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Sunderland are in advanced talks with Dan Neil over a new deal, according to Football Insider’s Pete O’Rourke.

The Lowdown: Regular…

Neil has continued to feature heavily for the Black Cats this season in the Championship, making 36 appearances in all competitions. The 21-year-old has turned out as a defensive midfielder and a central midfielder, with the majority of those in recent months coming in a holding role.

His current contract doesn’t expire until 2025, but it looks as if Sunderland chiefs are ready to offer the player improved terms.

The Latest: Contract update

FI reporter O’Rourke shared news he’s heard from the Stadium of Light regarding Neil on Thursday morning.

He revealed that Neil is set to be rewarded with a fresh deal after impressing in the second tier, with talks at an advanced stage. It is thought that a new contract will be finalised soon.

The Verdict: Good news

Neil, hailed as ‘excellent’ by former manager Alex Neil, has been a solid performer under both Neil and Tony Mowbray this season.

As per WhoScored, he has averaged a match rating of 6.72/10 and ranks highly in the squad for number of passes per 90. No player has averaged more tackles per game than Neil, while only Jack Clarke has registered more assists than Neil’s four.

Therefore, you could say this is an exciting off-field update on the Sunderland man, and hopefully, he’ll continue to shine on the pitch, possibly helping the club reach the Championship playoffs come May.

Glasgow Rangers have enjoyed a recent resurgence in form under Michael Beale, winning ten of their 11 matches on his watch, and the feel-good factor appears to be returning to Ibrox.

After such a fantastic run, morale in the squad must be at its highest level been since the start of the campaign, although one player may be feeling slightly more aggrieved than most, namely Kemar Roofe.

The 30-year-old has struggled with various injury concerns throughout his time at Ibrox, missing 59 matches since joining the club in 2020. However, he has masked this by performing when it matters, scoring 35 goals in 76 appearances and winning Premiership and Scottish Cup medals for his troubles.

This season has been a different story. Roofe hasn’t completed a match in the campaign, playing for a grand total of 82 minutes; and although his extra-time winner against Aberdeen in the League Cup semi-final was the forward at his best, Beale only has so much use for a player who’s constantly on the treatment table.

Instead of scouring the transfer market for a replacement, though, the Rangers boss should take a quick glance at the B team, where he might just find a hidden gem waiting in the wings in Robbie Ure.

The 18-year-old is a slightly different type of player compared to Roofe, more of an out-and-out centre-forward as opposed to the versatile nature of the Jamaica international, who can operate across the front three but has mainly been utilised through the middle during his Rangers career.

Ure has been in sensational form this season for the Rangers B team, scoring 14 goals and registering six assists in the Lowland League, which will surely have caught Beale’s eye in terms of gaining some minutes towards the end of the campaign.

What’s perhaps more impressive are his performances in the UEFA Youth League, with Ure demonstrating his talents by netting against Napoli and Liverpool’s underage equivalents and proving that he can perform against talented opposition from beyond Scotland. Journalist Joshua Barrie even described him as a “standout” performer for the young Gers side in their 3-2 home defeat of their Napoli counterparts.

He gained his first taste of senior action earlier this season by starting against Queen of the South in the League Cup, even scoring on his debut, and it may have given the Ibrox crowd an indication of the future. Scott Arfield dubbed him “magic” following that match, which shows that the 18-year-old is already earning the respect of senior players at the club.

Beale could already have the ideal Roofe heir already at Rangers, and by unleashing Ure in the coming months, the 42-year-old may well save the club millions in the process.

Liverpool haven’t had their most impressive first half of a season in the Premier League and Jurgen Klopp will surely be looking forward to the summer when he could potentially freshen up his team.

The Reds are currently ninth in the top-flight table after 19 outings due to inconsistent performances that have led to the side being ten points adrift for a Champions League qualifying spot inside the top four.

Indeed, there was an opportunity to bolster the squad over the January transfer window and although the club did acquire the attacking services of Cody Gakpo, the midfield issues are yet to be addressed.

Liverpool face a much-needed rebuild in the centre of the pitch this summer with a number of the current midfielders either out of contract or coming to the latter stages of their careers and not the players they once were.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, James Milner and Naby Keita – as it stands – will leave the club as free agents at the end of the season, whilst Jordan Henderson and Thiago Alcantara are well into their 30s and will likely take a less frequent role in the team in their remaining years at Anfield.

As a result, Klopp and the recruitment team will need to identify impactful and high-quality midfield signings to replace those set for an exit this summer and improve the performances on the pitch.

