Stuart Holden believes there are “many years” left in the Lionel Messi vs Cristiano Ronaldo rivalry, while Alexi Lalas is intrigued by the battle.

Article continues below

Article continues below

Article continues below

Legends assured of standings among the greatsMaintaining remarkable levels of performanceCould have more tournaments left in themWHAT HAPPENED?

Two all-time greats have spent the best part of 20 years scrapping it out for the right to be considered the best player on the planet – and potentially the finest to have ever played the game. They have 13 Ballons d’Or between them, record-breaking collections of trophies and countless entries in the history books.

Get the MLS Season Pass today!Stream games nowAdvertisementGettyWHAT HOLDEN SAID

Ronaldo is due to turn 40 in 2025, while Messi is approaching his 37th birthday, but former USMNT star Holden can see both men playing through to the 2026 World Cup. He has told : “If we can ride this Messi vs. Ronaldo, in the comparison that has probably driven them internally as well in their motivation to keep pushing, and as long as they have that drive, there’s no reason these guys can’t still be playing at a high level for many years to come. These guys rarely have had major injuries. If you look at Ronaldo, he’s probably got the body of a 21-year-old still in his physique. And yet, Messi has been able to evolve and change his game and adapt to his current physical restraints, which he still has that intense speed and acceleration and finishing ability.”

THE BIGGER PICTURE

Fellow former United States international Lalas is reluctant to speculate on what the future could hold for two GOATs, with there questions to be asked of how motivated they are to stay at the top while turning out in MLS and the Saudi Pro League for Inter Miami and Al-Nassr. He said: “There was a time not too long ago before Messi was a champion of the world where it did not go well in terms of the final product, and he retired. I’m just fascinated this summer, as it relates to 2026, what he looks like with Argentina now in the first time since the World Cup and, more importantly, how much has changed relative to how we look at him. Not that he’s not great, but in the context of America and his new backyard and his neighbourhood and [what] he’s doing with Inter Miami, as opposed to Cristiano Ronaldo over there in Saudi Arabia, and for a lot of people, it’s kind of out of [sight], out of mind. Even though they’re competing in tournaments, and they’re happening at the same time, there will [still] be the inevitable compare and contrast with what’s going on and the fates of both of these teams relative to these two incredible players.”

GettyWHAT NEXT?

Messi is readying himself for Copa America duty with Argentina, as they seek to defend that continental crown, while evergreen Portuguese forward Ronaldo is about to open a bid to land a second European Championship title in his illustrious career.

Liverpool have “concrete” interest in an “exceptional” England international and are planning an approach for him, according to a new transfer update.

Diaz out and Isak in at Liverpool?

The Reds haven’t had a summer this exciting in many years, with so much incoming and outgoing business happening since the end of last season. Luis Diaz’s time as a Liverpool player is now set to reach its conclusion, with the Colombian winger closing in on a move to Bayern Munich, following three-and-a-half years at Anfield.

Meanwhile, the Premier League champions are continuing their pursuit of Newcastle United striker Alexander Isak, in what could be a remarkable signing, just weeks after Florian Wirtz joined as the most expensive addition in the history of British football.

If Liverpool were able to sign Isak on top of Hugo Ekitike, with Diaz and Darwin Nunez making way, it could prove to be outstanding business, with all due respect to the two South Americans. A new centre-back will also be needed, though, and a key update has dropped regarding their search for one.

Liverpool planning approach for "exceptional" ace

According to a new update from Football Insider, Liverpool have “concrete” interest in Crystal Palace captain Marc Guehi, as has seemingly been the case for some time now.

Similarly to Isak, the 24-year-old has “informed” the Eagles that he is “not planning to sign an extension” this summer, with the Reds now “expected to make a fresh approach to Palace in the coming weeks”.

With Jarell Quansah leaving for Bayer Leverkusen earlier this summer, Guehi stands out as the ideal choice to come in and bolster Liverpool’s defensive options. In fact, he would be an upgrade on the young Englishman.

