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West Bromwich Albion's season would end ultimately in a disappointing fashion in the Championship playoffs, bowing out as 3-1 losers over two legs as Southampton ran rampant in attack back at St. Mary's after a valiant Baggies display in the first stalemate contest.

Carlos Corberan would be left cursing his lack of potent attacking options in the second match-up on the South Coast, with Jed Wallace starting as the lone striker for the goal-shy visitors despite being more of a natural winger as a wasteful Brandon Thomas-Asante was benched by the Spaniard.

A new striker could well be a priority position for the West Midlands outfit in the summer, therefore, which could result in an injury-prone face being given the boot with his absence from the playoffs being felt by being sidelined yet again.

Josh Maja's time at West Brom

Joining last summer on a free transfer from former employers FC Girondins de Bordeaux, there was plenty expected of Josh Maja on his arrival having set the EFL alight previously with Sunderland.

Maja showed his clinical edge in front of goal for the Wearsiders as a youngster which ended up catching the eye of the Ligue 1 side, bagging 17 goals in a Sunderland strip from 49 games, whilst also firing in three strikes for Fulham in a loan switch away from Bordeaux all the way up in the Premier League.

The warning signs should have been there for the Baggies, however, that Maja could potentially flop owing to recurring bad luck with injuries which saw him frequent the Bordeaux treatment room over and over again.

Sidelined for the majority of 2024 with an ankle ligament issue, the 25-year-old has only managed to find the back of the net once for Corberan's men when fit from a mere 12 first-team games.

Injury

Days missed

Games missed

Back injury

134

18

Calf strain

13

1

Torn knee ligaments

40

5

Sourced by Transfermarkt

There could be a temptation to try and sell on Maja this summer as a result, with his valuation, according to Football Transfers, sitting at a hefty £1.6m despite large patches of no football.

Maja's high wage is also a stumbling block as to why West Brom will want to part ways, with the ex-Sunderland man earning more than both Alex Palmer and Conor Townsend – according to Capology – who were both crucial for the Baggies in getting into the play-offs.

Maja's wage at West Brom

Maja managed to rake in a handsome £17k-per-week pay packet this season even with his minutes not being regular, costing the failed play-off side £884k in wage costs alone over a full year.

Palmer and Townsend both earn a lesser £10.9k and £11.5k-per-week respectively, all whilst amassing a ridiculous 94 appearances between them under Corberan this season.

Without Palmer's heroics in the first leg, denying Ross Stewart by instinctively saving the deflected effort above, West Brom would have had even more of a mountain to climb on the South Coast with the reliable shot-stopper ensuring his side kept a clean sheet at the very least.

Townsend was equally important in the games building up to the playoffs, assisting Darnell Furlong's strike on the final day of the season to ensure the Baggies made it into the top six with a 3-0 drubbing of Preston North End.

Yet, both still earn less than Maja and could be pushing for a pay increase to stay put amidst the club's failure to push through into the Premier League.

The ex-Sunderland striker could be offloaded as a result, with West Brom putting down this free transfer capture as a dud buy.

Sunderland have enjoyed quite the season of frustration, but the Black Cats will be looking to put any failure to bed this summer by turning to the transfer window and potentially welcoming a former Premier League gem.

Sunderland transfer news

If they could go back, it would be interesting to see whether Sunderland would have kept hold of Tony Mowbray instead of kicking off a nightmare Michael Beale spell. When the former lost his job, the Black Cats were in the race to reach the playoffs. Months later and after a short-lived Beale nightmare, they sit 13th and on course to note the current Championship campaign down as one to forget.

Sunderland fumbled “magical” PL sensation who is now worth £60m

Sunderland once amazingly had this Premier League star on trial.

By
Kelan Sarson

Apr 18, 2024

It will at least be a fresh start at the Stadium of Light this summer though, with a new manager set to take charge. As things stand, the main name linked with the job seems to be Paul Heckingbottom, who was sacked by Premier League side Sheffield United earlier in the campaign. Having previously had success in the Championship, however, he could represent a solid appointment.

