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Former Manchester City man Paul Stewart reckons both Riyad Mahrez and Raheem Sterling’s places will be under threat following the arrival of Jack Grealish.

Grealish became City’s first major signing of the window when he broke the British record for the most expensive player last Thursday.

His £100m move from Aston Villa means Guardiola now has nine attacking players at his disposal, which could become 10 if Harry Kane follows his England colleague through the door at the Etihad Stadium.

But his arrival means someone’s place in the side could become under threat, with Grealish’s price-tag surely meaning he’ll be a regular starter under Guardiola.

Guardiola has already confirmed that some of his squad want to leave, one of which being Bernardo Silva, but when asked who he expects to miss out on being a starter next season, Stewart gave a perhaps surprise answer given his form.

He exclusively told Football FanCast:

“He did himself proud at the EUROs, Sterling. But I can see him or Mahrez being the ones that are at most risk of not playing because Grealish can drift in from either side and as you said, he will play.”

England require a revised target of 198 in 22 overs to beat India and pull themselves back to 1-3 in the seven-match series

The Bulletin by Andrew Miller23-Nov-2008
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out
Owais Shah hit a superb 72, but he fell at a crucial time as India took the series © AFP
Whether it’s a contest over 50 overs, 20 overs, or – as it turned out today – 22, India’s one-day cricketers are simply streets ahead of England’s. They duly claimed an unassailable 4-0 lead in the seven-game series thanks to a 19-run victory in a match that was rescued from a soggy grave by some valiant work from the Bangalore groundstaff.After nearly five hours of rain delays, the contest was minutes away from an abandonment when the umpires decreed that the conditions were fit for play, and as things turned out, their decision proved to be worthwhile. For eight hard-hitting overs, while Owais Shah and Andrew Flintoff were together at the crease, adding 82 for the fourth wicket, England put up the best fight they have shown all series. But in the final analysis, the unbridled flamboyance of India’s batsmen, coupled with the nerveless short-form skills that India’s bowlers have learnt from their time in the IPL, proved decisive.In every respect, India’s approach to the game was superior to that of their opponents. Virender Sehwag epitomised the difference in mindset – the bulk of his 69 from 57 balls came when he was batting with a view to lasting for 50 overs, but in the final analysis you would hardly be able to tell the difference. He started the match by belting James Anderson’s first ball over the covers for four, as India cruised a healthy 106 for 1 after 17 overs. Then, nearly seven hours later, he clobbered Samit Patel’s first ball of the resumption for six, as India reappeared to help themselves to 60 more runs in the remaining five overs of their reduced allocation.India’s ability to switch tempo at will was astonishing and, to England’s rigid mentality, unthinkable. Yuvraj Singh belted three more sixes to continue his extraordinary run of form with 25 not out from 11 balls, while both Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Yusuf Pathan – from the final ball of the innings – also launched the first balls they faced into the stands. Their final total of 166 for 4 was rightly adjusted under the Duckworth-Lewis method to an imposing target of 198, a prospect that looked stillborn when England began their chase.The contrast between Sehwag’s onslaught and the cautious dirge chosen by England’s openers was stark. Only 21 runs came from England’s first six Powerplay overs, and though Zaheer Khan, who finished with 2 for 20 from five overs, was exceptional – both for his own bowling and the way in which he guided his younger team-mates – England’s stifling orthodoxy was bewildering and self-defeating. Playing with a pendulum-straight bat, Ravi Bopara played out four dot balls in the first over, before being caught by a flying Ishant Sharma in the second, while Ian Bell managed a gravity defying seven runs in seven overs.With every straight-batted push that England produced, the run-rate leapt another notch or ten. Bell was eventually bowled for 12 while attempting a sweep against Harbhajan Singh, and though Kevin Pietersen clipped his first ball effortlessly through midwicket for four, he had arrived at the crease approximately eight overs too late. In his haste to make up for lost time, he inside-edged a massive swipe across the line, and was bowled for 5 by a gleeful Sharma.India’s dominance at this stage was so total that Yuvraj was able to burst out laughing after a blunder from Suresh Raina on the square leg rope gifted Shah an extra boundary. Slowly but surely, however, England found their feet. Shah brought up his half-century in flamboyant style – and from an unexpectedly brisk 35 deliveries – with a pull through midwicket off Sharma, then creamed a huge six into the stands with a fetched slog-sweep off Yuvraj. Flintoff, meanwhile, ran a clever four off an open-faced bat after noticing that third man was up in the circle, and then made Harbhajan pay for one full-toss too many by swiping him fiercely through cow corner.That single blow gave Flintoff the confidence he needed, because he followed up with arguably the biggest blow of the series so far, a gargantuan swipe that might have ended up in Chennai had it not rebounded off the top of the stadium roof. It meant that England had added 61 in five overs, at the required rate of two a ball, and for the first time in four matches they were matching India’s strokeplay shot for shot.Shah continued in the same vein, greeting Munaf Patel’s return with another flick into the midwicket stands to bring the requirement down to 73 runs from 43 balls. But back came Zaheer for the final Powerplay, and after conceding three runs from his first four balls, he beat Shah with a low full toss that flew off the leading edge to Sachin Tendulkar at point to end a fantastic innings of 72 from 48 balls. In the very next over, Flintoff drove a slower ball from Sharma to extra cover, and England’s two big guns had gone in the space of five balls.That was effectively that. Samit Patel drove his first ball through long-on for four as he and Collingwood kept England in contention until the penultimate over. But Zaheer, kept bowling full and fast, removed Patel via a butterfingered catch in the covers from Gambhir, and Munaf was given the honour of sealing the contest as he successfully defended the 27 runs England still needed in the final over. For the fourth match in a row, England had shown an improvement on their earlier efforts in the series, and yet the gulf between the sides appeared as wide as ever before. The prospect of a 7-0 clean sweep looms ever larger.

