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Leeds United are set to once again make a move to bring Brenden Aaronson to Elland Road in the summer transfer window.

What’s the talk?

That’s according to a report by Leeds Live, who claim that, following Victor Orta’s failed attempts to secure a deal for the Red Bull Salzburg forward in January, the Whites are once again plotting an offensive for the USA international at the end of the current campaign.

The report goes on to state that Jesse Marsch’s appointment as Marcelo Bielsa’s replacement in the Elland Road dugout will only strengthen the Premier League side’s chances of sealing the signing of the 21-year-old – whom the report suggests could well be viewed as a replacement for the Barcelona-linked Raphinha.

Raphinha’s successor

While it is true that Aaronson and Raphinha are different types of player, with the former primarily being deployed in a more central role and the latter preferring to play out wide, it would nevertheless appear that the American would be something of a perfect replacement for the 25-year-old, should the Brazil international indeed go on to depart Elland Road this summer.

Indeed, with Marsch setting the Whites up in a 4-2-2-2 formation, Aaronson and Raphinha would actually take up the same role in the 48-year-old’s side – a position that, as previously mentioned, the Salzburg starlet is much more accustomed to.

And, with the 21-year-old also more than capable of operating on either flank, something that is evidenced by his time in Austria and while on international duty with the USA, Aaronson would appear to suit Leeds’ system perfectly.

However, it is not only his extremely impressive positional versatility that would come as a massive bonus for Marsch but also his undeniable talent in the final third.

Indeed, over his 21 Austrian Bundesliga fixtures this season, the £30m dynamo has been in fantastic form for Matthias Jaissle’s side, scoring three goals, registering four assists and creating six big chances for his teammates, as well as taking an average of 2.2 shots and making 1.7 key passes per game – with these returns seeing the 21-year-old average a SofaScore match rating of 6.89.

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As such, it is not difficult to understand why Orta is once again plotting a bid for the player who Jaissle dubbed a “monster” and Thierry Henry labelled “contagious” this summer, as the £19k-per-week sensation would indeed appear to be Raphinha’s perfect replacement at Elland Road.

AND in other news: Orta can seal Marsch’s dream signing as Leeds plot bid for “unexpected” £25m-rated ace

Chris Gayle: “We played well in Zimbabwe and we are here in South Africa to continue the good work. They will be in for a fight.” © Getty Images

The West Indies cricket team arrived in South Africa on Monday evening and Chris Gayle is promising a “fight” in the upcoming series.Speaking after the team touched down at the OR Tambo Airport, Gayle said that the West Indies were full of confidence and believed they could win when the sides meet in three Tests, five one-day internationals and two Twenty20 internationals.”We respect the South Africans but we don’t fear them. They are a good team and are playing good cricket at the moment, so we know the challenge at hand. “But we are confident and we believe in our ability. We played well in Zimbabwe and we are here in South Africa to continue the good work. They will be in for a fight.”Gayle hoped to be fit for the first Test against South Africa on December 26. “My injury is coming on very well, hopefully I’ll be ready for the first Test, but I need to work with the physio.”He believed that the absence of retired Brian Lara and the injured middle-order batsman Ramnaresh Sarwan could serve as motivation for the members of the team to prove their worth.”Brian is no longer in the team and Sarwan is injured and with this in mind we expect to see some of the younger players taking the opportunity to make a big contribution and possibly make a name for themselves. This is a big series and full of big opportunities.”

Adam Crosthwaite’s late runs gave Victoria’s bowlers something to defend © Getty Images

