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Have West Ham United reinvested the money that they gained from selling Declan Rice to Arsenal in 2023 well? They made over £100m from that sale, and whilst they have signed plenty of big-name players since then, including the now-departed Mohammed Kudus and Lucas Paqueta, they have yet to have a better season than when Rice was in their midfield.

Of course, losing your captain to a London rival is never going to be an easy pill to swallow. However, they have spent money on two midfielders since his departure, namely Edson Alvarez and James Ward-Prowse, and signed Guido Rodriguez for free and Kalvin Phillips on a brief loan.

Yet, there still feels like a Rice-shaped hole in the midfield for the Hammers. Perhaps that will change this summer.

West Ham’s latest midfield target

It has certainly been a frustrating time for the Hammers when it comes to replacing their captain, and an England starter. Rice’s influence in the middle of the park has certainly been missed as they slowly slide down the table.

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However, a report from Turin-based newspaper Tuttosport, via Sport Witness, suggests that the Hammers may have found the man to finally replace Rice, in the form of Juventus midfielder Douglas Luiz. The report states that the Hammers have actually made a loan bid with an option to buy the Brazilian.

Indeed, the option to buy the 27-year-old could become obligatory if certain conditions are met. Luiz, who earns £138k-per-week according to Capology, would cost the Hammers £8.6m ahead of the loan.

They’d then need to pay a further £26m if he ends up moving to the London Stadium permanently.

Why Luiz would be a good signing

Despite a tough campaign for Juve in the 2024/25 season, with the midfielder constantly out of favour under a couple of managers, his quality is undeniable. He has already had success in the Premier League with Aston Villa.

His single season playing for the Old Lady so far certainly did not go to plan. He only made 27 appearances last term in all competitions, without scoring or assisting. The former Villa star notched up just 877 minutes, the equivalent of only 9.7 full 90-minute games.

Despite the outrageously low number of minutes played for Juve to date, Luiz certainly has the mettle to play in the Premier League. He racked up 204 Villa appearances, scoring 22 goals and registering 24 assists in that time. Statman Dave described him as a midfield “engine”, which is certainly what the Hammers are looking for.

Stepping into the shoes of Rice at the London Stadium will not be an easy task for Luiz. Let’s not forget just how much of an iconic figure the former Hammers captain is at the club.

He lifted the Conference League as captain in 2022/23, just weeks before he left.

In total, the London-born midfielder played 245 times for the East Londoners, scoring 15 goals, including this solo effort in their run to the Conference League final. Chelsea and England legend John Terry described him as “the best in his position in world football” back in 2021.

So, for former winger turned pundit Jermaine Pennant to claim that Luiz “can do everything that Rice can do and better” shows just how good of a midfielder he is. Indeed, there are stats which back up this bold claim from the former Liverpool winger.

Looking at numbers on FBref from 2023/24, Luiz’s last season in the Premier League, there are some standout stats. For example, that season he averaged 5.53 ball recoveries per 90 minutes, compared to 4.97 each game from Rice, while providing more of an impact in terms of goal contributions.

Goals and assists

0.42

0.35

Pass accuracy

85.7%

83.4%

Passes into penalty area

1.17

1.11

Blocks

0.96

0.86

Ball recoveries

5.53

4.97

Signing Luiz on a loan deal with an option to buy him could be the dream move for West Ham. He is proven in the Premier League, and perhaps better, whisper it quietly, than Rice, a player they have struggled to replace over the last two years.

This relatively risk-free move could be ideal for the Hammers to help strengthen in midfield and climb back up the table.

Dream Kudus replacement: West Ham open talks to sign "special" £30m star

West Ham United can soften the blow of Mohammed Kudus leaving by signing this £30m star.

ByKelan Sarson Jul 15, 2025

It’s already been a busy summer at Celtic, so how many more signings will they make?

On Friday, Benjamin Nygren was presented at Parkhead, arriving from Nordsjælland for a reported fee of £1.3m.

He is the club’s third summer edition, after Ross Doohan and Kieran Tierney, but are the Hoops in the market for another full-back, one that Nygren would enjoy playing alongside?

Celtic's left-back latest

Greg Taylor’s contract at Celtic officially expires on Tuesday, and his six-year stay in Glasgow will come to an end, with Fabrizio Romano reporting that he has ‘agreed’ to join Greek Super League side PAOK Thessaloniki on a Bosman.

During his time at the club, Taylor made 216 appearances, 199 of which were starts, and was the undisputed first-choice left-back the vast majority of the time.

