With things having turned around considerably for Newcastle United in recent weeks, some of the focus from those behind the scenes at the club will surely be focused on enjoying a summer overhaul in the transfer window.

The Magpies embarked on an impressive spending spree in January, bringing in the likes of Bruno Guimaraes and Kieran Trippier, among others, and there will be a genuine hope among the club’s fan-base that they can take that next step come the summer.

But while new signings will grab all the attention, Eddie Howe will also be keen to streamline his squad, and one player who he must finally permanently offload, is Dwight Gayle.

The striker has been very much a bit-part player for the Tyneside club this season both under Howe and predecessor Steve Bruce, playing just five games of Premier League football and totalling a measly 27 minutes of action.

Despite the lack of game-time, Howe has been quick to praise Gayle for his work off the pitch, and insisted he still has a big part to play in the remainder of this season.

Speaking just last month, the Magpies boss said: “Dwight is another player who has shown a great attitude behind the scenes, with his work. He has a big role to play in the team. He’s a very experienced player.

“You know if Dwight gets one chance, that could be the key moment in our season to keep us in the Premier League. Dwight could be that player who delivers in the crucial moment so he needs to be ready for his chance.”

While Howe does a fine job there of keeping one of his fringe players on side, Gayle certainly isn’t a player who the Magpies should be hanging their hat on as a front-line option going into next season.

The likes of Chris Wood and Callum Wilson are proven Premier League options, but you would feel the Tyneside club could offload Gayle and bring in a far more exciting, and younger, talent to supplement what they already have – talks of course were held with Stade Reims sensation Hugo Ekitike back in the January transfer window for example.

And, over his numerous years at the club – excluding his loan spell at West Brom – the £40k-a-week earning striker has cost Newcastle over £10m in wages.

When you then add in his £10m transfer fee, Gayle’s time at St James’ Park has been somewhat of an expensive nightmare, while eyebrows were raised last year when it was revealed the club had handed him a new three-year deal to keep him until 2024.

Former Leeds man Noel Whelan said: “I’m shocked to hear he’s been given a new deal, because I do not think Steve Bruce will be there until the end of the year.

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“Newcastle are deep in a relegation battle so to hand out contracts now, when everything is up in the air, I find that pretty bewildering. It is not as if he has been given much game time. How can you hand out a three-year contract to a player who has barely played, under a manager who might not be there?”

This summer has to be one where Newcastle try and bridge the gap to the Premier League’s elite, and getting rid of a wildly under-performing and rarely-used Gayle has to be on the agenda too.

AND in other news – Sold for £36.9m, now worth £720k: Newcastle enjoyed a blinder with “unplayable” flop

Are Liverpool going to complete a deal for Bournemouth’s high-flying talisman, Antoine Semenyo, this January?

Well, someone’s going to, with all the reliable sources confirming that the Ghana international is set to leave the Vitality Stadium having scored eight goals and supplied three assists across 16 Premier League appearances this season.

At this hectic Christmas stage, it looks as though he’s set to head to Manchester City with David Ornstein revealing on the 23rd that the player’s “preference is to join Man City.”

While many frustrated Reds fans would point toward central defence as a priority position this winter, Alexander Isak’s injury and the lingering uncertainty around Mohamed Salah may well have changed things for FSG and sporting director Richard Hughes.

How Liverpool can react to Isak's injury

Isak’s ice-cold finish to set Liverpool on their way against Tottenham was supposed to be the start of a bright spell for the British-record signing.

Having cost Liverpool £125m, to say the former Newcastle forward has been disappointing would be an understatement, and now, he faces a lengthy layoff after breaking his leg when cut down by Micky van de Ven in the act of scoring.

There are a number of routes Liverpool can head down as they try to find ways to replace the Sweden striker, but pushing ahead with a deal for Semenyo feels the most prudent.

But Semenyo is a wanted man, and Liverpool do have another option they could fall back on.

After all, Vinicius Junior is the better player. Reports from this month, as relayed by Football FanCast, outline Liverpool’s interest in Real Madrid’s wantaway winger. Talks have allegedly been held with the player’s representatives and there could be a price tag of around £131m.

Real would supposedly consider offers in the ballpark of £80m, and given Semenyo has a £65m release clause with Bournemouth, it may be worth pushing ahead with a deal for Vini Jr instead, should a deal truly be doable.

