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Despite having an average squad age of 26.4, three of Wolves’ five oldest senior players are defenders.

One of those is 30-year-old centre-back Willy Boly, who along with being one of the squad’s oldest current players also has a rather worrying injury record over recent months and years. It was also recently revealed by Old Gold manager Bruno Lage that the Ivorian has suffered a muscular injury.

With this in mind, a potential dip into the transfer market during the upcoming January window could be on the cards for the Midlands club.

Recently, journalist Luke Hatfield said that he thinks Wolves could be “keen to revive their interest” in Lille defender Sven Botman in January if a deal can be done after being linked with him during the previous summer transfer window.

Since joining the French club from Ajax’s under-21 side back in the 2020 summer transfer window, the 21-year-old has gone on to make 59 appearances for Lille across all competitions, chipping in with one goal and one assist along the way.

Furthermore, the 6 foot 3 Botman has proved himself to be a solid defensive unit for Lille by averaging 4.4 clearances per game and winning 68% of duels in Ligue 1 this season.

Labelled as a potential “leader” on the pitch by former Lille manager Christophe Galtier, the 21-year-old could not only fix Lage’s short-term issue of Boly being out injured for the time being. The Dutchman could also prove himself to be a suitable long-term replacement for the likes of Boly and Romain Saiss given his young age.

Taking all this into account, working out a deal in January to bring Botman to Molineux in January should be at the top of Fosun’s priority list to help the club strengthen their squad with a player who has admitted to having dreams of playing in the Premier League at some stage in his career.

However, with the defender also being previously linked with a number of other Premier League clubs in the past, Wolves could have some competition for his signature if those reported suitors also see an opportunity to sign him in January.

In other news: One man is edging closer to a significant deal with the club

South Africa are trying to convince everyone that they aren’t feeling sorry for themselves as they enter the final Test against England needing a win to level the series despite having dominated two of the three matches

Andrew McGlashan in Johannesburg12-Jan-2010South Africa are trying to convince everyone that they aren’t feeling sorry for themselves as they enter the final Test against England needing a win to level the series despite having dominated two of the three matches. However, it is clear that the home side feel they haven’t had the rub of the green over the last month.Missing out on winning a Test by a single wicket once could be classed as unfortunate, but doing it twice is bordering on the careless. Mickey Arthur, the South Africa coach, was very careful not to belittle England’s success when he said the series should probably be 1-1, but the hosts clearly don’t think the current scoreline reflects the cricket played.”We’d like to believe so,” Jacques Kallis said when asked if South Africa were still the better team. “England probably think differently, but we have to believe that. I think at times we have played some really good cricket. Hopefully the luck will go our way in this Test since we feel it has gone England’s way for a little while.”It will be very dangerous for South Africa to enter the final Test at the Wanderers with lingering frustrations over how the series is panning out. “It’s something we have discussed,” Kallis said. “Going into this Test the feeling could easily be that we’ve dominated two Tests and are still somehow behind in the series.”Obviously that is all in the past and we have to look forward and know that going into this Test there won’t be any favours given our way. We’ve have to go out and win this and put all those feelings behind us. We know we have to move on.”For all their dominant sessions at Centurion and Cape Town, South Africa haven’t been able to break down England’s new-found resilience with Graham Onions being the unlikeliest of thorns in their side at No. 11. Meanwhile, the hosts are paying a heavy price for their second innings collapse for 133 at Durban as Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann scythed through them.”They haven’t given up,” Kallis said of England’s determination. “They have been in tough situations in two games where they have been totally out of it, but have still managed to get out of it. We were in England’s situation in Durban and crumbled, so as much as we can say we’ve been unlucky we have been in the same situation and failed. We’ve only got ourselves to blame.”However, Kallis believes South Africa are better equipped for the challenges of this final Test where the pitch is expected to be lively and encourage the quick bowlers. Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel impressed at Newlands, while Kallis hopes home advantage will mean their batsmen are better placed to handle the conditions.”I’ve had a look at the wicket and it’s not as green as some I’ve seen here, but it will do a bit, no doubt, and you’ll need some skill to get through,” he said. “Our guys are used to playing on pitches that bounce and go through probably a little more than the English guys so hopefully that plays into our favour. Our wickets probably do the most in the world and our guys are well equipped for this challenge.”