Taylor arrived from Kilmarnock to replace Tierney in 2019, the inverse is the case this time round but, with the returning hero infamously injury-prone, Brendan Rodgers will need a more than competent deputy.

Thus, as reported by Mark Pirie of the Daily Record, Keita Kosugi – who is valued at £2m by Football Transfers – is their first-choice target, with Celtic touted to sign him.

Sportbladet have previously documented Paris Saint-Germain’s interest in the full-back, while Djurgården’s sporting director Bosse Andersson told the same Swedish outlet that Kosugi will only be allowed to leave for “quite a lot of money”.

Nevertheless, this looks like a deal Celtic could get done.

How Keita Kosugi would improve Celtic

Just 19 years old, Kosugi joined Djurgården in March 2024, following a successful trial with the Stockholm-based side, and these are his statistics for the club so far.

Appearances

45

Starts

42

Minutes

3,708

Goals

5

Assists

2

Conference League starts

16

Conference League goals

2

As the table outlines, from the moment he arrived, the Japanese teenager has been a first-choice starter for Djurgården, a key figure in the team that reached last season’s Conference League semi-finals, scoring against Víkingur Reykjavík and Rapid Wien en route.

Scout Elijah Michiels describes his performances as “excellent”, praising his “crossing abilities….great overlapping runs and fast acceleration”.

So, let’s take a look at his statistics from last year’s Conference League.

Minutes

987

14th

Completed passes

403

46th

Progressive carries

23

28th

Touches

653

25th

Tackles

23

18th

% of dribblers tackled

85.7%

8th

Blocks

22

3rd

Interceptions

12

24th

Clearances

46

15th

As the table outlines, Kosugi ranked highly for a wide variety of metrics in last season’s Conference League.

This includes defensive statistics, tackles and blocks, but also progressive carries, emphasising his attacking capabilities.

Han June of Football Asian labels him “one of Asia’s hottest young prospects”, outlining his “fearless defending”, while Jacek Kulig of Football Talent Scout notes that ‘pace…work rate and technique’ are his primary attributes, all of which make Kosugi ”a modern defender’.

Meantime, writer Kai Watson notes that he is a “promising attacking threat”, which could see him link up well with new arrival Nygren down the left-hand side. The latter man scored 16 goals in 2024/25, with four of those coming from just eight outings on the left wing.

The Swede, who is capable of operating on either flank, would surely thrive with a dynamic, overlapping full-back in support, meaning, should Kosugi arrive, he could form an unstoppable partnership with his fellow new recruit.

Ajer 2.0: Celtic make enquiry to sign "imposing" £5m titan

Celtic are reportedly pursuing a deal to sign the central defender this summer.

1 ByDan Emery Jun 27, 2025

Looking to get their summer business underway, Everton are now reportedly battling to sign a Premier League winner who would instantly become their highest earner.

Everton set to miss out on Liam Delap to Chelsea

Although the summer transfer window is yet to officially get underway, Everton have already reportedly been handed their first rejection courtesy of Liam Delap. The Toffees presented their project to the Ipswich Town star in an attempt to convince him that a step towards David Moyes’ side would suit this stage of his career rather than an instant jump into the Premier League’s top six. As right as that argument could prove to be, however, it was not enough to convince the talented striker.

Set to turn Everton and Manchester United down as well as others in favour of a move to Chelsea this summer, Delap’s decision will disappoint those in Merseyside who would have seen their frontline transformed.

Moyes even confirmed Everton’s interest in Delap earlier this month, telling reporters when asked about Delap: “He spoke to three or four clubs. He’s given us our opportunity to pitch our case. We’re probably a little bit behind the black ball but hopefully, you never know what happens.”

Now, however, the Toffees must turn to alternative options in pursuit of improving Moyes’ frontline this summer. And whilst names such as Gustavo Hamers have already been mentioned, Everton could first push to sign a Premier League-winning attacking addition when the transfer window swings open.

Everton keen on signing Liverpool "monster" who could rival Branthwaite

Everton are lining up a couple of audacious transfer swoops this summer.

ByAngus Sinclair May 27, 2025

It would be some statement from the Friedkin Group and one that could instantly ease Everton’s Delap woes.

Everton now looking to sign Jack Grealish from Man City

According to The Boot Room, Everton are now battling AC Milan and a host of other clubs to sign Jack Grealish this summer, with Manchester City willing to allow the attacking midfielder to leave on loan in the coming months. Alongside the Toffees and Milan, Aston Villa, Napoli, Newcastle and West Ham are also keen, as are clubs in Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

The former Aston Villa star has won all there is to win at the Etihad, including three Premier League titles, but may look back on his spell at Manchester City with slight frustration, having never truly hit the heights that his £100m price tag suggested he could. Now, after being left out of Pep Guardiola’s squad on the final day of the Premier League season, an exit seems increasingly likely.