Ishant Sharma, Rohit Sharma and S Badrinath have emerged as the biggest gainers after the BCCI announced the new set of annual players’ contracts that run up to September 30 next year. Rahul Dravid, who has been struggling for form over the last year, has

Cricinfo staff15-Dec-2008
Rahul Dravid, who has been struggling for form over the last season, was retained in Grade A © AFP
Ishant Sharma, Rohit Sharma and S Badrinath, who have been widely labelled as the future of Indian cricket, were the biggest gainers in the BCCI’s annual players’ contracts list that was announced today. While the young trio moved up from Grade D (Rs 15 lakh) to Grade B (Rs 40 lakh), Rahul Dravid, who has been struggling for form over the last season, was retained in Grade A, the top bracket of Rs 60 lakh.Other promotions for 2008-09 were on expected lines with VVS Laxman, Harbhajan Singh, Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag stepping up from Grade B to join Sachin Tendulkar, Zaheer Khan, Yuvraj Singh and Dravid. Irfan Pathan, Munaf Patel and Suresh Raina have also climbed a rank higher from Grade C (Rs 25 lakh) in the list of 37 cricketers.Despite speculation that new performance-based clauses would be introduced this time, Ratnakar Shetty, the BCCI’s chief admistrative officer told Cricinfo that “there has been no change to the graded system that was in place last year”. He said a board committee comprising Shashank Manohar, its president, N Srinivasan, the secretary and Kris Srikkanth, the chairman of national selectors, prepared the latest list, which is valid up to September 30, 2009. “The committee picked players based on the performances in the last season [2007-08],” said Shetty.While Ajit Agarkar and Ramesh Powar no longer figure on the new list, a notable drop is that of wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik’s, from Grade B to Grade D, which is for fringe players. S Sreesanth, who missed most of last season due to an injury, also fell a tier down to Grade C while Robin Uthappa was downgraded to Grade D.Aakash Chopra, the former India opener who was the highest domestic run-getter last season, is a prominent omission. Sourav Ganguly and Anil Kumble were also among the absentees on the list after retiring from international cricket last month.Last year, the contracts process had generated some debate with the BCCI planning to introduce performance-related clauses after India’s World Cup debacle in the West Indies. However, the board finally stuck to the graded system after discussions with senior players. With no change in the format once again, the players were not part of the contracts finalization process this time, officials said.Grade A (Rs 60 lakh)
Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Zaheer Khan, VVS Laxman, Harbhajan Singh, Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj SinghGrade B (Rs 40 lakh)
RP Singh, Munaf Patel, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Ishant Sharma, S Badrinath, Irfan PathanGrade C (Rs 25 lakh)
Piyush Chawla, Wasim Jaffer, Yusuf Pathan, Praveen Kumar, Pragyan Ojha, Amit Mishra, S SreesanthGrade D (Rs 15 lakh)
Dinesh Karthik, Robin Uthappa, Parthiv Patel, Manpreet Gony, Cheteshwar Pujara, Mohammad Kaif, Virat Kohli, Ashok Dinda, Wriddhiman Saha, Chetanya Nanda, M Vijay, R Ashwin, Shikhar Dhiwan, Sudeep Tyagi

