It is ‘hugely important’ that Celtic centre-back Christopher Jullien enjoys more playing time after injury, says Ben Dinnery.

The Lowdown: Jullien’s injury woes

The 29-year-old has suffered a torrid time of things in the injury department over the past 18 months, seeing himself sidelined for almost that entire period.

Jullien returned from a year out with a knee injury back in January but he has continued to find first-team football hard to come by at Celtic, appearing for just 16 minutes in 2022 to date.

The Hoops are now in the final straight in their Scottish Premiership title battle with Rangers and with multiple domestic competitions still to play for it could be that Jullien is finally called upon at some point.

The Latest: Dinnery provides his thoughts

Speaking to Football Insider, Dinnery, who runs the Premier Injuries site, stressed the importance of the defender getting minutes in his legs, as he looks to make a full recovery:

“These minutes are hugely important. You’ve got to manage your squad. You need to ensure that those players on the fringes are ready and engaged should they be needed.

“But also for Jullien, it’s an opportunity to go out there and build that confidence that he’s over that knee injury.  Hopefully, he can get a little bit of momentum going now.

“I’m sure he has one eye on getting a good pre-season behind him and pushing for first-team contention next season.”

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The Verdict: Could still play a key role

In truth, it is easier said than done when it comes to Ange Postecoglou throwing Jullien back into the team, given the significance of their remaining fixtures.

If the Frenchman is not up to speed, it could end up having a negative impact on Celtic’s title charge, at a time when Cameron Carter-Vickers and Carl Starfelt are performing well at centre-back.

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The best bet is to hopefully bring Jullien on in games that are already won late in the day, allowing him to slowly get match practice back in his legs. A rushed return could have an adverse effect, both on him and the Hoops, and he should be looking at next season as a more realistic aim.

In other news, a journalist has reacted to a ‘lift’ for Celtic. Read more here.

Chelsea are exploring a number of forward options ahead of the January transfer window, as BlueCo continue to pursue stars of the future.

Blues welcome back two forwards ahead of Villa clash

Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca will be boosted by the return of Liam Delap and Estevao when Aston Villa visit Stamford Bridge on Saturday.

Unai Emery’s side are in red hot form, winning ten matches on the bounce in all competitions after their 2-1 win against Manchester United.

Delap’s recovery from the shoulder injury he sustained during the draw with Bournemouth on December 6 is reason to be particularly cheerful as it had looked like being a lengthier lay-off for the £30million striker.

The 22-year-old is yet to score his first Premier League goal since moving from Ipswich in the summer, having missed around ten weeks of the season, mostly with a groin problem picked up on his first home start in August.

The return of Estevao, who has not played since coming on as a late substitute in the December 13 win over Everton, also reinforces Maresca’s options.

“Estevao is available for Saturday and also Liam Delap,” the Italian said. “We didn’t know exactly how long (Delap) needed to be out. Very happy for both.”

Related Chelsea have already agreed to sign their answer to Semenyo in 2026

The incredible youngster could be even better for Chelsea than Semenyo would have ever been.

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The Blues will look to reinforce their squad in January as they push for a spot in the top five, but their latest transfer target is one for the future.

Chelsea scouting Saint-Étienne teenager N'Guessan

According to Simon Johnson, writing for The Athletic, Chelsea are scouting ‘many young talents’ in France, including some at sister club Strasbourg.

Rennes centre-back Jeremy Jacquet and Saint-Etienne forward Djylian N’Guessan are both being monitored, with the latter an extremely raw and inexperienced talent.

The Blues have made a habit of recruiting stars of the future before loaning them out in recent years, and N’Guessan could be a perfect candidate for that model having made just ten appearances for Saint-Étienne’s first team, scoring once.

N’Guessan’s career so far

Apps (goals)

Saint-Étienne

10 (1)

Saint-Étienne B

9 (2)

Saint-Étienne U19

13 (8)

Youth football channel Eyeball Football calls the 17 year-old an “extremely talented forward, using his tall and agile frame to create goal-scoring opportunities”.

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The teenager has been spectacular at youth level for France, scoring 23 times in 25 games for France’s U16 and U17 sides.

Jacquet meanwhile is attracting interest from a number of top sides, with the 20 year-old defender being monitored by the Blues, Arsenal and Real Madrid.

West Ham United still have a crucial period of their season left to get through in order to finish as high up the Premier League table as they can and potentially winning the Europa League.

However, with the upcoming summer transfer window in mind, it seems as though a clue has been dropped over one potential deal that may or may not take place once the season comes to an end.