That said, even on loan, a deal to sign Grealish may not come cheap. If he completed a summer switch to Everton, for example, then he would instantly become their highest earner by some distance at £300,000-a-week.

Jack Grealish

£300,000

Jordan Pickford

£125,000

Idrissa Gueye

£120,000

James Tarkowski

£100,000

Michael Keane

£80,000

Earning over double what Pickford earns at Everton, the pressure would certainly be on Grealish to perform. In regards to how difficult a deal could be to complete, meanwhile, things are likely to be made that much easier by the fact that the Manchester City man is represented by the same CAA Stellar agency as Jordan Pickford.

With rumours continuing to come thick and fast, Leeds United are now reportedly eyeing a sensational double swoop to sign a £12m midfielder and a striker who’s closing in on the Premier League’s 100 club.

Leeds set for busy summer as 49ers hunt proven top level stars

If there were any concerns that the 49ers are not aware of just how much backing a promoted side needs to avoid relegation at the first time of asking, then recent rumours should have put those worries to bed. The American owners have already reportedly set their sights on several improvements, with club chairman Paraag Marathe setting his ambitions higher than simply escaping the clutches of the dropzone.

He told reporters after the Whites secured promotion back to the Premier League recently: “Two years of getting to this point, but all that hard work and all that difficulty makes this much more rewarding and makes this so special.

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“This is a journey and this is not the end. We have to keep going. This is what Leeds does. We are going to have some difficulties, but we are going to get where we want to go and we are going to be one of the best clubs in all of Europe.”

Whilst talk can sometimes be cheap, recent reports suggest that the 49ers are set to put their money where their mouth is this summer amid links with the likes of Beto, Jamie Vardy and Caoimhin Kelleher, planning to spend over £100m to strengthen the spine of the site with Premier League level talent.

Kelleher would be a particularly impressive arrival. The Irishman has been an incredibly successful deputy to Alisson Becker at Liverpool and has rarely faltered when called upon in the Brazilian’s absence. Now, however, he’s ready to become an undisputed No.1.

The same can be said for two more top flight talents, who have found themselves on Leeds’ radar after struggling to gain the consistent game time that they’ll be desperate for.

Leeds eyeing Wilson and Longstaff deals

According to The Sun, as relayed by TeamTalk, the 49ers are now plotting a double swoop to sign Callum Wilson and Sean Longstaff from Newcastle United this summer. The former is set to become a free agent following the expiration of his current deal in Tyneside next month, whilst Longstaff will reportedly be available for as little as £12m in the coming months.

Both players would be excellent additions at Elland Road, given their experience at the very top level. And if Marathe wants to ensure that Leeds become more than just survival hopeful, then signing such experience will be crucial.

Wilson would be a particularly interesting option. Whilst his career has often been surrounded by injuries, the veteran striker is only 12 goals away from reaching the Premier League’s 100 club and almost guarantees goals when fit.

Callum Wilson in the Premier League

Record (via Transfermarkt)

Appearances

237

Goals

88

Assists

25

At 33 years old, Wilson could have one last Premier League move left in the tank and Leeds could certainly do a lot worse than signing the former Bournemouth star on a free this summer.

There is also a battle of wristspinners to look out for

Shashank Kishore and Danyal Rasool13-Sep-20251:12

Chopra: Varun and Kuldeep’s eight overs are key

The superstars face offWhen Shaheen Shah Afridi dismissed Shubman Gill with 100,000 people watching in Ahmedabad at the 2023 World Cup, he felt “you could’ve heard a fly buzzing, such was the silence.”Gill, now India’s all-format superstar, is touted to be a captain-in-waiting across formats, having slipped almost effortlessly into the role in Test cricket.Related

