An unbeaten 85 from discarded England allrounder see Blast holders to nine-wicket win over Midlands rivals

David Hopps23-Aug-2019

At least one England batsman was a picture of charm and grace after a desperate Ashes day. The only problem was that it was Moeen Ali, not required at Headingley, but instead refreshed by a bit of an August break and playing with grace and charm to win an engrossing West Midlands derby in the Vitality Blast.Moeen is a World Cup winner, with 186 England appearances to his name, but for all that experience he never appears more at home than in this fixture. His unbeaten 85 from 46 balls, allied to a half-century from Riki Wessels, immaculately judged a difficult run chase as Worcestershire overhauled Birmingham’s 184 for 5 with eight balls to spare.Moeen certainly enjoys facing his former county and last season hit centuries in the Royal London One-Day Cup and Vitality Blast matches at Edgbaston.Worcestershire go second in North Group and, along with Lancashire and Notts, are well placed to reach the quarter-finals by the time the group stages end next Friday: Moeen, unlikely to win an Ashes recall, can concentrate his thoughts on leading them to successive Finals Days. Birmingham, now eighth, are left to scrap with the rest and can console themselves that none of their rivals are posturing with intent.Blast crowds are on the up and around 12,000 at Edgbaston witnessed a match that was in doubt until deep into the contest. With 34 needed off four overs, Alex Thomson conceded 20 – Moeen strking successive sixes over long-on – and that was that.Worcestershire were under pressure when they required 80 off eight overs, but Moeen targeted Will Rhodes’ first over, which went for 19. A conservative over against Henry Brookes seemed too close for comfort, but when the boundaries were essential, Worcestershire found them: Moeen’s straight six off Jeetan Patel with 51 needed from 32, or Wessels’ leg-side drag against Oliver Hannon-Dalby to leave 34 off 24.Moeen stroked six sixes, five of them down the ground, while Wessels, typically, found innumerable ways to deflect and drag the ball square of the wicket. Wessels came close to falling lbw when he failed to reverse sweep Chris Green on 39, and Moeen plopped a ball or two into the open spaces, but for the most part their judgment was impeccable”I always felt we were one big over away from winning it,” Moeen said. “There was a bit of dew around and it wasn’t easy for their spinners. It’s always nice to be back playing for Worcestershire. I’ve just been going back to basics a bit.”Thoughts did not just alight on an England player currently jettisoned, but also on those who might yet be called up to reinforce a frivolous batting line-up. If Jason Roy can make a case for Test inclusion solely because of the splendour of his limited-overs form then with England in an Ashes pickle, Dominic Sibley must have had designs on a persuasive 30-odd in a T20 derby? After all, there is no Championship cricket to be had at the moment, so absurd as it sounds how is he meant to do it?Sibley, uncapped and, compared to Roy, unheralded, is a batsman designed for the long haul. He is leading the chase to 1000 runs in Division One, with 949 runs at 55.82, ahead of Yorkshire’s Gary Ballance and Hampshire’s Sam Northeast, but it’s unclear if anybody is all that interested.He began in such orthodox fashion against Worcestershire that it briefly looked as if he actually thought he on Test debut. Sadly, for collectors of cricketing oddities, he then he awoke to his task in hand and charged down the pitch to swing Pat Brown over midwicket into the Hollies Stand. Then he upped the ante, missed a sweep against Ed Barnard, wandered out his crease in vague expectation of a run and was stumped. Twelve runs off 14, as they say at Headingley, where England’s batting had been vanquished earlier in the day, was “neither nowt nor summat”.If Sibley had a unmemorable night, the Bears’ batting line-up had one of their most productive nights of an up-and-down campaign. Sam Hain, Adam Hose, Matthew Lamb and Mark Burgess all energised the innings in turn.Hain has had an extraordinarily consistent tournament with nine innings between 21 and 85, but although he comfortabley tops Birmingham’s run chart with 382 at 42.44, he is only striking at 119. The impression lingers that he is always driving himself forward, never entirely content with his scoring rate, and when he advanced to Dillon Pennington and popped him into the hands of deep midwicket, he left with another condemnatory shake of the head, one caused primarily by healthy ambition.Hose showed a bigger hitting range. His 48 from 23 included two sixes apiece off Moeen and Barnard. He hit Barnard for two sixes in an over, the second of which struck a spectator in the face at long-on. As if momentarily losing concentration, he changed tack and was caught off extra cover, trying to clear the infield.Lamb hunted out the short leg-side boundary – when he wasn’t threatening to injure the Worcestershire attack with straight drives. Pennington, sensible lad, ducked out of the way of a straight drive. Brown, stopped the next straight drive with his shin, grimaced his way through a third over, and never made the fourth. Birmingham had a score to reckon with, but they didn’t reckon with Moeen.