What’s the talk?

Speaking to Football FanCast, journalist and transfer insider Dean Jones had this to say on the situation regarding West Ham’s interest in signing £20.7m-rated Fiorentina defender Nikola Milenkovic after a report emerged claiming that the club have a gentleman’s agreement with the player’s agent regarding a potential summer transfer move.

He said: “I think he turned them down once before. I don’t know of any agreement like that, that is in place.

“Maybe there is and I haven’t heard of it, but he’s a player they’ve undoubtedly liked in the past.”

The player was supposedly available for just £13m over the winter.

Not good news for the Hammers

As many West Ham fans will remember, the club were linked with a move for the player Sacha Pisani dubbed a “beast” back in the previous summer transfer window before they secured a deal for Kurt Zouma from fellow Premier League side Chelsea.

Having remained in Italy with Fiorentina, the centre-back has shown the Hammers exactly why they should have secured his signature when they had the chance.

With 26 league appearances under his belt, the 24-year-old has racked up a total of 101 combined tackles and interceptions, the highest of any player at the club, as well as 74 clearances, also more than any of his teammates.

This highlights just what a capable defender he is and why the Hammers were after him last summer.

Taking into account what Jones had to say about him having no knowledge of any gentleman’s agreement that would see the defender make the move to the London Stadium, this will surely be a disappointment for the Hammers fans and their hope of seeing the defender join.

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With Milenkovic actually turning down a move to the east London club when they were previously after him, this certainly wouldn’t go down well with the West Ham supporters either.

Current Hammers centre-back Issa Diop has recently been linked with a move to Lyon in the summer, the club should try and persuade the Fiorentina defender to once again sign to them and see if he can bring his talent to England.

In other news: Big worry: West Ham dealt fresh injury setback that’ll have many supporters sweating

ScorecardMatt Coles picked up a six-wicket haul as Leicestershire crumbled for 159•Getty Images

A pitch almost as green as the outfield made Kent captain Sam Northeast’s decision to bowl first a simple one, and he would have been satisfied after his side bowled Leicestershire out for just 159 on day one of their Championship Division Two encounter at Grace Road.Leicestershire’s total could have been even fewer had the visitors held all their chances, particularly during a morning session throughout which the ball seamed and swung, but which ended with the home side on 109 for 4.Ned Eckersley was the only Leicestershire batsman to offer any defiance as he made 41 from 52 balls and, after the rest were skittled inside 52 overs thanks largely to Matt Coles’ six-wicket haul, Kent reached 44 for 2 in reply by the close.Three of the morning-session wickets fell to Coles, and first to be dismissed was Matt Boyce, who pushed hard at a rising delivery and was well held by Adam Ball at second slip, the ball flying quickly and at chest-height.However Angus Robson and Eckersley then added 58 for the second wicket, taking advantage of a series of wide or over-pitched deliveries, before Robson drove loosely at Coles and thin-edged a catch to wicketkeeper Sam Billings. Only one more run had been added when Greg Smith, returning to his former county on a month’s loan from Nottinghamshire, pushed forward at his first delivery and edged a comfortable catch off Calum Haggett to Coles at second slip.Darren Stevens dropped Eckersley off Haggett but Coles, having switched ends, bowled Eckersley with a pitched-up delivery as Leicestershire lost three wickets for just seven runs.They were seen through to lunch by Andrea Agathangelou and Aadil Ali, the latter a 20-year-old academy graduate making his first-class debut for the county. But Kent bowled with a lot more accuracy after the break, and picked up the last six wickets for 65 runs. Coles took three of them, ending with figures of 6 for 55 to take his season tally to 48.Agathangelou led the procession, edging an attempted cut at Stevens to Ball at first slip. Ali had applied himself with determination, going to 13 before edging a Stevens outswinger to Coles at second slip.Lewis Hill and Clint McKay miscued attacking shots off Coles’ bowling, which resulted in their giving off-side catches to Sam Northeast and Joe Denly respectively. Ben Raine was bowled by Coles and Ollie Freckingham top-edged an attempted hook off Haggett to leave Leicestershire all out for 159.To add to their woes, a heavy shower forced the umpires to call an early tea before their bowlers could look to put the Kent batsmen under immediate pressure in reply.When play did restart, only 14 overs were possible before the rain returned to end play. Kent lost the wickets of Denly, caught at bat and pad off Raine, and Daniel Bell-Drummond, leg-before on the back foot to a delivery from McKay that kept low.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsKeron Cottoy bowled 13 dot balls and took four wickets•Caribbean Premier League

