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In the Premier League, Arsenal have been left to bemoan their lack of a fit centre-forward.

Truth be told, even before Kai Havertz sustained a season-ending hamstring injury, they needed more cover in an attacking area.

Just weeks before, Gabriel Jesus was dealt a cruel blow of his own, picking up an ACL injury that means we are unlikely to see him play again in 2025.

That didn’t spur the recruitment team at the Emirates Stadium into life and they have been made to pay the price since.

Still, Mikel Merino has been in fine form since becoming the club’s leading number 9, scoring six goals in his ten outings as a striker. Not bad numbers indeed.

However, the Spaniard, despite his incredible finish against Real Madrid, is not the long-term answer.

Arsenal's hopes of signing a new striker

Andrea Berta has now been in the job a few weeks and his main objective over the summer transfer window must be to strengthen the club’s offence.

It promises to be an exciting summer at Colney with the Gunners not only needing a new forward but also a winger, a back-up goalkeeper and potentially even a midfielder. Martin Zubimendi is reportedly edging close towards a deal.

So, who will the shiny new striker be? That’s the question on everyone’s lips down at N5.

David Ornstein confirmed a few weeks ago that Sporting CP sensation Viktor Gyokeres is one of their leading targets but work is also being done on Benjamin Sesko.

Transfer Focus

Mega money deals, controversial moves and big-name flops. This is the home of transfer news and opinion across Football FanCast.

A flurry of reports linked the Slovenian with a move last summer but he ended up penning new terms with German club RB Leipzig.

A year on and his departure from the Bundesliga looks far more likely. Indeed, according to TEAMtalk, Arsenal continue to keep a ‘close on’ on the 21-year-old with new steps now taken in a bid to secure his signature.

The report notes that the London club have had ‘direct contact’ with the player’s camp to discuss a move and the feeling after that meeting has been a positive one.

Sesko’s contract – which expires in 2029 – currently contains a release clause valued at around €70m (£60m).

How Sesko compares to Haaland and Isak

A few years ago, Arsenal were monitoring the progress of Alexander Isak. The Swede was at Real Sociedad at the time and wasn’t yet a truly rampant goalscorer.

The year was 2022 and Isak’s contract in Spain also contained a release clause, one that was slightly more than Sesko’s at about £75m.

Sadly, the Gunners deemed that too expensive and since then, he signed for Newcastle for £63m and become one of the Premier League’s leading lights, scoring 20 goals this term, third to only Erling Haaland and Mo Salah in the top-flight.

So, Arsenal must learn their lesson. Miss out on Sesko now and you could be looking at a price tag of over £100m in a few years’ time.

The Slovenia international may not be the finished article just yet, but he possesses a unique profile and Berta must buy now, with Arteta undoubtedly having the ability to turn him into a top-class talent, just like Isak.

Indeed, if Arteta can get a tune out of Merino in the club’s forward line, a midfielder by trade, just think what he could do with an actual striker.

Described as “the new Erling Haaland” by scout Jacek Kulig, Sesko has found the net 19 times in 40 matches this term and seems to be getting better season by season, still aged 21.

Like Haaland, he’s a tall centre-forward. The Norwegian stands at 6 foot 4 while the Arsenal target is a fraction taller at 6 foot 5.

What that allows the pair of them to do is a number of things. Not only are they physical but their lengthy running stride and pace makes them a total nightmare for a defensive line.

Sesko would not get as much time and space in the Premier League, something Haaland is now all too familiar with, but their games marry up nicely when assessing their ball striking as well.

Just look at the thunderbolt below from Leipzig’s star man. It’s a thing of beauty and something that, let’s be honest, no Arsenal player in the current squad is capable of.

Perhaps the biggest difference is that Sesko is actually right-footed, but that’s not a bad thing, particularly when you consider Havertz is left-footed, meaning Berta would be adding more variety to the attack.

While someone like Gyokeres – who has scored 44 goals this season – and Isak, a proven Premier League striker, would be amazing signings, perhaps the best thing to do is go out and get Sesko, an unpolished diamond but someone who possesses elite potential.