Leeds United have reportedly made a recent offer to sign a new player who Daniel Farke knows well.

Leeds’ form in 2024

The Whites have been unbeatable so far this year, winning all eight of their Championship games in 2024. The most recent victory came at Plymouth Argyle, which took the club back into second place having played a game more than Southampton and Ipswich Town.

Farke praised his side after the win at Home Park, saying:

“It was perhaps not our best performance of the season. The schedule is relentless. It was important to add another clean sheet, a really good [defensive] performance. We started really well in the game. "But then also, there were one or two periods of the game where we had to stay strong and didn't allow them to have chances.

"Definitely a deserved win but hard fought. I'm pretty proud, especially with the clean sheet today. The first side to win here since October.”

Leeds, Farke and the 49ers Enterprises will hopefully be preparing for a season back in the Premier League over the summer, and it looks as if the German has his eyes on a player he signed for Norwich City.

Leeds make £6m offer for new winger

According to Turkish outlet Takvim in the last 48 hours, Leeds United have ‘recently made an official offer’ in the region of €7m (£6m) to sign Besiktas winger Milot Rashica. It doesn’t say when the bid was made, either in January or since the window has shut with a view to a summer deal.

Besiktas have turned down the bid, though, with their management saying: "We are aiming for the championship in the new season. Rashica is an important player who can lead us to this goal."

As mentioned, Rashica has previous experience of working under Farke, making 12 appearances under the now-Leeds boss at Carrow Road in 2021/22 before he was sacked. Farke previously hailed the winger, saying:

“Milot Rashica was excellent in our first games but he had a difficult pre-season and unbelievable workload during the international break.

“On Wednesday night he played for Kosovo in Spain and had to work a lot playing against the ball for ninety minutes and then travel back to England and then travelling the three-and-a-half hours to London. He was a bit tired and needed to have a break.”

As we know, Leeds already have a number of talented wingers in Yorkshire, such as Crysencio Summerville, Wilfried Gnonto and Dan James, so should one of the three depart, perhaps Rashica could be viewed as a replacement.

Rashica, after leaving England, has played for Galatasaray and Besiktas, contributing to more than 20 goals in 56 appearances. The 27-year-old is under contract until 2027, though, so Leeds may need to up their bid considerably over the coming months if they want him at Elland Road this summer.

That yorker, the late swing, the dip, the accuracy, that low-arm sling: the works – he’s still got it