Guyana Amazon Warriors captain Denesh Ramdin steered his side to a slender three-wicket win after legspinner Keron Cottoy rocked their middle order in the chase of 112. After Sunil Narine’s 3 for 6 restricted St Lucia Zouks to 111 for 7, Warriors were reduced from 59 for 1 to 87 for 8 before Ramdin’s unbeaten 39 led Amazon Warriors to second place in the points table, one point behind Barbados Tridents.Amazon Warriors were given a strong start by Lendl Simmons and Ramdin after opener Assad Fudadin fell in the third over. Simmons and Ramdin put on 40 runs to bring the required run rate down to 4.41 but Cottoy struck twice in three balls in the ninth over, having Simmons caught at long-on for 31 and Brad Hodge caught and bowled for a duck. Amazon Warriors were dented further when Umar Akmal was adjudged lbw in Cottoy’s next over despite a very thick inside edge. Cottoy came back in the 13th over to knock over Christopher Barnwell’s off stump with a yorker to finish with 4 for 18 from four overs, his best T20 figures.Amazon Warriors made things worse by inflicting two run-outs on themselves. First David Wiese fell to a direct hit from mid-on, for a duck, and seven balls later Narine ran for an overthrow Ramdin did not want after the wicketkeeper failed to collect a throw from long leg. Ramdin, on 24, was now left with the tail to wipe off the remaining 25 runs in six overs. He found an able partner in Veerasammy Permaul who survived ten deliveries in their stand of 25. Ramdin eased their nerves with two consecutive fours in the beginning of the 17th over and Permaul later sealed their nervous win with a six over the wide long-on boundary, with two overs to spare.Earlier, Zouks were put in to bat and their flow of runs was stalled when Narine came on in the eighth over to dismiss Andre Fletcher and Delorn Johnson off consecutive balls. He also trapped Kevin Pietersen lbw for 24 in his next over. Only Henry Davids’ unbeaten 25 off 34 and Jerome Taylor’s run-a-ball 20 pushed their score past 100 after they were 63 for 5 in the 12th over, but it did not prove to be enough.

Fast bowler Pat Cummins has again succumbed to a serious back injury and will be replaced by allrounder James Faulkner on Australia’s Test tour of Bangladesh next month.The injury is a major setback for Cummins, whose career has been plagued by back and foot problems since he made his Test debut in South Africa in 2011 at the age of 18. Cummins was Man of the Match in that game but at 22 he is yet to add to that one Test cap – in fact he has played only eight first-class matches in his career – and now faces another long period on the sidelines.”Pat Cummins experienced lower back pain during the last ODI match in the UK and this pain continued upon his return to Australia,” Cricket Australia physiotherapist David Beakley said. “He subsequently underwent an MRI scan yesterday which unfortunately has revealed a new early stage lumbar bone stress fracture. Consequently Pat will be unable to participate in the Bangladesh Test series and will now enter into a lengthy rehabilitation program.”Australia will still hope Cummins has a big international career ahead of him, but with each new injury the concerns for his future have grown. He suffered a back stress fracture in the Sheffield Shield final in March 2011 and later that year succumbed to a stress fracture of the foot, soon after his remarkable Test debut in Johannesburg.A further back stress fracture in November 2012 and a recurrence in August 2013 on Australia A’s tour of South Africa meant he missed a third consecutive home season. Although Cummins was able to play last summer and was part of Australia’s World Cup-winning squad early this year, he has mostly only been used in the shorter formats.Cummins has not played a Sheffield Shield match since the final in March 2011 and if the latest injury rules him out of the summer the gap between his Shield appearances may stretch towards six years. National selection panel chairman Rod Marsh said Cummins had been impressive in the recent ODIs in England.”This is really unfortunate for Pat and I know how disappointed he will be,” Marsh said. “He is a young bowler with a bright future for Australia and we were really pleased with how he bowled in the UK. We have opted to replace him with James Faulkner. James comes back into the Australia Test side having only played the one Test, but he is an exciting young bowler who could be very handy in the conditions we are likely to see in Bangladesh.”Like Cummins, Faulkner has played only one Test, having debuted in the dead rubber at The Oval in 2013. Faulkner will join Peter Siddle, Mitchell Starc and the uncapped Andrew Fekete as Australia’s frontline pace options for the two-Test tour of Bangladesh.Australia were already without the injured David Warner for the tour of Bangladesh, while Mitchell Johnson and Josh Hazlewood have been rested. Also missing from the squad that set out on the Ashes tour this year are Michael Clarke, Ryan Harris, Shane Watson, Chris Rogers and Brad Haddin, all of whom have announced their Test retirements.

