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A very wholesome video of the Royale Union Saint-Gilloise squad being told they’re playing Liverpool in the Europa League has emerged online, while Alexis Mac Allister received a message from his brother.

Who are Liverpool playing in the Europa League?

The Reds will not be playing in the Champions League this season and instead will have to settle for a place in the European competition one tier below after finishing fifth in the Premier League last term.

As a result, however, this has afforded them the opportunity to come up against some teams they wouldn't usually play.

And as footballing fate would have it, the draw threw out a rather interesting match-up when the groups were revealed this week.

Read the latest Liverpool transfer news HERE…

Indeed, having only just arrived at Liverpool in the summer – signing from Brighton for an initial £35m – Mac Allister will be coming up against his brother Kevin when the two teams meet later this year.

Indeed, Kevin is one year older, plays for Royale Union Saint-Gilloise, and has already sent a message to his sibling in footage shared on the Belgian club's official Twitter account.

As you can see, it's a lovely moment as all the players celebrate with glee upon hearing the news, before the camera pans to the older Mac Allister who says to his brother: "See you soon bro!"

🤩 pic.twitter.com/rE33oESNhH— Royale Union Saint-Gilloise (@UnionStGilloise) September 1, 2023

TNT Sports also shared LASK reacting to the draw, proving that Royale Union Saint-Gilloise weren't the only one to be excited about the prospect of a trip to Anfield.

The full draw will see LASK, Union SG and Toulouse meet Liverpool in Group E of the 2023-24 Europa League.

How old is Alexis Mac Allister?

Liverpool's Mac Allister is 24 years years of age, born 24 December 1998, while his older sibling, Kevin, is 25 and born almost a year earlier on 7 November 1997.

Incidentally, their father, Carlos Mac Allister, was also a professional footballer and played for Boca Juniors in the late '80s and early '90s – even sharing the pitch with Diego Maradona at one time.

In an interview with The Athletic, the Argentine revealed his family roots, saying: “According to our family, we came from Ireland, rather than Scotland.

“We came to Argentina, to a place called Pergamino, but that was three or four generations ago, and later my father and mother married and moved to a different place — Santa Rosa in the Province of La Pampa, which is where Alexis was born.

“Now, when we get together, they always say that our ancestors came from Ireland. I don’t know whether the ones before them were from Scotland, and went to Ireland from Scotland, and then our ancestors came here. But we say that we came from Ireland.”

After completing a move to Liverpool in the summer, Mac Allister has made an okay start to life at his new club, playing in all three Premier League games so far but his red card (ultimately overturned) and lowly 6.54 WhoScored average match rating (the 11th lowest in the squad), suggests there is room for improvement.

It will certainly be fascinating to see how he and his brother get on when the Reds play Royale Union Saint-Gilloise home and away in Europe later this year.

أشاد الألماني يورجن كلوب المدير الفني لفريق ليفربول الإنجليزي، بالإسباني بيب جوارديولا، نظيره في مانشستر سيتي.

خلال المواسم الثمانية الأخيرة، كان التنافس بين بيب جوارديولا ويورجن كلوب كبيرًا في الدوري الإنجليزي، ومباراة مانشستر سيتي وليفربول بها الكثير من الإثارة.

طالع أيضًا.. كلوب يُعلن موقفه من تدريب فريق إنجليزي آخر بعد ليفربول

يورجن كلوب خسر لقب الدوري الإنجليزي هذا الموسم وفقد فرصه في المنافسة على اللقب، بينما مانشستر سيتي وآرسنال، أحدهما سيتوّج بالبطولة مساء اليوم، حيث يواجه حامل اللقب نظيره وست هام، بينما يلاقي الجانرز فريق إيفرتون.

وسيودع يورجن كلوب ليفربول بعد مواجهة ولفرهامبتون اليوم، وقال في تصريحات نقلها حساب الصحفي “فابريزيو رومانو”: “الجميع يعرف عن اتهامات مانشستر سيتي لكن رغم ذلك حقق النجاحات ولذلك سيظل جوارديولا هو الأفضل في العالم”.

وأضاف: “جوارديولا أفضل مدرب في العالم، لأن إذا وضعت أي مدرب آخر في هذا العالم مع مانشستر سيتي، فلن يتمكن من الفوز أربع مرات على التوالي”.