Once they find their next manager, the transfer window becomes key and it seems as though the Black Cats are well aware of that. According to Chronicle Live, Sunderland are now eyeing a move to sign Amani Richards, whose Leicester City contract is set to expire at the end of the season, allowing the winger to leave as a free agent.

The 19-year-old has already had quite the career, having jumped from Chelsea's academy to Arsenal's as a highly-rated wonderkid. That wonderkid tag shouldn't go away just yet either, given how young Richards still is. A player who has no weak foot, Sunderland could help the former Arsenal gem discover his best form and realise his potential.

Richards could follow Jack Clarke path at Sunderland

One player who knows all about dropping out of the Premier League is Jack Clarke. The winger failed to make it at Tottenham Hotspur, before eventually finding himself at Sunderland where he is now a star earning reported interest from the likes of West Ham United. It is the type of path that Richards can use as inspiration to make Wearside the perfect destination this summer.

After struggling to break into Leicester's first team this season, senior minutes may well be the priority no matter what for Richards if he wants to step things up. With Sunderland's philosophy of handing young players ample opportunity, a move to the Stadium of Light could represent a wise decision by the teenager.

It's important that the Black Cats get this summer right off the pitch and they'll want to stick to how they do things in the process in a move that should see players of Richards' potential targeted once again in the coming months.

Just two days on from hi 143 amid swirling stands, he smashed 134 in the final – on his 25th birthday

