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West Ham United have now submitted a £22m offer for an “exciting” player who turned down a move to Manchester United, according to a report.

Hammers set for busy summer transfer window

There are set to be plenty of changes at the London Stadium this summer, with replacements needed for the likes of Aaron Cresswell, Lukasz Fabianski, Danny Ings and Kurt Zouma, who have all been released following the expiration of their contracts.

It looks like some of the Hammers’ summer transfer business could be funded by another departure, with Mohammed Kudus emerging as a major target for two of their Premier League rivals.

The Hammers have already knocked back a £50m bid from Tottenham for Kudus, but with the north Londoners set to make another approach, it is looking increasingly likely that Graham Potter will need to bring in a new winger this summer.

Following Fabianski’s exit, a new goalkeeper will also be required, and West Ham have now made a €25m (£22m) offer for Parma shot-stopper Zion Suzuki, according to a report from Parma Live.

The Irons will have to submit a higher bid in order to get a deal over the line, however, considering the 22-year-old is happy to remain at Parma and the Italian club want to keep hold of him.

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Several Premier League clubs have also been named as potential suitors for Suzuki, including Chelsea and Man United, with the goalkeeper once turning down a move to Old Trafford because he didn’t want to be second choice behind Andre Onana.

"Exciting" Suzuki could be ideal signing for West Ham

Football scout Ben Mattinson was left impressed by the Japenese shot-stopper’s performances in the Serie A last season, saying: “Zion Suzuki pulled off a phenomenal save against Roma and he’s rightly making the headlines.

“Despite Parma’s struggles at times this season, Zion Suzuki has stood out for his performances in goal. Remains one of the most exciting young keepers right now.”

The New Jersey-born goalkeeper was a regular starter for the Serie A side throughout the campaign, indicating that he could immediately challenge for Alphonse Areola’s starting spot, and there are signs the Parma man could be an ideal signing for West Ham.

Having averaged 43.59 touches per 90 over the past year, which places him in the 89th percentile, Suzuki is clearly comfortable with his feet, which indicates he could be a good fit in a Potter system.

As such, the Hammers should return with a higher offer, especially given that a long-term replacement for Areola is needed, with the French goalkeeper now 32-years-old.

It’s safe to say that Liverpool fans will have very little care for the ongoing Club World Cup in the United States of America. In fact, not many football fans in general have tuned in for proceedings just yet.

Chelsea’s opening game with LAFC was played in front of a minuscule crowd considering how big the stadium actually was.

Despite that, there are some talking points on the pitch, none more so than Trent Alexander-Arnold.

Real Madrid got their campaign underway against Saudi side Al Hilal on Wednesday and could only manage a 1-1 draw. Perhaps the gap to Saudi’s top sides isn’t as big as we may think.

How the media world reacted to Trent’s debut

It doesn’t feel like long ago now that Alexander-Arnold announced to the fanbase that he’d be leaving his boyhood club behind in favour of the Spanish capital, Madrid.

After he let it be know that he’d be departing; the right-back was understandably greeted with a chorus of boos. For one of the club’s most infamous academy graduates, this was surprising.

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Yet, once all was said and done, the right-back didn’t actually end up leaving on a free transfer.

Before the aforementioned Club World Cup got underway, there was a frenzy in the transfer market as a plethora of teams tried to get early deals over the line.

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At Chelsea, it was striker Liam Delap arriving while Manchester City confirmed the additions of Tijjani Reijnders, Rayan Ait-Nouri and Rayan Cherki. Not bad at all.

As far as Madrid were concerned, they ended up parting ways with around £8m in order to bring Alexander-Arnold to the club in time for the beginning of this summer’s tournament in the USA.

Well, after his debut on Wednesday evening, Florentino Perez and Co may well be wishing he hadn’t officially signed yet.

This clearly wasn’t Madrid at full strength but it was a horrible afternoon for the Merseyside defender.

He was slapped with a 5/10 match rating from one Real-based outlet, who noted the full-back had ‘some problems’ in the first half and was rather ‘discreet’ throughout.

Another Spanish publication, Football Espana, weren’t too kind either, also giving Trent a rating of 5/10. They were also damning of his abilities, writing that it was an ‘underwhelming’ debut where he was ‘not at his best defensively’. Now, isn’t that a surprise?