The Palace skipper has grown so much as a player in the past year or two, standing out as arguably England’s best player at Euro 2024, with former Three Lions goalkeeper Joe Hart showering him with praise.

“Huge shoutout to Marc Guehi. I thought he was exceptional. He really stepped in and was really calm on the ball. I thought Guehi allowed John Stones to play his game. The more Marc plays, the better that [centre-back] partnership will get.”

This feels like the right time for Guehi to leave Palace and kick on at one of the biggest clubs in Europe, and while Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate will make it hard for him to be a regular starter, plenty of minutes should still come his way.

Liverpool now in contact to sign £17m forward who Man Utd are in talks for

The Red Devils could be hijacked by those at Anfield.

ByCharlie Smith Jul 27, 2025

The £50,000-a-week defender’s price tag is one drawback, especially as Liverpool have already paid huge money on signings this summer, but if FSG make the funds available, the Reds should view him as a fantastic option.

Getafe's president has hinted that Mason Greenwood could be returning to the La Liga club next season amid links to Serie A.

Article continues below

Article continues below

Article continues below

• Greenwood impresses for Getafe
• Man Utd exit likely
• Getafe president issues update

• WHAT HAPPENED?

  Angel Torres has named the United outcast in his plans for the 2024-25 season despite nothing concrete emerging about his future. Greenwood has been heavily linked with a move away from Old Trafford this summer, with Juventus and Lazio also touted as possible landing spots.

Advertisement

• Getty
  

  THE BIGGER PICTURE

  The Red Devils have reportedly set an asking price in the region of £33 million (€40m/$43m) for Greenwood this summer, following his loan spell at Getafe during the 2023-24 campaign. Greenwood scored five goals and added one assist in 18 appearances for the Madrid club.

• WHAT TORRES SAID

  “We have 15 in the squad plus Greenwood, who we hope to give good news about soon and I hope will stay another year,” Torres said at a Getafe kit launch.

  “As the press says, there are many offers and we will abide by what Manchester United say. It looks like he will continue for another year. Every day that passes there are more possibilities but you have to be cautious.”

• Getty Images
  

  WHAT NEXT FOR GREENWOOD?

  Whether or not Greenwood does return to Getafe remains to be seen. Torres has outlined that nothing will come to fruition until after Euro 2024 is finished and has also hinted at further incomings, even if Greenwood does arrive.

  “If everything goes well we need 10 players,” Torres added. “We have to make the team. We have to strengthen the team a lot and make a new project. We are going to wait for the Euros to finish and then the rush will come.”

South African quick’s blistering new-ball burst set tone for Thunder’s dominance in final

Andrew McGlashan28-Nov-2020Sydney Thunder quick Shabnim Ismail went to bed on Saturday night plotting how she would dismiss Australia captain Meg Lanning in the WBBL final. For a brief moment it looked like it could become a nightmare, but very soon the dream came true.Overall, Ismail produced a blistering four-over spell off the reel to spearhead the Thunder’s title victory, but it was her seven-ball contest with Lanning that was utterly compelling.At the end of her opening over, she had Lanning dropped at point by Tammy Beaumont. “I just dropped it. I should have taken it. Oh well,” was Beaumont’s matter-of-fact response as the player on the TV mic, perhaps a window into the Thunder’s calmness. But revenge came a short while later when, given her fourth and final over by Rachael Haynes, Ismail found Lanning’s outside edge and with put one hand on the trophy.”We said how we wanted to take wickets in the Powerplay and last night I was lying in bed thinking how I would get Meg Lanning out,” she said. “It’s a very key wicket for the Stars and I thought if I come out there and just bowl heat, change a few things, I could take wickets.”You don’t want to be dropping big players like that, they can haunt you, but I thought just stick to my guns and still bowl what I think will keep us in the game.”HIGHLIGHTS: Thunder limit Stars to lowest-ever WBBL final score (US only)In combination with Sammy-Jo Johnson, whose darting away movement was equally impressive as she had Elyse Villani poking at fresh air, they put in one of the most complete Powerplay performances of the tournament.”You could see that we had it under control all the way, when the first three wickets [fell] we had the game in hand,” Ismail said.Johnson, who joined from two-time champions Brisbane Heat in pre-season, has been key to the Thunder’s performances at both ends of the innings – forming a powerful death combination with Hannah Darlington – and was delighted to be able to bowl first. “We were quite surprised they wanted to bat first so we were really happy. The wicket was seaming around a fair bit: myself, Shabs and [Sam] Bates up front we set the tone,” she said. “We spoke about it during the last few games that if we could work in a partnership and put the top batters under pressure that hopefully we’d come out with the result.”Like the Thunder, Ismail saved her best for the competition run-in to finish with 14 wickets at 20.28 and an economy rate of 5.56 which also included 3 for 10 in the final group match against Hobart Hurricanes that booked a spot in the semi-final.”Today we saw Shabhim at her best, some real pace, the areas she was hitting,” Thunder coach Trevor Griffin said. “I think we also need to remember for her it’s been a different year: she’s not played any cricket since the World Cup, so it took time to get back into playing and she’s certainly peaked at the right time.”We’ve been looking at the impact charts and areas the girls have been hitting. We talk about hitting the stumps consistently and when we looked at the detail today, they were [all] hitting those areas consistently and creating chances. That’s certainly some of best bowling I’ve seen us do.”

