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Celtic remain in talks over a move for Tottenham defender Cameron Carter-Vickers, according to American reporter Larry Henry Jr.

The Lowdown: Carter-Vickers’ links

Carter-Vickers’ name has been mentioned a fair few times this month in regards to a move to Celtic Park.

Bournemouth, Celtic and Newcastle appeared to be the three teams in the hunt for the defender, with The Daily Record suggesting Carter-Vickers is keen on a Celtic transfer.

Capable of playing at both centre-back and right-back, Carter-Vickers has less than 12 months left on his contract in north London, and after six loan spells, it seems as if a permanent exit could be on the cards.

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The Latest: Recent update

The Hoops brought in Carl Starfelt after Kristoffer Ajer left for Brentford, but the links to Carter-Vickers haven’t gone away.

Henry Jr posted on Twitter on Thursday evening to provide an update on the USA international.

He suggested that both Celtic and Newcastle remain in talks with Spurs over the 23-year-old, with Tottenham set to place a sell-on clause in any permanent transfer.

“An update on Cameron Carter-Vickers, per a source close to the player. Both Celtic and Newcastle remain in talks with Tottenham over a deal and Spurs will receive a sell-on clause in addition to a transfer fee.”

The Verdict: Avoid

Carter-Vickers is valued at £5m by Tottenham despite making just four senior appearances for the club.

Transfermarkt have his valuation down at just £1.8m, and for a player with no Premier League experience and less than 12 months left on his deal, £5m seems a bit much.

The Hoops could possibly find better value for money elsewhere, but it seems as if they are still in the hunt for the versatile defender, so it could be a link to keep a close eye on over the coming days.

In other news: £5.4m-rated club captain admits he would ‘immediately’ sign for Celtic; he’s on £18,000-a-week. 

Donald Peters, WICB chief executive, has said the region’s domestic one-day tournament would be held in November in either Guyana or Jamaica

Cricinfo staff20-Sep-2008Donald Peters, the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) chief executive, has said the region’s domestic one-day tournament will be held in November in either Guyana or Jamaica. The tournament was supposed to be staged in Florida but hurricanes hampered the preparations at the proposed venue in Broward County.”They [matches] will be held in one of two countries,” Peters told the . “It depends on the meeting with the sponsors, or the proposed sponsors on Friday and then [we will] determine where it is going to be held. It will either be in Guyana or Jamaica.Peters said a preliminary schedule had been worked out for the tournament. “They [matches] are scheduled for November. In fact, we sent out the preliminary schedules to the territorial boards today so we can release it after they have looked at it. But it will be in November.”Had the tournament been held in Florida, it would been the first WICB-sanctioned event in the USA. Broward County had put forth an unsuccessful bid to host a group stage of the World Cup in 2007 but was awarded the 2008 one-day tournament by the WICB after an American sponsor came forward to replace KFC, which did not renew its three-year agreement.

The Athletic’s Crystal Palace reporter, Matt Woosnam, has revealed the fresh dimension Conor Gallagher will bring to the club as a loan move edges closer with a medical due today, speaking to The Transfer Tavern.

The Chelsea midfielder has been linked with a potential move to the Eagles in recent weeks following the appointment of Patrick Vieira as manager at Selhurst Park, and TEAMtalk confirmed on Thursday that he had rejected a switch to Leeds United to sign for the Eagles.

The South London outfit’s likely addition of Gallagher comes on the back of signing Joachim Andersen from Lyon following his loan spell at Fulham last term, as their summer business goes from strength to strength.

The 21-year-old has a contract with the Blues until 2025 but has yet to make his senior debut for the club, going on loan to Charlton Athletic, Swansea City, and West Bromwich Albion.

He made 30 appearances in the Premier League last term for the Baggies as they were relegated and Woosnam believes that Gallagher will only be leaving Stamford Bridge on loan this summer.

And he does believe that the youngster would be a fine signing for Vieira’s side.

He said: “Whether that would be a loan or that would be permanent is also unclear.

