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Last season, Liverpool won the Premier League. And they are acting like it. We haven’t even reached July, but FSG have already signed Bayer Leverkusen duo Florian Wirtz and Jeremie Frimpong as well as Bournemouth left-back Milos Kerkez.

It’s a time of great excitement for those of a Reds persuasion. However, Arne Slot’s squad aren’t without their foibles.

Falling in the Champions League’s last 16 against eventual champions Paris Saint-Germain was a bitter pill to swallow, and that frustrating result was followed by defeat against Newcastle United in the Carabao Cup final.

PSG deserved their victory and the Magpies did too. It was one stretch too far for the Merseysiders, who had already exceeded expectations to take a commanding lead that was indeed defended in England’s top flight.

Depth proved Liverpool’s issue. Slot was loath to enforce rotation last term, and the trickling-out of some of the side’s fringe players – like Jarell Quansah, with Harvey Elliott and Darwin Nunez soon to follow – illustrated that.

Quansah is signing for Bayer Leverkusen, and with Ibrahima Konate’s future uncertain as Real Madrid lurk (again), Liverpool need a new centre-back.

Liverpool chasing new centre-back

There’s one man who stands above other Liverpool defensive targets right now: Marc Guehi. The Crystal Palace defender is just one year away from free agency, and FSG are starting to circle.

Though Tottenham Hotspur saw a £70m bid rejected for the England international only last January, Palace chairman Steve Parish will know that time is running out if he wishes to recuperate some funds from his prized defensive asset.

Some reports suggest Liverpool are closing in on Guehi’s signature, but in all likelihood, there will be something of a pause in the Anfield offices now that the bulk of the club’s summer activity has been sealed pronto.

It would be wise, then, for sporting director Richard Hughes to closely assess the market for potential alternatives. If reports are to be believed, such a player has been identified.

Liverpool identify Guehi alternative

According to Caught Offside, Everton’s Jarrad Branthwaite has been earmarked by Richard Hughes and Co as a potential option in central defence, though this would be a contentious move indeed.

Not that Liverpool would care if they got the job done. Branthwaite, 22, is also attracting interest from Chelsea and Manchester United after revealing a desire to move clubs in March after being overlooked by Three Lions manager Thomas Tuchel.

Everton believe their star defender is one of the most talented in the business, and as such have slapped a £70m price tag on his name.

What Jarrad Branthwaite would bring to Liverpool

While Guehi’s contract situation would likely see him prove a more cost-efficient solution for Liverpool, Branthwaite is an incredibly fearsome protector, and he’s left-footed besides.

Returning from a successful loan spell with PSV Eindhoven in the summer of 2023, Branthwaite has since become a star member at Everton, playing 65 matches in the Premier League, winning the club’s Players’ Player of the Season for 2023/24.

It might seem ludicrous to think that Liverpool and Everton would do business on the transfer front, but the Hill Dickinson Stadium side are interested in Ben Doak, who is valued at £30m.

Tough-tackling and shrewdly talented on the technical front, the 6 foot 5 star is bound to earn himself a move to a club competing in the Champions League sooner or later, and Liverpool could do a lot worse, especially as Slot’s first-class coaching would prove the perfect way to develop Branthwaite’s ball-playing game.

That said, it’s not all that bad as it is. Indeed, looking at Branthwaite’s metrics in the top flight last season when contrasted with Guehi’s, you begin to see that maybe moving for the Everton man wouldn’t be the worst idea in the world.

Jarrad Branthwaite vs Marc Guehi in the Prem (24/25)

Stats (* per game)

Branthwaite

Guehi

Matches (starts)

30 (28)

34 (34)

Goals

0

3

Assists

1

2

Clean sheets

8

11

Touches*

51.9

64.9

Pass completion

83%

84%

Key passes*

0.1

0.5

Ball recoveries*

3.1

4.3

Dribbles (success)*

0.1 (60%)

0.4 (86%)

Tackles + interceptions*

2.1

2.6

Clearances*

6.3

4.6

Duels (won)*

3.9 (63%)

4.9 (59%)

All data via Sofascore

As you can see, Branthwaite is more accurate in the duel than his positional peer while also producing a shedload more clearances on average. He’s far less mobile, but a 60% dribble success rate does point toward a latent ball-carrying ability that could be hammered into shape over at Anfield.

