Leeds United loanee Helder Costa is set to return to Elland Road this summer.

What’s the talk?

That’s according to a report by Spanish publication Marca (via Sport Witness), who claim that Valencia look extremely unlikely to activate the winger’s €20m (£16.5m) option to buy clause written into his temporary contract with the LaLiga side.

The report goes on to state that, despite the Leeds forward having started to impress after a slow start to life in Spain, Bryan Gil’s January arrival has pushed the 28-year-old down Jose Bordalas’ pecking order at the Mestalla – something which Marca claim means the Angola international’s return to the Premier League side is all but certain at the end of the current campaign.

Orta must axe Costa

Considering just how poor Costa was for Leeds last season, in addition to the winger failing to make any mark during his opportunity to impress away from Elland Road, it is abundantly clear that the £16m signing is a player who Victor Orta simply must move onto pastures new this summer.

Indeed, over his 22 Premier League appearances last term, the £7.2m-rated forward scored three goals, registered three assists and missed three big chances, as well as taking an average of just 0.7 shots and making a mere 0.4 key passes per game.

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These returns saw the £70k-per-week attacker who Noel Whelan dubbed a “massive flop” and a “negative” player average an extremely disappointing SofaScore match rating of 6.46, ranking him as the Whites’ second-worst player in the top flight of English football.

Things have not exactly improved for Costa over his 20 LaLiga outings for Valencia this season, with the Angolan scoring no goals, providing one assist and creating one big chance for his teammates, with these metrics seeing the 28-year-old average a SofaScore match rating of just 6.50 – ranking him as Los Murcielagos’ joint fourth-worst player in the division.

As such, it is clear for all to see that the winger who Whelan also labelled a “real disappointment” is simply not cut out for top-flight football, something that is more than enough reason for Orta to axe Costa this summer.

AND in other news: Leeds United dealt major setback on £25m-rated machine, Victor Orta will be fuming