100% duels won, 94% passing: Arsenal star is now as undroppable as Rice

Arsenal failed to overcome Brentford on Saturday evening.

2

By
Matt Dawson

Apr 13, 2025

The development of SIscore started with the theory around average player scores. When drafting, it is challenging to determine a baseball player’s value when you have multiple positions in the fantasy baseball market, never mind numerous scoring categories. The average player theory is a way to compare a player’s value for overall impact in team-building in 5 X 5 roto formats and within the spectrum of each position or category.

MORE: 2022 Fantasy Baseball Draft Kit

Once we have a baseline of the average player, we can determine which players have the most significant edge. After establishing these scores at each position, the next step is then comparing the best option at other positions.

Each season, the player pool changes in the fantasy baseball world. Some positions will have more depth, and others will only have a couple of reliable options. Therefore, when a fantasy owner is preparing to do his draft prep, he wants to find each position's hidden values. He can select the most potent options at the other positions early in the draft by doing this.

has developed a way to determine each player’s value with each category relevant to their production. For example, hitters have five offensive categories (batting average, runs, home runs, RBI, and stolen bases). Pitchers also have five categories (wins, ERA, WHIP, strikeouts, and saves).

To read more details about SIscores, click here.

2022 Fantasy Baseball RankingsHitters by SIscore

Updated: April 5, 2022
DOWNLOAD: EXCEL | VIEW AS WEB PAGE

MORE: Top 200 Starting Pitchers, Top 100 Relievers (Updated 4/5)

Team-by-Team Projections

Rishabh Pant has begun going through a series of match-simulation exercises as he continues his recovery from a life-threatening car accident in December 2022 and targets a return to competitive cricket during IPL 2024.On Tuesday, Pant and Hardik Pandya, who is recovering from an ankle injury, played a 20-over practice game at the KSCA facility in Alur, Karnataka, under the supervision of National Cricket Academy physios and trainers. They are expected to have another round of conditioning and match-simulation drills on Thursday and it’s likely this exercise will continue until early March.ESPNcricinfo understands Pant experienced no discomfort while batting for the entire 20 overs and the team monitoring him is believed to be satisfied with his endurance levels. Pant, however, didn’t keep wicket and has reportedly been advised to resume that aspect of his training in March. If he’s ready in time for the IPL, he is like to play as a specialist batter for Delhi Capitals.On Tuesday, Pant had a posted a video on Instagram in which he’s seen doing some wicketkeeping and mobility drills, which have become part of his lower-body conditioning over the past six weeks. The NCA staff is mindful of not overloading Pant and want to ease him back into the rigours of training in a high-intensity environment.Related

• Pant to lead Capitals, play first half as batter in IPL 2024: Capitals co-owner

• Ponting: Pant is 'very confident' of playing entire IPL 2024

• Pant on his life-threatening car crash: 'I felt my time in this world was over'

• Rishabh Pant suffers multiple injuries in serious car crash

Ricky Ponting, Delhi’s head coach, had spoken earlier this month about “managing Pant” through IPL 2024, if he wasn’t ready to play every single game.”We’ll just keep our fingers crossed and hope that he can be out there and play,” Ponting had said. “Even if it’s not all the games, if we can manage him through 10 of the 14 games or whatever that might be, then whatever games you can get out of him will be a bonus.”Rishabh is very confident that he’s going to be right to play. In what capacity we’re not quite sure yet. But I’ll guarantee if I asked him now he’ll say, ‘I’m playing every game, I’m keeping every game and I’m batting at No.4.’ That’s just what he’s like, but we’ll keep our fingers crossed.”Pant hasn’t played competitive cricket since the accident in December 2022, when he was driving from Delhi to his hometown of Roorkee to meet his family. After being treated initially in Dehradun, Pant was airlifted to Mumbai, where he had knee surgery under the care of BCCI’s specialist consultant.Since last April, Pant has mostly been at the NCA in Bengaluru for his rehab under the guidance of physio S Rajnikanth, who has worked with several India age-group teams and also been part of the DC support staff.Rajnikanth had previously helped Hardik, Jasprit Bumrah and M Vijay recover from serious injuries. Thulasi Ram Yuvaraj, another NCA physio, has also been working with Pant on mobility and speed drills.In an interview aired earlier this month on , Pant had spoken about how he insulated himself from the outside world to focus on his recovery. “I am focusing on recovery cut off from the world,” he said. “It helps me in recovering fast, especially when the injury is so serious. For recovery, you have to do the same thing every day. It’s boring, it’s irritating, it’s frustrating, but you have to do it.”Hardik is believed to be recovering well from the ankle injury he picked up midway through the 2023 ODI World Cup. He had begun training in Baroda last month and checked into the NCA for regular fitness monitoring. He is reportedly on track to lead Mumbai Indians at IPL 2024.Last week, BCCI secretary Jay Shah had said Hardik would be Rohit Sharma’s vice-captain for the 2024 T20 World Cup beginning on June 1 in the USA and the West Indies.