There are nerves in the air at Leeds United at the moment as the brand new Premier League season gets closer and closer by the day.

The newly promoted Whites have been very active in the transfer window so far, as seen in seven fresh faces joining Daniel Farke’s ranks this summer to date, but the German is still hesitant about his side’s top-flight acumen heading into the anxious opening run of matches.

In particular, the German is concerned about the options he has at his disposal up top, with both Mateo Joseph and Patrick Bamford out of his first-team plans.

Whilst adding in more depth up top looks to be crucial, Leeds wouldn’t say no to additions elsewhere, as a fresh midfielder is now also eyed up.

Leeds pushing for move for £100k p/w star

Before exploring further as to who Leeds could add to the midfield department, it’s clear that the Whites want more Premier League-capable striker options, and fast.

Beto, who Leeds were linked with earlier in the transfer window, has reportedly come back onto their shopping list as he weighs up moving away from Everton, with the Whites’ interest in Fulham ace Rodrigo Muniz also long-standing.

Away from the plethora of names filtering through in the centre-forward areas, Leeds have also been credited with interest in free agent midfielder Josh Brownhill, as per a new report by GIVEMESPORT.

The report further reveals that Everton is also trying to push through a deal for the ex-Clarets captain, but a tricky stumbling block has emerged for both parties.

The hurdle both sides will have to try and overcome is the spending power of MLS side Toronto FC, who are willing to offer the Manchester-born star a £100k-per-week deal to leave England behind for Canada.

It remains to be seen what Brownhill’s short-term future looks like, but if he does decide to relocate from Lancashire to Elland Road, over pastures new in Canada, he could be just what Leeds need in terms of an attacking outlet centrally, away from the more defensively sound members of the squad from the middle of the park.

Why Brownhill's addition could be perfect for Stach

Indeed, out of all the midfielders at Farke’s disposal, new £17.4m recruit Anton Stach is the most content with just sitting back and doing his defensive dirty work.

So much so, Stach can even line up as a centre-back if needed – as seen in his 16 career appearances from this part of the pitch – alongside the fact that the Whites number 18 singled out his “aggressive” nature as one key attribute to his game when speaking just after his move to Leeds had been confirmed.

Games played

30

42

Goals scored

1

18

Assists

2

6

Touches*

66.8

52.1

Shots*

1.2

1.6

Accurate passes*

41.9 (83%)

31.8 (82%)

Key passes*

0.9

1.2

Tackles*

2.2

1.5

Ball recoveries*

5.7

2.8

Total duels won*

5.6

3.4

The German’s aggressive approach on the pitch is certainly more evident when looking at the table above, with Stach greatly trumping Brownhill when it comes to tackles made, ball recoveries made, and total duels won per match last season in their respective leagues.

