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Leeds United went through a busy summer of change on and off the pitch last year following the club's relegation from the Premier League at the end of the 2022/23 campaign.

The 49ers officially completed their takeover of the club and they moved to appoint German head coach Daniel Farke as the team's manager for the Championship season.

They also oversaw a huge transfer window for the Whites, which included a host of first-team players being moved on and nine new signings coming through the door.

Many of Victor Orta's Premier League signings were sent away from Elland Road last summer, and several of them were sent out on loan to other clubs.

One of those loanees – Max Wober – is currently enjoying an impressive season with Farke's former club Borussia Monchengladbach in Germany, and they do not have an option to make the deal permanent.

The Leeds boss could have a big decision to make on him in the summer if his team are promoted to the Premier League, as the Austrian defender has outperformed Pascal Struijk during the 2023/24 campaign.

How much Leeds paid to sign Max Wober

Orta swooped to sign the centre-back from Red Bull Salzburg for a reported fee of £11m in January of last year, which was a modest outlay in comparison to the £36m deal agreed to snap up Georginio Rutter from Hoffenheim.

Wober was coming off the back of an impressive first half of the season in the Austrian Bundesliga. He had made 2.9 tackles and interceptions combined per game and won 62% of his duels across 15 appearances for Salzburg in the division.

The 26-year-old titan joined a struggling Leeds team midway through the season, though, and struggled to find his feet in the Premier League in his first five months at the club.

He made 16 appearances in the English top-flight under three managers – Jesse Marsch, Javi Gracia, and Sam Allardyce – and found the physicality of the league more challenging than it was in Austria, with a duel success rate of 53% – 9% lower than his time in the Bundesliga.

His struggles should not have come as a surprise, however, as the left-footed enforcer had to adapt to Premier League football midway through a season, having never played in the division before, and had to play under three different managers within the space of five months.

This was also reflected in Rutter's lack of impact on the pitch. The French magician, who has racked up six goals and 12 assists in the Championship this season, produced zero goals and one assist in 11 league outings.

Therefore, it would be harsh to make definitive judgements on Wober based on his form in the Premier League for the Whites during the second half of last term.

This season, however, the 6 foot 2 gem has been settled and playing regularly for Monchengladbach in the German Bundesliga, and outperformed current Leeds left-sided defender Struijk.

Pascal Struijk's Championship stats this season

The Dutch colossus is currently out injured with a groin problem that has kept him out of action for 16 matches, but he started the campaign as the first-choice option in his position.

Struijk has started 22 of his 23 appearances in the Championship, having established a partnership with Tottenham Hotspur loanee Joe Rodon before his injury blow.

The academy graduate has been a dominant force at the back for Farke's side with a duel success rate of 61% in the second tier, which shows that opposition players rarely get the better of him in physical contests.

He has also made 2.1 tackles and interceptions combined along with 6.1 ball recoveries per game to win possession back for his team consistently.

In possession, Struijk suits Farke's possession-based football with his ability to pass the ball out from the back. He ranks within the top 4% of Championship centre-backs for progressive passes (6.61) per 90, and has averaged 0.77 shot-creating actions per 90.

The towering defender also ranks within the top 22% of his positional peers in the division for progressive carries (1.0) per 90, which shows that the Leeds star can carry the ball out from the back to push his side up the pitch.

The stats that show Wober is an upgrade on Struijk

Meanwhile, Wober's form in the Bundesliga suggests that he has the potential to offer more than the current Whites centre-back in and out of possession.

The 26-year-old titan, who was hailed as "gifted" by Marsch, has been a brick wall at the back for Monchengladbach throughout the current campaign in the German top-flight.

Appearances

19

23

Tackles per game

2.6

1.3

Interceptions per game

1.7

0.8

Ball recoveries per game

6.4

6.1

Clearances per game

4.7

3.1

Duel success rate

59%

61%

Errors leading to goals

Zero

One

As you can see in the table above, the Austria international has been the greater defender out of the two, having made far more interventions to prevent his goal from being troubled without making a single error that has directly led to a goal.

This suggests that Wober could cut out more opposition attacks, with recoveries, tackles, and interceptions, than Struijk without being liable to make a defensive blunder.

The Monchengladbach loan star has also showcased his quality in possession, which is why he could be perfect for Farke as the German boss' system requires defenders who excel at progressing the ball through the thirds to break teams down.

He ranks within the top 12% of Bundesliga centre-backs for shot-creating actions (1.88) per 90, and the top 8% for progressive carries (1.49) per 90 – topping the Dutchman's average in both statistics – and this shows that the talented ace would suit the current style with his ability to push the team forward and create shooting opportunities through his progressive play.

However, Struijk has averaged more progressive passes (6.61) per 90 in the Championship than Wober (5.47) has in Germany so far this season.

Overall, these statistics suggest that the Austrian enforcer could provide more quality with his actions in and out of possession as a left-footed centre-back.

It was recently reported, though, that Gladbach would like to keep hold of Wober on a permanent deal in the summer and are plotting talks to sign him, which means that supporters may never get the chance to see him in a Leeds shirt again.

