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Former Leeds United goalkeeper Paul Robinson believes the Whites will bring in a number of new signings during the summer transfer window, revealing a meeting between Marcelo Bielsa, Victor Orta and the club’s owners.

The Lowdown: Keep the good times coming

Marcelo Bielsa’s side are enjoying a richly deserved breather after a relentless season back in the Premier League, in which they finished ninth in the table.

It was a superb effort by Leeds, who never looked like returning to the Championship and even threatened to finish in the European places.

The key now is to keep building from this strong position, adding new faces to the squad and ensuring more good times are around the corner.

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The Latest: Robinson expects numerous signings

Speaking to MOT Leeds News, Robinson says he is in no doubt that Bielsa and Orta will be working on finding reinforcements across numerous positions:

“The recruitment that they’ve done – Leicester get a lot of plaudits for their recruitment, but the prices Leeds paid for Raphinha and Rodrigo and how good they’ve been, you have to trust the plans that Victor Orta and Marcelo Bielsa have in place, and that there are players ready to come in.

“I know that the owners have been in two weeks ago, Orta and Bielsa have been sat with the owners for week-long meetings about what players are going to come in over the summer.

“You’re looking at a left-back, a midfielder, a number 10, and potentially another wide player if Helder Costa goes, plus strengthening the goalkeeping department.”

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The Verdict: Exciting times at Leeds

This is a hugely exciting time to be a Leeds supporter, with the Whites playing superb attacking football and looking at some talented potential signings, like Udinese’s Rodrigo de Paul.

While Bielsa doesn’t need to go mad in the transfer market, it is clear that a number of individuals need to come in, with left-back a pressing area, given Ezgjan Alioski’s imminent exit.

Adding guile to the midfield is also key – something De Paul could certainly bring, averaging 3.4 dribbles per game in Serie A this season – while another winger also wouldn’t go amiss, especially if Helder Costa moves on, as Robinson alludes to.

In other news, a former England striker has talked up the idea of one player moving to Leeds this summer. Find out who it is here.

There was only a ten-minute delay to the start despite the wet conditionsthat had prevailed earlier in the morning at Southgate

Andy Jalil17-Jun-2001There was only a ten-minute delay to the start despite the wet conditionsthat had prevailed earlier in the morning at Southgate.After deciding to make first use of a wicket that was cut only about an houror so before the start, as water had leaked under the covers on the pitchthat was first intended for use, Hampshire began poorly.They lost the first wicket on 29 when Neil Johnson dabbed a ball on to hisstumps and a run later Dimitri Mascarenhas went without scoring. Chad Keeganhad picked up both wickets.Hampshire’s highest partnership came for the third wicket with 66 addedbetween James Laney and Derek Kenway. They picked up the scoring rate whichhad fallen to the extent that after the first boundary of the innings hadbeen struck in the first over, the second didn’t come until the 17th.Kenway continued with his big hitting while wickets fell at the other end.After Laney’s dismissal on 96, Hampshire lost four wickets for 43 whenKenway’s lofted shot was held at deep mid-wicket. His 65 had come from 77balls and included four boundaries and a six over long-off.The end of the Hampshire innings came rapidly with Keegan running throughthree wickets in the 44th over, all on the total of 164. Robin Smith remainednot out with 18 as his team finished on 171 for nine in the allotted 45 overs.

Nasser Hussain will represent the England team at the memorial servicefor Ben Hollioake in Perth, after the team decided to minimise the disruption to the squad before the final Test against New Zealand.

CricInfo26-Mar-2002Nasser Hussain will represent the England team at the memorial servicefor Ben Hollioake in Perth, after the team decided to minimise the disruption to the squad before the final Test against New Zealand.As a result of lengthy meetings following the news of Hollioake’s death in a car accident, England have decided that Hussain should be their representative. He will fly out of Auckland tomorrow morning to attend the memorial service in Perth, and return on Thursday evening, giving him 24 hours to recover ahead of England’s final Test of the winter at Eden Park.”A few of the guys wanted to go, but logistically this was not possible. As captain, Nasser is the appropriate person to go,” said the England coach, Duncan Fletcher.”I think it’s appropriate that as the captain of the squad, that he represents the side and he’ll be going and coming back before the Test starts.”The rest of the England team will hold a private ceremony in Auckland to coincide with the cremation in Perth on Thursday. They will wear their England blazers and ties while Mark Butcher, a Surrey team-mate of Hollioake’s, has been asked by Fletcher to sing a song with his guitar.”We’ve asked Butch to sing a song of his choice because I think that will godown quite well,” added Fletcher.”We had a meeting about this when we arrived in Auckland today because wehaven’t really had time to discuss it properly.”Hussain will join the majority of Surrey’s first-team squad at the service, with Alec Stewart, Ian Ward, Ian Salisbury, Alex Tudor, Nadeem Shahid, MartinBicknell, Matt Church, Ally Brown, Ed Giddins and coach Keith Medlycott alsoconfirming their attendance.The club’s president, former prime minister John Major, will also be present. The chairman of selectors, David Graveney, will represent the England and Wales Cricket Board.Hussain will give Hollioake’s England blazer to the family, after it had been left in New Zealand with a member of the backroom staff to take home while he went on a short holiday after the one-day series.