Leeds United’s need to sign a new midfielder in the January transfer window is ‘blindingly obvious’, according to journalist Phil Hay.

The Lowdown: Leeds short in midfield

It has been a disappointing first three months of the season for Marcelo Bielsa’s men, who are threatening to get sucked in a Premier League relegation battle.

One area where have been lacking is in midfield, with Kalvin Phillips perhaps relied upon too much and the Leeds hero missing three of their league games, with the team yielding just one point from those matches.

The likes of Jamie Shackleton, Mateusz Klich and Adam Forshaw have operated there, but with the latter not long back from a two-year injury layoff, the centre of midfield is a position where the Whites are rather threadbare.

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The Latest: Hay calls for new signing

Speaking in a Q&A for The Athletic on Tuesday ahead of Leeds’ clash at home to Crystal Palace, Hay implored the club to try and bring in another player in the middle of the park during the January transfer window.

He wrote: “As for recruitment, I said last week that some business in January would make sense. It doesn’t have to be huge amount or hideously expensive but it’s been pretty comprehensively shown, for example, that without Bamford it’s not clear who should be at nine. And they do need another [in] midfield. That’s blindingly obvious.”

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The Verdict: Makes perfect sense

Central midfield is a vital area of the pitch for any team in terms of controlling the game, so as Hay has hinted, it is imperative that reinforcements are made in that area at Leeds, or at least that valid attempts are made at doing so.

Someone like reported transfer target Nahitan Nandez, who has won 49 caps for Uruguay and averaged 2.1 tackles per game for Cagliari in Serie A this season – more than Klich (1.3) – would be an ideal addition, bringing more quality and depth to Leeds’ midfield.

With Phillips’ long-term future also up in the air, the Elland Road may need to be eyeing up possible replacements for him as well, sad as that may be to accept.

In other news, Danny Mills has criticised one Whites player. Find out who it is here.

Members of Pakistan’s parliamentary committee on sports panel have asked for a meeting with Pakistan president Asif Zardari as pressure mounts on Ijaz Butt’s board administration

Cricinfo staff05-Feb-2010Members of Pakistan’s parliamentary committee on sports panel have asked for a meeting with Pakistan president Asif Zardari, who is also patron of the PCB, as pressure mounts on Ijaz Butt’s board administration after two days of development in Islamabad.First, the National Assembly’s Standing committee on sports, headed by the increasingly vocal Jamshed Dasti, met in the capital on Wednesday and again grilled Butt over a range of issues. Then on Thursday the upper house of parliament, the senate, called its own committee meeting though Butt didn’t turn up for this one.Dasti has repeatedly called for Butt’s sacking, criticised the PCB’s handling of the aftermath of the Lahore attack on the Sri Lankan team bus last year, as well as levelling match-fixing allegations after Pakistan lost a close league game to Australia in the ICC Champions Trophy last year. “We want to brief the president, who is also the patron of the Board, regarding all prevailing ills in the PCB,” Dasti said. “We have already forwarded recommendations to the president.”Butt was scheduled to attend the senate meeting but didn’t, and PCB chief operating officer Wasim Bari explained that Butt had been summoned to the president’s office. That sparked speculation that Butt was going to be sacked, and reports did emerge that he had been asked to resign, though they were officially denied. Confusion still prevails over whether Butt actually went to the presidency and which official he met there.When Butt didn’t turn up, the committee hit out at his attitude towards parliament, and later urged the Sports Minister Aijaz Jakhrani to get its recommendations approved. “I have already taken up the matter with the president during my meeting last Thursday and hopefully something positive would come up in a few days times,” Jakhrani said. “It is entirely up to the president to decide on the issue and I cannot give any deadline for changes.”Meanwhile, Waqar Younis who was the bowling and fielding coach of the Pakistan team during the Australia series has claimed that there were non-cricketing reasons behind the teams shoddy show on tour.”The performance of players was not the only reason behind the poor showing. I will only spell out these reasons before the National Assembly Standing Committee on Sports. I want the committee to call me as I want to tell the people the reasons for the team’s poor performances,” Waqar was quoted in the.

