West Ham United are in desperate need of attacking reinforcements and could now be set to lodge a bid to land Lazio star Tijjani Noslin in January.

Nuno Espirito Santo has walked into quite the job in East London, facing up to the possibility that a real fight for survival could be the story of the campaign unless his side get their act together over the next few weeks.

Fan unrest, dwindling forward options, and a set of difficult festive fixtures are unlikely to whet supporters’ appetites. However, West Ham is a club that has been built on fighting spirit, which is something the former Wolves boss will hope to incorporate to push them closer to Premier League safety.

Conceding from set-pieces has also become a major concern. While some would be led to believe that the Hammers could solve their problems by spending in January, journalist Dean Jones believes Nuno will have a ‘restricted’ budget to work with at the London Stadium.

He explained: “I am told there is a pretty restricted budget that will limit what they are capable of. It’s a pretty worrying time for their fans.”

Something has got to give, one way or another, albeit the Portuguese boss will have to press on with the squad he has for now, hampered by injuries to Ollie Scarles, Kostantinos Mavropanos and German international Niclas Fullkrug.

After facing Newcastle United, West Ham take on Burnley next weekend in a critical match relative to the context of their mission to secure survival. Winning is all that matters, with the consequences if they don’t looking bleaker than ever.

January is a lifeline in some respects, and they may now have their eyes on an attacker to gift Nuno some much-needed flexibility across his frontline.

West Ham set to launch bid for Lazio star Tijjani Noslin

According to reports in Italy, West Ham are lining up a move worth in the region of £14 million for Lazio attacker Tijjani Noslin, who could be cashed in on by the Serie A giants after joining from Hellas Verona in 2024.

The Amsterdam-born man is capable of playing on either flank or through the middle and has registered six goals and four assists in 43 appearances for his current club. However, he would be open to the possibility of a January departure.

Ultimately, West Ham’s willingness to spend will determine whether there is movement on his situation. Despite possessing an element of physicality and athleticism that could benefit the Hammers, he has only featured in 37 minutes worth of football for Lazio this season.

Versatile by nature, Noslin is capable of fitting into different tactical systems due to his robust skillset after being brought in to help replace veteran Ciro Immobile.

Jarrod Bowen refusing to leave West Ham despite relegation fears

Nevertheless, he hasn’t exactly been a rip-roaring success at Lazio, and his return of 31 goals in 159 senior career matches doesn’t suggest the attacker would be a prolific solution to the Irons’ goalscoring woes of recent times.

The ICC is set to approve a continental qualification system to decide the six participating teams in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. That means that Full Members such as Pakistan, New Zealand and Sri Lanka among others, could miss out on cricket’s much-anticipated return to the Olympics after over a century.ESPNcricinfo understands that the board discussed a proposal at the recent AGM which allows for one team from each continent. Though some details still need to be finalised, in essence, the majority approval for a regional qualification system is in place, with a minority of members expressing dissent.Six teams each in the men’s and women’s categories will contest for Olympic medals between July 14 and 29 in 2028 after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) allowed cricket to be added to the roster for the first time since the Paris 1900 Olympics. While the ICC’s initial thinking was that it would shortlist the top six-ranked teams at a pre-determined cut-off date, several Full Member countries believed such an approach wouldn’t allow for a wider representation of countries from across the globe.Related

• Boards set to discuss India-Pakistan fallout during ICC quarterly meeting

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That has now changed to a one-country-per-continent qualification system, which is thought to be more in line with the Olympic participation ethos.Which countries are shortlisted will be based on the rankings on a set date. But if the ICC plan goes through, it could mean the Olympics may not have one of the most widely watched contests in global sport: India vs Pakistan. Based on the current ICC T20 rankings, in both men’s and women’s competitions, India will qualify from Asia, Australia from Oceania, England from Europe, with one between USA or one of the islands from the Caribbean from the Americas, while South Africa qualify from Africa. ESPNcricinfo understands that the ICC is still discussing the participation of USA, who potentially get direct entry as hosts.But questions remain around the make-up of the USA men’s team, the majority of whom are US residents but not naturalised US citizens. The ICC is also concerned that the USA women’s team are not in the top 20-ranked teams at the moment. A final decision is likely to be taken at the ICC’s next quarterly meeting in October.The ECB, along with Cricket Scotland and Cricket Ireland, have formed Great Britain Cricket as an entity, which will help facilitate players from England, Scotland and Northern Ireland to represent Great Britain at the Games.An artist impression of Brisbane Stadium in Victoria Park for Brisbane 2032 Olympics•Queensland Government