On one hand, England hope history does not repeat itself against Pakistan in the UAE. On the other, they are aiming to replicate the one facet of the 2012 series that did go well for them.England’s bowling was not the problem during their 3-0 defeat on the previous visit. In the second and third Tests James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar combined impressively and looked to have sealed each match in turn. In Abu Dhabi, a chase of 145 was botched spectacularly as England collapsed to 72 all out, then in Dubai England removed Pakistan for 99 in the first innings, only to be thwarted by Azhar Ali and Younis Khan second-time around.Anderson and Broad are among the five surviving players from that tour to make it here again (Cook, Bell and Finn the others) with Anderson set to return as the father-figure of England’s pace attack having missed the final two Ashes Tests due to a side injury. He and Broad shared 22 wickets during the 2012 series and will be delving into their banks of experience over the next few weeks to help an attack that remains raw.”When conditions are this alien to a lot of the younger guys it’s important we try and give them as much information as possible so they can prepare themselves. Passing on advice is crucial,” Anderson said”Last time we were here we had a decent amount of success, myself and Stuart and the two spinners, so we know how to get 20 wickets out here. We know we’ll have to bowl very well to do that. It’s an exciting challenge; the conditions, the heat, if we do perform well it will be very satisfying.”James Anderson bowls in the nets ahead of the first Test•Getty Images

Anderson will resume his Test career on 413 wickets – in a neat twist, given the opposition as well as the Lancashire connection, one wicket will bring him level with Wasim Akram at joint 10th on the all-time list. His preparation has been limited – 12 overs and one wicket, with a catch down the leg side – but he is not alone in that and at least ended the season playing county cricket.There has been the notion floated that, in a horses-for-courses selection, similar to that justifying Moeen Ali opening, Anderson’s place could be under threat as his greatest strengths are likely to be diminished in the prevailing conditions where traditional swing is a rare sight.At 33, his days as the leader of the attack are numbered but you don’t easily shelve 400-plus Test wickets. Even if there is just a modicum of swing for a short period Anderson should still be better than most at finding it.”I’m itching to get going again,” he said. “It was frustrating to miss the last couple of Test of the summer but I’ve played a bit for Lancashire which was good, got some wickets, so felt in good in form and since being out here all of us have acclimatised quite quickly and are raring to go.”Despite the acclimatisation, conditions will remain very tough for England and Anderson knows it is vital, especially for the quicks, that they make every over count. In such searing heat, spells will rarely exceed five overs so they will need to assess very swiftly what tactics should be employed.”We saw Steven Finn bowl seven [in the warm-up], that’s probably pushing it a little bit, but we are aware we’ll have to be used in short spells,” Anderson said. “Me and Broady have brought it up with the lads already, when we came out here last time we bowled four-five overs maximum which means you have to be on the money from ball one and that puts a bit of emphasis on you as a bowler – you can’t just ease into a spell. You have to nail it.”You’ve got to assess the situation very quickly, if the ball isn’t swinging you have to go to Plan B,” he added. “You have to quickly assess if it will reverse-swing, while cutters and little changes in pace are crucial as well. It’s about finding the right skills for the situation, the pace of the pitch is important, whether you bring the slips out and things like that. It’s about being sharp and aware.”Anderson acknowledged that success in this series would rank alongside the away wins in the Ashes in 2010-11 and India in 2012-13, but insisted that the team – in the spirit that carried them through the home season – are not overawed by what is in front of them.”We put a lot of pressure on ourselves,” he said. “We want to improve on the performances from the summer. We know we can play better than we did even though we won that series, we want to continue to improve and show people how exciting we can be.”We are aware of how we performed last time we were here. As we saw in the Ashes, we lost them in 2013 but then won them back, so it’s all about how you prepare and play in that particular series. What happened in the past doesn’t really matter that much.”Except, of course, if you are remembering how to take wickets.