Closer to home, 90min gave the new signing a 4/10 rating, making note of how he ‘sometimes forgot’ his marking duties.

How Trent compares to Huijsen on debut

Also making his debut for Madrid in the game with Al Hilal was Dean Huijsen.

The Spaniard was the subject of interest from a plethora of Premier League clubs before the window got underway with the likes of Arsenal and Liverpool in particular chasing their signature.

The Reds were reportedly one of the favourites to prise him away from Bournemouth but like Alexander-Arnold, Madrid was an offer he could not refuse.

As it happens, the centre-back enjoyed a far better maiden game in Real colours, handed a 7/10 rating by Football Espana.

They wrote that, ‘in contrast to Alexander-Arnold, Huijsen looked assured in his debut. He helped a lot in build-up, which would have pleased Alonso.’

65

Mins played

90

2

Clearances

3

1

Interceptions

1

0

Tackles

3

57

Touches

80

89%

Accurate passes

87%

1

Key passes

1

1/4

Ground duels won

6/6

0/1

Aerial duels won

2/4

Despite the setbacks of not signing Huijsen and losing Trent, Liverpool appear to be in a good place, having confirmed the arrival of Jeremie Frimpong and reportedly on the verge of signing Florian Wirtz in a British record deal and Milos Kerkez.

Therefore, it’s unlikely they’ll be losing too much sleep over the Alexander-Arnold situation now.

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While defences are supposed to win you leagues, that hasn’t been the case for Arsenal in recent seasons.

Mikel Arteta’s side produced the best defence in the Premier League for the second successive campaign this year but once again ended up in second place, this time miles off Liverpool in first.

So, to close the gap, the club need to go out and sign an effective forward this summer, someone who could finally get them over the line in the biggest competitions.

Fortunately, that seems to be the plan, as recent reports have linked the club to a striker who’s been compared to Kylian Mbappé and Alexander Isak.

Arsenal's striker search

Given the club’s comparative lack of firepower this season, the last few weeks and months have seen Arsenal linked with plenty of top-quality strikers, with perhaps the most consistent being Viktor Gyokeres and Benjamin Sekso.

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The former has been on fire for Sporting Cp, scoring 54 goals and providing 13 assists in 52 games this season, and while he’s not proven himself in a top-five league, his reported price tag of around £54m doesn’t feel unreasonable.

On the other hand, Sesko could cost up to £75m, but he has that experience of playing in a top-five league, and in 45 appearances for RB Leipzig this term, he scored 21 goals and provided six assists.

Yet, recently, a more prolific striker than the Slovenian and someone younger than the Swede has been touted for a move to the Emirates: Hugo Ekitiké.

Yes, according to a recent report from Caught Offside, Arsenal are among several sides keen on signing the Eintracht Frankfurt star this summer.

The report reveals that Arsenal and Manchester United have already made contact with the player’s camp, while fellow Premier League rivals Liverpool, Chelsea, and Newcastle United are all ‘monitoring’ the Frenchman closely.

On top of dealing with the competition, the Gunners will have to stump up a hefty fee to get their man, with the report claiming that Frankfurt want up to €90m for the player, which comes out to about £76m.

It would be a costly and complicated transfer to get over the line, but given Ekitike’s ability and potential, it’s one worth fighting for, especially considering his comparisons to Mbappé and Isak.

How Ekitike compares to Isak & Mbappé

So, before looking at why Arsenal might want to sign him and the similarities to Mbappé, it’s worth examining this comparison to Isak and where it comes from.

In this instance, it stems from FBref, which looks at players in similar positions in Europe’s top five leagues, the Champions League and Europa League, before creating a list of the ten most comparable players.

By doing this, it has been concluded that the Swedish international is the sixth most similar forward to the Frenchman across the last 365 days.

Ekitike & Isak

Statistic per 90

Ekitike

Isak

Expected Goals

0.76

0.66

Goals per Shot

0.12

0.20

Passing Accuracy

75.5%

75.3%

Expected Assists

0.19

0.12

Passes into the Penalty Area

1.09

1.01

Through Balls

0.21

0.20

Goal-Creating Actions

0.42

0.46

Successful Take-Ons %

43.7%

46.2%

All Stats via FBref for the 24/25 League Season

The best way to see how this is worked out is by taking a look at the underlying metrics in which the pair rank closely, including but not limited to expected goals, goals per shot, passing accuracy, passes into the penalty area, goal-creating actions, through balls and more, all per 90.

