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Newcastle United are reportedly now in a transfer battle with two other clubs in the Premier League to sign Aguibou Camara.

The Lowdown: Catching the eye

Camara is certainly a player that is catching the eye this season following his move from Lille to Olympiacos.

The central midfield player has scored five goals and made a further two assists in 17 games in total over all competitions so far (Football Transfers).

Nonetheless, at just 20 years of age, Camara is a player to watch out for in the future.

The Latest: Premier League battle

As per The Sun, the St. James’ Park faithful are now locked in a battle with both Liverpool and Leicester City for Camara, who is currently rated at £20m.

They are reportedly ‘keeping tabs’ on the Guinea international ahead of a potential move, and have made contact with his agent.

However, other intermediaries are trying to get in on the deal, and describe him as ‘one of the most exciting talents in Europe right now’.

AS Monaco, Bologna, Valencia and Villarreal are also eyeing Camara, who looks set to be in high demand as the January transfer window opens.

The Verdict: Perfect for the Prem

Given Kante’s success in the top flight, in where he won back-to-back league titles with Leicester City and Chelsea, Camara is a player that should also thrive in the division.

His energy in the midfield is perfect for its fast pace, and he has already shown in the UEFA Europa League this campaign that he can play at a high level.

Camara has won no fewer than 8.5 of his duels per game in the group stages so far, and has also averaged 3.8 tackles, 2.3 successful dribbles, 1.5 interceptions and 1.3 shots per match (SofaScore), suggesting that he has all of the attributes to succeed.

Given the competition for his signature, it would be a real coup if the North East club were to sign him, as he could well turn out to be a key player in their fight against relegation.

In other news, find out which ‘really crazy’ beast NUFC have joined the race to sign here!

A round-up of the second day’s play of the second round of the RBS Pentangular Cup

Cricinfo staff08-Jan-2010
ScorecardSui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) pressed home the early advantage gained against Karachi Blues, thanks to a sparkling century from Mohammad Hafeez on the second day at the National Bank of Pakistan Sports Complex. Karachi Blues added 19 runs in the morning before Adil Raza picked the last wicket, his third of the innings, to share the bowling honours with Hafeez. SNGPL’s reply was pegged back by the early loss of Naeemuddin to Tariq Haroon, but Hafeez stood firm at the other end to drive his side’s progress. He initially set the platform in the company of Hamza Mubeen who made 34 before adding 73 for the fourth wicket with his captain Saleem Mughal. Hafeez’s effort included 12 boundary-hits before Haroon accounted for his wicket with the score on 231. Mughal continued the good work after his departure, putting on 67 with Usman Arshad. The captain remained unbeaten at stumps, seven short of a century and will carry his team’s push for a big lead on the third day.
ScorecardA solid opening partnership of 115 between Kamran Younis and Majid Jahangir was the cornerstone of Sialkot’s response to The Rest’s first-innings effort of 412 at the National Stadium. Sialkot were hampered by the fact that both batsmen failed to convert their starts into big ones, falling for sixties. Faisal Khan took over the responsibility of anchoring the innings while wickets fell at the other end, as Sialkot finished the day 132 runs behind, with five wickets remaining. Earlier, the last three batsmen added 41 runs before The Rest’s innings closed at 412. Pakistan’s latest wicket-keeping inclusion, Sarfraz Ahmed could add only six runs to his overnight 67, while Zulfiqar Babar completed an aggressive fifty, Prince Abbas dismissing both batsmen to finish with 2 for 62.