If the Whites are promoted and manage to keep hold of him, however, then they appear to have an instant upgrade on Struijk on their hands.

A stunning century from Somerset prodigy stole the plaudits at Taunton

David Hopps10-Aug-2019

Tom Banton starred with a brilliant hundred•Getty Images

Somerset 206 for 8 (Banton 100, Abell 63) beat Kent 151 (C Overton 3-32) by 55 runsThere is no more exciting young T20 batsman in England than Tom Banton. In fact, let’s not beat about the bush, there is no more exciting young batsman in the world. A maiden T20 hundred at the 13th time of asking was a momentous moment in an emerging career, assuredly the prelude to greater things.Banton’s breathtaking 100 from 52 balls, with nine fours and five sixes, even managed to end one of T20 cricket’s great losing sequences along the way. Somerset had lost 11 successive T20 contests against Kent, equalled only by Zimbabwe’s frequent capitulations against Pakistan, but that run was ended emphatically by 55 runs as Kent found Somerset’s 206 for 8 beyond them.Kent remain second in South Group but Somerset have entered the top four and, although both have now played one more match than their rivals, they have the quality to progress to the quarter-finals.Somerset should enjoy Banton while they can because, in the way of county cricket, he will soon be spirited away, blooded by England in their next T20I (against New Zealand in November) if they have any sense, and pursued by T20 franchises around the globe. IPL negotiators are already studying highlight reels and after this they should request an update because the story gets better all the time.”Everywhere you look on social media, people are going crazy about him,” said Somerset’s captain, Tom Abell. “He is a phenomenal talent.”Banton, a tall and audacious strokemaker awash with scoring options, has something of Kevin Pietersen about him and is arguably more rhythmical. He has also found his self-belief somewhat sooner. About this stage of his career, KP still imagined he was an offspinner.In Somerset they joke that Banton bats faster than he talks, which is a something of a relief otherwise his front teeth would be in permanent danger of splattering into a pasty stall on Taunton High Street. He had a superb 50-over campaign and struck his previous T20-best, 71 against Surrey, only eight days ago. To keep his feet on the ground, the wise counsel of Marcus Trescothick will play a major role.From the moment that Banton square-drove the pace of Adam Milne in the opening over, one sensed that something special might be about to unfold. Freddie Klaasen’s left-arm disappeared for three boundaries in an over: a half volley along the ground, through extra cover; the length dragged back so struck on the up in the same direction; and then the reminder that nobody in England reverse-sweeps with such disdain.There was the odd hiccup along the way. Mohammad Nabi deceived him in the flight when he had 42 from 23 balls, but he escaped with three runs over the keeper’s head. On 57 from 31, he was badly dropped by Milne when he miscued to cover. The bowler? “Hardus Viljoen, I think his name is,” he told Sky TV at the interval. “He bowled very well.”Somehow, amidst the mayhem, Daniel Bell-Drummond, purveyor of only 45 previous deliveries in 86 T20s, stole in with an over conceding six singles. Bell-Drummond conceded the boundary that brought up Banton’s hundred but had him caught next ball at long on – his first T20 wicket.Banton had an excellent accomplice in an innings where only one other Somerset batsman reached double figures. Tom Abell’s combative 63 from 33 balls kept pace in a third-wicket stand of 102 in 54 balls. Rarely have so many deliberate shots been fashioned down past the keeper, none better than two retreats to leg against the left-arm round of Klaasen to deflect him to third man off leg stump.Whereas Banton plays with long-limbed fluency, almost dreamlike in his ease, Abell is more pugnacious, his chest expanding more determinedly than one might deem possible from a well-spoken young man of such modest stature. Once Banton had fallen at 169 for 3 with 22 balls remaining, it was Abell who helped gather a further 39 to bat Kent out of the game.It all ensured an unhappy return for Sam Billings, who was making his first appearance of the season after recovering from a left shoulder injury. Billings certainly tested it out in a jolting dive in the outfield which narrowly failed to end Abell’s innings on 56. When Abell was caught at deep mid-off by Zak Crawley, Billings slipped and almost collided with him. He survived to fight another day and Kent will be relieved about that.Crawley, another highly-regarded young talent (well ahead of Banton when it comes to considering future England Test batsmen) gave Kent early impetus, striking 35 from 24 balls in an opening stand of 50 in 5.2 overs with Bell-Drummond before he drove Jerome Taylor to cover.But Craig Overton broke Kent in the 13th over with three wickets in five balls. Bell-Drummond slashed into the off side and was well caught by Eddie Byrom, Billings departed to an off-side loft and Mohammad Nabi fell for nought, flicking to Taylor at short long leg. Two run outs by Tom Lammonby rounded off a tigerish Somerset fielding display on another memorable Taunton T20 night.