Tottenham experienced the highs and lows of football in the last seven days as they went from beating Manchester City 1-0 in the Premier League to losing 1-0 to Pacos de Ferreira in the Europa Conference League.

Nuno Santo’s side beat the champions thanks to a stunning strike from Heung-Min Son last weekend, before following that up with a disappointing loss in Europe, with a number of changes made to the team for the latter – including the likes of Cameron Carter-Vickers, Dane Scarlett and Nile John all getting game time.

They will now face Santo’s former club Wolves in the Premier League as they look to maintain their 100% record domestically whilst also bouncing back from their Conference League woes in midweek.

Who comes back into the team? Here is our predicted XI for the match…

We are predicting nine changes to the team that lost to Pacos de Ferreira earlier this week, with the majority of the side that started the Manchester City game returning.

Hugo Lloris, Japhet Tanganga, Davinson Sanchez, Eric Dier and Sergio Reguilon should return to make up the defence after all were rested in midweek. They helped Spurs to keep a clean sheet against Pep Guardiola’s side and, for that, we believe that they will get the chance to play against Wolves.

Christian Romero, the summer arrival from Atalanta, made his debut against Pacos at centre-back and could be in contention to start against Wanderers. However, we are predicting that Santo will keep faith in his defensive unit for now and introduce the Argentine international at another juncture.

In the midfield, we believe that there will be two changes from the defeat to Pacos. Ollie Skipp and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg should come back in after their stoic displays against Man City, whilst Gio Lo Celso could start ahead of Dele Alli – who struggled last week.

The England international scored a SofaScore rating of 6.2 (lowest in the side) against the Cityzens as he lost a whopping 12 of his 17 duels in the match. He was also dribbled past seven times, which suggests that he was not good enough defensively to play in a midfield three.

Last season, Lo Celso was only dribbled past 1.1 times and won 1.6 tackles per match in the Premier League. This means that his presence in the midfield could be more useful to Santo if he wants to stick with a 4-3-3 formation, as he has more defensive nous than the £100k-per-week Englishman.

In attack, we are predicting that Lucas Moura and Heung-Min Son will return after being rested in midweek. The pair recorded SofaScore ratings of 7.5 and 7.7 respectively against Man City, with the latter scoring the winner.

Steven Bergwijn, however, did not have as much success. He missed one big chance in the match and was given a score of 6.7/10, showing that he was not at the same level as his two teammates in attack.

This is why we believe that Harry Kane will be handed a start, with the England captain confirmed to be travelling to the game. He topped the Premier League’s goals and assists chart last term and his reintroduction will see Son move out to the left.

AND in other news, “Spend it on..” – Exclusive: Graham Roberts drops bold verdict on Tottenham’s striker search…

Bolton have experienced a strong start to the 2021/22 campaign, with three wins and two draws in their first five competitive matches.

