قدم ليفربول دعمه الفوري لعائلة البرتغالي الراحل ديوجو جوتا، بعد أن ترك خلفه زوجته وأطفالهما الثلاثة عقب مصرعه مع شقيقه أندريه سيلفا في حادث مأساوي.
وسدد ليفربول ما تبقى من عقد ديوجو جوتا مع النادي، وأكد آرني سلوت مدرب الريدز أن النادي دفع مستحقات العامين المتبقيين من عقد جوتا لعائلته.
وقال سلوت في تصريحات نشرتها “تي إن تي سبورتس”: “ينتقد ملاك الأندية بشكل رئيسي مثلهم مثل المدربين، لكن طريقة تعاملهم مع هذا الوضع، بدفع مستحقات العقد لزوجته وأطفاله أمر جدير بالثناء”.
وأضاف: “ربما يظن الناس أن هذا أمر طبيعي لكنه ليس كذلك في كرة القدم”.
اقرأ أيضاً.. ليوني يوجه رسالة لجماهير ليفربول بعد إصابته بالرباط الصليبي
ويبدو أن القيمة الدقيقة في عقد جوتا غير معروفة ولكن يعتقد بأن اللاعب صاحب الـ28 عاماً يتقاضى ما يزيد عن 100 ألف جنيه إسترليني أسبوعياً، ولذلك فإنه لن يتقاضى أقل من 10 ملايين جنيه إسترليني.
وكان توم فيرنر رئيس مجلس إدارة ليفربول والشريك في ملكية النادي من مجموعة “فينواي الرياضية” قد ألمح لدعم عائلة ديوجو جوتا وأنه حدث تواصل فورًا مع أرملته وتأكيد أنهم عائلة واحدة.
Premier League clubs have recently voted to open the summer transfer window early later this year – and it’s all because of Manchester City and Chelsea.
Due to the expanded FIFA Club World Cup, which features the winners of the 2023 and 2021 Champions Leagues, the game’s world governing body had given leagues involved the option to open their summer transfer window for 10 days.
This will allow clubs participating in the tournament to do some business before the tournament starts on 14th June.
FIFA Club World Cup 2025: Qualified teams, format, venues & how to watch
The FIFA Club World Cup takes place this summer, with plenty of teams set to head to the United States in July 2025.
By
Ross Kilvington
Oct 30, 2024
Why the transfer window will close for six days in the summer
At a meeting in central London, Premier League clubs have voted for an early start to the window on Sunday 1st June, before closing again on Tuesday 10th June.
It will then reopen on Monday 16th June ahead of the summer transfer deadline on Monday 1st September. But why does the window have to close?
FIFA transfer windows can only be open for a maximum of 89 days, meaning the window must close briefly so that the deadline can remain in line with the rest of Europe.
If the Premier League’s window was to close earlier, it could leave clubs at a disadvantage as they would be able to sell players without the prospect of replacing them.
Manchester City and Chelsea are taking part in the first 32-team FIFA Club World Cup, which takes place in the United States between 14th June and 13th July.
UEFA has 12 slots available, and are made up of the last four Champions League winners, as well as the best-ranked teams over the last four years as per UEFA’s team ranking.
South America’s CONMEBOL has six teams, while all the other confederations have four teams each, except for Oceania’s OFC, who are represented by New Zealand’s Auckland City. Major League Soccer’s Inter Miami were invited as ‘hosts’.
The format is similar to a World Cup, with the top two in each group advancing to the knockout stages.
Every English club to play at the Club World Cup
Chelsea and Man City are preparing to head to the United States in the summer.
Manchester United have made “aggressive” £40 million star a top target ahead of this summer but face competition from Chelsea, who are also readying a bid, according to a new report.
Onana calls for Man Utd to stick together as summer window approaches
It was a Manchester derby to forget for both sides on Sunday afternoon, as while the Red Devils will consider themselves unlucky not to score, neither did enough to win the game. United goalkeeper Andre Onana wasn’t called into much action during the 90 minutes, and he believes the club needs to take positives in what is “not an easy situation” at this moment.