Having such a lively, fierce anchor in the side means Brownhill will be able to focus even more on his explosive attacking game at Elland Road, with the 29-year-old’s stunning output of 18 goals and six assists last season for Burnley clinching automatic promotion out of the Championship, alongside Farke’s title-winners.

With six goals and six assists already next to his name in the Premier League, too, both Brownhill and Stach could be components of a new-look midfield that just work alongside each other, as the EFL “superstar” – as he was once dubbed by former manager Lee Johnson – attempts to become a top-flight regular wearing Leeds white.

Of course, the £100k-per-week salary at Toronto might prove to be too tempting to turn down.

But, with steady teammates such as Stach next to him, Brownhill could shine as a gung-ho midfield presence up a division, as Leeds attempt to make survival less of a chore with entertaining displays.

Aston Villa in pole position to sign £35m Brazilian ahead of Man City and Leeds

The Villans desperately need to get moving this summer.

1 ByEmilio Galantini Aug 2, 2025

Joe Root readies himself for a bigger role with the ball in Moeen Ali’s absence

George Dobell12-Jan-2021

Joe Root has hinted that England will opt to field an extra seamer in the first Test of their series in Sri Lanka, rather than adding a third spinner to their attack.Despite playing at Galle, a venue with a long-earned reputation for favouring spin bowling, England are set to select only two specialist spinners in Dom Bess and Jack Leach. They are likely to pick three seamers and turn to the part-time spin of Root and Dan Lawrence as required.Ahead of the tour, it had seemed likely England that would pick three spinners in each Test. Since 2016, spinners have claimed twice as many wickets as seamers in Tests at Galle – the venue for both Tests in this series – and have done so at a lower overall average, strike rate and economy rate.Related

Bess and Leach have their work cut out for them in India

England mull third spin option with Moeen ruled out

Woakes resigned to first-Test absence

Moeen faces extended quarantine in SL

Bess 'can't wait' to renew Leach partnership

On England’s last tour to Sri Lanka, in late 2018, spin accounted for 100 wickets – the most ever in a three-Test series – while James Anderson and Stuart Broad claimed only one wicket between them. England used a three-man spin attack comprising Moeen Ali, Jack Leach and Adil Rashid in all three Tests, who claimed 48 wickets between them in a 3-0 win (Root’s offspin accounted for a 49th).But illness and absence have reduced their options. Moeen, England’s joint leading wicket-taker with Leach on the last tour, has been ruled out of contention having contracted Covid-19, while Rashid has limited himself to limited-overs cricket as he comes to terms with a long-term shoulder problem. Other options, such as Liam Dawson, are also unavailable through injury.That leaves England with three choices for third spinner. Although none of Matt Parkinson, Mason Crane and Amar Virdi are officially part of the Test squad at present, they are all part of the tour party as reserves and are considered to be available for selection.Only Crane has previously played Test cricket – he took 1 for 193 in Sydney at the start of 2018 – but he underwhelmed in the warm-up match (he conceded 37 from five overs, though he did dismiss Zak Crawley when he attempted to run a short ball to third man). Virdi didn’t bowl at all in that match, while Parkinson’s last first-class appearance was in September 2019. It is a situation which raises familiar questions about the lack of opportunities provided to developing spinners in the county game.England’s options have been diminished further by the likely absence of two seam-bowling allrounders. Ben Stokes has been rested for this tour, while Chris Woakes was obliged to spend the first week of it in quarantine having been deemed a close contact of Moeen. As a result, Woakes was unable to participate in the warm-up game and may be considered a little short of match fitness in conditions which are expected to be hot and humid.Sam Curran is set to play ahead of Chris Woakes or a third spinner•ECB

