Sevilla have increased their asking price for defender Jules Kounde by €10m (£8.5m), Sky Sports journalist Michael Bridge has told Football FanCast.

Kounde is a target for Chelsea and was thought to be close to joining the European champions last week.

According to the reliable Gianluca Di Marzio, a €50m (£42.8m) deal was close to being completed. However, at the last minute, it appears that Sevilla have shifted the goalposts with their asking price.

Chelsea are in the market for a new centre-back after selling Kurt Zouma to London rivals West Ham and if they manage to end up signing Kounde before tonight’s deadline, Bridge believes the Frenchman would complete their jigsaw.

“According to the contact I’ve got at Chelsea, Sevilla just whacked on another €10m, so they’re just playing silly now,” Bridge said to FFC. “But I think he would complete Chelsea’s jigsaw.”

Zouma’s just left, Thiago Silva is turning 37 soon and Antonio Rudiger is yet to extend his contract, which expires at the end of the season, so it is easy to see why Chelsea want to sign another centre-back.

Elsewhere on the centre-half front, Andreas Christensen looks close to signing a new deal at Stamford Bridge in a more positive development.

David Norris believes that free agent Tom Carroll could prove a smart piece of business for Ipswich.

Carroll came through the ranks at Tottenham but has struggled to find a settled home since leaving north London almost five years ago.

The midfielder has spent the bulk of his time with Swansea, although he’s enjoyed spells with Aston Villa and spent last season at Queens Park Rangers.

But after rejecting a new deal at Loftus Road, Carroll dropped into League One to join Ipswich on a free transfer, despite spending time on trial with Derby earlier this summer, to become Paul Cook’s 16th summer addition.

Carroll made his return to action at Cheltenham in midweek following a seven-month absence through injury, making his Ipswich debut in the process, and Norris exclusively told Football FanCast that the Tottenham academy graduate’s quality and experience could see him become a crucial addition for his former side:

“It’s a good signing. Plenty of experience, good quality and he’s been there and done it.

“As a character he’ll be great to have around. Signing on a free, so he’ll be risk-free, so it’s a good signing.”

نصح جيمي كاراجر النجم المصري محمد صلاح بالسير على خطى كريستيانو رونالدو وإطالة مسيرته بعد توقيع عقد جديد مع ليفربول.

أنهى المصري أخيرًا شهورًا من التكهنات بشأن مستقبله من خلال وضع القلم على الورق على عقد مربح مدته ثلاث سنوات والذي سيأخذه إلى يونيو 2025.

وكان صلاح أمامه 12 شهرًا متبقيًا في عقده السابق، ووصلت المحادثات إلى طريق مسدود، مع إصرار إدارة النادي على عدم كسر هيكل الأجور.

لكن بعد أن غادر ساديو ماني إلى بايرن ميونخ في وقت سابق من هذا الصيف، انتقل ليفربول لربط اللاعب البالغ من العمر 30 عامًا بصفقة جديدة تجعله يصبح أعلى اللاعبين أجرًا في تاريخ النادي بصفقة تبلغ قيمتها 350 ألف جنيه إسترليني في الأسبوع.

يعني هذا التجديد أن صلاح سيكون في سن 33 بحلول الوقت الذي ينتهي فيه عقده، لكنه لم يُظهر أي علامات على التراجع بعد إنهاء الموسم الماضي مع سون هيونج مين في الحذاء الذهبي برصيد 23 هدفًا و11 تمريرة حاسمة الموسم الماضي.

يعتقد كاراجر أن لياقة محمد صلاح البدنية تعني أنه يمكنه مواصلة التسجيل لفريق ليفربول لسنوات عديدة قادمة، مثلما فعل رونالدو صاحب الـ37 عامًا حيث سجل 24 هدفًا في الموسم الماضي.

قال كاراجر في تصريحات نشرتها صحيفة “ميرور” الإنجليزية: “الطريقة التي يعتني بها محمد صلاح بنفسه، أعتقد أنه يمكن أن يكون مثل كريستيانو رونالدو، لا يزال يسجل أهدافًا في الدوري الإنجليزي الممتاز”.

وأضاف: “الطريقة التي يقود بها صلاح حياته، أعتقد أن هناك فرصة جيدة على مدى السنوات الثلاث المقبلة ألا ترى أي نوع من التراجع من حيث ما يحققه”.

اقرأ أيضًا.. كاراجر عن تجديد عقد محمد صلاح: عليك تعديل قواعدك عندما يكون لديك شخص مميز

وواصل: “صلاح هو بالفعل أسطورة في ليفربول وحتى لو كان سيرحل خلال 12 شهرًا، فسيظل أسطورة، أي لاعبين مثله، أليسون، فيرجيل فان دايك، ساديو ماني، يمكن أن ترى كيف غيروا وجه نادي ليفربول جنبًا إلى جنب مع المدرب، مما يعني أنهم سيكونون جميعًا أساطير بغض النظر عن وقت انتقالهم للنادي ولأي سبب من الأسباب ينتقلون من النادي”.