Sheffield United will be looking to secure back-to-back wins when they take on Newcastle United at St James’ Park on Wednesday evening.

Paul Heckingbottom’s side picked up an impressive 1-0 win against Everton at Goodison Park on Sunday evening, with 17-year-old sensation Daniel Jebbison scoring the only goal of the game.

The Blades will be desperate to finish the season strongly to take some momentum into next season, where they will be hoping to secure an immediate return to the top-flight via promotion from the Championship.

Newcastle United meanwhile, secured their safety in the top-flight recently thanks to a strong run of form, with Steve Bruce awarded the manager of the month award, and they were spirited in a 4-3 defeat against champions Manchester City last time out.

Here’s how Football FanCast thinks Heckingbottom should line his side up on Wednesday evening, with two changes from the team that started in the win at Goodison Park…

After an incredible display against Carlo Ancelotti’s side to earn a clean sheets, Aaron Ramsdale keeps his place in between the sticks.

There’s one change in defence, as Jayden Bogle starts ahead of George Baldock at right wing-back, with the rest of the defence keeping their place after the rare shut out against the Toffees.

Oliver Norwood and John Fleck continue together in midfield, with Sander Berge unfortunately suffering another setback in his injury, which should rule him out of the trip to St James’ Park.

There’s one change in attack, as the “exceptional” Rhian Brewster replaces Ben Osborn, with David McGoldrick supporting the former Liverpool man and Jebbison in an attacking midfield role, in the hope that Brewster can break his duck and grab his first Blades goal ahead of next season.

And, in other news… Sheffield United suffer huge blow as CL giants eye seven-goal beast, Blades fans will be fuming

Newcastle United are reportedly eyeing a summer transfer for French striker Evann Guessand.

The Lowdown: Guessand impressing

Guessand is a player who has only really burst onto the scene this season, scoring seven goals and making a further five assists in 32 games in total for FC Lausanne-Sport in the Swiss Super League so far in the 2020/21 term (Transfermarkt).

He is only on loan and so will return to Ligue 1 team Nice at the end of the campaign, with a few clubs likely to be keeping an eye on his development.

The Latest: Newcastle interested

As per the Northern Echo, the St. James’ Park faithful are interested in bringing Guessand to the North East.

With the Toon in need of some reliable cover for Callum Wilson up top, the 19-year-old may relish the opportunity to play in the Premier League.

The Verdict: Guessand worth the gamble

It would certainly be a gamble bringing in a player who is relatively unknown having only really now come under the spotlight.

However, the transfer could have shades of the one the Magpies did to bring Allan Saint-Maximin to Tyneside.

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The winger was signed from Nice, the same club that Guessand will return to once his loan ends, and was certainly not as known when he arrived at the Toon from French football, before developing into a star for Steve Bruce’s side.

Although Guessand is primarily a striker by trade, the six-foot-one starlet has also played on the left-wing as well this season, a position occupied by Saint-Maximin himself.

Saint-Maximin was a gamble that has certainly payed off, and Guessand could well turn out to be the same.

In other news, find out what big claim has been dropped on the potential takeover after a Mike Ashley development here!

A journalist has claimed that Newcastle United are ‘ready’ to change manager, with Gennaro Gattuso named as a potential successor to Steve Bruce.

Writing in his latest piece for Calciomercato, Marco Giordano has claimed that both the St. James’ Park faithful and Wolves are looking to bring a new coach into their respective clubs, with the North East club’s interest in Gattuso only just coming into fruition.

Newcastle should be wary over Gattuso

While Bruce’s time on Tyneside could be up in the eyes of some members of the Toon Army, the Magpies should be wary over appointing Gattuso should the former end up leaving.

There is no doubt that the 43-year-old had a glittering playing career, in which he won the FIFA World Cup with Italy and two UEFA Champions League titles with AC Milan to name just a few major honours (Transfermarkt).

However, his time as a manager has not always been successful, having being sacked at both FC Sion and Palermo as well as underwhelming spells at Milan and his current club Napoli, with the latter currently at risk of failing to qualify for the UCL as they sit outside of the qualification spots at the moment.