Andre Onana
“We have to take positives [from the match] as it is not an easy situation at the moment, and we have to stick together,” Onana told BBC Radio Manchester.
The goalkeeper then went on to say that they know the priority is the Europa League and winning that competition. United know winning that competition would not only bring Ruben Amorim his first trophy at Old Trafford, but it would also place them in next season’s Champions League.
Man Utd now submit £64m bid for "powerhouse" who's told Arsenal to sign him
INEOS are looking to beat Arsenal and Chelsea to the signing of a star player this summer.
2 ByBrett Worthington Apr 7, 2025 Man Utd make £40m Ipswich star Delap their top transfer target
As the current United team have their eyes set on victory in the Europa League, the club’s board are slowly turning their attention to the summer and what business they wish to conclude. According to ESPN, Man United have made Ipswich Town’s Liam Delap their preferred target for the centre-forward position this summer.
The report states that United have placed Delap, who bagged his 12th goal in the Premier League over the weekend, over the likes of Viktor Gyokeres, Victor Osimhen and Benjamin Sesko when it comes to signing a new striker this summer.
That is because the Red Devils will be able to sign Delap for around £40-50 million this summer if Ipswich were to be relegated to the Championship. That means he would be a cheaper option than what Sporting CP want for Gyokeres or what Napoli want for Osimhen.
However, United are not alone in the race to sign Delap, as Chelsea are also considered to be interested in the striker, and it’s been reported that the Blues already have a £50 million bid ready ahead of the summer transfer window opening.
Apps
30
Starts
29
Goals
12
xG
8.95
Shots per game
2.0
Goals per game
0.4
Goal conversion
20%
Assists
2
Big chances created
3
Signing a new striker is considered a priority for United, and Delap, who has been dubbed “aggressive” by former United captain Roy Keane, would be a risk for the Premier League side, as he’s not played for a big team before despite coming through the ranks at Man City.
However, he has 12 top flight goals to his name this season, two of which have come in the last two games against AFC Bournemouth and Wolves, and that has been achieved in a side that looks destined for relegation, so Amorim will believe his scoring instinct and ability to be a threat in the air can excel further at Old Trafford.
While the PSL continues to churn out Pakistan bowling stars, batsmen are proving much harder to unearth
Danyal Rasool20-Mar-201933-year old Sohail Akhtar has never played for Pakistan, and most likely, never will. He’s too far gone the other side of 30, has never received the sort of media coverage selectors in Pakistan often allow themselves to be led by, and for his age, hasn’t played nearly enough cricket to suggest a wealth of experience. Moreover, Akhtar’s first-class average, both batting and bowling, hovers around 28; he has never managed a hundred and only ever one five-for. Perhaps he simply isn’t good enough to represent Pakistan at international level.This would be a fairly unremarkable story most of the time. After all, there are several cricketers languishing in domestic cricket never destined to rise to the top, and for all the flaws of Pakistan’s domestic structure, most playing their trade domestically are simply playing at the highest level their abilities will allow them to go. This year at the PSL, Akhtar was the 16th highest runscorer at the PSL, scoring 241 at an average of 30 and a strike rate just under 140. So what makes him unique? Well, he was the highest scorer among players Pakistan players who have never played international cricket.And this strikes at the heart of an age-old problem in the country. Bowling talent may be unlocked without seemingly even trying; indeed this year, both Mohammad Hasnain and Umer Khan were amongst the top ten wickettakers at the PSL. One of them will debut next week; for the other, an international cap is merely a matter of time.For all the PSL is doing in Pakistan, for all the national side’s T20 success gets attributed to it and the unarguable role it has played in bringing more cricket back to Pakistan, the asset upon which the success of the whole format globally has been built – big hitting batsmen – is conspicuously absent in Pakistan. It’s something that doesn’t generate as much discussion as it should, for over the years the case can be made the PSL cannot claim a single batsman to have emerged and staked a regular place in the national side.
