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As well as looking to give Ola Aina a new contract, Nottingham Forest are also keen on tying down another key player, with Nuno Espirito Santo pushing for it to happen, according to a new report.

It has been an excellent start to the Premier League season for the Reds, as they have lost just one of their seven games and already have a comfortable cushion above the relegation places.

Nottingham Forest plot Ola Aina contract talks amid £10m Roma transfer plan

Nottingham Forest face a battle to retain one of Nuno’s key players.

By
Brett Worthington

Oct 9, 2024

Nottingham Forest news

Forest secured a 1-1 draw with Chelsea over the weekend, but it was bitter sweat as their talisman Morgan Gibbs-White suffered an injury. There was concern he may be missing for a few weeks, but Forest are hoping to have Gibbs-White back available for their game against Crystal Palace after the international break.

As stated before, one player that Forest are already looking to tie down to a new contract is Aina, as he’s entered the final year of his deal at the City Ground. The Reds are set to open contract talks with the defender soon, as they now face a battle to retain his services.

Italian side AS Roma are keen on signing Aina, and they believe they can sign him for around £10-12 million, given the fact he is in the final year of his deal. Aina has played in Italy before, and Roma believe this works to their advantage, as he will fit well into their team and knows their manager, Ivan Juric, as he played under him at Torino.

While Forest and Evangelos Marinakis aim to tie Aina down to a new contract, they are also keen to give a new contract to another player who has become important under Nuno.

Nuno wants Nottingham Forest to open contract talks with Chris Wood

According to talkSPORT reporter Alex Crook, Nottingham Forest are keen to tie Chris Wood down to a new contract. The New Zealand international is now in the final year of his contract at the City Ground, and the club are keen to extend his stay beyond this campaign.

Wood joined Forest first on loan from Newcastle United in January 2023, and then that deal was made into a permanent switch that summer after he helped play a role in the club staying in the top flight.

The 32-year-old, who earns £4.1 million a year at the City Ground, has become a key player under manager Nuno, and it is him who is pushing the club to give the striker a new contract. The forward has made an impressive start to this season, and he has already come in for high praise, as Match of the Day 2 pundit Stephen Warnock labelled Wood as an “outstanding” player who offers so much to the team as well as his goals.

Chris Wood’s Nottingham Forest stats
Apps	49
Goals	20
Assists	1

Warnock said on Wood: “They’ve got Morgan Gibbs-White, Anthony Elanga, and Callum Hudson-Odoi; it’s pace in attack.

“But I’ve got to say Chris Wood is outstanding. Not only his goals, but as a focal point, he takes the pressure off the rest of the team.”

Cole Palmer's strange meal deal choice has been questioned by football fans after the Chelsea star's strange "jam" sandwich request.

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Palmer does Pringles advertWants jam sandwich meal dealFans question strange choiceFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?

The Chelsea star helped promote Pringles' Hot Blazing Fried Chicken flavour this week and in that advert, he was asked about his go-to meal deal. The 22-year-old admitted he had never had one of those before, but when pressed on the matter he said it would be a jam sandwich. Football fans leapt upon this, with one saying this should be "debated in Parliament".

AdvertisementGetty Images SportWHAT THE FANS ARE SAYING

@KevinWh14063568 wrote on X: "Someone needs to start a petition to get jam sandwiches as part of the Tesco meal deal. I want this debated in parliament."

@ajwhite1981 tweeted: "He needs to get out of London before he progresses to Simply Ham or Cheese Savoury."

@rickkenmoresms commented: "Really sad to see how detached from reality these footballers are becoming."

@Con_24 put: "Like when Radio 1 asked Steven Gerrard his favourite cheese, and he said 'melted'," and @b_mason1991 added: "Jam done me there."

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Aside from off-the-field matters, Palmer's form has nosedived in recent weeks. The England international has failed to score or assist in Chelsea's last seven games, at a time when they have struggled in the Premier League. The ex-Manchester City man, who had been prolific for the west London outfit prior to this bad run, and the Blues will hope he returns to goalscoring action as soon as possible.

Getty Images SportWHAT NEXT?

Palmer has a chance to right the wrongs of late when his Chelsea side take on Copenhagen next Thursday in the last 16 of the Conference League.

A Tottenham Hotspur youngster is actively refusing to go out on loan in January as he’s determined to stay home, impress manager Ange Postecoglou and work his way into the Australian’s plans.

Spurs lose to Galatasaray and Ipswich in a disastrous week for Ange

The international break couldn’t have come soon enough for Postecoglou and co following a disastrous week, with Tottenham losing to Turkish champions Galatasaray in the Europa League and newly promoted Ipswich Town in the Premier League.