It’s important to remember that Branthwaite operates in a system which actively dampens ball-playing expansiveness, and that, even so, he has maintained a decent degree of passing success, almost as accurate on the ball as Guehi, if less progressive with his distribution.

And anyway, the hulking Blues star is just a phenomenal defender, strong as an ox and sturdy as steel. Talent scout Jacek Kulig has even gone as far as to declare him “an absolute monster” for the Toffees.

Could Branthwaite make the leap? The gulf on Merseyside is chasmic, after all.

Well, though it’s difficult to pull meaningful passing data from his Everton efforts last term, for Sean Dyche and David Moyes both employ counter-attacking and somewhat pragmatic styles, he still finished the year ranked among the top 20% of centre-backs for assists and the top 13% for switches, as per FBref, almost indicating a Virgil van Dijk-like approach to passing.

Hailed as an “incredible” part of Everton’s team by reporter Joe Thomas, Liverpool would certainly ruffle a few feathers if they got this one over the line in the coming months.

But if the Eagles play hardball and efforts to sign Guehi prove fruitless, this Englishman might just be the perfect alternative. And who knows, maybe he’d even prove the better signing.

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A £90,000-a-week player has told Manchester United that he will join the club this summer no matter what happens in the Europa League final, according to transfer expert Fabrizio Romano.

Amorim: Winning the Europa League will not solve United's problems

The Red Devils have a chance to bring some joy and achievement to their supporters on Wednesday after what has been a terrible campaign, as they face Tottenham in the Europa League final. Not only does this represent a chance for United to play European football next season, but it will also be Ruben Amorim’s first trophy as United boss, not even 12 months into his United career.

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It is a very important game for United for multiple reasons, but Amorim believes winning the Europa League will not solve all of the club’s problems: “It’s strange because you have some coaches here that lose some games, and they are sacked… it’s hard to explain.

“I think people see what we are trying to do. I think that people see that sometimes I’m thinking more about the club than myself.

“People understand, especially the board, that we have a lot of issues that, in the context, is really hard. There are a lot of things we need to change.

“They way we do everything during the week at Carrington, the recruitment, the academy. It is hard to point to one thing, and it will not be solved by winning the cup.”

Cunha tells Man Utd he'd join regardless of Europa League outcome

As the Red Devils prepare for the Europa League final, they have already received a transfer boost regardless of the outcome. According to Fabrizio Romano, Matheus Cunha will join Man United whether qualify for the Champions League or not.

The Brazil international wants the move to Old Trafford, and the deal is expected to be confirmed fairly soon.

On Monday, Romano reported that Cunha had agreed to the project on offer at United and had also nearly finalised personal terms. It’s also been reported by Sky Sports that Cunha, who earns £90,000 a week at Molineux, is set to join the Red Devils once the Premier League ends this weekend, with United expected to trigger Cunha’s £62.5 million release clause.

Matheus Cunha’s Premier League record

Apps

81

Goals

29

Assists

13

Cunha’s arrival at Old Trafford is a big boost for Amorim heading into next season, as the Brazilian will no doubt improve United’s attacking options, and he appears to be the perfect player to fit into Amorim’s system, given his versatility in the forward line.

The allrounder says “a mix of clarity and the right opportunities at the right time” has put his career on fast track

Ashish Pant07-Sep-2025Life has been on the fast lane for 23-year-old Vidarbha allrounder Harsh Dubey. A record-breaking 2024-25 Ranji Trophy season, an IPL call-up as a replacement player, an India A debut, a Duleep Trophy debut. All in the space of 11 months.What has stood out in the last year is Dubey stepping up in crunch matches. His twin fifties in the Ranji Trophy quarter-final against Tamil Nadu twice helped Vidarbha recover from sticky situations. He was instrumental in Vidarbha’s semi-final win against Mumbai, picking a five-wicket haul in the second innings, and in the final, his three wickets denied Kerala a first-innings lead.On a day when Dubey was named in India A’s squad for a red-ball series against Australia A, he was at it again, this time for Central Zone in the Duleep Trophy semi-final. When he walked out on the third morning, Central had lost three wickets in a short span. They were still 116 runs away from a first-innings lead and the momentum was with West Zone.Related

