Hampshire Live journalist Tom Leach has shared a fresh update on Yan Valery, with reports suggesting that he will join Olympiacos on loan from Southampton before this evening’s transfer deadline.

What’s the word?

Leach suggested via Twitter that Southampton were looking into whether or not a move to the Greek club would be the best thing for the right-back after Olympiacos registered their interest in taking him on loan.

He suggests that while nothing had been agreed last night, there could be plenty of loan exits on transfer deadline day, and it seems likely that Valery could be one of the first out the door.

Should Southampton let Valery leave?

Ralph Hasenhuttl made the interesting decision to send Valery out in January last season which left him extremely low on right-back options, especially when Kyle Walker-Peters was sidelined through injury.

That proved to be a poor decision as the 22-year-old made just two starts for Birmingham City in the Championship, but there are very different circumstances this time round.

The summer arrival of Valentino Livramento means that Hasenhuttl has good competition at right-back, whilst Jack Stephens and Jan Bednarek may not be naturals there but can fill in if Southampton are desperate.

Therefore, it seems highly unlikely that Valery will get much game-time this season, so it makes a lot of sense to send him out on loan. That should hopefully increase his value before potentially selling him next summer, as it is difficult to see him overtaking Livramento or Walker-Peters in the pecking order any time soon.

Dan Sheldon, who writes on Southampton for The Athletic, dubbed Valery the “weak link” in Hasenhuttl’s side in the summer of 2020 and it seems as if the Austrian agreed, as the defender made just five appearances for the Saints in all competitions last season.

[freshpress-quiz id=“594431”]

Therefore, Saints fans will surely be delighted with Leach’s latest update on Valery, as it gives him arguably one final chance to reignite his Southampton career before likely being sold next summer ahead of his contract expiry in 2023 – unless he can revive his fortunes during a prospective loan spell elsewhere.

In other news…Bye-bye Obafemi: Semmens should seal Southampton swoop for “shining light” 

يرى المدرب الهولندي، إريك تين هاج، المدير الفني لنادي مانشستر يونايتد، أن فريقه لا يزال بحاجة إلى التطور أكثر، وذلك بعد حديثه عقب الفوز على كريستال بالاس وديًا.

وفاز مانشستر يونايتد، ظهر اليوم الثلاثاء على كريستال بالاس، بثلاثة أهداف مقابل هدف، ضمن استعدادات الفريقين للموسم الجديد 2022/23. شاهد اهداف مباراة مانشستر يونايتد وكريستال بالاس

وقال تين هاج في تصريحات للموقع الرسمي لناديه: “نحن لازلنا في الفترة التحضيرية، ونحن سعداء بالتحسن الذي نراه، ولكن لا يزال هناك مجال لمزيد من التطور، لقد سجلنا عددًا من الأهداف الجميلة أيضًا”.

وعن الضغط من الخط الأمامي: “نعم، أصبحنا نرى الفريق يستخلص الكرة في الخط الأمامي، وهذا ما نطلبه من اللاعبين”.

اقرأ أيضًا ­- فيديو.. إريك تين هاج ينفعل على لاعب مانشستر يونايتد: ماذا تفعل بحق الجحيم

وواصل: “بالنسبة لنا الضغط شيء رئيسي في فلسفتنا، وإذا كان هناك إمكانية، فخط الهجوم سيكون أول من يقوم بهذا الضغط، في كل الأحوال علينا الضغط كوحدة واحدة”.

وعما إذا كان فريقه بحاجة إلى المزيد من التحسّن، أجاب: “نعم توقيت بدء الضغط، حتى الآن أرى تبادلات غير ضرورية، وبإمكاننا أن نضغط بشكل أفضل”.

واختتم تصريحاته: “أداء الفريق يكون جيدًا عندما تكون الكرة بحوزتنا، والاستحواذ على الكرة يتيح لنا اتخاذ القرارات بشأن التمهل أو مباغتة الخصم بشكل أفضل وما إلى ذلك”.

Football Insider pundit Alan Hutton has been having his say on Leigh Griffiths’ deadline day exit from Celtic Park.

The Lowdown: Dundee move

The Hoops were extremely busy in the final hours of the summer window, with three incomings and three outgoings going through.

One of those departures was Griffiths, who, after signing a new one-year deal at Parkhead earlier in the summer, left to join Dundee on loan.

Odsonne Edouard and Ryan Christie also left, while Georgios Giakoumakis, Filipe Jota and Cameron Carter-Vickers arrived at the club.

However, it was Griffiths’ departure that had former SPL right-back Hutton baffled.

The Latest: Hutton reacts

Hutton was talking to Football Insider about Griffiths’ move on deadline day.