Graeme Smith says the supposedly leaked Australian game plan “dossier” and references in the media to their strategies for South Africa have served to “touch the motivation springs a little more” in his own side.The document purported to contain an analysis of each of South Africa’s likely Test XI and was published in local media on Thursday. Instead of an explosive summary, it was a predictable assessment which bordered on the amateur and seems to have caused more amusement than angst in the South African camp.”There was nothing really new in that,” Smith said. “I haven’t read it myself, I heard a few lines and it is nothing that we didn’t expect. All of us have played enough against Australia and we know what it’s going to take to be victorious here. Our preparation has been really good and intelligent. Certainly the stuff that happens in the papers and maybe things Mickey [Arthur, Australia’s coach] has said have only added motivation for us.”With theories sprouting over whether the dossier is an official team document, something planted to throw South Africa off kilter or a media ruse, Michael Clarke hinted at the last option. He denied the existence of an actual booklet of information and even said some of the contents were never part of Australia’s planning.”We as a team don’t have an official dossier as such. We look at footage, we talk about opposition players, we study opposition strengths and weaknesses as a bowling group and a batting group, that’s generally what we do as a team,” he said. “There was some stuff in there that is quite common knowledge about the South African team and there was some other stuff in there that we certainly haven’t spoken about.”James Sutherland, the Cricket Australia chief executive, took a similar view. “I looked at it and there are things in there that I thought, ‘well, everyone knows that,’ and there were things that I thought, ‘well, I would do the complete opposite to that,” he said. “There are some fun and games in all of that and listening to Graeme, he seems pretty unfussed by all that.”For his part, Arthur later tweeted an unequivocal message: “Just to make one thing clear-there is no secret dossier and there never was! #mediahype”Irrespective of its legitimacy, Clarke does not think the leak will have a significant bearing on the series. “Both teams would have read the papers – that’s for sure,” he said. “The most important thing for me, and I’ve said it for a long time now, it’s not about what you say, it’s about what you do. That’s the Australian team’s attitude at the moment. It’s about making sure tomorrow we turn up. Enough’s been said, there’s been plenty of talk in the media and it’s been built up beautifully, with two very strong cricket teams. Now it’s about what we do.”Smith agreed. “It doesn’t really make a difference [whether that is their strategy or not],” Smith said. “We have prepared for what we going to expect over the next few days. Tactically, we are doing our work anyway. The most important thing for us was maximising our preparation.”One of the things both teams have been preparing for is chin music with bouncers certain to fly on a spicy Gabba pitch. “I wouldn’t be surprised if you see plenty of short stuff, that’s for sure,” Clarke said. “The young quicks know what they have to do. I’ve made it very clear that they need to keep the same aggression they had against India last summer. We understand there’s a line that you can’t cross, but we’ll be pushing that line.”The dossier indicated Jacques Kallis, Hashim Amla and JP Duminy would be targets of the short ball but Smith was more sedate in his reaction. “When you’ve got fast bowlers on either side, it’s always going to be a topic of discussion, especially at venues like the Wanderers or the Gabba,” he said.Amla was also the subject of a psychological examination by Australia which may be surprising given his reputation as one of the tougher characters in cricket who rarely gets ruffled. Johan Botha, a former team-mate of Amla’s who now captains South Australia, said it is unlikely Australia will be able to change that.”He (Amla) is pretty relaxed and I don’t think it will affect him at all,” Botha said in Adelaide. “He has played against Australia now a few times – he has played against all the other top teams in the world. And he is the type of guy who it doesn’t affect him if you say something or if you don’t. He just goes out there and watches the ball and grinds out big scores. They (Australia) can do what they want (but) you have got to put the ball in the right area and put him under pressure. Hashim will just go about his game as he has always done.”Mental weakness overall though, has cost South Africa on previous occasions so the strategy in itself would not be entirely misplaced but Smith believes the team have gotten over their problems in that department and will not be rattled by mind games.”Our Test side has proven that, especially away from home. You play in other people’s backyards, in front of their crowds and you have different sorts of pressure. You have to be able to stand up at key times,” he said. “When good teams play each other there are small margins and you need to be able to handle those small margins better. Our goal is to match up again. I don’t expect to see us too emotional about things. If we can be focused and clinical, I will be happy.”Already South Africa have given the cold shoulder to attempts by Australia to rile them up. When Arthur mentioned during his media engagements this week that Australia’s seven left-handers will look to capitalise on the statistics that Dale Steyn has been less successful against southpaws than right-handed batsmen, Gary Kirsten shrugged it off with a smile. “Let’s just say it will provide us with good motivation.”Talking down the world’s top-ranked bowler did not last long in the Australian camp and Arthur soon backtracked to say he only meant that because Steyn bowls to fewer left-handers, the numbers are skewed the other way. Ricky Ponting then said Australia will look to “negate Steyn because then we will go a long way to winning.”Again, Smith did not feed the machine with anything more about what he expects form his go-to man on this pitch. “I’m looking forward to Dale taking 10 wickets and looking forward to Vernon taking 10 wickets,” he said non-committal fashion. “You can bowl the speed of light but how effective can you be. Dale has proven that he can do both and hopefully he can show that in this Test match.Rather, Smith’s focus is on making sure South Africa stick to their much talked about processes and follow their own plans. He said they have devised many tactics but they are unlikely to find their way into the public domain. “We try to keep it in the guys’ heads as much as possible so dossiers aren’t left lying around.”

طالب أحمد مرتضى منصور عضو مجلس إدارة نادي الزمالك، اتحاد الكرة بمساندة قطبي الكرة المصرية قبل مواجهات نصف نهائي دوري أبطال افريقيا، وأزمة صالح جمعة، كما ناشد الجميع بفتح صفحة جديدة.

وقال أحمد مرتضى في تصريحات تلفزيونية بفضائية “أون تايم سبورتس”: “إسماعيل يوسف سيكون رئيسًا لبعثة الزمالك في المغرب، والمجلس بالكامل سيتوجه مع الفريق ماعدا مرتضى منصور، وسيكون هناك طائرة خاصة لنقل البعثة”.

وأضاف: “مباراة الزمالك وحرس الحدود يوم 12 اكتوبر وفي الوقت ذاته من المفترض أن تغادر البعثة يوم 10 او 11، يجب أن يساعدنا اتحاد الكرة، خاصًة وأن الدوري شبه محسوم، لا يوجد مبرر للتعنت مع الأهلي والزمالك في هذا الظرف وقبل مباريات نصف نهائي دوري أبطال افريقيا”.

وأردف: “موعد لقاء الرجاء في الذهاب يوم 18 اكتوبر، نحتاج لدعم من الاتحاد المحلي مثل ما الاتحاد المغربي ساند أنديته، نحتاج تدخل من اتحاد الكرة دون أن نطلب منهم”.

طالع | مرتضى منصور: لن يُخصم من الزمالك نقاط الانسحاب من القمة.. وأرسلت محاميين لصالح جمعة قبل الأهلي

وعن أزمة صالح جمعة، تحدث أحمد مرتضى منصور: “بدون أن يطلب عبد الله جمعة التدخل هو لاعب في الزمالك وله حق علينا، وأعتاد مرتضى منصور على الوقوف مع أي لاعب حتى لو كان في النادي الأهلي هذا طبيعي، وهناك أمثلة كثيرة جدًا وقفنا قانونيًا معهم، هذا مجال الرياضة وتنافس وليس في خصومة أو حرب فأي لاعب في الاهلي أو من إدارة الأهلي أو ينتمى للنادي سنقف معهم”.

