All posts by h79snht.top

Tottenham Hotspur's manager search has gone exactly as the fanbase knew it would, drawing out a process that takes other clubs mere days.

Take Brighton and Hove Albion for example. Having enjoyed a fine start to the season, it looked like their success would be thrown into jeopardy when Graham Potter moved to Chelsea in September. However, less than ten days after that Sky Sports announcement, Roberto De Zerbi had been appointed as his replacement. They have since gone on to surpass the Lilywhites, claiming one of the European spots that they would miss out on.

Given the relative stature of both clubs, it is a miserable indictment of the shambolic running of the former Champions League finalists.

Having dismissed Antonio Conte in late March, it has now been over two months and they are no closer to naming his successor.

Julian Nagelsmann was first ruled out of the running, before Arne Slot snubbed the offer to stay in his homeland. Now, as of late May, rumours are circulating linking them with a swoop for the out-of-work former River Plate head coach Marcelo Gallardo.

Whilst a newer name on the media merry-go-round, he could actually provide an upgrade to the Dutchman who turned them down last month.

Would Marcelo Gallardo be an upgrade on Arne Slot?

Although the Argentinian has been unemployed since leaving his hometown club in 2022, the 47-year-old is still a revered name by many given the success he earned at River. Pep Guardiola even claimed: "What Gallardo has done with River is incredible."

Across his eight years and 424 games in charge of the club, he would win 12 separate honours, meaning his trophy cabinet is filled to the brim. Although Slot's exploits in this campaign might have made him an attractive proposition, he does not boast half the title-winning acumen of this potential alternative.

Not only this, but Gallardo's time in his homeland also saw him maintain a points-per-match average of 1.88, made all the more impressive given his longevity. He would also concede fewer goals than games, highlighting a defensive solidity that Spurs have lacked this season, having shipped 63 goals in 38 games.

Meanwhile, whilst the Feyenoord boss did lead his team to the Eredivisie title, it marked his first-ever piece of silverware. Levy, whilst he has been lambasted for chasing proven winners like Conte and Jose Mourinho in recent years, must surely avoid going too aggressively in the other direction.

He needs someone young and willing to forge a team to compete in the long run, and there are few in the modern game who can boast such longevity and success as Gallardo, supplemented by his free-flowing 4-3-3 style.

It is the closest they will get to repeating their success with Mauricio Pochettino, which is the very least they must aim for after allowing him to join Chelsea. In fact, journalist Alasdair Gold even suggested in a Q&A: "Gallardo is certainly growing his reputation and some people believe he's similar to Pochettino in style".

With everything Levy needs in a manager, plus that passion and title-winning mentality to boot, Gallardo would mark a surprising but stunning capture to surely surpass what Slot would have achieved in north London.

India Blue’s marathon innings ended on 707 at stumps on the second day of their 2016-17 Duleep Trophy match against India Green, after centuries from Cheteshwar Pujara and Sheldon Jackson

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Sep-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsFile photo – Cheteshwar Pujara scored his 32nd first-class century from his favoured No. 3 position•Associated Press