RetroReport by Karthik Krishnaswamy24-Apr-2020 #RetroLive Is sport at its best when it throws up the unpredictable? Or does it reach its heights when a genius shows up and makes the improbable look utterly predictable? It would be the cheesiest of movie scripts: our hero bats out of his skin against the world’s best team to drag his struggling side into the final of a tournament where they meet the same opponents, and beat them thanks to another masterful effort from our hero, who, hang on, happens to be celebrating his 25th birthday.When it happens in real life, it’s breathtaking.Two days on from his 143 amid swirling sands, Sachin Tendulkar scored another majestic hundred in a tall chase, to almost singlehandedly put the Sharjah tri-nations cup in India’s hands. More than that, the quality of his batting ensured that this tournament – a cola-flavoured tri-series in an ocean of cola-flavoured tri-series – will transcend its immediate context and live in the memory well beyond the careers of those involved in it.Decades from now, highlights of this tournament will fill our TV screens whenever April 24 comes along, bringing us the gleeful faces, fated never to age, of the fans who – as Tony Greig put it two days ago – danced in the aisles. We’ll still be talking about Shane Warne going round the wicket, and Tendulkar greeting the move by jumping out of his crease, exposing all three stumps, and launching the ball out of the footmarks and over long-on for six. The cover drives, the back-foot punches, the paddle-sweeps, the straight drives off Damien Fleming and Warne, respectively, that left Sourav Ganguly and Steve Bucknor, respectively, on their backsides; these will remain seared in our memories.But for all that, Tendulkar has scored – and will score – hundreds far more challenging than this 25th birthday bash. Australia’s attack contained only three frontline bowlers, leaving batting allrounders Tom Moody, Mark Waugh and Steve Waugh to fill at least two-fifths of their bowling quota. During certain stretches of Tendulkar’s innings, all he had to do was milk these lesser bowlers for singles to the deep fielders, singles that Australia were happy to give away in the low-intensity waiting game that the middle overs of ODI innings often are.Australia’s lack of genuine wicket-takers, apart from Warne and Fleming – who, incidentally, was celebrating his 28th birthday – forced them to play this waiting game and hope for India to crumble under scoreboard pressure. This could have happened had India lost a couple of early wickets, or – as they did in the last round-robin game two days ago – a couple of quick wickets midway through their chase, but they didn’t, as Ganguly, Nayan Mongia – once again promoted to No. 3 – and Mohammad Azharuddin all played useful hands around Tendulkar. Without those wickets, the target Australia set – 273 – was challenging but not nearly enough given their bowling resources, and given Tendulkar’s astonishing form.Australia could have set a bigger target had not lost clumps of wickets at inopportune moments. There were three within the first six overs of their innings, when the naggingly accurate Venkatesh Prasad and the nippy but far more erratic Ajit Agarkar got the ball to nibble around off a surface with a bit of moisture in it. There were two more following a 59-run fourth-wicket partnership between Adam Gilchrist and Michael Bevan, both against the run of play. Gilchrist top-edged a loose cut off the part-time offspinner Hrishikesh Kanitkar, Bevan was run-out after a mix-up that left him and Steve Waugh at the same end.Shane Warne greets Sachin Tendulkar•AFPBeing five down with 23 overs remaining didn’t hurt Australia immediately, as Steve Waugh and the brilliantly inventive Darren Lehmann put on 103 off just 96 balls, clinically milking the part-timers and taking toll whenever Agarkar – who still showed signs of the groin strain that kept him out of India’s previous game – erred in line or length. But even the exaggerated depth of Australia’s batting – the flip side of playing only three frontline bowlers – was tested when Waugh holed out in the 43rd over. Lehmann pressed on – the highlight of his innings a pair of back-to-back boundaries off Anil Kumble, a muscular leg-side six that he followed up by making room to carve a middle-stump ball through point – but his dismissal for a 59-ball 70, followed by the needless run-out of Damien Martyn, ended the chances of an explosive Australian finish. Only 67 came off their last ten overs.India have always been nervy chasers, though. Before this game, they had only won five of the 27 ODIs in which they had been set a target of 270 or more. Their nerves must have eased when Ganguly hit the first two balls of India’s innings to the boundary, even though Australia kept him in check thereafter, and kept him on strike. By the time he fell to a mis-controlled pull for 23 off 42 balls, Tendulkar had only faced 11 balls.But those 11 balls had already whetted the appetite of the packed crowd, containing drives of pristine timing as well as a moment of the sort of early luck – an inside-edged attempt at shouldering arms, off Fleming, that missed off stump by half an inch – that tells everyone this could be the batsman’s day.And it was. Tendulkar put Moody under pressure as soon as he came on, pulling a good-length ball for a boundary over midwicket, and a thumping straight four from Mongia at the end of the over – the 14th – forced Steve Waugh to take the allrounder off. Moody’s replacement, Mark Waugh, then got the Tendulkar treatment, with three fours in his second and third overs – an inside-out loft over extra-cover, a leg glance and a paddle-sweep – forcing another change.At the other end, Warne was getting through his overs without causing either Tendulkar or Mongia to worry unduly, and a switch to round the wicket in his sixth over further reduced his threat. The return of Fleming brought the immediate wicket of Mongia, but he gave way after only two overs – which Tendulkar saw off with almost exaggerated care – following which Tendulkar and the new man Azharuddin milked the twin medium-pace attack of Moody and Steve Waugh for six straight overs. The required rate crept up above six an over in this time, but it meant little without wickets falling.Then came the acceleration: there was a boundary in each over from the 35th to the 38th, and then the flicked single that brought Tendulkar his hundred – his 15th in ODIs. Then came a brace of fours from Tendulkar in Warne’s final over, the 42nd – unstoppable drives down the ground and through cover – a fitting finish to an extended contest that Tendulkar has thoroughly dominated over these last two months, beginning at the Brabourne in the last week of February.Tendulkar’s increased aggression in this phase also caused him to play and miss at four slower balls from Moody, but this was his day and no one could do anything about it. As if to stress that point, he walloped Moody for a straight six that brought the equation down to 39 from 43 balls. This match was done and dusted.When Tendulkar finally departed, it was to a shocker of an lbw decision from Javed Akhtar – the ball, delivered from round the wicket by Michael Kasprowicz, pitched outside leg stump and would have missed off stump. Tendulkar’s 143 two days ago also ended with a questionable umpiring decision. It was fitting, in a way; Australia could get his wicket, occasionally, but to borrow lines written years ago in praise of another Mumbai batsman, they couldn’t out him at all. RetroLive

كشفت تقارير صحفية تركية، عن احتمالية عودة الدولي المصري محمود حسن تريزيجيه إلى صفوف طرابزون التركي، خلال فترة الانقتالات الشتوية المقبلة.