One player who has been linked with a move to the Merseyside giants this month is Bayern Munich midfielder Ryan Gravenberch, a player who could finally replace the gap that Georginio Wijnaldum left at Anfield.

Over 12 Bundesliga appearances this season so far, Gravenberch has been displaying glimpses of his talent and potential – tallying up an 88% pass completion rate, successfully completing 57% of his dribbles and winning 1.1 duels per game, despite only averaging 21 minutes per performance.

Not only that, the £156k-per-week talent – hailed the “greatest talent” by Wim Kieft – ranks in the top 15% of his positional peers in the top five European leagues for shots on goal, shot-creating actions, touches and progressive passes received, over the last 12 months.

Gravenberch’s progressive style of play is very similar to that of Wijnaldum with the pair sharing many similarities in their output when you compare the positional peers.

When you measure the output of the 20-year-old this season and compare that to his fellow Dutchman’s final season at Anfield in 2021/2022 there are some clear likenesses including dribbles completed (66.7% v 66.7%), short pass completion (90.1% v 94.4%), medium pass completion (85.7% v 93.9%) and shots on target per 90 minutes (0.39 v 0.28).

Like Wijnaldum – who was dubbed the “architect of our success” by the Liverpool manager – it is clear that the young Bayern ace is comfortable in receiving passes under pressure and is capable of being direct whilst breaking the lines to allow the attacking threat to thrive.

With that being said, the signing of Gravenberch would be a major coup for the Reds and could finally give Klopp a player who can replace the work-horse in Wijnaldum that Liverpool are so sorely missing.

Chelsea have been persistently linked with a transfer for Borussia Monchengladbach’s Marcus Thuram over the past few months, and must now make the requisite moves to secure the signature before the January transfer window draws to a close.

Chelsea manager Graham Potter will be confident that he can utilise the tools at his disposal to craft a new sheen to the struggling Blues outfit, who have lost seven of their past 11 fixtures and languish in tenth place in the Premier League, also out of both the FA Cup and the Carabao Cup at the hand of Manchester City.

And while a multitude of moves have been made to set the ball in motion under the fresh project at Stamford Bridge, there still seems to be a hole in the central striking position, and Thuram has indeed been linked with a transfer this month, according to 90min.

The publication stated a few weeks ago that Chelsea had “met with the representatives” of the player, who could be available for as little as £10m with his Gladbach contract up for expiry at the end of the campaign.

Having scored 13 goals and provided four assists from 17 fixtures across all competitions this season, landing the 25-year-old on a bargain cut-price deal should be a no-brainer.

If the west London outfit are indeed to land Thuram, one can only imagine the strength in partnership that could be forged with Mykhaylo Mudryk, who has already captivated supporters following his £88.5m transfer from Shakhtar Donetsk earlier this month, with his cameo against Liverpool offering a compelling glimpse into the wizardry of his quality.

With Mudryk capable of soaring down the left flank of the Chelsea system to the greatest of effects over the coming era at Stamford Bridge, the inclusion of a physical forward of Thuram’s ilk could reap boundless rewards.

Take, for example, a portion of Mudryk’s attacking metrics over the past year, with the gem ranking among the top 1% of positional peers across Europe’s big leagues for rate of both goals and assists, the top 1% for dribbles completed and the top 4% for touches in the attacking box.

This evident emphasis on the direct approach to his forward play would only meld with Thuram’s own abilities like a deck of cards, and Potter could start to see the teammates entwine in perfect unity, proving to be an insurmountable problem for many a Premier League defence, subsequently deploying the club back at the very front of the pack.

The nine-cap Thuram ranks among the top 10% of forwards in Europe for rate of goals and the top 6% for dribbles completed, and with two progressive offensive outlets on the same pitch for Chelsea, who will likely improve on the deep-lying creativity from the centre, there is only one conclusion when it comes to the eventual clicking of the fluidity.

Bearing these factors in mind, Blues owner Todd Boehly must waste no time in conferring with technical director Christopher Vivell, and make a move for Thuram before a rival outfit snatches him from his German Bundesliga side.

Aston Villa suffered a shock 2-1 defeat in their FA Cup third-round clash with League Two side Stevenage in one of the biggest upsets of the round of fixtures so far.

Unai Emery will surely be absolutely furious with his team after the dramatic climax in the meeting between the two teams and the players should feel embarrassed with how quickly the game took a turn for the worst.

Villa had 79% possession of the ball, more shots on target (17 v 8), more dribbles completed (4 v 1) and more accurate passes (647 v 115) but ultimately failed to kill the game with accuracy in front of goal and poor decision-making set the stage for disaster.

