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Liverpool are ready to trigger a potential release clause in RB Leipzig striker Christopher Nkunku’s contract in an attempt to bring the player to Anfield next year.

What’s the latest?

According to Sky Germany (via Rousing the Kop) RB Leipzig are preparing to offer Nkunku a contract extension that would also see a release clause of €65m (£55m) inserted.

This comes after ESPN revealed that Liverpool liked the player last month.

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Crucially, this release clause would only become active in 2023 meaning the German side would have one more season of the Frenchman’s goals as well as a guaranteed sum of money should Liverpool wish to buy him.

This would provide the Reds with the perfect opportunity and means they won’t have to negotiate a fee, however, they will have to wait longer than they might have hoped.

He’s Salah 2.0

The 24-year old has been the star man for Leipzig this season and is their top scorer with 27 goals in 41 appearances. That’s just three less than Liverpool’s top scorer Mohamed Salah who sits on 30 so far.

He arrived in Germany in 2019 from Paris Saint-Germain and has been described as “unstoppable” by Goal, with former manager Jesse Marsch has said that he “has no weaknesses”.

With lots of uncertainty still surrounding Salah’s future at the club, Nkunku could be the perfect replacement, or partner which is what the Reds supporters will be hoping.

When you compare their stats they are remarkably similar, with Nkunku even bettering Salah in some areas. When it comes to goal per shots on target the Frenchman beats the Egyptian with 0.48 compared to 0.38.

They are also almost level on their number of goal creating actions with 28 for Nkunku and 25 for Salah. Given Liverpool are one of the best teams in Europe, the fact that the Leipzig man is matching the performance of their star player is impressive.

It’s likely Klopp will keep a close eye on clubs in the Bundesliga and their players, so to see the Reds linked with the French international shouldn’t be surprising.

An immediate transfer seems out of the question if he signs the contract extension, but if he continues producing top performances next season then signing him for £55m in 2023 sounds like a bargain.

AND in other news: “Will leave Liverpool..” – Romano drops transfer update that’ll have supporters gutted…

ESPNcricinfo presents the Plays of the Day from the fifth day between Australia and England at the Gabba

Andrew Miller and Peter English at the Gabba29-Nov-2010The accumulator
Alastair Cook batted on and on and on – for so long, in fact, that his eventual score of 235 not out was almost ten times his previous average in Tests against Australia. By the time England called a halt to his magnum opus, the previously formidable Gabbatoir was as tame as a petting zoo, with the Barmy Army singing his praises against an echoing backdrop of flipped-up plastic seating. Not only did Cook’s score outstrip Donald Bradman’s 226 as the highest individual innings at the Gabba, it exceeded the series total of 222 that Cook mustered in the 2009 Ashes, while his match total of 302 was also a new ground record, beating the 300 that Matthew Hayden made against England in 2002-03Business as usual
Jonathan Trott is getting pretty used to taking part in gargantuan stands. In England’s last Test, at Lord’s back in August, he and Stuart Broad shattered England’s eighth-wicket record by piling up a massive 332. So today’s unbeaten 329 stand with Cook was small beer by comparison. Nevertheless, in taking his chance to rack up a fourth Test hundred, Trott reacquainted himself with his favourite opponents, Australia, against whom he has now racked up second-innings hundreds in each of his two games.Trebles all round
England haven’t had to lot to cheer about triple-century partnerships in recent Ashes history. On Saturday, their immediate prospects were quashed by Michael Hussey and Brad Haddin, who set a new Gabba record mark of 307; while four years ago in Adelaide, Paul Collingwood and Kevin Pietersen’s 310-run stand ended up as the sorriest of footnotes in the most crushing defeat in recent Ashes history. This time, however, there was a lot more for England to get excited about, as they overhauled both of those figures to achieve a new national high in Ashes cricket.Extra extras
Australia’s attack has been overly generous during the past two days, buttheir discipline before lunch on the final day was particularly bad.Mitchell Johnson attempted a bouncer from around the wicket that went sofar down the legside it ended up as five wides. Later, Brad Haddin gave upeight byes in two balls from Xavier Doherty, with the second batchbringing up England’s 400. Shane Watson was also called for a wide when heattempted a bouncer as nothing went right for the hosts.Slip’s slip
Michael Clarke was in the business section of the field after spending thefirst innings floating around to protect his injured back. However, hebecame one of five Australians to spill a chance when Trott edgedto him at first slip on 75. By Test standards it was a sitter, but Clarkespilt it to his right, causing more comments about his fitness, and moreanguish for Watson.Declaration delight
By far the best moment for Australia was the declaration at 1 for 517shortly before tea. The tired and relieved Australians were gracious intheir praise for Cook and Trott, showing there are good feelings in thisseries as well as bad. Simon Katich fell in Australia’s short reply, butRicky Ponting’s mood improved slightly with a breezy half-century.

