All posts by h716a5.icu

It is always a gamble when Celtic decide to bring in a new player as there are so many factors at play, whether that be how they adapt to the style of play, how they get on with their teammates, or how they respond to the manager.

This is heightened when a young player comes through the door as all of those issues are questioned whilst they are still in the early development stages of their career. They are being signed on their potential rather than their ability at the time and that can make expectations hard to handle.

One player on whom Celtic took a gamble was right-back Jeremie Frimpong, signing him from Manchester City’s academy for £342,000 in the summer of 2019 when he was 18 years old. He had not played a single senior match in his career and the Hoops decided to splash out almost half a million pounds on his services, but that fee quickly started looking like a bargain for the Scottish giants.

Frimpong made 21 senior appearances for Celtic in the 2019/20 campaign, scoring twice and setting up three goals as he showed off his attacking quality from full-back. This led to his former Hoops manager Neil Lennon lauding the youngster as an ‘outstanding talent’ and admitting that he couldn’t hold him back.

He said: “I’m just delighted what he brings to the game, defensively or offensively and there is as an end product as well. He’s an outstanding talent who looks after himself. Watching him makes me tired, the amount of runs he makes, he wears people down.

“He is an amazing player. Amazing. With younger players, you want to look after them but you can’t hold talent back.”

Frimpong then pushed on further in the 2020/21 season as he started 19 games in the Premiership campaign, with 30 appearances in all competitions, averaging a solid SofaScore rating of 6.81. He helped Celtic to keep eight clean sheets in those games, whilst contributing offensively with one goal and two assists.

This led to Bayer Leverkusen swooping for him in the January transfer window at the start of this year. At the time of the move, Transfermarkt valued him at £3.6m based on his form for Celtic over the previous two seasons.

He spent his first few months adjusting to life in the Bundesliga, starting four of his first 10 league appearances for Leverkusen. This season, he is thriving in Germany with an average SofaScore rating of 7.13 in seven Bundesliga starts, providing three assists for his team.

At the time of writing, Transfermarkt value him at a whopping £13.5m. Not only is this more than the £9.9m Celtic reportedly received for his services, but it is also a 275% increase on the £3.6m at which he was valued upon his exit from Parkhead.

This shows that Celtic endured a disaster by selling him when they did. Had they been able to keep hold of him for another six months, or longer, they could then have sold him for a larger fee based on his progress in the last 10 months. The Hoops could have raked in a bigger transfer fee, which they could then have invested into making the team stronger across the park.

Whilst they will be proud of their work in bringing him to the club for a minimal fee before selling him on for profit, his soaring market value suggests that it was a mistake to cash in when they did as they have potentially missed out on a sizeable payday.

AND in other news, Celtic powerhouse has seen value soar 500% since January, he’s solved key issue…

Many Everton fans have been left baffled by some transfer news on Mason Holgate.

As a report from earlier on in the week by The Daily Telegraph, which has since been shared across Twitter, Newcastle United were offered the chance to sign Holgate on loan in the summer window.

The central defender has already played the full 90 minutes in three of the Goodison Park faithful’s four games in total over all competitions so far this season, and even captained the team in the 2-1 away win at Huddersfield Town in the second round of the Carabao Cup (Transfermarkt).

With Ben Godfrey unable to feature yet this campaign as well, it certainly seems strange that the Merseyside club were considering letting him go out on loan, especially to a fellow rival in the Premier League.

Everton fans on Holgate transfer news

These Toffees supporters were left baffled by the news on Holgate as it was shared across Twitter:

“Makes little sense for us to do that doesn’t it? Very odd Unless they wanted him out on loan to push to bring Sarr in from Chelsea on a loan”

Credit: @Danny_EFC6

“Strange considering he’s now going to be a back-up full-back until January”

Credit: @MatthewKneale1

“Would make absolutely no sense if true. Could see the benefit in trying to sell one of our centre-backs but not in loaning one out”

Credit: @marchy27

“How in the world were we going to have a backline in that scenario?”

Credit: @ValleyWhit

“With Mina injury prone, Keane a brain-fart away from an opposition goal and Godfrey in quarantine, yeah that makes sense.”

Credit: @Peter82Meter

“Load of rubbish”

Credit: @offthecrosssbar

In other news, find out what transfer update has Blues raging here!

West Ham United’s poor form continued in the Premier League on Tuesday night as they were held to a 1-1 draw with Brighton and Hove Albion at the London Stadium.