Those draining conditions – and the lack of the usual preparation time – might persuade England not to place too many demands on individual bowlers. And with Sri Lanka’s batsmen not always looking comfortable against pace, England are likely to want one of their quicker bowlers – Olly Stone or Mark Wood – alongside the allrounder, Sam Curran, and one of Broad or Anderson.That means Root, who took his Test-best figures of 4 for 122 at Port Elizabeth at the start of 2020, may well be obliged to contribute with the ball, while Lawrence and, to a lesser extent, Dom Sibley provide further part-time options.”I’ve readied myself for it [a role with the ball],” Root said. “I’ve prepared for it in practice and it does seem to be coming out OK at the moment. If it is the case that I need to bowl longer spells than previously and take a bigger workload in this series, then I’m looking forward to that challenge. It’s certainly an option and it will come down to the balance of the side.”As you’d expect in Galle, it’s going to spin. It’s just when in the game it’s going to spin – that’s the question.”But the pitch does look very different here from memory to what it did on previous tours. I don’t think it’s going to be miles away from what you’d expect a Galle wicket to play like, but if there’s weather around in the Test match and there’s a tacky nature to the pitch and it sweats with the covers on that probably brings seam into the game a bit more than it might normally do. Everything is pointing towards it being a bowlers’ game.”While Root will wait for another look at the pitch and the weather conditions before confirming his side – Galle has been hit by unseasonable rain in recent days – he did confirm he will bat at No. 4, with Jonny Bairstow at No. 3. He also said that Zak Crawley and Dom Sibley will open, and has previously confirmed that Jos Buttler will keep wicket.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

While he acknowledged that England’s lack of preparation time – they go into the series having played just one day of warm-up cricket – is far from ideal, he knows they have to start well to have a hope of winning the two-match series. The fact that they’ve lost the first Test in five of their last six series is not lost on him.”The preparations and build-up time is not ideal,” Root said. “There’s no point hiding behind the fact: we haven’t had the ideal lead-up to this series. It’s probably the shortest lead-up we’ve ever had going into an away Test match series. But regardless, it is about making sure we start the game well. So many times in these two-match series, it’s imperative you get off to a good start.”It’s something we’re desperate to keep improving on. We’ve started series poorly, as was mentioned last summer, and if we are to keep improving as a team we can’t be behind the eight ball going into the second Test match of every series.”The way we are going to do that is by scoring big first-innings runs and controlling the game. If we can manage to do that I think we’ll have success here.”

da imperador bet： Patrick Boyland has now revealed some big Everton injury news before they play Chelsea at home in the Premier League on Sunday afternoon.

The Lowdown: Davies training

da brdice： The Goodison Park faithful have revealed that Tom Davies is back in training, after not featuring since the 0-0 draw at home to Tottenham Hotspur in November.

[web_stories_embed url=”https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/web-stories/everton-news-4/” title=”Everton news!” poster=”” width=”360″ height=”600″ align=”none”]

There will be question marks over how quickly he can get back to full fitness, and of course how much impact he can actually have with so little of the season left to play.

The Latest: Injury update

Taking to Twitter, The Athletic journalist Boyland has revealed that although Davies is now eligible for selection due to Jean-Phillipe Gbamin moving out on loan, he is still ‘some way off’ a return to the team:

“Tom Davies *is eligible for selection between now and the end of the season. Everton added him to PL squad list after JP Gbamin joined CSKA Moscow on loan. But midfielder, who was pictured training today, is still some way off a return.”

The Verdict: Bad news

Of course, the fact that Davies still seems far away from a return to action will certainly come as a big blow to Frank Lampard and his side.

Before his horrific injury, the central midfield player had managed one goal and one assist in seven games this season, and being a local boy, knows how much it means to the supporters for the Merseyside club to stay up.

Nonetheless, with the campaign drawing nearer to a close, this is news that the Toffees would certainly not like to hear.

In other news, find out who the Blues are now close to signing here!