India Blue’s marathon innings ended on 707 at stumps on the second day of their Duleep Trophy match against India Green. Cheteshwar Pujara (166) and Sheldon Jackson (105) joined Mayank Agarwal as first-innings centurions as India Blue ground India Green into submission in Greater Noida on Monday.On an unhelpful surface that offered neither swing nor turn, India Green made matters worse for themselves, handing reprieves to batsmen through no-balls and dropped catches. Some of the batsmen who benefited from these lapses did not capitalise, but these were small mercies for India Green.India Blue’s towering first-innings total gives them a significant advantage as they look to push for a lead that would take them through to the final against India Red. India Blue are already ahead of India Green on the points table, by virtue of the point they earned through the washout against India Red.Resuming on 63, Pujara played a chanceless innings, almost never taking the aerial route – he hit 24 fours, but not a single six. Pujara seemed equally at ease against spin and pace and didn’t seem troubled at all, irrespective of the length. He eventually fell for 166 off 280 after an inside-edge onto the stumps. Failing to pick a Shreyas Gopal googly and seeing that it was short, Pujara made room to cut. But with the ball spinning back in, it was too close to the body and he chopped on. “Even when I was facing spinners, it was very difficult to pick the googly under lights,” Pujara said after his dismissal. “A little difficult to pick the seam on the pink ball.”Pujara said that facing up to the new ball under lights on the opening day was the toughest phase of his innings. “This was my first game with the pink ball. I enjoyed batting on this wicket. There wasn’t much help for the fast bowlers. The most difficult session was the third session [on the first day], under lights, when they took the second new ball. It moved about and came on faster.”Pujara’s 32nd first-class century came from his preferred No. 3 position, although he acknowledged the importance of being adaptable. “Sometimes, you have to be prepared to bat at any number. If given a choice, and because I have scored so many runs at No. 3, I know how to bat there, I know how to build an innings. Given a choice, I would like to bat at No. 3, but I’m happy to bat wherever.”By the time Pujara was dismissed, Jackson had already raced to 26 off 31 balls and had added 46 runs for the sixth wicket. Jackson brought a different style to the table, stepping down to the spinners at will and unafraid to launch the ball in the air. Where Pujara was all patience and grind, Jackson provided a neat study in contrast with his brute force and muscle. He had his slice of luck – he was dropped by M Vijay at slip on 74 – but otherwise provided a brilliant display of clean hitting. He brought up his 10th first-class century with a drilled boundary down the ground off Shreyas.”I consider myself lucky; I was dropped in the 70s,” Jackson said. “The wicket was good and the ball was coming on nicely. When the new ball comes, it gets difficult [to sight it] because the speed changes, the ball skids on at good pace, so making the minor adjustment takes a little bit of time.”Every match I score is important, but to score in such matches is very important because it is live and people are watching. It [the surface] should behave a little differently on days 3 and 4. Both the sides [of the ball] are scuffed up a little bit.”Jackson found good support from Parvez Rasool, who scored 25, and Karn Sharma, who stroked his way to 57. By the time he fell – holing out to long-on to give Shreyas his fifth wicket and bring the innings to a close – he had ensured India Green were buried under a mountain of runs.

AB de Villiers is clinging on to a slim hope of making a comeback from an elbow injury sooner than expected, in South Africa’s first day-night Test against Australia in Adelaide