On top of sharing a considerable number of statistical similarities with the Newcastle star, the Reims-born gem has also been described as the “next Mbappé” by many in France, per journalist Graeme Bailey, and while that might sound hyperbolic, it’s not too hard to see where they could be coming from.

For example, like the Real Madrid star, the Frankfurt ace is a brilliant goalscorer, finding the back of the net 22 times in 48 games this season, but is also something of a creator, producing 12 assists.

Moreover, according to FBref, the former Paris Saint-Germain gem sits in the top 4% of forwards in Europe’s top five leagues for progressive carries and successful take-ons, the top 5% for expected assisted goals, the top 6% for shot-creating actions and more, all per 90.

Ultimately, while it wouldn’t be a cheap transfer, Arsenal should do all they can to sign Ekitike this summer, as he’s proven himself capable of scoring plenty of goals, as well as creating some – just like Mbappé and Isak.

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Newcastle United missed the chance to reinforce their lofty Premier League position as they were given a thorough hiding against Champions League-chasing rivals Aston Villa.

A switch flicked in December and United charged their way into the ascendancy, winning the Carabao Cup off Liverpool in March and underlining their elite-level credentials.

Still third in the top flight, Eddie Howe’s side now need to regroup ahead of the crucial final stretch of the season, their six-match winning run snapped.

However, this was a bruising display that will have left stand-in manager Jason Tindall seething. So often so strong, the centre-halves were taken to the shops against Villa Park’s slick frontline.

Newcastle's defence falls against Villa

Newcastle have been in emphatic form in recent weeks, turning Crystal Palace over 5-0 in midweek. However, the relentless fixture list, having forced United into three games over six days, claimed a top outfit in this one.

Fabian Schar equalised before twenty minutes after connecting with the in-form Harvey Barnes’ whipped delivery, but it was not a good evening for the long-serving Swiss centre-back, who disappointingly lost all five of his duels.

Likewise, Dan Burn has been a pillar of strength this term but he failed to produce his best performance, skewing Youri Tielemans’ lunge into his own net to all but seal the hosts’ victory. He also struggled to impose himself against a lively frontline, winning just one of five duels.

Both Schar and Burn will recover over the coming days and gear up for next weekend’s crucial clash against Ipswich Town at St. James’ Park.

Options have been sparse in defence, but there’s one man who may be dropped going forward after being exposed against Unai Emery’s men.

Newcastle must now drop stalwart

Even with Lewis Hall sidelined for the rest of the season, Kieran Trippier surely needs to be benched for the tough run-in, with Howe perhaps shifting Tino Livramento back into his natural right-back berth and giving Matt Targett some rare game time from the outset.

26/04/25

Ipswich Town (H)

18th

04/05/25

Brighton (A)

10th

10/05/25

Chelsea (H)

7th

18/05/25

Arsenal (A)

2nd

25/05/25

Everton (H)

13th

Following the loss, the experienced full-back was branded with a 4/10 match rating by The Chronicle Live, who noted that he was run ragged by the Lions.

Ceding possession 16 times despite only making one key pass, as per Sofascore, Trippier’s ball-playing skills weren’t at their best, but more concerningly he only won one of his four contested ground duels, having a tough time against the dangerous Ollie Watkins.

Newcastle writer Thomas Hammond even made the scathing comment that “Trippier’s legs gave up on him.” Aged 34 and a true veteran of the game, it’s hardly surprising that this might be the case for the vice-captain.

Schar and Burns suffered rare off-days and you’d think that all of a Magpies persuasion will be able to rally ahead of the stretch ahead, but if faced with such intensity again, Howe and Tindall might want to consider dropping Trippier, who was already at risk of being sold during the winter transfer window and may well be in the coming months.

The concern, of course, is that the Toon face a testing finish to the season, one which they will need to pass with flying colours if a place back at the continent’s prized tournament is to be achieved, lifting a stunning campaign even higher.

