Aston Villa winger Trezeguet is one of Besiktas’ main transfer targets, as has been reported by Turkish outlet Fotospor.

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It is suggested that their priority is to sign a winger, with the Egyptian topping their wishlist alongside Sivasspor’s Emre Kilinc.

Judging by the responses to a tweet about this interest, Villa fans are more than happy to see the back of the 25-year-old.

Trezeguet has struggled to truly make his mark for Dean Smith’s side, having made 13 Premier League starts, alongside 11 substitute appearances, scoring three goals and assisting one.

He does have the legacy of scoring the goal that got Villa to the Carabao Cup final, but that is seemingly not enough to keep him in the fans’ good books.

Did he really play for us?! No Villa fan has managed to name all of these obscure Villans….

The Egypt international averages 0.8 key passes and 1.1 dribbles per game, and fans are looking for a pacier winger who will be able to get at the opposition more.

Some supporters are even suggesting that Villa shouldn’t have signed him in the first place – despite his heroics against Leicester City.

Players they would have preferred to see join are Joe Lolley and Said Benrahma, who have 13 and 17 goal contributions in the Championship respectively.

Whether either of these two would have done better than Trezeguet is unproven, but what is clear is that Villa fans want the Egyptian out of their club.

Meanwhile, Villa may have found themselves a bargain.

Everton have had a season to forget after being knocked out of the cups early on as well as sitting 12th in the table, but that doesn’t mean players aren’t missing the action.

Lucas Digne took to social media to express his frustration at not just being away from the pitch, but also his teammates and the training ground.

It is an unprecedented time for football to go through such a stage when it isn’t the off season, and the lack of update as to when the Premier League may return is likely making matters worse for players.

Replicating the buzz of matchday is incredibly difficult to do, particularly when players are cooped up in doors, although some players have found ways of keeping themselves entertained – including Richarlison.

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It is doubtful that Digne is the only player feeling that way, with members of the public also itching for football – and normality – to return.

When football does eventually make a comeback it will likely be all the more sweeter, however, and that is the silver lining to this period of difficulty.

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Goodison Park should be louder than ever as fans appreciate what they’ve missed, even if there hasn’t been to much to shout about on the pitch this term.

In transfer news, the Toffees have target a highly sought-after European who could bring a major positive to an area of weakness…

It could well be a while before football starts up again with UEFA announcing today that the Europa League and Champions League are postponed until further notice, which doesn’t bode too well for the domestic game either.

So what better way to pass the time during this challenging period than testing yourself on all matters Crystal Palace?

Today’s quiz comes with a simple premise but you’d be foolish to think it’s an easy ride – we’re asking Eagles fans to name all 25 of these incredibly obscure former players, whose spells at Selhurst Park have no doubt regressed into a very distant memory.

So, will you prove to be a true Palace die-hard or an Eagles novice? There’s only one way to find out, and that’s by taking part in the quiz below.

Don’t be afraid to share your score on social media (providing it’s something to actually be relatively proud of), so all of your Palace chums can get involved as well!

Wolves star Raul Jimenez has delivered a glowing verdict on Liverpool titan Virgil van Dijk.

What’s the word?

The Mexico international recently participated in a Q&A which was published on Wolves’ official website, and one of his answers concerned the £75m Reds star.

Jimenez was asked about the best player he’s ever faced up to and, perhaps unsurprisingly, he name-checked the Dutchman and suggested he’s not finished improving just yet.

“Van Dijk. Last season our battles were amazing and I had troubles with him in both matches and I think he’s a great player who is only going to get better.”

Can you name the result these iconic Liverpool images belong to? Give it a go now…

A fascinating clash

Jimenez, who signed for the Old Gold for £30m in 2019 following an eye-catching loan spell in the 2018/19 season, does not have a particularly potent record against the Premier League leaders.

He scored his first league goal against Liverpool earlier this year, though his strike could not prevent the hosts from suffering a 2-1 defeat.

That goal is the only strike Wolves have managed in the last four league fixtures against Jurgen Klopp’s relentless side, so it’s little surprise that Jimenez has identified the defensive hub as the best of all the opponents he’s faced.

The clash between two players who are elite talents in their respective positions has proven to be a fascinating one in the past two seasons, with the former Atletico Madrid striker possessing both the physicality and technical quality to cause his opposite number major issues.

So far, however, his endeavours have failed to produce the desired result and, when football eventually resumes, Jimenez will be hoping that his prediction about van Dijk’s improvement proves to be a fallacy.