“I think Chelsea might see that as a better opportunity to loan him out for another year and then if he doesn’t make it into their first team then to maybe sell him but certainly, he would fill that more attacking kind of role in the midfield that Palace need at the moment. Most of their midfielders, if you take away Jeffrey Schlupp, are quite defensive, relatively speaking.”

Rangers manager Steven Gerrard has confirmed a body blow to his squad for this afternoon’s clash against Dundee United, with Ianis Hagi ruled out of the trip.

The Gers are set to travel to Tannadice in the early kickoff, with the reigning champions hoping to build on their impressive opening-day 3-0 victory.

However, following that convincing win over Livingston, Gerrard’s charges came back down to earth with a bang in midweek. A disappointing 2-1 defeat at the hands of Swedish outfit Malmo in the first leg of their Champions League third-round qualifier has left Rangers with work to do in the reverse fixture.

The Liverpool legend was dealt a further setback as he confirmed that the Romanian playmaker won’t be available to face the Tangerines.

Steven Gerrard will be sickened

Hagi remained on the bench for the entire 90 minutes against Malmo after pulling up in the warm-up, and the exciting Romanian forward is set to be sidelined once again this afternoon.

Kemar Roofe and Glen Kamara are set to return to the starting XI after missing the Malmo tie through injury, but the same can’t be said for Alfredo Morelos. The 25-year-old is set to return to training but is short of match sharpness, although he could be back in action for their crucial second leg tie in the Champions League qualifiers in midweek.

Gerrard addressed his side’s injury issues in yesterday’s press conference, saying: “We will be without Ianis Hagi. Roofe is available to return to the group. Kamara will return to the squad.

“Morelos is available but he will need a couple of sessions on his return. Ryan Jack will be another couple of weeks all being well.”

Hagi – hailed in the past by Gerrard as a “top talent” – needed just eight minutes to find the net against Livingston last week before being forced off, while his figures from last season showed how valuable a contribution he makes to the side. Only four Gers players scored more than his seven Premiership goals, while nobody could top his tally of 11 top-flight assists (WhoScored).

While Dundee United should be beatable considering that they began their campaign with a loss, Gerrard is no doubt a firm admirer of the 22-year-old judging by his comments above, and he will surely be sickened not to have the £21k-p/w Romanian to call upon this afternoon.

In other news…”Rangers would like to bring him in” – Exclusive: Michael Ball drops big Gers transfer claim

Rahul Dravid has said the strategic field placements Ricky Ponting used were not a surprise – the Australians had adopted a similar “semi-defensive” approach in 2004