Why Vini Jr should be Liverpool's top pick

It’s worth drawing attention right off the bat to Vinicius Junior’s contractual situation: the Brazil “superstar”, as he has been labelled by former Real Madrid teammate Luka Modric, is halfway through the penultimate year of his deal, thus limiting the parameters Florentino Perez can set at the negotiating table.

The £400k-per-week talent has yet to fall toward a particular eventuality as he creeps toward the exit at Santiago Bernabeu, but Liverpool might be the perfect location for him, with the 25-year-old comfortably established as one of the world’s best forwards and sure to become one of Slot’s main men, playing off the left flank.

He might even prove himself to be a bigger talent than Isak. Liverpool’s star striker is one of the sharpest finishers in the game, with elite movement and athleticism when fully fit. But Vini boasts a unique repetoire.

Vinicius Jr vs Alexander Isak (past 12 months)

Stats (per 90)

Vini Jr

Isak

Goals scored

0.28

0.59

Assists

0.28

0.12

Shots taken

3.29

2.83

Touches (att pen)

8.94

5.50

Shot-creating actions

5.25

2.20

Pass completion (%)

75.4

75.2

Progressive passes

3.42

2.52

Progressive carries

7.28

2.48

Successful take-ons

2.84

0.98

Ball recoveries

3.22

1.65

Tackles + interceptions

1.23

0.79

Data via FBref

While Vinicius Jr is more of a wide forward than a focal frontman like Isak, he has played plenty at number nine, and there’s no question that he has a wider breadth of quality to complement his ferocious killer instinct. The goals have dried up of late, but he’s scored bucketloads in his time.

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Even as he plods along through 2025/26, out of sorts and potentially feeling unloved in a team he has led to two Champions League titles, does Vincius Jr return solid numbers that would be hallmarks of lesser forwards’ careers. He has five goals and eight assists from 24 matches, having notched 22 goals and 19 assists across all competitions last year.

x

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Isak is one of the best strikers in the Premier League. One of the best in Europe. However, Vinicius Jr came within a whisker of Ballon d’Or gold, and he would arrive in Liverpool with a point to prove, taking control of an outfit that perhaps needs such a profile as Salah winds down.

Related Liverpool must drop £150k-p/w dud who's a bigger concern than Isak

Liverpool laboured to a narrow win over nine-man Tottenham in the Premier League on Saturday evening.

Posts ByAngus Sinclair

The optimism, the hope, the expectation. It only lasts about 90 minutes of the opening day for most…

Saturday’s last minute defeat to newly promoted Yeovil Town is of course not the best start to the season, but some fans are overreacting massively to the first game.

The game was not only Steve Lomas’ first competitive game in charge, but realistically no team wants to play a newly promoted side on the first game of the season. They are usually still on a high and have a winning mentality still, there an unknown package in this league.

Look when ‘Wall went to Bristol City first game they were promoted – they went and won 3-0 at Ashton Gate.

Lomas is a novice in management in English football, and he made a couple of mistakes with his line-up. Why start Richard Chaplow, an experienced, competent Championship midfielder on the wing, and play Jimmy Abdou and Josh Wright in the centre?

Wright is a midfielder who can’t tackle, but can’t pass a ball forward, there’s a myth that he’s a “passing midfielder”. On the other hand all Millwall supporters love Jimmy, but he can only do one thing and that’s to defend.

In reality, Nicky Bailey and Richard Chaplow should be our centre midfield pair. A half fit Bailey came on in the second half against Yeovil and was the best player on the pitch, that may show you how good Bailey is, but most likely shows how bad Wright and Jimmy were together.

And Danny Shittu, the man-mountain and hero of last season, looks even slower than last year, it may have been only one game but he looks like he has the turning pace of a cruise liner. Robbo might be a better option this year no fully fit.

Of course it’s not the best start to have to the season, but give the new signings time to gel into the team, we have decent players here now, we just need time for the jigsaw pieces all to fit.

Lomas picked up his first win as manager on Tuesday night after goals from Martyn Woolford and Andy Keogh secured a 2-1 win against AFC Wimbledon in the Capital One Cup. Lomas made seven changes to his team against Yeovil, it seems he stuck to his word after declaring he will give all players a chance.