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ByEmilio Galantini Nov 7, 2024

In truth, Spurs were lucky to escape Galatasaray with a 3-2 defeat, as the Süper Lig side had plenty of chances to embarrass them by a much greater scoreline on the night, with Ipswich following that up by sealing a shock victory in north London just days later.

Kieran McKenna’s side secured their first top-flight victory of the campaign at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, with Postecoglou criticised since then, as supporters and pundits scratch their heads over the stop-start nature of Spurs’ early-season form.

Man City vs Tottenham

November 23

Tottenham vs Fulham

December 1

Bournemouth vs Tottenham

December 5

Tottenham vs Chelsea

December 8

Southampton vs Tottenham

December 15

As well as defeat to Ipswich, Crystal Palace managed to seal their first three points of the campaign against the Lilywhites at Selhurst Park, with the top-four hopefuls also slumping to a 3-2 defeat at Brighton after squandering a two-goal advantage.

Amid their lacklustre start to the campaign, Tottenham are reportedly plotting January talks to sign Hugo Larsson from Eintracht Frankfurt, among other potential targets, in a bid to strengthen the squad and hand Postecoglou the best chance of making something out of his second full season in charge.

“We didn’t start the game well at all. It was all sort of passive, without the ball, with the ball. I felt we didn’t get the tempo right or intensity right and then we gave ourselves a mountain to climb,” said Postecoglou on Spurs’ 2-1 defeat to Ipswich.

“Second half, we were in the ascendancy and had opportunities, obviously but we didn’t do enough with them.

“They’re all different sorts of scenarios. When we went behind against Villa we were playing well. We weren’t playing well today. So you’ve got to look at [it] in isolation today, it was a different scenario for me. I don’t think it was anything like last time. We gave ourselves too much of a deficit to try to overcome. Obviously, second half we had the opportunities to do that, but we should never have been in that position.”

Archie Gray determined to impress Postecoglou at Tottenham

One player who hasn’t played a major role so far, particularly in the Premier League, has been summer signing Archie Gray.

The 18-year-old is yet to make his first top-flight start, with both Yves Bissouma and Pape Matar Sarr ahead of him in the pecking order, and there have been reports that Tottenham are expecting clubs to make loan offers for Gray in January.

However, GiveMeSport claims that Gray is actively refusing to leave in January, as the Englishman is determined to impress Postecoglou and show the tactician that there is a place for him in the Spurs starting lineup on a regular basis.

The former Leeds sensation wants to continue improving in N17 whilst immersing himself in life at Spurs rather than go out on a temporary spell elsewhere – despite an array of clubs in the Premier League and Championship weighing up a mid-season approach.

Liverpool had a surprisingly quiet summer transfer window in 2024. In Arne Slot’s first window since taking charge of the Merseysiders, the consensus seemed to be that he might well look to add new players to a squad built under Jurgen Klopp.

However, the Reds made just two signings. One of those players will not join the club until next season. New goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili returned on loan to Valencia, the club who Liverpool paid £29m including add-ons to sign the Georgian from.

Federico Chiesa was the other signing made. The Italian reportedly cost just £12.5m from Juventus, but has only played three times due to injury.

Despite a quiet summer, Liverpool already seem to be planning for future windows and have recently been linked with someone who could add quality and depth in attacking areas.

Liverpool target Bundesliga attacker

The player in question here is Eintracht Frankfurt and Egypt attacker Omar Marmoush. According to a report from German outlet Bild, the Reds have ‘officially expressed their interest’ in the 25-year-old as they look to the future once Mohamed Salah leaves.

However, they could have to go up against Manchester United to sign the winger. Bild reports the winger is valued at just £33m at this stage and does not have a release clause in his contract, which expires in 2027.

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Mega money deals, controversial moves and big-name flops. This is the home of transfer news and opinion across Football FanCast.

It adds that the Reds have made their interest known to the Bundesliga side and it now remains to be seen whether or not they are prepared to meet their valuation.

Why Marmoush would be a good signing for Liverpool

Few players have been in better form across Europe this season than Frankfurt’s number seven. He has scored 11 goals and has provided seven assists in just 13 games in all competitions. That includes an eye-catching 13 goal involvements in eight Bundesliga games.

Impressively, the 25-year-old is one of just ten players across Europe’s big five leagues who has 10 or more goal involvements in their domestic league so far this term, as per FBref. In fact, there are only two players who have more than him; Barcelona’s Robert Lewandowski and Bayern Munich’s Harry Kane, who have 16 and 14 goals and assists respectively.