A brutal Ross Taylor assault powered Central Districts to a 78-run rout of Auckland in the final of the HRV Cup at a packed Pukekura Park, and with it a spot in the lucrative Champions League

Cricinfo staff31-Jan-2010
Scorecard
Ross Taylor and Graham Napier were the stand-out performers for Central Districts in the HRV Cup•Getty ImagesA brutal assault from Ross Taylor powered Central Districts to a 78-run rout of Auckland in the final of the HRV Cup at a packed Pukekura Park, and with it a spot in the lucrative Champions League Twenty20.Taylor, who has been in roaring form all tournament, saved his finest for the big match, slamming eight sixes on his way to a 30-ball 80 that took CD to 206, only two short of their highest total this season. Auckland’s slim hopes evaporated as early as the fourth over of the chase, by when CD’s new-ball bowlers, Michael Mason and Graham Napier, had snared two wickets each to make the score 9 for 4.Auckland bowled after winning the toss and CD opener Peter Ingram, who celebrated his national call-up with a quick half-century, made 54 of the total of 71 before he was dismissed in the 11th over.After that Taylor was involved in a stunning partnership with Kieran Noema-Barnett that raised 133 runs in less than nine overs. The highlights of the stand included a Ravi Bopara over in which 24 runs were blasted and another from debutant Jimmy Neesham, who was taken out of the attack after leaking 20 in one over. But it was Michael Bates who had the worst time among the Auckland bowlers: he was smashed for 59 runs in his first three overs. Despite finishing the innings with an excellent over – three wickets and two runs – he ended with the unwanted record of conceding most runs by a New Zealand bowler in Twenty20s.In the face of a stiff target, Auckland’s top-order folded without resistance. No. 6 Colin de Grandhomme threw his bat around for a 11-ball 25 and Neeshan attempted to redeem himself with a brisk 39 but Auckland never really threatened to pull of a win, and were bowled out in the 17th over.

With Ange Postecoglou’s Celtic side heading into Thursday evening’s Premiership clash in an excellent run of league form, things are very much looking on the up at Parkhead as we enter the hectic Christmas period.

However, with third-placed Hearts up next for the Bhoys, the 56-year-old manager will undoubtedly be aware that his side will have to be at their best if they are secure all three points against Robbie Neilson’s men, a result which would close the gap to the current Premiership leaders to four points.

So, will Postecoglou make any changes to the team which started the 2-1 win over Aberdeen last time out? Here’s how we think Celtic could line up against Hearts, along with the latest team and injury news…

With Postecoglou recently revealing that both Nir Bitton and Tom Rogic will be available for selection on Thursday evening, we predict that the 56-year-old will make two changes to the team that started at Parkhead last time out.

The back five remains unchanged, with Joe Hart starting between the sticks, while Josip Juranovic, Stephen Welsh, Cameron Carter-Vickers and Anthony Ralston make up the defensive quartet.

In the middle of the park, despite impressing against the Dons, the £14k-per-week James McCarthy – who pundit Eamon Dunphy dubbed a “terrible flop” – makes way for the return of Bitton, while Conor McGregor and David Turnbull retain their starting berths.

The front three also sees one change, with the £5.4m-rated James Forrest being handed only his second Premiership start of the season in place of 20-year-old Liel Abada, with the impressive Jota and Kyogo Furuhashi making up the attacking trio.

In other news: Ange must unleash “influential” £14k-p/w Celtic machine vs Hearts, he’s a game-changer

Crystal Palace could continue their overhaul of the first-team squad in January after being linked with a move for Wolverhampton Wanderers defender Rayan Aït Nouri.

What’s the story?

According to French outlet Jeunes Footeux (via Sport Witness), both the Eagles and fellow Premier League outfit Newcastle United are eager to prise the promising 20-year-old away from Molineux over the coming months.

The report claims that it’s Palace who are ‘especially’ interested, though, with manager Patrick Vieira keen to bring in some cover and competition for Tyrick Mitchell at left-back.

It’s claimed that the French tactician has already informed his recruitment team that he wants to land Aït Nouri, although chairman Steve Parish will need to open his chequebook, with Wolves set to demand in the region of €25-30m (£21-26m) for their young star.

Crystal Palace must make their move

Following the departure of Patrick van Aanholt in the summer, Palace have been left with only one natural left-sided full-back in their first-team squad.

As a result, academy graduate Mitchell has played every minute of their Premier League campaign to date, something which is not sustainable in the long term.