Firdose Moonda07-Oct-2016

AB de Villiers is clinging on to a slim hope of making a comeback sooner than expected, in South Africa’s first day-night Test against Australia in Adelaide. Even though de Villiers has been ruled out for the entire tour with an elbow injury, the man himself believes he could still be part of the series, albeit only for that final Test.”I am holding on to that. According to the surgeons and the doctors, there’s no chance. They gave me six weeks before rehab starts but I always feel the rehab phase can be sped up a bit,” de Villiers told Five AA radio in Adelaide. “Maybe after the six weeks if I do fly over straight away, I will be there for the second Test match, have the opportunity to prepare during that game, not play in it and then be ready for the Adelaide Test which would be a dream come to true to play in a day-night Test match against Australia at the Adelaide Oval.”When de Villiers was initially sidelined on September 27, South Africa team manager Mohammed Moosajee said he would require eight to ten weeks of recovery, which would make him available between November 22 and December 6. As a result, Moosajee said, de Villiers would target the home series against Sri Lanka, that begins with a Boxing Day Test, to make a comeback. De Villiers had surgery on his elbow on October 3. The Adelaide Test starts on November 24, which would put de Villiers’ recovery time at just over seven weeks.The injury, which causes pain to de Villiers when he plays certain shots, was sustained earlier this year and was being treated conservatively with physiotherapy and cortisone. Because de Villiers continued to experience discomfort when batting, he had to undergo surgery, even though the timing was not ideal. “I’ve had to sort this out,” de Villiers explained. “It came at a really bad time. There’s one Test series you don’t want to miss out on and that’s playing Australia in Australia so I am really sad about it, but I had to get it sorted out.”The exact cause of the injury is not isolated but rather due to general overuse and overload that comes with the packed cricketing calendar. De Villiers had played without a break since last October, when South Africa toured India. That was followed by a home series against England, the World T20 in India, the IPL and the CPL. De Villiers admitted that was too much while carrying various niggles.”In the last couple of seasons I did push it too much. I was driven to go and win the 2015 World Cup, so an injury was never going to keep me off the park. I was always going to just work through it,” he said. “After the 2015 World Cup, there was a big dip in my fitness, both physically and mentally. I was a little bit drained. I only realised after the World Cup, I had been pushing it a bit hard. For the last two seasons, playing all three formats with the hectic schedule from the ICC, I didn’t manage it as well as I could have and I am paying the price now.”The price began when de Villiers was ruled out of the home Tests against New Zealand in August, which would have been his first in charge since he was appointed permanent Test captain in February. He has also sat out the ODIs against Australia but his absence has not affected South Africa’s performances. Under Faf du Plessis, they have won both series and no one is happier than de Villiers.”They are doing well without me, It’s great to see that without guys like myself, Hashim, Morne Morkel, the depth is still there and the talent is coming through nicely,” he said. “We are a very inexperienced team, playing the No. 1 team in the world. Yes, Australia are also lacking in the bowling department a little with a few injuries but still to beat the No. 1 team in the world, a few games in a row, speaks volumes of our depth and is great for the country’s cricket.”With a smooth transition to another leader and de Villiers’ recent history of hinting that he will need to address workload issues, the topic of an early international retirement is likely to come up again. But de Villiers continues to insist that is not on his mind, at least for the next three years while he targets the only unticked box on his cricketing CV. “The biggest dream for me is 2019 World Cup but I will have to manage myself to get there,” he said. “I am still in good shape, I am a fit guy and I am not too heavy on my feet, so I can definitely move around maybe even further than 2019, but to me the World Cup dream is the main one. I would love to be around for that 2019 World Cup.”

نجح مانشستر سيتي في تحقيق فوز صعب على برينتفورد، في مباراتهما مساء الثلاثاء، المؤجلة من الجولة الثامنة عشر من الدوري الإنجليزي الممتاز.

وتغلب ليفربول نظيره لوتون تاون، مساء الأربعاء، في مباراة ضمن لقاءات الجولة السادسة والعشرين من البطولة، بأربعة أهداف مقابل هدف.

في حين أن آرسنال لديه مباراة ضد نيوكاسل يونايتد في الجولة نفسها، مساء السبت القادم، على ملعب “الإمارات”.

ويخوض مانشستر سيتي مباراة يوم السبت ضد بورنموث في الجولة المذكورة، 26. جدول ترتيب الدوري الإنجليزي 

1- ليفربول، 60 نقطة.

2- مانشستر سيتي، 56 نقطة.

3- آرسنال، 55 نقطة.

4- أستون فيلا، 49 نقطة.

5- توتنهام، 47 نقطة.

6- مانشستر يونايتد، 44 نقطة.

7- برايتون، 38 نقطة.

8- نيوكاسل يونايتد، 37 نقطة.

9- وست هام، 36 نقطة.

9 – برايتون، 35 نقطة.

10- تشيلسي، 35 نقطة.

11- ولفرهامبتون، 35 نقطة.

12- فولهام، 29 نقطة.

13- بورنموث، 28 نقطة.

14 -برينتفورد، 25 نقطة.

15- كريستال بالاس، 25 نقطة.

16- نوتينجهام فورست، 24 نقطة.

17- إيفرتون، 20 نقطة.

18- لوتون تاون، 20 نقطة.

19- بيرنلي، 13 نقطة.

20- شيفيلد يونايتد، 13 نقطة.

ويمكن متابعة ترتيب الدوري الإنجليزي الممتاز، موسم 2023/24، محدث بشكل مستمر من هنا.