ويعد يورجن كلوب من بين 3 مدربين فقط في تاريخ الكرة الذي تمكن من تحقيق لقب الدوري على حساب جوارديولا، عندما فاز مع ليفربول باللقب في موسم 2019\2020.

Aston Villa have bolstered their playing squad with three new signings during the summer transfer window but one of their players is now being touted with an exit…

What's the latest Aston Villa transfer news?

According to the Daily Mail, Burnley have submitted an offer of £12m to sign Villans attacking midfielder Aaron Ramsey ahead of the 2023/24 Premier League campaign.

The report claims that the Clarets are in talks with the club over a deal to snap up the England youth international after they won promotion from the Championship last term.

Read the latest Aston Villa transfer news HERE…

Unai Emery has brought in Youri Tielemans, Moussa Diaby, and Pau Torres to strengthen his team and it remains to be seen whether or not he is willing to sanction an exit for Jacob Ramsey's brother.

How good is Aaron Ramsey?

The Villa head coach must avoid the first big transfer blunder of his time at the club by keeping hold of the English dynamo instead of selling him to Burnley this summer.

Ramsey is an exciting young talent who is coming off the back of an impressive second-tier campaign with Norwich and Middlesbrough on loan.

The Villans should not be quick to move on such a promising prospect as the potential is there for him to be a big player for the club in the future if he is able to develop and translate his Championship and academy form over to the Premier League.

Last season, Ramsey averaged a Sofascore rating of 6.97 across 29 league matches for Boro and the Canaries combined, which is a score that only three Villa players – John McGinn, Emi Martinez, and Douglas Luiz – bettered in the Premier League.

The magical technician produced an impressive eight goals and four assists from an attacking midfield position, which shows that the young gem is capable of making things happen at the top end of the pitch with regularity despite his age and inexperience.

Meanwhile, no Villa midfielder managed more than six top-flight goals during the 2022/23 campaign and only two players in that position provided more than four assists.

Ramsey, who was dubbed "selfless" by ex-boss Michael Carrick, caught the eye in the Championship after enjoying a terrific time at U21 level for the Villans. He racked up 15 goals and eight assists in 30 U21 matches for the club prior to his first-team breakthrough.

This shows that the 20-year-old magician has been able to make a big impact for Villa's youth team and at two different second-division clubs, which means that he has been able to adapt and remain consistent despite having to play in varying leagues and with various managers and teammates.

Therefore, Ramsey could be able to handle the step up to the Premier League with Villa and could be a player with the potential to burst onto the scene this season as a goal scoring and creating midfielder.

This is why Emery must not sanction a move toTurf Moor for the academy graduate as he could be a terrific option for the Spanish head coach and improve his midfield's goal output if given an opportunity over the months to come.

Australia’s captain Steven Smith has conceded that the team’s batting collapses are becoming too frequent, and something needs to be done to arrest the slide

Alagappan Muthu in Kolkata 22-Sep-20172:38

‘Batting collapses need to stop’ – Smith

“It’s not working.”That’s a line captains wish never to say, but Steven Smith had little choice when asked how he felt sitting in the dressing room watching Australia slide to defeat at Eden Gardens by 50 runs.A wrist-spinner picked up a hat-trick, the openers fell cheaply, there was only one partnership that crossed fifty and this after they had restricted India to 252 in the blazing heat of Kolkata.Australia lost five wickets for 42 runs in 10 overs between the 23rd and 33rd. And it took Smith back to previous collapses, in the Dhaka Test when they were 158 for 2 and then 244 all out, falling 20 runs short. In the Hobart Test, when they were knocked over for 85 and 161. During the Sri Lanka tour, when they crumbled for 161 in Pallekele, 106 and 183 in Galle, and, finally, even after two top-order batsmen made centuries in Colombo, they fell from 316 for 4 to 379 all out.”It’s happening bit too often for my liking, to be honest with you, in all forms of cricket,” Smith said. “We’ve had a lot of collapses we need to stop. It’s just easy to just sit here and say it needs to stay but when you get out in the middle, you’ve to change what you’re doing because it’s not working.”So … watching the ball closer. Maybe the guys are trying to watch the ball too closely and forgetting about just playing the game. It’s a hard one to put my finger on. But whatever it is, it needs to change and we need to make better decisions and start playing properly because we’re having too many collapses and it’s not good enough.”Hardik run-out incident ‘no problem’