South Africa spinner signs on three-match deal to bolster Championship challenge

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Jun-2019

Keshav Maharaj prepares to send one down•AFP

Yorkshire’s lack of a convincing frontline Championship spinner has led them to sign South Africa’s slow left-armer Keshav Maharaj on a short-term deal.The signing is further indication that Josh Poysden, the former England Lions legspinner, who joined Yorkshire from Warwickshire with the hope of winning a role in all formats, remains regarded primarily as a limited-overs specialist. Poysden’s last Championship match was against Nottinghamshire last September.Maharaj’s arrival for only three Championship games, starting with the match with Surrey at Scarborough on Sunday, follows a brief flirtation on loan with the Somerset offspinner Dom Bess.Yorkshire were impressed enough with Bess’ form during his month on loan that they were interested in extending the deal but Somerset understandably demurred. To loan Bess to a fellow Division One county to assist his development had been enlightened enough for a short period and they did not want to put their Championship challenge at any further risk.Yorkshire’s director of cricket, Martyn Moxon, said: “We’re trying to work out the balance of the team with a red-ball spinner. Dom Bess has done well for us, coming in to bat at No. 8 in the Championship team. So with that in mind Keshav is someone who was available, an international spinner, and it was felt that in the short term it would be advantageous to bring him in for the few games.”Maharaj, who played the first of his 25 Tests in November 2016, has taken 427 first-class wickets at an average of 27.44. He had a brief spell with Lancashire last season, playing three times in the Championship.He goes straight into Yorkshire’s squad to face Surrey in the Specsavers County Championship fixture at Scarborough. But the most intriguing match-up will take place the following week when he goes head to head with Division One’s joint leading wicket-taker, Simon Harmer, on what is expected to be another turning pitch at Chelmsford.”Coming out of a pre-season, it’s a bit of a stepping stone to my domestic season and it will be nice to get a few overs under my belt,” Maharaj said. “Aside from the cricket you learn a lot about yourself. You’re sort of a stranger in a different place. You have to learn to take more responsibility and find a way to get through things. It adds to your character.”Gloucestershire have meanwhile re-signed Andrew Tye for their Vitality Blast campaign. It will be Tye’s third spell with Gloucestershire, following seasons in 2016 and 2018. Tye arrived with the reputation as one of the best death bowlers in T20 cricket, but in terms of wickets his record is a modest one with only 31 wickets in 25 matches.

The Belgian may not be the right appointment for the German side, but the fiasco says more about the Bavarians than his job credentials

Bayern Munich, winners of 33 Bundesliga titles, six European Cups, 20 German Cups, and by far the biggest club in their country, have hired the manager of Burnley, a team who have just been convincingly relegated from the Premier League.

Vincent Kompany's deal to become the new Bayern coach has now been made official, and his appointment is as surprising as they come. This is a manager who has just four years of coaching experience, one of which came in the English second division. He has never coached a Champions League game, and his sole European campaign ended with a Conference League qualifying loss.

Kompany shouldn't be faulted for taking the job, even if it feels like a massive jump. He is a promising manager, who, at 38, still has the chance to become a great one. Give him a few seasons at mid-level clubs, let him build on and further mould his ideas, and he might someday be ready for a job as big as the Bayern one. But this all feels like it's happening way too soon.

More broadly, though, it speaks to the mess that Bayern are in. The Bavarians have burned through managerial targets since making the decision to let Thomas Tuchel go at the end of the season in February. After months of scouring Europe for potential targets, hunting down big names, and failing over and over again, they are left with a manager who seems underqualified and unprepared for a job of this magnitude.

GettyWhy Kompany?

Kompany's managerial credentials don't jump off the page. A long-time, top-level centre-back, mostly for Manchester City, he became player-manager at his boyhood club, Anderlecht, in 2020. The Belgian side offered him a four-year contract, and charged the club legend with getting the sleeping giant back to the top. They finished fourth in his first season – during which Kompany swiftly retired from playing – and third in his second while also making the Belgian Cup final, all before he accepted the job to become Sean Dyche's permanent replacement at recently-relegated Burnley.

His first season at Turf Moor was historic. Kompany had the Clarets playing delightful attacking football that earned comparisons to the slick setup of his former manager Pep Guardiola, and Burnley topped the Championship, winning the league with 101 points – becoming the first team to hit triple digits in nine years.

Perhaps understandably, bigger teams – most notably, Tottenham – showed interest in Kompany, but he chose to sign a long-term deal to keep him at the club until 2028. Everything seemed set up for success as he plotted a survival bid in the top flight.

But his debut Premier League campaign didn't go to plan. Kompany never compromised on his attacking principles, and tried to have Burnley play the same fluid football that saw them promoted the previous season. The Clarets were woeful at both ends of the pitch, winning just five games and finishing the season with a meagre 24 points. And although Kompany insisted that he was "not sulking" after relegation was confirmed, it was admittedly difficult to find positives from a morbid campaign.

Advertisement(C)Getty ImagesBayern's big misses

Kompany will now arrive at the Allianz Arena at a turbulent time. Bayern were quick to confirm that they would get rid of Tuchel after he endured a poor spell at the start of 2024 that left the Bavarians trailing in Bayer Leverkusen's wake in the Bundesliga title race. By making a decision on Tuchel three months out from the end of the campaign, Bayern believed they could get a head-start on finding the best candidate to take over.

