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Chelsea have now lodged a £56 million bid to sign an alternative to Atletico Madrid forward Samu Omorodion, coming after they missed out on a deal for the Spaniard due to rumoured contractual issues.

Chelsea talks for Omorodion collapse as Gallagher returns to London

The transfer domino involving Omorodion and Chelsea midfielder Conor Gallagher appeared all set in stone at one stage last week, with reliable transfer journalist Fabrizio Romano giving his 'here we go' on the former's move to Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea could now offer £150k-per-week ace with Lukaku to seal Osimhen deal

The Nigerian is back on their radar after failing to sign Omorodion.

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By
Emilio Galantini

Aug 13, 2024

Omorodion was set to join Chelsea on a seven-year contract in a deal worth around £35 million, allowing Gallagher to move in the opposite direction to Madrid for a similar fee.

The latter, like Omorodion, completed his medical tests with all the necessary documents finalised to seal his switch to Atletico.

However, it is believed contractual issues resulted in Omorodion's move to Chelsea breaking down at the eleventh hour (Sky Sports), and that had a profound effect on Gallagher's move, as the two transfers were intertwined.

Atletico needed the £35 million fee from Omorodion's sale to pay for Gallagher, so as such, the striker not moving to west London has resulted in Chelsea's midfielder taking a flight back home.

"Conor Gallagher, on his way back to London, on private flight now," said Romano on X last night.

"Chelsea wanted him to return as Atlético deal still in stand-by. All done between Conor/Atléti, medical and documents included… but no final signatures from Atléti. Story remains open."

Since Chelsea's deal for the 20-year-old striker broke down, Enzo Maresca's side have remained in talks with the La Liga heavyweights over signing an Atletico alternative to Omorodion, and a player who could reopen the door for Gallagher to complete his transfer.

That man is Portugal international forward Joao Felix, who spent the second half of 2022/2023 on loan at Chelsea, scoring four Premier League goals. Felix has already agreed to re-join Chelsea, so it is seemingly up to the clubs.

Chelsea submit £56 million total bid for Joao Felix

The 24-year-old's agent, Jorge Mendes, is in England right now holding talks with Chelsea (Romano) – as the Blues look to potentially strike a reunion with the forward and resurrect Gallagher's transfer to Atletico.

Portuguese news outlet O Jogo, sharing an update of their own, now claim Chelsea have submitted a £56 million bid to sign Felix from Atletico, with Todd Boehly and BlueCo making their opening offer.

The outlet claims around half of that transfer fee would be paid up front, with the other half paid later. Felix appears out of favour at Atletico, spending last season on loan at Barcelona, so perhaps this could work in Chelsea's favour.

However, it is unclear whether Diego Simeone's men are about to accept or reject this proposal.

He has been given a four-year deal to coach all three formats after a brief period as interim coach in Pakistan

Alex Malcolm12-Apr-2022Former Test allrounder Andrew McDonald has been officially confirmed as Australia’s new full-time men’s coach and selector for all three formats after signing a four-year contract.McDonald takes over the same roleJustin Langer resigned from messy circumstances in February following an offer from the Cricket Australia board for a six-month contract extension only.McDonald, who has been the senior assistant and bowling mentor since late 2019, took over as interim coach for the Pakistan tour. He led the team to a 1-0 Test series and won praise from Test captain Pat Cummins. Australia lost the ODI series 1-2 but won the one-off T20I in Lahore.McDonald has coached Australia on several tours during Langer’s four-year tenure while the former coach rested, including an ODI series in India in 2020, a five-match T20I tour of New Zealand in 2021, and a five-match home T20I series against Sri Lanka earlier this year.”The journey so far has been particularly pleasing, and I am honoured to be given this incredible opportunity for what is an exciting period ahead,” McDonald said.”The success of the World Cup, the Ashes Series and now Pakistan has been testament to the hard work and leadership of Justin, Pat and Aaron [Finch] along with the players and the support staff.”My plan is to build on the growth, depth and experience of the squad while working collectively with the group and across the game. There are many challenges in the short-term which I know excites the leadership group, the players and the staff. I’d also like to thank my family for their support.”Related

• Pat Cummins rested for Sri Lanka T20Is; big guns return for white-ball leg

• Jeff Vaughan leaves Australia assistant post to coach Tasmania

• Five key challenges for Andrew McDonald as Australia's new head coach

• Andrew McDonald: Coaching recruitment 'won't become a distraction' on Pakistan tour

• 'The boys absolutely love him' – Pat Cummins praises interim coach Andrew McDonald