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After two difficult years battling back injuries, form slumps, and seeing T20I captaincy come and go, Afridi seems to have rediscovered the menace that once made him Pakistan’s most feared quick: the late in-swing, the skiddy pace, the ability to rip out top orders, like he famously did when Pakistan beat India at the 2021 T20 World Cup on these shores.The two, no strangers to stare downs or sharp words stretching back to their Under-19 World Cup days, will cross paths again on Sunday, for the first time in T20Is.The battle of the wristspinnersIn any other team, Kuldeep Yadav would be an all-format player. In India, though, he has had to make peace with being a white-ball specialist. His four-wicket haul against UAE, after spending the entire summer on the sidelines in England, may have been a neat little prelude.Kuldeep knows this stage well. No one can forget that ball to Babar Azam at the 2019 World Cup, bowling him through the gate and leaving even the late Shane Warne guffawing in admiration.Abrar Ahmed gives Shubman Gill a send-off at the Champions Trophy•Associated PressAlongside him is Varun Chakravarthy, whose career arc could fill a Tamil blockbuster. The ex-architect and film hopeful was dropped soon after India’s early exit at the 2021 T20 World Cup. He wondered if he would ever wear India colours again. But since the last T20 World Cup, which he didn’t even make, no bowler has taken more T20I wickets than Varun’s 32.Pakistan have their own mystery spinners. Sufiyan Muqeem, the left-arm wristspinner, came through the ‘A’ system, has been one of their brightest prospects and is the first Pakistani, at No. 10, in the above list. He is quicker through the air than Kuldeep, more in the mould of Noor Ahmad.Muqeem was instrumental in Pakistan’s win over India at the 2023 Emerging Asia Cup and now has a chance to do it on the big stage. He isn’t a regular yet, but one dazzling ball or spell, like Abrar Ahmed’s ripper that breached Gill’s defence at the Champions Trophy earlier this year, could change that.Varun-and-Kuldeep versus Muqeem-and-Abrar is a fascinating subplot.It will not be easy for Mohammad Haris to take on Jasprit Bumrah•Getty ImagesBumrah against Haris – facts or feelings?Mohammad Haris, like Sam Konstas, is not better at his craft than Jasprit Bumrah is at his. But the Australian rode his luck in an astonishing Test innings on debut against Bumrah, reverse-scooping him twice for a six and smashing 18 in the most expensive over of the fast bowler’s Test career and Haris could do something similar here in the T20 format.Like Konstas, Haris too will be facing Bumrah for the first time and, like Konstas, he too has a penchant for high-risk shot-making. In just his second T20I, Haris reinvigorated Pakistan’s flagging T20I World Cup campaign in 2022. He took on South Africa’s elite pace bowlers, smashing Kagiso Rabada for 17 in an 11-ball knock that produced 28.Scoring only 54 runs in 11 innings before Friday’s Asia Cup game against Oman demonstrates how that approach fails more often than not. However, Haris’ conventional technique is nowhere near good enough to take on a bowler of Bumrah’s quality. So expect him to try to lash, thrash, paddle and scoop his way to a cameo, because that is all Pakistan need from him, just like they did at the SCG three years ago. But if facts and logic have their way, it might not come off.Can Hasan Nawaz tackle elite spinners?•Associated PressHasan Nawaz vs India’s spin eliteHasan Nawaz has emerged as Pakistan’s bludgeon outside of the powerplay. Having tinkered around with his batting position, Pakistan have begun using him when the field spreads out, where his 2025 T20 strike of 174.09 is below only Dewald Brevis and Tim David’s.Notably though, Hasan’s strike rate drops down to 150 against spin, as opposed to 173.48 against pace. He takes on each kind of bowling – he has his 17 T20I sixes against each – so the quality of spin appears to be making a difference.Against Afghanistan in the recent tri-series, he scored 33 in as many balls across three innings, with Noor and Rashid Khan taking turns to dismiss him. India’s spin trio of Axar Patel, Varun and Kuldeep is very much in the same elite mould, and adept at asphyxiating an innings through those middle overs.We’re likely to see spin come on as soon as Hasan comes to the crease, and whether he can prove himself against that colossal challenge may be a hinge point for this contest.

The Mumbai spinner talks about how he improved dramatically starting in 2022, and why he’s not anxious about breaking into the India side

Himanshu Agrawal22-Feb-2024Since the start of 2022, Mumbai slow left-armer Shams Mulani has 140 wickets across all domestic first-class matches in India. That is the most among bowlers to have bowled at least 500 overs during this period, and it has come at the third-best strike rate.A third of those wickets came from only six games in the truncated Ranji Trophy season of 2021-22, which started in February 2022 and had a second phase in June. Mulani received the Madhavrao Scindia Award for being the leading wicket-taker that season.Before that bumper tournament, where he averaged 16.75, Mulani’s ten first-class games since his debut in 2018-19 had brought him 28 wickets at 34.46. But since then, he has averaged a little over half that in all first-class cricket.Related