تريزيجيه انضم إلى الريان القطري في الصيف الماضي على سبيل الإعارة لمدة موسم، ولكن مع تراجع النتائج في طرابزون، أصبحت عودة المصري واردة.

طرابزون تعرض لضربة قوية بسبب استبعاد ميسلاف أورسيتش، وإصابة أنتوني نواه، وأصبح عدم وجود جناح أيسر في الفريق، أزمة يعاني منها المدرب شينول جونيس.

طالع أيضًا: فيديو | تريزيجيه: انتصرنا على باختاكور رغم أرضية الملعب.. والريان فريق كبير

موقع “gunebakis” التركي، أكد أن هناك جهودًا كبيرة من فريق طرابزون سبور من أجل إعادة محمود حسن تريزيجيه، وقطع إعارته لنادي الريان، خلال فترة الانتقالات الشتوية.

وحسب تصريحات الرئيس أرطغل دوغان: “سنقوم بتعيين من يريده مدربنا، وسنتصرف بما يتماشى مع طلباته”.

التقارير أشارت إلى أن المدرب جونيس يرغب في استعادة محمود حسن تريزيجيه، ولكن العقبة التي تقف أمام طرابزون سبور، هي أن الريان ليس حريصًا على التخلي عن لاعبه.

وشددت التقارير على أن طرابزون سيعرض دفع ما تبقى من إعارة تريزيجيه للنادي القطري، مع الاستعداد للاستماع لطلبات الريان، من أجل الموافقة على قطع الإعارة.

تريزيجية شارك هذا الموسم في 10 مباريات مع فريق الريان القطري بمختلف المسابقات، سجل 2 وصنع مثلهما.

With just eight matches left to go in the Premier League, finishing in a Champions League spot is almost entirely beyond the reach of Manchester United.

This was all but confirmed on Thursday night, as the Red Devils suffered a dramatic 4-3 defeat to Chelsea, despite having the lead in the 99th minute.

Even though the Blues had 28 attempts – and ten on target – Erik ten Hag still seemed content with the way his side played, but in truth, a victory would have only masked another unconvincing performance.

However, there are certainly some positives that can be taken from the tie, with Alejandro Garnacho starring and one other player impressing even more than the Argentine.

Alejandro Garnacho’s performance against Chelsea

19-year-old Garnacho was yet again one of Man United’s most important players last night, and he so nearly became the match-winner.

In truth, the number 17 was rather quiet for his standards in spells, failing to retain the ball, as shown by his 71% pass accuracy and the fact he lost the ball 14 times.

That said, he came up with two important goals, two of which displayed different skills that the winger is slowly developing, with the first highlighting his anticipation and ability to press, and the second showing excellent movement and desire.

To further support the influence he had on the team, Manchester Evening News journalist Samuel Luckhurst handed Garnacho an 8/10 rating for his performance, but he still wasn’t the best on the field.

Related Man Utd star who earns more than Garnacho & Hojlund needs to be replaced

The United star has barely played over the last month.

Posts ByTom Lever Mar 15, 2024 Antony’s stats against Chelsea

Since moving to United from Ajax for a whopping £86m last summer, Antony has received lots of criticism, particularly for his performances this campaign – previously dubbed "frustrating" by club legend Gary Neville.

The Brazilian has made 24 appearances in the Premier League this season, starting just his 12th time last night, when he finally ended his terrible drought in attack.

Against Mauricio Pochettino’s side, Antony put on a show of intent, and despite giving away a penalty in the first half, he certainly made up for his mistake throughout the rest of the game.

Just like Garnacho, Luckhurst gave the winger an 8/10 rating, stating that 'this was one of his best performances for United', which the table below also indicates.