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But Dubey was determined not to let the bowlers dominate. He worked Shams Mulani through midwicket early in his innings and then drove him through covers to move to a run-a-ball 26 before lunch. Precise in his footwork, front and back, Dubey’s handling of the spinners stood out. He barely hit a shot in the air but found the gaps with ease.When Tushar Deshpande went short, Dubey pulled him off the front foot through midwicket. When Tanush Kotian went marginally leg side, he swept him fine. By the time Dubey reached his half-century, off 62 balls, Central Zone were just 11 runs shy of taking the lead.”When I was batting, I only had the first-innings lead in my mind and how I could cross that [West Zone’s total],” Dubey said. “I have always had a positive mindset. I was trying to find gaps, collect boundaries so that other things become easy for me. I thought if I played with a defensive mindset, there were chances I would hit one ball in the air. My plan was not to let the bowler settle and try not to let him target just one spot.”Dubey’s 75 off 93 balls wasn’t his only noteworthy performance. He also picked up three wickets, playing an important part in restricting West Zone to 438. On a surface which wasn’t aiding spin, Dubey relied on his pace variations and changes in lengths to keep the batters from dominating.”I believe more in classical left-arm spin,” he said. “I try to vary the pace and deceive the batsman with spin and pace. When the wicket is playing well, then obviously you can’t bowl at the same pace, it becomes easy for a batsman to score runs. I just try to vary my pace, and bowl with a plan in mind. So that keeps running in the back of the mind.”Dubey averages 20.99 with the ball and 24.03 with the bat in first-class cricket. While he started his career as a batter and later developed his left-arm spin, he doesn’t want to label himself as a batting or bowling allrounder. “,” he says. [Whatever I am doing first after the toss, I’ll choose that].Harsh Dubey picked up three wickets as well•PTI It’s this dual role that earned Dubey a place in the Sunrisers Hyderabad squad late into the IPL 2025 season as a replacement player for R Smaran. He had moderate returns – five wickets in three matches at an economy of 9.80 – but caught the eye of Daniel Vettori and Anil Kumble, who were impressed by his consistency.”I was at home at that time and was not expecting a call-up at all,” Dubey said. “The IPL was almost done and SRH had four matches left. I got a lucky break. Yes, there was some crowd pressure. But the one positive thing about me is that I don’t look at the batsman. I think about how to put the ball in the right area and how to execute my plan.”Dubey made his Ranji Trophy debut in December 2022, but 2024-25 was his first full season for Vidarbha. He isn’t doing anything different now from when he first started, he says, but feels the clarity around his role has helped him in the last year.”I think I have got better opportunities,” he said, “And I now have a lot more clarity about my role, my ability, and what I can do on the ground. So I think it’s a mix of clarity and the right opportunities at the right time.”We play a lot more red-ball cricket [in Vidarbha]. I think because of that, our basics are very good. My base has been very good since childhood, and I am getting the results now.”

By holding up a mirror to expose cricket’s flaws, this landmark document should help to instigate meaningful change

Andrew Miller27-Jun-20232:24

Miller: ICEC report exposes imperial legacy as cricket’s biggest flaw

Language matters. That much has become increasingly apparent with every new revelation in England’s ongoing racism reckoning. Whether the arrestingly awful headline slurs that Azeem Rafiq outlined during his emotional testimony at the DCMS hearings, or more insidious everyday micro-aggressions – such as Cheteshwar Pujara protesting on this website that he didn’t much like his nickname at Yorkshire of “Steve” – there cannot be many people within cricket who’ve watched this story unfold across the past three years, and not had reason to reflect on behaviours that would simply have gone unchallenged in a previous age.But language matters in the other direction too. If, as the Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket (ICEC) has set out to achieve, your aim is to speak devastating truth to a demographic that you suspect may be resistant to the message you are bringing, then the only hope you have of achieving any cut-through is to engage the brains of your target audience before they can withdraw them from the process.That – over and above the 317 pages, the 44 recommendations and the plausibly uttered and graciously received apology from the ECB for past failings – is the crowning achievement of a masterfully compiled document.Related