Their primary target was the man who was pulling away from them at the top of the table, Xabi Alonso. Having learned under Pep Guardiola during his time as a player in Munich, the Spaniard was making waves at the BayArena, eventually guiding them to an unbeaten Bundesliga campaign and a first-ever league title. Bayern's history dictates that if they see someone posing a threat to their status as Bundesliga's top dogs, they will bring them to Bavaria, and it was felt that Alonso would follow that lineage. But it wasn't to be.

Alonso, who was being coveted with equal vigour by both Liverpool and Bayern, shocked the footballing world in late March when he announced that he would remain Leverkusen manager for at least one more season. A job at a massive club remains on the horizon for 42-year-old; this just wasn't the right time for him to take one.

Bayern, then, were left scrambling for other options, and turned to Julian Nagelsmann – the man they had sacked only 12 months previously in controversial circumstances. Nagelsmann had since taken over as manager of the Germany national team in late 2023, but with no contract keeping him in the job beyond Euro 2024, there was reason to believe that he would be open to return, especially since CEO Oliver Kahn and sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic, whom he had fallen out with during his final weeks at Bayern, had since been sacked themselves.

However, as speculation over a return grew through April, Nagelsmann made the surprising decision to sign a deal to stay on as Germany boss through to the 2026 World Cup. With their top two options off the table, Bayern went back to the drawing board.

GettyRejection after rejection

A bunch of names were mooted as potential candidates as the second wave of Bayern's search began. Roberto De Zerbi was spoken about after his impressive year in charge of Brighton, while Unai Emery was reportedly someone whom the Bayern board were keen to chat to, only for the Spaniard to sign a new contract at Aston Villa as he closed in on Champions League qualification. Sebastian Hoeness, the former Bayern reserve-team coach who was busy leading Stuttgart into Europe's premier club competition, also signed a fresh deal just as Bayern glanced in his direction.

With the calendar turning to May, however, it seemed that Bayern had finally found their man, as Austria manager and former Manchester United flop Ralph Rangnick entered discussions with the club. Although the architect of Red Bull's gegenpressing football had struggled in England, his reputation in Germany remains strong, and he has done a decent job since stepping into international coaching.

However, citing personal reasons, Rangnick turned the job down. Embarrassed, Bayern turned to Oliver Glasner, but were told by Crystal Palace that they would have to pay €100 million (£85m/$108m) to prise the Austrian away from Selhurst Park following his strong start to life with the Eagles.

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(C)Getty ImagesOne final failure

Bayern had explored almost every avenue available to them, and drawn a blank each time. All the while, on the pitch, the team had shown some signs of improvement, especially in the Champions League, where they knocked Arsenal out in the quarter-finals and came within a whisker of seeing off Real Madrid in the semis.

Tuchel was hailed for the way he had set his team up to counter such strong opponents, and thus the club entered talks with the former Chelsea boss to try and find an agreement that would keep him at the club after all. It is believed that the two sides came close to such a deal, but in his final pre-match press conference of the campaign, Tuchel confirmed that the plan for him to depart remained in place.

The 50-year-old is the eighth coach to have either outright rejected the chance to coach Bayern next season or signed a new contract to remain at their current club before the German giants even got the chance to speak to them. To say Kompany is scraping the bottom of the barrel, then, would be putting it lightly.

MatériaMais Notícias

A Copa do Brasil 2021 teve diversos jogos decisivos nesta quarta-feira válidos pela primeira fase. A Ponte Preta venceu o Gama por 2 a 1 e avançou. Quem também garantiu a classificação foi o Paysandu, que derrotou o Madureira por 1 a 0. O Paraná acabou eliminado no torneio. Veja alguns resultados do dia na competição.

> Confira a tabela da Copa do Brasil

4 DE JULHO 1 x 0 CONFIANÇA
Com gol do zagueiro Caio – que é fisioterapeuta e trabalha na linha de frente da Covid-19 – nos acréscimos, o 4 de Julho venceu o Confiança e consegue classificação inédita na Copa do Brasil. O time da cidade de Piripiri, no Estado do Piauí,embolsa R$ 675 mil e espera vencedor de Sergipe x Cuiabá.

GAMA 1 x 2 PONTE PRETA
​O Gama começou na frente com gol de Daniel Alagoano. No entanto, Apodi e Thalles marcaram, e a Ponte Preta conseguiu a virada no segundo tempo. A equipe de Campinas aguarda o vencedor deMarília x Criciúma.

RIO BRANCO-ES 2 x 1 SAMPAIO CORRÊA
​O Sampaio Corrêa abriu o placar com gol de André Luiz, porém, o time do Rio Branco-ES arrancou uma virada emocionante. Com um a menos após expulsão de Esley, Petróleo e Edu Capetinha fizeram e garantiram a vitória para a equipe. Na segunda fase da Copa do Brasil, o Rio Branco-ES vai enfrentar o Vitória-BA.