واختتم: “ادعوا الجميع لفتح صفحة جديدة، ونلعب نهائي دوري أبطال إفريقيا في مصر بين الأهلي والزمالك، ويتوج الزمالك بالحصول على البطولة”.

Whilst some clubs would absolutely love to bring in a striker like Charlie Austin, Aston Villa fans are all desperate to steer clear of the 29-year-old. The Telegraph has run a story that claims the striker could leave Southampton this month, and despite his Championship pedigree, the Villains want to miss out on this one.

In his career, Charlie Austin has proven to be a brilliant goalscorer at Championship level. In his time at both Burnley and QPR his lowest goal tally in a full season is 16 goals, which he managed in the 2011/12 season with the Clarets. However, whether he’s what’s needed at Villa Park is another question as entirely, as they already have the likes of JonathanÂKodjia and Tammy Abraham scoring the goals.

Instead, the Villains would rather go for a young player for the future who is preferably a defender. The fact that they already have goals flowing freely is brilliant, but stopping them at the other end is something that they’ve struggled with. Whilst Austin is no doubt a brilliant player, he wouldn’t be much use to Dean Smith as the Villa gaffer looks to tighten up his backline.

You can read the Villains’ verdict on Austin here:

The Villains are all in agreement that Austin is not what they need, although they’ll be keen to see maybe one more player come in before the end of the window.

Tottenham Hotspur will be desperate to return to winning ways after being knocked out of the Carabao Cup on penalties at Stamford Bridge on Thursday. 

Spurs have failed to complete any signings up until this point in the January transfer window, which isn’t a great surprise as they weren’t able to strengthen back in the summer months.

One thing that has been bothering many supporters is the amount of doubt currently surrounding Christian Eriksen’s contract situation, with Mauricio Pochettino currently unsure (as per Sky Sports) on his future.

Eriksen has established himself as one of the best attacking midfielders in world football over the past couple of seasons, and his contributions have been priceless once again in the current campaign, with six goals and 10 assists.

So, the Lilywhites will be desperate to persuade him to stay in the English capital for longer, with an ambitious double swoop in the January transfer window signings possibly turning his head.

Mousa Dembele’s departure has left Spurs with a void to fill in the middle of midfield, so Daniel Levy will need to bring in a central midfielder before the end of this month.

Interestingly, Abdoulaye Doucoure could be the man to take the Belgian international’s place in North London.

The Watford midfielder has managed to produce three goals and five assists in the current campaign, but it has been his pure dominance in the middle of midfield that has really caught the eye. Indeed, the tall Frenchman is dominant in the air and in possession of the ball, with his passing and tackling ability making him very effective in all areas.

Also, another player the Premier League club should look at signing is Sevilla’s Wissam Ben Yedder.

Ben Yedder has established himself as one of the most impressive forwards in Spain over the past couple of seasons, with 17 goals and seven assists to his name in the current campaign, which includes six goals in Europe. He would be the perfect replacement for Harry Kane at the pinnacle of the attack while he continues to nurse his injury, with goals, assists and world-class performances being produced on a consistent basis.

There’s no doubt that securing these two transfer deals before the end of this month would show Eriksen that the club means business, with Pochettino then having the playing resources to go out and secure Champions League glory and a top four spot. Indeed, with Ben Yedder taking Spurs’ attack to the next level and Doucoure providing Eriksen with the licence to push forward in midfield, there’s no better place for the Dane to be.

Tottenham Hotspur fans – thoughts on potential moves for Ben Yedder and Doucoure?

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According to The Sun’s Mike McGrath, Aston Villa are making a move for Swansea’s Leroy Fer as Dean Smith looks to bolster his midfield ahead of a final push for promotion.

Villa have been active in the transfer market this month but it’s all coming together as we near the 11pm deadline – the Midlands outfit have already brought in Tyrone Mings on loan from Bournemouth today and it would seem Smith is keen to add an engine to his ageing midfield.

The Dutchman has experience playing in the Premier League and has chalked up one goal and three assists in the Championship this season, captaining the Swans in their bid for a play-off spot.

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The Villans, meanwhile, sit just one point above the Liberty Stadium outfit and at least one of them is surely set to miss out on a long-awaited return to the top flight this season – selling one of their key players would be a disaster for Graham Potter but the addition of Fer would be massive for Smith.