Despite the talk that came with him being selected over the perpetually in-form Fawad Alam, and with the added pressure of Pakistan being in trouble, Haris Sohail astutely put together the “best day of his career”

Osman Samiuddin in Abu Dhabi01-Oct-2017As unfair as it may appear to start a story about Haris Sohail with Fawad Alam, specifically on the occasion of the former’s debut Test, it is impossible to do otherwise.Everyone knows the tale but it’s useful to sprinkle some details. Since his breakthrough season in 2005-06, Alam has bestrode the Pakistan first-class circuit like it’s the Ranji Trophy and he its new run-making behemoth. In 12 seasons, in order, he has averaged: 53.6, 49.11, 55.27, 97.70, 83.60, 64.00, 62.47, 48.54, 54.83, 71.90, 56.00 and 55.44. Two seasons where he has averaged less than 50 and even then, barely.Whatever your thoughts on the quality of first-class cricket in Pakistan and the value of such figures, keep them aside, because, for consistency alone, they are impossible to ignore. They are staggering. In that time he has played three Tests for Pakistan, in the first of which he played one of the most astonishing innings a Pakistani has ever played. Four innings later, having already been moved one position down from the position he made his debut at – both of which were not positions he regularly played at – he was dropped, never to return.Nobody in the years since – not selectors, not chairmen, not captains, not sources, not team-mates – has properly articulated why they don’t want him in the side. Sometimes it has been said that he doesn’t look right. Some have said he bats too slowly. A senior figure in this side, a few weeks ago, couldn’t explain it other than that he has a “touch” to him – local slang for attitude. Wild conspiracy theories – none publishable – abound. None of it makes sense. It is the great mystery of this age.So when Haris – and Usman Salahuddin – were selected in Pakistan’s squad as the first to try and fill the giant MisYou black hole, the first of many who will no doubt be ultimately sucked into it, naturally a sense of injustice erupted. Both have had good, productive domestic seasons but neither matches the consistency of Alam. And Haris had not played a first-class match since January 2014.It is plainly ridiculous that Alam has not played more Tests and even in Pakistan, where there are more stories of cricketers hard done by than there are cricketers, his could end up looming over all. But today, it’s worth reminding ourselves of Haris’ own story – in a different way as resonant as Alam’s – because, for a man who has only just begun his Test career, Haris has been through a hell all of its own.In February 2013, still uncapped, he had to return from a tour of South Africa with an ankle injury. A few months before that, he had nearly missed an India tour with another ankle injury. He finally did make his Pakistan debut in July that year in the West Indies, and over two years, in a troubled, regressive ODI side, he established himself to the degree that he was the clear future.Then, while on tour to Sri Lanka in July 2015, Haris picked up a knee injury while training, a crack of some kind in his left knee. It was serious though nobody was sure how serious. He rehabbed for four months, before going for surgery in December that year, in the UAE. A few things are unclear about this, namely that nobody can – or will – say unequivocally whether this was done against the advice of the PCB, who wanted him to go elsewhere for surgery, or with their acknowledgment. You’ll recognise the contours of this mess though.Rehab after the surgery didn’t go well and reports emerged that his career might already be over. They weren’t accurate but Haris admitted that he often wondered whether they might actually come true. Nevertheless, he persisted and went to England for some more rehab, this time with Dr Zafar Iqbal, who has worked with several English Premier League clubs. He came back to Pakistan, following his rehab programme and basing himself at the National Cricket Academy (NCA). For a year-and-a-half, he reckons, he did not even hold a bat, let alone have a net.Imagine, at your physical peak, having made it as an elite athlete, to be unable to hold the instrument with which you make a living, to do the one thing you have been doing all your life and the one thing you are better at than probably 99% of the population. Imagine, as he says, spending all that time shuffling between the gym and a room – in his case at the NCA – tiring yourself out enough in one to be able to switch off and rest in the other. What tolls this ascetic life?Well, the end of that story was today and his innings, which was many things. Smartly paced and, in parts, elegant. A range of strokes, off spin and pace alike. Intuitive, in knowing when to farm the strike and when the tail had been out there long enough to be trusted. It was, given how the Test stood when he started and how it stands now, also a game-breaker. From the first ball he faced and redirected to the point boundary, it had a certainty to it that this was what it was supposed to be. There was no sign that he was on debut, or that Pakistan were in trouble. It bore no burns from the hell he had gone through, or any acknowledgement that there’s a guy in Karachi who millions think should’ve been here, doing exactly this right now.Inside, of course, all the signs were there. He said later it was like making a comeback and a debut at once: “The last two years were very difficult. I struggled a lot. It was that kind of injury. Things weren’t right for me. That time, only I know how much I struggled. I heard many things [about my career ending]. But my goal was only one thing – to return.”He’d tried to stay away from the debate over his selection, even though it is all anyone can talk about. A few messages snuck through yesterday and it can’t have been an easy night, knowing he was to face his first ball in Test cricket the next morning. And then the first ball, only nominally from Nuwan Pradeep, but in reality from those 12 seasons and thousands upon thousands of ignored, unselected runs, from a modern day cause celebre, from a groundswell of injustice, and thanks I’ll have four there please and be on my way.He agreed later it was the “best day of his career”, which, with all that he has been through… Sure, it’s valid for your heart to burn for Alam, just make sure it’s big enough to be gladdened by the man who isn’t him.