It also gave the chance for players to shine, Nicky Bailey certainly took up the chance, his second man of the match performance in four days. He seems to be one of the only midfielders we have who seems comfortable on the ball, and seems to know what he’s going to do with the ball before he receives it.

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On a free transfer he seems to be a great signing, and hopefully he’ll be paired with Richard Chaplow in centre midfield. Can be a devastating partnership at this level.

COYL

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After piling up 394 in the first innings Andhra had Karnatakastruggling on 83/3 to hold the whiphand at stumps on the second day oftheir Cooch Behar Trophy South Zone league match at the VisakhapatanamSteel Plant stadium on Thursday.Resuming on the second day at 281 for 6, Venugopal Rao lost Mohd Faiqwith the score at 294. Manoj Sai joined Venugopal in the middle andthe two put on a useful 40 runs for the eight wicket. Venugopal wasthe chief scorer during the partnerships that ensued on the second dayand before long proceeded to complete a well deserved century. Playinga typical captain’s knock, he took the team nearly past the 400 runmark, when he himself fell. With the score at 394, Venugopal was thelast man to be dismissed after a fighting 130 off 223 balls.In reply, Karnataka started in a circumspect manner with openers SudirRao (22) and Bharat Chipli (18) adding 37 runs in 18.2 overs. Rao wasthe first to go, when he was castled by GS Rao. Then Deepak Chougulejoined Chipli, but Chipli himself did not last long. He departed afterbeing caught by Manoj Sai off Venugopal Rao with only 56 runs on theboard. This brought in skipper C Raghu to the centre and in thecompany of Chougule he took the score to 75. GS Rao pushed Karnatakafurther on the back foot when he shattered the defences of Chougule.But Raghu and AK Bafna saw Karnataka safely through to stumps withoutany further hiccups.

Peter Bowler, a stalwart of over 250 first class games, celebrated histhirty-seventh birthday with his third century of the season as Somersetevened up its County Championship clash with Durham at Chester-le-Streettoday.To experienced Bowler watchers, news of this latest century will come as nosurprise as the situation was tailor made for a man of such a temperamentand application. He restarted his innings at 62 today and built slowlytoward his landmark, so much so that he had still not ascended to it bylunch. When it did come – in a minute over six hours and from 283 balls -the generous and spontaneous applause that it prompted from the crowd was ameasure in itself of its quality and importance. By the time that SimonBrown (3/69) eventually found a way to beat his defences with an offcutter, he had reached 107 and had added a magnificent 157 in partnershipwith the almost equally resilient Graham Rose (82*) for the seventh wicket.The pair had taken Somerset from a dire position to one of near paritywith the Durham first innings of 292. That the tail enders could onlycontribute another thirty-five to the total after Bowler made his exit onlyreinforced the centrality of their twin contributions.Here a word of praise needs to be devoted specifically to Rose, anotherplayer nearer to forty years of age than thirty. When the Somerset inningswas eventually terminated at 280, he was left only eighteen short of hisown century – one that would likewise have been well deserved. To add tohis good day, he then had opener Michael Gough (5) edging to second slip asDurham revisited the crease. With the score on 29, he struck again, thistime causing first innings centurion Jon Lewis (12) to shoulder arms andignominiously lose his off stump to a delivery that kept slightly low as itswung in toward him. His was a fabulous all-round performance.Regrettably, late interruptions for rain and bad light then clippedtwenty-four overs off the day just when the match had entered perhaps itsmost critical phase of all. With Durham positioned at 73/3 by day’s end,it seems that both teams will need to play aggressively in the morning ifan outright result is to be engineered.For the home team today, John Wood (5/88) was easily the pick of thebowlers – his heart and gusto infectious on a hot morning. Its cause was,however, badly hampered by the loss of Melvyn Betts (1/22) to a knee strain.