CA did conduct a global search for a new men’s coach following the departure of Langer via a recruitment firm and sounded out a number of potential candidates including former Australia captain Ricky Ponting, former England coach Trevor Bayliss and current Australia women’s coach Matthew Mott. But McDonald’s popularity with the playing group and the team’s recent results made him an obvious choice, as CA general manager of high performance Ben Oliver confirmed.”Andrew was the standout candidate in a high-quality field of coaches,” Oliver said. “And we believe he’s the best person to help continue the growth of the team over the coming years.”McDonald has vast coaching experience having coached Victoria and Melbourne Renegades to four Australian domestic titles, including completing the Sheffield Shield, Marsh Cup and BBL treble in the same season in 2018-19. He has also been head coach of Rajasthan Royals in the IPL and was hired as head coach of Birmingham Phoenix for the inaugural Hundred but was unable to coach in person due to Australia commitments.CA did not want to split the men’s job along format lines with McDonald to be the head coach of all three formats. McDonald himself was keen to be the coach of all three formats however that was not raised in discussions with CA until he became the preferred candidate.But given Australia’s heavy touring schedule over the next 18 months including an away Test tour of Sri Lanka, a home T20 World Cup, home Test series against West Indies and South Africa, an away Test series against India, a possible World Test Championship final, an away Ashes and a 50-over World Cup in India, McDonald wanted a coaching structure that allows for him and his assistants to be rested for certain periods.Under such a scenario a senior assistant could well take charge of certain tours or sections of tours that are viewed as lower priority series during that time, and consultants may be used more frequently as was seen when former New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori joined Australia’s limited-overs squad in Pakistan as a spin consultant in the absence of Sridharan Sriram.”Once it was decided that I was a preferred candidate then I got an opportunity to sit down with Cricket Australia and the people around that to shape and formulate role,” McDonald said. “But it was a huge part of it. No doubt about it.”I think the great challenge for coaches and players is to manage your workload across the four years, being my term at the moment. But I’d like to think that I’ve got coaching staff around that can step up. We can elevate certain coaches at different times to take on different tours and different challenges and whilst we’re doing that it’s growing the depth of our coaching staff.”McDonald already has Michael Di Venuto, Jeff Vaughan and Sri Sriram in place as batting, fielding and bowling coaches respectively, and praised Langer for making those appointments during his tenure. McDonald seconded Andre Borovec on the tour of Pakistan as an interim assistant with expertise in strategy. But he will need a full-time bowling coach to replace his own role within the coaching structure.McDonald will sit on the three-man selection panel alongside chairman George Bailey and third selector Tony Dodemaide for all three formats.

Daniel Vettori still loves the game, but he is uncertain whether the game still loves him