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For those who approach the ICEC report with an open mind, there’s a fascination to be derived from a historical narrative that delves deep into cricket’s colonial history, and draws together a range of disparate threads into a single, compellingly argued point: that a sport that was born in pre-industrial England but exported around the globe as a soft-power byword for imperial Britain’s underlying sense of fair play has had deep-seated prejudice baked into its soul from inception.And for those less willing to give such findings the same slack, they might find it reads rather like a perfectly argued comment piece in your least-favourite newspaper. You can try to disagree with its at-times forensic findings if you really must. But should you dare to do so, you’d better come armed with facts to back up your opinions, because this is a work that is ready to take you back to school.Take the report’s skewering, in a section called “Before we begin” (which in itself is a disarmingly candid turn of phrase, like Columbo turning fatefully to utter “just another thing”), of those respondents to the commission’s online survey whose views were much as you might expect to find in many a website comments section: “Don’t bow to the scourge of wokeness,” wrote one such contributor. “99.9% of people couldn’t care less [about race, class, gender],” declared another.”So we begin this report with a request,” the ICEC narrative continues, “that people who hold views like these keep an open mind and accept the reality that thousands of people who participated in this review, and many more who didn’t, have experienced discrimination in cricket …”Some people may roll their eyes at the perceived ‘wokeness’ of this work. However, as much as the word may have been weaponised in recent years, taking on a pejorative meaning, we consider – and it is often defined as such – that being ‘woke’ or doing ‘woke work’ simply means being alive to injustice.”Azeem Rafiq’s revelations sparked a race reckoning within the game•PA Photos/Getty ImagesTo that end, the ECB comes in for some justifiable early praise within the report’s preamble for “proactively initiating this process” and being “positive and brave” enough to open itself up to such forensic scrutiny. For if, as the subsequent narrative rather implies, cricket is a microcosm of the English establishment, then maybe the process of “holding up a mirror” to the establishment’s favourite sport could yet be a means for similar meaningful change to take root in society at large.”The problems we identify are not, sadly, unique to cricket,” the report continues. “In many instances they are indicative of equally deeply rooted societal problems … change does not happen without understanding the issues that need to be addressed and so we believe the ECB is worthy of praise for undertaking this exercise.”As a means to define the report’s terms of reference, therefore, it is incontrovertible; calm but firm. Precisely the sort of tone that this conversation has been crying out for, ever since Rafiq’s claims first burst into the public conscience, in part through ESPNcricinfo’s reporting in September 2020.From that moment onwards, cricket has floundered for a coherent game-wide response, and failed with increasingly depressing inevitability – most damningly at the recent Cricket Disciplinary Commission hearings, a process criticised by ICEC as a case of the ECB “marking its own homework”, and from which most of the ex-Yorkshire defendants withdrew claiming, with some justification, that they did not believe it could give them a fair hearing.

“When viewed through a post-colonial lens, it is easier to see why race and class in particular are such fundamental barriers to cricket’s quest for greater inclusivity”