Cricinfo staff11-Oct-2008
Sachin Tendulkar was susceptible to Mitchell Johnson’s subtle changes in pace © Getty Images
Rahul Dravid has said the strategic field placements Ricky Ponting used were not a surprise – the Australians had adopted a similar “semi-defensive” approach in 2004. If India were expecting a choking strategy, though, they didn’t seem to have planned a counter to it and, Dravid apart, the middle-order batsmen were stifled by fielders who cut off their comfort zones.Sachin Tendulkar seemed to have seen the trap set for him, yet got caught in it. VVS Laxman remained on zero for 11 balls, after his areas of choice were blocked off, and was dismissed off the 12th. Ponting said they had plans for the Indian batsmen but even he might have been surprised at the speed with which they worked.The Indian openers had scored at a brisk pace on the second evening but, with the bounce getting more unpredictable on the third morning, that passage of play was the exception rather than the norm while the middle order was batting.Out of the corners of his eyes Sachin Tendulkar could see fielders at short cover, short midwicket and square leg while facing Brett Lee. Against Mitchell Johnson, whose initial plan was to slant the ball across the right-handers to make the batsmen drive, Tendulkar had a packed off side – two slips, a gully, point and short cover. He beat that field twice – once with a glorious cover drive, then with an edgy push which flew wide of gully – but was susceptible to Johnson’s subtle changes of pace. The first spooned drive against the slower ball fell tantalizingly short of Cameron White at short cover. A few balls later Tendulkar hit it straight into his hands.Dravid, Laxman and Mahendra Singh Dhoni found their leg-side options cut off. Two fielders stood a few feet apart at silly mid-on and short midwicket and they were backed up by a conventional mid-on. The close men prevented singles that would result from driving the ball either side of mid-on; the deeper fielder stopped shots which were driven firmly between the two close fielders. There was a man at square leg as well.”On wickets like this, with the kind of attack they have, we expected them to set fields like that,” Dravid said. “Semi-defensive fields with sweepers and more men on the leg side, looking to bowl wicket to wicket. Some days, on wickets like this, it might work. On other days you might have to look at other fields.”But Ponting didn’t have to look at other fields for most of today. Laxman fended feebly and nicked Johnson to Haddin, while Dhoni tried to force a straight ball from Michael Clarke and lost his off stump. They were unable to force the Australians into changing their plans and failed to take heed from the vigilant approach which brought Ponting, Michael Hussey and Simon Katich their runs on the second day.
Rahul Dravid: “They [Australia’s bowlers] tended to bowl a lot straighter so obviously the tendency is to drift down leg side” © AFP
Only Dravid found a method to beat the suffocation. He called upon his ample supply of patience and countered the low bounce by moving decisively on to the front foot. He did not necessarily force Ponting to change his field; instead, he worked around it. Gaps in the infield were hard to pierce so Dravid waited for the ball that was too straight and played it towards long leg, and when it was wide, he scored in the region behind point. Dravid scored 43 out of his 51 runs behind square.”They [Australia’s bowlers] tended to bowl a lot straighter so obviously the tendency is to drift down leg side,” Dravid said. “The opportunities to score runs are on that side.”Unlike several of his team-mates, his dismissal was not a result of a rash shot. Dravid later said the pitch was the kind on which “you couldn’t trust the bounce” and because of the reverse-swing “you never felt like you were in even if after batting for a long period of time”. Moments after reaching his half-century, he was beaten by Shane Watson’s inswing and got struck on the pad with the bat extremely close to ball. The decision might have gone his way on another day.The most refreshing innings of the day, however, came from the carefree bat of Australia’s nemesis – Harbhajan Singh. Not shackled by the burden of playing responsible shots – a weight carried by top-order batsmen – Harbhajan opened out in the company of Zaheer Khan. It was not all slogging though for he played several deliveries with caution. However, his determination to hit hard and over the top when he could, forced the Australians to do something they hadn’t needed to all day – change their field. It only needed a little spunk.

Football.london writer Sam Inkersole believes that Tammy Abraham would certainly bring something different to West Ham.

There has been much speculation about Abraham’s future this summer, with Football Insider reporting earlier this month that West Ham were in pole position to sign the striker, but now Arsenal appear to be leading the race, according to the Mirror.

David Moyes has made a striker one of his top priorities this window, with Inkersole believing that Tammy Abraham would bring the club something different up front, telling Football FanCast: “He would certainly bring them something different. If Abraham went there, he’s excellent at holding the ball up, he’s just not as mobile as you would perhaps like your striker to be. 

“I think he would suit West Ham’s playing style; I think with Declan Rice seeing a lot of the ball in that West Ham midfield and playing through the lines to Abraham, get him to hold the ball up and because they do like their wide players, Fornals, Jarred Bowen bringing them in, Said Benrahma I think’s going to have a big season next season as well, I think it would be a good move for the Hammers.”

With West Ham qualifying for the Europa League, David Moyes needs to increase the size of his squad in order to cope with the demand of having at least six extra fixtures to play.

If the Hammers do decide to go for Tammy Abraham, they will be getting a player who knows where the back of the net is, as he has goal-scoring pedigree in both the Premier League and the Champions League.

Abraham featured 32 times in all competitions last season and helped himself to 12 goals in the process. This was a continuation of his goal scoring form the season prior, where he found the back of the net on 18 occasions in all competitions, including three in the Champions League.