Player

Club

Goals

Assists

Robert Lewandowski

Barcelona

14

2

Harry Kane

Bayern Munich

9

5

Omar Marmoush

Eintracht Frankfurt

9

4

Mateo Retegui

Atalanta

10

3

Cole Palmer

Chelsea

7

5

Raphinha

Barcelona

6

6

Erling Haaland

Man City

11

0

Mohamed Salah

Liverpool

6

5

Lamine Yamal

Barcelona

5

6

Bukayo Saka

Arsenal

3

7

Should the Reds get this deal done, it could be a repeat of when they signed Roberto Firmino. Liverpool’s former number nine signed from the Bundesliga, costing £29m from Hoffenheim. That, in itself, is similar to Marmoush, who would also make the move to Merseyside from the German top flight.

Firmino is a modern-day legend at Anfield, forming a deadly partnership with Salah and Sadio Mane. He scored 111 goals and grabbed 75 assists in 362 games for the club, helping to win a Premier League and Champions League title during his time at the club.

The similarities between the Frankfurt forward and the former Brazilian international extend further than the fact they have both spent time playing in Germany. The pair are versatile, and whilst they both excel at centre-forward, can play just off the striker or even out wide.

Marmoush, an “electric” player, as football presenter Dougie Critchley described him, has showcased his versatility this season. He has started the majority of games leading the line, just as Firmino did at Liverpool. However, he has also played on the left wing and even as a number 10, a position in which the Brazilian ace excelled when called upon.

There are certainly several comparisons to be made between Liverpool’s legendary centre-forward and their reported transfer target Marmoush, even down to the fact both are right-footed attackers. He is a player that Klopp never really managed to replace, but it could well be Slot who finds the perfect player to do so.

Given the fact the Egyptian forward would move from the Bundesliga and the versatility he possesses, there are clear similarities between Firmino and the Frankfurt number seven. It is a signing that would surely excite the Anfield faithful and someone who could potentially replicate the success of the legendary Brazilian in that famous Red shirt, given his incredible form so far this season.

Sky Sports: Liverpool keen to sign Viktor Gyokeres in cut-price £50m deal

He’s one of the most in-form strikers in Europe…

ByTom Cunningham Oct 30, 2024

The South Africa allrounder talks about his major takeaways from his IPL stint with CSK

Firdose Moonda06-Jun-20223:37

Pretorius: Playing in IPL was one of my bucket list items

Dwaine Pretorius has started to believe he can do anything on a cricket field, thanks to MS Dhoni. After a season with the Chennai Super Kings, and four stints with Dhoni at the crease, Pretorius has had first-hand experience of how to combine calm and confidence to pull off a successful chase.”The biggest thing I learnt from him is how calm he is at the crease and how much he tries to take pressure off himself and put it onto the bowler,” Pretorius said, from India, where South Africa will play India in five T20Is starting on Thursday. “He made me realise that at the death, the batter isn’t under more pressure, it’s actually the bowler that is under more pressure.”As a bowler, you can still lose the match if you have to defend 18 off the last three balls and as a batter you can win it. It was a fresh mindset. He doesn’t get too excited. He doesn’t get too down on himself. Anything is always possible and I love that about him. He is very optimistic. He believes he can do anything.”Pretorius and Dhoni’s most memorable partnership came on April 21, against Mumbai Indians at the DY Patil Stadium. Chasing 156, CSK needed 50 runs off 26 balls when Pretorius walked out to bat. He was greeted with a searing yorker from Jasprit Bumrah and went on to hit two fours off the next two times Bumrah tried the delivery. By the time Pretorius was dismissed, CSK needed 17 runs off five balls and Dhoni got them home, with a four off the final delivery.Related

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That match stood out for Pretorius as an example of how Dhoni can take matches deep, and even though Pretorius is not South Africa’s usual batting finisher, he’d be willing to do the job if needed. “I am going to try and bring that into my game: the calmness but also that self-belief that from any position, any game can be won.”But it wasn’t all celebratory at CSK this season. The franchise strung together their worst set of results in their IPL history and finished second from bottom on the points table, having gone into the tournament as defending champions. Despite the disappointing outcome, Pretorius said the mood in the camp did not dampen and they’ve chosen to take the long view as they rebuild following a mega-auction.Dwaine Pretorius fronted up to bowl at the death for Chennai Super Kings in his first IPL season•BCCI