The Report by Andrew Fidel Fernando06-Sep-2019He’s 36 years of age, not nearly as quick as he once was, and almost everyone thought his career was done two years ago. But he’s still got it. That yorker, the late swing, the dip, the accuracy, that low-arm sling: the works – he’s still got it.Back in the 2007 World Cup, Lasith Malinga became the first bowler to take four wickets in four balls in almost 120 years of international cricket. Three further international hat-tricks later, in defence of Sri Lanka’s modest 125 for 8, he ripped out four in four again, on an evening in which he claimed five wickets for six runs, and hauled Sri Lanka to a 37-run consolation victory against New Zealand.Where the first four-in-four had largely been the result of reverse swing, and balls moving into the right-hander, this time he was envenomed by conventional swing – the ball moving viciously in the opposite direction. Where in 2007, his victims were mainly lower-order batsmen, in a mostly-empty stadium in Guyana, in 2019 he was taking down New Zealand’s top order in front of a euphoric packed house in Pallekele.When New Zealand began their innings, it almost seemed like a formality that they would complete a whitewash. Sri Lanka had floundered with the bat on a slow, turning surface, registering a total that seemed at least 25 runs below what might have been competitive. Malinga, though, made his team’s batting woes, and the pitch itself, irrelevant.It was in his second over, the third of the innings, that sent the stadium into raptures, and the New Zealand batting order into tumult. Third ball, he swung a full delivery past Colin Munro’s drive, to tickle his leg stump, the ball moving from middle stump to leg, both in the air and off the surface. The next delivery, to another left-hander, was almost identical. Hamish Rutherford had flown in from the UK for this game, and barely had time to register the ball, before it swerved late again to hit him in front of middle and leg. Initially, the umpire ruled not out. Malinga reviewed almost immediately and had that overturned.The next two wickets were even more special, coming as they did against New Zealand’s best batsmen of the T20 series. Colin de Grandhomme thought the yorker Malinga had bowled to him was hitting his pads, but again, just micro-seconds before it reached him, the ball curved towards slip, missing yet another shot, hitting yet another stump. Malinga set off on a celebratory sprint as Pallekele went nuts around him. But he wasn’t done yet. Ross Taylor managed to get a boot in the way of the next outswinging yorker. This time, there was no doubting where the ball was headed. The umpire gave it out immediately.Malinga would take one more wicket in his following over, getting Tim Seifert to edge to slip with what else but a full outswinging delivery. Which meant that he had taken five wickets in the space of nine balls. The only run he conceded in that sequence was a leg-side wide. He had reduced New Zealand to a galling 23 for 5 – in danger at that time of recording their lowest T20 total.Although Malinga took himself out of the attack, wickets would continue to tumble. Three fell in the space of four balls in the ninth over – the first a run-out of Daryl Mitchell, before Akila Dananjaya bowled Scott Kuggeleijn with one that ricocheted off the batsman’s elbow, then had Mitchell Santner stumped two balls later. In the following over, when Wanindu Hasaranga trapped Todd Astle in front of the stumps, New Zealand were 52 for 9 after ten overs.The game seemed as if it was all done at that stage, but Tim Southee, batting with No. 11 Seth Rance, still gave the hosts a scare. Southee hit three sixes in the 13th over, bowled by Lakshan Sandakan – a burst of runs that forced Malinga to come back and deliver his final over. Rance and Southee survived Malinga, but could not get much further. On the last ball of the 16th over, Sandakan came around the wicket to Rance, and trapped him in front as he was trying to sweep.Earlier, New Zealand’s spinners scythed their way through Sri Lanka’s batting order. Santner, whose 3 for 12 from four overs would be the best bowling performance on any normal evening, first had the out-of-sorts Kusal Perera caught at short fine-leg with his first ball, before having Niroshan Dickwella caught at the same position. He then set debutant Lahiru Madushanka up with two beautiful slow, spinning deliveries, before getting him lbw with a straighter one.Legspinner Astle reaped three wickets himself in his first match of the tour, taking 3 for 28, while Southee maintained a typically outstanding economy rate of four through his full quota of overs. Sri Lanka, whose highest partnerships was the 31-run stand, played a succession of bad shots, and gave up an unnecessary run out to boot.The Pallekele crowd was subdued at the end of that batting performance. They were soon brought to roaring life by a vintage performance from a fast bowler, who even now, is one of the most explosive going. Almost in the drama of the evening were the stats that Malinga ticked off. He became the first men’s bowler to 100 T20 international wickets during this spell. He now has two T20 hat-tricks, which no one has done. Of the 100 international hat-tricks now taken in cricket, Malinga has a 5% share.

Neymar does not consider former PSG team-mate Kylian Mbappe to be a leading contender for the Ballon d’Or, with the Brazilian picking his top three.

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Blancos claimed domestic & European crownsBellingham & Vinicius starred for themMbappe making his way to the Bernabeu in 2024GettyWHAT HAPPENED?

France international Mbappe, who is Paris Saint-Germain’s all-time leading scorer and will be joining Real Madrid as a free agent this summer, finished third in the Golden Ball vote for 2023 – behind Erling Haaland and eight-time winner Lionel Messi. That is a spot that Neymar has filled on two previous occasions, as he missed out to Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

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The South American superstar is no longer in the running for the most prestigious of individual prizes. Neymar is now 32 years of age and endured a long road to recovery from knee ligament damage at Saudi Pro League side Al-Hilal last season. He is, however, in a position to name the best players on the planet.