Napoli ultras have returned the steering wheel from Luciano Spalletti’s stolen Fiat Panda as a parting gift with the manager set to leave after winning Serie A.

Why was Luciano Spalletti’s car stolen?

It’s been a remarkable season for the Italian club as they won their first Scudetto since 1990 – back when Diego Maradona was dazzling defenders for Gli Azzurri.

Napoli’s recent success is quite remarkable when you consider that the manager had his beloved Fiat Panda stolen during protests in 2021. Not long after, the ultra’s then offered him an ultimatum about returning the car if Spalletti would leave.

The manager quipped back: “First of all we have to see in what condition the Panda will be returned in, how many kilometres it has travelled, whether there are Pino Daniele CDs inside.”

Well, both parties have now stuck to their promise as even the CDs have been returned to the 64-year-old Italian who is set to take a sabbatical in the summer and leave.

As shown in footage circulated on Twitter, the Napoli ultras met Spalletti inside the club’s dressing room before handing him a big blue box. He unwraps the present and breaks into a big smile, having had his property returned at last.

Why is Spalletti leaving Napoli?

Spalletti took charge of Napoli in 2021 and has kept up a remarkable rate of 2.10 points per game since then, which helped deliver a first Serie A title in 33 years.

However, after securing the Scudetto, he immediately spoke about how much it had taken out of him, telling the press:

“I no longer have the energy to be up to the standard of what people love so much, so I have to take two steps back and leave.

“I am not someone who changes idea easily and I decided to leave because I feel that I’ve given all I had.”

Despite still having one year on his contract, President Aurelio De Laurentiis was happy to acquiesce to this demand, telling Italian broadcaster Rai (via Evening Standard): “He’s a free man, now it’s right that he continues to do what he wants. I thank him.”

And so now was the perfect moment for the ultras to finally return those stolen items and allow Spalletti to depart on perfect terms.

Leicester City have identified Enzo Maresca as a potential Dean Smith replacement, if they move on from the manager, according to recent reports.

Who will manage Leicester City next season?

Following their relegation from the Premier League, this summer is set to be one of great change for the Foxes, with several key players heading out the door in the coming weeks, but it remains to be seen whether the club's first team manager Smith will be joining them.

Having been appointed in April to replace Brendan Rogers after the Irishman was sacked, the 52-year-old went unbeaten in five of his eight league games at the club, but it wasn't enough to keep Leicester in the top flight.

With their fate sealed on the final day of the season, Smith's future at the club was thrown in doubt, and now The Telegraph's John Percy has reported that while the club haven't made any final decisions on his status at the club, they have identified Pep Guardiola's assistant as a possible replacement.

Smith met with Leicester chairman Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha and the club's director of football Jon Rudkin recently, and talks are said to have gone positively as they outlined plans for the side's upcoming Championship campaign and pursuit for promotion, but things are still up in the air with Maresca now in the frame.

Who is Enzo Maresca?

Having worked closely with Guardiola as his assistant manager this season, Maresca has been learning from one of the very best in the game and could follow a similar path as that of Mikel Arteta, who once also worked under the tutelage of the Manchester City manager, before embarking on a successful managerial career himself at Arsenal.

The 43-year-old has a little bit of experience as a first-team coach, though, having spent a brief amount of time in charge at Parma, but it's safe to say, things didn't quite go to plan for the Italian, and he was let go after just 14 games which saw him pick up just four wins, despite having names like Gianluigi Buffon and Franco Vazquez in the side.

Leicester are taking their time figuring out who will be in charge of the side's first season back in the Championship, but Maresca is in no rush to join, with his duties at Man City and their quest for the treble still his number one priority.

Any decision on his future will likely be made after the Champions League final next weekend, but with Smith still fighting to keep his job and a wealth of experience managing in the Championship on his side, it remains to be seen where the club will go from here.