The 36-year-old described it as ‘very interesting’ and backed the Celtic big earner to thrive at Dundee under James McPake.

“It’s interesting. I think the whole situation surrounding Leigh is very interesting.

“We know he had his issues last season. He has been in and out. He signs a new one-year deal and then is nowhere to be seen.

“What’s going on in the background? This boy needs to play football. When match fit and playing week in, week out, he will score you goals. It’s as simple as that.

“He’s a goalscorer but he wasn’t getting the opportunity at Celtic. Whatever the reason might be, we don’t know.

“It’s a club he knows well, he’s been at Dundee before, familiar surroundings. Obviously, James McPake, the manager, has got the confidence of him coming in and scoring goals.

“He needs to play football. He’s at an age now where he doesn’t want all this nonsense behind him affecting his game.

“He just wants to play and score goals. I think this is a move which can help him do that.”

The Verdict: The right decision

It was strange that the 31-year-old signed new terms under Ange Postecoglou and departed without kicking a competitive ball this season, but it is for the best.

Postecoglou has Kyogo Furuhashi, Albian Ajeti, Giakoumakis, Jota and Liel Abada as attacking options and appears to be building for the future with youngsters Karamoko Dembele and Mikey Johnston in the squad.

Griffiths obviously wasn’t in his plans going forward as he didn’t feature, so moving him on to Dundee was the right call.

You’d expect there’s every chance that we have seen Griffiths in a Celtic shirt for the final time with his deal up in the summer, but it will be interesting to see how he gets on at Dens Park.

In other news: Another Celtic summer signing, as well as Urhoghide, isn’t impressing under Ange, says Devlin.

England’s Test series in South Africa at the end of the year will feature four Tests instead of the anticipated five

Cricinfo staff23-Jan-2009
Running out of space: England’s cricketers have a packed itinerary © Getty Images
England’s Test series in South Africa at the end of the year will feature four Tests instead of the anticipated five, after an agreement was reached between the ECB and Cricket South Africa to relieve the fixture congestion that is building up for the two teams next year.The tour will now consist of two Twenty20 internationals in Johannesburg and Centurion, followed by five ODIs and four Tests at Centurion, Durban, Cape Town and Johannesburg. England will arrive in the country on November 7, and fly home on January 19.”We are grateful to colleagues and friends in South Africa who have worked with us to provide what we believe is an exciting and well-balanced tour,” said Hugh Morris, the ECB’s director of England cricket. “It makes good sense to start with the ODIs given the schedule of cricket that we have in September, October and November 2009.”The decision to drop a Test match for scheduling reasons will undoubtedly cause ructions, especially in light of the recent decision to allow England’s players a three-week window to play in the IPL in April and May. Paul Collingwood who, barring injury, would expect to be involved in all forms of the game from now until the end of that tour, yesterday told reporters in St Kitts that players have no right to moan about their workload in their current financially lucrative climate.England’s next 12 months, however, will include home-and-away series against West Indies, possible stints with the IPL, the ICC World Twenty20 and the Ashes, as well as a host of one-day events including the rescheduled Champions Trophy that had been meant to take place in Pakistan last September. Logistically, something had to give.Nevertheless, as CSA’s general manager Brian Basson pointed out, by breaking from the standard practice of holding the ODIs after the Test series, the itinerary makes best use of the time constraints, and ensures that the marquee event – the Test series – will remain in its rightful position at the height of the South African summer.”The format of the tour itinerary depicts a departure from the norm,” said Basson, “but given the rigid constraints of the Future Tours Programme, it was necessary to do so in order to distribute all of the Pro20 and ODI matches at all Test venues during appropriate time slots, whilst simultaneously retaining the traditional peak holiday periods for the scheduling of Test matches.”Further advantages of the format are that the ICC Champions Trophy precedes the England tour, and the Proteas tour to India scheduled at the conclusion of the tour will commence with the staging of Test matches.”Morris was sure that the agreed itinerary would suit all parties. “The four Test matches are scheduled for iconic grounds of South Africa,” he said, “and I am sure that thousands of England supporters will be looking forward to spending their Christmas and New Year holidays following the team.”The four Tests will begin on December 16 in Centurion, followed by the traditional Boxing Day Test in Durban, which has been reinstated after the 2007 match against West Indies was held at Port Elizabeth.The New Year Test is once again scheduled for Cape Town, although the match is due to start a day later than usual, on January 3, to allow a longer recovery period between matches. The series will then be concluded at the Wanderers in Johannesburg on January 14-18. November 2009 Fri 13
18:00 local, 16:00 GMT 1st T20I – South Africa v England
New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg
Sun 15
14:30 local, 12:30 GMT 2nd T20I – South Africa v England
SuperSport Park, Centurion
Fri 20
14:30 local, 12:30 GMT 1st ODI – South Africa v England
New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg
Sun 22
10:00 local, 08:00 GMT 2nd ODI – South Africa v England
SuperSport Park, Centurion
Fri 27
14:30 local, 12:30 GMT 3rd ODI – South Africa v England
Newlands, Cape Town
Sun 29
10:00 local, 08:00 GMT 4th ODI – South Africa v England
St George’s Park, Port Elizabeth
December 2009 Fri 4
14:30 local, 12:30 GMT 5th ODI – South Africa v England
Kingsmead, Durban
Wed 16 – Sun 20
10:30 local, 08:30 GMT 1st Test – South Africa v England
SuperSport Park, Centurion
Sat 26 – Wed 30
10:30 local, 08:30 GMT 2nd Test – South Africa v England
Kingsmead, Durban
January 2010 Sun 3 – Thu 7
10:30 local, 08:30 GMT 3rd Test – South Africa v England
Newlands, Cape Town
Thu 14 – Mon 18
10:30 local, 08:30 GMT 4th Test – South Africa v England
New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg

