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Speaking to Football Insider, rival ‘insider’ John Wenham has dropped a claim on Jarrod Bowen – with David Moyes gifted a big West Ham United boost.

The Lowdown: Bowen a wanted man…

As per The Independent, Moyes may have to be wary of his biggest rivals swooping for Bowen as scouts from Tottenham, Liverpool and Leicester all keep tracking the winger.

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Amid his electric start to the season, it appears he is already attracting admirers and the last thing West Ham need is to lose a forward option without a recognised back-up striker.

However, in reaction to this news, a Spurs insider has appeared to alleviate fears that his side could make a move for Bowen.

The Latest: Insider drops possible Moyes boost…

As per Lilywhites ‘insider’ John Wenham, speaking to FI, it appears Moyes and West Ham may not have to worry about losing the forward to one of their biggest London rivals.

“Tottenham and West Ham don’t do business. There is no love lost between the two clubs at boardroom level,” he explained.

“I don’t see West Ham entertaining any bids for Bowen from Tottenham, that one is a non-starter.

“Tottenham may be interested in him but some clubs just don’t do business.

“I would categorically rule that one out now. Even if West Ham said he was available they would turn down an approach from Tottenham.

“From what I’ve heard from people I know in the industry, I just can’t see that one happening.”

The Verdict: Big boost for Moyes?

Moyes having to watch GSB sell to a rival like Spurs would have left a bitter taste, so this news comes as a breath of fresh air.

The 24-year-old has, arguably, been one of West Ham’s players of the season so far alongside star striker Michail Antonio.

No Irons man has averaged more completed dribbles (3) or key passes per 90 (2.4) in the Premier League according to WhoScored, and if he continues this streak he could be a very key player this year.

In other news: ‘What a bargain’…Sky pundit reacts as West Ham eye ‘great signing’ for Moyes, find out more here.

Liverpool fans believe Manchester City pair John Stones and Aymeric Laporte will end up being available for their Premier League clash next weekend, after reports ruled the pair out until the international break.

Jurgen Klopp’s side return to league action on Saturday, making the trip to Brentford after seeing off Norwich City in the Carabao Cup in midweek.

Liverpool may have one eye on their crucial meeting with City at Anfield on October 3rd, however, in what could be a key game in the title race.

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While the Reds suffered terrible luck with injuries to centre-backs last season, it’s now City who are struggling in that department.

According to The Daily Mail [via The Anfield Buzz on Twitter], both Stones and Laporte will miss the match through injury, meaning Nathan Ake may have to partner Ruben Dias in defence.

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Liverpool fans react to Man City injury news

Despite this, these Liverpool fans took to Twitter to claim that it is mind games from Pep Guardiola and the duo will be available.

“See you at Anfield boys!”

Credit: @st3v3npr35ton

“Watch them come back in time”

Credit: @dauntingdiogoal

“Pep mind games always start 2-3 weeks before matchday. Chill”

Credit: @Free_Ography

“Both in the lineup guaranteed”

Credit: @Juanachos_

“They just won’t though”

Credit: @greggislocallfc

“Yeah, of course they will”

Credit: @sazzam31

In other news, some Liverpool fans are excited by an important club announcement. Read more here.

Manchester United have received a triple selection boost ahead of their Premier League clash with Newcastle United this afternoon.

The Red Devils have made a solid start to the new season, picking up seven points from a possible nine in the opening weeks of the campaign, and they’ll be hoping to continue their good form when the Magpies visit Old Trafford.

What’s the word?

United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will be confident of securing another three points after revealing that a selection of key first team players will be available for selection.

Despite Alex Telles and Scott McTominay remaining sidelined with injuries, goalkeeper Dean Henderson has now recovered from a viral infection, while summer signings Jadon Sancho and Cristiano Ronaldo are also fit enough to feature from the off.

“Dean has not got the after-effect and tiredness anymore; that’s very positive,” Solskjaer said in his press conference on Friday.

“Telles is not 100% yet, still a few weeks (away), and Scott has recovered very quickly from the operation. If he’s going to play or not, I’m not sure; but probably not, depending on who we’ve got available and who we can use.

“Jadon’s come back in with a minor knock, but he’s trained the last couple of days. Disappointed he couldn’t play for England but determined to be fit; he’s available; that’s a positive.