ScorecardA late attack from Adam Crosthwaite followed by Mick Lewis’ excellent bowling earned Victoria their second consecutive Twenty20 title as they beat Tasmania at the MCG. In front of a mammoth crowd of close to 30,000, Crosthwaite turned Victoria’s lacklustre opening into a respectable 6 for 160, enough to worry several Tasmania batsmen into throwing their wickets away in the chase.The bowlers delivered the victory and kept the Bushrangers’ unbeaten Twenty20 record going. Lewis turned the match in Victoria’s favour in the 11th over when he claimed two wickets in two balls. Tasmania were 3 for 90 and were set to overcome the target when Lewis had George Bailey caught at midwicket for 9 and Adam Polkinghorne caught at third man attempting a glided six.The part-time spinners Brad Hodge and David Hussey then ripped through their overs quickly and tightly, and when Dane Anderson (40) misjudged an attempted slog to long on, the Tigers were 6 for 114. The required run-rate escaped from the visitors and the 18 they needed from the final two overs was too much. Anderson and Daniel Marsh had Tasmania on top at 2 for 76 in the ninth over but it was Lewis who also broke that partnership when he had Marsh caught at deep midwicket.The contest had looked like a one-sided affair as the Tasmania bowlers kept the runs down and the wickets falling early in Victoria’s innings. Brendan Drew and Damien Wright put the ball on a good length in the opening stages and Hodge, Aiden Blizzard and Rob Quiney all fell cheaply to skied catches, trying to lift the run-rate. When Luke Butterworth and Polkinghorne began landing yorkers the frustration grew for Victoria, who were in big trouble at 6 for 92 from 14 overs.But Crosthwaite and Jon Moss turned things around in the 17th over, taking 20 off Marsh, including a six each. Crosthwaite used his feet to the fast and slow bowlers and his late blitz featured consecutive sixes off Damien Wright, one over cover and an even better one over point. His 68-run partnership with Moss took only 36 balls; Crosthwaite remained unbeaten on 52 and Moss on 20.Marsh, the Tasmania captain, said the game got away from his team when Hussey and Hodge tightened the screws. “The spinners came on and we just didn’t deal with them,” Marsh said. “They tied us up and we lost a few wickets in that period. It’s something we’ve been working on, playing spin and trying to rotate the strike and it just didn’t work for us.”Victoria were the only side to win batting second this season and Hodge said winning the toss in the final had been a huge advantage. “It’s just a difficult game to always keep on top of the run-rate,” he said. “You think that eight or nine an over is not difficult but it is. We [in Australia] haven’t quite grasped the concept of chasing successfully but over in England it’s used as quite a good method.”

Australia may have paid the price for underestimating the Sri Lankan fielding © Getty Images

Australia have crashed from being unbeatable favourites to facing a must-win match on Sunday against a rejuvenated Sri Lanka. A defeat at Sydney on Sunday would mean losing a home triangular one-day series finals for the first time in 13 years.John Buchanan, the Australia coach, said the team must brace themselves for the consequences if they lose the VB Series finals to unfancied Sri Lanka. Australia lost to Sri Lanka at the Adelaide Oval on Friday, making 252 against the latter’s 274 for 8. The Australian innings included five run-outs and a stumping.”There would be some fallout if Australia lost the series 2-0, no doubt about that at all,” Buchanan conceded. “(But) the more cut-throat or the more challenging or the more knock-out it is, that’s all good for us because we’re going to face it in eight months’ time in the ICC (Champions Trophy) and soon after that hopefully in the World Cup.”Another factor in Australia’s shock loss on Friday was the haemorrhaging of 54 runs in the final five overs of Sri Lanka’s innings to give them a competitive total for the Aussies to chase under lights.”Reflecting on last night there were a couple of things, our last five overs went for 50-odd runs which you’d expect them to go for a number of runs but probably not as many as that,” Buchanan said. “Those 50 runs hurt us a little bit but even then, 270 was a reasonable total to chase if we got our foundation right. Then obviously we committed suicide not once but four times early, so we made it very difficult for ourselves to get that foundation.”Ricky Ponting, the Australia captain, blamed the leaking of the last five overs as “not good enough”, and left open the possibility that fast bowler Mick Lewis might come into the starting 11 at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Buchanan agreed but to do that selectors would have to drop a New South Welshman — Stuart Clark or Nathan Bracken — for a match at their home venue.”I wouldn’t expect the selectors to necessarily jump all over it and say we need a lot of change, but Mick Lewis has been brought into the squad for (his ability in the closing overs),” said Buchanan. “Whether there’s scope for him to come in, I think the selectors will certainly have a chat with Ricky and myself.”One possible cause of the run outs was an underestimation of Sri Lanka in the field with athletic Tillakaratne Dilshan having a hand in four of the five run outs with some breathtaking ground fielding.Brad Hogg, Australian left-arm spinner, said ground fielding was an area in which the Sri Lankans had made great improvement under Tom Moody, their coach and Trevor Penney, his assistant.Hogg said, “I think where we’ve dominated the last few years is our fielding and I think they’ve picked up in their standard.”