Whilst Ian Evatt will be delighted that his side are yet to taste defeat, two 3-3 draws in the first two League One matches may have been disappointing for the head coach as defensive errors stopped them from getting maximum points despite scoring six goals.

They now travel away to League One rivals Wigan to play Leam Richardson’s side in the second round of the Carabao Cup, hoping to extend their unbeaten run to six matches.

On the Chalkboard

This clash with Wigan gives Evatt the opportunity to make a few changes and rest some of his key players whilst also handing opportunities to those who are yet to feature this season. Whilst Bolton will want to progress through to the next round, the league should be the priority, and that allows the manager to be more experimental with his XI than usual.

One player who should be unleashed against Wigan is summer signing Elias Kachunga. The 29-year-old has made four appearances in the league since arriving at the Trotters, but is yet to make his full debut for Wanderers and this match is the ideal situation in which to give him his opportunity.

Despite only accumulating 47 minutes of action in his four league games for Bolton to date, Kachunga has already provided two assists. This is a promising sign for the forward and shows that he has the quality to make an impact in the final third, given that he has already directly contributed to two goals despite playing a little over one half of football.

Evatt has hailed the former Huddersfield man as a fantastic player and admitted that he was one of the club’s biggest transfer targets last summer before eventually signing him this month.

The 39-year-old told Bolton’s official website: “Elias was one of our primary targets in the summer but it didn’t quite work out then. Sometimes football’s a funny old game and opportunities come around again.

“Elias is a fantastic player with a great pedigree and is versatile in attack which gives us the ability to play him in different ways He is vastly experienced, well-educated and has played the game at the highest level.

“We are delighted to have him on board.”

The £720k-rated attacker has plenty of experience at higher levels than League One. He once scored six Bundesliga goals in a season for Paderborn, 12 Championship goals for Huddersfield in a single campaign and has played 39 games in the Premier League.

This shows that he has the quality to be a game-changer with his goals whilst playing in more prestigious divisions than League One, but it is now down to him to show that he can still do it by producing a top-class performance against Wigan. Evatt must unleash him and given him the opportunity to prove that Kachunga still has it in him to be a match-winner, although his two assists so far suggest that he’s on the right track.