David Hopps in Cardiff09-Jun-2013″When you are away from the game it probably rejuvenates your love for it.” That assessment came from Daniel Vettori as he contemplated his lengthy absence from the fray. Against Sri Lanka, in New Zealand’s first game in the Champions Trophy, Vettori finally made his return. One wonders how rejuvenated his love feels now.Vettori still loves the game, but he is uncertain whether the game still loves him. These days it gives him so much hardship. Back on the field, in his first ODI for 27 months, he gazed into its eyes, hoping his love would not go unrequited, but the game gave him mixed messages, flattering him for all it was worth, without ever suggesting that things were how they used to be.”Tell me you need me, tell me we’ll grow old together, tell me I’m still the one,” Vettori said to the game. And, in his first over, the game assured him he was still a superhero. “I’ve made you a used, dry pitch, your favourite,” said the game. But as he ran in to bowl, his body thicker these days, his movements more cumbersome, he still feared the game was looking elsewhere.He came on for the eighth over, his appetite whetted by the presence of Mahela Jayawardene, who he had picked off regularly over the years. They had first come up against each other in an ODI in Napier in 2001 and Vettori got him lbw. The habit was still ingrained in what had been his 273rd and last ODI – the World Cup semi-final in Colombo – when Jayawardene was lbw to his third ball. “Memories like that can help get you through,” said the game.New Zealand lost that match, another near miss in a major tournament, and immediately afterwards Vettori announced that he would take a prolonged rest from ODIs to prolong his Test career. He has been resting, or retiring or recuperating ever since: different words, but all signifying that the years were passing by and he was no longer on the field.This time, in Cardiff, his third ball turned and skimmed past Jayawardene’s outside edge. The next ball, tossed up higher, slid through Jayawardene’s defences and struck him on the back pad. Vettori begged the umpire, Bruce Oxenford, for the lbw decision and when it came Jayawardene knew, in his heart, that there was little point in a review.At the end of the over, Vettori was withdrawn from the attack, his immediate job done. He returned later and, in all, conceded only 16 runs in six overs, conceding boundaries to Angelo Mathews, a full toss bashed through midwicket, and to Lahiru Thirimanne, a slog sweep in the same direction. After such a lengthy lay-off, he could not have asked for much more.His spectacles glinted and tongue lolled from his mouth, with the intense concentration of a student sitting finals, just as it had always done. He demanded respect; he might have lost his litheness, but he will never lose his game sense. He took a catch too, back-pedalling five yards to clutch a routine skier from Thisara Perera at mid-on.”I’m still the one, tell me you’ll never let me go,” Vettori told the game. But the game could not be entirely oblivious to the heavy strapping on his right arm, a more ungainly approach to the crease and his limping gait at mid-on. It had heard too, about the mesh implanted into his groin earlier this year to address another injury concern. Then there was the hand pressed into the thigh whenever he bent down to field, a legacy of years of back trouble, once an endearing idiosyncracy, now a reminder of his growing vulnerability.His ambitions once stretched no further than becoming a pharmacist, after taking a degree in health sciences, but it is likely that no amounts of pills or potions will spare him now.There was a time when the game almost loved him without limits. Back in 2009, he dominated for New Zealand with bat and ball, but even then the side he led was poor and, as much as people spoke about his nous and praised him for holding New Zealand cricket together, he was landed with one of the worst captaincy records in New Zealand’s history. They even lost 4-0 in a one-day series in Bangladesh.It was good to see him back, but he did not look fit. New Zealand will give serious thought to resting him against Australia in Birmingham and keeping him for what could be more spin-friendly conditions back in Cardiff against England on Friday. But his return did not give much credence to his wish to stick around long enough for the 2015 World Cup, to be held in Australia and New Zealand. This tournament might yet become his farewell.Most disturbing was his response when Mitchell McCleneghan bowled Mathews round his legs. He clapped his hands in delight, but hobbled in to join the celebratory huddle so slowly that by the time he arrived, the wisecracks had already ended. The achilles injury that has prevented two earlier attempts at a comeback in England this summer still seems with him.Neither will there be many times when New Zealand will wish to field two spinners, as they did today. One of Vettori’s great achievements has been to build such a record in a country with a climate not conducive to spin bowling. Nathan McCullum, who has advanced his one-day career in Vettori’s absence, has a worse bowling average, but he is a stronger batsman, and busy and purposeful in the field.But at least Vettori was spinning a cricket ball again. It was better than spinning apples. In IPL this year, about the only time he came to anybody’s attention was when he joined Sir Richard Hadlee to appear in a promotional video for New Zealand apples, complete with a powerful rock music soundtrack. Vettori tried to look tough and mean, as if spinning apples was the challenge he had been seeking all his life, but it was his head that must have been spinning.In between times, he grew a bushy brown beard, which is the sort of thing you do to pass the time in India hotel rooms when there is no cricket to be had. He was clean-shaven for his comeback, 34-years-old yet strangely full of excitement and trepidation.He came in to bat with New Zealand rocking at 70 for 5, but was unable to turn the game. He made five in an uncomfortable 15-ball stay and then fell lbw to Lasith Malinga. Replays showed that he had got an inside edge, and he knew it, but New Zealand had already used up their review.”That’s not fair,” Vettori told the game. But the game was looking away.

Enzo Maresca has been tasked with bringing Chelsea back to Champions League football, looking to bolster his squad ahead of the 2024/25 Premier League season, and finish higher than their sixth-place finish last season.

He has already been reunited with a familiar face, with the Blues acquiring Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall from Leicester City, as well as Renato Veiga, Tosin Adarabioyo, Marc Guiu, Caleb Wiley, and Omari Kellyman.

But Chelsea could still be set for a busy few weeks in the transfer market, with links still circling around striker options and a potential left-winger, as well as many expected outgoings.

Chelsea's search for a striker

According to reports from Football Insider over the weekend, Chelsea are admirers of Sporting striker, Viktor Gyokeres, whilst other Premier League clubs such as Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham are also interested in the Sweden international.

The 26-year-old striker has a £86m release clause according to the reports, and that fee is expected to be too high for the Premier League clubs, meaning the likelihood of a move depends on Sporting lowering their asking price.

Gyokeres made 50 appearances in all competitions for Sporting last season, scoring 43 goals, providing 15 assists, and totalling 4,169 minutes of football.

How Gyokeres compares Jackson

Chelsea striker Nicolas Jackson made 44 appearances in all competitions in 2023/24, scoring 17 goals and providing six assists. That marked an impressive return in his first Premier League season, especially after his slow start, missing multiple big chances (24 in total).

Meanwhile, Gyokeres's 43 goals were more than the Blues' top scorer, Cole Palmer, who scored 25 goals for the club in 45 appearances, and another Chelsea striker target, Victor Osimhen, who scored 17 goals in 32 appearances for Napoli last season.