Shoaib Malik, Kamran Akmal and Danish Kaneria will appear before the PCB’s integrity committee in Lahore on Thursday as the board considers their future involvement with the Pakistan side

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Dec-2010Shoaib Malik, Kamran Akmal and Danish Kaneria will appear before the PCB’s integrity committee in Lahore on Thursday as the board considers their future involvement with the Pakistan side.The three have not played for Pakistan in any format since the summer tour to England, having not been cleared for selection by the integrity committee. Though the board has made no official comment and not charged the players, it is understood it has concerns about the trio.Accordingly, none have been picked for various squads; Kaneria was in the Test squad for the South Africa series but was prevented from travelling by the board to the UAE at the very last minute. Akmal even wrote to the ICC to ask whether he was the subject of any corruption inquiry or case and was subsequently told there was nothing on him.The integrity committee asked the players to submit details of their bank accounts, assets and property holdings from the last three years. Kaneria has done so while Malik and Akmal are understood to have submitted their details in the last week.The ongoing inquiry has led to Pakistan delaying the naming of their 30 probables for the 2011 World Cup. Ordinarily, Akmal and Malik would be automatic selections in the 30 and more than likely in the final 15 as well, but the ICC has granted Pakistan an extension until January 5 to decide.After the meeting, chaired by board chairman Ijaz Butt and attended by senior board officials, the selection committee will sit down, likely on Friday, to give shape to the ODI squad for the New Zealand series as well as the World Cup probables.

Liverpool midfielder James Milner could sign a new one-year deal at the club and Jurgen Klopp wants it to happen, according to reliable journalist Neil Jones.

The Lowdown: Milner a great servant

The 36-year-old has been a wonderful servant for the Reds since arriving in the summer of 2015, putting his experience and versatility to good use.

Milner has made 285 appearances for Liverpool in total and he is a much-loved figure who is renowned as an enormous influence in the dressing room, with Klopp comparing him to Luka Modric after Saturday’s 1-0 win away to Newcastle United in terms of still performing to a high level at the age of 36.

The English midfielder’s current deal expires at the end of this season, but a new update suggests that he could extend his stay at Anfield.

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The Latest: One more year?

Taking to Twitter as he shared a corresponding article for Goal, Jones claimed that a new one-year contract would appeal to both Milner and Klopp, suggesting that it will get signed. He outlined:

“Klopp wants Milner to stay and has made that clear. Milner wants to stay even though he knows he’s, at best, fifth choice. One more year?”

The Verdict: No-brainer for Liverpool

While Milner is no longer a regular starter for Liverpool, his mere presence at the club is most welcome given his aforementioned influence, and he showed with a stellar performance against Newcastle on Saturday that he remains a very handy squad player.

Retaining his services for another year makes perfect sense, with his fitness levels far superior to most players his age and his leadership still a massive part of the dressing room.

It feels like a no-brainer for all parties unless Milner wants to be a regular starter elsewhere, but given Liverpool’s current greatness, why would he want to go anywhere else?