Cricinfo previews the first ODI between Sri Lanka and India in Dambulla

The Preview by Jamie Alter27-Jan-2009Match factsWednesday, January 28, 2009
Start time 10:00 local, (04:30 GMT)The Big Picture
The presence of Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag should further bolster India’s strong batting line-up © AFP
India begin a short limited-overs series in Sri Lanka after success in both forms of the game over the last six months. They beat England 5-0 in November 2008 and had earlier notched up an impressive 3-2 series win in Sri Lanka – and they have a much stronger side this time, with Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar both fit.India were pretty clueless against the spin wizardry of Muttiah Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis in the Test series last year, but tackled them well in the limited-overs contest. So well, in fact, that Murali’s four wickets in four matches at 43 apiece were his worst series figures at home since India toured Sri Lanka in 1997 (among series with a minimum of three ODIs). On paper, the equilibrium tilts India’s way considering their consistency in the last six months.Sri Lanka have won six of their last seven ODI series but have not been as convincing. The batting struggled against Zimbabwe and they lost a match to Bangladesh recently, and that will be a worry even though the side is boosted by emphatic back-to-back wins over Pakistan last week. There is another worry: They have traditionally frightened opponents at home but defeats to Pakistan, England and India have opened up cracks. Mahela Jayawardene will be keen to dismiss those as bugs in an otherwise remarkable record in Sri Lanka. Making the early running in a series compressed to 17 days will be essential.ODI form guide (most recent first)Sri Lanka WWLWL
India WWWWWWatch out for …Nuwan Kulasekara had a fantastic 2008 in ODI cricket, and his start to this year hasn’t been too shabby. In six matches in 2009, he has taken 12 wickets at 13.33. With Chaminda Vaas cutting down his workload, Kulasekara has become Sri Lanka’s premier quick bowler in this format. His numbers over the past year – 45 wickets at 18.86 – and his success against India in their last series – 11 wickets at 14.45 – make Kulasekara a serious threat.When India toured Sri Lanka last, Mahendra Singh Dhoni didn’t have it easy. With Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar absent and the top order struggling, Dhoni and Suresh Raina were left with plenty to do. He had it easier in India’s last ODI series, against England at home, when the batsmen fired but this promises to be a sterner test. Knowing Dhoni’s competitive nature, he will want to stamp his mark with the bat again.The aura over Ajantha Mendis, who recently became the quickest bowler to 50 ODI wickets, diminished somewhat when Pakistan’s batsmen handled him efficiently. Mendis picked up four wickets at 20.00 in three games without being as threatening as he was in the Asia Cup. On the favourable home pitches, though, Mendis will always be a factor.Sachin Tendulkar has never faced Mendis in an ODI. Injury ruled him out of the last contest in Sri Lanka but his return reinforces India’s top order. He averages 41.81 over the past 12 months and 42.00 in Sri Lanka. How he handles an in-form pace attack could prove a key component of this series.Team newsSri Lanka’s selectors have retained, for the first three ODIs, the 15-man squad that beat Pakistan 2-1. Tillakaratne Dilshan’s promotion to opener in Pakistan worked stupendously – he scored 255 runs, including an unbeaten 137 in the decider – and he is likely to continue in that role. Sri Lanka’s batting has struggled in recent games against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe but against Pakistan they put up good numbers, bar Jayawardene. Thilina Kandamby’s inclusion in place of Jehan Mubarak worked wonders and he and Chamara Kapugedera will bolster the middle order. The bowlers pretty much pick themselves given their successes recently.Sri Lanka (probable) 1 Sanath Jayasuriya, 2 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 3 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 4 Mahela Jayawardene (capt), 5 Thilina Kandamby, 6 Chamara Kapugedera, 7 Thilan Thushara, 8 Farveez Maharoof, 9 Nuwan Kulasekara, 10 Muttiah Muralitharan, 11 Ajantha MendisIndia are certain to go in with the three fast bowlers who did well in Dambulla last year – Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma and Munaf Patel – and possibly a fourth. In that case, it will be a toss-up between Pragyan Ojha and Praveen Kumar. Ojha will be given opportunities in this series with Harbhajan Singh, the frontline spinner, injured. Sehwag and Tendulkar will open, while a red-hot Yuvraj Singh will drop down to No. 4. Yuvraj has struggled against spin in Sri Lanka but India will hope his recent success rubs off against Murali and Mendis. Suresh Raina is likely to get the nod ahead of Rohit Sharma.India (probable) 1 Virender Sehwag, 2 Sachin Tendulkar, 3 Gautam Gambhir, 4 Yuvraj Singh, 5 Suresh Raina/Rohit Sharma, 6 Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt/wk), 7 Yusuf Pathan, 8 Praveen Kumar/Pragyan Ojha, 9 Zaheer Khan, 10 Ishant Sharma, 11 Munaf Patel.Pitch & conditionsThe captains expect a seaming pitch, which explains India’s strategy to play as many as four seamers. The weather is likely to be clear as well, and the team winning the toss might want to put the opposition in.Stats & Trivia Sri Lanka have won 14 out of 20 ODIs at the Rangiri Dambulla Stadium India have won three out of seven matches here, but have only won one of five games against Sri Lanka. Dambulla has traditionally been a low-scoring venue: in 32 ODI innings since 2004, only seven times has a team scored at a run-rate of five or more. Murali has a bowling average of 14.21 and an economy rate of 3.33 runs per over at this ground, with 32 wickets from 14 ODIs.Murali, who has taken 500 wickets, need three to go past Wasim Akram, the highest wicket-taker in ODIs. Sixty-nine of those have come against India at an average of 29.39.Sanath Jayasuriya’s record in Dambulla isn’t as impressive – an average of 24.26, with just one half-century in 17 innings.Since 2007, spin has fared slightly better in Dambulla. The slow bowlers have taken 54 wickets here at an average of 19.65 and an economy rate of 3.64. The fast bowlers have taken the same number of wickets at 22.14 and an economy rate of 3.99.Quotes”I’d like to get more runs and contribute more to the team’s totals. This is something I have been working really hard on. I hope I get it right against the Indians.”
“We did not know what was coming out of his hand and how much variations he had. But when you play constantly against the same bowler, tackling him becomes easier. This time, we will start on an even platform against him.”