Christopher Martin-Jenkins, the commentator and former cricket correspondent, has been awarded an MBE in the Queen’s New Year’s honours list

Cricinfo staff31-Dec-2008Christopher Martin-Jenkins, the commentator and former cricket correspondent, has been awarded an MBE in the Queen’s New Year’s honours list.Known throughout the game as CMJ, he stood down as the correspondent in May to be replaced by Michael Atherton, having previously held the same position with the , but still writes occasional columns for the newspaper and remains part of the TMS team which he first joined 35 years ago. He was also the BBC’s cricket correspondent in two spells from 1973 to 1980 and 1985 to 1991″It has been a great privilege to go round the world writing about cricket,” he told the . “The older one gets, the requirement for England to win becomes less important than the needs of the game as a whole, but nonetheless England’s rare successes in Australia have been the most exciting.”One concern for me is the contraction of cricket coverage towards the England team alone,” he added. “We should not forget the county game and the grass roots, without which you couldn’t have an England team. Nor should we overlook the fascination of the world game generally.”He provides the only representation for cricket in this year’s list, which on a sporting front is dominated by the British Olympic medallists from the Beijing Games.

MatériaMais Notícias

Depois de acertar a renovação com Diego Lugano até o fim do ano, o São Paulo anunciou que Júnior Tavares também ficará mais tempo no Morumbi. O presidente Leco anunciou que o lateral-esquerdo teve o vínculo prorrogado até 2021. A renovação já estava acertada desde a metade de junho.

-É jovem e demonstrou qualidade e personalidade para honrar nossa camisa – escreveu o mandatário no Twitter.

Júnior Tavares despertou interesse do holandês Ajax, que chegou a preparar uma proposta de 8 milhões de euros (quase R$ 30 milhões) pelo atleta e obrigou o Tricolor a trabalhar rápido para mantê-lo no elenco. O garoto de 20 anos recebeu aumento de salário para ampliar o antigo contrato, que se encerraria em 2019.

Junior Tavares foi formado pelo Grêmio, mas atuou pelo time sub-20 do São Paulo no ano passado e, após ser aprovado por Rogério Ceni, a diretoria comprou 50% de seus direitos econômicos. No acordo com o clube gaúcho, a equipe tem até 2019 para adquirir mais 30% dos direitos de Junior por um valor considerado baixo pela diretoria no Morumbi, até pela importância do jogador, presente em 34 das 34 partidas do time em 2017.

Também renovamos com o Junior Tavares até 2021. É jovem e demonstrou qualidade e personalidade para honrar nossa camisa

— Leco (@LecoPresidente) 26 de junho de 2017

Alex McLeish has slammed the decision made by Marcel Brands to give James Rodriguez such big wages at Everton.

The Lowdown: Rodriguez wages

As per Football Insider, the Goodison Park faithful failed to sell Rodriguez in the summer transfer window because of his £250,000-per-week wages.

The Colombia international was linked with a move away from the Merseyside club after the departure of Carlo Ancelotti to Real Madrid.

The Latest: McLeish on Rodriguez

Speaking to Football Insider, former Aston Villa and Rangers manager now pundit McLeish has now slammed the decision made by Brands to give Rodriguez such high wages, and feels as if he will leave sooner rather than later:

“In a word, yes, it is irresponsible.