Zimbabwe Cricket has admitted its annual audit, which was required to be submitted to the ICC within six months of the financial year-end, is yet to be finalised more than three months after it was due

Enock Muchinjo and Tristan Holme06-Oct-2016

Zimbabwe Cricket has admitted its annual audit, which was required to be submitted to the ICC within six months of the financial year-end, is yet to be finalised more than three months after it was due.”The audit is going on. It will be premature for us to comment on it at this stage,” Tavenga Mukuhlani, ZC’s chairman, told ESPNcricinfo. “We have a road map in place to finalise the audit and when we are done we will be able to respond to your questions.”In February the ICC amended its rules to require Full Members to submit an unqualified audit within six months of their financial year-end. ZC’s financial year runs from January to December and so an audit should have been submitted by the end of June.It is understood that ZC has remained in regular communication with the ICC about the delays to allay any concerns thus far, and the ICC is expecting an audit soon. In the event that ZC is unable to deliver the audit to the ICC, or end up producing a qualified audit, the ICC can raise questions.Concerns around ZC’s accounts started to emerge when board members were sent a document that was supposedly an audit of the 2015 accounts ahead of the Annual General Meeting on September 14. As was initially reported in the , the document raised eyebrows among members of the board for the way figures were thrown around without sufficient explanation for how the money had been spent.The document, which ESPNcricinfo has a copy of, lists tour expenses of US$5.2 million despite the fact that a majority of Zimbabwe’s series during the year were bankrolled by other parties. Zimbabwe’s main visitors in 2015 were New Zealand and Pakistan, but Total Sports Marketing, a Bangladesh sports marketing agency, held the marketing and broadcast rights for the tours and was responsible for the expenses. Ireland and Afghanistan also toured, but Afghanistan paid their own way.Members of the ZC board, which underwent something of an overhaul in August 2015, questioned how the tour expenses figure was so high. “Most tours in 2015 were fully funded,” an insider told ESPNcricinfo. “From our investigations, it will take great extravagance for the total cost of all tours in 2015 to reach a million dollars.”These and other issues were raised at the AGM, which was unable to continue after the accounts were rejected, creating the need for a Special General Meeting. The day before the AGM, the auditing firm responsible for compiling ZC’s financial statements dissociated itself from the document presented to board members, saying that it was yet to complete the audit. The firm, HLB Zimbabwe, had begun the audit process but became hamstrung when it requested additional information from ZC that was not forthcoming.In a letter to ZC dated September 13, HLB representative Clement Ruzengwe wrote: “We have been waiting for outstanding information in order to complete the audit, which has not been forthcoming from Zimbabwe Cricket. We are thus surprised that the audit report for that year (2015) has been circulated to the Board.”If indeed an audit report has been circulated to the Board, this has been done without our knowledge or authorisation. We disassociate ourselves from that report, and we request an explanation from your good offices as to how that report, purported to have come from us, has ended up in your board papers.”Following the AGM a ZC board memo, which ESPNcricinfo has seen, was circulated with an engagement plan between ZC and the auditor. Yet it is understood that no engagement has taken place, and that the Special General Meeting set for last Friday was cancelled. Asked why the SGM had been cancelled, a ZC spokesman did not respond.ZC has endured financial difficulty for more than a decade, and Mukuhlani recently admitted in an interview that the organisation was $19m in debt. As a result, Zimbabwe’s players have often waited months for match fees, and most recently went on strike on the day of the AGM. Some players had not been paid match fees dating back to July last year, while there was also frustration at delays in handing out contracts.The players returned to training five days later after being given an assurance by Wilfred Mukondiwa, ZC’s managing director, that the backlog of payments would be cleared. Central contracts have subsequently been awarded, although the list has not been officially released.

تحدث بيب جوارديولا المدير الفني لفريق مانشستر سيتي عن المنافسة مع ليفربول وآرسنال على لقب الدوري الإنجليزي الممتاز.

ويتصدر ليفربول الترتيب برصيد 60 نقطة بعد فوزه على لوتون تاون في الجولة السادسة والعشرين، ويليه مانشستر سيتي وآرسنال برصيد 56 نقطة بعد خوض 25 جولة.