Daniel Vettori believes New Zealand will be worse off for Australia’s 2-0 loss in India when the two teams meet in the first Test at the Gabba next Thursday

Cricinfo staff11-Nov-2008
Daniel Vettori bowls in the nets at the SCG © Getty Images
Daniel Vettori believes New Zealand will be worse off for Australia’s 2-0 loss in India when the two teams meet in the first Test at the Gabba next Thursday. Vettori, the New Zealand captain, said Australia were always a major challenge at home and coming off the defeat in India they would be even more desperate to reassert their authority.”This is the first time I suppose that they’ve been beaten in a series comprehensively by an opposition side,” Vettori said. “I look at the Aussie team and think they are quite a resilient side and I’m sure they are going to bounce back and will want to answer some critics in the next couple of Test matches.”New Zealand have not won a Test in Australia since 1985-86 and are significant underdogs in the two-match series after they were forced to toil hard to beat Bangladesh last month. Australia are not the dominant force they once were – their past two Tests at home resulted in a draw and a loss to India – but they have failed to win only one of their past 13 home series.”You look at the Australia team and their performances in their own country over the last few years have been almost impeccable,” Vettori said. “It’s going to be difficult, I’m sure they will be hurting as a side after losing the Test series.”Since their previous Test tour of Australia in 2004-05, New Zealand have lost several key players and of the squad for Brisbane, only Vettori, Brendon McCullum, Chris Martin and Kyle Mills have Test experience in Australia. The loss of Jacob Oram, who has a back injury, is a major blow, although Vettori expects his side will be competitive.”We are quite inexperienced, but in saying that I still think this is a nucleus of a good side, so hopefully we can come here and perform,” he said. “But I think you will see the best of this side as it starts to mature, particularly our young batsmen.”New Zealand have been training at the SCG ahead of their only tour match, a four-day game against New South Wales that begins on Thursday. After the Gabba Test the teams head to Adelaide for the second and final Test, which starts on November 28.

Wolves head into their opening Premier League clash of the campaign having endured a mixed pre-season.

Like last term, the Old Gold’s form has been questionable since Bruno Lage took over and there are plenty of questions to answer.

How will Raul Jimenez do on his return to the side? Will Wolves continue to operate with a three-man backline? There are plenty of uncertainties for the new manager.

They ended 2020/21 in wretched fashion by finishing 13th in the league, some way behind their goal of achieving European football.

After a quiet transfer window, it’s unlikely their chances will have been boosted in any sort of way, and their hopes will also be affected by Pedro Neto missing the opening stages of the campaign as he recovers from a broken kneecap.

With that in mind, how could Wolves line up when they face Leicester on Saturday? Here’s what we’re predicting…

We are tipping Lage to make three changes to the side which lost 1-0 to Celta Vigo in their final pre-season clash.

With Neto out injured, it sees Trincao earn his first competitive start in a Wolves shirt out on the right-hand side. Adama Traore and Ruben Neves also start despite being linked with a move away from the Midlands during the window.

Two of the changes are at wing-back, where Nelson Semedo is back from self-isolation and therefore available to play ahead of Ki-Jana Hoever.

On top of that, Fernando Marcal drops out for Rayan Ait-Nouri, who was described as a “danger” last year by his former manager Stephane Moulin. The £8k-per-week earner was only on loan at Molineux in 2020/21 but has now signed a permanent contract with the club.

The final change is at centre-back, where Romain Saiss is given the boot and replaced by Leander Dendoncker. The Moroccan was in poor form last weekend, giving away a needless penalty and subsequently attracting criticism from some supporters.

Saiss was questionable at times last season too, so Lage could settle upon a safer option in their Belgian enforcer instead.