In other Liverpool news, FFC have rounded up Fernando Torres’ stunning career in a series of nostalgic images…

Liverpool’s almost inevitable title win now hangs in the balance.

Just a few weeks ago, it was only a matter of time before their status as champions was confirmed as they held on to a 25-point lead at the top of the Premier League. However, the pandemic that has worked its way across the globe has halted normal life as we know it, including football.

There has been talk that the season could be cancelled if the campaign can not be re-started in the near future, and it seems that Manchester United left-back Luke Shaw is of the opinion that it should be null and voided. The 24-year-old said during a live stream on Twitch: “Scrap it and start again. Start it again, yeah. It’s gotta be you know. If we can’t carry it on it’s got to be void.”

Although he didn’t explicitly say it, ending the campaign now would mean that Liverpool would miss out on the league title. As you can imagine, many supporters of the Anfield outfit are in uproar at his comments.

One fan even suggested that the United defender is ‘not even relevant at his own club’. You can see some of the best reactions below.

Do you agree with Shaw? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

ScorecardDriven by an unbeaten half-century by Kycia Knight, West Indies Women chased down 99 by a relatively comfortable margin against Pakistan Women, to take the one-off Twenty20 in Loughborough. West Indies won with only one ball to spare, but had eight wickets in hand.Pakistan chose to bat, but none of their batsmen bar Bismah Maroof and Javeria Khan could make any contribution of note. Mahroof and Javeria were the only two to get into double digits, making 36 and 37 out of Pakistan’s 98. Medium-pacer Shemaine Campbelle produced the best figures for West Indies, her 3 for 20 including the wickets of Mahroof and Javeria and preventing Pakistan from getting a final surge.The West Indies top order batted around Knight in the chase. She made 50 off 67 with five boundaries, while Deandra Dottin knocked off a four and a six in a 12-ball cameo at the end to help push West Indies across the line in the nick of time.

Neutral fans will always accuse Tottenham of wasting the Gareth Bale money all those years ago, but since then they’ve not done too badly in the transfer market, but that’s only when they’ve even bothered trying to make signings.

They famously became the first club in Premier League history not to sign a player in two consecutive transfer windows, but Spurs fans will argue that why should they need to when they’ve quality players like Harry Kane and Harry Winks coming out of the academy.

Some of the more recent signings haven’t been too bad. Lucas Moura will always be a Spurs hero for his Champions League heroics against Ajax, while the likes of Dele Alli, Toby Alderweireld and Heung-min Son will go down as bargains in years to come.

But it’s not always been like that at Spurs, with many players coming through the White Hart Lane doors over the years who just have not been good enough to wear the white shirt in North London.

So we’ve taken a look at some of the biggest transfer flops at Spurs in the Premier League era, although we probably could’ve named a lot more…

Gilberto

Of the two Gilberto da Silvas to have plied their trade in north London, Tottenham certainly had the lesser one in Gilberto da Silva Melo.

The left-back turned up at White Hart Lane initially in January 2008 with some pedigree in the form of 30 Brazil caps and four strong years in Germany with Hertha Berlin but could never adapt to the pace of the Premier League and left in July 2009 a complete flop.

Sergei Rebrov

The first of a fair few strikers to feature on this list, Ukraine legend Sergei Rebrov managed a mere 16 goals in a depressing four-year spell with the Lilywhites.

What makes it worse is that Glenn Hoddle threw away a gut-busting £11m, we are talking in 2000, to bring him in based on his form with Dynamo Kyiv – although it’s far from the last waste of money we’re going to be looking at today.

Paolo Tramezzani 

Speaking of foreign players who just couldn’t get to grips with English football, Paolo Tramezzani was a calamitous left-back if there ever was one.

Pictured above with fellow Italian Premier League failure Nicola Berti who’s bizarrely wearing a t-shirt from the Four Seasons hotel in New York to training, Tramezzani would make just six forgettable appearances in north London.

Bobby Zamora

Bobby Zamora would go onto enjoy an accomplished Premier League career with the likes of West Ham United, Fulham and Queens Park Rangers, but not before his own sorry spell at the Lane.

The Lilywhites were the team to give the future England man his big break when they signed him for Brighton & Hove Albion for a lofty £1.5m in summer 2003, however, he would only contribute the one goal for Spurs before being shipped off as part of the deal that saw the legendary Jermain Defoe arrive in N17.

Mbulelo Mabizela 

Remember him?

Prior to the 2003/2004 season, the Lilywhites decided to sign ill-disciplined centre-back Mbulelo Mabizela based on a performance he put in for Orlando Pirates against them in a friendly, it worked out just about as well as it sounded it would.