Steven Smith was front and centre as a dramatic episode unfolded in the 48th over of India’s innings. Hardik Pandya had skied a full toss to the Australian captain, who caught it, but anticipating the prospect of it being called a waist-high no-ball, and seeing that India were in the process of taking a single, he threw the ball to the bowler’s end in hopes of effecting a run-out.
However, since the umpires hadn’t ruled it a no-ball on the field, Hardik thought he was out caught and therefore was walking off the field, and as such became protected under Law 27.7.
“We thought… it was just play on,” Smith said when asked about his thoughts on the incident. “Didn’t realise it was dead ball if he didn’t choose to run. I think Bhuvi was running, he knew what was going on but Hardik turned around and went the other way. So we just thought the ball was still in play. They’ve said the rules that if they think it’s out, they go off and it’s a dead ball. It’s fine. No problem.”

Smith would not have wanted to be in a position where he had to admit such shortcomings, especially not in his 100th ODI. He produced an excellent half-century, weathering Bhuvneshwar Kumar in top form and even keeping Kuldeep Yadav at bay. He strung a partnership of 76 runs with Travis Head for the third wicket but when that was broken – off a full toss – Australia started to sink. That they managed to get to 202 after being 148 for 8 was down to Marcus Stoinis adding another lone hand to his Eden Park epic.”We should be getting the target of 253 on that wicket. We made many poor decisions again. Under pressure, we are not executing our skills well enough. We are losing wickets in clumps which we can’t afford to do.”One of our top four has to go on and make a big score. Heady and I were the two guys who got in and we weren’t able to do so. A lot of the blame falls on us. We got a good little partnership there. We turn 70 into a 140 then the game’s closed. We just weren’t able to do it.”Kuldeep had fun against a batting line-up going through such turmoil, dismissing Matthew Wade, Ashton Agar and Pat Cummins to complete a hat-trick. When asked if Australia are struggling to read the left-arm wrist-spinner, Smith said, “I’m not sure. I think we played him reasonably well at times today. Just the last few overs our tail-enders probably couldn’t play him as well as the batters. I felt quite comfortable against him today. We just weren’t able to go on and close the game out.”The guys have trained and trained really well. It’s now about getting in the middle and executing those when you are under pressure. Not panicking as such. I think we panicked last game a little bit. This game we just couldn’t get the partnerships, we are just making silly errors. We can’t allow to do so under a quality line-up like India. Stoinis played very well, didn’t panic, was nice and calm and played good cricket shots. Was nice and positive with his intent. We just needed someone in the top four to go on and if we do that the result could have different.”

أبدى لامين نداي، مدرب مازيمبي الكونغولي، خيبة أمله من مستوى التحكيم في مباراة العودة من نصف نهائي دوري أبطال إفريقيا، التي جمعت فريقه بـ الأهلي.

الأهلي نجح في الفوز على مازيمبي بثلاثية دون رد، في اللقاء الذي جمعهما على ملعب استاد القاهرة، في إياب دور نصف نهائي البطولة، بعد التعادل السلبي ذهابًا.

وقال نداي في المؤتمر الصحفي عقب المباراة: “بالضرورة يجب أن نتحدث عن ذلك، المباراة انتهت بثلاثة أهداف، وهذا يغضبني”.

طالع أيضًا | وائل جمعة يختار رجل مباراة الأهلي ومازيمبي.. ويتغزل في معلول ووسام أبو علي

وتابع: “أنا محبط لأنني أعرف جيدًا أننا في قارة إفريقيا، إن أردنا أن نتقدم، فإن الحكام يجب أن يكونوا جادين وأفضل من ذلك”.

وأضاف: “هذه المباراة كانت في اتجاه واحد ناحية الحكم، وأعرف جيدًا أننا بشر ومن الممكن أن نخطئ، ولكنني محبط، وهذا أثر علينا وعلى تركيزنا”.

ويرى نداي أن قرارات الحكم أثرت سلبًا على فريقه، وقال: “الحكم لعب دورًا سلبيًا في هذه المباراة، والأهلي ليس بحاجة إلى ذلك”.