Captain unconcerned after being dismissed by Jofra Archer short ball and says “message won’t change” after Lord’s draw

Daniel Brettig at Lord's18-Aug-2019Australia captain Tim Paine has declared that his team’s 2019 Ashes blueprint would not change, despite copping a battering from Jofra Archer’s speed and losing Steven Smith to concussion at Lord’s, with the Headingley Test following swiftly in its wake from Thursday.This extends to Paine’s desire to assert himself with the occasional hook shot, even though it briefly imperilled the tourists in fading light on the final day of a Lord’s match that, despite losing five-and-a-half sessions to rain, still provided much to cherish and remember. When Paine failed to clear the leaping Joe Denly halfway in from the boundary, the Australians had only four wickets in hand and seven overs still to face.”You don’t have a lot of time to think. Sometimes you get it wrong,” Paine said. “I was thinking about ducking under it, but 150kph can make you do different things. I just didn’t hit it where I would have liked to have hit it. I’m not going to overthink it. I’m going to keep playing the way I want to play.”England captain Joe Root foreshadowed that Paine would be receiving more of the same in the remainder of the series, and said he had been trying to corner his opposite number into hitting out against Archer, given the paceman’s hostility and a field setting that made it hard to simply play defensively at the short stuff.ALSO READ: Super sub Labuschagne steps into the breach for Australia”You’re always trying to mess around with things. On that wicket, it was very difficult to get underneath the ball, and with two short legs right around the corner, stand up and play it doesn’t seem like a great option, and you don’t really want to let it hit you,” he said. “You’re trying to play with their mind and see what different things they want to do. I was trying to keep [Travis] Head on strike as well at the other end for the spinner to bowl into the rough and it ended up working out quite nicely. We’ve seen him get out a couple of times, especially against us. I think he might get a few more.”The rearguard led by Smith’s concussion substitute Marnus Labuschagne and vice-captain Head allowed Australia to wriggle clear in the end. Paine said the team would take confidence from the fact that an array of players have shown the ability to step up – even if Smith is ruled out of the Leeds match with the after-effects of his concussion. He also indicated that the team did not need to rethink their plans, pointing to dropped catches and sub-par use of the DRS as reasons why the match could have turned out rather differently.”We’ll focus on what we think is going to win the games and our message from a captain or a coach won’t change,” Paine said. “We’ve got a pretty clear plan in place that we think if we execute we can win the Ashes in these conditions. Whether Steve’s playing, whether James Pattinson is playing, it doesn’t matter. The players we pick are picked to play a role, they’re really clear on that. They know what’s expected. Everyone on our team does.”It’s not so much about the person. We’ve been lucky that we’ve had Steve Smith batting really well but I thought Marnus came in and batted as well as anyone did in the Test match. We wanted two [substitutes] – I think if Smithy is averaging 62, you want to bring a couple of batters in. But Marnus played superbly, for a guy in probably his [sixth] Test. He got hit hard in the face second ball and I thought he showed great character great skill and technique. We know Marnus is a quality player and he’s getting better all the time. We’re happy with the way he played.Travis Head gets low to sweep•AFP”At one stage we thought we were going to have to run some gloves out to him [Head] to tell him we were not chasing the total. But that is the beauty of Heady and Marnus and something we want them to do, play the same way regardless of the situation and if you do that in your first five Test matches that will give you some real belief and we don’t want to take away their courage and natural attacking style of play.”Other spot fires in the Australian side include the underperformance of David Warner and Cameron Bancroft, while Usman Khawaja is also yet to pass 50 for the series. Nevertheless, the strength of the pace attack – likely to be reinforced by Pattinson for Headingley – and the steel shown at various points across Lord’s meant that Australia were still decent value for their 1-0 series advantage with three to play.”We’ll get to Leeds, have a look at the conditions and pick the best team to win the game and take 20 wickets,” Paine said. “I think if you look at top-order batting across the two teams it shows you it’s probably a pretty difficult place to be batting on either side. Yes, those guys would like more runs. We know how good David is, he’s got 7000 Test runs at 50 and Cameron Bancroft I thought in this game looked pretty good, faced a lot of balls … probably would’ve liked to have scored a few more runs but I thought he acquitted himself pretty well again against some pretty high-quality bowling.”I wouldn’t say it was a great escape at all. I would’ve said we played reasonably well to 3 for 130 and then you have a little something that doesn’t quite go your way and you’ve got a guy bowling 150kph and it’s quite dark and it’s difficult. That’s Test cricket but we found a way out of it. I’m really proud of our team. But I thought in our first innings as well, I thought the way our tail stuck at it in a pretty uncomfortable batting period of time.”I know some tails wouldn’t dig in like ours did so I was really proud of the way they went about it in the first innings. Guys bowling at that pace take time to get used to and Jofra bowls from quite a height. He gets steep bounce. It can take a little bit of time to get used to, there’s no doubt about that. I think the reason a lot of guys were hit in this game was because the pitch was actually a little bit two-paced as well. It was very difficult to decide whether to pull or duck because you duck and some didn’t get up, you’d try and stand up and pull and it took off.”As for the fact that the Lord’s stalemate meant Australia needed only one win from the remaining three Tests to retain the Ashes in England for the first time since 2001, Paine had not yet given himself time to ponder this. But it was not hard to imagine that, on the bus to Yorkshire on Monday morning, he will.