Ebony Rainford-Brent, the England allrounder, has warned England that it isn’t only the major sides they need to be wary of at the Women’s World Cup which starts in Australia on March 7

Cricinfo staff27-Jan-2009
Ebony Rainford-Brent (left) is excited about the challenge of the World Cup © Getty Images
Ebony Rainford-Brent, the England allrounder, has warned England that it isn’t only the major sides they need to be wary of at the Women’s World Cup which starts in Australia on March 7.England are one of the favourites for the tournament after a highly successful period where they have gone 14 games unbeaten, but Rainford-Brent said that the team need to be careful about losing their focus against the lesser sides.”Personally, we haven’t seen Pakistan or Sri Lanka for a while, so they’ll be something of an unknown quantity,” Rainford-Brent told ECBtv. “We will have to be wary. We played India here this year and beat them 4-0. But they are a good side and will be in their season. They are a strong unit.”Rainford-Brent took herself off to Australia last winter to work on her game and move paid off when she earned a recall to the side. Now the prospect of appearing in the World Cup is looming large, but she is cautious about England’s chances especially with the strength of the home side.”I don’t know if there’s pressure,” she said. “We’re in their back yard so I think they would have to be favourites. We’ve been training hard. We’ve got girls out there in Australia as well.”We understand our cricket now; we just have to replicate that. We went out to Bangalore for 13 days in the close-season, which was helpful for two reasons. Firstly, to work on individual things, but also because it wasn’t such a pressurised environment. We had time to work on things and knuckle down.”

Many Manchester City fans were angered on Twitter despite their rampant win over Arsenal, following a near disastrous first-half performance by goalkeeper Ederson.

Taking the game to the faltering Londoners, the Blues ran out 5-0 victors courtesy of strikes from İlkay Gündoğan, Gabriel Jesus, Rodri and a brace from Ferran Torres [BBC].

However, one huge source of frustration for City supporters in the rout was the lack of care in possession from goalkeeper Ederson, who nearly gifted goals to the visitors on multiple occasions.

Needlessly causing anxiety amongst the Manchester City backline, the Brazilian hesitated with the ball before skewing a wayward pass off of Emile Smith-Rowe’s shin, with the ball rolling agonisingly close to the post.

Not long after that, the 28-year-old then scuffed a routine clearance straight into the Gunners’ midfield, which eventually lead to a one-on-one opportunity for the opposition – although that resulted in a narrow offside decision.

Discussing the one cloud in an otherwise shining team performance, loads of Manchester City diehards took to Twitter to blast Ederson owing to his less than convincing exploits.

Manchester City fans react:

Replying to multiple different outlets on Twitter, here is what some fans had to say about the shot-stopper:

“There’s something wrong with Ederson and Walker”

Credit: @MckCarlo

“I think he actually enjoys the stress/nerves at this point”

Credit: @DiasProp”EDERSON!? TRYING TO SAVE ARTETA HIS JOB”Credit: @AarxnMCFC”It makes so much nervous when Ederson comes out of the box !!”Credit: @jazzy_mcfc”Ederson is drunk”Credit: @RealTalkMCFC”He tries so hard just to give Arsenal their first of the season.”Credit: @Jweiss4221″I can’t do 70 minutes of bored Eddy. I’ll have a stroke”Credit: @garfydayaIn other news, a journalist has questioned a City signing. Find out more here.

Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba will not be leaving Old Trafford over what remains of the summer transfer window.

What’s the talk?