ScorecardChelmsford is the birthplace of the artist Grayson Perry and was also the town where the 16th century magician, John Dee, was educated. It is therefore well-used to astonishing transformations. However, whether credulous or sceptical, residents will have seen little to compare with the latter stages of this match, when Simon Harmer engraved his name in folk memory of Essex cricket-lovers on one the greatest day’s sport seen on this ground.In November 2015 Harmer was playing for South Africa in a Test match at Nagpur. Since then he has seen his stock fall in his home country and in the winter he committed himself to a career as a county cricketer with Essex.Last week he took 14 wickets against Warwickshire and on this wonderful last day against the champions he collected a career-best 9 for 95 finishing the match with figures of 14-172. By doing so he sent a thousand or so hardy souls at the County Ground into floodlit ecstasy, for they had seen their side complete their third victory in succession and this with a maximum of eight balls remaining in the game.When they descend from their rare euphoria, Essex supporters may realise that their team is now 29 points clear at the top of the Division One table. What they will also understand is that they have witnessed a victory the unlikelihood of which made it all the more worthy of celebration.With six overs left to be bowled Essex still needed four wickets and doubts began to creep in among spectators, even if the hesitancy of the later Middlesex batsmen encouraged hope among Ryan ten Doeschate’s players. That belief was fuelled by the fact that the pink Duke’s ball was retaining its bounce more than the red variety, a fact which the 6ft 2ins Harmer had been able to exploit throughout the match. And the problems of the Middlesex batsmen were increased by Harmer’s ability to use the footholes left by Mohammed Amir and Paul Walter. For all that time was running out, one never felt that Dawid Malan’s batsmen were comfortable. Certainly they never looked like clearing the 296-run deficit established by Essex’s dynamic batting on the third day of this game.In the 108th over of the innings Ryan Higgins played inside what looked like an arm ball and was caught at slip by Alastair Cook, for whom this match was the pleasantest of temporary farewells before the Test series. Three balls later Ollie Rayner collected a pair when he was leg before on the front foot. Harmer had now taken all eight wickets to fall in the innings but his chances of taking all ten disappeared three overs later when Dan Lawrence trapped Toby Roland-Jones lbw for a single although there was a case the ball pitched outside leg. Nobody minded, least of all Harmer who brushed away Lawrence apologies in the joy of shared achievement. Three balls of Harmer’s subsequent over passed and it seemed clear that Lawrence or possibly Amir would be bowling the last over of the game.Simon Harmer wheels away with his Essex team-mates after his match-sealing wicket•Getty Images

That over was never delivered. Perhaps scared of commitment, Steven Finn plunged forward but played no shot to Harmer’s third last ball of the game. An appeal followed that could be heard in either of the Baddows. There was a raised finger from David Millns. Harmer began the first Essex bowler since Mark Ilott in 1995 to take nine wickets in an innings and ten Doeschate’s men are hot favourites for the title now. This will be Harmer’s match but so was last week’s.”It’s not going to get too much better than this,” said Harmer. “You just need to ride the wave – they don’t come around that often. We will enjoy tonight and have a few beers. It’s an incredible win for the club. It puts us in phenomenal position going into the last six games of the season. We’ve done a lot of hard work, a lot of hard graft and been on top of our game. We’ve come out on top in the last 10 minutes of the day today. These are the moments you play cricket for. It makes all the hard graft worth it.”And yet it takes two teams to make a contest as noble as this one and in the joy of Harmer’s achievement, even the Essex supporters spared applause for Nick Compton, whose innings of 120 looked likely to frustrate Essex. And the Middlesex opener’s tale shares a very rough parallel with that of Harmer.Just over a year ago Compton’s name was blazoned in headlines. He was an England batsman. Yet within a few weeks some who had advocated his selection were vehement that he should never have been picked in the first place. No one, of course, has mentioned his name in connection with the England side for next week’s Test at Lord’s. Yet as we watched Compton make his century and bat in vain to save the game it was plain that he still retains the skill to play this game at a high level and the temperament to defy opponents in full cry.Harmer v Compton. Given a couple of different turns on the wheels of fortune and circumstance, it was a battle which might have been seen in next week’s Test match. And on the evidence of this quite wonderful last day at Chelmsford it would not have disgraced the stage at St John’s Wood.Compton arrived at New Writtle Street having scored 81 championship runs in four innings; injury and indifferent form have kept him out of the Middlesex team. Those factors by themselves were enough to make his effort at Chelmsford admirable. Yet the virtues of his batting were magnified by the intensity of the contest and the fact that his principal adversary, Harmer, is in the form of his life.So much was proved in the first half hour of play when Harmer dismissed Nick Gubbins, Stevie Eskinazi and Dawid Malan in five overs from the River End, reducing Middlesex to 51 for 3 and encouraging the hopes of home supporters that they were about to see ten Doeschate’s team achieve a facile innings victory and their fifth Division One triumph of the season.Yet this early clatter was misleading; instead of offering a strong clue to the narrative of the day, it merely set up the terrific duel of Thursday’s cricket: Both our principals had considerable help, of course. The main assistance to Harmer probably came from Dan Lawrence, whose high action gave his off-spinners every chance to bounce uncomfortably.Nick Compton dug in to defy the home attack•Getty Images