Getty/GOALWHAT NEYMAR SAID

Neymar has been asked to do just that by Brazilian journalist . Unsurprisingly, a man with more goals for his country than any other focused much of his attention on Real Madrid aces that savoured La Liga and Champions League glory in 2023-24. Neymar said: “Vinicius Junior is first, Rodrygo and [Jude] Bellingham are joint second.”

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WHAT NEXT?

Neymar went on to say that “Mbappe enters the fray in third place”, but he has already filled the podium places. The 2024 Ballon d’Or will be handed out at a glitzy ceremony in Paris on October 28, with European Championship and Copa America title bids potentially determining who comes out on top.

Erik ten Hag and Manchester United made significant changes to their goalkeepeing ranks in the summer, allowing David de Gea to leave as a free agent at the end of his contract and shelling out over £47m on a replacement in Inter Milan's Andre Onana.

Meanwhile, the Red Devils banked up to £20m from the permanent departure of Dean Henderson, who joined Crystal Palace, and they sold youngster Matej Kovar to Bayer Leverkusen for just under £8m. Altay Bayindir came in from Turkish club Fenerbache in a £4.2m deal to fill the void.

Now, it's emerged that a surprise name is working with Onana and Bayindir behind the scenes at United's Carrington training ground after Ten Hag granted a request.

Joe Lewis steps up to first-team Man Utd training

As reported by The Mirror, 36-year-old Joe Lewis is training with United's first-team to keep up his fitness levels. Lewis, a free agent, had been taking part in under-21 sessions, but he asked Ten Hag whether he could step up to the senior side, and the Dutchman gave him the green light.

There's "no indication" at this stage that Lewis will be offered a permanent deal by the club, but it's noted that Jonny Evans' second spell at the club began as an informal training arrangement, so we can't rule it out entirely.

Lewis never truly realised potential after England call-up

Lewis graduated from the Norwich City academy but never made a senior appearance for the club, spending time on loan at Stockport and Morecambe before a permanent switch to Peterborough in 2008.

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He spent four years with the Posh, making nearly 200 appearances, before joining Cardiff City, where he played his only-ever Premier League game – a 1-1 draw with Hull City in September 2013.

The next two seasons saw him make temporary moves to Blackpool and Fulham, and he then joined Aberdeen on a free transfer in 2016. The Dons are the team he's represented the most, but his time there came to an end last summer.

At the international level, meanwhile, Lewis played five times for England's under-21 side but never truly lived up to the early potential he showed. Fabio Capello did call him up to the Three Lions' senior squad at one stage, but he didn't get the chance to make his debut.

A number of top Premier League teams have seen the benefit of keeping a vastly experienced stopper around as their third-choice, be it Adrian at Liverpool or Scott Carson at Manchester City, but United already have 37-year-old Tom Heaton to play that role, so unfortunately it seems there isn't a first-team opening Lewis. Realistically, his main hope will be that the teams further down the football pyramid take note of the fact that he's been training with Ten Hag's side, and make him an offer.

Chelsea lost a tense Carabao Cup final to Liverpool yesterday despite having a string of chances throughout the match.

They were outdone by poor finishing and the brilliance of Anfield ‘keeper Caoimhin Kelleher meant it was the sixth successive English domestic cup final that the Blues had lost.

Throughout the match, several Chelsea players did impress, and they came close to opening the scoring on numerous occasions, most notably when Raheem Sterling had the ball in the net, but the goal was disallowed due to offside.

The Englishman was one of their weakest links, however, failing to rise up to the occasion.

Raheem Sterling’s match in numbers vs Liverpool

If Nicolas Jackson had held his run for a fraction of a second, Sterling would have netted the opener, but aside from that, the former Manchester City wizard offered nothing.

The winger took just 19 touches and completed only eight passes during his 67 minutes on the pitch, and he even failed to succeed with any of his three dribble attempts.

Sterling even managed to lose every single duel he contested as he was easily bullied off the ball and his overall performance simply meant Chelsea looked like they were down to ten men.

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One Chelsea star in particular failed to turn up during their Carabao Cup final defeat.

ByMatt Dawson Feb 25, 2024

He wasn’t just the main villain though, as Jackson had a chance to make himself a hero for the Stamford Bridge side in his first cup final since arriving last summer, but he too failed to make an impact at Wembley.