As an injury-hit Arsenal toiled away to relegation strugglers Leicester City last month, manager Mikel Arteta looked to his bench in need of inspiration. Up stepped Mikel Merino.

Deployed in an unorthodox centre-forward role for the first time in his senior career, the £31.6m summer signing remarkably bagged a quick-fire brace to seal the win in the closing stages.

With the Gunners devoid of attacking options amid injuries to the likes of Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz, Arteta had successfully rolled the dice, producing a tactical tweak that potentially looked like being a defining one in the title race.

Unfortunately for those in north London, that Merino moment has not provided a springboard for success, with it looking as if the Premier League crown is on its way to Merseyside, barring a shock late collapse in Liverpool.

That said, the continued centre-forward experiment has yielded results of late for the Gunners, with it potentially time to consider replicating that whacky decision with another change of position.

Mikel Merino's record at centre-forward

With Arteta having been without Havertz and Jesus against the Foxes, with Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka also out of action at the time, Merino was viewed as a worthy trial through the middle, after replacing Leandro Trossard late on.

To his credit, the Spaniard delivered, showcasing shades of Olivier Giroud to clinch three points for his side, having since added a further goal and assist against PSV Eindhoven, as well as the winner in the triumph over Chelsea last time out.

That latest effort in the cagey affair with the Blues came courtesy of a delightful, flicked header at the near post, with Arteta praising the way his compatriot is “winning matches” for his side, amid his “incredible” attitude.

As per Transfermarkt, the 28-year-old now boats four goals and an assist in just seven outings in that central role, a record that any natural striker would likely be more than happy with.

Indeed, any centre-forward would be delighted to have finished in the manner that Merino did against the west Londoners on Sunday, with the strikerless visitors potentially ruing their own lack of options through the middle, amid the loss of Nicolas Jackson and Marc Guiu to injury.