The Australian Cricketers’ Association remains hopeful that its IPL security requirements can be met despite Lalit Modi’s blunt criticism of players association concerns this week

Brydon Coverdale25-Feb-2010The Australian Cricketers’ Association remains hopeful that its IPL security requirements can be met despite Lalit Modi’s blunt criticism of players’ concerns this week. The ACA chief executive, Paul Marsh, said there were positive signs that the IPL’s security firm was taking seriously the list of safety issues that worried players after an independent report found that a terrorist threat against the league was credible.”Our security adviser Reg Dickason has been working with the IPL’s security adviser, Nicholls-Steyn,” Marsh told Cricinfo. “They’ve been working for a few days now on what we’ve identified as the issues that have come out of various player meetings.”Nicholls-Steyn is aware of those and they are working through the issues and we’re making some positive progress. It’s probably looked more positive over the last few days than what it has [before]. There’s still 15 days to go before the event starts and things can happen very quickly in India, we’ve seen that over the years.”Marsh stressed that the Australian players involved in the IPL still wanted to go ahead and take part but as it is not a national team tour, the decision remains with the individual players. Modi has been vociferous on Twitter in the past couple of days, insisting the IPL would not “be dictated by players associations where to play” and that anyone who pulled out might be placing in jeopardy their future participation in the tournament.Modi also had a dig at Ricky Ponting and said he had heard that Ponting was encouraging players not to go to the IPL. There had been reports that Ponting had disagreed with some senior freelance players, including Matthew Hayden, Adam Gilchrist and Shane Warne, at an ACA meeting on Tuesday but Marsh said the reports of a rift between players were untrue.”I presented to the players the information that we had and opened it up for discussion … like any meeting I’d have with the players,” he said. “Like just about every meeting, when you’re dealing with a difficult issue, there are different points of view and there were definitely different points of view in this particular meeting. The players were completely unified on the position that they wanted to go.”However, there was one school thinking they would only go if our security adviser, Reg Dickason who we trust, believes it’s safe to go. There was another school that said it’s a risk-and-reward type situation, would we go regardless. We got to a position at the end of it where we all said okay, let’s put back to the IPL the things that we need so that all the players can go.”If we can resolve those issues with them, and that is our hope, then we would expect to get to a point where our security adviser recommends that it’s safe for the players to go. If we can’t overcome these issues then the opposite is the most likely scenario. This is a decision to be made by each individual player.”

Everton are entering a new era under the stewardship of manager Rafa Benitez, and there’s set to be significant unrest as the alterations take time to come to the fore.

What’s the story?

Former director of football Marcel Brands followed ex-board member Sarvar Ismailov in departing the Merseyside outfit last week as owner Farhad Moshiri attempts to usher in a new-look setup.

However, the changes perhaps won’t go far enough for some. The Liverpool ECHO’s Phil Kirkbride has provided a behind-the-scenes update on Everton’s of the club’s plans post-Brands, outlining their reluctance to make any ‘radical’ changes.

Kirkbride’s report states that: “The existing board are set to lead a ‘strategic review’ of the club’s football structure following Brands’ departure as director of football after three-and-a-half years.

“The ECHO has been told that there is not expected to be a ‘radical’ overhaul of the club’s scouting and medical operations but the powers are looking at ‘streamlining’ how they work.”

Everton fans surely fuming

In recent years, Everton have become a byword for underachievement. The arrival of Moshiri back in 2016 brought a new wave of hope and optimism as it seemed the club finally had the finances to support their true potential.

But the Blues’ hierarchy splashed their newfound wealth with reckless abandon, bringing in an extensive list of underwhelming purchases for astronomical fees.

The likes of Alex Iwobi, Theo Walcott and Davy Klaassen were brought in without much thought as to where they would play, what benefit they would bring to the team and whether or not their price tags represented value for money.

A recent report by Football365 outlined the net spending from Premier League clubs since Moshiri took over the reins at Everton. And it doesn’t make for pretty reading for the Toffees.

Only four clubs have splashed more than the Goodison Park outfit’s total of £233.92m during the Iranian businessman’s time at the club, with their limited spending in the most recent window due to Financial Fair Play regulations stopping them from being higher up the table.

Some of English football’s elite sides, such as Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur and European Champions Chelsea have spent less than Everton in recent years, highlighting the gross mismanagement of the club.

Therefore, Kirkbride’s latest revelation will surely leave large sections of the fanbase fuming. League finishes of 7th, 8th, 8th, 12th and 10th have not offered a substantial return for their excessive outlay, meaning fundamental changes are needed.