In other news, a pundit has dropped a worrying Liverpool claim. Read more here.

Cricket’s biggest, richest and most brassy domestic event, the Indian Premier League, sprang to life again, breaking records on the first day of the auction

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Jan-2011Shaking off months of controversy, litigation and uncertainty, cricket’s biggest, richest and most brassy domestic event, the Indian Premier League, sprang into life again, breaking records and banks on the first day of auction weekend in Bangalore.From the 88 players auctioned today, 15 new millionaires were created by the ten IPL franchises who will compete in season four, but there was another sorry bunch of 16 players who were left ‘unsold’ when the auction finally ended at 6 pm.Minutes after his name was the first to be randomly pulled out from a list of ‘marquee players’ at 11 am on Saturday morning, Gautam Gambhir earned the highest playing contract in cricket, $2.4 million for two years with the Kolkata Knight Riders. With the top seven of the 15 new ‘millionaires’ being Indian, the day was marked by big spends for the small 48-strong pool of home-grown talent available to the ten teams, who must now compete to create new squads from scratch. Just over a month ago, the number of teams in the auction had been unclear, with Kochi trying to establish an undisputed ownership pattern and Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab fighting the BCCI against their sudden expulsion from the lucrative league.In Bangalore on Saturday though, with differences quelled for the moment, the auction diverted the IPL spotlight away from legal disputes towards the Bollywood and big business-driven spectacle it was meant to be. There were 72 players (30 Indians, 42 foreign players) sold on the first day of the auction for $52.8m. If Gambhir was the highest-earning Indian ever in the league (going for more than Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni and Virender Sehwag’s ‘retention’ salaries), Sri Lankan Mahela Jayawardene became the highest-earning overseas player, signed on for $1.5m by Kochi, the only team left to declare its formal, merchandise-friendly IPL name. They have until April 8 to decide, the IPL beginning just a week after the end of the World Cup.If there was a single trend through the giant auction player pool, it was this: younger, high-impact men, whether with bat or ball, and genuine multi-tasking allrounders went for the highest price, even if it was the sole big spend a team could make. The player’s marketability was an additional bonus. It is what explains the $1.9m for Irfan Pathan, who has spent a good portion of the domestic season injured and now finds himself out of India’s World Cup probables as well.The short supply of Indians in categories of all kind meant that a younger bunch of Indians suddenly found themselves receiving wages far higher than their more experienced colleagues. The Pune Warriors’ $2.1m spend on Robin Uthappa (only the third $2m man), for example, was well ahead of their $1.8m on Yuvraj Singh, who may well eventually be named Pune captain.South Africa’s Twenty20 captain Johan Botha went for almost double the price of his Test and ODI captain Graeme Smith to Rajasthan Royals, the team Smith had played for in the first three years. Along with the franchise owners and coaches present in the auction room, the team’s captain-coach Shane Warne spent the day in consultations over the telephone with the franchise.There were several approaches at work today: Kolkata made their intentions clear early on, first winning allrounder Yusuf Pathan at the second-highest bid for the day, $2.1m. By lunchtime, they had spent another $1.1m on South African allrounder Jacques Kallis. As the only team to have three millionaires on their payroll, Kolkata were willing to gamble early on spending more than half of the $9m salary cap on three players.Most of the other teams also tried to overhaul their personnel in an attempt to avoid the mistakes of the previous three seasons. Going against that grain, though, Chennai Super Kings, the current IPL Champions as well as the Champions League Twenty20 