Therefore, the capital club’s hierarchy must make their move for Aït Nouri over the winter window, and the £33,000-per-week ace could prove to be an exceptional piece of business.

The France U21 international arrived at Wolves on an initial season-long loan from Ligue 1 side SCO Angers in October 2020 before making the move permanent 12 months later.

In that time, Aït Nouri has racked up 34 appearances for the Midlands outfit, putting in several eye-catching displays along the way.

Following a particularly impressive performance last term – ironically against Palace – The Athletic’s Tim Spiers lauded his ‘phenomenal’ showing.

“Ait-Nouri was phenomenal,” said Spiers (as relayed by This is Futbol). “I know it’s only one game and he’s a kid, and he got a lot of space at times, but he played with such enthusiasm and really helped stretch that game out on the left.”

And The Express & Stars journalist Liam Keen was also effusive in his praise for Aït Nouri as Wolves saw off Everton in the opening weeks of the current campaign.

“I thought he was very good today, defensively good; going forward, he offers something very, very different to Marcal, who’s not great going forward, let’s be honest. He gets the crowd on their feet, and that’s what you need,” Keen said.

With Palace in need of defensive cover and Aït Nouri showing bags of potential, it’s a deal that makes sense for many reasons for the south London side.

And, in other news…Palace must seal bargain deal for “intelligent” £5.4m-rated maestro who has “no fear”

A round-up of the third day of matches from the sixth round of the Regional Four Day Competition

Cricinfo staff22-Feb-2010Barbados marched to a ten-wicket win against defending champions Jamaica, in Trinidad, thanks to some menacing bowling from Pedro Collins. Reeling at 65 for 4 at stumps the previous day, Jamaica were put under the cosh early on. Any hopes they had rested with captain Tamar Lambert and wicketkeeper Carlton Baugh, but with Collins dismissing the latter for 19, the innings went downhill. The left-arm fast bowler finished with a five-for, and was well supported by offspinner Sulieman Benn, who bagged four wickets. With Jamaica bowled out for 120, Barbados openers Dale Richards and Kraigg Braithwaite knocked off the remaining runs and took them to 57 points, nine ahead of Jamaica. With a bye for the final round, Barbados are now favourites to clinch the crown.Jamaica are the only other team in the running for the title and they meet Trinidad and Tobago in the final round at home this weekend. Barbados though, will be banking on T&T to prevent an outright Jamaica win in order to pick up the title.Adrian Barath continued his comeback from injury, and helped Trinidad & Tobago close in on victory against Windward Islands in Port of Spain. Barath followed up his first-innings half-century with 79 in the second, as T&T, leading by 75 runs, declared their second innings on 297 for 6. He struck six fours and two sixes during his 174-ball stay and T&T then tightened their grip on the match when Windwards, chasing a tough target, were reduced to 129 for 5 at close. All five T&T bowlers used snared a wicket each, as Andre Fletcher top scored for the visitors with 42.Shivnarine Chanderpaul’s 52nd first-class hundred combined with purposeful bowling had Guyana on course for their first win in the last three seasons. Chanderpaul completed a typically resolute, undefeated 105, as Guyana were bowled out for 287, replying to Leeward Islands’ first-innings total of 192 at the National Cricket Centre. Legspinner Devendra Bishoo then led Guyana’s bowling charge with 4 for 46 as Leewards were sent packing for 192 intheir second innings. Guyana, chasing a modest target of 98, nervously slipped to 49for 3 at stumps.

Shane Warne admitted that his side had some serious rethinking ahead for the rest of the IPL after being annihilated by a clinical Bangalore outfit