The writing is on the wall for Lehmann, says Mark Waugh© Getty Images

Mark Waugh, the former Australian batsman, expressed the view that Darren Lehmann’s international career is all but over, saying that it was highly unlikely that Lehmann would be selected for the Ashes tour later this year. Lehmann, 35, who was dropped for the one-day series in New Zealand, has had a poor run of form lately, managing a mere 87 runs in the VB Series.”I don’t think he will go to England, the Australian selectors are looking at younger players,” Waugh told AFP. “He’s a great player and a great team man but I think, unfortunately, age has probably just caught up with him.”Waugh, who retired on the eve of the last Ashes series in 2002-03, said that he expects a “pretty easy” triumph for Australia. “England might have a chance but I don’t know if they believe in themselves against Australia,” he said. “They could take a Test off us, but I think something like 4-1 will be the result.”Waugh, who is also likely to stand for the post of a national selector, was quite vocal about the contentious rotation policy of the Australian selectors. “I don’t think it works. It didn’t work four or five years ago so I don’t know why they brought it back in.”I remember being rotated against Zimbabwe two or three times — and I was batting pretty well and there was probably a lot of runs to be scored against Zimbabwe. At the end of the season, you sit down with the selectors and they are sorting out your contract and where we were rated with other players, and I remember them saying ‘you have had a fair year but you haven’t scored as many runs as we would have liked’.”I felt like saying ‘well, you shouldn’t have rotated me against Zimbabwe’.”

Inzamam-ul-Haq has been appointed the new Pakistan captain, starting with the forthcoming series against South Africa and the New Zealand tour later this year, it was announced today. Also in the squad to face the South Africans were Rashid Latif, who resigned as captain yesterday, and the recalled Mushtaq Ahmed.Inzamam recently led Pakistan to a 5-0 whitewash against Bangladesh while Latif was serving a five-match ban for an incident in the Multan Test. Inzamam’s appointment caps off a remarkable turnaround in fortune and favour. Only a month ago he was in the international wilderness, and although he was recalled to bolster Pakistan’s middle order in the first Test against Bangladesh, he made a duck in the first innings and only mustered another 88 runs in his next three knocks. But his matchwinning unbeaten 138 in the one-wicket victory at Multan showed that he still has what it takes.Lt-Gen. Tauqir Zia, the chairman of the Pakistan board, said in a statement: “I had a lengthy discussion with Inzamam-ul-Haq and he looks geared up and motivated to lead the Pakistan team. He understands that he has a tough job in hand and realizes that he not only has to lead the team in a tough series against South Africa but also continue the good job done by Rashid.”Inzamam added: “I am delighted that the establishment has put faith in my abilities. I will put in my best and will try to carry on the good work done by Rashid Latif. There will be pressure on me. But I guess after playing for 13-odd years, one has to raise his hand and say yes I can handle this pressure and shoulder the hopes of millions of Pakistan supporters.”Mushtaq’s recall rounds off a remarkable year for him after his 100-wicket haul for Sussex in English county cricket. Aamer Sohail, Pakistan’s chairman of selectors, said of him: “The opposition [in England] might not be as tough as the South Africans. But the great thing is that he is bowling well and taking a lot of wickets. There is no denying the fact that a lot is expected of him in the forthcoming series.”The revised series against South Africa starts on Oct 3, with the first one-day international at Lahore.Squad
Mohammad Hafeez, Yasir Hameed, Yousuf Youhana, Inzamam-ul-Haq (capt), Younis Khan, Abdul Razzaq, Shoaib Malik, Rashid Latif (wk), Mohammad Sami, Shoaib Akhtar, Umar Gul, Shabbir Ahmed, Saqlain Mushtaq, Mushtaq Ahmed, Faisal Iqbal, Salman Butt.Reserves: Asim Kamal, Imran Farhat, Faisal Athar, Danish Kaneria, Kamran Akmal (wk), Abdul Rauf.