This may be harsh on Asif Ali and Fakhar Zaman in particular, but looking at their cases individually shines light on what is a fairly uncontroversial point. Asif has proved a revelation for Islamabad United over the last two years, and his power hitting statistics outdo any player, foreign or local, in the PSL this season. But when it comes to international cricket, the 27-year old has struggled to make the step up. In 18 T20I innings, he has crossed 25 just three times, with his performances tailing off as the quality of the opposition increases, especially of late. In ODI cricket, he has unquestionably been misused, with Mickey Arthur admitting he was batting at least one position too high at number 6 in the Asia Cup last year. But it also suggests Asif has work to do if he is to evolve as a more nuanced batsman in the longer formats, able to both construct an innings and then launch as the situation requires.Fakhar rose to national prominence after entering a rich vein of form with his domestic side Habib Bank. In the Quaid-e-Azam trophy immediately preceding the PSL, he amassed 663 runs at 51, including 170 in the second innings of the final. The following Departmental One-Day Cup saw him smash three half-centuries in nine innings at a strike rate of 96.51. It was those performances, more than what he did during a rather ordinary PSL season (177 runs averaging 22) that arguably saw him picked for the international side, where, despite recent struggles, he is a fixture in at least two formats.The drought of local talent in the PSL may not be spoken of too often, but make no mistake, the franchises understand this only too well. Take Islamabad United. The most successful side in the PSL, Islamabad have, year upon year, finetuned a strategy of stockpiling foreign batting stars at the top of the order, supplementing them with local bowling talent. In the last three games of the tournament this year, Islamabad’s top four read Luke Ronchi, Cameron Delport, Phil Salt/Alex Hales and Chadwick Walton.
It was by no means unrepresentative of the strategy Islamabad used across the season, and indeed across the PSL’s history. In the earlier years, it was common to see them field a top order that saw all of Dwayne Smith, Shane Watson, Brad Haddin and Sam Billings play, and were richly rewarded for it. They are the side that have adopted a strategy which allows decisions to be increasingly guided by analytical data, and analytical data makes little provision for wet behind the ears Pakistani batsmen in the top order. This year, only three uncapped Pakistan batsmen scored more than 50 runs over the course of the tournament – Akhtar, Ahsan Ali and Umar Siddiq.Across the PSL, sides with destructive foreign batsmen, supplemented by Pakistan players who have been around the international circuit – think Kamran Akmal, Umar Akmal, Ahmed Shehzad, Babar Azam and the like – have found rich rewards coming their way. With enough ability around the pool to go around by way of bowlers, both spin and quick, the tactic of using up the four precious overseas players slots for power-hitting batsmen reigns supreme. Indeed, you have to go all the way down to number 10 in the wickets charts to find the first overseas player – Lahore Qalandars’ Sandeep Lamichhane. He is the only overseas bowler among the top 20 wicket-takers in the PSL this season.But just as the space for overseas bowlers has shrunk to the point of virtual non-existence, the scope for local, untested batsmen in the franchise’s ranks has become increasingly constricted. As data becomes an evermore prominent commodity in the arsenal of all franchises, these difference look set to become even more entrenched with each passing year. The blame can hardly be placed at the franchise’s feet; after all, T20 cricket is a shrine to capitalism, and long-term planning for the greater good of Pakistan cricket can’t be expected to be a priority for private entities trying to turn a profit in a cutthroat league. But when the welfare of the PSL is regularly touted as equivalent to the welfare of Pakistan cricket, this obvious vacuum is only ignored at the national side’s peril.Most Pakistanis will have heard – and perhaps even used – the truism of there being lots of talent in Pakistan ad nauseum. The PSL’s raison d’etre was to unlock all that talent and place at it Pakistan’s disposal. It has indeed uncovered diamonds in the rough that might otherwise have taken years to emerge in the traditional, haphazard manner Pakistan players often get noticed. But it has also meant a list of local players – batsmen mostly – have languished in anonymity even as millions of players watch them ply their trade. After all, who noticed Ahsan Ali when Shane Watson stood at the other end? Who, really, watched Umar Siddiq when James Vince and Liam Livingstone’s artistry was on full display? With 15 players above him in the list, who had time for number 16 Sohail Akhtar?
da roleta： Manchester City and Pep Guardiola could sanction the departure of an “incredible” £300,000-a-week player this summer, as the club plan an overhaul of the squad, according to a Sky Sports journalist.