Stat

Merino

Pedro Neto

Minutes played

90

90

Touches

22

35

Goals

1

0

Assists

0

0

Key passes

0

0

Pass accuracy

91%

83%

Successful dribbles

0/0

0/2

Total duels won

5/15

1/7

Possession lost

5x

11x

As Arteta indicated, the one-time Newcastle United man showed his “value” in that tense tussle, leading the line effectively after winning five duels and recording a solid 91% pass accuracy, while getting on the scoresheet despite registering just 22 touches.

The elegant left-footer may not prove the man to take Arsenal to the title, but he has been a more than adequate stopgap. Perhaps, Arteta should consider repeating the experiment with Riccardo Calafiori.

Arteta could now repeat Arsenal's Merino experiment

What has been so impressive regarding Merino’s impact is that he hasn’t exactly been aided by those around him, excluding the tie with PSV, with Leandro Trossard looking particularly off the boil against Enzo Maresca’s side.

The Belgian winger failed to register a single key pass nor successfully complete a single dribble during his 90-minute outing, having simply offered little in the way of a threat down the left flank.

With just four goals and five assists to his name in the league this season, Trossard has hardly ripped it up, in truth, and with the aforementioned Martinelli only just making his return from injury, an alternative solution could be considered in that left-wing berth.

It could be argued that having already thrust Kieran Tierney into that attacking role of late, Arteta could repeat the trick with Calafiori, with teenage sensation Myles Lewis-Skelly having seemingly locked down the left-back berth.

Calafiori has largely operated as a centre-back or a left-back to date, although he has previously lined up as a left winger, a point outlined by Italian journalist Daniele Vierri upon the 22-year-old’s arrival last summer:

Beautifully described as “like a wild horse on the loose” by the Telegraph’s Sam Dean, the Italy international has already showcased the threat he can pose in the final third, having popped up in an advanced position to score away in the 7-1 rout of PSV.

The former Bologna man’s potentially untapped attacking potential was also on show amid his pin-point strikes against both Manchester City and Wolverhampton Wanderers earlier in the campaign, illustrating what an outlet he could be as a more permanent part of the front line.

Much like in the case of Merino, this bold new role should certainly not be a long-term solution – not with Athletic Bilbao’s Nico Williams again a reported summer target – yet if Arteta is looking for a short-term fit, he could do worse than trial Calafiori further forward.

Let that ‘wild horse’ roam free…

£38m Arsenal star is now "one of the best signings of the Emirates era"

Arsenal have certainly struck gold with this signing…

ByMatt Dawson Mar 17, 2025

Dani Olmo's agent has addressed rumours that Manchester City want to sign the midfielder from Barcelona for £60m.

Article continues below

Article continues below

Article continues below

• Olmo agent addresses transfer talk
• Man City reportedly interested
• Would cost £60m from Barcelona

• WHAT HAPPENED?

  It was reported this week that City boss Pep Guardiola "dreams" of bringing Olmo to the Premier League as he searches for a new attacking midfielder. Olmo's agent has claimed the player is happy at Barcelona, however.

Advertisement

• Getty Images Sport
  

  WHAT OLMO'S AGENT SAID

  Olmo's agent Andy Vara told Sky Germany: "We're not talking to any other club. Dani is very happy at Barcelona right now, he's winning titles there and he's in a great team. The rumours aren't true. Although, of course, you never know what the future holds."

• THE BIGGER PICTURE

  Olmo has had some problems at Barcelona with registration issues meaning he missed games in January. They have been put on hold in the second half of the season, though, and he has scored 11 goals and assisted seven in his first season in Catalonia, and helped the team win La Liga and the Copa del Rey.

• Getty Images Sport
  

  WHAT NEXT FOR OLMO?

  Barcelona have games against Villarreal and Athletic Club still to play this season, with Olmo aiming to prove his long-term value to the club.