AND in other news, Wolves could find their own Pedri in “outstanding” rarely-seen 17 y/o weapon…

Daren Ganga, the Trinidad and Tobago captain, has defended his team’s decision to negotiate the players’ participation fees for the Stanford Super Series with the T&T board, and said it was not about the money

Cricinfo staff25-Oct-2008
Daren Ganga: “We’ve got everything to gain. An upset here and there I think it’s only going to do good for our cricket and our reputations as players” © Stanford 20/20
Daren Ganga, the Trinidad and Tobago captain, has defended his team’s decision to negotiate the players’ participation fees for the Stanford Super Series with the T&T board, and said it was not about the money.”The mere fact of us not having terms and conditions settled and the mere fact that we weren’t sure as to what our responsibilities and obligations were coming to this tournament, I think that was the main focus that our players’ representative [West Indies Players’ Association] had with our board,” Ganga said.T&T had delayed their trip to Barbados for warm-up games ahead of the tournament after talks broke down between the board and the WIPA over theparticipation fees to be paid to the players. The board was willing to offer them only 50% while the players wanted 75%. On Wednesday a compromise was reached and it was agreed the players will get 60% of the fee of US$100,000 with no incentives.”It’s those sort of issues that weren’t settled and I don’t think it was a money issue per se. I think it was just a straight case of not being contractually obligated to the Trinidad and Tobago board, something that was promised and the board failed to deliver at the 11th hour.”Though T&T’s warm-up matches were washed out Ganga was confident the team’s efforts over the last few months will make the difference.”For months now we knew exactly what this tournament comprised in terms of the amount of games we would be playing. We’ve been preparing as a team for three matches.”Whether we play for US$400,000 [inclusive of appearance fees] against Middlesex, that is not the point. It’s about trying to be successful in every game we play, that’s our objective. It’s about our pride, it’s about us enhancing our reputation, it’s about Trinidad and Tobago cricket. I think we’ve got everything to gain. An upset here and there I think it’s only going to do good for our cricket and our reputations as players.”

A potentially worrying update has emerged regarding the future of Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba.

What’s the story?

The France international has been heavily linked with a move to Ligue 1 giants Paris Saint-Germain throughout the summer after entering the final year of his contract with United.

However, the shock arrival of six-time Ballon d’Or winner Lionel Messi at the Parc des Princes meant that PSG were no longer able to finance a move for Pogba in the current transfer window.

Now, according to The Independent’s chief football writer Miguel Delaney, the Ligue 1 club are willing to pay Pogba a whopping €600,000 (£510,000) per week for the start of the 2022/23 season as they attempt to lure him away from his boyhood club. As it stands, the 28-year-old will be available on a free transfer at the end of the current season, and his preference is to leave Manchester.

Solskjaer will be absolutely fuming

Pogba came through the ranks at United after arriving in Manchester from Le Havre in 2009 but only made a handful of substitute appearances before departing for Juventus in 2012. After winning four Serie A titles and two Italian Cups during a four-year stint in Turin, the 6 foot 2 maestro returned to English shores in a then world-record £89m deal in 2016.

The Frenchman was expected to propel the Red Devils back to their former glory and inspire them to multiple major trophies, but things haven’t quite gone as planned. In 207 appearances for the Old Trafford outfit, Pogba has bagged 38 goals and laid on a further 46 assists for his teammates, winning the Europa League and EFL Cup along the way.

He has often been criticised for a lack of consistency and an apparent poor work ethic when on the pitch, although in truth United have hardly provided him with an environment built for success.

The Jose Mourinho era was a tough spell for players and fans alike, and the subsequent transitional period under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was just about undoing the damage that the controversial Portuguese coach had caused.

However, there’s now a very different feel about the 20-time English champions. Under their Norwegian, they’ve recorded consecutive top-four finishes in the Premier League for the first time since Sir Alex Ferguson retired.

The additions of Jadon Sancho and Raphael Varane this summer could catapult United back into title contention for the first time since their legendary Scottish manager moved to the boardroom.

Pogba is also currently in the best form of his United career and has been produced top-class performances since last December. An incredible four assists on the opening day of the campaign against Leeds United over the weekend showcased his importance to the Red Devils.

Therefore, the possibility of losing him next summer will surely leave Solskjaer absolutely fuming. With the likes of Manchester City and Chelsea continuing to strengthen their squads, the Red Devils can’t afford to wave goodbye to one of their most influential and important stars.

In other news… “Still a chance”: Journo drops Man Utd transfer update that will leave fans excited