Several of David Moyes’ first-team stars badly disappointed with the side winless in three outings, including leading goalscorer Michail Antonio, who has now scored just one goal in his last nine games across all competitions and has looked completely knackered up top.

That is largely not his fault, however, as the Irons have gone two years without signing a backup or alternative after Sebastien Haller swapped east London for Amsterdam in January 2020.

One Hammers star who failed his manager yet again was Said Benrahma. He has endured a similar run of poor form, providing just the one assist in nine league games, having opened the season with a pair of goals and assists, per Transfermarkt.

Before he was hooked in the 76th minute, the £22.5m-rated lightweight made just 13 passes at an accuracy rate of 57%, the worst of any West Ham player on the night.

And he also failed to provide Antonio with a single accurate cross whilst he was on the pitch.

[snack-amp-story url = “https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/west-ham-news-transfer-updates-rumours-gossip-david-moyes-gsb-premier-league” title=”Read the latest West Ham news, transfer updates and much, much more!”]

Elsewhere, Benrahma lost possession a whopping 17 times from 44 touches, meaning he lost the ball once every 2.5 touches, proving to be rather wasteful, per SofaScore.

The Algerian wide man was also rather weak in his battles, winning only 50% of his duels as his disappointing run of form continued at the London Stadium.

Moyes continues to put his faith in Benrahma but it could well be time for a shake-up in the attack as it’s now three successive matches without a victory and the Hammers have looked futile in the final third in all of them.

In the last two games, in particular, Manuel Lanzini has come off the bench to spark some sort of reaction and he hasn’t been afraid to take on his man. He ought to be selected over the 26-year-old this weekend, when the Irons face local rivals, Chelsea.

Forget Antonio, it’s time to get players around him that can help support him, as evident above.

AND in other news, “A definite target”: Ex drops big West Ham transfer update, fans will be buzzing…

Dwayne Bravo returns to West Indies’ squad for the three-match one-day series against England, while Sulieman Benn has been preferred to Nikita Miller for the main spin role

Cricinfo staff22-Apr-2009Dwayne Bravo returns to West Indies’ squad for the three-match one-day series against England, while Sulieman Benn has been preferred to Nikita Miller for the main spin role.Bravo was left out of the Test party because medical advice said he hadn’t recovered sufficiently from ankle surgery for the rigours of five-day cricket although he is fit enough for an extended spell at the IPL.Benn was overlooked for the first four matches of the recent one-day series in the Caribbean, largely because Miller was considered a better fielder but when he was called up for the final game he bowled impressively.Opening batsman Dale Richards and fast bowler Ravi Rampaul, who were both called up late during the home series, retain their places.Squad Chris Gayle, Denesh Ramdin, Lionel Baker, Sulieman Benn, Dwayne Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Fidel Edwards, Keiron Pollard, Ravi Rampaul, Dale Richards, Darren Sammy, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Lendl Simmons, Jerome Taylor

The former England allrounder, Chris Lewis, has insisted in court that he is innocent of knowingly smuggling cocaine into the country after being given cans of fruit juice to carry onto a flight from St Lucia

Cricinfo staff15-May-2009The former England allrounder, Chris Lewis, has insisted in court that he is innocent of knowingly smuggling cocaine into the country after being given cans of fruit juice to carry onto a flight from St Lucia.Lewis, 41, was arrested at Gatwick in December last year, after customs officials found cans of fruit juice in which cocaine had been dissolved. He was stopped along with a friend, Chad Kirnon, a former basketball player for London Towers, arriving back from holiday in St Lucia. Lewis said that Kirnon had later offered to take the blame in return from £100,000 from Lewis.The total value of the haul is estimated at £140,000, yet while Lewis told the jury he smoked cannabis while in St Lucia, he said he was “completely innocent” of knowingly smuggling in drugs to the country.He told the jury that Kirnon had asked him to carry the tins of fruit as he was concerned his luggage might be overweight. “I don’t necessarily believe that Mr Kirnon wanted me to get caught, but if you infer by Mr Kirnon giving me the cans that he set me up then yes,” Lewis said. “Generally throughout my life, my cricket career, when things have gone wrong its gone wrong in a very public way.”Lewis is currently in High Down prison where he revealed he is now the anti-bullying representative, as well as working as his block’s race-equality rep. “It’s a simple one: either you did it and you knew or you didn’t,” he said. Lewis added that Kirnon, who is also at High Down, had approached him in prison and asked him for £100,000 in exchange for taking the blame.”Until that point it was a simple case,” he said. “You had given me the juice, just say so, story’s over. Now he’s trying to get a bit of cash out of me.”The case continues.