If Everton are to finally catch up to English football’s elite, then a total revamp of their scouting operation and recruitment process is needed, not a token gesture. Everton fans should be rightfully fuming with this latest update.

And, in other news…Rafa must seal EFC swoop for “complete” £51k-p/w beast who plays like Platini & Zidane

Bangladesh’s plans for the first Test against England have been thrown into disarray after Raqibul Hasan, the 22-year-old middle-order batsman, retired from international cricket on the eve of the series

Andrew Miller in Chittagong10-Mar-2010Bangladesh’s plans for the first Test against England have been thrown into disarray after Raqibul Hasan, the 22-year-old middle-order batsman, retired from international cricket on the eve of the series.Cricinfo understands that Raqibul is angered by his omission from the preliminary 30-man World Twenty20 squad as well as the recent one-day series against England and has decided to make a stand, but there was also a disagreement between the board and the selectors over his original place in the Test squad.He informed his team-mates of his decision on the team bus after practice on Wednesday. “We tried to tell him that it was a bad idea,” a team insider told Cricinfo. “He’s very young and we tried to talk him out of a rash decision. “The board had wanted Raqibul to be dropped for the Tests against England along with Mohammad Ashraful, who was omitted from the squad having also missed the one-day series. However, he impressed for Bangladesh A against England in the warm-up match when he followed his first-innings unbeaten 107 with 51 and was duly named in the Test party.”The selectors were told by the board to drop Raqibul and Ashraful from the Test squad,” a BCB insider told Cricinfo. “The selectors refused to drop Raqibul after he scored a century and a fifty in the warm-up game at Chittagong and Raqibul has returned to Dhaka feeling that his position in the team is compromised.”Raqibul was inked in for a middle-order slot against England, ironically as a replacement for Ashraful, having previously been dropped following a lean series against India in January. He has played seven Tests with a top score of 65 against West Indies and averages 19.14.”He wrote a letter to us this morning, withdrawing himself from the Test series against England. He also announced his retirement from all forms of cricket,” Bangladesh cricket board director Jalal Yunus told AFP. “It has stunned us. He is a brilliant cricketer and played two superb knocks against England just days back. Coach Jamie Siddons and Raqibul’s parents tried to change his mind. But he is adamant.”Cricinfo understands that Jahurul Islam, the uncapped 23-year-old batsman, has been called into the squad following an impressive performance in the National Cricket League final, which finished on Wednesday, where he scored 59 and 117 for Rajshahi Division who took the title against Chittagong Division.

Sam Johnstone is arguably one of West Bromwich Albion’s best players on their books, and the subject of his contract, which ends in the Summer of 2022, has been a hot topic.

What’s the story?

Head Coach Valerien Ismael has delivered a promising update on the immediate future of Baggies goalkeeper, Sam Johnstone, as rumours of a cut-price move in January to a number of clubs have circulated non-stop since the beginning of the season.

Ismael hailed Johnstone as the “best player” when discussing the plans for January;

“Yes, we are planning for that,” Ismael responded when asked if he expects Johnstone to still be at the club after the transfer window.

“We definitely don’t want to lose the best player in the squad.

“For our purpose and what we want to achieve, Sammy is a massive part of our project regardless of his contract situation and is a big part of my thoughts.”The England goalkeeper has been linked with Tottenham, West Ham and Southampton to name a few of the Premier League clubs reportedly desperate to secure the star’s signature either in January or in the summer when he will be available on a free.Make or break for West BromWest Bromwich Albion are in a vulnerable position right now despite sitting third in the table, with a shaky run of form over the last few months where goals were not being scored.They have scored fewest out of the top three, however luckily for Ismael, goals conceded have been few for the side, with the least strikes conceded out of the top three teams.This statistic only puts further emphasis on the importance of keeping Johnstone until the summer for West Brom, and it could really be a make or break situation for the side, being the difference between Premier League football or staying for another season in the Championship next season. Thus, fans should be delighted that Albion are planning to keep him at the Hawthorns heading past the winter.West Brom will be hoping to be in a position to prove to Johnstone that is worth staying for the second half of the season by the time the transfer window opens in a few weeks, with the Baggies currently working hard to close the gap with top of the table, currently only five points shy of Fulham.Ismael should be doing everything he can to keep the stopper sweet until the inevitable in the summer when the 28-year-old will be available to go on a free to wherever he pleases, hopefully with the Baggies back in the Premier League as a result of his dedication.In other news: Ismael must axe Hugill from the team

Given Everton’s spotty run of form in the Premier League, winning just one of their 11 previous league games, the upcoming January transfer window could allow the Merseyside club to strengthen and freshen up their squad to put them in a good shape for the second half of the campaign.