Man City reach seven FA Cup semi-finals in a row
da esport bet： The Blues secured their place in the last four of England’s oldest competition on Sunday afternoon, as they came from a goal down to beat AFC Bournemouth 2-1. The FA Cup represents City’s only chance of winning silverware this season, and Guardiola believes his side were “outstanding” in their win over the Cherries.
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“It was harder for them [Bournemouth]. We played an outstanding game and had incredible chances but missed a penalty. We conceded with one chance we gave away. Our approach was magnificent. Seven times in a row in the semi-final in the FA Cup, no team has done it, and it will be difficult for any other to do what these legendary players, the new ones and the old ones, will have done,” Guardiola told the BBC.
Pep was then asked about City reaching the FA Cup semi-finals for a seventh consecutive season, and he labelled it an “unbelievable” achievement.
“It is unbelievable. The way we competed today compared to the way we played in the first game here [in the Premier League]. I was not good enough to overcome that situation then. We were sloppy for many games, and I was not able to let them realise is what they have done today. For example, Brighton was a difficult game; we didn’t play our best, but we fought. This is what had to happen.”
Man City could sanction Grealish exit as Pep plans busy summer
Despite possible success in the FA Cup, it has been a poor campaign for the Blues, and therefore, there is expected to be plenty of incomings and outgoings come the summer.
According to Sky Sports Germany reporter Florian Plettenberg, Man City could look to sell Jack Grealish this summer as the Blues plan a busy summer of change.
Plettenberg states that City are planning a squad overhaul in the summer, and with them holding an interest in players such as Florian Wirtz and Hugo Larsson, the likes of İlkay Gündoğan and Kevin De Bruyne are likely departures when their contracts expire, while Grealish could also be moved on despite his not ending until 2026.
Grealish, who earns £300,000 a week at the Etihad Stadium, has struggled for regular game time this season, playing just 16 times in the Premier League, six of which have been starts, and the last one came in the defeat to Aston Villa back in December.
Despite the lack of game time, Guardiola has continued to heap praise on the Englishman, labelling him “incredible”.
Jack Grealish’s 24/25 Man City stats
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27
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14
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2
Assists
5
“I want him to make goals and assists, and he does too, but it’s not about that. It’s about his contribution without the ball and what he can produce for the other ones. We didn’t sign Jack Grealish for the incredible goals or assists at Aston Villa. It was for another reason. He competes with top, top players as well, and he knows it perfectly. He never complains about that.”
Wolverhampton Wanderers are vying for the signature of a “decisive” forward this summer, and he will now be available for half the original price due to a special clause, according to a report.
Wolves bracing for summer departures
Wolves find themselves in the midst of a relegation battle, having been on a very poor run of form in the Premier League prior to the victory against Aston Villa last time out, although they have had some extremely tough fixtures.
Any relegated side will always find it tough to hold on to their best players, and if the Old Gold do drop back down to the Championship for the first time since 2018, they may be forced to cash-in.
However, the same could apply even if they avoid the drop, given that some top clubs are queuing up for Matheus Cunha, with the likes of Arsenal, Nottingham Forest and Manchester United all being linked with moves in recent times.
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They’ve turned their attention towards the summer…
By
Tom Cunningham
Feb 5, 2025
Of course, Vitor Pereira will be hoping to keep hold of Cunha, given just how vital a player the forward has been this season, scoring 11 goals in the Premier League.