In the first half, the hosts got off to a fantastic start, dominating the pitch and were eventually rewarded for their work ethic when Morgan Sanson found the back of the net in the 33rd minute to give Villa the lead with a rare strike.

In the second half, the Villans continued to dominate every area of the pitch until summer signing Leander Dendoncker made a catastrophic foul as the final man in the box which saw the Belgium international sent off.

A penalty was given to Stevenage which Jamie Reid converted to level the score-line with just two minutes to go.

But it didn’t end there, after going down to ten men the team were unable to hold off their opponents when Dean Campbell found the back of the net from a short corner to win the game in the dying moments.

Dendoncker will obviously share a large part of the blame but another player who had a performance he will be wanting to forget in a hurry is striker Danny Ings.

He was nothing short of anonymous throughout this evening and ultimately, let down his manager by not making his presence known and killing the game to avoid the outcome.

Over his 72-minute performance, despite delivering an assist for the goal, the centre-forward completed just three accurate passes during a performance where he failed to offer his teammates much.

Furthermore, he lost possession of the ball every two touches, lost 100% of his duels and failed to have a single shot on target.

Ashley Preece did award the forward a 6/10 in his Birmingham Live player ratings but suggested the Hertfordshire side kept him ‘at bay’ in a display that should worry Emery, as Ings failed to even trouble a fourth-tier defence.

The former Southampton goal-machine has been linked with a move to Everton this month and after that performance at Villa Park, it may be something the manager is willing to consider as he endeavours to improve the inconsistent performances the squad has shown over the campaign so far.

With that being said, there seems like there is a lot for Emery to consider going forward in the January transfer window and if players in the squad can’t step up when they are needed it should come as no surprise when the former Villarreal boss replaces them.

Crystal Palace could still persuade talisman Wilfried Zaha to stay at the club and make him sign a new deal, according to journalist Pete O’Rourke.

The Lowdown: Zaha’s future in doubt

In recent weeks and months, the 30-year-old has been constantly linked with a move away from Selhurst Park, with a fresh challenge potentially appealing to the player as his contract ticks down.

It could be that Zaha feels this is his last opportunity to seal a big transfer at his peak, having racked up a hugely impressive 443 appearances for the Eagles.

A fresh update should give Palace some encouragement, however, as they battle to keep hold of arguably their most important player.

The Latest: New deal possible

Speaking to Give Me Sport, O’Rourke claimed that Zaha remaining at Palace and signing a new contract isn’t out of the question:

“I’m sure that Steve Parish and the rest of the Crystal Palace board will be trying to pull out all the stops to convince Wilfried Zaha to extend his stay at the club.

“There’s been speculation over Zaha’s future in every transfer window, but he’s always remained at Crystal Palace. If there’s not any clubs out there who maybe interest Wilfried Zaha, they’ll be hoping that they can convince him to stay.”

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The Verdict: Has stayed loyal before

Zaha has had lots of opportunities to join bigger clubs before, but barring a brief failed spell at Manchester United, he has remained incredibly loyal.

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His love for Palace is clear and the hope is that he ultimately sees them as the place to finish his career, ignoring the advances of other teams, who could no doubt offer more money and chances of silverware.

The ball feels very much in Zaha’s court, and a big decision is likely in the coming weeks, but him signing an extension would be better than any new signing.

Reporter Pete O’Rourke has described the possibility of Crystal Palace star Wilfried Zaha leaving Selhurst Park for nothing as a ‘huge blow’.

The Lowdown: New terms snubbed

The 30-year-old is over seven years into his second stint with Palace and has taken his appearance tally to 443, scoring 89 goals and registering 73 assists in total.

Zaha’s contract is up in the summer, though, and recent reports have suggested that the Ivorian has ‘rejected multiple offers’ to extend his stay at Palace, with Tottenham ‘keen’ on his services.

The Latest: O’Rourke’s comments

Talking to The Transfer Tavern regarding Zaha, O’Rourke labelled the forward as Palace’s ‘talisman’ and said that a free transfer departure in the summer ‘would be a huge blow’ for the Eagles.

“He’s been their talisman for quite a few years now. Maybe he feels he wants a new challenge. If he does leave on a free transfer in the summer, it would be a huge blow and big boots to fill for Crystal Palace.”

The Verdict: Cash in?

January could well be the final chance Palace have to receive any money for Zaha, so Steve Parish and Dougie Freedman may look into a potential sale in the New Year.

Zaha is currently valued at €32m (£27.8m) by Transfermarkt, so you’d expect that the Eagles may still receive an eight-figure fee over the coming weeks.

Patrick Vieira would need a new marquee attacker to come in for Zaha in the winter window should he depart, so the club could be in for a busy start to 2023.