As for West Indies, CWI wrote to ICC in May, pitching two ideas that could allow one of the regional countries to represent the Caribbean in the Olympics. One suggestion was an internal qualifying tournament conducted among the Caribbean countries with the winner heading to the Olympics. The other involved conducting a global qualifying pathway that would pit countries in the five ICC development regions alongside regions in the West Indies.For the sixth team, the ICC is considering the option of a global qualifier, the structure for which is still being fine-tuned.Speaking on Thursday to BBC’s , ECB chairman Richard Thompson said that the IOC was keen on having a team from each continent which satisfies the Olympics charter. “The preference from the IOC is to work to the ‘five ring’ principle, which is teams from each of the continents represent their continent,” Thompson said.The ICC is also optimistic about increasing the number of participating teams in the next two Olympics – in 2032 in Brisbane and in 2036, the venue for which is yet to be finalised by IOC. Thompson said that with India expected to bid hard to host the 2036 Summer Games, cricket could receive a massive boost.”The hope is, when we get to Brisbane, we might be up to eight or ten teams, and in 2036, there’s a three-way shoot-out between Qatar, Saudi and India, and clearly the real hope is that India get in it 2036, in which case, cricket will be front and centre. Who knows? It could be ten or 12 teams by that stage.”At this stage, we are there by the invitation of the IOC and on that basis, you abide by their rules, and that is to play the geography of your game as opposed to necessarily the top six playing nations.”

Scotland allrounder Bryce takes two wickets and hits unbeaten fifty in ten-wicket triumph

ECB Media19-Aug-2025Kathryn Bryce starred with bat and ball and Sophie Ecclestone was at her parsimonious best as Manchester Originals cruised to a 10-wicket victory over Trent Rockets at Trent Bridge and moved third in the table.Having taken 2 for 19 to help restrict the hosts to 111 for 7, Bryce steered the chase with an unbeaten 61 from 45 deliveries, receiving strong support from Aussie star Beth Mooney, who made 47 not out from 37 balls.Their clinical opening stand secured victory with 18 balls to spare as Originals claimed a third straight win to boost their chances of progressing through the group stage.Earlier, Rockets had made a bright start after being put into bat, Natasha Wraith stroking 17 from 14 before a canny piece of bowling from Ecclestone (2-12) saw her stumped by Mooney. Bryony Smith was also in punchy form, moving to 17 from 12 only to have her innings ended by a peach of a legcutter from Bryce.Nat Sciver-Brunt (34 from 26) played nicely to leave the Rockets well-placed at 78 for 2 but Ecclestone produced a moment of brilliance to swing the game in Originals’ favour, ripping a sharp-turning delivery past the England skipper’s outside edge before Mooney effected another superb stumping.The hosts lost their way thereafter, the impressive Lauren Filer taking the key wicket of Ash Gardner as the Rockets mustered just 33 runs from their final 37 deliveries, stuttering to a below-par total and ultimately falling to a fourth defeat in five matches.Ecclestone, named as the Meerkat Match Hero, said: “It’s nice to take a few wickets and be able to contribute. I feel like we bowled so well as a group. We identified the pitch was quite slow and we bowled so well to keep them to that total.”Mooney actually said we just needed one partnership and she stuck to her guns and did it, fair play to those two. We need to keep winning as much as possible and hopefully get into the Eliminator.”

Karima Gore struck an unbeaten half-century to see a 134-run chase through

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Aug-2025

Shakib Al Hasan made history on Sunday, becoming the fifth man in the world to take 500 wickets in T20 cricket. He bowled only two overs against St Kitts and Nevis Patriots but picked up 3 for 11 in a match-winning effort for Antigua and Barbuda Falcons, who consolidated their place at the top of the CPL 2025 points table.Shakib needed six balls to get the record out of the way, deceiving Mohammad Rizwan in flight and securing a caught and bowled. Two more wickets came his way as he quadrupled his tally for the season and limited the former champions to a meagre 133 for 9 in North Sound. Patriots had a tough go of it after being put in to bat with only Rizwan (30 off 26) and Evin Lewis (32 off 31) scoring more than 18 runs. There were four single-digit scores and three run-outs, epitomising an innings that never went quite right.With a target in front of them, Falcons were able to negotiate the difficult batting conditions better but even they had the odd hiccup. Afghanistan wristspinner Waqar Salamkheil continued his outstanding form as this season’s top wicket-taker with figures of 1 for 16. Patriots needed more than one man to pull off this defence though. They ran into Shakib again, this time with the bat as the Bangladesh allrounder showed off his other skill. Four other men have 500 wickets in T20 cricket but none of them have nearly as much as his 7574 runs. Shakib was 3 off seven balls before he hit Ashmead Nedd for a six down the ground and reverse-swept the next ball for four to hasten Falcons’ march to the finish line.Falcons needed 28 from 30 balls when Shakib fell. Karima Gore, who was playing the anchor’s role until then, found a couple of boundaries to ease off the pressure. He also hit the winning boundary, thus seeing off the chase with two balls to spare and bringing up his fifty as well.