MADUREIRA 0 x 1 PAYSANDU
​Com gol de Denilson no primeiro tempo e partida controlada, o Papão venceu o Madureira jogando no Rio de Janeiro e avançou de fase. No próximo duelo pela competição, o Paysandu vai enfrentar o vencedor de Goianésia x CRB.

CIANORTE 1 x 0 PARANÁ
Em duelo de paranaenses, o Leão do Vale surpreendeu e conseguiu a vitória com gol de Sávio no segundo tempo. Com R$ 675 mil no bolso, o Cianorte vai enfrentar o vencedor de Ypiranga-AP x Santa Cruz na próxima fase.

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Harbhajan Singh led the way with the wickets of Kohli, Moeen and de Villiers, while Tahir took 3-9 as RCB were shot out for the sixth lowest IPL total

The Report by Sidharth Monga23-Mar-20191:57

FIve reasons why CSK beat RCB

Chennai Super Kings’ publicity teams like to call the MA Chidambaram Stadium the “lion’s den”, but no one advertised the minefield that awaited the season opener for this IPL. Royal Challengers Bangalore walked in unsuspectingly, picking in all their innocence just the two spinners whereas Super Kings were stacked with three spinners plus two part-time spinners. As it happened, between them the Super Kings spinners took eight wickets, the highest such number in IPL, and Royal Challengers were bowled out for 70, the sixth-lowest score in IPL history.Not just the management, Royal Challengers’ batsmen also misread the conditions and didn’t adjust their par total on the fly. Despite spin’s role early in the innings, they still kept going for big shots as opposed to looking to bat through the innings. It was a failing AB de Villiers himself admitted to in an on-field interview during the chase; a ball after he was dropped in the field, he perished trying to hit a six.This failure to adjust would have hurt Royal Challengers all the more when they saw even the Super Kings batsmen struggle. Another spinner or another 30 runs, and who knows?We’ve been expecting you, Mr SinghSince he last played for Super Kings in the first qualifier of last year’s IPL, Harbhajan Singh had played only three Twenty20 games for no wicket. To accommodate him – zero T20 wickets to his name in the last 10 months – Super Kings sat Faf du Plessis out and played only three overseas players. Whether it was the pitch or the abundance of left-hand batsmen in the Royal Challengers’ line-up, only Dhoni can tell.With Deepak Chahar bowling a tight spell at the other end, Harbhajan took out the cream of Royal Challengers’ batting: Virat Kohli, Moeen Ali and de Villiers. Only for the third time in the IPL, the first eight overs were bowled out by just two bowlers. Chahar kept it tight with figures of 4-0-17-0, and Harbhajan did the damage with 4-0-20-3.CSK celebrate with Harbhajan Singh after his wickets•BCCIIn the fourth over, Kohli fell to the frustration of dot balls and holed out to deep midwicket. Moeen got one that stopped on him and bounced. At the start of the eight over, de Villiers went to sweep Harbhajan, only for the top edge to be dropped by Imran Tahir at fine leg. The next ball was slightly short, and de Villiers went for the pull, giving Ravindra Jadeja his second catch. Royal Challengers 38 for 3.Hetmyer’s nervesThere was a lot of anticipation around the debut of Shimron Hetmyer, who has made himself a name for being a power hitter against spin. He had a different job today, but the nerves were palpable. He began his day at the non-striker’s end, and failed to send Parthiv Patel back when there was no single available.He survived this one, but two balls later he pushed the ball straight to short cover and ran off. Parthiv was having none of it, and Hetmyer was run out for a duck on debut. Royal Challengers 39 for 4 in eight overs.Tahir runs amokQuite literally. The pitch offered him prodigious turn, and Imran Tahir was nigh unplayable with his wicked concoction of fast legbreaks, wrong ‘uns and flippers. He took wickets with his second, seventh and 16th balls, and ran all over the MA Chidambaram Stadium in celebration. He had figures of 4-1-9-3 at the end.Ravindra Jadeja at the other end was not half bad, getting Colin de Grandhomme caught at the wicket and flattening Umesh Yadav’s off stump. Parthiv came close to registering a dubious distinction – for the team – of carrying his bat, but was the last man out, caught at square leg off the first ball from Dwayne Bravo. Nonetheless, he was the only man to enter double figures.Minor scare but Rayudu anchors chaseRoyal Challengers had no choice but to look for wickets and use spin to that end. They opened with Yuzvendra Chahal, who sent Shane Watson back for a duck. This was a difficult pitch, it was plain to see. Ambati Rayudu, though, batted smartly, picking his targets – often pace – and did enough to see his side through. There was enough time for Suresh Raina to get 19 and become the first man to 5000 IPL runs.

Liverpool legend Graeme Souness has slammed Reds star Mohamed Salah after his public falling out with Jurgen Klopp during the 2-2 draw with West Ham.

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Salah slammed after Klopp bust-upSouness calls Salah "the most selfish player"Tips Egyptian to leave Liverpool this summer(C)Getty ImagesWHAT HAPPENED?