وأكد: “أعتقد أن المشجعين ممتنون جدًا لما قدمه هؤلاء اللاعبون، سينهي صلاح وقته في قائمة أفضل خمسة أو ستة لاعبين لعبوا للنادي على الإطلاق، إنه بالتأكيد في أفضل تشكيلة على الإطلاق في ليفربول وليس هناك شك في أنه الآن أسطورة ليفربول ونأمل أن يتمكن من تعزيز هذا الأمر على مدى السنوات الثلاث المقبلة”.

The ICC have decided on the four series in which they will extend their trial of the umpire review system, beginning with New Zealand’s two-Test battle against West Indies in December.The system has caused debate and controversy since it was first trialled in England in 2007, and it received mixed reactions on its international debut between Sri Lanka and India earlier this year.The idea to extend the trial was agreed upon by the ICC on the first day of their board meeting in Dubai, subject to agreement by the relevant chief executives of the participating country boards. After the series between New Zealand and West Indies, the system will be tried on India versus Pakistan, England’s four Tests against West Indies, and the three-match series between South Africa and Australia.”The idea of further trials would be to provide exposure to the system for as many match referees, umpires and players as possible ahead of a decision on whether it should be implemented permanently,” the ICC said in a release on Tuesday. “That would be something to be debated by the ICC’s cricket committee in April and May next year.”Another decision taken at the meeting was South Africa’s nomination as hosts of the World Cup qualifier tournament in 2009, pending agreement from the South African board, after the original hosts UAE stated they can’t stage the event because their stadiums won’t be ready in time.Alternatives to bilateral tours once current FTP runs out in May 2012 were also discussed, including the possibility of an enhanced Test championship which the ICC’s chief executives committee will again look at in December.The possibility of cricket being a part of future Olympics Games was brought to the table. ICC will have to apply to the International Olympic Council before 2013 if it is to be part of the 2020 Games.

A potential power-struggle is looming over the fate of England’s Test series in India as the team travels home following the terrorist atrocities that have rocked Mumbai for three days

Cricinfo staff28-Nov-2008
Kevin Pietersen won’t make any England player tour India if they are uncertain © Getty Images
A potential power-struggle is looming over the fate of England’s Test series in India as the team travels home following the terrorist atrocities that rocked Mumbai for three days. The squad is due to arrive at Heathrow on Saturday evening and have a very short time period to decide what to do next. The first Test is still scheduled to start in Ahmedabad on December 11 and there is an issue over where England would practice.Officials from both England and India are adamant that the Test series will go ahead, particularly after the BCCI agreed to shift the second Test from Mumbai to Chennai after a request from the ECB. According to Kevin Pietersen, however, the situation is not so cut-and-dry. If his team-mates have reservations about taking part, he will not be forcing them to re-join the tour.”We need to make sure the security’s right – but if it’s not safe then we won’t be coming back,” Pietersen said. “People are their own people, I’ll never force anyone to do anything or tell them to do anything against their will. On the field I may ask people to do things in a certain way but people run their own lives. We’ll have to see how the security is.”I do think the BCCI will make every single effort to get us back here playing Test-match cricket in India. There are TV rights and financial considerations and they run world cricket don’t they? But we will not come back to India if it’s not safe. My life means more to me than anything else and I won’t come back if it’s not safe.”Sean Morris, the chief executive of the Professional Cricketers’ Association, said the ultimate decision on the tour will rest with the ECB. “It won’t be down to the players, it’ll be down to the ECB ultimately, and we are comfortable with that,” he told Cricinfo. “We have worked very well with our board in the past, so we are confident of the processes involved and with the people who provide the information.”However, Morris insisted that there would be no extra pressure to reach a resolution despite the huge influence that India currently wields in world cricket. He confirmed that the security report will be compiled partly by the team’s security consultant, Reg Dickason, along with input from an independent body and cooperation from the board.There is the strong possibility of a weakened England side returning to India if players make individual decisions on whether to tour. There is a precedent for that, as following the 9/11 attacks in 2001 Robert Croft and Andrew Caddick opted out of the India tour.A spokesman for AKE Group, a leading UK-based security firm, told Cricinfo that the level of risk faced by the England team “should not be overstated”. He did, however, concede that the high-profile nature of the team, coupled with the fact that their itinerary is widely publicised, could be a justifiable cause for concern. “India is not Iraq, it is not a naturally hostile environment,” said the spokesman. “But Britain is a front runner in the war on terror, and therefore an attack on one of their sporting teams would be high political capital, and a fair strike, so to speak.”England are still scheduled to take part in a planned warm-up match in Baroda on December 5-7, which effectively means that the players will have no more than five days to reach a consensus and return to the country. The possibility is being discussed of England preparing in either Dubai or Abu Dhabi and then flying straight into India for the Test series.In the opinion of Michael Vaughan, the former England captain, there is little chance of England feeling safe enough to return to India in the foreseeable future. “It’s getting closer,” he wrote in his column. “I remember watching on TV a few weeks ago as the lorry-full of bombs went off at the Marriott hotel in Islamabad, where England were due to stay for the Champions Trophy, and thinking crikey, it’s getting close. Now it’s Mumbai, where the Middlesex players were due to stay on Thursday night. There seem to be these triggers, or warnings, that it is getting closer to cricket.”I didn’t think we were under threat in Bangalore,” Vaughan continued, “and history to date says cricketers are safe. But our security man said we couldn’t go in our England kit to the hotel where we eat 60 yards across the road from the stadium, and we’d have to go in cars, we couldn’t walk. We were told we couldn’t go to any of the hotels in Bangalore that westerners use.”Another former England captain, who preferred not to be named, told Cricinfo that he believed that the Test series would have to be postponed in the wake of the atrocities, although he predicted a tricky round of negotiations between the English and Indian boards before the matter could reach a conclusion. If previous political stand-offs were anything to go by, the two boards were likely to present conflicting security reports, with the players caught very much in the middle.One significant voice in support of the tour, however, is Michael Atherton, another former captain, who wrote in his column that he intended to travel for the Test series unless the Foreign Office advice changed in the meantime. “While it may seem inappropriate to say so right now, I hope the Test series in two weeks’ time can still go ahead,” he wrote. “One thing is for sure, however: since 9/11, much of the fun and spontaneity of watching sport has disappeared beneath an avalanche of security requirements. Sadly, sport, long regarded as a playground for those who want to abscond from the grim realities of daily life, is no longer immune.”