winners, retained as many as eight players from their successful campaigns. Four of those were retained before the auction which cut their salary cap by half and today, despite being the most infrequent bidder, Chennai managed to both sign on key members of their old squad and stick to their restricted budget.A Chennai official said the team’s approach was not surprising given that it had been asking the BCCI to allow it to retain players for the last year. “We had the strategy to retain as many players as possible. They players definitely wanted to stay back with us and it helps maintain the winning the form. Our aim has been that our team should gel well and hence we have always felt we shouldn’t change it. You can’t get a player only for two months and then discard them.”He said the men behind keeping the unit intact were the-captain-and-coach pair of MS Dhoni and Stephen Fleming: “The coach and the captain believe in this same ethos and they are the ones who have established this trend.”The IPL, which has broad-based and transformed cricket’s entire economy, once again produced unexpected, unorthodox and some illogical changes as well.The returns from the IPL auction for the England players continue to remain uneven: three players from their World Twenty20-winning team, Graeme Swann, James Anderson and Luke Wright were unsold (along with wicketkeeper Matt Prior, while Kevin Pietersen, Stuart Broad, Eoin Morgan and Paul Collingwood were bought for a total of $1.65m). The Ashes may well be a sign of doom for the Australian cricket establishment but at the IPL, they remain the most sought after overseas hirings, with 18 Australians being signed on today.The three West Indian cricketers who have turned down central contracts with their board have been dealt with differently: Kieron Pollard had been retained by Mumbai Indians, Dwayne Bravo was bought cheap at $200,000 by Chennai, but the most experienced of the three, left-hand opener Chris Gayle found himself without a contract of any kind.On a day when franchises signed up as many as 42 overseas players, Sri Lanka’s Ajantha Mendis found himself unsought after as did Bangladesh’s attacking opener, Tamim Iqbal, and New Zealand’s Jesse Ryder, who by all logic, is New Zealand’s leading impact man after Brendon McCullum.In the symbolic statement of representing both the shorter, sharper, faster and more demanding format of Twenty20 and therefore the ‘Gen Next’ cricketer, older men like the retired Brian Lara and the semi-retired Sourav Ganguly have been left on the shelf. Similarly, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman, mainstays of the Indian Test middle order, also struggled to get a bid any distance over their ‘base price’. Dravid finds himself in the cash-strapped Rajasthan Royals franchise on a $500,000 salary while Laxman went at his price of $400,000 to the first and only bidder Kochi. Three years ago, this would have been a handsome wage, but in the time of the $2.4m contract and in the IPL’s unreal pay scales, these are lean pickings.The presence of Harbhajan Singh and Andrew Symonds in the same Mumbai Indians dressing room will serve as a handy marketing pitch for the tightly-controlled high rollers of the IPL. For all the advertising about the rationale and practicality of franchise purchase, several auction equations remained unbalanced: the $1.6m spend on Saurabh Tiwary did not exactly go hand in hand with the absence in the auction of some highly rated IPL names – Manish Pandey, Sidharth Trivedi, Ambati Rayudu. Piyush Chawla’s $900,000 compared to IPL 3’s top wicket-taker Pragyan Ojha’s $500,000 could not be explained but then again neither could the general silence around Murali Kartik, whose economy-rate for the struggling Kolkata last season was better than both younger men.One the men who has benefitted the most in the auction would be allrounder Ravindra Jadeja who was left out of the Rajashthan team last season for entering into discussions about a transfer to the Mumbai team. Jadeja came to within $50,000 of being IPL 4’s Mr Millionaire No. 16.At the auction tomorrow, there will be 71 more players up for sale, with the number of Indians now down to 18.