ScorecardMark Footitt picked up three wickets on day two•PA Photos

Glamorgan took a strong grip over Derbyshire at Chesterfield despite another four wicket haul from England fast bowling hopeful Mark Footitt. National Selector James Whitaker was at Queen’s Park for the second day running to watch the left-arm paceman but it was Glamorgan’s batsmen who caught the eye as they scored more than 66% of their 410 for 9 declared in boundaries with former Derbyshire allrounder Graham Wagg making 62 from 64 balls.Wagg was one of four Glamorgan batsmen to pass 50 but Derbyshire responded well to reach 122 for 2 at the close, 288 runs behind with Billy Godleman unbeaten on 49 from 119 balls.Derbyshire needed a response after bowling poorly on the first evening but Colin Ingram was the only wicket to fall in a morning session reduced to 45 minutes by rain. The South African looked set for his maiden Championship century for Glamorgan until he tried to cut Footitt for his 20th boundary but carved the ball into the hands of deep-backward point.Craig Meschede passed 50 in the Championship for the fourth time this season and Derbyshire added to their problems when they dropped catches off consecutive balls. Shiv Thakor spilled a return chance when Meschede was on 60 and Godleman failed to hold on when Wagg edged Footitt to third slip when he had scored only 7.Dropping a player who had scored a double century and 94 in his previous two Championship games was always likely to prove costly and Wagg duly enjoyed himself again, driving Wes Durston’s offspin for successive sixes to reach 50 from 62 balls. Tom Taylor defeated another drive to uproot his off stump but Wagg and Lloyd had put on 87 in only 14 overs and Glamorgan continued to prosper from too many “four” balls to the extent that maximum batting points arrived in the 78th over.The declaration came nine balls after tea leaving Derbyshire with 40 overs to negotiate before the close and Godleman and Hamish Rutherford looked comfortable until a run out lifted Glamorgan. Godleman turned the ball into the leg side and called Rutherford through for a single but Ruaidhri Smith swooped on the ball in his follow through and hit the stumps with the New Zealander short of his ground.When Chesney Hughes played across one in Smith’s next over, Derbyshire were wobbling but skipper Wayne Madsen survived a dropped catch on 17 to help steer his side to within 139 runs of the follow-on target of 261 although Glamorgan are well placed to push for what would be a record fifth consecutive championship victory.”I think we are still on top, unfortunately we put down a chance tonight and there is a lot of work to be done,” Wagg said. “But there’s a lot still in the wicket so if we put the ball in the right areas we should pick up some wickets in the morning.”Rutherford added: “The first hour is key tomorrow and if we can get through the first 30 overs and only lose one that would be ideal to get back into it the game.”

KL Rahul, the 23-year old India batsman, is set to make a comeback to top-flight cricket with the India A team when they play Australia A in two unofficial Tests in Chennai. Despite a century the last time he batted in Test cricket, there are doubts over his standing as first-choice opener.He had fallen ill prior to the Bangladesh tour in June, and has been shy of match practice in first-class cricket since. Add to that Shikhar Dhawan staking a claim for the opening spot with a breezy 173 against Bangladesh, the next few weeks in Chennai could be crucial for Rahul.”It was very disappointing to miss out on a Test match, especially when you’ve just started playing Test cricket. But things like this happen. I’m just looking forward to playing these matches,” he said during a media session in Chennai on Saturday. “I haven’t been playing a lot of cricket; the last time I played days [first-class] cricket was the Ranji Trophy final. So it’s been a while since I’ve played days cricket so it will be an ideal opportunity.”The conditions here are tough and it’s going to test my fitness. I’ve been working hard in Bangalore, training with the NCA trainers. So I’m looking forward to this opportunity to get back and scoring runs to the team”It would help that he will be playing against an Australia A side that has several players who have tasted international cricket. Rahul believed A team cricket was important to a young player’s development because it provides an idea of how demanding international cricket can be.”It’s a game of bat and ball in international cricket as well. But there you’re playing the best players of their country, they’re all professionals and the margin of error is very less. So those are the few things that are different from Indian [domestic] cricket,” Rahul said. “The gap is mostly the mental aspect. The pressure and the things you go through mentally and emotionally. Physically, when it comes to playing cricket, there isn’t a big difference. I mean when you go abroad you have to play different on different wickets. But that’s the challenge as a cricketer.”When we toured Australia last year in mid-June, that was my first India A tour, and you get a fair idea of the kind of conditions and the kind of pressure you’ll have to face when you play international cricket, when you’re playing against the best XI from a different country. So the competition is very high. The pressures are different from what we face in India in Ranji Trophy. It just builds the character of a player and gets him fairly ready for international cricket.”While Rahul was attempting to renew ties with international cricket, Mumbai batsman Shreyas Iyer is hoping to come good on the promise he showed while playing in the IPL. He was the only uncapped batsman to score 300 runs in IPL 2015. Shreyas has shown pedigree in the longer format as well. He was Mumbai’s top-scorer in the Ranji Trophy 2014-15 with 809 runs at 50.56 with two centuries.”I don’t change my cricket,” Iyer said. ”The only thing that I need to change is my mental skills because from T20 to one-day and Tests, the format is very different. I’m getting used to it. It’s not very tough for me because I play on my instincts. Just stick to your basics and process, just keep that right and everything else will follow”Shreyas thought his promotion to the India A squad was based on his IPL showing and credited the tournament for the exposure it give fledgling players. ”I just went on with the flow. That performance has basically helped me get into the India A team. It’s [IPL] a really big platform for a youngster like me because you can just go and explore and you get full freedom from your coaches.”Rahul, though, was quick to point out that there was more to being selected for India than just performances in IPL and the now defunct Champions League T20.”It’s not the end of the road. There are so many more opportunities, so many more tournaments that we can prove ourselves,” Rahul said. “There’s Ranji Trophy, we play [domestic] 50-overs and 20-overs cricket and there are a lot of other opportunities to make a mark and come into the selectors radar. [Suspending] CLT20, I don’t think will make a difference. It was a great platform for guys to perform. But I’m sure there are more opportunities for teams to do well.”