Wolves have made an enquiry for Palmeiras manager Abel Ferreira, with executive chairman Jeff Shi receiving a reply.

Wolves to “take time” in new manager search

The Old Gold parted ways with Vitor Pereira on Sunday following their eighth Premier League defeat of the season and are no further down the line in regards appointing a long-term replacement.

David Ornstein has revealed that Wolves didn’t begin the process for a new manager until Pereira was sacked after the 3-0 loss at Fulham, despite their struggles all season.

“I think they wanted to give Vitor Pereira as long as possible. And therefore, they didn’t start a process to replace him before he was actually sacked.

“Once he was, the work began in earnest, or maybe Saturday night after the Fulham defeat, into Sunday, phone calls were starting to be made to express interest in a number of candidates, including Gary O’Neil.”

It looked as if Gary O’Neil was going to return to Molineux, however, he walked away from talks to leave the club at square one.

Under-21s head coach, James Collins, and under-18s head coach, Richard Walker, are in interim charge ahead of Saturday’s trip to Chelsea.

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It has been claimed that Wolves “want to take time” to find the right man after O’Neil’s move fell through and Rob Edwards distanced himself from the vacancy.

A leadership group involving Shi and Matt Jackson are involved in the managerial process, whereas Wolves are also being influenced by Jorge Mendes in the background.

The new Nuno Santo: "World-class" manager wants to hold talks with Wolves

Now, a new name has emerged with Wolves even making contact over a deal.

Wolves make Abel Ferreira approach

According to reports from ESPN Brazil, Wolves have made an enquiry over a move for Palmeiras boss Ferreira.

The Portuguese manager was wanted by Nottingham Forest following Nuno Espirito Santo’s exit and was also linked with Chelsea back in 2023.

However, following the latest move from Molineux chiefs, Ferreira has rejected Wolves’ offer as he is focused on the CONMEBOL Libertadores final and the Brazilian Championship with Palmeiras.

A two-time Brazil league winner with his current employers, Ferreira plays a 4-2-3-1 manager and has won 6-0 on four separate occasions.

Abel Ferreira’s managerial record

Wins

361

Draws

149

Losses

154

Goals scored

1,093

Goals conceded

652

Points per game

1.86

Two of those came with Palmeiras and the other two in Portugal when he was in charge of Braga, and as can be seen, the 46-year-old has plenty of managerial experience at a relatively young age.

Unfortunately for Shi and co, a move to Wolves for Ferreira doesn’t look like it is on the cards in 2025, leaving Wolves to look elsewhere once again.

Chelsea have been warned that Estevao Willian could follow the footprints of Jadon Sancho and fizzle out soon just like the England international, who has been struggling for form for the last few years after a bright start to his career. Following a loan move from Manchester United, Sancho showed sporadic flashes of brilliance at Stamford Bridge last season, scoring five goals and providing 10 assists in 41 appearances, and had a permanent clause in his contract worth up to £25 million ($33m) that Chelsea could have exercised. But disagreements over personal terms scuppered the deal, and the Blues paid a £5m penalty fee to terminate the arrangement.

• Hype warning for 'Messinho'

  Estevao, affectionately nicknamed 'Messinho' in Brazil, has emerged as the toast of Stamford Bridge. Since his £29m ($38m) summer move from Palmeiras, he has ticked all the right boxes, and his first goal, which was a dramatic stoppage-time winner against Liverpool, instantly made him a favourite among fans. He has also impressed in Europe, coming up with a calm and composed penalty against Ajax in the Champions League and a strike in a tense 2-2 draw away to Qarabag. Enzo Maresca, Chelsea’s head coach, has trusted him with big moments, and his role has grown from an impact substitute to one of the key players in the attacking setup.