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.

MatériaMais Notícias

Levir Culpi aceitou a proposta para ser o novo técnico do Santos até dezembro. Para assinar contrato, ele aguarda a resposta do auxiliar Luiz Matter, que está no Japão, e do preparador físico Rodolfo Mehl.

A diretoria do Peixe já concordou com a vinda dos dois profissionais. Levir, no entanto, quer repassar à dupla tudo o que foi conversado com os dirigentes nos últimos dois dias, além de pontuar questões financeiras. Luiz Matter e Rodolfo Mehl estiveram presentes nos dois últimos trabalhos do treinador, em Atlético-MG e Fluminense.

Caso Matter e Mehl não aceitem a oferta, a diretoria do Alvinegro acredita que Levir Culpi pode recuar. O treinador terá vencimentos menores que os de Dorival Júnior, que ganhava cerca de R$ 300 mil.

Levir é esperado para comandar o Peixe no Brasileirão, na Copa do Brasil e Copa Libertadores. O ex-técnico Dorival Júnior deixou o Alvinegro já classificado para as oitavas de final da competição sul-americana e para as quartas do torneio mata-mata nacional.

O curitibano de 64 anos foi o primeiro nome que surgiu no topo da lista de substituição de Dorival. Ele chamou a atenção por estar livre no mercado e por ter grande experiência. Além disso, foi um denominador comum entre os dirigentes santistas.

Junto com Dorival Júnior, três profissionais deixaram a Vila: o auxiliar Lucas Silvestre, o preparador físico Celso Rezende e o analista de desempenho Leonardo Porto.

Para o confronto desta quarta-feira, ás 21h, contra o Botafogo, pelo Brasileirão, o interino Elano ficará no banco de reservas. Ele treinou o time na segunda e na terça-feira.

Será a primeira passagem de Levir pelo Peixe. Antes, ele já treinou Coritiba, Cruzeiro, São Paulo, Palmeiras, Botafogo, Cerezo Osaka (CH), Atlético-MG (quatro vezes) e seu último clube foi o Fluminense, dispensado em novembro do ano passado.

​Rogério Micale e Seedorf eram as outras opções dos dirigentes do Santos.

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Aston Villa get their Premier League season underway on Saturday afternoon when they make the trip to face newly-promoted Watford at Vicarage Road.

Dean Smith’s side will play their first competitive game without talisman Jack Grealish, although a number of exciting new signings have certainly given fans a sense of optimism heading into the new campaign.

One man who the Villa boss must certainly start today, is Emi Buendia.

Speaking in his pre-match press conference, Smith confirmed that the former Norwich star would be available to face the Hornets, saying: “(Buendia) is good to go. He had a slight adductor injury and I didn’t want to risk him in the game on Sunday (vs Salernitana). But he’s trained all week and he’s available for selection.”