“I would be surprised if he gets another year into the contract. The guy’s ability is unquestionable but it’s doing it consistently that’s the problem.

“That’s what Everton need to take them to the highest level, from the top eight into the Champions League places.

“Benitez has his own ideas and style of play for the team. He wants them to be really robust and work really hard.

“Rodriguez is not a Benitez type of player. I don’t see him fitting Benitez’s plan for the future.”

The Verdict: Play him then

If Rodriguez is on such big wages at the Toffees, then surely Benitez needs to find a way to give him more game time, especially if he was difficult to offload.

He scored a total of six goals and made a further nine assists in 26 matches over all competitions last season, but is yet to be used by the Spaniard so far this term (Transfermarkt).

A player of his calibre and ability simply needs to be on the pitch, and given a consistent run of games, the attacking midfield player could turn out to be the catalyst for Benitez to achieve his goals at the end of the campaign.

In other news, find out what Benitez comments have Toffees buzzing here!

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 have suffered a major injury setback ahead of their Premier League clash against Brentford this afternoon.

Dean Smith’s side welcome the newly-promoted side to Villa Park as they look to register back-to-back wins in the top-flight, but will have to do so without one of their marquee summer signings.

The Birmingham Mail’s Ashley Preece revealed that Leon Bailey will once again be missing from action, with the game against the Bees on Saturday coming too soon following his hamstring issue last week.

The news is sure to come as a bitter blow to Smith as he looks to mould this new look Villa side together, especially considering the kind of electric debut he enjoyed in the defeat to Watford.

The £31.5m-rated star came off the bench to great effect against the Hornets on the opening day, marking his Premier League debut for the club by setting up John McGinn’s goal and almost sparking a late comeback.

Speaking before Villa officially confirmed the deal to sign the Jamaican, the club’s former defender Alan Hutton threw his backing behind a move for the former Bayer Leverkusen ace.

He said: “I’m so excited to see this one. I’ve heard a lot about him over the past two or three seasons. He’s obviously still very young but he’s electric, he gets people off their seats. That’s what you want in a player.

“But what’s more impressive, 15 goals and 11 assists from wide areas in the German league. That’s unbelievable. It’s the kind of consistency you want from your wingers.”

With Bailey now ruled out, Smith will have to keep the faith with Anwar El Ghazi, who of course enjoyed a fine week himself after netting against Newcastle from the spot, before bagging a brace against Barrow in the Carabao Cup second round.

While the Dutchman is in a mini streak of goal-scoring form, Bailey’s absence and the prospect of seeing their new signing make his competitive home debut for the club is sure to leave fans gutted.

Meanwhile, Fabrizio Romano has dropped an update on this Aston Villa transfer target…

Liverpool will be looking to continue their unbeaten start to 2021/22 when they host Crystal Palace in the Premier League this afternoon.

The Reds came from behind to defeat AC Milan in midweek to make it four wins in five games in all competitions in the opening weeks of the new season.

It’s a result which will have been particularly pleasing for manager Jurgen Klopp after he rotated his side for the Champions League fixture, and it should mean he has plenty of fresh legs to call upon for Palace’s visit.

However, one player who won’t be available is Roberto Firmino. The striker picked up a hamstring injury against Chelsea, and Klopp confirmed that the 29-year-old is still #unavailable.

“He’s not ready. Bobby won’t start training with the team until some time next week. Then we will have to wait and see,” the German said in yesterday’s press conference.

Teenager Harvey Elliott joined the Brazil international on the treatment table after suffering a dislocated ankle against Leeds United, but the duo are currently the absentees for 19-time English champions.

With that in mind, here’s how Football FanCast expects Klopp to line up at Anfield, with four changes from the side which saw off Milan on Wednesday…

In goal, the virtually ever-present Alisson Becker will keep his place between the sticks after keeping three clean sheets already this campaign.

Ahead of the South American shot-stopper may well be a much-changed back four from last time out. While full-backs Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold are expected to start in their usual slots, a new centre-back partnership could be formed.

Klopp started Joel Matip and the £27m-rated Joe Gomez against Milan, but the pair could make way for Virgil van Dijk and summer signing Ibrahima Konate, allowing the 22-year-old to make his Liverpool debut alongside the assured Dutchman.

The engine room is likely to see Naby Keita make way for Thiago after the Guinean’s underwhelming showing in midweek, with Fabinho and captain Jordan Henderson completing the midfield.

In attack, Sadio Mane should return to the starting line-up alongside Diogo Jota and Mohamed Salah, while Origi drops back to the bench following a rare start on Wednesday.

In other news… Signed for free, sold for £19m: Edwards sealed a big Liverpool masterclass in 24y/o flop