“Cristiano’s trained all week, internationals; we didn’t get anyone injured. Luke (Shaw), Harry (Maguire) and Victor (Lindelof) played late Wednesday night, so not a lot of recovery (time), but they will be available, I think,” the Norwegian concluded.

Solskjaer will be delighted

Having the likes of Henderson, Sancho and Ronaldo all available for selection will certainly leave Solskjaer feeling delighted ahead of today’s encounter against Newcastle.

Ronaldo’s greatness needs no elaboration, while the England winger is a proven scorer in a major European league and the goalkeeper has been hailed by former United boss Jose Mourinho for his “incredible development”.

Steve Bruce’s charges may not be the toughest opponent that the Red Devils will face this season, but securing another victory could be crucial to their title aspirations, and their chances of doing just that have received a substantial boost with the news that Solskjaer has a near-full squad at his disposal.

In other news… Report reveals MUFC make “excellent” £63m-rated gem top priority, Ole will be elated 

The most severe scars do not heal quickly and Australia’s dominance of South Africa’s batsmen over the past decade gave Ricky Ponting hope leading into this series that the old wounds could be reopened. For much of the second day in Perth it looked like the damage was being mended but Mitchell Johnson’s brutal late spell of 5 for 2 will add to the hurt.His efforts meant South Africa crashed from a strong position at 3 for 234 to a severely weakened one of 8 for 243 at stumps. They trail by 132 with two wickets in hand and Johnson’s 33 minutes of mayhem undid much of the good work done by Graeme Smith, Jacques Kallis and AB de Villiers, all of whom entered the match with significantly lower Test averages against Australia than their overall marks.”It was frustrating,” Kallis said. “At 230 for 3 we were in a commanding position but that’s what happens when you play against the best side in the world. You’ve got to be on top of your game all the time. We’ve got some hard work ahead of us. We’ve been in positions like this before and come out of it.”It was a world-class spell and these things do happen. Hopefully we can have a couple of those throughout the series as well. We certainly don’t see the game as down and out. We’ll come back from it.”Smith looked impressively determined until he played on to Johnson for 48, de Villiers was generally fluent in his 63 and Kallis fought off a form slump to post 63. The 47 from Hashim Amla, a man unencumbered by any past meetings with Australia at international level, was the most attractive innings of the lot. None of the men went on to hurt Australia badly but Kallis said there was no hangover of past struggles against the world’s No. 1 team.”We’re a different side now, a lot of experience and a couple of young guys,” Kallis said. “You lose games of cricket throughout your career and you move on. You certainly don’t think about them all the time. We’ve moved on.”Still, the collapse was particularly annoying for a team that has chased Australia for so long. If they could pull of a 3-0 victory in Australia, South Africa would jump past their hosts to become the No. 1 Test team in the world. Johnson’s heroics have not made that task impossible but they have left the visitors with an uphill battle.On a day that finished on such a downer for South Africa it would be easy to overlook the fact that they could draw several positives from their efforts earlier in the day. Perhaps the most pleasing thing was the innings of Kallis, who made his second half-century since the tour of India in April.He survived a close call early when he inside-edged a dangerous Jason Krejza offspinner that flew past the stumps. It was Kallis’ fifth ball and after he saw off the threat of Krejza, who was pumped after turning one between Amla’s bat and pad, he settled into the accumulation mode that has been so typically Kallis over the past decade but has deserted him this year.”I’ve worked hard with Duncan Fletcher and our coach Mickey Arthur over the last couple of months and felt really good over the last month or two,” Kallis said. “It’s nice to start with a few runs up front on the tour, it makes life a little bit easier. But there’s a lot of work left ahead, 60s don’t win you games. All those batters know we’ve got to get some big hundreds.”The initial task is to bat for as long as possible on the third day and reduce Australia’s lead. To do that they will need to forget about the destruction caused by Johnson, who has a rare chance to finish with nine wickets in a Test innings. Johnson is banking on the late collapse weighing on the minds of the South Africans even after a good night’s sleep.”Hopefully mentally that gets into their head a bit and they start thinking about it a bit more,” Johnson said. “Obviously there’s been a lot of talk up about their pace attack and how strong their batsmen are and hopefully we’ve taken them down a notch.”

Aston Villa would not have paid £50m for James Ward-Prowse before he signed his new Southampton contract, says Express & Star journalist Luke Hatfield.

Manager Dean Smith was keen to bring Ward-Prowse to Villa, with Sky Sports reporting back in July that the Midlands club had made an unsuccessful £25m bid for the player.