ScorecardZafar Ansari top-scored for Surrey and then took the crucial wicket of Gary Ballance•PA Photos

Gary Ballance hit his second fifty in three days after being dropped by England but it was not enough to prevent Yorkshire from losing to Surrey by six runs in the Royal London Cup at the Kia Oval.Ballance survived an early drop by Gareth Batty when on 3 and looked like making Surrey pay when he got to 77, helping Yorkshire close in on a target of 266. But he then swept Zafar Ansari straight to deep square leg and the task of scoring 22 off the last 16 balls proved beyond the Yorkshire tail.Surrey had set them a challenging target thanks to an eighth-wicket stand of 66 in seven overs between Ansari, who finished unbeaten on 66, and Tom Curran, who made 44.Steve Davies had given Surrey a flying start with 39 off 32 balls but the innings almost stalled against some tight bowling from Steven Patterson, Yorkshire’s most dependable seamer, and Karl Carver, a 19-year-old left arm spinner making his List A debut.Patterson bowled Davies with his seventh ball and had a frustrated Jason Roy, who had made two centuries in his last three innings, caught at midwicket. Carver had Gary Wilson caught at mid-off and Kumar Sangakkara, who had struggled to 23 off 45 balls in his 506th List A innings, taken at square leg.Ben Foakes gave the innings some momentum with 44 off 52 balls but when he and Batty were both caught at mid-on off Glenn Maxwell and James Burke was caught and bowled by Matthew Fisher, Surrey were still labouring at 187 for seven.It was then that Tom Curran launched his assault. He made his intentions clear by driving Maxwell over long-off for the first six of the match and when the offspinner was kept on for what turned out to be an over too many he struck him for 4, 6, 4 off successive balls.When launching their reply, Yorkshire soon lost Andrew Gale, lbw to the impressive 17-year-old Sam Curran, but Alex Lees and Maxwell gave them a solid foundation with a second wicket partnership of 67.Lees made 28 and Maxwell 55, his second highest score for Yorkshire, and it looked as though Yorkshire would coast to victory when Ballance was sharing stands of 65 with Jack Leaning and 41 with Andrew Hodd.

The BCB is in discussion with Zimbabwe Cricket to cut one Test from the bilateral series to be held in January next year. Naimur Rahman, the BCB cricket operations committee chairman, said that the proposed reduction was due to Bangladesh’s preparations for the Asia Cup T20 and World T20 tournaments following the Zimbabwe series.