Compton was assisted deep into the heart of the day and beyond by Paul Stirling, who batted with commendable coolness and against his attacking instincts to make 55 in 202 minutes. While Compton and Stirling were adding 153 in 55 overs the five points for a draw were plainly secure. Then, five minutes before tea, Stirling, who had been dropped three times, was safely caught by Ravi Bopara at backward short leg. John Simpson resisted for 50 minutes but was beaten by Harmer’s turn and taken by Cook. Then Compton having faced 303 balls, 59 more than in his entire season before this innings, was leg before playing no shot to Harmer. The door was open and the Essex cricketers plunged through it. “Harmer’s a proper bowler,” said Essex’s Keith Fletcher, who faced a few and has seen countless more. No one anywhere in Essex doubts that judgement this glorious June evening.

Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez could be tempted to join Manchester United this summer according to South American expert Tim Vickery.

The World Cup winner could be convinced to leave Villa due to the allure of Champions League football on offer at Old Trafford.

What is the latest regarding Emiliano Martinez to Manchester United?

According to Football Transfers, United are ready to battle with Chelsea for the Argentine goalkeeper's signature.

Erik ten Hag wants to partner up Lisandro Martinez with his namesake and believes that their experience together with the national side will have resulted in a strong connection, whilst the 30-year-old shot-stopper wants to leave his current club in order to play Champions League football.

There is still major uncertainty around the future of David de Gea, whose contract has officially expired at United, however, talks are still ongoing with the Spaniard about a new deal. There have been rumours that the club has retracted an offer that De Gea had agreed on, which may have built up tension.

Football Insider are also reporting that Villa are braced for the Red Devils bid, with Martinez reportedly having continued friction with boss Unai Emery which dates back to their time together at Arsenal.

The report states that a bid north of the keeper's £40m valuation could tempt the Midlands club into negotiations.

What has Tim Vickery said about the situation?

Speaking on talkSPORT, Vickery said: "It's come out in Argentina that he would like to move, not that he's unhappy with Villa, but you can understand why he's a man in a hurry, and he's 30 now."

Vickery also went on to say "If there's someone there who can offer him Champions League and so on I think he would really, really want to take that. Not that he's unhappy at Villa but you know tick tick tick tick tick I'm 30, what am I going to do now."

Would Martinez be a good buy for Manchester United?

Martinez enjoyed the finest moment of his career last season, saving two penalties in the World Cup final shoot-out as Argentina went on to win the World Cup, and his stock has never been higher.

The keeper enjoyed a fine club campaign as well, recording 13 clean sheets in 36 appearances as the Midlands club secured European football for the first time in over a decade under the management of Emery.

The 30-year-old made 98 saves last season and recorded a save percentage of 73.6%, which is higher than what De Gea managed last season in 71.1%.

A key part of Martinez's game is his sweeping and ball-playing ability, with his 2.09 defensive actions outside the penalty area ranking him in the top 3% of all goalkeepers across Europe's top five leagues. The World Cup hero also ranks in the top one percent for crosses stopped with 1.72 per 90. He also attempts 33.57 passes per 90, only launching 35% of them, showcasing his ability to build up from the back, a quality Ten Hag is desperate for his goalkeeper to have in order to play his style of football.

Should United bring in Martinez, they have brought in one of the most in-demand keepers who should free them up to play the style of play that Ten Hag envisions his side playing.

West Ham United appear to have paid the price for seemingly focusing entirely on negotiating the terms of a fee with Arsenal for captain Declan Rice over the past few weeks.

Having been named the frontrunners to sign Harvey Barnes from Leicester City last month, The Guardian reports that Newcastle United are now close to wrapping up a deal for the in-demand winger.

Who are West Ham's transfer targets?

Bringing in around £105m through the sale of Rice, on top of the fact West Ham can offer European football next season, was supposed to leave the Irons in a strong position this transfer window.