It is now mathematically impossible for Manchester United to qualify for Champions League football next season and Erik ten Hag has a huge job on his hands this summer in improving the current squad by finding the right solutions.

The club has now entered their longest trophy drought in 40 years to add more salt to the wounds of a very poor and disappointing season at Old Trafford and ruthless decisions must be made by the incoming boss ahead of next season if they have any chance of competing for trophies in the future.

[snack-amp-story url= “https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/read-the-latest-man-united-news-transfer-rumours-gossip-and-more-nunez-ten-hag-nkunku-richarlison” title=”Read the latest Man United news!”]

With that being said, it wouldn’t be surprising if no players feel safe and secure in their position in the squad following a string of poor performances of late, taking just one victory and three defeats from their last five games.

One player who has struggled this season is academy graduate Scott McTominay, who has been one of the many players under scrutiny this season.

Former West Ham player Frank McAvennie gave a scathing review of the Scottish midfielder telling Football Insider;

“He’s not good enough for Man United.”

“McTominay is a good player but he just seems to stroll in some games.”

Ten Hag could have an ace up his sleeve if he doesn’t see McTominay as the right fit for his revolution at Old Trafford, as James Garner is shining bright on loan at Nottingham Forest this season and he could save millions by deploying him in Man United’s midfield next season.

The £3.6m-rated gem who was hailed “creative” by Martin Keown and dubbed “special” by Statman Dave, has been proving his worth in the Championship this season with four goals and eight assists in 41 appearances from the centre of the pitch, and it’s not just his goal contributions that have attracted praise.

Garner has won the majority of his duels combined (53%) and has been successful in the majority of his dribbles (58%). He has also created seven big chances whilst making 1.4 interceptions and 1.8 tackles on average per game, proving that he is effective in both offensive and defensive play, offering similar qualities to legendary Man United all-rounder midfielder Michael Carrick.

There is no clarity on the 21-year-old’s future of yet, but following the completion of Forest’s Championship play-off fixtures over the next few weeks, there will surely be a decision made on what next season holds for the young player.

Weakness in defensive play and control of the ball in midfield is no secret at Old Trafford and it is one key area the new manager must solve this summer if they have any chance of improving and allowing Garner to take on that role could be a master-class for Ten Hag in his first season at the club.

AND in other news: Forget McTominay: MUFC must brutally axe “pathetic” dud who 0 duels duels v Brighton

“Leave the abuse at the gate and just respect the players, respect the game”

Daniel Brettig14-Jan-2021Australia’s captain Tim Paine has implored spectators at the Gabba this week to do what he says, rather than what he did on the final day at the SCG – treat the tourists with respect and refrain from the abuse that India faced in Sydney.”In terms of crowd behaviour – we don’t condone the abuse of anyone; let alone from the racial standpoint,” Paine said. “So we want people to come along to the Gabba, enjoy the game of cricket, support Australia, support India. Support the umpires if you like. But my suggestion is you leave the abuse at the gate and just respect the players, respect the game and have a good time.”Paine had put his hand up to apologise for calling R Ashwin a “d**khead” among other barbs on a heated final day of the third Test. But with the hosts having now left themselves needing to win in Brisbane to regain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Paine could not have been much clearer in terms of drawing a distinction several of his predecessors have failed to make.Related