That’s according to a claim made by Fabrizio Romano, with the journalist revealing in a post on Twitter that, despite reports suggesting otherwise, the Frenchman will not be leaving United this summer, and the central midfielder was never discussed as a potential makeweight in the club’s proposals to Juventus in their signing of Cristiano Ronaldo.

In his tweet, Romano said: “Paul Pogba is also staying and he’s never been involved in any proposal to Juventus.”

Further reports have claimed that Paris Saint-Germain have been considering a move for the 28-year-old, who has just one year remaining on his current contract at Old Trafford – with no agreement reached between the club and the player concerning a new deal at present.

Music to the ears of fans

While it would indeed appear something of a priority to ensure that Pogba does put pen to paper on a contract extension this season, as the possibility of the midfielder leaving the club for nothing next summer is currently a very real one, Romano’s claim that the France international will remain a United player beyond Tuesday’s transfer deadline is sure to be music to the ears of fans.

Indeed, since his return to Manchester back in 2016, the 28-year-old has consistently been one of the club’s most consistent performers in the Premier League, earning seasonal SofaScore match ratings of 7.66, 7.40, 7.21, 7.13 and 6.98 over the past five top-flight seasons respectively.

And, the £54m-rated man has already highly impressed over his two Premier League appearances for the Red Devils this term, having provided a whopping five assists and creating one big chance for his teammates, as well as taking an average of three shots and making three key passes per game.

These returns have seen the £290k-per-week midfielder average a SofaScore match rating of 7.55, ranking him as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s third-best performer in the league.

As such, it is evident that Pogba is a crucial component within the Manchester United side, who will undoubtedly play a key role in any success the club manage to achieve this season.

So, Romano’s claim that the Frenchman does not look likely to leave the club over what remains of the summer transfer window is sure to delight Solskjaer and fans of the club alike.

In other news: Man Utd make contact over £27m-rated “complete midfielder”, Ole would love him

Julian Hunte, the WICB president, unlike his England counterpart Giles Clarke, has refused to admit any “error in judgment” in forming an association with Allen Stanford, who’s now been charged with “fraud of shocking magnitude” by the Securities and Exch

Cricinfo staff18-Feb-2009
Julian Hunte insists the WICB is not dependent on Allen Stanford for its financial viability © Getty Images
Julian Hunte, the WICB president, has unlike his England counterpart Giles Clarke, refused to admit any “error of judgement” in forming an association with Allen Stanford, who has been charged with “fraud of shocking magnitude” by the Securities and Exchange Commission in the USA. However, the WICB and ECB have issued a joint statement where they confirmed the suspension of negotiations with Stanford and his corporate group. “I don’t want to pass any judgement,” Hunte told the . “I don’t like to kick a man when he’s down. What we know is that as we speak, his license has been suspended.”As a result of the crisis, the Stanford 20/20 regional series, which was expected to go ahead despite the disbanding of the board of Legends, is now unlikely to be held. Asked about the future of the tournament Hunte said: “We anticipate that it will not continue (in the immediate future).”That is not a difficult matter for us to deal with. Either the West Indies Cricket Board on its own or with the assistance of other entrepreneurs, we’ll be able to get a tournament going in a way that will make it financially viable for us.”Hunte admitted the Stanford debacle was a setback for West Indies cricket but said it didn’t threaten its existence or functioning. “To all intents and purposes, the West Indies Cricket Board is not dependent on Stanford for its financial viability,” he said.”Stanford did, in the midst of all of this, make contributions to the territorial boards to assist them with the development of their cricket. And that has been very useful in terms of having an impact on how our cricket develops. In this regard you’re not going to get a Stanford coming around very soon, but we have to make the adjustment to proceed.”However Forbes Persaud, the chief executive of the Trinidad & Tobago board, said the cancellation of the Stanford 20/20 tournament could cost his board up to US$195,000. “Now that this has happened, it would mean that we cannot really look forward to that [money] coming to us again,” Persaud told the . “I know our boys were eagerly looking forward to playing in the tournament and the fact that they have frozen all his assets, it would mean that that would be the end of the tournament.”