Hemang Badani’s 98 provided vital relief to a crumbling Tamil Nadu batting, taking their first-innings total to 290 in their Ranji Trophy league match against Andhra Pradesh at Visakhapatnam on Wednesday.Badani provided much-needed stability to the visitors’ batting. Combining primarily with Ashish Kapoor, Badani put together a mature knock off 235 balls, with 13 fours. His 56-run partnership with Kapoor was vital. After Kapoor fell, Badani put on another 39 runs with MR Srinivas before falling leg-before to Hemal Watekar.Chasing 291 for a first-innings lead, Andhra Pradesh’s openers could only put 30 on for the first wicket before Amit Pathak was caught by Kapoor off the bowling of Srinivas. Then it was the turn of Robin Singh, who had MSK Prasad caught behind. Venugopala Rao was rapped on his pads by Srinivas and then unfortunately given out for a duck.GN Srinivas and Fayaz Ahmed then took Andhra Pradesh through to the close of play without any further losses. Srinivas was on 46 at stumps, while Ahmed had made 10; the hosts ended the day on 101/3.

The National League First Division campaign may still be in its infancy, but already it looks set to hold contrasting fortunes for newly-promoted Somerset and Northants.A four-wicket victory with 17-balls to spare at Taunton made it maximum points from their first two fixtures for the Sabres and had vice-captain Marcus Trescothick enthusing: “We don’t fear anyone in this format.”That sort of confidence can only be envied by Steelbacks skipper Matthew Hayden, who promised a close review of strategy and personnel after his side’s third defeat in as many games.”I don’t think we’re playing that badly, but the results speak for themselves and we need to take a good look at what is going wrong,” admitted the Australian. “We have a strong squad of players and it may be that we have to make one or two changes.”Hayden was happy enough with his team’s batting as they posted the highest score in the competition this season when bowled out for 240 with just two balls of their allotted 45 overs to go.It looked a reasonable effort in cloudy, blustery conditions that had a sizeable crowd huddled up against the biting wind.Hayden himself led a recovery from 27-2, hitting an effortless 47 before carelessly directing a short ball from Paul Jarvis straight to opposing skipper and fellow Aussie Jamie Cox at mid-wicket.The dismissal left Northants 115-5 in the 24th over, but led to the brightest batting of their innings as Graeme Swann and David Ripley added 88 for the sixth wicket in 14 overs.Swann was the more aggressive, collecting 9 fours in a chirpy innings of 57, compiled off only 40 balls. By the time he was bowled off his pads by Trescothick the total was 203 and the Steelbacks were assured of a respectable total.Ripley followed soon afterwards, caught and bowled off a leading edge by left-arm spinner Ian Blackwell, who is proving a shrewd winter recruit by Somerset from Derbyshire.But 240, with the weather still overcast, looked an imposing score, particularly when Somerset lost Cox in only the second over.Piran Holloway was run-out by some sharp work from Hayden at short cover, but Trescothick timed the ball impressively from the start and was soon leading a counter-attack.The England A batsman took 14 off an over from Devon Malcolm, hooking the former England pace bowler for six and clipping two more imperious fours off his legs.A fine catch above his head by Darren Cousins accounted for Mike Burns, while Mark Lathwell, out injured for the whole of last season and still seeking form, fell lbw to Kevin Innes pushing forward.When Trescothick was snapped up by Hayden at mid-wicket attempting to bludgeon the first ball sent down by slow left-armer Michael Davies, Somerset were 119-5 and in trouble.The game appeared well balanced when Cousins accounted for wicketkeeper Rob Turner with the total 158, but it proved to be Northants’ last success.Keith Parsons picked the gaps intelligently to reach an unbeaten half-century, receiving excellent support from Blackwell, who began watchfully, but then cut loose, dispatching Swann over long-on for six in contributing 48 not out.Somerset needed 74 off the last 12 overs. But such was the dominance of their seventh-wicket pair that the target always looked attainable. By the end the unbroken stand was worth 85, with Parsons on 54 to follow the 66 he made in the opening victory over Gloucestershire.

Liverpool are set to prevail in the transfer race to sign Ben Doak from Celtic, according to The Daily Mail’s Brian Marjoribanks. 

The lowdown

The 16-year-old winger impressively made his senior debut for Celtic within a month of his B-team bow. Former academy coach Martin Miller has described him as a player with ‘plenty of self-belief and ambition’, along with immense pace and technical skill.

‘A couple of weeks ago’, according to The Athletic’s Kieran Devlin, Doak informed Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou of his wish to leave the club.

The latest

Marjoribanks wrote for The Daily Mail on Saturday morning that Liverpool were ‘closing in’ on signing Doak from Celtic. Jurgen Klopp’s side have edge on ‘other leading Premier League clubs’ who have shown interest, ‘including Chelsea’.