S Aga18-Mar-2010″My son’s Under-12 side would be tough at the moment,” said Shane Warne with a grimace as he was asked to look ahead to the Rajasthan Royals’ next game, against the Knight Riders. Edged out by the Mumbai Indians in their opening game, and then comfortably beaten by the Delhi Daredevils, the Royals plumbed new depths in Bangalore, and appear no more than a shadow of the team that won 11 of 14 league games in the inaugural season.”We just weren’t good enough,” said Warne. “We just didn’t do all the things we’d spoken of before the game. All their bowlers did very well on a good pitch. I thought it was a 200-plus wicket. It was beautiful. There was pace, and you could really play your shots.”Against Delhi, I thought we had a hangover from the first game. But credit to Bangalore. They set the tone early on, and never let us into the game.”With Graeme Smith back in Cape Town, Dimitri Mascarenhas ruled out and Shane Watson due back from international duty only in April, the Royals’ lack of resources is clearly beginning to grate. “We need to do something quickly,” he said, almost admitting that turning water into wine season after season was not an option. “I reckon you need at least seven wins to have a chance of semi-final place. We’re not out of it, but if we play like we did today, we may as well give the points to the opposition.”The gulf in class was most evident at the top of the innings, with Hampshire’s Michael Lumb painfully out of his depth against Dale Steyn. Other teams either have all-time greats like Sachin Tendulkar, Adam Gilchrist, Matthew Hayden and Sanath Jayasuriya, or Twenty20 veterans such as Brad Hodge, opening the innings. Next to them, the Royals’ combination of Lumb and Naman Ojha looked distinctly second-class.After two relatively poor outings, Steyn really found his groove on Thursday night and though he went wicketless, he softened up batsmen for others to pick them off. “PK [Praveen Kumar] and Dale set the tone early on,” said Jacques Kallis, who bowled the heavy ball beautifully before combining with Manish Pandey to breeze past the target in 10.4 overs. “They got the momentum going our way. And to get a hat-trick like that was unbelievable.”Praveen’s hat-trick sent the crowd into a tizzy, and produced a smile on a face more known for its scowls. “The way we planned, we bowled that way,” he said in Hindi. “When I got the second wicket, I thought it might happen [smile]. I was going to bowl a length ball anyway, even if he tried to hit it for six. If he missed, I knew I had a chance.”In the previous game, Bangalore’s bowlers had been carted for more than 200. But when asked if he had felt apprehensive when walking on to the park at 8pm, Praveen smiled again. “No fear,” he said. “Whatever will happen will happen.”As for Warne, he ended his press conference by saying: “Don’t give up on us. Not yet!” The clock, though, is already ticking, louder by the minute.

Dusan Vlahovic is among Tottenham Hotspur’s top targets for January and he is surely a player that Antonio Conte would love to sign…

What’s the word?

According to the Telegraph’s Matt Law, the Italian head coach will sit down with sporting director Fabio Paratici to discuss their plans for the winter transfer window, in which the Fiorentina striker is expected to feature in talks.

Spurs have regularly been linked with a move for the Serbia international and it seems he will once again be a hot topic of conversation next month.

La Viola are thought to be asking for a fee in the region of €60m (£51m) and €70m (£56.7m) but that could decrease by €10m (£8.5m) by the summer.

Conte’s dream signing

Vlahovic would be something of a dream for Conte as he seeks to bolster his thin-looking frontline. Indeed, he only has Harry Kane to call upon, meaning he is restricted in two ways.

The first is the fact that he does not have an alternative to his out-of-sorts striker, who has bagged just once in the Premier League all season and secondly, he does not have another option to go to his Inter Milan title-winning formation of 3-5-2.

Vlahovic is scoring for fun in the Serie A at the minute, so he would certainly be an intriguing option – the 6 foot 3 marksman bagged a brace at the weekend to make it 17 goals from 18 appearances this campaign, adding to his 21 goals last term.

The 21-year-old talisman has earned substantial praise as a result of his fine goalscoring form, ranging from Italian football expert Conor Clancy deeming him to be a “complete number nine” to football talent scout Jacek Kulig dubbing him “the Serbian machine.”

Conte has had a history of having big physical goalscorers in his side, including Romelu Lukaku at Inter and Diego Costa at Chelsea, so it’s easy to see why he would be keen to sign Vlahovic this winter.

As such, Paratici could well land his manager a dream signing with a move for the £45m-rated forward next month. The club should do all they can to appease the head coach. On the above evidence, Conte needs a player like Vlahovic.