Ben Stokes will have surgery on his left knee after the World Cup as he hopes to “get back to doing what I’ve been known for” ahead of England’s Test series in India early next year.Stokes has been hampered significantly by his chronic knee problem throughout the last 18 months. He has been playing as a specialist batter at the World Cup and has not bowled a ball in a competitive match in any format since July 1, the fourth day of the second Ashes Test at Lord’s.”I will hopefully be fine for the Test series [against India],” Stokes said on the eve of England’s fixture against Australia in Ahmedabad. “I am having surgery after the World Cup… There was a lot of time put into deciding when to get it done. The India Test series, which we start at the end of January, I should be fine to go by then.”Related

• Shami to Stokes: Ten balls from hell

• Root backs England 'every day over the Australians'

• Morgan says England head coach aspirations 'far-fetched'

• Wood targets 2025-26 Ashes after securing three-year ECB deal

• Willey to retire from international cricket after World Cup

Stokes did not reveal details of the procedure but expected to be out of action for between five and seven weeks and will not feature in England’s white-ball tour to the Caribbean in December. Dr Andy Williams, a leading knee surgeon in London, will perform the surgery.”When we go to those meetings, we generally take a physio and doctor and they start talking. I just turn up, go to sleep, wake up and hope it is better… they use language that I’ve never heard before,” Stokes said. “There’s obviously something that needs to be operated on.”It’s been a big hindrance on me, and affected what I can do for the team. Obviously that [being an allrounder] is what I want to be doing. You’d hope that it means that I can get back to doing what I’ve been known for, which is playing a role as a batter, and playing a role as a bowler as well.”England’s five-Test series in India starts on January 25 in Hyderabad. They will travel to the UAE around two weeks earlier for a short camp before leaving for India two or three days before the start of the series, and Stokes said that his bowling fitness will depend on “more decisions and more discussions from myself and the medical team”.He said, “Obviously it’s been a long time coming and obviously I want to get back to what I’ve been doing prior to the 18 months where I’ve had this injury. We’ll just see how everything goes, see how I respond to the surgery and all the rehab as well… I don’t think the surgery is going to have any hindrance on me taking part in the series in India.”Stokes was non-committal when asked if he plans to take part in next year’s T20 World Cup, or the IPL which immediately precedes it. “Look, we’ve got three games left here in the World Cup and then a huge series against India,” he said. “That’s where everything is at, at the moment.”He also revealed that he has been suffering from “exercise-induced asthma” during the World Cup. He was pictured using an inhaler during a training session before England’s defeat to Sri Lanka in Bengaluru, after doing shuttle runs on the outfield, and suggested it was due to a change in air quality after spending a week in Mumbai.”Sometimes it happens when you go to a new city in India where the air is slightly different,” he said. “That could be a reason for it: Bangalore, when we actually turned up, just felt a lot fresher. Doing the running that I was doing [shuttle runs on the outfield] does bring it on a lot easier than normal.”Despite his impending surgery, Stokes is not planning to leave the World Cup early, and was forthright in his analysis of England’s title defence in India. “We’ve had a disastrous World Cup,” he said. “There’s no point sugarcoating that, because it’s the truth.”Asked to identify the main problem, he said, “The problem is that we’ve been cr*p.Ben Stokes has scored 48 runs in three innings at the World Cup so far•Associated Press

“Everything we’ve tried throughout this World Cup, through trying to put pressure back on to the opposition in the way in which we know, or trying to soak up the pressure in a different way, which we know we’ve done before and been successful with, it’s just not worked.”Every opportunity that we’ve had in front of us where we feel like we can take control of the game, the opposition’s managed to get it back towards them. We’ve just not been able to put a full game together, or even get close to putting a full game together – except against Bangladesh.”Stokes missed the start of the World Cup with a hip injury suffered shortly after England arrived in Guwahati, and has only managed 48 runs in three innings since returning to the side. He insisted that he has no regrets about reversing his ODI retirement, but reiterated that England’s tournament had been “a disaster”.”If you dive too much into it around cricket, you find you come out with more questions than answers… we’ve been nowhere near good enough to be able to compete in a World Cup, which has been incredibly disappointing because we know we’re so, so much better than what we’ve shown out here,” he said. “If we knew what had gone wrong, we would have been able to fix it. But unfortunately, we don’t.”It’s just been one of those tournaments where… yeah, it’s just been a disaster. And there’s no point sugarcoating it, because it’s probably what you’re all going to write anyway – and it’s true.”

da aviator aposta： It’s March. Liverpool are flying high, but Mohamed Salah, Trent Alexander-Arnold and captain Virgil van Dijk are all into the final few months of their contracts.

da apostebet： It’s a wearisome conversation at this point, has been for several months, but the fact remains Anfield’s sporting director, Richard Hughes, faces an unenviable task in renewing these deals.