Antony vs Chelsea

Stats

Antony

Assists

1

Shots

3

Key passes

2

Pass accuracy

86%

Successful dribbles

6/6

Ground Duels won

9

Tackles

2

Via Sofascore

As you can see, Antony was incredible and impactful down the right, dominating Marc Cucurella from minute one, who was dribbled past on four occasions.

The 24-year-old showed signs of the player the United faithful thought they were signing, completing six out of six dribbles and playing with the freedom to express and entertain.

Nothing provides more evidence for that than his first goal contribution of the Premier League campaign, which was an absolutely beautiful outside-of-the-foot cross that landed on a plate for Garnacho to finish.

On top of that assist, the number 21 played a huge role in the first two goals, and it’s fair to say that he was United’s most threatening attacker on the evening.

Antony was also strong in his duels and put a shift in defensively in what was a complete performance from the winger, who needed just that to revive his United career.

After that showing, Ten Hag will find it extremely difficult to put the former Ajax ace on the bench, which may indicate that as long as he continues to perform, Antony could once again cement himself as the first-choice right winger.

Arsenal have 'all agreements in place' to sign Bologna defender Riccardo Calafiori, with a £42 million ($55m) deal now close to completion.

Article continues below

Article continues below

Article continues below

• Arsenal linked with Calafiori for weeks
• Set to sign from Bologna for £42m
• 'All agreements' for deal 'now in place'

• WHAT HAPPENED?

  According to The Athletic, everything is in place for the 22-year-old to move to the Gunners, with other reports suggesting a fee of £42 million ($54.3m) has already been agreed. The report adds he must still undergo medical checks but if all those hurdles are overcome, the centre-back will link up with Mikel Arteta's men for their pre-season tour in the United States.

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  THE BIG PICTURE

  Calafiori has become one of the best young centre-backs in Europe off the back of his form for Bologna and Italy. The defender, who can also play at left-back, would be Arsenal's second signing of the summer after goalkeeper David Raya joined permanently after a season-long loan last term. This is a statement of intent from Arsenal in their bid to win a first Premier League title since 2004.

• DID YOU KNOW?

  The report adds Calafiori's former side FC Basel are entitled to a sell-on clause in the region of 40-50 per cent, which they negotiated following his move to Bologna in 2023. The 6ft 2in defender was also linked with Premier League rivals Liverpool but is set to join Arsenal.

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  WHAT NEXT?

  When Calafiori, who began his career at Roma and worked under Jose Mourinho for a time, officially joins the Gunners, he could feature in their pre-season schedule. That includes games against Manchester United and Liverpool on July 27 and 31 respectively.

Tamim Iqbal has opted out of Bangladesh’s upcoming tour of India as his wife is expecting their second child later this month, and the national selectors have called up Imrul Kayes as his replacement for the three T20Is. It is, however, not clear whether Imrul will stay on with the touring party for the subsequent Test series too.

Bangladesh T20I squad

Shakib Al Hasan (capt), Liton Das, Imrul Kayes, Soumya Sarkar, Mohammad Naim, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah, Afif Hossain, Mosaddek Hossain, Aminul Islam, Arafat Sunny, Al-Amin Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman, Shafiul Islam

Tamim, who is also nursing a rib injury, was named in the T20I side, but had informed the BCB that he might have to skip the second Test, in Kolkata from November 22, to be with his wife. He has since decided to be with his wife for the weeks heading up to the delivery date too.”Tamim had informed us earlier that he would miss the second Test in Kolkata but now he will be with his wife for the coming weeks,” chief selector Minhajul Abedin said. “Imrul has already started training with us as Tamim’s replacement.”Tamim missed Bangladesh’s home Test against Afghanistan and the T20I tri-series – with Zimbabwe as the third side – last month, after requesting for a break from all cricket following Bangladesh’s tour of Sri Lanka in July. He returned this month in a first-class match for Chittagong Division in the National Cricket League, before picking up the injury ahead of the second game.Tamim becomes the second player to miss out on the India tour after Mohammad Saifuddin was ruled out with a back injury. No replacement has been named for the allrounder yet.