Leicester City defender Caglar Soyuncu continued his shocking start to the new season with a dreadful display for Turkey while on international duty.

Senol Gunes’ charges were thrashed 6-1 by the Netherlands at the Amsterdam ArenA on Tuesday night as Memphis Depay scored his first international hat-trick.

The 27-year-old combined beautifully with Davy Klaasen for the Oranje’s opening two goals, with both men taking it in turns to assist the other.

And then things went from bad to worse for Turkey and, in particular, Soyuncu. At the 38 minute mark, the Leicester centre-back brought down Klaasen with a clumsy challenge in the box, gifting Depay the chance to double his tally from the spot and deservedly picking up a yellow card.

Then, the Barcelona forward wrong-footed Soyuncu with a clever bit of play, drawing a needless foul from the 6 ft 1 beast, which resulted in his second yellow on the stroke of halftime.

As per SofaScore, he received a match rating of just 5.2 out of 10, the lowest total of any player on the pitch in the Dutch capital.

And when taking a closer inspection of his underlying numbers, it’s easy to understand why. Soyuncu won just one of his three duels during the 44 minutes he was on the field of play and made just a single tackle and single interception.

He also failed to make a clearance, lost possession five times and committed two fouls, highlighting his dreadful display for his nation.

Soyuncu’s latest high-profile mistakes come after he was at fault for at least one of West Ham United’s goals as they thrashed Leicester 4-1 at the London Stadium before he gave away a penalty in their last outing away at Norwich City.

The Foxes boss Brendan Rodgers will be hoping that his centre-back’s form improves following the resumption of domestic football, with current champions Manchester City set to visit the King Power Stadium over the weekend.

And, in other news…£55k-p/w Leicester dud could leave the club today, Rodgers will be delighted 

A number of Liverpool supporters are desperate for the Reds to sign Red Bull Salzburg youngster Karim Adeyemi, following an update regarding his future.

Jurgen Klopp may have only signed Ibrahima Konate in the summer transfer window, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t always looking to improve his squad.

This is a group of players who are slowly reaching their twilight years, with the likes Virgil van Dijk, Jordan Henderson and Thiago now in their 30s and Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino all close to their 20s coming to an end.

[freshpress-quiz id=“359326”]

For that reason, it is important Liverpool build towards the future at some point, and according to Bild [via LFC Transfer Room on Twitter], the Reds are interested in signing 19 year-old Adeyemi.

Bayern Munich and Barcelona are also thought to be interested in the striker, who has scored 17 goals and chipped in with 16 assists in 59 appearances for Salzburg.

[web_stories_embed url=”https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/web-stories/latest-liverpool-transfer-news-2/” title=”Latest Liverpool transfer news!” poster=”” width=”360″ height=”600″ align=“none”]

Liverpool fans talk up Adeyemi signing

These Liverpool fans took to Twitter to react to the rumour.

“It’s a big W for whoever gets him good player in him and only at £20m”

Credit: @AshLFC_

“GETTTTT INN YEAH COME ON COME ON FSG GIVE THEM 20 MIL”

Credit: @PerkopianN

“Really does feel like there could be something in this. Liverpool do have a great relationship with Red Bull. Naby, Taki and Konate have already moved to Liverpool.”

Credit: @PunnenLFC

“Give me Adeyemi”

Credit: @dxrrxghz

“Now THAT’S what I’m talking about”

Credit: @lfckimi

“Get him done omggggggggggg”

Credit: @eyetestfutbol

In other news, Liverpool have received a potential injury blow ahead of their Premier League clash with Leeds. Read more here.

Steve Howey expects Arsenal to baulk at Leicester City’s asking price for James Maddison and switch their attentions to other targets.

The creative midfielder has been on the Gunners’ radar all summer after seeing Martin Odegaard return to Real Madrid following a promising loan spell.

Maddison has three years remaining on his £110,000-per-week deal at Leicester, so the Foxes are in a strong negotiating position and would only entertain selling the 24-year-old for upwards of £60million.

The Gunners tested Leicester’s resolve by submitting a players-plus-cash bid which would have seen Reiss Nelson and Ainsley Maitland-Niles head to the King Power Stadium, but the offer was turned down.

Arsenal’s interest comes after Maddison scored 11 goals and registered 10 assists in 42 appearances last term.

Maddison, who has won one international cap for England, is also closing in on 100 Premier League appearances.