However, if the 25-year-old does move on, Pereira will have to bring in some new attacking options, and a report from SportBILD (via Sport Witness) has now revealed Wolves are among the clubs competing to sign Hertha BSC’s Ibrahim Maza.
Hertha BSC'sIbrahimMazain action with 1. FC Heidenheim's Lennard Maloney and Stefan Schimmer
There is set to be fierce competition for Maza’s signature, however, with seven Premier League clubs named as potential suitors, including Newcastle United and Manchester City.
Interestingly, Hertha were keen to hold out for a fee of €20m (£16.7m) in the January transfer window, but a clause in the 19-year-old’s contract means the asking price is set to halve, indicating he could be available for around £8m, with an exit likely.
Wolves’ upcoming Premier League fixtures
Date
Liverpool (a)
February 16th
AFC Bournemouth (a)
February 22nd
Fulham (h)
February 25th
Everton (h)
March 8th
Southampton (a)
March 15th
Maza impressing in the Bundesliga II
The Algerian has emerged as a key player for Hertha in the second tier of German football this season, picking up five goals and four assists in 21 games.
With an average match rating of 7.10, the youngster is ranked as the second-best performing player in the squad, so it is little wonder he has started to attract the attention of Premier League clubs.
Freelance scout Ben Mattinson has stated he believes the number 10 is capable of playing for a top club, while also providing an overview of his key strengths.
As such, if Wolves manage to avoid the drop, they should undoubtedly make an approach for Maza, especially considering he will now be available for a lower fee.
Batter praises his MI Cape Town team-mate Ryan Rickelton and tips him for national selection too
Firdose Moonda15-Jan-2024
Rassie van der Dussen and Ryan Rickelton put on a 200-run opening partnership against Joburg Super Kings•SA 20
Rassie van der Dussen and Ryan Rickelton are both hopeful the SA20 will serve as a launch pad to national selection after being overlooked for key series in the recent past.The pair have been first off the blocks at the SA20, with Rickelton leading the run charts with scores of 87 and 98 from the first two games and van der Dussen smashing a 50-ball 104 at the weekend. It was van der Dussen’s fourth T20 century but first in ten years and serves as a reminder of what he can do in this format, especially as an opener.”There’s a T20 World Cup later this year and I want to be in a position to hopefully put in strong performances for that,” van der Dussen, who has only played two T20Is since August 2022, said after his hundred in Johannesburg. “The last few series, I haven’t been playing and there’ve been some guys who have played really well. The last time I played was against Australia where I got one or two starts but I did not really convert. I am realistic in the sense that maybe my international T20 numbers in the last year or two, albeit not being bad, haven’t shot the lights out.”Related
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In his last seven T20Is, van der Dussen scored a total of 63 runs and has only gone past 20 once. Before that, he scored 1008 runs in 32 T20I innings at an average of 42.00 and a strike-rate of 132.80 and it’s those kinds of numbers he believes could force him into the national side. “I know what I can do. I know what kind of T20 player I can be and hopefully today is the start of that,” he said.With no T20Is before South Africa name their squad to go to West Indies (where they will play three matches before the World Cup starts), white-ball coach Rob Walter indicated he will use the SA20 and other leagues to select his final XV and van der Dussen has lined up the tournaments he will use as auditions