Gyokeres, who was described as a "powerhouse" by analyst Ben Mattinson, due to his ability to hold up play, bring others into play and use his aerial prowess to affect the game. His high touches in the penalty area, averaging 8.71 per 90, is due to his hold-up play, and ability to play with his back to goal.

The 26-year-old has better metrics in most areas compared to Chelsea striker Jackson, and Chelsea target Osimhen. Having a better Non-Penalty Goals metric, having more shots on target despite fewer shots than Osimhen per 90, and creating more chances for others with 0.31 assists per 90.

He also shows his complete nature, averaging 3.52 progressive carries per 90, and 2.10 successful take-ons per 90, showing his ability to create for himself and be part of build-up play due to his quality on the ball.

Gyokeres provides a ready-made version of Jackson, who has shown signs of becoming the player Gyokeres is, but could need a few seasons to reach that prolific level that the Swede already provides – having only previously scored 13 times during his stint at Villarreal.

Much of the talk, of course, at present will be centred around the Blues' interest in Osimhen – amid reports regarding a potential swap deal involving Romelu Lukaku – yet Gyokeres has shown himself to be a worthy alternative.

Romano: Chelsea want £207k-p/w striker who'd be the finest since Drogba

This “world-class” player would be a stunning addition at Stamford Bridge.

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By
Angus Sinclair

Jul 29, 2024

Kuldeep Yadav has been named as his replacement

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Feb-2022Washington Sundar has been ruled out of India’s three-match T20I series against West Indies, which begins in Kolkata on Wednesday. According to a BCCI release, the spin-bowling allrounder suffered a hamstring strain while fielding during the third ODI in Ahmedabad on Friday.Left-arm wristspinner Kuldeep Yadav has been named as Washington’s replacement in India’s squad.The hamstring strain is the latest in a series of injuries and illnesses that have hounded Washington over the last few months. First, he was forced to miss the second half of IPL 2021 in the UAE after suffering a finger injury. He returned to domestic action during the 50-overs Vijay Hazare Trophy, helping Tamil Nadu reach the final, but a bout of Covid-19 kept him waiting for his international comeback, ruling him out of the ODI leg of India’s tour of South Africa in January this year.Washington finally returned to India colours during the ODIs against West Indies, playing all three games and showing promise with both ball and bat. He picked up four wickets at 18.75, while conceding just 4.16 runs per over, and he also contributed scores of 24 and 33 in his two outings with the bat.Just when he seemed to be back in the thick of things, however, injury has struck once more.As a specialist bowler, Kuldeep isn’t a like-for-like replacement for Washington; the batting ability of seamers Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar and Harshal Patel, however, should still allow India to pick an XI without compromising on their batting depth.India squad for T20I series: Rohit Sharma (capt), Ishan Kishan, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, Ravi Bishnoi, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammed Siraj, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Avesh Khan, Harshal Patel, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Deepak Hooda, Kuldeep Yadav.

Among batters, Amy Satterthwaite and Laura Wolvaardt climb to No. 3 and No. 5 respectively

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Mar-2022England might have lost all their three games so far in the ongoing Women’s World Cup, but left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone’s stocks have continued to rise. She has now overtaken Australia’s Jess Jonassen, who plies the same trade, as the No. 1 bowler in the ICC Women’s ODI rankings. Ecclestone is the No. 1 bowler in the T20I rankings as well.Ecclestone took 3 for 20 in a losing cause against West Indies and followed it up with an impressive 1 for 23 against South Africa, but England lost again as Marizanne Kapp put up an excellent all-round show.

Full rankings tables

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Kapp picked up 5 for 45, her maiden five-wicket haul in ODIs, before guiding the chase with a 42-ball 32. As a result, she has jumped four spots to No. 4 on the bowling charts, while also retaining her No. 3 spot in the allrounders’ rankings.West Indies’ Hayley Matthews was another player who made gains on the allrounders’ chart. She is now at No. 2, her 45 and 2 for 40 against England and 43 and 1 for 65 against India helping her gain two spots.Matthews, however, is still 87 ranking points behind Ellyse Perry, who sits at the top of the chart. Perry strengthened her position by scoring 68 and picking up 1 for 18 in Australia’s 141-run win over New Zealand. In the same match, Ashleigh Gardner’s unbeaten 48 and 2 for 15 helped her move two spots up to No. 7.Among batters, New Zealand’s Amy Satterthwaite and South Africa’s Laura Wolvaardt were the big gainers.Satterthwaite scored 75 against India and 44 against Australia. That saw her climb up five spots to No. 3. At 717 rating points, she is just eight behind No. 2 Tammy Beaumont and 14 behind No. 1 Alyssa Healy.Wolvaardt’s 75 and 77 against Pakistan and England, respectively, meanwhile, helped her break into the top ten. She is currently at No. 5.