side of FFP.

The Red Devils, Man City and Liverpool are said to be putting the most pressure on Mendes, but the report adds that all “big clubs” would be looking to strike a deal. Paris Saint-Germain are also interested in signing Yamal as they continue their search to replace Kylian Mbappe.

Real Madrid are the surprise name to be mentioned, given their links to Barca, but they have contacted Mendes over a possible deal. While Mendes has reportedly reacted negatively to Madrid’s interest, there has been no response to the interest from the Premier League or PSG.

Apps

22

Starts

20

Goals

5

xG

5.91

Shots per game

3.5

Assists

11

xG

5.93

Big chances created

19

Key passes

1.8

Touches per game

58.4

Yamal is under contract at Barca until the summer of 2026, but his earnings at the club, which see him earn €32,115 a week (£26,594), are restricted as he doesn’t turn 18 until July. The Barca forward has significantly impressed since breaking into the first team, with midfielder Frenkie De Jong stating Yamal has “something special”.