The 16-year-old is set to cost the Reds just £150,000 in compensation, as he is yet to sign a professional contract at Parkhead.

The verdict

This prospective deal shows the pulling power that Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool possess.

Indeed, according to The Athletic’s James Pearce, the prospect of working under the German at Anfield has proved crucial in making up Doak’s mind.

Pearce also pointed to the Merseyside club’s ‘pedigree for developing and promoting young players’ in recent years. The likes of Caoimhin Kelleher, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Curtis Jones and Harvey Elliott have all broken into the first team after impressing at under-23 level for the Reds.

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By the looks of it, there could be yet another hot up-and-coming talent to excite Kopites over the next few years.

In other news, one Serie A club have a ‘concrete’ interest in this Liverpool attacker

Scorecard

Sanjay Bangar took four wickets to bowl Haryana out for 193 (file photo) © Photosport

Twenty wickets fell in a day at Jammu as the hosts secured a 28-run first-innings lead against Jharkhand, which may prove crucial in the low-scoring encounter. Jharkhand, opting to bat first, crossed the 100-run mark, thanks only to a 30-run last-wicket stand between Kuldeep Sharma and Sandip Roy. Kuldeep scored 24 and stayed unbeaten. For Jammu & Kashmir, the new-ball bowlers did all the damage, with Vijay Sharma taking five and Samiullah Beigh taking four wickets.The two were not done, though, as they put on 48 for the eighth wicket to take J&K past Jharkhand’s total. Beigh stayed unbeaten on 33, while Vijay scored 26. For Jharkhand, Kuldeep followed up on his batting performance with 3 for 57, while SS Rao took 3 for 56.
Scorecard
Haryana never really recovered from the early blows Sanjay Bangar dealt them, and were bowled out for 193 on the first day at Rohtak. Railways made a bright start and reached 80 without loss by stumps.Bangar struck in his second and fourth overs to start the rot for Haryana. Sanjib Sanyal joined in the demolition job and soon Haryana were 71 for 6. Amit Sharma and Sandeep Singh took them to 100 with a 29-run stand, but three quick wickets followed. That’s when Gaurav Vashisht, the offspinner, came up with a timely half-century to provide some respectability to their total.Siddharth Joshi and Amit Pagnis, the Railways openers, came out with an aggressive mindset and hit 13 boundaries in 20 overs.
Scorecard
S Suresh scored a crucial half-century to take Assam to 198 and then took two wickets to help reduce Kerala to 23 for 5 at Guwahati. Dhiraj Goswami, Suresh’s new-ball partner, took three wickets for five runs in seven overs. Scoring, generally, happened as an afterthought as Kerala scored 23 runs in 22.3 overs.Earlier, it was Suresh’s 57 at the top of the order, along with wicketkeeper Rajdeep Das’s 30, that held the Assam innings together and took them to a total, which by the end of the day, looked huge.
Scorecard
At Margao, the Madhya Pradesh batsmen punished the Goa bowling to end the day at 334 for 6. They were led by a century by Jatin Saxena and half-centuries by wicketkeeper-opener Naman Ojha and Murtaza Ali.Jatin, who came in at No.3 and shared an 87-run stand with Ojha, scored his second first-class century, in his fourth match. Ali finished the day unbeaten on 75, his maiden first-class half-century. For Goa, Saurabh Bandekar, the former India Under-19 medium-pacer, stuck to the task and took four wickets for 98 runs, even though he bowled eight no-balls.
ScorecardNiraj Patel scored his 10th first-class century to take Gujarat to a comfortable 230 for 3 in Delhi. Niraj’s unbeaten 107 came off 192 deliveries and featured 18 boundaries. Niraj joined opener Nilesh Modi when Gujarat were at a tricky 50 for 2. Modi scored a cautious 51 and put on 75 for the third wicket with Niraj. Bhavik Thaker scored an equally cautious 35 in an unbeaten stand of 105 for the fourth wicket.
ScorecardFaiz Fazal’s second first-class century and Alind Naidu’s 87 put Vidarbha in a commanding position against Tripura, at Nagpur. The two shared a 160-run stand after Vidarbha had lost their first wicket for two runs. Fazal hit 19 fours and a six in his innings of 110.Tripura, though, struck with Naidu’s wicket in 83rd over of the day, after which Vidarbha scored only 11 runs.