By that stage, of course, the “who” and “what” had long since been the most titillating source of media interest – what was it that Michael Vaughan said to his team containing four Asian players on the outfield at Trent Bridge, and who within the Yorkshire dressing-room truly believes the word “P**i” was acceptable banter? No matter how often it was claimed throughout this phase of the process that cricket’s attempt to heal itself would be focused more on institutions than individuals, the collateral damage of the past three years – from Vaughan, to Yorkshire’s back-room staff, to David Lloyd, and self-evidently Rafiq himself – told a different, more divisive tale.But for the sake of a true advancement of the cause of equity, the ICEC report has rightly recognised that “how” and “why” are the only questions that matter now, with a pivot away from personality-based explanations, and a deep-dive into the longstanding root causes that any cricket fan with a conscience would be able to recognise as complicit.Certainly, when viewed through a post-colonial lens, it is easier to see why race and class in particular are such fundamental barriers to cricket’s quest for greater inclusivity (and why the women’s game, to quote the report’s brutal assessment is “frequently demeaned, stereotyped and treated as second-class”).It was some four decades ago that the Conservative politician Norman Tebbit suggested that immigrants who support their native countries rather than England during Test matches are not significantly integrated into the UK. And yet, that delineation still endures – and in many cases is joyfully celebrated by the communities concerned, even several generations later – perhaps most notably in recent weeks when Bangladesh took on Ireland in Chelmsford back in May, and the vast British-Bangladeshi communities of East London flocked to the three-match series, to rally around their cultural heritage.That’s not to say that the traditional rivalries that form the version of cricket that still pays most of the bills and draws most of the crowds in this country are the root cause of the sport’s ills. But given the oft-quoted figures about the popularity of cricket among ethnically diverse communities, compared to the conversion of that interest to the professional game (30-35% to 8.1% in 2021), the ICEC is within its rights to infer that a degree of “them and us” has been hard-coded into the sport’s pathways.British-based Bangladesh fans flocked to watch their country play Ireland at Chelmsford•Cricket IrelandPerhaps the one truly sour note about this report is the timing of its release. A bombshell dropped on Lord’s, the focus of much of the ICEC’s righteous anger, 24 hours out from a must-win Ashes Test in a summer that feels disproportionately important to the overall health of English cricket.The logic of the drop is sound enough in isolation. The contents of this report are too important to be snuck into the news cycle on a day when the media’s attention could conceivably be drawn elsewhere. This way, the rug is pulled from under the game before the report can be swept under it. And, for the next five days, whenever the cameras cut to those egg-and-bacon types in the pavilion, or to the punters in the stands with their stereotypically white, male and affluent profiles, it would be astonishing if there was not at least an incremental uptick in the number of people checking their privilege along the way.It does, however, feel like a punitive piece of timing, if the overall aim of the ICEC report is to unify for the betterment of the game as a whole, and perhaps one that’s been designed with Lord’s as the specific target, rather than an England team that has been visibly eager in recent years to fulfil its social obligations – not least, of course, in their at-times evangelical determination to entertain and inspire a new generation.For if there is a villain of the piece, it is Marylebone Cricket Club – the embodiment of the ancient order, the root of all the sport’s inequity (and, to judge by the language that the report uses, its iniquity too).Whether it’s the damning assertion that “the ‘home of cricket’ is still a home principally for men”, or that the MCC’s ban on musical instruments has been disproportionately offputting to the Caribbean community, or the remarkable fact that the Eton-Harrow match at Lord’s – ostensibly an anachronism with no relevance beyond the narrow social confines to which it appeals – is deemed to be one of the 44 most urgent issues that the sport needs to address.For the time being, a brief statement from Guy Lavender, MCC’s chief executive, is the sum total of the club’s response, with its commitment to reflection, and a focus on making sure that Lord’s is “a place where everyone feels welcome”. The language you might expect from an embattled organisation at such a critical juncture, in other words.But it’s the language of the ICEC that offers the most startling critique, within the broader context of its findings. “We respect and value many of the traditions of cricket generally, and Lord’s in particular, but not all,” the commission writes. “Some no longer have a place in contemporary Britain.”And as a consequence, for the next five days, contemporary Britain will be watching the goings-on in NW8 with perhaps a touch more scrutiny than the grand old club is used to feeling. As a proxy for cricket’s wider problems, which the ICEC is now seeking to drag into the light, it’s clearly as good a place to start as any. And in terms of underlining the issue’s existential importance, to unveil it right now is a reminder too that the sport cannot get away with standing on ceremony any longer.