The Argentine shone during the time that he was on the pitch in pre-season, especially in a fine performance against Walsall.

On Twitter, The Birmingham Mail’s Ashley Preece was left raving about his performance, saying: “Emi Buendia had Villa fans drooling here at Walsall; the two balls in for Watkins were a delight.”

Writing in his post-match player ratings, he added: “Two assists for Villa’s record signing and what a delight they both were. The Argentinian picks up some clever positions inside and, in doing so, he carved Walsall open on both occasions to feed Watkins who scored twice.

“Buendia can pick a pass all right and the prospect of the little magician linking up with Watkins and Jack Grealish this season is a frightening one. Buendia was brilliant and he’s already left fans wanting to see more.”

The 24-year-old was superb last season for Norwich, playing in between the lines to good effect and showing the kind of eye for a pass which saw him finish as the Championship’s leading assists provider with 16 last term.

The £31.5m-rated playmaker has been dubbed a “revelation” by Chris Sutton, and could well be Villa’s game-changer today against Watford in his first competitive game for the club.

Meanwhile, this Villa star could now leave…

Fabrizio Romano has dropped an update on Aston Villa transfer target Rafinha, and he could well be an exciting upgrade on Marvelous Nakamba.

What’s the story?

According to reports in Spain, Paris Saint-Germain are ready to let the midfielder leave this summer in order to raise some funds for their own signings, with Dean Smith’s side possibly coming in for the Brazilian.

Writing on Twitter, Romano has said: “There’s nothing between Rafinha and Fenerbahçe – not even contacts or talks. All parties involved are denying. And there’s no chance for Turkish or Russian clubs to sign Rafinha: he’s decided to stay at Paris Saint-Germain until January. #PSG #Fenerbahçe #transfers”

He’s a Nakamba upgrade

Talking about the 27-year-old, his former Barcelona team-mate Andreu Fontas once said: “Rafinha is a great player. Physically, he is a beast and, technically, he is superb.”

As per WhoScored, Rafinha boasted an impressive 90.9% pass accuracy in Ligue 1 last season (considerably better than any Villa player with more than one start), while he also averaged 2.3 tackles per match (only Matty Cash fared better in Smith’s squad with 2.5).

The £13.5m-rated technician could bring that same fearlessness and intensity both on and off the ball to Villa Park should Smith land his man this summer.

Aside from averaging far more tackles than Nakamba’s 1.9 in the Premier League, his ability to dictate the play means that he looks a perfect fit to anchor the midfield and also provide the springboard for attacks.

His Brazilian connection with Douglas Luiz could also help him hit the ground running, and they could strike up a formidable partnership in the middle of the park with Nakamba in the shadows.

Meanwhile, Preece has also confirmed this major Aston Villa boost…

Kevin Phillips has said that Everton can repeat the success they enjoyed last summer by moving for Napoli’s Lorenzo Insigne. 

The former Sunderland frontman was discussing the Blues’ reported interest in the Italian striker with Football Insider.

The lowdown

According to Sky Italia journalist Luca Marchetti (via Calcio Napoli 24), Rafael Benitez wants a reunion with Insigne at Goodison Park. The Spaniard was in charge at Napoli between 2013 and 2015, and the Italy striker helped the team to win two trophies in that time – one Coppa Italia and one Supercoppa.

Insigne featured in all but one game for eventual winners Italy at the European Championship earlier this summer. He scored two goals at the finals, the second of which – a long-range curler against Belgium in the Round of 16 – was ranked as one of the top 10 of the tournament.

The winger is now into the final 12 months of his contract at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, so Napoli know that as it stands, he will be able to negotiate a pre-contract agreement with another club in January.

The latest

Phillips reckons that Toffees fans would be buzzing if Insigne were signed off the back of some more low-key additions. He also feels that the 30-year-old could serve as an effective mentor for Demarai Gray, five years his junior, given his vast experience at the top level.

“I think they made some good moves last year with Allan and James Rodriguez,” Phillips told Football Insider. “This would be similar to those deals.

“He’d be coming full of confidence after the summer he’s had. He could be a really good signing.

“They’ve already got experience in Andros Townsend, and he would add even more to help guide younger players like Demarai Gray.

“Everton fans will get behind Benitez and his signings so far, but I think this deal would really ignite excitement around Goodison.”

The verdict

Insigne is an excellent player but there are question marks over his suitability for Benitez’s side. Everton are best served selecting wide players who will aim crosses into Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who can be lethal with the right delivery.

This isn’t really Insigne’s game – he averaged only one cross per 90 minutes at Euro 2020 and instead prefers to cut inside and go for goal himself (via WhoScored).

Throw his £150,000-per-week wages into the equation as well, and there’s reason to doubt the wisdom of this move.

In other news, many Everton fans fumed over this transfer update.