• Vikram Rathour: 'Only in the morning you will know which XI will take field'

• Ashwin says 'nasty' behaviour in Sydney not a first

• Langer: Culture talk left Australia open to criticism

While he hopes the Gabba pitch will provide enough bounce to make the Indians uncomfortable, he wishes to see no echo of the SCG crowd behaviour that had moved Mohammad Siraj to stop play in order to point out his abusers.”Yeah it [the Gabba] is right up there, no doubt about that,” he said. “It’s a hard place to come and play cricket. Even for Tasmanians and Victorians to come here, it can be challenging to adjust to the different bounce and speed of the wicket. It’s something that has been to the advantage of Australian teams for a long time.”Paine has himself resolved to do likewise this week, and his pre-match rhetoric was a long way from that before the SCG, where he intimated that the series was coming to the boil in terms of tensions between the teams. However, he proved to be the only player on either side to substantially blow his top. At 36, Paine is self-aware enough to acknowledge that he plays his best cricket – which is as a wicketkeeper-batsman near the front rank – when in a focused frame of mind. If distracted as he was in Sydney on day five, he can revert to the very ordinary.”I just think I’ll handle it differently. I let it get under my skin, no doubt about that,” Paine said. “I’ve admitted that – but for me, it’s about rising above it and concentrating on what I’m doing and concentrating on leading my team, not worrying about what is going on with the other side. That’s the focus for us, we’ve spoken a lot this game about controlling what we can control and focusing more inwardly on ourselves. If we do that, we’ll be in a good position.”If you look throughout my whole career, I think I’ve done a pretty good job of staying relaxed for 99% of it. Again, it’s going back to how I play my best cricket [and] that’s [by] having a smile on my face, enjoying cricket for what it is – a game. And at times the other day, I certainly thought I got caught up in the moment. What I’ve been really good at is being able to step back – even just have a look around the crowd at times – and realise that at that very second, you’re captaining your country in a Test match.”It’s something I have always wanted to do, so remind yourself that way to enjoy it. Obviously, I’m going to compete very hard, that’s what I do. I want to win as much as anyone and I’m a competitive player but there’s a fine line. It’s the same with my batting – if I’m too tense and trying too hard to fight hard, then I am a pretty ordinary batter. If I look to go out, relax, have fun and look to score then I’m normally a much better player – it’s just a slight tweak in my mindset. It’s nothing new to me, it’s getting back to what I normally do.”As for the sharp criticisms of numerous in the commentariat – particularly in India and England – Paine said he had taken note. But he was careful not to respond in kind to his fellow Seven commentator Sunil Gavaskar, who let fly with a torrent of calls for Paine to be removed from the team by the national selectors after the ongoing series concluded.”I have [noted what Gavaskar said] but I’m not going into it, [and] getting into a back and forth with Sunny Gavaskar,” Paine said. “I don’t think I’m going to win that. Look, he’s entitled to his opinion. It doesn’t affect us one iota. Anything [that it is doing is] it’s adding to the Test match which is great. So Sunny can keep saying what he wants to say but at the end of the day, it’s absolutely got nothing to do with him.”The Australians lined up to defend Steven Smith this week after further aspersions were cast on his character for stump cam footage of him shadow-batting and re-marking centre during Rishabh Pant’s innings in Sydney. While Smith’s management gave a prepared statement to News Corp stating he was “shocked and disappointed”, Paine argued that several days on, these hurtful words would be melted down and remade as motivation for Australia’s No. 4.”He’s mentally very strong, very tough,” Paine said of Smith. “He knows that at times he’s going to be criticised,[and] he’s handled that pretty well. Not only this week, but since he’s come back into our side. If anything, he feeds off it. His statistics will speak for itself and we’ll see the best of Steve Smith this week.”And we set high expectations for ourselves and last week we didn’t meet them. And when you don’t do that, you leave yourself to criticism and we’ve copped that on the chin. We’re now looking forward to this Test match, [and] controlling what we can control, which has been our preparation and the way we go about this Test. So we can’t wait for tomorrow.”