“What was nice about the CSK franchise is that it is very experienced. We all understand that cricket doesn’t always go your way,” Pretorius said. “It’s very important to just take the positives out of a bad season and try and build for a stronger future. It’s all about building for the next year or three years and trying to make sure a bad season is not a complete loss.”He called the CSK environment, “performance based,” where players were “given a lot of responsibility to prepare like you want to, come up with the plans that you believe will work and making sure you execute your plans.”While Pretorius didn’t pick up anything particularly new that he could use in the international T20 game, he made a case for one of the innovations of the IPL – the strategic time-out – to become a more prominent part of fixtures.”I enjoy it quite a bit. I know it makes the game a bit longer but it just splits the game into three parts – the one before, the one in the middle and the one after. It gives each team a moment to assess their strategy and what’s the best way to go forward,” he said. “And it’s about getting the coach – that will always have an objective view from the outside’s opinion as well. It makes the game a bit more liquid and it breaks up momentum.”Primarily, Pretorius is batting for the time-out for the same reason he enjoyed watching Dhoni bat: because it gives anyone an opportunity to make a big play. “Even if you might be out of it for the first few overs, you can always come back into the game after the strategic time out. It just breaks the momentum of either the bowling or the batting team,” he said. “It makes it quite interesting.”

Maya Le Tissier has lauded Hinata Miyazawa as Manchester United’s “mini Modric” after seeing the Red Devils go second in the WSL table.

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Japanese midfielder starring for Red DevilsKeeps engine room ticking overPossesses quick feet and an eye for goalFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱GettyWHAT HAPPENED?

Japan international Miyazawa, who claimed Golden Boot honours at the 2023 Women’s World Cup, was on target in a 3-0 victory over Brighton. Her effort doubled United’s lead on the day, as they burst out of the blocks and scored twice in the opening 11 minutes.

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Marc Skinner’s side controlled proceedings from there, with Miyazawa pulling strings in the middle of the park. Her class shone through in a comprehensive win, with the diminutive 25-year-old becoming a key cog in United’s well-oiled machine.

GettyWHAT LE TISSIER SAID

Miyazawa is considered to boast similar qualities to a Ballon d-Or winner at Real Madrid, with team-mate Le Tissier saying after witnessing another midfield masterclass: “She's a fantastic player and a fantastic person. She's magic. She's like a mini Modric. Sometimes her work on the ball and off the ball goes unnoticed, and she's had to work hard to get into the team. Now she's cemented her spot and she's one of our best players every week. What a great player.”

WHAT NEXT?

United have picked up four successive wins in WSL competition, allowing them to rise into second place. They are, however, some way back on defending champions Chelsea, with the unbeaten Blues boasting a seven-point lead at the summit.

New Zealand Women batter Lauren Down has been ruled out of the upcoming ODI World Cup with a thumb fracture. She will be replaced by the uncapped Georgia Plimmer.Down had injured her right thumb while taking Shafali Verma’s catch during the fifth ODI against India. Subsequent scans revealed a fracture.”Quite simply, the entire squad is absolutely gutted for Lauren.” New Zealand head coach Bob Carter said. “She’s a very popular member of the group and it’s fair to say the team were quite emotional when we got the news she was out of the tournament.”Down has played 22 ODIs, scoring 352 runs at an average of 17.60. She was in good touch during the India series and was named Player of the Match for her unbeaten 64 off just 52 balls, which helped New Zealand chase down 280 in the third ODI.”You saw the impact Lauren had in the recent series against India; she played some really mature innings in the middle order and her fielding was at an exceptional standard,” Carter said.Plimmer, 18, is yet to represent New Zealand in any format. In the ongoing domestic one-day competition, playing for Wellington, she has scored 95 runs in four innings at an average of 23.75.Auckland seamer Molly Penfold will also join the side as a travelling reserve. Both Plimmer and Penfold will undergo the necessary five-day “bridging in” isolation period before officially joining the squad.The New Zealand team arrived in Christchurch on Friday in preparation for their warm-up matches on February 27 and March 1 against Pakistan and Australia respectively.