Celtic have another opportunity to take a step closer to lifting the Premiership title this afternoon as the Hoops welcome Hearts to Parkhead for their latest league outing.

The previous league meeting between the two sides back in January saw Ange Postecoglou’s side pick up all three points with a 2-1 victory.

Goals from Reo Hatate and Giorgos Giakoumakis put the away side 2-0 up with 35 minutes on the clock before Liam Boyce pulled a goal back for his team in the second half. Hearts had the chance to equalise in the 73rd minute but Boyce ended up missing a penalty, much to the delight of Celtic.

Heading into today’s showdown, the Hoops will undeniably be looking for a win after failing to beat Rangers last weekend.

On the chalkboard

One man who started in the 1-1 draw last Sunday butt should not be in the team on this occasion is attacker Kyogo Furuhashi.

Celtic signed the centre-forward during the previous summer transfer window from Vissel Kobe in a deal worth a reported £5m. Since then, the £52.5k-per-week attacker has scored 17 goals in 30 games for the Bhoys across all competitions.

Despite his knack for finding the net since his arrival in Scotland, his previous performance may have jeopardised his place in today’s starting XI.

With 61 minutes under his belt against Rangers last time out, the striker failed to have much of an impact and arguably cost his side the chance to stretch the points gap between the two Glasgow clubs.

During his time on the pitch before being replaced by Giakoumakis, the 27-year-old had just 15 touches of the ball and could only complete five of the 10 passes he attempted. He also ended up giving the ball away six times, committing four fouls and losing four of the six duels in which he was involved, as per Sofascore.

Described as being an “absolute nightmare” to play against in training by team-mate Stephen Welsh, this is the opposite of what he was for the Rangers defence last weekend.

With that in mind, it could be Postecoglou’s best option to not start Furuhashi on this occasion and keep him as an impact substitute instead.

In other news: Enquiry made, then joined rivals: Celtic had the last laugh over “huge” 161 G/A dynamo

Southampton are interested in signing Manchester City goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu, according to a report from talkSPORT. 

The lowdown: Rising stock

The 20-year-old stopper has spent the 2021/22 campaign on loan at south coast rivals Portsmouth in order to gain more senior exposure.

During that time, Bazunu earned plenty of plaudits for his penalty saving exploits after denying a Cristiano Ronaldo spot-kick against Portugal for the Republic of Ireland.

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Having already become an overnight sensation, a move could be on the horizon for the talented ‘keeper…

The latest: Saints’ keen

As per talkSPORT, Southampton are ‘looking to bolster’ the goalkeeping department with the capture of Bazunu.

It’s claimed that Saints boss Ralph Hasenhuttl is ‘interested’ in the seven-cap starlet, who was recently hailed as a ‘class act’ by Fratton Park manager Danny Cowley following a 2-0 victory over Morecambe.

Furthermore, Bazunu is said to have ‘no chance’ of usurping Ederson as City’s number one, whilst Fraser Forster, Alex McCarthy, Willy Caballero and Alex Lewis are all out of contract at the end of the season (Transfermarkt).

The verdict: Smart move

Albeit untested at the Premier League level, the Dublin-born goalkeeper is a player enjoying an upwards career trajectory and Hasenhuttl desperately needs to freshen up the St Mary’s goalkeeping ranks.

So far this season Bazunu has kept 16 clean sheets, and made 3.0 saves per game whilst earning an impressive 6.99 average Sofascore rating from 44 League One outings.

Whilst the report makes no mention of a fee, valued at just £540,000, signing Bazunu would likely be a relatively inexpensive move for the new-look Southampton hierarchy.

In other news: ‘Quite a key figure’ – Journalist shocked by who could now leave Southampton, find out more here.

A century by Stiaan van Zyl and a five-for by Craig Alexander completed a victory for South Africa A against Bangladesh A in Potchefstroom

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Apr-2011
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsA century by Stiaan van Zyl and a five-for by Craig Alexander completed a victory for South Africa A against Bangladesh A in Potchefstroom that had been coming ever since the hosts had made an aggressive declaration on the first day. They started the third day 250 runs ahead with seven wickets remaining, and van Zyl’s 101 not out helped set Bangladesh 458 to win, and the visitors couldn’t even extend the match into a fourth day, as they were bowled out for 185 in 37.5 overs.van Zyl’s hundred came at a steady pace, and it was wicketkeeper Heino Kuhn who helped lift South Africa’s run-rate with his 89 runs coming off just 83 balls with eight fours and two sixes. That allowed captain Jacques Rudolph to declare with plenty of time left in the day.Bangladesh had only managed 156 in the first innings, and barely improved on that batting effort in the second one. Nadif Chowdhury waged a lone battle, scoring 70 off 77 balls, but no-one else got more than 20, and Alexander helped himself to figures of 5 for 36, giving him eight wickets for the match.