In 2017, she watched England lift the World Cup from the stands. On Saturday, she could be up on the balcony with the trophy

Matt Roller20-Aug-2021England’s World Cup win at a sold-out Lord’s in 2017 was a defining moment for the women’s game. Every England player involved ranks it as the highlight of their career and administrators regularly cite it as the day they finally recognised that a small amount of investment would lead to exponential growth.But for a handful of the current England team, the memories are bittersweet. While the rest of the squad celebrated a historic win in the dressing room, they were joined by Kate Cross, Amy Jones and Tash Farrant, the three centrally-contracted players who had been left out of the squad for the tournament.They watched the final together, sat with the squad’s family and friends in the stands, and each of them has expressed the bizarre cocktail of emotions they experienced throughout the day; a shot of joy and a chaser of anguish, garnished with a sprig of despair. “I had to take myself away and thought, ‘You’re not involved in this. It’s not your day,'” Cross recalled earlier this year.Four years later, Lord’s hosts its next major women’s final on Saturday. Southern Brave, having won seven group games out of eight, were due to face the winner of Friday’s eliminator: Oval Invincibles, playing at their home ground by happy coincidence, against a Birmingham Phoenix side that had snuck up on the blindside. It meant a chance to put right the disappointment of 2017 for Jones and Farrant, with Cross watching on from Sky Sports’ commentary box.For the first 149 balls, Jones was in the driving seat. She captained her side well in Invincibles’ innings, stifled their scoring with spin and medium pace in the first half of the innings, and rightly recognised that slower bowlers would be more effective than her quicks at the death. Even without Shafali Verma at the top of Phoenix’s batting order, a target of 115 looked straightforward.In the chase, Jones played with poise and calm at No. 3, despite the loss of both openers for ducks. Her paddle-sweep off a fired-up Shabnim Ismail was the pick of her shots, but she punched through cover and pulled square of the wicket with crisp timing.Amy Jones will have to wait for her Lord’s moment•Getty ImagesBut Farrant’s intervention proved to be defining. First, she ended a partnership of 51 between Jones and the Australian Erin Burns, flinging herself to her left at mid-off to take a spectacular catch.”I knew that we needed something special because they were building a really nice partnership and obviously Amy is a gun batter,” she said afterwards. “I just threw my body at it.”As soon as she had finished celebrating, Farrant was back into the attack for her second set of five, with Jones in her sights on 35 off 24 balls. Verma’s absence meant Katie Mack have shuffled up to open, with the results that Phoenix had an inexperienced middle order; another wicket meant it would be exposed in the second half of the chase.Jones had scored heavily through cover against Invincibles’ seamers and Farrant went wide on the crease, bowling her left-arm seam from round the wicket. She rolled her fingers down the side of the ball, inducing a false shot with a 51mph/82kph offcutter. Jones was through the shot early, chipping to extra cover. Jones held her hand to her face as she stood in disbelief before trudging off; Farrant roared in celebration.It sparked a dramatic collapse of 28 for 8 in 45 balls as Phoenix’s middle and lower order froze, caught in the headlights as Farrant rattled through the tail while Jones sat disconsolate in the dugout, forgetting to take her helmet off as though refusing to accept that another Lord’s final was slipping away from her grasp.Related

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Farrant ended with 4 for 10 from her 19 balls after Kirstie Gordon slapped a cut to Marizanne Kapp to seal Invincibles’ win, taking her to the top of the wicket-taking charts for the competition – and crucially, taking her to Lord’s on Saturday. She led the team on a lap of honour around the boundary ahead of the men’s eliminator as the dust settled.”I felt quite emotional actually after the game, knowing that I’m going to play a final at Lord’s,” she said. “I was at that game watching in the crowd and knew that it was somewhere I wanted to be and somewhere I wanted to play on the big stage. The atmosphere is going to be electric but we’ve already played in front of some really vibrant crowds and hopefully that’s the same again tomorrow.”I was potentially quite one-dimensional before: if the ball was swinging I was good, but if it stopped, I didn’t have the tricks up my sleeve to deal with that. I’ve really worked on my death bowling – my slower balls and bowling yorkers – and I want to be one of the best death bowlers in the world. I’m also keeping it really simple and making sure I execute what I want to bowl every single ball.”It has not been a smooth journey for Farrant since she made an England debut as a teenager, with the loss of her central contract in early 2019 a particularly low moment. She has forced her way back into the set-up through weight of performances in domestic cricket and now, four years after she had hoped, she has the chance to win the Lord’s final she had dreamed of.

Unlike last month, the current international break is an unwelcome escape from Premier League football for West Ham United fans.

Nuno Espírito Santo has seemingly worked his magic, and a team that looked incapable of a win just a few weeks ago have just beaten Newcastle United and Burnley.