Ed Joyce has stepped down from the Sussex captaincy a week after the club suffered relegation to Division Two of the Championship. Luke Wright, the T20 captain, is a leading candidate to take over in the other two formats next season although Sussex are yet to confirm Joyce’s successor.Joyce stepped up after Michael Yardy resigned midway through 2012 and oversaw consecutive third-placed finishes in the following two seasons. The Ireland opener passed 1000 first-class runs each time but struggled for form this year, with only one Championship century. He made scores of 2 and 1 as Sussex were beaten by Yorkshire in the final round to fall out of Division One.”It has been an honour to captain Sussex for the last three-and-a half years,” Joyce said. “I couldn’t have asked for a more committed group of players and coaches to work with.”We’ve had a very tough year in 2015 but despite this, we’ve received overwhelming support from the majority of fans and this shows the unity and family feeling that Sussex engenders.”My increasing commitments with Ireland and the stage in my career that I’m at meant that the job this year became more a burden than a challenge to be relished. So the time is definitely right to hand over the reins to a new captain and whoever that is will have my full support. I’m also very determined to get back to scoring lots of runs and helping us back into the first division of the Championship and to performing much better in white-ball cricket.”We have so much talent in the dressing room and so many good people throughout the club that I’m certain we’ll bounce straight back from this season.”Joyce has another year on his Sussex contract to run and his experience at the top of the order should see him retain an important role, particularly after the retirement of Yardy.Wright finished the season as Sussex’s leading first-class run-scorer, with 1220, and also contributed more than 500 in the NatWest Blast as he captained them to the quarter-finals for the first time since 2012.Sussex’s cricket manager Mark Robinson said: “I’d like to thank Ed for all of his hard work and dedication that he has put into the job. He has always led the team with great integrity and commitment, and I’m sure that the new captain will appreciate having a player of the stature of Ed to be able to lean on for advice and support.”

Sudhir Naik, the curator at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai, has agreed to withdraw his complaint against India team director Ravi Shastri and bowling coach B Arun over their alleged outbursts after India were thumped by South Africa on October 25 to lose the ODI series 2-3.A Mumbai Cricket Association press release said their vice-president Dilip Vengsarkar had met with Naik and Shastri and advised both parties to “bury the matter” that had come about as a result of a “misunderstanding.”India have been asking for pitches that suited their strength, namely slow turners. But Naik’s complaint claimed he had not received any input from the team management regarding the type of surface they wanted. So a batsman-friendly track was provided and South Africa took full toll. AB de Villiers, Quinton de Kock and Faf du Plessis struck centuries and posted a total of 438 and dealt India their second-biggest loss in terms of runs – 214. The series was also lost 2-3.After the match, Shastri is understood to have sarcastically complimented Naik, saying “Great wicket,” and he allegedly followed that with an expletive, which led to a heated exchange. Shastri, however, denied that he used the expletive.Naik’s letter to the MCA had also mentioned that Arun had complained of the nature of the pitch and it was unnecessary for the bowling coach to have a go at Naik’s assistant Rajesh Mhamunkar, who looks after the Wankhede track for all non-international matches.

Adopting a methodical approach, Mumbai had taken a firm grip on their Ranji Trophy Super League match against reigning champions Karnataka by stumps on the second day at the M Chinnaswamy stadium on Sunday. Replying to Karnataka’s first innings score of 209, Mumbai replied with 322 for eight wickets at close.Having obtained an advantage on the opening day by dismissing Karnataka for a modest total, Mumbai consolidated, thanks to invaluable contributions from their first three batsmen, Wasim Jaffer, Amit Pagnis and Jatin Paranjpe, and Mumbai received a bonus when No 8 batsman RV Pawar hit a bright 45.Jaffer and Pagnis countered the varied Karnataka attack of medium pacers Dodda Ganesh and Mansoor Ali Khan and spinners Sunil Joshi and Yalvigi with some fine batting. The openers put on 125 runs off 40.2 overs before Jaffer, the more aggressive of the two was out for 72. He faced 125 balls and hit ten of them the ropes.Joshi then brought Karnataka back into the game when in successive overs, he dismissed Pagnis (54 off 135 balls with seven fours) and Amol Muzumdar (0). Vinod Kambli, in buoyant mood, hit a breezy 22 off 20 balls with one four and two sixes. Joshi then dismissed skipper Sameer Dighe (11) and Amit Dani (4) in successive overs and Karnataka had recovered some ground by reducing Mumbai, after their great start, to 214 for six.However Pawar and Paranjpe retreived Mumbai’s hopes of a sizeable lead by adding 93 runs for the seventh wicket off 22.5 overs. Pawar matched Paranjpe in run production and faced 65 balls hitting eight fours. Ganesh took two wickets towards the end of the day’s play but Paranjpe could not be shifted and came in unconquered with 93 at stumps. He has so far faced 170 balls and hit 13 fours.Ganesh and Joshi were the two bowlers who kept the Mumbai batsmen in check somewhat. The paceman was rewarded with three for 93 off 29 overs while the left arm spinner bowled 34 overs to capture four wickets for 101.