وقال جوارديولا في تصريحات لـ “بي إن سبورتس”: “الشيء الأهم وبالنظر إلى من حيث أتينا وعودتنا في الدوري، أننا نتواجد هنا مع أصحاب الصدارة (ليفربول)، وفي كل موسم يقدم الفريق عملًا ومجهودًا خارقًا”.

وأضاف: “وعندما يأتي شهر أبريل أو مايو، نصل إلى الأمتار الأخيرة من السباق، وبالتالي دائمًا ما نركز على المباريات الواحدة تلو الأخرى وسنرى”.

اقرأ أيضًا | رايا يرد على الانتقادات بعد هدف بورتو القاتل أمام آرسنال

وأردف: “أعتقد أن أفضل طريقة لتحليل أداء ليفربول وآرسنال تكون من خلال التركيز على نقاط قوتهما، يجب أن نعتقد أننا لسنا في أوج عطائنا عندما نلعب ضدهما فهما يمتلكان مستويات رائعة”.

وواصل جوارديولا: “أعتقد أن الأفضلية تأتي في التفكير كيف يمكننا اللعب بأفضل صورة ممكنة في المباراة المقبلة، فكلما لعبت جيدًا تكون قريبًا من الفوز، وكلما حققت الفوز تقترب من اللقب”.

وأكد: “كان بودي لو تدخلت عندما نلعب أمام آرسنال أو ليفربول أو أستون فيلا أو توتنهام، أو الفرق الأخرى التي نواجهها لكن لا يمكنني ذلك”.

وأتم: “لذلك أركز على فريقي الذي سيحاول تقديم أقصى مجهود ممكن وهذا هو الطريق إلى النجاح”.

New Zealand captain Kane Williamson believes there are lessons to be learnt from playing against a good side in tough conditions, and said Mitchell Santner was a “highlight” of their tour of India

Arun Venugopal in Visakhapatnam29-Oct-2016

New Zealand captain Kane Williamson slammed his side’s “extremely poor” batting performance after they lost eight wickets for 16 runs to be bowled out in 23.1 overs, their shortest completed ODI innings, and go down to India by 190 runs.New Zealand came into the series decider on an equal footing. While conceding 269 on a slow surface may have made their task difficult, they wouldn’t have expected to be rolled over for 79. Williamson said there were no excuses for how abject they were.”It’s extremely disappointing. After a tough Test series to bounce back and show the heart that was required, the fight that we needed to go two-all against a very good Indian side, was a superb effort,” he said after the match. “But it is hard to look past out last performance right now, the emotion of just finishing the game.”They got above-par initially with the bat on a tough surface. There are certainly no excuses from our end, we were extremely poor with the bat today. We want to be showing steps of improvement everyday. That’s what’s so frustrating, because we failed as a batting unit. The spinners of the Indian side bowled very well but I don’t think it justified losing eight wickets for 20 or so runs. We were poor and India were very good.”While ruing the number of runs they conceded with the ball, Williamson lauded India’s batsmen for the partnerships they stitched together. First, Virat Kohli shared a 79-run stand with Rohit Sharma before putting on 71 runs with MS Dhoni. Kedar Jadhav and Axar Patel then added 46 crucial runs in 6.3 overs at the end.”The way the put together partnerships on a pitch that was slow was a very good effort. They kept going at five runs an over on this pitch, they certainly deserved to win today,” he said. “They were fantastic. At the half-way stage, although we knew they had a good score on the board on that surface, we knew if we could get partnerships together, who knows, we could’ve done better. If we kept on a bit and played in excess in of 25-30 overs, with a bit of dew around, then who knows. But that was a long way off. We were never going to get there.”Except for Tom Latham, and to a lesser extent, Williamson, New Zealand’s batting remained inadequate throughout the series. While Ross Taylor showed signs of returning to form in the last two games, he managed only 119 runs. Martin Guptill (111) and Corey Anderson (31 from four matches) also didn’t turn up. Williamson stressed on the need to replicate the kind of consistency India’s batsmen demonstrated.”If you look at any winning performance, there are one or two significant performances. If you look at the India side, there’s Virat [Kohli]. I think pretty much every game he made a significant contribution,” he said. “Sometimes the conditions weren’t the easiest to bat in but whoever that person is, we need a lot more. I think Tom Latham was outstanding.”It was nice to see Guptill show that presence at the crease in the last couple of games, but we need to take those little good bits a lot further and look at someone like Virat, who I suppose… to get a 150 in that Mohali game was a hugely significant performance as opposed to perhaps a 40 or 50.”Williamson believed there were lessons to be learnt from playing against a good side in tough conditions, and said Mitchell Santner was a “highlight” of their tour. With 10 scalps, Santner was New Zealand’s joint-highest wicket-taker in the Test series, along with Trent Boult. He was also their most economical bowler in the ODIs.”He has been outstanding, a young cricketer who is new-ish to the side. Although conditions are favourable to spinners here there are a lot of spinners who come here and struggle,” he said. “I guess it’s because of the pace of the wicket against extremely good players of spin. Mitch has performed day in and day out. His change of pace and his ability to spin the ball was a great asset to have. Not to mention his batting and his fielding as well. [We] look forward to seeing his progression in the future.”