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Twelve years ago, India hosted a Women’s World Cup that barely made a dent in the country’s consciousness. Everything is different now

Sruthi Ravindranath and Shashank Kishore28-Sep-2025When India last hosted the Women’s World Cup, in 2013, marketing the sport meant herding a few hundred schoolkids in their uniforms into pockets of the stadium, to lend a bit of atmosphere to the TV coverage.Venues could be changed days before the tournament, just so the city’s biggest stadium could host a Ranji Trophy final involving Sachin Tendulkar.Match practice for India’s senior women’s team comprised games against Under-16s and Under-19s boys teams at the Police Gymkhana, after which the players would walk back to their budget rooms in South Mumbai while overseas teams checked into a five-star hotel. It was only after Diana Edulji, a former India captain, highlighted their plight in the national media that the team was eventually shifted into the hotel that housed the other teams.Related

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India could draw satisfaction from beating at-par opponents like West Indies, but even running bigger teams close felt like victory back then. Like when a wiry 23-year-old batter who dreamed of emulating Virender Sehwag batted out of her skin to briefly give England the jitters.Thirteen years on, the same hard-hitting batter is India’s captain, possibly playing in her last 50-over World Cup at 37. But this time, Harmanpreet Kaur has around her a generation of players who don’t just want to compete, but conquer. And for the first time in half a century, India’s women walk into a World Cup with every reason to believe they could be crowned champions.Thirush Kamini scored a century against West Indies in India’s first match of the 2013 World Cup•AFP/Getty ImagesThe contrast is stark. In 2013, such suggestions would have generated ridicule. Even though women’s cricket was under the BCCI’s purview, it was nowhere near as professional as it is today. Match fees barely touched INR 1 lakh for an entire tour, and daily allowances ran to INR 1500, barely enough to cover a coffee and a snack in countries like England or Australia. For players, defeat often meant checking out the next morning and finding their own way home: sometimes by taxi, sometimes by train.Players craved attention and got none. “Back then, recognition came only during a World Cup,” says former India opener Thirush Kamini, who scored a century in India’s tournament opener against West Indies in 2013. “Once you returned home, unless someone was very passionate about the game, nobody really noticed you. Today, players are recognised everywhere.”Opportunities were scarce. “Probably, I would say, the platform with which the girls are being selected now to play at the highest level [is far superior],” says former India allrounder Niranjana Nagarajan, who was part of the 2013 squad.”They have a platform like WPL. And they have more tournaments to play and show their talent. That we did not have. We just had inter-zonal and challengers. And if we qualified for nationals, we’d get an extra three games. That was it. We lost out on a number of matches.”Even when players did well, their efforts would end up as one- or two-column stories at the peripheries of the sports pages. Instagram was still too new, too basic, and too niche to turn their magic moments viral.”For the men’s team, if Sanju Samson isn’t picked, you ask why. If Shreyas Iyer performs in the IPL and isn’t selected, questions are raised,” Thirush says. This wasn’t the case with women’s cricket in her time, but it’s changed now.”Now when Shafali [Verma] is not getting picked, the selectors are asked why she’s not getting picked. The players who had played during the previous era didn’t even understand why they were not getting picked.”I understand it’s going to be a lot of pressure on a player like Shafali. But when you look at the flip side, I feel she at least has a clarity that she’s still in the scheme of things and she’s just not part of this World Cup. When you’re talking about players getting paid equally, it’s not just about infrastructure or facilities. It’s also about expectations, and that kind of scrutiny should stay.”