Problems mount for new-look Test team as fastest bowler is ruled out of attack

Andrew Miller10-Mar-2022

Mark Wood left the field with an elbow injury•Gareth Copley/Getty Images

England’s bowling concerns mounted on a tough third day of the first Test in Antigua, as Mark Wood was all but ruled out of the attack for the remainder of West Indies’ first innings after complaining of soreness in his right elbow.Wood, England’s fastest bowler and the man on whom their hopes of breakthroughs might have been pinned on a sluggish surface at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, had been a late arrival in the morning session after receiving strapping on the injury.He bowled four overs with the old ball prior to lunch, conceding back-to-back boundaries from short balls as West Indies’ centurion, Nkrumah Bonner, capitalised on his relative lack of pace – with his average speed dipping from 89mph on day two to 85mph – then retreated from the field for the rest of the day after just one more over with the new ball, in which Bonner launched him over fine leg for the only six of his nine-hour innings.The nature of Wood’s injury will be a particular worry for England, given that it was elbow soreness – later diagnosed as a stress fracture – that caused England’s other 90mph spearhead, Jofra Archer, to undergo two operations in 2021, the second of which is likely to keep him out of action at least until May.After an injury-plagued start to his Test career, including three ankle operations in the space of 12 months in 2016, Wood has enjoyed a sustained run of fitness in recent times – partly attributed to his decision to revert to a longer, smoother run-up after a sprinter’s style approach in his early years. He was England’s stand-out bowler in an otherwise dismal Ashes series, claiming 17 wickets at 26.64 in four Tests, making this the busiest winter of his 26-Test career.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

“[The elbow’s] pretty sore at the moment,” Paul Collingwood, England’s interim head coach, said, adding that it was an issue that Wood had not previously encountered. “We’re going to have to assess him overnight and see if he is going to be available for the second innings”I’m not too sure [what it is], all I know at this moment is it’s soreness in the elbow. He didn’t feel that confident this morning, but then he got it strapped up, and it felt okay. Then he tried another over in another spell and it didn’t feel so good. We’ll get the anti-inflammatories into him overnight, get him iced up and see how he is tomorrow.”You need those kind of guys, 90mph guys who can reverse-swing the ball in these conditions. They are gold dust in these conditions. So it will be disappointing if he’s not involved in the second innings, but we’ll have to wait and see.”In Wood’s absence, it was a day of hard toil for the remaining members of England’s attack as West Indies closed on 373 for 9, a lead of 62. The recuperating Ben Stokes took up much of the slack, even though he had not been intended as a frontline option as he continues his comeback following the side strain that hampered his Ashes campaign. In the end, Stokes was called upon for 28 overs, his heaviest innings workload since 2015, and ended up being the pick of the seam attack with 2 for 42, including the big scalp of Jason Holder for 45 in the morning session.”It’s fair to say that he declared himself fit to bowl in this first innings,” Collingwood said. “None of us were expecting that many overs out of him. Obviously we had to be pretty cautious with the approach but then, Ben being Ben, he went out there, and felt great. He’s done everything so far on this tour to get himself fit. His attitudes has been absolutely superb. And he’s shown today what kind of a warrior he is.”That determined attitude, Collingwood said, was applicable to the rest of England’s team too. “Today was probably one of the best efforts I’ve seen in England shirt and Test cricket,” he said. “To go for 170 runs and five wickets on that today is a pretty good effort, especially backing that up from two sessions in the field yesterday. I thought the fitness levels the guys showed, the attitude in the field was exceptional.”If you know anything about cricket, then you’ll realise how that pitch is playing. It was tough, hard work out there. It’s a placid pitch. It’s a docile pitch. I think all of us expected it to break up a lot more than it has done and start turning. Sometimes you can look at the scoreboard and see you haven’t bowled them out but I thought the attitude was superb today.”Despite Collingwood’s positive assessment, Wood’s injury comes at an especially awkward time for England’s management, given the controversial decision to omit both of their talismanic attack leaders, James Anderson and Stuart Broad, from this tour – ostensibly with a view to giving the less-heralded members of the bowling unit a chance to lead the line.Related

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One of those, Ollie Robinson, finished the Ashes under a fitness cloud and was not available for the first Test after succumbing to a back spasm during England’s solitary warm-up match. In his absence, Chris Woakes and Craig Overton – England’s preferred new-ball pairing – returned the combined figures of 61-13-169-3 over the two days of West Indies’ innings, having been taken at nearly four runs an over by the opening pair, Kraigg Brathwaite and John Campbell.With a short turnaround between the three Tests, England may already be bracing for Wood’s absence in Barbados next week – and if Robinson is not ready for a return, the likely replacement would be Lancashire’s seamer Saqib Mahmood, another 90mph prospect, but who has yet to make his Test debut.Matt Fisher, the uncapped Yorkshire seamer, is also on the tour, while Warwickshire’s Liam Norwell is understood to be among the players on England’s reserve list. Matt Parkinson, the legspinner, is England’s other bowling option on tour.Broad and Anderson, however, are not expected to be called up as reinforcements, with Collingwood stating after Robinson’s injury last week that England were “not about to panic”.”Ollie is making great progress,” Collingwood said. “He bowled a good spell this morning and he’ll have a couple of spells tomorrow. I’m hopeful that he can be there and thereabouts for the second Test.”