However, with the new season beginning in five weeks' time, the Hammers have yet to bring in any new players.

As well as needing a replacement for Rice, with Juventus star Denis Zakaria and Southampton skipper James Ward-Prowse two possible options, United could also do with bringing in another attacker and a defender.

With Barnes now apparently out of their reach, it may well be that West Ham are forced to turn to another of their targets.

Chile international Dario Osorio is said to be on David Moyes' hitlist, and Universidad de Chile head coach Mauricio Pellegrino accepts his side may have to cash in this summer on a player rumoured to be valued at £7.5m.

Who is Dario Osorio?

Still aged just 19, Osorio has already earned two senior caps for his country after impressing for his club. The teenage talent has made 37 appearances in Chile's Primera Division and has scored eight times.

While that may not sound like a prolific return as such, Osorio has scored seven of those goals in 27 games this season at a rate of 0.41 every 90 minutes, as per FBref.

To put that figure in some perspective, the now-departed Manuel Lanzini topped that particular metric for West Ham last season with 0.36 goals per 90 minutes in the Premier League. Barnes, for what it is worth, scored at a rate of 0.43 goals per 90.

The quality of the two leagues must be factored in, of course, but that gives a rough indication of what Osorio is all about.

The Hijuelas native finds the net from 0.19 of his shots, which again only Lanzini (0.33) could better among West Ham players last season, while Barnes recorded a figure of 0.18 – pretty much the same as Osorio.

Osorio is not quite an exact like-for-like match for Barnes, given that he averages 4.03 crosses per 90 compared to the Leicester player's 1.46, but he certainly ticks a lot of boxes in terms of what Moyes is after.

As pointed out by football talent scout Jacek Kulig, Osorio is a "flamboyant winger" who also has good pace and dribbling ability, and he is also versatile in that he can play on the right, left or just off the striker.

West Ham may be left to wonder what might have been with Barnes, but they still have a chance to rectify the situation by winning the race for Osorio, and all for a fraction of the cost.

Faf du Plessis has credited his promotion to the Test captaincy with his current form, which has seen him rack up two hundreds in three innings

Firdose Moonda07-Feb-20172:20

‘Being captain makes me play better’ – du Plessis

Faf du Plessis has credited his promotion to the Test captaincy with his current form, which has seen him rack up two hundreds in three innings, including today’s record-breaking 185 at Newlands, to complete his most successful summer in ODIs, and it’s not over yet.In 10 matches, du Plessis has scored 640 runs at 71.11, including three hundreds and two fifties, more than other period. South Africa still have one match against Sri Lanka later this week and five in New Zealand later this month, for du Plessis to add to those numbers.”Being a captain makes me play better. That’s possibly been a reason for [my good form] ,” du Plessis said after recording the second-highest score by a South African in ODI history.”The confidence and the momentum of that definitely helps. It just makes you raise your own bar of performance, you want to be a better player. My challenge to myself was to be a good player and now it’s to become a great player. So it’s just about lifting the bar and making a mind shift.”Du Plessis batted from the second over until the last, when he was caught on the long-on fence while seeking to overhaul Gary Kirsten’s 188 not out. He said the record was not on his mind, neither was a first double-century by a South African in ODIs.”I didn’t know about the record. I am very happy that I got to 180,” du Plessis said. “The record is something that would have been nice but not for one second did I think of it and 200 was also not on my mind. I was just trying to get as many runs as possible.”Apart from the two century stands that du Plessis shared with Quinton de Kock and AB de Villiers, a hallmark of his innings was strike rotation, particularly with de Villiers. They were together during a six-over period in which Sri Lanka did not give away any boundaries, and they still managed to score 32 runs in the process. South Africa totalled 151 singles and, in a game of small margins, that was one of the differences between them and Sri Lanka – who ran 103. Du Plessis explained it was a deliberate tactic to keep the scoreboard moving.”That’s my game, which is to not give many dot balls. I try and make sure I take pressure off myself by just rotating the strike and running well and, luckily in our team, we’ve got amazingly quick guys between the wickets and we’ve put a lot of pressure on the opposition,” he said. “Our ones and twos stats right through the series have been incredible – we’ve got two or three times the number of the Sri Lankans. That is so difficult to bowl to – when you get guys that continuously run you off your feet.”Faf du Plessis is in the form of his life•Getty Images