AND in other news, Conte and Paratici now gifted huge Spurs transfer boost amid Fabrizio Romano update…

The West Indies bowler has said his determination to perform well at the international level stems from the fear that every game he plays may be his last

Cricinfo staff11-Mar-2010West Indies bowler Darren Sammy has said his determination to perform well at the international level stems from the fear that every game he plays may be his last.”It’s a constant reminder that this could be my last game so I have to go out and do well for myself and the region,” Sammy said. “I am competing with [Dwayne] Bravo, who is one of our senior players, so it’s always difficult to cement my place in the squad. It’s up to me to go out there and be consistent in my performances and that’s what I’m striving to do.”Sammy, 26, was at the forefront of West Indies’ emphatic 141-run victory in the third ODI against Zimbabwe in Kingstown. He picked up 4 for 26 during West Indies’ defence of 245 to take the Man-of-the-Match award and, more importantly, give the hosts a 2-1 lead in the five-match series.”Today the wicket had some grass on it and it was aiding seam bowling,” Sammy said. “I was getting some movement off the seam and we put the ball in the right areas and we got results.”Having taken 5 for 26 against the same opponents in the lone Twenty20 international earlier, and 7 for 66 against England on his Test debut, he narrowly missed becoming the first West Indian to take five-fors in all three formats of the game at the international level. However, he said the only way he could become a fixture in the side was to improve with every performance.”I have to keep improving so that I can be a permanent fixture in the eleven and in the West Indies squad. So far I have been doing a good job in terms of doing the job I have been asked to do. In Test cricket I have three five-wicket hauls, one in Twenty20 and I almost got one here today in a 50-over game.”Sammy would have had five wickets had captain Chris Gayle not dropped a relatively straightforward catch at slip from Graeme Cremer, having earlier taken a superb one-handed effort to dismiss Greg Lamb off Kemar Roach. However, he praised Sammy’s effort which ensured the win.”Well done Darren Sammy, he could have got five wickets and it was my fault he didn’t,” Gayle said. “It was definitely a team effort and I am very happy with the result. I am sure Zimbabwe will come back hard at us and we shouldn’t get carried away now.”

Celtic followed up their cup triumph at the weekend with a disappointing 0-0 draw away at St Mirren in the Scottish Premiership on Wednesday night.

Ange Postecoglou’s side would no doubt have been bouncing following their victory in the League Cup, but were unable to break through a resilient defence that staved off a whopping 31 shots on goal.

The Hoops could have, and really should have put the game to bed, let alone just win, and one man who really will be fearing for his place in this team, is Mikey Johnston.

The 22-year-old was given the chance to start once again by Ange, but failed to take his opportunity with both hands.

As per SofaScore, out of the six attempts that he had on goal, only three of them found the target, and there were a number of occasions where he just rushed his effort or couldn’t keep his composure to stick the Hoops in front.

Only three of his six attempted crosses meanwhile found its target, while he also lost possession 13 times over the course of the game – the third-most of any Celtic player on the pitch.

And, writing in his post-match player ratings for Football Scotland gave him a five, before saying: “Tested Dean Lyness early doors but his final ball and composure in front of goal let him down.”

It was the kind of performance that will raise some serious questions about Johnston’s long-term future at Parkhead, and whether actually in the short-term, Postecoglou should be taking him out of the side completely – a record of no goals and just one assist in 17 games in all competitions this season certainly isn’t the kind of standard Celtic expect.

Indeed, former Celtic man Frank McAvennie was very clear in insisting that Johnston simply isn’t good enough for the Hoops,  saying: “He’s barely getting a game and when he does play he is really struggling.

“Sell him. I would like to see him moved on for the benefit of his own career. Ange gave him a chance with Jota out and he’s not done anything. Some fans might disagree but he’s simply not good enough for what Ange is trying to build.”

Johnston’s display on Wednesday did nothing to silence the critics, and his time in the starting line-up is surely up for now.

Meanwhile, this Celtic man cost Ange dearly vs St Mirren…