as best he could. “I have this SA20, then I am going to PSL and then we have domestic CSA T20, so it’s going to be three to four months of T20 cricket and I can really focus on that,” he said. “As a player all you can really do is put on the performances and put the numbers on the board. I am not special, I am not above anyone else. If it’s going to be a shoot out but if they are going to select performances, then your name needs to be up there.”One of his direct competitors is his MI Cape Town team-mate, Rickelton, who was overlooked for all South Africa’s squads against India this summer, despite being considered across formats last season. There hasn’t been an official reason given for Rickelton’s omission, particularly in Tests where red-ball coach Shukri Conrad identified him as a batter he could build a side around, and van der Dussen’s assessment was that Rickelton has been unlucky.”I think he’s been hard done by to not be involved in any of the squads against India. He’s had a really good two to three years in all formats and he was in the mix earlier in the year and got left out. I know how badly he wants to play international cricket. He has had a taste of it at Test level but he is a brilliant fifty-over and Test player,” van der Dussen said.Like van der Dussen, Rickelton has had most of his success at T20 level as an opener and van der Dussen sees a spot for him in both white-ball formats for South Africa. “Quinny (de Kock) will be moving on and Ryan fits into that mould of someone who can replace Quinny. He definitely has the game. He’s very resilient and sometimes setbacks give you a platform to come back,” van der Dussen said.De Kock has retired from ODIs but remains available for South Africa in T20Is, although that may not be guaranteed. Late last year, Walter confirmed de Kock wanted to walk away from international cricket entirely but was convinced to stay on. There is every chance he may change his mind ahead of the World Cup but even if he does not, his opening partner is not secured. Reeza Hendricks is the most likely candidate but van der Dussen believes Rickelton, who is uncapped in T20Is, could make a strong case.”I know how hard he works, he keeps his head down, he was disappointed not to be in the Proteas squads, anyone would be, but he has worked on it,” van der Dussen said. “I really hope it continues and he has a strong tournament to remind people he’s still there and he’s a world class player. I’ve seen what he can do and I suppose if he puts the numbers on, you can’t really ignore him.”MI Cape Town’s next match is against Sunrisers Eastern Cape at Newlands on Tuesday.
يستعد فريق مانشستر سيتي، بقيادة المدرب بيب جوارديولا، لخوض مباراة ودية مساء اليوم السبت ضد نظيره باليرمو الإيطالي، في إطار الاستعدادات للموسم الجديد 2025/26.
ويستضيف ملعب “رينزو باربيرا” مباراة مانشستر سيتي وباليرمو في ختام الاستعدادات للموسم الجديد، الذي بات على مقربة من الإنطلاق.
ويبدأ مانشستر سيتي مشواره في بطولة الدوري الإنجليزي الممتاز، الموسم الجديد، يوم 16 أغسطس الجاري بمباراة ضد ولفرهامبتون.
ولم يخض مانشستر سيتي إلا مباراة ودية واحدة، خلف الأبواب المغلقة، ضد بريستون حيث فاز بهدف دون رد.
ويعود السبب وراء قلة عدد المباريات الودية لـ مانشستر سيتي هذا الصيف إلى مشاركته في كأس العالم للأندية، في أمريكا، حيث خرج على يد الهلال من دور الـ16.
ويتواجد النجم المصري عمر مرموش في قائمة مانشستر سيتي المستدعاة لخوض مباراة باليرمو الودية اليوم (لمطالعة التفاصيل من هنا). موعد مباراة مانشستر سيتي وباليرمو الودية اليوم
تنطلق المباراة في تمام الساعة 10 مساءً بتوقيت القاهرة والسعودية. القناة الناقلة لمباراة مانشستر سيتي وباليرمو الودية اليوم
أعلن مانشستر سيتي إذاعة المباراة عبر تطبيق CITY+، وكذلك الموقع الرسمي للنادي، ولم تعلن أي قناة عربية حصولها على حقوق بث إذاعة اللقاء، وسيتم التحديث حال ورود أي جديد.