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  Barnes not yet impressed by Estevao

  Former England winger John Barnes has delivered a stark warning to those already labelling Estevao as the next big thing, insisting that the youngster risks following the same path as Sancho, who burned bright early before fading just as fast.

  Speaking to Barnes said: "Estevao is a young player who has come into the team and is doing well at the moment. However, I remember Jadon Sancho doing the same thing and based off that I tend to leave opinions on young players alone and wait for them to grow. We can’t start putting pressure on him yet.

  "In reality, he’s had 10 good games… he’s done nothing! He’s got lots of potential, but we’ve seen that at Chelsea before and there’s lots of examples where it hasn’t worked out. He’s not going to be a starter every week because they have so many players and all of a sudden, if he has a few below-par performances, we could be writing him off after another 10 games. He has good potential, lots of ability and he can be a very good player, but at this moment in time he has done nothing and achieved nothing."

• Maresca's measured faith in winger

  Maresca, however, couldn’t disagree more. The Italian manager, who has overseen Estevao’s integration since the summer, believes Chelsea have landed one of the most gifted prospects in world football. 

  "You can see his talent," Maresca said after Chelsea’s 3-0 win over Wolves, where Estevao once again caught the eye. "We are trying to help him to adapt and give him the right minutes. "He arrived from Brazil, he needs time to adapt, but he's going to start games for us in the future. He arrived from a club where he was not training 100 percent so his physical condition was not good. Slowly, now he is better. He knows that to play with us he needs to be good on the ball and off the ball otherwise, he's not going to play. We are very happy with him."

  Maresca went even further, comparing Estevao’s development trajectory to that of Chelsea star Cole Palmer. "For me, it’s very, very similar to Cole," he said. "I had Cole at the same age as Estevao at [Manchester] City Under-23 and they are very similar. Cole started playing wide because he needed a bit [more] physicality; now he’s playing inside. And Estevao, they are quite similar, now he’s playing wide but in the future I think he’s more of an inside player. 

  "I feel very lucky to be his manager because it's exciting, you can enjoy. We said many times, I think the fans at the end, they paid the tickets to see players like Cole, like Estevao, this kind of player. So it's nice that we can have players like Estevao, like Cole, like them."

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  The road ahead for Estevao

  Estevao has been called up to Brazil’s senior squad for friendlies against Senegal and Tunisia. When he returns to London, the schedule gets no easier. Chelsea face Burnley on November 22, before back-to-back clashes against Barcelona in the Champions League and Arsenal in the Premier League.

Shohei Ohtani's former interpreter Ippei Mizuhara was sentenced to nearly five years in prison on Thursday after stealing about $17 million from the Los Angeles Dodgers star in order to pay off his gambling debts.

Mizuhara was handed a 57-month prison sentence by U.S. District Judge John W. Holcomb at a federal courthouse in Santa Ana, Calif., on Thursday afternoon. He will also have three years of supervised release and be required to pay Ohtani $17 million in restitution and an additional $1.1 million to the IRS, according to Tisha Thompson of ESPN.

Mizuhara's lawyer reportedly sought an 18-month sentence for his client, but the judge ruled in favor of the 57-month sentence. The judge ruled that the 40-year-old should self-surrender on March 24. The Japan native could also potentially be deported after completing his sentence.

Mizuhara admitted to placing as many as 19,000 bets over a two-year period and racking up a gambling debt of over $40 million. Last summer, he pleaded guilty to bank fraud and filing a false tax return.

"I truly admire Shohei as a baseball player and a human being and I was committed to devote my life so Shohei can be the best version of himself on the field. I want to say I am truly sorry for violating his trust in me," said Mizuhara to the court, via the BBC.

Have you heard the news? Juan Soto is a New York Met.

Late on Sunday night, news broke that Soto had signed a 15-year, $765 million deal that will keep him playing baseball in Queens for the near-, mid-, and far-future.

The signing—the biggest in the history of professional sports—sent shockwaves across the baseball world. While the Mets popped champagne, Soto’s other suitors were left to go back to the drawing board to reload their rosters ahead of the 2025 season.

Chances are there are very few people on the planet more excited about Soto’s decision to join the Mets than manager Carlos Mendoza, but don’t worry, he’s playing it cool.

While speaking with reporters at MLB Winter Meetings after the deal was struck, Mendoza was asked, sarcastically, which of the Mets’ offseason acquisitions was his favorite thus far.

“Frankie Montas!” Mendoza responded without missing a beat. “Jose Siri! Frankie Montas and Siri. Exciting to have both of them.” The comment earned laughs from the gathered crowd.