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What brought about that turnaround?Fitness has been key, Mulani says ahead of Mumbai’s final group-stage Ranji fixture this year, against Assam. “For three years, I have been working very closely with Vishal Chitrakar, the strength and conditioning [S&C] coach for Mumbai. And I got a lot of help from the S&C coaches during IPL too.”He realised he needed to work to get his body accustomed to the demands of big seasons with plenty of matches. “Especially since I try my best not to miss even a single game,” he says. “And because it’s a long season, it’s pretty difficult to maintain your performance for the entire season.”But Vishal knows my body well – like how long I take to recover, and the programmes that work for me. We had decided that if I wanted to climb up the ladder, then I had to change something. Vishal has been really helpful in bringing those changes.”Other coaches, like Deepak Parteki [who also works at the National Cricket Academy], have been helpful too. They have been with me for a couple of years now.”Mulani received the Madhavrao Scindia Award for leading Ranji wicket-taker for 2021-22 from R Ashwin, one of his role models, earlier this year•Saikat Das/BCCIBefore his breakout 2022, Mulani had bowled 30 or more overs only twice in 15 innings. But during that Ranji season of 2021-22, he delivered more than 30 overs three times in 11 innings. That included a marathon 63.2 overs in the first innings of the Ranji final that season. Twenty-six of those overs were bowled in a spell that ran over the second evening and the third day.”I used to feel fatigued by the second innings until the season after my debut,” Mulani says. “I realised I had to stress on the recovery of my body because that is very crucial in a four-day game. If you have bowled a lot in the first innings and want to repeat that effort in the second, by which time the body has become sore, then you need to give yourself adequate time for training and strength sessions in between games.”That is something I have worked a lot on with the help of our physio, trainer and masseur. I do some rehab whenever I get some time. That helps me bowl long spells and recover to bowl more. Earlier I didn’t have a lot of idea about these things.”Mulani takes pride in how he has ground his way through first-class cricket, and likes bowling long spells. He says he wants to be prepared for any opportunity that comes his way, and to rise in his career with exposure.”Playing and experiencing domestic cricket is really important for me. I believe that the competition that exists in the Indian domestic circuit cannot be found anywhere else,” he says. “There is also the assumption people have that pitches here always have turn for the spinners, and so they bag a lot of wickets. But there are some pitches which aren’t helpful, and where you have to just keep bowling to extract something from them. So bowling those long spells – sometimes even 30 or 40 overs in an innings – is really crucial for me.”

****

Former Mumbai batter Amol Muzumdar took over as the team’s coach in June 2021. The two years for which he served in that role were key for Mulani – mainly for how he instilled a sense of confidence that Mulani had lacked till then.In the nets for his IPL team, Mumbai Indians. Mulani hasn’t played an IPL game yet, but has taken 52 wickets in his 43 T20s so far•Mumbai Indians”My first season with Amol sir, when he noticed a few things about my bowling, was very helpful,” he says. “There were some technical suggestions too [from Muzumdar], but it was the changes he made to my mindset that made the most difference. For instance, he told me that if I was to become a better bowler, I simply had to try to be on top of the batters by being more attacking.”I used to get a lot of confidence just by talking to him. He always wanted me to get the batters out through my skill – like bowling well even on flat tracks, rather than just through help from the pitch. Amol sir was the only one who said I just do better. He said I had to be dominant in first-class cricket.”Muzumdar’s advice and exhortation resulted in Mulani delivering what he says is his most memorable performance in the last two years, against Goa in Ahmedabad in a group-stage game in February 2022. Mumbai were bowled out for 163 after batting first, and Goa doubled that score. Mulani took 6 for 107 in the second innings, but he rates his fourth-innings performance higher, when Mumbai were defending 231 and had to bowl Goa out in “hardly about 60 overs on the final day” to win. He took 5 for 60, to complete a career-best match haul.”It stands out,” Mulani says of that five-for. “It will always remain special. Looking at the situation, we did really well as a bowling unit to hit back, and I was able to contribute.”Another significant influence on his career has been that of former India and Mumbai batter Pravin Amre, who was a mentor to him. Mulani says Amre worked on his batting during his early days, and those inputs have paid off: in 37 first-class innings since 2021-22, he has hit eight half-centuries and been part of some crucial partnerships to rescue his sides.Before bowling in the last innings in that game against Goa, Mulani added 116 for the eighth wicket with Tanush Kotian. Mumbai were only 44 ahead when they came together, but when Mulani was out for 50, they led by 160. That apart, Mulani has been part of five century stands. In fact, he is one of only two players to have scored at least 800 runs and taken at least 80 wickets in all domestic first-class games in India since 2021-22.”I had a pretty long association with Amre sir,” Mulani says. “I had been practising under him at Shivaji Park Gymkhana ever since I was nine. He has informed me a lot of things about the game, including how to be mentally ready.”With the cricket season getting longer, I don’t get as much time [to spend with Amre].”