As part of the ongoing Wisden City Cup, a promising young cricketer from outside the existing structure of the counties and ECB Premier Leagues will be fast-tracked into a potential career as a professional cricketer this summer

ESPNcricinfo staff10-May-2011As part of the ongoing Wisden City Cup, a promising young cricketer from outside the existing structure of the counties and ECB Premier Leagues will be fast-tracked into a potential career as a professional cricketer this summer.The WCC was set up to foster the playing and watching of cricket in Britain’s inner cities, with the initial competition held in North London. At the end of the current season, one member of the Leicester-London Combined XI that will play a Twenty20 against MCC Young Cricketers on Sunday September 11 at Grace Road will be picked to become an MCC Young Cricketer himself in 2012.”The Wisden City Cup is doing some great work in reaching out to find undiscovered talent,” said Mark Alleyne, the former England cricketer and current head coach of MCC who will select the lucky player.”MCC Young Cricketers exists to identify promising players and support them through to the first-class game, so the coming together of the two is a perfect fit. I’m looking forward to seeing the ability on show this year and working with their best player next season.”The player picked will receive access to world-class facilities and top coaching at Lord’s, and could also play in the Second Eleven Championship and Second Eleven Trophy, in which the MCC Young Cricketers take part. Recent alumni of the Young Cricketers programme include Darren Sammy, the current West Indies captain, Ross Taylor and Nottinghamshire’s Alex Hales.

Lancashire, having won their first two championship matches by an innings, put themselves in a strong position to force another overwhelming victory at Hove, as they scored 590 before reducing Sussex to 97 for 4 at the close

27-Apr-2011
ScorecardLancashire, having won their first two championship matches by an innings, put themselves in a strong position to force another overwhelming victory at Hove, as they scored 590 before reducing Sussex to 97 for 4 at the close.It was Lancashire’s joint-16th highest score in first-class cricket and their best since 2006.They resumed on 322 for 6 and added a further 268 runs in just 62.4 overs as the Sussex bowlers struggled on a flat pitch. Lancashire scored 122 runs in the morning session alone.Sussex did not take a wicket until 10 minutes after the interval when Luke Procter, who was on 26 overnight, was sharply caught at slip by Ed Joyce off the bowling of Monty Panesar.Panesar was by some way the most economical bowler in the Sussex attack but even he came in for heavy punishment at times and on five occasions the left-handed Procter hit him over the short leg-side boundary for six on his way to 89.It seemed that no Lancashire batsman would score a hundred – Paul Horton and Karl Brown had been out for 78 and 88 respectively on the first day – but then Gareth Cross hit a career-best 125. Cross hit 13 fours and five sixes in his 195-ball innings.He reached his century when he edged Naved Arif for four but it was a rare moment of hesitancy in a dominating innings. Lancashire lost their eighth wicket at 536 when Farveez Maharoof was well caught, low down, on the backward square-leg boundary by Luke Wells. Cross was ninth out at 567 when, having just hit Arif towards the changing rooms for his final six, he was caught at long-on attempting another.When Sussex batted they gave Lancashire a helping hand which the away side hardly needed. Two of the four dismissed batsmen were out without playing a shot and they need a further 344 runs merely to avoid the follow-on.Openers Chris Nash and Joyce had done the most difficult part when they added 46 for the first wicket. But then Nash was bowled by one that jagged back into him from Maharoof. Joyce followed in the next over, bowled as he played no stroke to one that spun sharply back into him from Gary Keedy. Wells was also out without playing a shot, lbw to Keedy. Ben Brown was fourth out at 90, lbw to Glen Chapple.