Arne Slot has worked wonders in pushing Liverpool, 13 points clear, toward the Premier League title and perhaps even more, but the sustained brilliance of such players has sparked a tectonic shift at the forefront of the English game.

Securing their futures is the first port of call, but it’s not the only pressing concern for Hughes and co. Indeed, a host of first-team stars are either entering the later phase of their own deals or attracting transfer attention.

Harvey Elliott, match-winner against Paris Saint-Germain this week, is among them.

Harvey Elliott's Liverpool future

Next season, Elliott will step into the penultimate year of his Liverpool contract. Still only 21, the creative midfielder has featured 137 times for the men’s team, notching 29 goal contributions.

But variables such as an early injury in 2024/25 and Liverpool’s gripping title race have left him searching for his first Premier League start of the season, having made ten showings off the bench.

You’d think he’s got the gifts to play a lasting role in Slot’s squad, ranking among the top 1% of midfielders across Europe over the past year for goals, assists and shot-creating actions per 90, as per FBref.

Such potency was perfectly illustrated through his snatch-and-grab goal at the Parc des Princes this week, making it three successive Champions League goals.

However, these efforts are also fanning the flames of his future. In January, interest abounded regarding a potential move away, with Elliott linked with teams such as Brighton & Hove Albion and Borussia Dortmund, as per Sky Sports.

Elliott wants to remain at Liverpool for an age but he will need to start seeing some more match action, else another talented team will canvass their project his way and convince him to jump ship and become a major player.

Elliott, unfortunately, isn’t the only one whose Liverpool future is somewhat nebulous. In fact, a more prominent Reds star is the centre of uncertainty on that front.

Liverpool struck gold on coveted star

It’s great to watch everyone at Liverpool do so well and all that, but such prominence does come with some unwanted attention.

Market Movers

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While Elliott has doubled down on his commitment and adoration for the club, there’s another superstar believed to be keeping his finger off the trigger as some rather daunting suitors loom large.

In October, transfer expert Fabrizio Romano aimed to ease fans’ concerns with an update on Liverpool’s contract situation. Jarell Quansah had penned a long-term deal on Merseyside after his impressive breakout last season, and Konate was slated to follow.

But noise regarding a renewal has petered out over the past few months, with a different kind of din rising on the transfer front.

At Anfield, a chorus will boom from the stands whenever Konate is on the ball, does anything of note. “Ibouuu,” the crowd cry in unison. It’s a marker of his deep-rooted connection with the club, its inhabitants.

Konate has been among the most gifted defenders in Europe for several years. Before Klopp pushed ahead and activated the RB Leipzig star’s £36m release clause in 2021, Ralf Rangnick, then Leipzig sporting director, declared: “He’s so good that he could play for Real Madrid or Barcelona one day.“

Unfortunately, Rangnick’s praise might ring a little too true. Though Liverpool are pushing to tie their French centre-back down to a bumper new deal, Los Blancos are also sniffing around for a defender, with the Daily Mail confirming the LaLiga champions’ interest. Paris Saint-Germain are also admirers.

While the £70k-per-week Konate has a new deal on the table, Real’s underhand tactics will no doubt give the ace food for thought, perhaps a defining reason behind his hesitance to scribble the nib across the paper.

Konate, after all, is heading into the final year of his contract and Florentino Perez would love nothing more than to claim yet another world-class talent on a free transfer.

Liverpool must ensure this does not happen, at the very least convincing the 6 foot 5 star to extend his terms so to provide FSG with some recompense, should they lose their most profitable centre-back.

After all, Konate’s reputation and performances have seen his market value shoot up. Journalist Josh Williams has even hailed him as a “monster at covering ground and in one vs one situations.”

According to Football Transfers’ player-appraisal system, Konate currently boasts a price tag of roughly £45m. The site is rather stringent with its valuations, and in truth, were Liverpool to tie the Les Bleus talent down to a new contract, such a figure could balloon.