But former Leicester defender Howey believes Arsenal will not be willing to part with significant funds after already forking out £50million for Brighton & Hove Albion defender Ben White.

Speaking exclusively to The Transfer Tavern, Howey said: “I really cannot see Arsenal paying another £60million.

“Yes, he’s quality but it’s consistency they need. Consistency is what Arsenal have lacked over the last couple of years.

“I like Maddison and think he is a good player but I couldn’t justify paying £60million.”

Effortlessly, Sachin Tendulkar brought people back to the actual game, and with Sourav Ganguly’s help, India into the match

Cricinfo staff17-Oct-2008
There was plenty of reason for the actual game to get sidetracked today, but Sachin Tendulkar put matters, and India, back on track © AFP
The lead-up to this Test had been full of distractions – Anil Kumble’s injury, the players still fighting like children over who brought forward moral victories from Bangalore, the unseasonal rains in Mohali raising doubts over the match going the distance. Around a quarter past one on the first day more distractions were about to unfold. When Rahul Dravid played Brett Lee onto his stumps, the Test sort of took a back seat and another aside started: Sachin Tendulkar’s progress towards Brian Lara’s record.It was a pretty edgy hour and a quarter – so edgy it was surreal – that followed, during which Tendulkar made his way to the record and India lost two more wickets. What followed immediately after was more distraction from Test-match cricket: fire-crackers went off at the PCA Stadium and continued for three minutes. The Australians rushing to congratulate Tendulkar was expected but when it happened it felt unreal coming from a team that plays its cricket hard.There would be other milestones to follow, too: Tendulkar would go past 12,000 runs and Sourav Ganguly past 7000. But when Tendulkar bats as he did for the next two hours, distractions don’t matter. Effortlessly, he brought people back to the actual game and, with Ganguly’s help, India into the match.India had a confident, brisk start on a pitch conducive to one; the bounce was true but not big and there was no sideways movement. The immediate assessment was a total close to 500 would be par for this track. Gautam Gambhir and Dravid looked to put India on the way, but failed to score centuries – crucial for both of them, for different reasons – that appeared there for the taking. This was a pitch on which a batsman, once settled, would kick himself for not reaching three figures.Gambhir is due a big score. He has done well since forcing his way back to the Test side following his limited-overs success, and has been a good foil to Virender Sehwag at the top. He has scored 427 runs in nine innings on comeback, against tough opposition and in trying conditions, but his best has been 72. That he gets starts points to his form – perhaps the best of his career – but he also leaves the team in a spot of bother by not converting those starts into big innings, as he did today and during the first innings at the PSS in Sri Lanka this summer. In 19 Tests Gambhir only has one century, against Bangladesh. That should be enough to rile and inspire him.The way he batted in the first session today, it seemed certain Gambhir would end that century drought. For some reason, despite being an excellent rotator of strike in limited-overs cricket, he got bogged down when the field spread and the bowling became accurate. Having eased to 25 from 39 balls, Gambhir slowed down. He went into lunch on 53 from 90 balls and in the next hour or so he faced 50 balls for just 14 runs.If this was uncharacteristic, so was Dravid’s innings. Instead of the patchy starts he’s had recently, Dravid began, instinctively speaking, the way he did when at the top of his game. But this was his 11th score between 30 and 100, to go with one century, in his last 15 Tests. When scoring was made difficult, Dravid didn’t seem to show the kind of patience one associates with him. Once he went after a delivery wide outside off stump, and missed. In his prime Dravid would have left such deliveries alone for the next half hour; today, he went for the next delivery and failed to connect properly. Three overs later he went to cut another wide one, which was marginally too full, and chopped it onto his stumps.At this point Australia had taken three wickets, only one of them earned. A fourth followed, amid the frenzy around Tendulkar, but Mitchell Johnson should consider himself lucky to dismiss a quality batsman like VVS Laxman with a leg-side ball that didn’t deserve a wicket. Suddenly India had lost three wickets for 13 runs and were in danger of getting bowled out for a below-par total on a good batting track.Thankfully for India Tendulkar, once he’d acquired Lara’s record, batted with fluency. There was nothing circumspect about the way he played after tea. Ganguly took the initiative, but it was Tendulkar who showed Australia how hopelessly unhelpful the pitch was on the first day. There was no discrimination: no bowler nor shot escaped Tendulkar. Ganguly, in distinct patches of quietness and aggressive intent, was solid throughout. The difference in India’s approach after tea was clear: the first time Tendulkar faced the new ball he deposited it to the cover boundary.Australia were reduced to being honest witnesses who relied on the batsmen’s mercies and mistakes. And a mistake is what they drew from Tendulkar towards the end of the play. As a result, while they didn’t have any say in the way the game progressed, they ended the day pretty much even. India need a big partnership tomorrow morning to take a clear advantage. And tomorrow, there won’t be as many distractions from Test cricket.