However, it seems as though Everton have been mentioned with a potential move for a player that not only would be a very familiar face to a lot of fans in Merseyside but would also be a player that some fans would not want to see wearing their club’s shirt.

What’s the news?

According to Spanish media outlet Mundo Deportivo (via Sport Witness), Everton are in the frame, alongside fellow Premier League club Newcastle United, for a potential swoop for Barcelona and former Liverpool attacker Philippe Coutinho.

The report claims that the Brazilian is not wanted at Barcelona and that his agent is waiting on the likes of Everton and Newcastle to make a formal approach for Coutinho.

During his time with Liverpool, Coutinho managed to rack up 54 goals and 45 assists in 201 appearances across all competitions before making his mega-money move to Barcelona in a deal worth a reported overall total of £142m in 2018.

With 106 appearances under his belt with the La Liga side, Coutinho’s spell at Barcelona has been widely regarded as a disappointing one, which is presumably why the club are looking to get rid of him despite the huge amount of money they paid for him.

Last month, Coutinho, who is currently picking up a weekly wage of £380k-per-week according to Salary Sport, answered some of the criticism thrown his way during his time at Barcelona after being called “lazy” by the Spanish media, which apparently surprised him.

It’s hard to see many Toffees fans being excited about potentially seeing the former Liverpool man, who has scored three goals and provided two assists in the nine games he’s played against Everton, join Rafa Benitez’s squad.

Given how Benitez previously criticised former Everton midfielder James Rodriguez for not wanting to work hard for the team and preferring “a comfortable life and money more than the competition,” it seems as though Coutinho could be the next version of the Colombian at Goodison Park given the doubts over his work rate in Spain.

Overall, it would be worth Farhad Moshiri not risking any further fury at Everton from the supporters by stepping away from a potential move for the Brazilian and looking elsewhere for potential reinforcements in January.

In other news: Everton to be offered £31.5m-rated beast who’s “similar to Xavi”, Rafa would love him…

Sourav Ganguly was satisfied with his batting form after giving the Eden Gardens crowd plenty to cheer with a vintage display

Cricinfo staff02-Apr-2010Sourav Ganguly, the Kolkata Knight Riders captain, hasn’t had the smoothest of tournaments, but was satisfied with his batting form after giving the Eden Gardens crowd plenty to cheer with a vintage display against Deccan Chargers. His 54-ball 88 powered Kolkata to a victory that kept them firmly in the middle of a pack of five mid-table teams separated by just two points.”It was a good wicket, the ball came on well,” he said, “I’ve been batting well for the last four-five games – 30s, 30s, 50s – it was good that I carried on today.”The win lifts Kolkata to eight points, and comes on the back of a stretch of five matches with only one success. “We started off well but then dropped a bit, we were in a spot where we needed to get some wins, the tournament’s still wide open but it was good to get a win.”Kolkata’s total turned into a formidable one thanks to the onslaught in the final four overs, which yielded 56 runs. The most expensive of those was the 21-run over from Pragyan Ojha, when Ganguly showcased his dominance over left-arm spinners by cracking three sixes.Unlike his Kolkata counterpart, Deccan Chargers captain, Adam Gilchrist, had a game to forget as captain, wicketkeeper and batsman. “Tactically we just took a gamble with one extra over to Ojha,” Gilchrist said. “Well, Sourav was in and he obviously got in three sixes, [one of those] 50-50 decisions that didn’t quite go our way.”Gilchrist also fluffed chances to stump Ganguly and David Hussey, before rounding off a poor game by being dismissed for 9 in the third over. He slammed Ajit Agarkar’s first two deliveries for and miscued to midwicket off the fourth, after Herschelle Gibbs had blasted 20 runs in the initial two overs. “I was a bit irresponsible starting that way, Herschelle was flying, and it was probably a mistake on my own behalf there.”With three defeats in a row, Deccan are now just one place off the bottom of the table, but Gilchrist took heart from the manner in which Rajasthan Royals rebounded after starting the tournament with three consecutive defeats.