Although a change of boss may be the way forward at NUFC, perhaps they should think twice before moving for a maverick like Gattuso.

In other news, find out which Magpie Liam Kennedy has slammed for his displays so far this season here!

Five zonal centres of National Cricket Academy inaugurated

01-May-2001In a move to widen the net and nurture young cricketing talent inIndia, the BCCI sponsored National Cricket Academy on Sunday formallystarted its zonal branches in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai andKanpur.NCA sources said 20 players had been picked for each zone – West,North, East, South and Central. In addition, the second batch at theone-year old NCA in Bangalore also commenced training today.The players are aged under 18, and the NCA’s move to expand is seen astraining budding talent in all parts of the country. The immediatetask appears to be to produce a team that can win the Under-19 WorldCup, scheduled to be held in New Zealand next year.”It’s a great honour and I am looking forward to the assignment”, thenew Head Coach of NCA and former India medium pacer, Balwinder SinghSandhu said. The focus would be on fitness and fielding, he hadindicated yesterday.NCA Chairman, Raj Singh Dungarpur, former NCA Director, Hanumant Singhand his successor Brijesh Patel have already held a series of informalmeetings with head coaches and others regarding coaching matters, aswell as uniform pattern and standardisation of training at all theAcademies.Former India stumper Syed Kirmani will be the new head coach of theSouth Zone academy, as the original choice, K Srikkanth, reportedlyexpressed his inability to take the job due to prior commitments.The other head coaches are: Yashpal Sharma (North), Arun Lal (East),Nari Contractor (West) and Kailash Ghattani (Central).The Chairman of the National Cricket Academy Committee, Raj SinghDungarpur, who inaugurated the West Zone Cricket Academy (WZCA) at theWankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Tuesday said he was confident ofproducing quality players from the present batch.Dungarpur told PTI that the boys in the Academy were really talentedand it was the coaches’ job to tap them. The immediate aim of theAcademy would be to prepare the boys with the Under-19 World Cup inNew Zealand in mind.”In fact, I spoke to the Board president, Dr A C Muthiah, yesterdayand requested him to send the Under-19 squad at least fifteen daysbefore the World Cup starts and the president responded verypositively”, he added.”I was in Bangalore yesterday and had a very long chat with the Indianjunior team coach and former Test allrounder Roger Binny, who too feltthat the junior squad should be sent to New Zealand well in advance sothat the players could get acclimatised to the weather and nature ofthe wickets over there”, Dungarpur added.”Former Test stars Nari Contractor, Hemant Kanitkar, Kiran More andLalchand Rajput are the four coaches while Vaibhav Daga is thephysiotherapist cum trainer”, Dungarpur said.”We have also appointed Dr S H Marathe as the nutrition expert andAnil Joshi as yoga trainer”, the former Board president said. TheGarware Club House has extended the facility to use the swimming pool,rooms and health club to the trainees.The list of 20 trainees: Parthiv Patel, Swapnil Patel, SiddharthTrivedi and Timil Patel (Gujarat), Vimal Joshi, Yusuf Pathan, RakeshSolanki, Irfan Pathan and Hardik Parmar (Baroda), Sahil Kukreja, PaulValthaty, Vinit Indulkar, Arif Sunasara and Gautam Yadav (Mumbai),Padmanabh Jadeja, Uday Karavadra and Nikhil Rathod ( Saurashtra),Kiran Adhav, Yogesh Takwale and Manoj Palkhade (Maharashtra).Meanwhile the North Zone Cricket Academy was inaugurated on Tuesday byDDCA patron Subhash Chopra in Delhi.The 20 selected boys will undergo a two-month training, with a sessioneach in the morning and evening everyday, under head coach YashpalSharma, vice-president of Delhi and District Cricket Association,Khanna told PTI.Khanna said the controversy over inclusion of former Test cricketerGursharan Singh as one of the coaches was resolved after NCA ChairmanRaj Singh Dungarpur intervened and cleared his appointment along withother coaches Chetan Sharma, Rajinder Amarnath and Surinder Khanna.The appointments of Captain K B Dogra (physical trainer), Dr D KChauhan (physician), Dr Anmol Maria (orthopaedist), Dr Charu Jain(dietician), Sunil Kumar Chawla (yoga expert), and Dr A D Nayyar(psychiatrist) were also confirmed, Khanna said.

Speaking exclusively to Football FanCast, ex-Sheffield United striker Brian Deane is worried those in charge at his old club could target a big name in their manager search just to divert pressure.

The Blades are currently being linked with John Terry following Chris Wilder’s departure last month despite the Chelsea legend having no managerial experience.

Terry’s only experience in a dugout has come in his current role as Aston Villa assistant head coach, meaning Sheffield United have no track record to go off.