Interestingly, the partner with whom du Plessis’ enjoyed the most success in singles and overall terms was de Villiers, whom he succeeded as Test captain and whom he plays under in ODIs. The pair are childhood friends and, although du Plessis appears to have taken to the captaincy quicker than de Villiers did, he does not mind being relegated to working under someone else for a change. “Since AB has come back, we’ve worked really well together. I can feel that on the field we talk from the same mouth almost,” du Plessis said.What they will both be saying for the next few days is that a whitewash over Sri Lanka is their main goal. Not only will it see them overtake Australia at the top of the rankings but it will also prove their ability to win consistently, which South Africa insist will be crucial when it comes to major tournaments.”Five-nil is important now to get to No. 1. For a while we have targeted to get back at the top in all formats, and we are getting there very quickly. Five-nil would be a great achievement, no matter who you play against.”As hard as Sri Lanka fought in the fourth ODI, they have not given South Africa as much of a challenge as they would have liked, except during the T20s against an experimental host outfit. Still, du Plessis was happy with South Africa’s ruthlessness, although he would like to see their attack engage in more contests like the one they had on Tuesday night.”You have to beat who is in front of you and you have to do it well and I think that’s something we have done very well,” he said. “Our skills have been very good right through the series. We haven’t taken our foot off the gas.”From a bowling point of view, yes, Sri Lanka’s team are possibly not the best batting line-up in the world, but we’re still doing what’s required. Today was a pressure situation, we know that they are very top-heavy and score runs up front, and the bowlers possibly didn’t start as well as they would have liked but they came back.”It’s important that we get pushed. Especially with a young bowling unit, we want to get those bowlers in some pressurised moments because that’s what big games are all about. That’s the difference between winning tournaments and not – the pressure.”

Newcastle United are willing to pay the £80m fee that Real Madrid initially paid AS Monaco last year in order to sign Aurelien Tchouameni this summer, according to reports in Spain.

Newcastle United – are they signing Aurélien Tchouaméni?

Even though reports suggest that the Magpies are willing to pay a hefty fee for Tchouameni, Defensa Central have also suggested that the Spanish giants are not willing to sell the former Monaco man this summer.

Of course, there is still a lot of the summer transfer window to go, however, and a lot can change.

Such is Newcastle's spending power, if the move did become realistic, then the Magpies have the ability to make their move.

Eddie Howe has also been linked with a long-standing pursuit of James Maddison this summer.

Aurélien Tchouaméni would be Newcastle's biggest signing yet

The fact that Newcastle are even being linked with a move for Tchouameni shows just how far they've come in such a short space of time. Better yet, it could be said that they're more than capable of landing such a player.

The Magpies turned heads by splashing out on Alexander Isak back in January, but a move for the Real Madrid man would result in a reaction of jealousy from rivals and awe from the on-watching fans.

After the recent arrival of Jude Bellingham, too, Tchouameni may just begin to worry about his place at the Santiago Bernabeu, having played 2120 minutes in LaLiga last season – the equivalent of 23 games.

Add in the presence of the England international and the Frenchman may just struggle for game time. potentially opening the door for a shock move to St James' Park.

He could be Newcastle's answer to Declan Rice, who looks more and more likely to join Arsenal this summer, according to reports, with Newcastle known to have held an interest in recent months.

As per FBref, when compared, the Real Madrid man has a better pass completion rate, as well as more tackles and interceptions, won per 90 than the West Ham United midfielder.

With Champions League experience under his belt, too, Tchouameni represents the perfect option for clubs all around Europe at just 23-years-old.

His rise to the top has attracted praise from players of a similar calibre, with Paul Pogba speaking about his France teammate back in 2021, telling Ouest France (via the Daily Mail):

"It was a pleasure to play next to him. He brings a lot of energy. A lot of energy, extraordinary technical and physical quality.

"We wish him to play lots of matches and that I am always at his side."

It would be a landmark day for Newcastle if they did manage to sign Tchouameni, who journalist Lucas Navarrete once hailed as a "ball-recovering machine", that's for sure.

This would also be the moment that Howe's side pull up a chair at Europe's forcer expanding top table, where they would sit alongside the likes of Manchester City and co, especially with the Premier League runners-up closing in on a deal for Rice.

Although Real Madrid are currently unwilling to sell the French star, there's a long summer ahead, and anything could yet happen.