Liverpool's draw with West Ham last time out was a major dent to the team's title hopes and was overshadowed by a touchline row between Salah and Klopp. As Salah was being brought on in the second half, he was spotted arguing with Klopp after the winger turned down the German manager's customary handshake and hug. Souness has now labelled the Egyptian as "the most selfish player" and believes the 31-year-old is likely on his way out of Anfield this summer.

AdvertisementGettyWHAT SOUNESS SAID

Speaking to William Hill, the 70-year-old said: "I believe Mohamed Salah is off and leaving Liverpool. He has been fabulous for Liverpool, but if he leaves to the Saudi Pro League then he’ll be the biggest star in that part of the world. He no doubt has an exceptionally large opinion of himself, and he’ll have been angry at not starting the game against West Ham last week. I think the situation with Jurgen Klopp was a reaction to only being brought on with 10 minutes to go – it was more Salah than it was Klopp in that confrontation.

"Salah is the most selfish player I have ever witnessed. Even prior to that game, whenever Klopp takes him off, he is never happy about it. That is what you want from your players, if you take them off on two goals, they should want to stay on to score a third. When Sadio Mane was there they’d fall out all the time.

"Salah has been world-class in his time at Liverpool. Goals change games and his goals have had an enormous influence on Liverpool since he’s been at the club. I think he still gets into the Arsenal team and certainly would’ve gotten into the Manchester City team over the past five years."

THE BIGGER PICTURE

Over the last year and a half, Salah has been heavily linked with a move to the ever-growing Saudi Pro League. Last summer it was reported that Liverpool had rejected £200 million ($253m) for their star but they may not be as determined to keep the Egyptian at the club with Klopp also set to leave after a spectacular nine-year stint.

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WHAT NEXT FOR SALAH?

With Liverpool now adrift of Manchester City and Arsenal in the title race, it remains to be seen if Klopp will return Salah to his starting lineup when the Reds take on Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday, May 5.

Stuart Law, West Indies’ former head coach, believes that England will be “red-hot favourites” going into next week’s first Test in Barbados, but warns that his old side are fully capable of springing another surprise, just as they produced at Headingley two years ago in one of the most sensational run-chases of all time.Law, who oversaw a steady improvement in West Indies’ Test fortunes during his two-year spell in the Caribbean, stepped down from his role in September to take up the vacancy as Middlesex’s head coach.And, while being realistic about West Indies’ hopes of resisting an England team that secured an impressive 3-0 win in Sri Lanka before Christmas, Law was adamant that the players he’s left behind have sufficient skill, experience and determination to rise to their latest challenge.”Don’t underestimate the home team,” Law said. “There’s a core group of senior players who’ve been there for a while and proved that they can do it. If England aren’t on their game, West Indies have the team to make an upset.”England are going in as red-hot favourites but as the underdogs, West Indies have nothing to lose. They aren’t supposed to win, and the Caribbean crowd will tell them they are not supposed to win, and they like proving people wrong as well.”Despite being the stronger team on paper for the best part of two decades, England’s recent record against West Indies leaves plenty to be desired, not least in the Caribbean, where they have not won a series since 2004 and where they lost their most recent Test – coincidentally in Barbados – back in 2015.However, for sheer chutzpah, few results in recent times compare with West Indies’ incredible Headingley upset on the 2017 tour, when Shai Hope – with two hundreds in the match – and Kraigg Brathwaite – with 134 and 95 – helped square the series with one to play after a daunting run-chase of 322.”I think the euphoria of that first Test win in England in 17 years was something that is still being celebrated in the Caribbean,” Law said. “They don’t need much to have a party out there.Miguel Cummins and West Indies coach Stuart Law look on after having a chat in between overs•Getty Images

“Some of the kids who stuck their hand up in that match are still involved now… Hope, Brathwaite, Jason Holder, Shannon Gabriel, those guys played their hearts out. Gabriel bowled fast every time he bowled the ball, and the two batters had a dream Test match.”They can do it, that’s the thing. It comes down to self-belief. If they’ve got self-belief they can achieve anything.”Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of that Headingley win was its context. It came only days after England had crushed the same set of players by an innings and 209 runs in a bitterly one-sided first Test.”To come back after Edgbaston in that way, I’d have to say it was the best Test performance I’ve been involved with,” Law said. “The enormity after what happened … you’re like a proud dad, watching the kids have a red-hot dip and all of a sudden they start to play cricket you can only dream of playing.”Not that Law would claim much of the credit for the turnaround, however.”I didn’t have to say much,” he said. “We sat down in the dressing room on [what should have been] day five, and the players just had a meeting. We were there as coaches to facilitate and prompt here and there, but they did all the talking.”They didn’t like it. They got abuse from back home – you should have read some of the social media abuse, and that was coming from their home crowd. It was tough for them, but I didn’t have to say too much. It was about pointing them in the right direction and saying you can go one of two ways. You can fall away and lose the series 3-0, or you can stand up and fight. What do you want to do?”They came up with what they wanted to do, and gave a very honest account of where they were at during that Test match. And once you’ve had that conversation, you are accountable for what you do going forward. They were all accountable at Headingley, and they stuck their hands up.”Stuart Law speaks at his Middlesex unveiling•Getty Images