With Mile Jedinak and Glenn Whelan both well into their twilight years, some extra legs in midfield wouldn’t go amiss and 29-year-old Fer seems to be getting better as he gets older.

Here’s how the Villa Park faithful reacted to the news on Twitter…

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Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder has reiterated how vital it is that he and his squad focus on themselves in the run-in of the Championship campaign.

The Blades are currently in the thick of the Championship title race, along with Norwich City and Leeds United. Wilder believes that his side must concentrate on what they have to do themselves, without getting distracted by what’s going on around them.

What he said

As quoted by The Star, the Bramall Lane boss said “I’m not interested in what Leeds do or what Norwich City do…All I want to do is focus on ourselves and make sure we get results because that’s something we can influence. We can’t influence what other clubs do so it’s a waste of time worrying about that.”

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Wilder will know that these external issues, if they’re allowed to distract his squad, could see his own side’s title ambitions crumble as the Blades take their eye off the ball.

Wilder’s words will reassure fans that the team are focused, but the manager’s comments should also be taken heed of by his players.

What he meant

Wilder’s address was likely aimed at his own squad as much as anyone else. By publicly stating the importance of keeping their concentration, he adds extra weight to his message. 

The Blades are in for a nervy couple of months, as the title fight is likely to go down to the wire. Wilder must do all he can to keep his squad calm and attentive to their own jobs. Relaying this message via the media is a smart way of reinforcing its importance.

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Loads of Newcastle fans have been reacting to a transfer report, which claims the Magpies tried to sign Phil Foden on loan last month.

The January transfer window was a frantic month for Newcastle fans, who spent the first 30 days praying the club would finally smash their transfer record.

That’s exactly what they did, signing Miguel Almiron for a club-record £20m as well as completing the loan signing of Antonio Barreca.

It now looks like that’s not the only business Rafael Benitez wanted either, as a report from The Sun claims the Magpies were rejected in their attempts to sign Foden.

According to the report, Newcastle, Southampton and Bournemouth were all interested in taking the 18 year-old on loan for the remainder of the season.

With four trophies still left to fight for though, Pep Guardiola opted to keep the teenager, and hopes to give him more opportunities before the end of the campaign.

Loads of Newcastle fans have been weighing in on the report, and you can find some of the best Twitter reactions down below…

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Everton will be looking to put a huge dent in Liverpool’s title hopes as well as looking to build on their midweek win against Cardiff City when they host the Reds at Goodison Park on Sunday, but potential club-record signing Richarlison should be a surprise omission from the starting XI.

On the chalkboard

There is no doubt that the Brazil international made a decent start to his Toffees career and his tally of 10 goals in 26 Premier League appearances to date is impressive, although they have certainly dried up in recent times.

The 21-year-old only has one goal and no assists in his previous nine top-flight outings, and he has begun to find himself back out on his preferred position on the wing following an up-and-down experiment using him as a centre-forward.

The South American ace produced another below-par display in the victory against the Bluebirds before being replaced by Bernard, and he came under criticism from Everton fans on Twitter for his display.

Time to leave him out

It would be a big call for Silva to omit him for such a big game, but as things stand the likes of Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Bernard look to be more likely to really hurt what is such a strong Liverpool defence at the weekend.

Richarlison isn’t even doing the business in his preferred position on the flank with his finishing and delivery not up to scratch, and his manager needs to be strong and not simply put him on the team-sheet again because of his price tag.

The 21-year-old could then potentially make a big impact from the substitutes’ bench, as the hosts look to pick up what would be a famous positive result given the circumstances.

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An 83rd minute Son Heung-Min strike earned Tottenham Hotspur a 1-0 win over a dogged Newcastle United side at Wembley Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Spurs were dominant throughout the game, but were made to work hard for their three points as the Magpies sat deep and soaked up plenty of pressure. Ultimately, it was a goalkeeping error – as Martin Dubravka should have dealt better with Son’s shot – that gave Mauricio Pochettino’s side the win.

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With the likes of Harry Kane and Dele Alli absent through injury, Pochettino had to find another means of breaking down his opposition, with two of his key attacking talents missing. One change he made to his line up for this fixture was the selection of Jan Vertonghen at left-back.

The 31-year-old is primarily a centre-back, but he performed well on the flank, becoming a key, if surprising, creative outlet for his team. According to WhoScored’s stats, the 110-cap Belgium international delivered 14 crosses in the match.

After the final whistle, plenty of Spurs fans took to Twitter to congratulate Vertonghen for his fine performance in an unfamiliar role…