David Bentley

What did David Bentley ever really do in a Spurs shirt apart from score THAT goal against his former club in the North London derby?

Well, you could list any number of hilarious off-field pranks and incidents.

But it’s what happens on the pitch that really matters and the ex-Three Lions star never really lived up to his potential or his £15m price tag at White Hart Lane before bizarrely retiring at the age of 29.

Bongani Khumalo 

The picture above more or less sums up Bongani Khumalo’s Tottenham career, as the former South Africa captain looked so out of his depth on loan at the likes of Preston, Doncaster and Colchester and in matches for the reserves that he somehow managed to not make a single competitive first-team appearance for the entirety of his four-and-a-half-year spell.

Spurs haven’t had much luck with South Africans, have they?

Roberto Soldado

A striker who doesn’t play too badly and works hard for the team but is also hampered with an uncanny inability to score goals, sounds odd, though Roberto Soldado was that very thing for Tottenham.

It will still send shivers down the spine of Spurs fans that their club flushed £26m of their Gareth Bale money down the toilet on the Spaniard for him to score 16 times in 76 games for them.

Need we say anything more?

Calum Davenport

When the Lilywhites beat others in the race to sign England U21 international defender Calum Davenport from Coventry City in 2004, they would have thought they’d unearthed a real £1.3m gem.

However, the centre-half embarked on a bizarre career that would never see him get close to the level he was once thought to have the potential to reach – he appeared a mere 20 times for Spurs.

Paulinho

After an impressive 2012/2013 campaign for Corinthians in his native Brazil, Paulinho was noticed in Europe by Andre Villas-Boas and another chunk of the Bale money would be allocated to obtain his signature.

It would take the Lilywhites two seasons to work out the Brazil man just wasn’t up to Premier League standard after he was only able to register nine-goal involvements in 45 matches and he was disposed of by Mauricio Pochettino in one of the early lucrative Chinese Super League transfers.

Members of the Tottenham faithful will most recently remember him being oddly brought back to the continent in 2017 by Barcelona.

Match facts

November 10, 2012
Start time 1430 local (0900 GMT)Sri Lanka will have to make do without the injured Tillakaratne Dilshan•AFP

Big Picture

Rain may have defined the cricket so far, yet, with two games to go, the series is placed as expected. New Zealand’s batsmen have battled to good scores in both competed matches, but the visitors find themselves on the brink of a series defeat once more. That they have fielded second twice – once by their own election – has hampered their bowlers, who have had to contend with a wet ball.New Zealand have also spoken of a “top heavy” Sri Lanka batting order, but they are yet to dismiss all three of Sri Lanka’s old hands in an innings, and as Angelo Mathews proved with a sparkling 47-ball 54 not out, the middle order is by no means a cakewalk either. The visitors would do well not to jettison the conservative batting strategy that has seen them post competitive totals, but the bowlers must exploit the movement afforded them by the damp conditions to incite the top order collapse they have been aiming for.Sri Lanka meanwhile, have little to change about their game. Lasith Malinga’s return to form has ensured New Zealand’s totals remain manageable despite the new rules that have disadvantaged the spinners, while the batting is yet to be put under serious pressure. They will however be missing their match-winner from the second ODI, as Tillakaratne Dilshan has been ruled out by a back complaint. Sri Lanka will believe they have enough depth nonetheless, but Dilshan’s exit does leave the top order with considerably less firepower.

Form guide

Sri Lanka: WWLLL(Completed matches, most recent first)
New Zealand: LLLLW

Players to watch

The injury to Dilshan means Mahela Jayawardene is likely to open, and when he does, he is often Sri Lanka’s best limited-overs batsman. In 22 ODI innings at the top of the order, Jayawardene averages 49.67 with a strike rate of 92. He has felt that the team is stronger when he bats at four, but if he succeeds at the top of the order again, he can only ignore statistics for so long.Kane Williamson made two ODI fifties on the recent West Indies tour, but he cannot yet nail down a specific role in the limited-overs teams, and is often pushed down the order when New Zealand are in search of quick runs. He is yet to make an impact on this tour, and will be anxious to get a good innings under his belt soon, lest his ODI place comes under threat from the likes of BJ Watling when Martin Guptill returns to the team.