Nicolas Jackson’s statistics vs Liverpool

While Jackson may have been slightly more involved during the match than Sterling, as he made a key pass, won six of his 15 contested duels and succeeded with two of his four dribble attempts, his lack of composure did not bode well for Chelsea.

The striker completed just 12 passes throughout the 90 minutes, which was alarmingly 15 fewer than goalkeeper Djorde Petrovic, while only taking 31 touches, showing that when he had the ball at his feet, the former Villarreal forward was rather wasteful.

Liverpool were there for the taking during spells of the final yesterday, and the Blues had a variety of chances to score, but they were outfoxed by their opponents time and time again with Jackson arguably having one of the better chances in the game.

Sent over the top by Enzo Fernandez, the forward raced towards goal only to be denied as Ibrahima Konate dashed back to help deny him. In truth, Jackson really should have found the net.

Mauricio Pochettino would have been counting on his two biggest attacking threats to pose more of a danger to the Liverpool defence, yet they both failed to even register a shot on target during the match.

There is no doubt this Chelsea side will eventually come good, especially with the sheer volume of young talent present in their squad, but will it be Pochettino who brings out the best of his so-called 'billion pound bottle jobs'?

Both Jackson and Sterling need to show big improvements heading into the future, as their display at Wembley yesterday was far from good enough, and it shows that in order to win a major trophy, Pochettino simply has to have a proper out-and-out striker to convert chances.

Between now and May, the Argentinian must raise morale for the Blues to move into the top half of the Premier League table, otherwise he may be handed his P45 at the end of the campaign.

USMNT legend Tim Howard believes Gregg Berhalter should designate Tyler Adams as US captain throughout Copa America

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• Howard speaks out ahead of Copa America 2024
• Argues Adams should be named permanent captain
• USMNT to open group stage against Bolivia

• WHAT HAPPENED?

  USMNT legend Tim Howard does not believe coach Gregg Berhalter has proper hierarchy in place for the team as it looks to face Bolivia in the group stage of the 2024 Copa America this weekend.

  Writing in a column for the Daily Mail, the former U.S. goalkeeper – who played in the 2010 and 2014 World Cups – argued that the USMNT boss needs to appoint a designated captain for the duration tournament, and ideally, that would be Tyler Adams.

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  THE BIGGER PICTURE

  Copa America 2024 will be an important test for the USMNT on the global stage, as it serves as a prelude to hosting the 2026 FIFA World Cup. There are high expectations for the U.S., and it's clearly important for the team to perform at a high level on home soil.

  Howard was a member of the USMNT the last time they featured in the tournament, in 2016.

• WHAT HOWARD SAID

  "This USMNT seems to be a tight unit," Howard wrote. "They understand what it means to wear the US jersey. But heading into Copa America, Gregg Berhalter has no permanent captain. That doesn’t sit well with me.

  "I am a firm believer that there has to be one voice and the communication hierarchy must be clear: manager, captain, senior players and then nobody else. Soccer is fragile and players are insecure.

  "Confidence ebbs and flow with every result. So you need a figurehead – someone strong, someone who stands up in the hard moments, someone who teammates can count on. When you have that, it's amazing how everybody falls into line. Tyler Adams should have the armband – without question.

  "Just look at how he operates on the pitch, his upbeat personality, his tenacity, and how well he speaks off the field. Under his leadership, this team can galvanize the country at Copa America. Sometimes it's as easy as just kicking the ball – sports can be healing, motivational and inspirational."

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  WHAT NEXT FOR THE USMNT?

  Adams and the USMNT begin their Copa America journey Sunday night against Bolivia in Arlington, Texas. They'll follow that with Group Stage matches against Panama and Uruguay.

Paul Pogba danced for joy after seeing France win their penalty shootout against Portugal and seal a place in the Euro 2024 semi-finals.

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• Pogba watched France match with friends
• Midfielder celebrated penalty shootout win
• Currently serving four-year suspension

• WHAT HAPPENED?

  After 120 goalless minutes, it took a penalty shootout to decide the quarter-final tie between the midfielder's country and Portugal. Pogba watched the nerve-wracking shootout with musician Diamond Platnumz and a few friends and they were all delighted to see France go through with a 5-4 victory.