The cheeky response wasn’t a shot at Montas or Siri, both of whom are set to be solid contributors to the Mets this season, but a way of laughing off the elephant in the room of Soto’s near-billion dollar deal. Given that the contract wasn’t officially official, Mendoza didn’t comment much further on the matter.

That said, there’s no rush now—Mendoza and the Mets now have 15 years of talking about how great Soto is that they can look forward to.

One Chelsea star has been critiqued for his performance in their game against Wolverhampton Wanderers, with Robert Sanchez having more touches than him at Stamford Bridge.

In what was Chelsea’s final Premier League game ahead of the November international break, the Blues played host to a Wolves side who, after 10 games, were still without a win in the top flight.

Enzo Maresca’s side struggled to do much with the chances they generated in the first half against Wolves, frustrating the home support at Stamford Bridge. Soon after the half-time break, however, the Blues broke the deadlock.

Malo Gusto opened the scoring with what was his first-ever senior goal just minutes into the second half. This lead was doubled just after the hour mark when Joao Pedro smashed a deflected Estevao cross beyond Wolves goalkeeper Sam Johnstone.

The game was put beyond any doubt when, with less than 20 minutes to go, Pedro Neto scored against his former club. The win moved Chelsea to second in the table. However, one Blues player was slammed for his performance against the relegation-threatened side.

Delap failed to make mark against Wolves

Signed in the summer from Ipswich Town, Liam Delap has endured a tough start to life at Chelsea. An injury saw him sidelined for weeks to open the 2025/26 campaign, missing almost two months. Upon his return, against Wolves in the Carabao Cup, Delap was sent off for accumulating two yellow cards after coming off the bench.

Delap, who reportedly signed a contract worth £100,000 per week, made his first start for Chelsea since returning from injury against the Old Gold, but failed to make an impact. Simon Johnson, who works for The Athletic, was critical of what the striker produced, noting that he did not appear at match fitness and said he was “struggling”.

As per SofaScore, within 64 minutes of football, Delap had just one shot on target. He was dispossessed on three occasions and by having just 15 touches in the game, had less time on the ball than Sanchez.

Delap is still a young player, one coming back from a relatively long set-back no less. His performance against Wolves, though, can simply not be the level that he consistently operates at going forward.

Chelsea weighing up move for England international

MatériaMais Notícias

O atacante Guilherme Augusto, que pertencia ao Grêmio e atuou pelo Fortaleza na última temporada, é o 11º reforço do Santos para 2024. Neste domingo (31), o Peixe confirmou a chegada do atleta de 28 anos, que assinará contrato válido por três anos após realização dos exames médicos.

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➡️ Siga o Lance! no WhatsApp e acompanhe em tempo real as principais notícias do esporte

Segundo apurado pelo Lance!, Guilherme custará R$ 4,8 milhões ao Santos, que ficará com 60% dos direitos econômicos do atleta. O pagamento será feito de forma parcelada durante o primeiro ano de vínculo. Para contar com o atacante, o Peixe venceu a concorrência de algumas equipes que estão na Série A do Brasileirão, como o rival Corinthians.

O fato do Alvinegro Praiano disputar a segunda divisão pela primeira vez em sua história não afastou o interesse de Guilherme, que foi um pedido do técnico Fábio Carille, que buscava um jogador capaz de agregar no um contra um pelos lados do campo.

Além de Guilherme, o Santos já anunciou as chegadas do meia Giuliano, dos laterais-direitos Aderlan e Hayner, do lateral-esquerdo Jorge, do zagueiro Gil, do atacante Willian Bigode, do meia Otero, do volante João Schmidt, do atacante Marcelinho e do volante Diego Pituca.

+ Veja como ficou a tabela do Brasileirão após a última rodada

QUEM É GUILHERME AUGUSTO?

Aos 28 anos, Guilherme nunca conseguiu se firmar no Grêmio, que foi o clube que o projetou para o futebol. Natural de São Paulo, o atacante se transferiu para as categorias de base do clube gaúcho após se destacar no Cotia FC. E ainda que tivesse atuado pela equipe profissional dos Imortal, acumulou empréstimos, tendo passado por: São José/RS, Botafogo, Chapecoense, Coritiba e, por último, o Fortaleza, em 2023.

Guilherme Augusto também tem experiência internacional. Entre 2019 e 2022 atuou no futebol árabe, defendendo o Al-Faisaly, da Arábia Saudita, e, posteriormente, o Al-Dhafra, dos Emirados Árabes Unidos.