England will tour India for their two-Test series with a full-strength squad after an evening of meetings in Abu Dhabi finally gave the trip the go ahead

Cricinfo staff07-Dec-2008
Andrew Flintoff will tour India for the Test series as a full-strength squad travels to Chennai © Getty Images
England will tour India for their two-Test series with a full-strength squad after an evening of meetings in Abu Dhabi finally gave the trip the go-ahead. For the time being, however, Mohali remains in doubt as the venue for the second Test, although ECB officials will visit the stadium in the coming week.Hugh and Sean Morris, the managing director of England cricket and chief executive of the England players’ association respectively, along with security advisor Reg Dickason, briefed the whole squad for around two hours after flying in from Chennai on Sunday evening, and the decision to tour was announced shortly before 11pm local time.”This is a very brave and courageous decision that will be respected around the world,” Hugh Morris said during a press conference at the team hotel. “We’ve had a lot of discussions with the players following a number of security information audits we’ve had from the very highest levels of government and our own security team.”It has been a very difficult situation, a very emotional, sensitive time for everybody and it has been hard for the players to come to this decision but they all have, and we are looking forward to the challenge of playing India.”The first Test in Chennai will start on December 11 with the second scheduled to start on December 19, although the venue for the second Test is still to be confirmed with Dickason and Hugh Morris due to inspect the Mohali ground once England arrive in India. Bangalore and Delhi are in line as alternatives, and both would allow an easier passage home for the squad.”It’s purely a time-frame thing. Once the players are in Chennai the security guys will be doing all of the checks [in Mohali].” Sean Morris told . “There are a couple of small details we need to sort out. Then hopefully it will go ahead.”The squad will fly out in two batches, one from Abu Dhabi and one from Dubai, on Monday and have just two full days to prepare for the series.The BCCI are confident that they have met all the ECB’s requirements for extra security, which will be at unprecedented levels during the two Tests. Ever since the squad arrived in Abu Dhabi for their training camp, the feeling was that the tour would go ahead.However, up until the last minute rumours persisted that there could be some opt-outs among senior players with Andrew Flintoff and Steve Harmison heading the list. On Saturday evening coach Peter Moores admitted they both had worries, but said neither would be singled out if they didn’t travel.”We took players through security advice and now they are looking forward to getting down and playing cricket now,” Sean Morris said. “My role was to make sure they have the accurate information. They asked some great questions and it was great to see the room come together. I spoke to every player over the last few days. They had a lot of questions and needed them all answered.”That the full squad will board a flight to Chennai is a major boost for England and a feather in the cap for both Hugh Morris and Kevin Pietersen. In his Sunday newspaper column, Harmison admitted to having concerns but those appear to have been allayed after hearing the reports from Dickason.”Whatever we hear at our security briefing tonight in Abu Dhabi, I reserve the right to make my own decision to fly home on Monday if it is the right thing to do,” he said in the . “On the one shoulder a voice has been telling me: ‘Stuff the terrorists. Get in there, play the Test and give it your best shot’.”Then the man on my other shoulder pipes up: ‘Think about this. You are going into a country some are describing as a war zone. You’ve got a family and four kids. Is it right to put yourself at risk?’.”Sean Morris added that throughout the whole process Harmison had acted like a senior figure. “I spoke to Steve, he’s a senior player,” Morris said. “He has been fantastic and it is a tough call with a young family. Ultimately he’s representing his country and hats off to him.”As some senior players considered their position until the final moment, emotions will have been different for younger members of the squad hoping to make a name for themselves. Two new faces were added the squad earlier on Sunday, with Kent’s Amjad Khan replacing the injured Ryan Sidebottom and Yorkshire legspinner Adil Rashid being taken along for experience of touring.Squad Kevin Pietersen (capt), Alastair Cook, Andrew Strauss, Ian Bell, Paul Collingwood, Owais Shah, Andrew Flintoff, Matt Prior, Tim Ambrose, Graeme Swann, Stuart Broad, Amjad Khan, Steve Harmison, James Anderson, Monty Panesar. (Adil Rashid also travelling)