ويُمكنكم متابعة أحداث مباريات اليوم لحظة بلحظة من مركز المباريات من هنـــا
Pigeons and windows come a cropper as Warwickshire turn the screw at Canterbury
ECB Reporters Network 11-Jul-2023Kent 171 and 55 for 1 (Denly 29*, Compton 17*) trail Warwickshire 549 for 7 dec (Yates 228, Maxwell 81) by 323 runsA double-century from Rob Yates put Warwickshire in a commanding position after day two of their LV= Insurance County Championship game with Kent at Canterbury.The visitors declared their first innings on 549 for seven, a lead of 378, before reducing Kent to 55 for one at stumps.Yates hit his highest first-class score of 228 not out from 421 balls, with 23 fours and a six, having batted for nearly nine hours. Australia’s Glenn Maxwell made 81 in his first championship appearance for four years and Henry Brookes was unbeaten on 52 as the visitors dominated throughout.Chris Rushworth bowled Tawanda Muyeye early in Kent’s second innings and although Ben Compton and Joe Denly survived till the close, the hosts are still 323 behind with two days remaining.Warwickshire began the day on 155 for two and they’d nudged into a three-run lead when Sam Hain edged Arshdeep Singh and fell to a diving catch by Jordan Cox for 32.Jacob Bethell immediately went on the attack, clubbing Hamid Qadri for a six that flew into the gardens on the Old Dover Road side of the ground. The ball was lost, somewhere in the vicinity of a dead pigeon it had apparently hit.Kent’s hopes were looking nearly as lifeless when Jack Leaning briefly revived them with two wickets in five balls. Bethell was out for 31, caught by a back-pedalling Arshdeep at deep mid-on for 31 and Ed Barnard went for a four-ball duck, narrowly surviving an lbw shout off the third ball he faced before getting caught behind.This spasm of hope for the home side quickly subsided as Yates and Maxwell put on a stand of 124. The former reached three figures when he cut Arshdeep to third man and the lead was exactly 100 at lunch.Maxwell looked set for a hundred, but he was caught behind chasing a wide delivery from Matt Quinn, though with the lead already past the 200 mark there was little celebration either in the middle or on the boundary.The most dramatic moment of the afternoon session came when Yates hit Qadri for a six that went so far over the bowler’s head that it ended up smashing a glass panel on the balcony of the Kent dressing-room.Yates cruised past his previous highest score of 141 with a straight-driven four off Grant Stewart and it was 442 for six at tea.Michael Burgess was subsequently out for 42, caught off Quinn by Harry Finch at backward point but Yates survived a major scare when he was on 199, chipping a ball from Qadri just out of reach of three fielders, before he drove the next ball through the covers to pass 200.The declaration came as soon as Brookes had creamed Leaning for six to reach his half-century, leaving Kent with 14 overs to survive under increasingly ashen skies.Muyeye lasted just five balls before Rushworth sent his off stump flying and although Denly and Compton made it to the close on 29 and 17 respectively, Kent will need something approaching a miracle over the next two days to avoid a damaging defeat.
Former Manchester United defender Brandon Williams has been given a lifeline after featuring for Hull City against Sunderland in a pre-season friendly following struggles with mental health.
Williams features for Hull in pre-season
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WHAT HAPPENED?
Williams left United last summer following the expiry of his contract but was unable to find a new club, having been handed a suspended prison sentence for dangerous driving in 2023. But Hull have taken a chance on the defender, featuring him in their recent pre-season win over Sunderland.
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WHAT WAS SAID?
Hull head coach Sergej Jakirovic has opened up on the arrangement, saying: ""I like to help people because everyone deserves a second chance in life," he told Hull Live. "I spoke with him very honestly, and I explained to him what I expect from him.
"We will be very careful, very, very slow. We have time, so we will try to help him. I think the quality is there because he was on a high level at Man United, so his quality is there. We need him to bring good fitness, and then we will make a decision.
"For me, his mentality is good. From our conversations, he's a very normal guy. He just asked me yesterday (Monday), 'can I play?' and then I asked him, 'do you feel comfortable to play some minutes?' His desire is there, and so is the hard work.
"On Saturday [when they played Stockport County at Edgeley Park], we left him here in Hull to carry on training, and so far, everything has gone according to the plan."
THE BIGGER PICTURE
Williams has also recently opened up about his struggles with mental health, admitting he could never be openly honest about his feelings during his time at United due to fears over what would happen as a result. Hull have made a major show of support to the young defender by taking him on, where he will hope he can return to the top level.
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WHAT NEXT FOR WILLIAMS?
Hull are taking the situation with Williams one step at a time, and it remains to be seen whether he will be signed permanently ahead of the Championship campaign beginning in a few weeks' time.