Considering that, Deane is unconvinced about appointing Terry, suggesting that Prince Abdullah and the rest of the decision makers at Bramall Lane may just want to bring in a big name so that all of the pressure is on them, rather than the board and owners.

On the links to the former England captain, Deane told FFC:

“I think you need to be very careful when you start handing out these jobs, and it’s a big job, by the way. Sometimes I’ve seen it where, you know, owners give these big names the jobs to take the heat off themselves. ‘Ok, I’ve given somebody the job. He can take that on board; he is somebody who is used to performing at the top level.’ “

With Sheffield United’s relegation officially confirmed following their recent 1-0 defeat to Wolves, the Yorkshire club can now put all of their efforts into finding a new manager, although they received a rare 2020/21 boost following their victory against Brighton and Hove Albion across the weekend.

Aston Villa must avoid a major Ross Barkley nightmare after Dean Smith’s transfer update.

What’s the story?

The England international joined the club on loan from fellow Premier League side Chelsea, and has since endured a disappointing spell at Villa Park, scoring just three goals in the top-flight all season.

And now, speaking after his side’s 2-1 defeat to Manchester City on Wednesday night, Smith revealed that there have been no discussions over a potential permanent deal with Chelsea.

He said: “No, Ross Barkley came in on loan at the start of the season. Obviously, Frank (Lampard) was the manager at the time we did a deal to bring him in on loan. That’s where it was. He’s got another two years left on his contract at Chelsea and that’s not been discussed at all.”

Major nightmare for Dean Smith

It’s been a real telling sign that Barkley hasn’t started a Premier League game since the 2-1 defeat at home to Leicester, either being left on the bench as an unused substitute, or just coming on for brief cameos – even starlet Jacob Ramsey appears to have pipped him in the pecking order in recent weeks.

Villa podcaster Simon O’Regan critcised the midfielder’s recent form just last month, saying: “I think what’s sort of annoyed me as well over the last few weeks is Ross Barkley, and I’m not trying to single him out because I think he has been really heavily criticised more than he probably should have been, especially when other players haven’t exactly stepped up either.

“These last few weeks were a real opportunity I think for him to really shine and play his way into getting in a decent move and he hasn’t really done that.”

As O’Regan says, the £18m-rated Barkley just hasn’t shown enough to warrant Villa coughing up a decent sum of money to make this move permanent, and that really is on the midfielder himself for not doing so.

With Jack Grealish out, he had the perfect opportunity to really showcase his worth and prove to Smith and the fans that he’s someone worth keeping over the long-term. Instead, he’s proven beyond doubt that Villa simply cannot justify signing him on a permanent basis.

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Johan Lange must avoid a major Villa nightmare this summer and just let Barkley walk away, or else Smith will surely be fuming at signing someone he clearly doesn’t rate anymore.

Meanwhile, this Villa star let Dean Smith down just as much as Matty Cash vs Man City…

Given he came through the club’s academy, Leeds United’s return to the Premier League perhaps means more to Kalvin Phillips than most.

The 25-year-old has proven to be a vital cog in the Whites’ midfield over the past few years, playing well over 200 times now.

But while he was already playing first-team football before Marcelo Bielsa brought his magic to Elland Road, it was the Argentine who has really helped step his game up.

Phillips has been a cornerstone of Leeds’ impressive displays in the top-flight this season, featuring 21 times in the competition, with the only games he’s missed being a result of injury.

It’s no surprise that plenty of people have raved about Phillips’ progress under Bielsa’s direct management, with even Neil Redfearn quick to give him his dues just last year.

The former Whites boss said: “Leeds create overloads all over the field. Bielsa is very clever with that but Kalvin is key to it. He is the perfect build for that position, a powerful player but also has a fantastic range of passing.

“When he was younger, we used to have him as a box-to-box player who would score plenty of goals. Bielsa has made Kalvin an expert deep-lying midfielder but he could do both roles.”

Not only has Phillips grown into an England international under Bielsa’s leadership, but his market value has risen up considerably too.

When the Argentine took over as Leeds boss back in the summer of 2018, replacing Paul Heckingbottom in the dug-out, Phillips was only rated at £4.5m by Transfermarkt.

But gradually over time, that has gone up, before really spiking thanks to the Whites’ promotion to the Premier League – his value now stands at an impressive £24m, which is actually good enough to rank him as Leeds’ most valuable player right now, even ahead of summer signing Raphinha (£22.5m).

Being the man to guide Leeds back to the promised land of the Premier League will forever etch Bielsa’s name into folklore at Elland Road, but the instrumental role he has played in Phillips’ career has been just as big of a win in his book.

Meanwhile, Leeds must reignite their interest in this star…