Teams news

Sri Lanka’s team management have expressed a desire to give the fringe players in the squad a game, but the selectors will only risk their inexperience if the series has already been secured. Dinesh Chandimal will likely take Jayawardene’s spot in the middle order, but the other ten players should remain unchanged.Sri Lanka: 1. Upul Tharanga, 2. Mahela Jayawardene (capt), 3. Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 4. Dinesh Chandimal, 5. Angelo Mathews, 6. Lahiru Thirimanne, 7. Jeevan Mendis, 8. Thisara Perera, 9. Nuwan Kulasekara, 10. Rangana Herath, 11. Lasith Malinga.No word yet from the New Zealand camp if Andrew Ellis has recovered from his stomach bug, but if he has, he will take his spot in the starting XI back from Jacob Oram. Watling will likely retain the gloves, as New Zealand won’t want to risk Brendon McCullum’s back with the Test series looming.New Zealand: 1. BJ Watling (wk), 2. Rob Nicol, 3. Brendon McCullum, 4. Ross Taylor (capt), 5. Kane Williamson, 6. James Franklin, 7. Andrew Ellis, 8. Nathan McCullum, 9. Kyle Mills, 10. Tim Southee, 11. Trent Boult

Pitch and conditions

Hambantota was the most seamer-friendly venue of the three during the World Twenty20, and given the amount of rain that has been around, the bowlers are likely to have the better of the surface again. As has been the case for the last two games, rain is forecast for later in the evening, and the toss will again be of some importance.

Quotes

“BJ has showed a little bit of a new side to him with his power in the last game. We’ll be looking forward to him contributing again, and hopefully a few others can back him up.”
“Let’s finish this series and I’ll see if I can suggest something in writing about the new rules to the ICC. It’s not fair for me just to criticise, I have to come up with a proposal as well. We’ll sit with Sanga, who is in the MCC Cricket Committee and has already made some comments, and see if we can back up what he has said as well.”

According to the Spanish press, Liverpool are interested in signing Real Sociedad central midfielder Mikel Merino. 

The lowdown: Premier League return?

The 25-year-old spent the 2017/18 campaign on loan at Newcastle United but endured a difficult time in England, scoring once and providing one assist in 25 appearances across all competitions.

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Despite failing to set the world alight at St James’ Park, Merino was signed on a permanent basis before being sold to Real Sociedad for £10million (Chronicle Live), having failed to make another outing for the Premier League club.

He has been impressive since the move back to the Reale Arena, and now a return to the English top-flight could be on the cards…

The latest: Liverpool keen

As per Fichajes, Liverpool, and by extension transfer guru Julian Ward, are keeping track of the Spanish midfielder after ‘following’ Merino during the January transfer window.

It’s also claimed that Newcastle are eyeing up a reunion as Barcelona and Borussia Dortmund also show an interest in the 11-cap ace, who is expected to be one of the ‘great topics’ in the upcoming transfer window.

Whilst the report makes no mention of a potential fee, Merino has a market value of £45million and is currently under contract until 2025 (Transfermarkt).

The verdict: Strengthening required

Albeit a position of relative strength in numbers within the Anfield squad, the central midfield department has come into question following the departure of the ever-reliable Gini Wijnaldum.

Both Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain are fast approaching the final 12 months of deals on Merseyside and the club could cash in this summer, while Thiago, Jordan Henderson and James Milner all appear to need their minutes handled carefully in order to avoid fitness complications.

So far this season Merino has directly contributed to eight goals from 35 outings, primarily from a box to box midfield role, despite possessing the versatility to play more advanced and also in a defensive capacity.

Boasting a wide range of impressive attributes including interceptions, key passes and tackling (WhoScored), signing the star once described as ‘quality’ by Rafa Benitez could be a smart move by new Reds sporting director Ward.

In other news, James Pearce makes an early team prediction Read more here.

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Loads of Leeds fans have been reacting to a huge managerial update, as Paul Heckingbottom is all set to become Hibernian manager.

According to Sky Sports, Heckingbottom is in line to take over at the Scottish club, and arrived at their East Lothian training centre to complete the deal on Wednesday.

Hibs have been without a manager since Neil Lennon left last month, and they currently sit eighth in the Scottish Premier League, a whopping 19 points below the big two.

Who are the best away fans in the Championship? Pl>ymaker FC’s Thogden gives his top 10 in the video below…

Needless to say, plenty of Leeds fans have been running the rule over the impending appointment of Heckingbottom, as the ex-Barsnley man was not a popular figure at Elland Road.

After replacing Thomas Christiansen, the 41 year-old won just four league games in charge of Leeds, amassing a win percentage of just 25 per cent.

Of course, the arrival of the enigmatic Marcelo Bielsa has completely changed the fortunes at the Yorkshire club, and let’s just say they don’t have much hope for their new friends north of the border.

You can find some of the best Twitter reactions down below…