Ward-Prowse has since put pen to paper on a new five-year deal, ending Villa’s pursuit for the summer.

However, prior, The Athletic reported that a sale was possible if the Villans offered half of the money they received for Jack Grealish, now of Manchester City.

According to Hatfield, though, Villa were never going to offer that kind of money. He told FFC:

“I don’t think Villa would’ve met the £50m asking price if I’m being brutally honest.

“Dean Smith’s always been after Premier League experience and players he thinks could help Villa. But at that price, it would’ve been very hard to see Villa splashing the cash and doing that one.”

From Southampton’s perspective, they will be relieved that they have managed to keep hold of Ward-Prowse.

The Saints have already lost Danny Ings and Jannik Vestergaard this summer, sanctioning sales to Villa and Leicester City respectively. To lose Ward-Prowse as well would have been a devastating blow.

Graeme Hick, the former England and Worcestershire batsman, has joined the unofficial Indian Cricket League

Cricinfo staff01-Nov-2008
Graeme Hick has signed to play for the Chandigarh Lions © Getty Images
Graeme Hick, the former England and Worcestershire batsman, has joined the Indian Cricket League. He will be a part of the Chandigarh Lions and will play their remaining matches this season.Hick had ended his 25-year county career two months ago at the end of the 2008 season. He is the second highest run-scorer in all cricket (first-class and limited-overs combined), with more than 64,000 runs, and his tally of 136 hundreds is eighth on the all-time list.”I am greatly honoured to be associated with the ICL and hope to do my best for them,” Hick said. He played 37 Twenty20 matches in his county career, and scored two hundreds and ten half-centuries.Chandigarh lost two of their key players earlier this week when their regular captain Chris Cairns and Dinesh Mongia were suspended on disciplinary grounds. Chandigarh are currently in fifth place with three matches to go in the round-robin phase.

Crystal Palace remain in talks with Watford for midfielder Will Hughes, according to Sky Sports reporter Dharmesh Sheth.

And a number of Eagles fans have been giving their thoughts to the news on social media.

Hughes is into the final 12 months of his Vicarage Road contract and has actually turned down a new deal.

He’s been demoted to train with the club’s Under-23’s, and it seems as if a move to Selhurst Park could be on the cards.

Reports on the weekend from The Sun suggested that the Eagles tabled a £7m offer plus add-ons for the 26-year-old and were poised to agree a deal.

Sheth shared an update on Wednesday evening, claiming the gap in valuation between the two clubs is thought to be in the region of £10m.

Palace fans react

@CPFCtransfersHQ shared Sheth’s post on Twitter. This is what these Palace fans had to say in reply to the update, with some supporters responding to Sheth directly.

“The gap is 10 mil?!? Like ten mil difference!?! Surely not? If so forget”

Credit: @NickPRochford

“sky 2 weeks behind? imagine my shock”

Credit: @CPFC_Ollie_

“With respect, genuinely, £10mil. No thanks. Rather use that money on a winger and forward.”

Credit: @SuperSySez

“Yeah we need players but we don’t need Hughes for £10m”

Credit: @erictwigs

“I could have told you all that”

Credit: @SWPalace

“After this I am now more convinced than ever that Palace hold absolutely no interest in Hughes.”

Credit: @CroydonExile1

In other news: ‘On my knees’, ‘Get this done’ – Lots of CPFC fans erupt as ‘class’ transfer news emerges.

Bowler attributes much of his success to Kolkata Knight Riders team-mates

Cricinfo staff09-Sep-2008Bengal fast bowler Ashok Dinda said he was surprised after being included in the 14-member Rest of India squad for the Irani Trophy.”I was quite surprised initially, but moments later I realised that I was approaching my childhood dream,” he told Kolkata-based daily the . “It feels nice when things are getting brighter with each passing day. I am happy and want to work harder to make this chance count.”Dinda, 24, said he was disappointed after failing to make it to the India A squad for the tri-series against Australia A and New Zealand A beginning September 16. “I know my performances weren’t that good recently. I was bit upset after being dropped from the India A ODI side. I am thankful and really excited that I have my chance now.”Dinda made his first-class debut for Bengal in the 2005-06 season and has 45 first-class wickets from 16 matches at an average of 39.15. But, he came to the fore with his impressive performance for the Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL where he picked up 9 wickets from 13 matches at 28.88.The fast bowler attributed much of his success to his Kolkata Knight Riders team-mates in the IPL. “Obviously their advice has changed my thinking altogether. After the IPL, I would like to point out that I am a more mature player.”