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Mithali Raj, who was 14 years into her international career at the 2013 World Cup, was one of two recognisable names in the sport, Jhulan Goswami being the other. Even so, the fact that Mithali had already led India to a World Cup final in 2005 barely shifted the needle of public attention.”When I got my hundred, Mithali was at the other end,” Thirush recalls. “A journalist asked how it felt to beat her record. She just turned to me with a smile and said, ‘Go ahead, it’s your moment.’ That generosity is what made them such great leaders.”Today, the landscape is completely different. Players train at state-of-the-art facilities, compete in thriving T20 leagues in India and abroad, and play the best oppositions as a matter of routine. In the lead-up to this World Cup, India toured England and hosted world champions Australia. A far cry from the time they’d settle for practice matches against men’s age-group teams.Jemimah Rodrigues was once Tendulkar’s neighbour in Mumbai. One of the things that inspired her to play cricket was seeing him arrive home to exuberant celebrations. Harmanpreet was captivated by Sehwag’s fearlessness and his habit of starting his innings with boundaries. Today, aspiring cricketers look at Smriti Mandhana’s cover drive, Harmanpreet’s sweep, and Radha Yadav’s athleticism for inspiration.In 2025, India’s women players are in the midst of a revolution – equal pay, record prize money, and a fan following that travels to see them play and train.In 2013, Mithali Raj (second from left) was one of two widely known women cricketers in India•AFPBucket Hat Cult, a dedicated fan group for women’s cricket, are set for their biggest outing yet. The 25-member group, which officially came together in 2023, travel to “as many India games as possible”, and will be out in force in Navi Mumbai for their first ODI Women’s World Cup. “We want to create as much buzz as we can,” they say.India’s run to the final of the 2017 World Cup was hailed as a turning point for women’s cricket in the country, but the BCCI may have been a tad late in harnessing that wave. Once they did, however, with the 2023 launch of the WPL, interest in the sport has surged. WPL 2025 recorded a 142% spike in TV viewership, drawing 31 million viewers. Even Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s trophy celebration in 2024 drew a full house at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, where the men’s team gave them a guard of honour.It feels like a dream sometimes, but it’s very much real. And after years of anonymity, this is the players’ time to shine.

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Three of the four venues for this World Cup haven’t hosted a women’s international in the last five years. Outside of Mumbai, most of India’s recent matches have been in Bengaluru, Chennai, Ahmedabad and Delhi. Among them, Bengaluru’s Chinnaswamy and Navi Mumbai’s DY Patil Stadium have drawn strong crowds, helped by the WPL’s presence.DY Patil is expected to draw big numbers again, but the spotlight now shifts to less familiar venues: Guwahati, Indore and Visakhapatnam. India last played in Guwahati in 2019, in Vizag back in 2014, and have never played in Indore. Local connection could help, with each of these cities represented in the squad. And playing the World Cup in these cities may be a “blessing in disguise”, Niranjana feels.”Women’s cricket is always taking place in Bengaluru and Mumbai, of course the reach and ticket sales will probably be more there,” she says. “But when will we expose women’s cricket to other places?”Girls there will probably pick up a bat after watching the tournament. The reach will get better. I am definitely happy because these places are maybe not as big for women’s cricket but considering this is an ICC tournament, it is definitely a good thing. Those people can also experience women’s cricket as one of its kind.”Kranti Goud is evidence of women’s cricket having spread deep into India’s hinterlands•Getty ImagesUma Chetry, who hails from Guwahati, is the first woman from the state of Assam to represent India. She carries the hopes of a region that seemed unlikely to produce international players a decade ago. In the last year alone, it has produced two – Riyan Parag, an IPL captain no less, is the other.In Kadapa, a few hours away from Visakhapatnam, N Shree Charani’s skills first took shape in gully cricket, where she’d bowl left-arm fast. In 2018-19, Charani’s maternal uncle, who had grown up playing cricket in Hyderabad, persuaded her parents to send her for cricket trials.She caught the eyes of the age-group coaches who were amazed at her athleticism – Charani was a promising track-and-field athlete in school. Today, on the back of an impressive initiation in the WPL, where she plays alongside Meg Lanning, Charani, who now bowls left-arm spin, has a platform to share a stage with the world’s best.Kranti Goud’s journey from Ghuwara, a small town 450km from Indore, to the national team, punctuated by a six-wicket-haul in England, reflects how scouting, WPL performances, and exposure are reshaping India’s talent pool.From struggling for recognition in 2013 to commanding attention and respect in 2025, women’s cricket in India has come a long way. This World Cup could finally give the players a stage that is theirs to own.

England’s miserable World Cup defence is finally over. Alan Gardner sat down with Andrew Miller and Vithushan Ehantharajah to pick through the pieces

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Nov-2023England’s reign as World Cup-holders is finally over, although they spared themselves the ignominy of missing out on Champions Trophy involvement by winning their final two group games. With the dust beginning to settle – and squads already announced for a tour of the Caribbean – Alan Gardner was joined by Andrew Miller and Vithushan Ehantharajah to look at what went wrong and where the one-day side goes from here. Topics up for discussion included Jos Buttler’s form, departing greats and the next men in, and whether multi-year contracts are actually such a good thing after all.