One of the reasons the Hammers look so much better is that Freddie Potts has finally been given his chance to start in the first team.

The Barking-born star has been immense in the middle of the park, and the good news is that the academy is producing a few players who could be the next Potts, although they also lost a youngster who’s an even bigger talent than the 22-year-old.

West Ham's next Freddie Potts

The good news for West Ham fans is that their academy system continues to produce exciting prospects, some of whom could go on to become the next Potts in a few years.

Where Are They Now

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One of those youngsters is Preston Fearon, who joined the Hammers in 2022, signed his first professional contract last year, and then signed another just last month.

Jarrod Bowen has described the 18-year-old as a “special player”, and it’s not hard to see why, as, in addition to making 43 appearances across the club’s youth sides, he was also taken on the pre-season tour of America.

Like the Hammers’ new star, the youngster can play in several positions, but thrives as a tough-tackling, yet technically accomplished, central midfielder.

Another youngster who could be fighting for first-team minutes a few years from now is Isaac Thomas.

The 16-year-old Welshman just scored four goals during his second appearance for the U18S, and what’s even more incredible is that he did so from centre-back.

However, just like Fearon and Potts, his primary position is in the middle of the park, but he’s capable of filling in where he is needed.

Finally, while a little older, Mohamadou Kanté looks every bit as exciting.

Described as having “good anticipation” and being “very calm and composed on the ball” by one analyst, the 20-year-old Frenchman is also no stranger to scoring goals and could provide a similar presence to the middle of the park as Potts.

In all, West Ham have plenty of exciting youngsters coming through the ranks, but even so, they surely rue losing someone who is an even bigger talent than Potts.

The academy gem who is a bigger talent than Potts

West Ham have done relatively well at retaining their most promising academy talents over the years, but they were unable to do so with Divine Mukasa.

The incredible prospect joined the Hammers as a five-year-old, but in September 2023, he moved to Manchester City for free.

The 18-year-old phenom made his senior debut for City in September, in a League Cup game against Huddersfield Town, and as if that wasn’t impressive enough, he also provided an assist.

He also started the following game in the competition against Swansea City and has been on the bench for three Premier League games so far this season.

However, while a player his age starting two games for a club like City is certainly impressive enough, it’s his record for their youth sides which suggests he could be a future superstar.

Mukasa’s 24/25
Appearances	41
Minutes	2807′
Goals	17
Assists	25
Goal Involvements per Match	1.02
Minutes per Goal Involvement	66.83′
All Stats via Transfermarkt

For example, in 41 appearances across various youth sides last season, totalling 2807 minutes, the former Hammer chalked up an outrageous tally of 17 goals and 25 assists.

That means the incredible superstar in the making averaged 1.02 goal involvements per game, or one every 66.83 minutes all season, which goes some way in justifying journalist Nassali Sandrah’s claim that he is “the best academy player in Europe.”

To top it off, the Newham-born gem has also won five caps for England’s u19s, and scored his first goal for them against Wales last time out.

Ultimately, there are some seriously exciting prospects emerging from West Ham’s academy at the moment, but it certainly appears that they have lost the biggest talent of all in Mukasa.

Alongside Fullkrug: West Ham must sell £30m flop who was a "big voice"

The former international should have been a big success at West Ham United.

By
Jack Salveson Holmes

Nov 12, 2025

He wanted to continue batting but was taken off the field by India A coach and the physio

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Nov-2025

Rishabh Pant had top-scored for India A with 90 in the first match against South Africa A•PTI

Rishabh Pant gave India a brief injury scare ahead of next week’s first Test against South Africa in Kolkata by having to retire hurt while batting for India A against South Africa A at the BCCI Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru.During the first session of the third day, Pant was struck three times – on his body and helmet – by fast bowler Tshepo Moreki, forcing him to retire hurt on 17 off 22 balls in the 34th over of India A’s second innings.However, he allayed fears of serious injury by returning to bat in the final session, after Harsh Dubey put on 184 for the sixth wicket with Dhruv Jurel, who made an unbeaten 127. Pant took on the spinners, racing to a half-century before declaring India A’s innings on 382 for 7. He was dismissed for 65 when he top-edged a slog sweep off left-arm spinner Kyle Simmonds to the wicketkeeper.Pant had walked out to bat at No. 5 in the third over of the day after overnight batter KL Rahul was bowled for 27 – he added just one to his overnight score – by an inducker from Okuhle Cele. Pant didn’t take long to get going, his first three scoring shots were 4, 4 and 6 – all off Cele – but a series of short deliveries left him wincing in pain.Related