Manchester United captain Harry Maguire was unwell instead of suffering a concussion in England’s 6-2 win over Iran, according to journalist David Ornstein.

The Lowdown: Maguire substituted in win

The Three Lions made a perfect start to their 2022 World Cup campaign on Monday afternoon, cruising to victory over a limited Iran side.

Maguire performed well for England, hitting the crossbar and assisting Bukayo Saka’s goal, before being substituted with what looked like an initial concussion during the second half. Now, an update has emerged regarding the United man’s situation.

The Latest: Positive update emerges

Writing on Twitter, Ornstein claimed that Maguire had in fact left the field through illness, allaying fears that he will miss a chunk of the World Cup:

“Harry Maguire substitution in England victory over Iran resulted from him feeling unwell + was not related to concussion. Asked afterwards if defender was ok & he said ‘should be’. #ENG next face #USA on Friday night.”

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The Verdict: Should face the USA

This is good news for both England and United, with Maguire clearly given a confidence boost by being picked by Gareth Southgate, as he looks to return to form in Qatar.

In fairness to him, he has rarely let the Three Lions down in the past and this update suggests that he will be available to face the USA on Friday night.

Erik ten Hag may never see Maguire as the long-term solution for United at centre-back, but this tournament is certainly a great opportunity to prove his worth to his club manager.

New Wolves manager Julen Lopetegui is ‘worried’ about Raul Jimenez’s current injury situation, as relayed by reliable journalist Liam Keen.

The Lowdown: Jimenez’s fitness woes

The Old Gold have played their final match before the World Cup, with Lopetegui officially taking charge on Monday and now getting to know his squad.

One player who won’t be around over the next six weeks is Jimenez, who is part of Mexico’s squad in Qatar, despite his injury woes for Wolves this season. The 31-year-old has only started two matches in the Premier League in 2022/23, with fitness problems consistently holding him back of late.

The Latest: Lopetegui concerned about Jimenez

Taking to Twitter, Keen relayed a press conference update from Lopetegui that the Wolves manager is concerned about Jimenez, having spoken to the Mexico striker to voice those worries, adding that the 31-year-old shouldn’t be risked during the World Cup.

Keen tweeted:

“Lopetegui also says he has spoken to Raul Jimenez and says he is worried about his injury situation. Says Wolves is more important than the World Cup and he wants the striker back fit for the club.”

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The Verdict: Final season at Wolves?

It is essential that Mexico don’t take risks with Jimenez in the coming weeks, only playing him if they feel he is fully fit.

If not, it could have a long-term impact on his career, given the serious injuries he has suffered over the last couple of years.

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The post-World Cup period feels like a crucial one for the striker at Wolves – if he returns and can’t rid himself of his injury problems, Lopetegui could feel he isn’t worth persevering with into the future.

In truth, Jimenez has never quite been the same player since fracturing his skull almost two years ago, which is quite understandable given its severity, and with his current deal expiring in 2024, vital decisions may need to be made next summer.

The two-Test series which is part of the World Test Championship is Bangladesh’s fourth postponement since March

Mohammad Isam23-Jun-2020New Zealand’s two-Test tour of Bangladesh, which was scheduled in August-September as part of the ICC World Test Championship, has been postponed for a later date amid the Covid-19 pandemic.Cricket has been suspended since mid-March in Bangladesh, with the Shere Bangla National Stadium, cricket’s headquarters in the country, well within a virus “red zone”. Bangladesh has crossed the 100,000 mark for total number of coronavirus cases, with over 1,500 deaths attributed to the pandemic so far.BCB’s chief executive Nizamuddin Chowdhury said that the board considered the health and safety of the players when deciding on the postponement.”In the present Covid-19 pandemic scenario, hosting a full cricket series in August 2020 will be a challenge in terms of preparations and we cannot take chances with the safety and health of players, support staff and related stakeholders,” Chowdhury said.”Under these circumstances, the BCB and NZC have felt that the best way forward would be to defer the series. We realise that this will be hugely disappointing for the players and officials of both teams, not to mention the fans of the two nations but I must thank NZC for its understanding and for recognising the rationale behind such a decision.”This is Bangladesh’s fourth postponement since March, following the second Test against Pakistan in Karachi (April), Ireland and UK tour (May) and Australia’s tour of Bangladesh (June). Their tour to Sri Lanka, scheduled for July-August, is still in doubt.New Zealand have also had several deferrals including the cancellation of the Chappell-Hadlee series in March after one ODI. They have postponed their Europe tour (Netherlands, Ireland and Scotland) and a tour to the West Indies.