Simply put, Manchester United are on fire at the moment.

Erik ten Hag's team is one of three in the Premier League to have not tasted defeat in the new year, and they've won all of their last four league games.

The latest of those was against Luton Town on Sunday, where they narrowly won 2-1, despite having the opportunity to hit at least five.

However, there was one player who cut out a frustrated figure while sitting on the bench at the weekend, with his Red Devils career not exactly going to plan.

Amad Diallo's start to life in Manchester

Ivorian wonderkid Amad Diallo announced himself to the world as a 17-year-old for Atalanta in 2019, coming off the bench to score on his debut in a 7-1 win over Udinese.

In January 2021, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer finally got his man, as United secured the signature of the young winger in a whopping £37m deal, despite only playing five games for Atalanta's first team.

He immediately joined the academy upon his arrival, where he proved to be levels above those both on his team and the opposition, scoring twice against Liverpool U21s and registering four goal contributions against Blackburn Rovers U21s.

Amad's first real taste of action at United came in the Europa League against AC Milan, when he replaced Anthony Martial at halftime to take on a false nine role. Just minutes after his introduction, he already had the ball in the back of the net after making a darting run in behind and finishing with an excellent instinctive header.

Unfortunately, this has been the pinnacle of his United career so far.

Amad Diallo's record in 2024

The 5 foot 8 gem's first loan spell away from the Red Devils was to Rangers, yet that move wasn't exactly successful, with Diallo starting just four league games and featuring on the bench in every game on their run to the Europa League final.

Luckily, his second loan spell was far more fruitful, as last season he was one of the most influential players in the Championship, where he was dubbed "unplayable" by journalist Graham Falk. His time at Sunderland ended with a record of 13 goals and three assists in 27 league starts.

The left-footed whizz has seen his development and momentum from last season come to a complete stop, with an injury in pre-season keeping him out of action until December, and since then, Ten Hag has prevented him from going out on loan for the rest of the season. The former Black Cats ace has played just 36 minutes all campaign.

To this day, Diallo is still regarded as one of the most exciting talents at the club, and if it weren't for Alejandro Garnacho arguably being one of their most dangerous players in the team and playing in the 21-year-old's position, he may have had more chances to work his magic on the field.

Atalanta

5

1

0

Rangers

13

3

0

Sunderland

42

14

4

Man United U23's

5

6

4

Man United

10

1

1

However, his lack of action in the United first team has caused his value to drop significantly, with the gem now estimated to be worth around £4m, according to CIES Football Observatory, which is £33m less than what Solskjaer and co paid for him in 2021.

Although United did massively overpay for Diallo, he is still an exciting prospect with bags of potential. All he needs is an opportunity to showcase what he's really about.

If not, it looks set to be another expensive mistake of the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era.

The ball is curling late. It had come down straight for nearly 80% of the pitch. But then, suddenly, as if by magic, it started swinging in. The batsman is in trouble. He tries to block it but ends up losing so much of his balance that he basically falls face first onto the pitch. Tamim Iqbal is down. His stumps are shattered. And Lasith Malinga runs up to his team-mates with one of his hands up and a smirk on his face. It wasn’t a smile. It was a smirk. As if he was showing the opposition, his team-mates, his fans and even his critics that he still had it. He still had the most devastating yorker in world cricket.But that is now history. Malinga’s ODI career is over. And he finished it in style too, with a wicket off his final ball. Now he wants the younger generation to take over. The 35-year old doesn’t just want them to be good bowlers. He wants them to be strike bowlers. And above all else, he wants them to be match-winners.”My captains expect me to take wickets,” he said during the post-match presentation. “I tried my best all through my career. I hope all the young bowlers do this as well. Because just surviving in cricket, I don’t think anyone can go far. You have to be a match-winner. That’s what I’m looking forward to in the future. These young bowlers have to get match winning performances and people have to tell that’s a match winning bowler. We have a couple of guys, they have the ability, we have to look after them.”Malinga finished with excellent figures of 3 for 38, but just like he wanted, there was plenty of support from the other end. Nuwan Pradeep, one of the country’s best line bowlers, finished with three wickets as well and Lahiru Kumara, making a comeback after not being picked for the World Cup, showed improving control along with his raw pace.The other thing that was on Malinga’s mind was to win. Sri Lanka’s ODI form has been up and down over the last four years and the fast bowler wanted to change it at all costs.”I think whether I’m retiring or not, winning is very important. We are a young team and we are looking forward to win. These days we haven’t had the momentum to get wins.”There are still two ODIs in this series against Bangladesh but Malinga felt it was the right time for him to step aside.”I’ve played the last 15 years for Sri Lanka. Really an honour to play and really happy to play for these people and for all the crowd that’s been behind me. I feel this is the time I have to move on because we have to build for the 2023 World Cup and that’s why I realised, okay, my time is up, I have to go.”