Domestic season schedule announced

The Bangladesh domestic season will begin on September 17 with the National Cricket League first-class tournament. The Bangladesh Premier League will span four weeks in November and December, after which the second first-class tournament, the Bangladesh Cricket League, and the marquee List-A competition, the Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League, will complete the 2015-16 season.
BCB director Naimur Rahman said they are trying to set a consistent domestic calendar and hoped there would not be the usual delay in starting these tournaments.
Proposed tournament dates
National Cricket League, Sept 17-Nov 8
Bangladesh Premier League, Nov 25-Dec 25
Bangladesh Cricket League, Jan 5-Feb 20
Dhaka Premier League, Mar 11-May 9

The tour was originally scheduled to have three Tests, five ODIs and three T20s. Now it is likely to have two Tests, three ODIs and three T20s with Zimbabwe landing in Dhaka on January 11, and the tour ending on February 18.ESPNcricinfo has learned that the Bangladesh team management was consulted before the matter was discussed in a meeting of board directors and officials on Monday. Naimur said the team management wanted to reduce the number of ODIs to two but it will still remain a three-match series. However, it was learned that there has been some consensus between the two boards about the number of ODIs to be reduced to three from five.Bangladesh’s remaining international commitment in 2015 is the two-match Test series against Australia in October. After the Zimbabwe series ends in mid-February, Bangladesh will play in the Asia Cup T20 tournament from March 1 to 10. The following day the team will be off to India for the World T20, which will end on April 3.Naimur said the BCB is waiting for ZC to give its view on the tour composition, after which it will be placed in the board meeting for approval. “We are still in talks with Zimbabwe. We have proposed to reduce one Test,” Naimur said. “They said they will let us know after discussing among themselves. We have to consider the cricketers’ rest and recovery, at the same time we are committed to playing ODIs and T20s after the Tests. So we have to prepare accordingly. That’s why we are reducing the number of Tests so that we can prepare for T20s.”The concern is also about the fitness levels of Bangladesh’s fast bowlers in Tests. “Our frontline pace bowlers are already suffering from injuries. We have to think of their recovery.”I always want to play. We had more Tests but we also have other commitments. I later saw that it wouldn’t be possible to play more Tests realistically.”Naimur insisted that Test cricket remains important for Bangladesh, as they are holding domestic first-class tournaments like the National Cricket League and Bangladesh Cricket League, but they gave priority to T20s this time because the players do not have the physical ability to play an extra Test in a season dominated by T20s.”Because Tests are important, we are using tournaments like BCL and NCL to prepare players for the longer version. But we also have to think what might happen to a cricketer who plays three Tests, three ODIs and three T20s.”We know that our cricketers’ physical condition hasn’t reached that level. We have to think particularly about the pace bowlers.”

Misbah-ul-Haq has expressed concerns following the recent anti-Pakistan protests in Mumbai, because Pakistan are scheduled to travel to India for the World T20 in March 2016.The scheduled meeting between BCCI president Shashank Manohar and PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan on Monday to discuss the proposed India-Pakistan series was disrupted by a group of 50 workers from regional political party Shiv Sena, who stormed the BCCI headquarters in Mumbai, shouted anti-Pakistan slogans and demanded the cancellation of the proposed series.Following the protests, the ICC withdrew Pakistani umpire Aleem Dar from the remaining two ODIs between India and South Africa, while Wasim Akram and Shoaib Akhtar, who are in India as part of the commentary team, are also returning to Pakistan after the fourth ODI in Chennai.Misbah, the Pakistan Test captain, said he was disappointed with political interference in sporting activity. “It’s always disappointing,” he said in Dubai. “It’s not just about India-Pakistan; wherever it happens it is disappointing. I believe politics should be separate from sports. Otherwise it’s really difficult for all nations that are playing the game and we all should play each other.”When Australia didn’t tour Bangladesh recently that was disappointing as well,” Misbah said. “As cricketers we want to play each other, and we don’t want any sort of politics involved in this sport.”Pakistan have no intention of pulling out from the World T20 in India, which will be played at eight venues including Mumbai, but Misbah spoke of strong concerns about playing in India amid political tension. “These are the big concerns,” Misbah said, referring to the protests.”Obviously when these sort of things happen, that really puts something in your mind. I don’t know what is going to happen but obviously these are the big concerns. You don’t want to restrict yourself not to play here and there. We really want to play everywhere and enjoy the game.”This is not the first time Pakistan have expressed such concerns. The Pakistan women’s team was forced to play their 2013 World Cup group matches in Cuttack, following threats from political activists in Mumbai.