West Indies’ hopes in the coming series have been boosted by the recall of Darren Bravo, a proven Test-match batsman who played a crucial hand in that Barbados win in 2015. He had been unavailable for most of Law’s spell in the Caribbean after becoming embroiled in the stand-off with CWI over player availability for T20 leagues. However, his return to the fray, says Law, is a sign of progress.”I think there’s been massive improvements,” he said. “Johnny Grave, the CEO, and Jimmy Adams, the director of cricket, have made massive strides to raise the professionalism.”But you can’t rush these disputes. I didn’t really understand the depths, but at times you have to side with the players. I had brief conversations with Darren and he made some very good points.”He’s a high-class player, West Indies could do with his experience, and you’d like to see commitment from other players as well. But the T20 riches are big, and the West Iindies boys are high in demand, so you can’t blame them, even if playing for West Indies is a shop window for these tournaments.”I didn’t blame one player once for choosing T20 cricket over Test cricket. Sure, I was disappointed, as I’d have loved to have them playing for West Indies, but they had other issues to keep to, and supporting their families was one of them.”In fact, supporting his own family was Law’s primary reason for calling an early end to his time with West Indies, and instead seeking out the security that comes with a four-year deal at Middlesex.”I’ve been asked to improve Middlesex’s white-ball cricket which has not been as competitive as it should be for a while so that will be a big focus,” he said. “But not at the expense of the Championship.”We’ve essentially still got the core of a group of players who won the County Championship a couple of years ago so we know they are capable of winning games and getting us back into the first division.”

Reeza Hendricks has strung together scores of 55, 104*, 108* and 79 in his last four innings, winning three Player-of-the-Match awards on the trot and helping Jozi Stars recover from a difficult start to rise to second on the points table. He has been the talisman that has turned Stars’ Mzansi Super League campaign around, but he does not believe that T20 form will have a big impact on his chances of making South Africa’s World Cup squad.”I don’t think so, to be honest,” Hendricks said when asked about turning T20 form into a ticket to England. “This is obviously a different format. I’d love to think it has some impact towards it, but it’s a different format. Taking it as it comes. Leading up to the World Cup, it’s still a while away. Hopefully I can continue scoring, and closer to the time the rest will take care of itself.”Hendricks should be part of South Africa’s ODI squads to face Pakistan and Sri Lanka this summer, and that is when real stakes can be claimed in the national squad. Before South Africa left for Australia, captain Faf du Plessis suggested it was a straight shootout between Hendricks and Aiden Markram for the no. 3 position, but if he keeps scoring runs Hendricks may also put pressure on the opening slots.Hashim Amla endured lean patches in the Caribbean Premier League and the opening rounds of the MSL, as well as being hobbled by an injury that kept him out of South Africa’s touring party to Australia. After scores of 15, 24, 12. 0 and 4, Amla was dropped from the XI for Durban Heat’s last match against Paarl Rocks. Hendricks, meanwhile, is in a “purple patch”. Has he ever hit the ball better?”That’s a tough question, but to answer that, I don’t think so,” said Hendricks. “It’s a purple patch that I’m going through at the moment. I’m quite grateful for how it’s going at the moment.” Hendricks’ form certainly impressed Cape Town Blitz captain Farhaan Behardien, who suggested that Hendricks is “in the form of life”, and is very tough to stop at the moment.”He batted really well,” Behardien said after Hendricks’ well-paced 79 helped set up Stars’ match-winning 196 for 4 at Newlands on Tuesday night. “His strike rate wasn’t as high in the beginning, but he catches up. And he’s in form. He’s in the form of his life. It’s like trying to stop a guy like AB in form, to stop a guy like David Miller when he’s going really well. It’s his time at the moment. We couldn’t combat him tonight. Fortunately he toed one to Quinny [de Kock] at long-on. It’s tough to stop him, so hopefully if we do come up against him again in a knockout or the final, we’ll try have some better plans.”Hendricks credited his time in the Proteas camp with raising his game leading in to the MSL. He has been part of South Africa’s last three ODI series, and while he has not quite replicated the success of his debut hundred yet, he has gained plenty of confidence from being in the national set-up.”The intensity in the training and everything around that, the knowledge in the squad, it’s a good environment to be in,” he said. “Coming back here, that obviously gave me a great deal of confidence. What I’ve learnt, I can try and execute here, and fortunately it’s been working and it’s been coming off.”While he may have to score similar runs in 50-overs cricket to cement his place in South Africa’s World Cup plans, Hendricks has already done enough to greatly enhance his reputation as a T20 cricketer. With the IPL auction two weeks away, he has made sure to throw his name into that hat. “I did actually put my name in the IPL auction, yes,” Hendricks said. “Who knows, we’ll see what happens.”Hendricks said he had been “overwhelmed” by the messages of support he has received from family, friends and fans since his back-to-back hundreds, but insisted that he won’t be basking in the glow for too long and is already focussed on Jozi Stars’ next game against Durban Heat at Kingsmead on Friday.”Over the last few days it has been overwhelming,” he said. “But after tonight, the game is done so I have to focus on the next day and the next game coming up. As I move on, I put this behind me and try to contribute again in the next game.”Hendricks also got the backing of his stars team-mate Chris Gayle, who suggested that his form made him the most dangerous batsman in the side. Gayle had even hoped for a third hundred from Hendricks.”When I saw that, I had a good laugh about it,” Hendricks said. “I didn’t think it would be on the cards. I just went about it, didn’t think too much about the three figures. Took it as it came, and just went about it over by over, ball by ball, and I was quite fortunate today that I managed to get some runs again.”