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  Pogba travelled to Germany to see his team take on Belgium in the previous round of the competition. Les Bleus star Kylian Mbappe says they are missing his presence on the field. Pogba is currently serving a four-year suspension after he failed a drugs test last August.

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  WHAT NEXT FOR FRANCE?

  Pogba will be hoping his France team-mates can book a place in the Euro 2024 final by beating Spain on July 9. La Roja booked their spot in the last four when they secured an extra-time win against Germany on Friday evening.

كشف الصحفي الشهير فابريزيو رومانو حقيقة انتهاء مسيرة لاعب فريق ريال مدريد، دافيد ألابا، في إطار معاناته الحالية من إصابة على مستوى الركبة.

وعانى ألابا من إصابة بقطع في الرباط الصليبي والغضروف المفصلي للركبة، في بداية الموسم الماضي.

ولم يشارك النمساوي في أي مباراة منذ ذلك الوقت، رغم عودة زميله تيبو كورتوا الذي عانى من الإصابة نفسها في التوقيت ذاته.

وظهرت تقارير صحفية، يوم الإثنين، تفيد بأن عودة دافيد ألابا إلى الملاعب تعقدت بسبب ظهور مشاكل جديدة، تخص الإصابة نفسها.

وأفادت التقارير بأن دافيد ألابا قد لا يستطيع العودة لممارسة لعبة كرة القدم من جديد (لمطالعة التفاصيل من هنا).

ولكن فابريزيو رومانو نفى الأمر تمامًا، حيث قال: “الشائعات حول نهاية مبكرة محتملة لمسيرة دافيد ألابا أو آلام جديدة في ركبته هي هراء تام”.

وأضاف: “لا يزال تعافي ألابا يسير وفقًا للخطة، اللاعب والأطباء ومدربو اللياقة البدنية راضون عن عملية الشفاء، إنه يواصل خطته ويشعر بتحسن”.

Tottenham Hotspur are thought to be plotting a move for a new Premier League midfielder, according to one report.

Tottenham transfer news

Spurs were one of the busiest top-flight sides in the January transfer window, securing deals for three new players. First to arrive was Timo Werner, joining on loan with an option to buy in the summer, whereas centre-back Radu Dragusin arrived on a permanent deal from Genoa.

There was also time for the club to beat Barcelona to the signing of teenager Lucas Bergvall as well, with the midfielder set to link up with Ange Postecoglou’s side in the summer.

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Talking of the summer, it looks as if those in north London are already putting plans in place ahead of Postecoglou’s second season in charge. Hopefully, Spurs will be able to offer Champions League football for the 2024/25 campaign, with the likes of Raphinha, Pedro Neto and Frenkie de Jong all linked as potential marquee signings.

Conor Gallagher is also a long-term target for Spurs, but a new central midfielder appears to be on the shortlist.

Tottenham plotting James Garner move

According to TEAMtalk sources, Spurs are plotting a move for Everton’s James Garner. It has been claimed that Garner’s ‘work ethic and energy makes him an ideal fit into Postecoglu’s style of playing’, although Newcastle United are also keen.

The 22-year-old can play as a central midfielder, defensive midfielder or even as a right-back and appears to be at the top of his game with a career-high Transfermarkt valuation.

After joining Everton from Manchester United in 2022, Garner has made 47 appearances for the Toffees, becoming a regular under Sean Dyce this season. England U21 manager Lee Carsley recently hailed the player, saying:

“I have known Jimmy for a while. I have worked with him for a few years. He is a player I rate highly. He had a strong two-year campaign with some ups and downs at Forest, but he did well. He got promoted and then secured a move to Everton, which is obviously a club I still follow and hold plenty of affection for.

“What impresses me most about Jimmy is his versatility. He has the ability to play two or three positions. Also, the way he finished the season at Everton. Considering the pressure the Club were under and the age Jimmy is, he took it all in his stride."

Meanwhile, former teammate at Nottingham Forest, Ryan Yates, praised Garner for his set-pieces.

"The delivery has got to be good, it's got to be in the right areas. We've got one of the best in the league at that in James. He's unbelievable. A lot of credit has got to go to him. It probably goes under the radar a bit. He is always practising them, and he is such a threat.”

It looks as if a deal will be one to keep an eye on over the coming months, with a new central midfielder seemingly near the top of Spurs’ wishlist.