Ineos have already conducted multiple changes to their off-field staff, but they could also look to address Manchester United's issues on the field this month.

The Red Devils have become known for overpaying over the last few years, but that strategy looks set to change with the arrival of Sir Jim Ratcliffe.

Therefore, let's look at a potential bargain who could instantly improve Erik ten Hag's side.

Manchester United will look to solve their right-wing dilemma

According to a report from Football Transfers, United are currently scouting Marcus Edwards ahead of a possible move. It could well be done at a relative bargain price too.

Indeed, the winger is rumoured to be available for £30m, with his contract expiring in 2026.

That being said, unless funds are raised via sales in the month of January, a move this winter is unfortunately off the cards for the Red Devils.

January transfer window: All the deadline day deals from England and Scotland

Stay on top of all the latest transfer deals across the Premier League, EFL and SPFL as the January window closes.

ByCharlie Smith Feb 1, 2024 How Edwards would improve Man United

Edwards is currently starring in Portugal for Sporting, with last season being his best to date, as he scored 12 goals and registered 14 assists in 51 matches. This campaign, the 25-year-old has shown no signs of slowing down, with the winger contributing to 11 goals already.

The prospect of signing another gem from Sporting will excite the United faithful, especially after they purchased Bruno Fernandes from the Portuguese club for an initial fee of £47m in January 2020.

The Portugal international's move to Old Trafford has been nothing short of a masterclass, with Fernandes earning the captain's armband and going down as the "best Man Utd player of the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era" as per one journalist. Ten Hag's Portuguese magnifico has contributed to 129 goals in 213 games, which highlights his importance to the side.

But how does he compare to Edwards? Positionally not very much but they both boast seriously impressive numbers in the offensive thirds of play. The table below shows statistics from this Liga Portugal season which suggests that the former Spurs man could just have a similar effect on the side.

Non-penalty goals

0.34

Top 28%

Assists

0.25

Top 26%

xA

0.40

Top 3%

Goals/shot

0.16

Top 22%

Key passes

3.56

Top 1%

Shot-creating actions

6.01

Top 3%

Successful take-ons

2.12

Top 17%

Edwards' output in front of goal is what makes him such a deadly forward and what separates him from United's current right winger, Antony, who's failed to even register a goal contribution since May.

His goals/shot ratio being in the top 22% in the league, which also indicates that he's a clinical finisher. Ten Hag desperately needs that considering his side have netted 24 goals in 21 Premier League games.

However, Edward's being a "creative outlet," as per football writer Ben Mattinson, is his biggest asset, with his direct approach causing havoc in attack.

The Englishman's impressive key passes, xA (expected assists), successful take-ons, and shot-creating actions all show his ability to make something happen out of nothing, inevitably bringing unpredictability to the stale United attack. The above makes him similar to Fernandes in terms of his wizard-like traits, with the captain creating the most big chances in the league last season.

Overall, Edwards would massively improve United, and due to his creativity, he could become Fernandes 2.0. For his skillset, £30m does seem like a steal, given today's market.