West Bromwich Albion are expecting a bid which could see Matheus Pereira leave The Hawthorns this summer.

What’s the talk?

That’s according to a claim made by Pedro Almeida, with the transfer journalist revealing in a post on Twitter that West Ham United are set to make an offer totalling €24m (£20.5m) for the Albion winger in the coming days.

In his tweet, Almeida said: “West Ham prepares an offer of around €20m + €2m bonus to present to West Brom [for] Matheus Pereira.”

It has also been reported that the 25-year-old is mulling over an approach from Al-Hilal, with the Saudi Arabian club having submitted an offer of €15m (£13m) to West Brom and proposing a tantalising salary to Pereira.

However, should West Ham indeed firm up their interest with a concrete bid of more than £20m for the Brazilian, it would appear highly likely that the Baggies accept the Irons’ offer ahead of Al-Hilal’s.

Ismael will be gutted

Although a scenario in which Pereira remains at The Hawthorns for the club’s upcoming Championship campaign always appeared unlikely, with the start of the new season now being just under a week away, perhaps Valerien Ismael had started to consider the possibility that he may be able to call upon the winger for the club’s opening game against Bournemouth next Friday.

However, with both West Ham and Al-Hilal now reported to be in talks over a deal for the 25-year-old, it very much seems as if the writing is on the wall regarding his exit, something which will undoubtedly leave the Frenchman gutted.

Indeed, over his 33 Premier League appearances last season, the £13.5m-rated winger scored 11 goals, registered six assists and created 11 big chances for his teammates, taking two shots and making 1.8 key passes per game.

These metrics saw the £39k-per-week man earn a seasonal SofaScore match rating of 7.18, ranking him as Albion’s best performer in the top flight.

As such, achieving promotion back to the Premier League at the first time of asking next year would appear to be a much more attainable feat with the services of the forward rather than without.

Having said that, the money that Pereira’s sale will bring into the club could lead to Ismael making a move for a number of his own targets in the summer transfer window. However, it would be optimistic to think that any player the Baggies could attract while in the Championship will be at the same level as the Brazilian.

In other news: Ismael handed major boost over £32.5k-p/w “diamond”, West Brom fans will be buzzing

An update has emerged on DL Pro striker Salomon Rondon, regarding Everton’s potential interest in his services.

What’s the talk?

According to The Echo, Everton have been considering a swoop for Rondon this summer to compete with Dominic Calvert-Lewin.

The report claims his name has been mentioned in transfer discussions, although the club have no immediate plans to pursue a deal for him.

Tosun 2.0

Everton must avoid repeating their Cenk Tosun howler by swerving this deal for Rondon.

The Turkish international, Tosun, has been on £60k-per-week throughout his time at the club and has done little to repay the owners with his performances on the pitch following a £27m switch.

He has scored nine Premier League goals for Everton since arriving at the club in January 2018 from Besiktas, a tally that rises to ten if you include the solitary strike he managed on loan to Crystal Palace in 2020.

Rondon was reportedly set to be paid £250k-per-week in China and was on £70k-per-week at Newcastle during his loan spell on Tyneside. This suggests that the forward would command a fairly sizeable pay packet if he were to arrive at Goodison Park this summer, perhaps similar to the amount Tosun has been earning. So, is he worth that?

Once upon a time, yes. Rondon managed 11 goals and seven assists in the 2018/19 campaign for Newcastle and has scored 35 goals in the Premier League in his career.

Lee Clark once said of the striker: “I was fortunate enough to play with Les Ferdinand and Rondon reminds me of him. They’re both swashbuckling centre forwards, who hold the ball up well and provide a focal point for their team-mates.”

Rondon, who has been capped 83 times by his country, will be 32 in September and has not been playing at a high standard since the end of that loan spell with the Toon. He has played in China and Russia in recent seasons, scoring four goals in 13 games for CSKA Moscow last term.

Given his potential wage demands, his age, and his uninspiring form in the Russian league during the 2020/21 campaign, Everton must avoid signing Rondon.

He would likely be another Tosun; paying a large sum of money each month to contribute little on the pitch whilst taking up a seat on the bench that a younger player could have instead.

AND in other news, Greg O’Keeffe drops Everton update that should leave fans buzzing…