Aside from landing a new centre-forward this summer, a major priority for Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag appears to be the signing of a quality midfield upgrade, ahead of next season's Champions League campaign.

Amid that search, all the talk at present appears to be centred on Chelsea playmaker, Mason Mount, with Sky Sports reporting that United are set to make a 'formal bid' for the England international.

With previous claims suggesting that personal terms have already been agreed with the 24-year-old, the only issue now appears to be the difference in valuation between the two clubs, with the Blues said to be demanding around £70m if they are to sanction a sale.

With the one-time Derby County loanee currently having just a year left to run on his existing deal at Stamford Bridge, that price tag may appear rather steep as far as Ten Hag and co are concerned, particularly amid the club's fear surrounding Financial Fair Play restrictions.

As such, the Carabao Cup winners may wish to consider a cheaper alternative in the form of another reported target – Sofyan Amrabat – with speculation in Spain suggesting that the 26-year-old, who also has just 12 months to run on his current contract at Fiorentina, could be available for a fee of just €20m (£17m).

Who is Sofyan Amrabat?

The Moroccan international notably caught the eye following his standout displays during his nation's surge to the World Cup semi-final during the winter, having been something of a "monster" at the tournament, according to journalist Carlo Garganese.

The Netherlands-born ace also came into wider focus more recently after starring in his side's eventual, Europa Conference League showpiece defeat to West Ham United, having seemingly taken Mount's friend and Three Lions teammate, Declan Rice "to school", according to journalist Muhammad Butt, such was his midfield dominance.

As writer Zach Lowy stated on the night, Amrabat had put on an "absolute clinic" in the centre of the park, having proven himself to be "criminally underrated" in contrast to the aforementioned Rice – who has himself been linked with a move to Old Trafford.

Not only has the former Club Brugge already shown his class against English opposition – having won nine duels against the Hammers last week – but he could also prove a more natural fit for United in a central midfield berth, with Mount typically lining up in a number ten role or on the flanks in west London.

While perhaps more of a deep-lying option than the Chelsea ace, Amrabat can still offer a creative, proactive asset as he ranks in the top 8% for progressive passes among those in his position in Europe's top five leagues at an average of 7.93 per 90, while the Englishman, by contrast, has averaged 5.95 for the same metric.

Equally, it is also the Fiorentina rock who can offer a more composed presence alongside the likes of Casemiro and Bruno Fernandes as he ranks in the top 5% for pass completion at an average of 88.8%, while Mount has a pass completion rate of only 76.4% – albeit while operating in a more advanced role.

With Amrabat also possessing the benefit of having played under Ten Hag previously at Utrecht – registering 11 goal involvements in 50 outings while working with the Dutchman – the 48-cap ace could truly be a quality, affordable alternative to Chelsea's contract rebel.