The Premier League is one of, if not the best, league in the world. It is filled to the brim with Ballon d'Or nominees and world-class managers capable of lifting Europe's biggest honours. And fans in England have the opportunity to watch week in, week out, as their sides do battle…for a certain price, of course.

The cost of a season ticket to watch your side every week – to sing songs likely aimed towards the referee's performance, and celebrate every goal like it's your last – seems very much worth it. Except, you rapidly begin to notice just how much you've paid when you travelled far and wide only to see your side concede seven against your rivals. Looking at you, Manchester United fans…

With that said, the natural question is, what's the most and least expensive season ticket in the Premier League? Well, that's a query recently answered by The Athletic, which revealed some surprising numbers that you can see below.

Football FanCast provides you with all the ins and outs of a season ticket in the Premier League.

How do season tickets work in the Premier League?

Buyers can attend all home games

A season ticket allows the buyer to attend all home games across a single Premier League campaign, and also any cup competition the club is involved in.

Generally, they can be extremely difficult to get a hold of with most sides having a waiting list to even buy one and it'll likely set you back a fortune.

Though, the idea of a season ticket is that it's a great deal cheaper than purchasing a single one for each game.

How much has the cost of a Premier League season ticket increased?

Three London clubs froze their prices

The report revealed that seven Premier League clubs charge over £1k for a standard seat, and only three clubs have opted to freeze their season ticket prizes, with 17 raising them and some going as far as increasing by 10% or more in what will inevitably hit fans hard in the United Kingdom’s current cost of living crisis.

The three clubs to have frozen their season ticket prices are Chelsea, Brentford and Tottenham Hotspur – all London clubs. Chelsea and Tottenham decided to freeze their prices after enduring disappointing campaigns in front of their supporters.

The figures did not make for positive reading, as a whole, with many clubs becoming stricter in their categorisation of pricing and less generous when it comes to qualifying as a senior or junior ticket holder.

The increased pricing is not set to damage attendance figures, as only five Premier League sides do not currently have a waiting list for season tickets, but it does bring forth the value of fans once more, who remain a crucial part of the so-called beautiful game, as shown in the Covid-19 pandemic.

What is the most expensive Premier League season ticket?

Four of the 'big six' aren't in the top five

Surprisingly sitting top of the list is Fulham, who finished 10th last season and charge £3k for their most expensive season ticket.

Newly-promoted Luton Town, meanwhile, sit bottom of the list, charging just £500 for their most expensive season ticket in a positive first step into England's top flight.

What's more, it's quite surprising that traditional big six members such as Man United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester City aren't even in the top five.

Most expensive PL adult season tickets (2023/24)

Team

Price

Fulham

£3000

Tottenham Hotspur

£2025

Arsenal

£1783.50

Newcastle United

£1108

West Ham United

£1105

Manchester City

£1030

Manchester United

£1007

Chelsea

£940

Crystal Palace

£895

Liverpool

£886

Wolves

£833

Aston Villa

£864

Bournemouth

£821

Brighton and Hove Albion

£800

Everton

£690

Nottingham Forest

£660

Brentford

£549

Sheffield United

£528.50

Luton Town

£510

Burnley

£500

Which Premier League club has the cheapest season ticket?

Three clubs sell a season ticket for less than £400

West Ham United sell the cheapest season ticket in the Premier League, which caught us by surprise a little given they're a London club. Prices tend to be dearer in the capital, which is evinced noticeably by Arsenal's cheapest season ticket of £973.50.

Meanwhile, Burnley and Manchester City are the only two other clubs to offer a season ticket sub £400, with the latter especially rather striking given the trophy-laden decade they've enjoyed.

Manchester United, who stage their home fixtures at the second-largest football venue (Old Trafford) in the United Kingdom, offer a season ticket for £551 – making it the 11th cheapest across the division.

Least expensive PL adult season tickets (2023/24)

Team

Price

West Ham United

£310

Burnley

£335

Manchester City

£385

Sheffield United

£418.50

Brentford

£419

Newcastle United

£438

Nottingham Forest

£465

Luton Town

£510

Wolves

£525

Crystal Palace

£545

Manchester United

£551

Brighton and Hove Albion

£565

Bournemouth

£595

Fulham

£595

Everton

£600

Aston Villa

£610

Liverpool

£699

Chelsea

£750

Tottenham Hotspur

£807

Arsenal

£973.50