Dhruv Jurel makes case for India Test spot with twin hundreds against South Africa A

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Rishabh Pant returns to India's Test squad

While Pant was keen to continue batting, he had to be taken off by India A coach Hrishikesh Kanitkar and the physios as a precautionary measure. He was grimacing in pain every time the ball thudded into his bat, and his range of motion was limited due to some taping on his elbow after being hit there.The first blow Pant suffered was to the helmet when he attempted a reverse pick-up shot off Moreki, who had bowled a short ball from around the stumps. Pant was off balance at the point of impact and immediately fell to the ground, forcing the physios to conduct a mandatory concussion test. Once cleared, he pulled out from his stance to take his helmet off and gather himself before taking strike.The second blow had Pant groaning as the ball thudded into his right elbow as he shaped to play a short-arm jab. This time, the physio administered some pain-relief spray and taped the elbow. The third blow to the abdomen from a delivery that cut back in off the seam eventually forced the management to take Pant off the field.Having proved form and fitness with a 90 in the second innings of the first four-day fixture that India A won last week, Pant has had a more challenging time in the second game. In the first innings, he was rapped on the glove by a short ball from Moreki and caught at slip for 24.At the toss of the second game, Pant had kept an exact count of the number of days he’d been away for – 98 – while recovering from a fractured toe after being hit by Chris Woakes during the fourth India-England Test in Manchester in July.He spent two months in rehab at the Centre of Excellence following surgery, and resumed training in early September before playing for India A to get some match time ahead of the South Africa Tests. In his absence, Dhruv Jurel kept wickets during the two home Tests against West Indies as well as the fifth Test at The Oval, which India won to level the five-Test series at 2-2.India play two Tests against South Africa from November 14 in Kolkata, and then from November 22 in Guwahati, a city that will be hosting Test cricket for the first time. India are currently third in the World Test Championship table with 61.90% points; South Africa, meanwhile, are fifth with 50% points.

يستعد فريق ليفربول، بقيادة المدرب آرني سلوت، لخوض مباراة مساء يوم الأربعاء ضد نظيره فريق سندرلاند، وذلك في إطار منافسات بطولة الدوري الإنجليزي الممتاز.

ويستضيف ملعب “الأنفيلد” مباراة فريقي ليفربول وسندرلاند، في خضم منافسات الجولة الرابعة عشر من بطولة الدوري الإنجليزي، موسم 2025/26.

ويمتلك ليفربول 21 نقطة حيث يحتل المركز الثامن في جدول الدوري الإنجليزي في الوقت الحالي، في حين أن سندرلاند لديه 22 نقطة في المركز السادس.

ويأمل ليفربول تحقيق نتيجة إيجابية بعدما حقق فوزًا ثمينًا على وست هام يوم الأحد الماضي في الجولة الثالثة عشر من الدوري الإنجليزي، حيث مثّل انتصارًا مهمًا في فترة كارثية لكتيبة آرني سلوت. موعد مباراة ليفربول وسندرلاند اليوم في الدوري الإنجليزي

من المقرر أن تنطلق المباراة في تمام الساعة 10:15 مساءً بتوقيت القاهرة، 11:15 بتوقيت السعودية. القناة الناقلة لمباراة ليفربول وسندرلاند اليوم في الدوري الإنجليزي

تُذاع المباراة عبر قناة beIN SPORTS 1. معلق مباراة ليفربول وسندرلاند اليوم في الدوري الإنجليزي

سيعلق عامر الخوذيري على أحداث مباراة الليلة.

ويُمكنكم متابعة أحداث مباريات اليوم لحظة بلحظة من مركز المباريات من هنـــا