The same could be said for Elliott, to be fair, with the 21-year-old recorded to have a value of about £40m, which seems a fair reflection of the playmaker’s current standing on the European scale.

Liverpool have their work cut out over the coming months. Everything’s going rather well at the moment, but there are more than a few potential quandaries on the horizon, and securing the futures of superstars like Konate is imperative when solidifying Liverpool’s long-term future as a juggernaut of the European game.

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Posts 3 ByAngus Sinclair Mar 7, 2025

This season continues to be just one disappointment after another for Arsenal.

While there was an element of hope at the start of the weekend that Mikel Arteta’s side could claw back some more ground in the Premier League title race, their defeat to West Ham United and Liverpool’s win over Manchester City has all but extinguished it.

The Gunners’ biggest problem this season has been their lacklustre attacking threat, which has been made all the more problematic by a slew of injuries to key players since Christmas.

Worse yet, a striker sold for very little by Arteta and Co in the summer is in red-hot form and has even won comparisons to another goalscorer worth an astounding £172m.

Arsenal's 2024 sales

From an incomings perspective, it would be fair to say that the summer transfer window was nothing short of a disaster for Arsenal, especially in light of this season’s non-stop injury problems.

However, Arteta and former Sporting Director Edu Gaspar did oversee a number of quite significant outgoings, including a couple of academy graduates, like Emile Smith Rowe and Eddie Nketiah.

The former moved to Fulham for a fee that could reach £34m, and while he’s undoubtedly someone the club could do with today thanks to his seven goal involvements this season, his sale represented good value considering he played just 196 minutes of first-team football in the 22/23 campaign and 475 minutes last season.

Likewise, while Nketiah would be able to step into the space vacated by the injured Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus at the moment, the fact the club were able to get £30m for a player who scored just six goals and provided three assists in 37 games last season is really quite impressive.

However, while the Gunners secured decent fees for both academy players last summer, the same cannot be said for another tremendously exciting youngster now outscoring everyone in the team this season and has been compared to arguably the best striker on the planet.

The ex-Arsenal youngster worth a king's ransom today

As things stand, Arsenal’s top scorer this season is Havertz, who has found the back of the net 15 times and behind him in second is Bukayo Saka with just nine, so the fact that both are being outscored by a former youth player sold for peanuts last summer is far from ideal.

Mika Biereth joined the Gunners from Fulham’s academy in July 2021, and over the next three years, he would go on several loan moves to RKC Waalwijk, Motherwell and finally, Sturm Graz for the latter half of last season, where he scored nine goals and provided four assists in 22 appearances, totalling just 1624 minutes.

That means he averaged a goal involvement every 1.69 games, or every 101.84 minutes in Austria, which was enough to convince the club to make an offer of around £4m plus a small sell-on clause, which the North Londoners accepted.

For the first half of this season, the Danish marksman was on fire, scoring 14 goals and providing five assists in just 25 games, which was enough to convince AS Monaco to splash around £10.8m plus another £1.75m in add-ons for him in January.

Despite being a top-five league, and therefore a massive step up, the “terrific” 22-year-old, as dubbed by former Motherwell manager Stuart Kettlewell, has remained as prolific in the principality and has already racked up a tally of seven goals and two assists in just nine appearances, seven of which have been starts.

That means the former Gooner has scored 21 goals and provided seven assists in 34 appearances, totalling 2580 minutes, this season, which comes to an average of a goal involvement every 1.21 games, or every 92.14 minutes.

Unsurprisingly, such an incredible rate of return has seen the young forward win comparisons to some of the best strikers in the world, including Manchester City’s Erling Haaland.

The comparison primarily stems from FBref, which compares players in similar positions in Europe’s top five leagues, the Champions League and Europa League then creates a list of the ten most comparable players for each one, and in this instance, has concluded that the Norwegian is the second most similar centre-forward to the Dane.

The best way to see where this comparison has come from is to look at the underlying metrics in which the pair rank closely, including, but not limited to, non-penalty expected goals, penalty kicks, progressive carries, passing accuracy, goals per shot and more, all per 90.

Non-Penalty Expected Goals

0.73

0.68

Penalty Kicks

0.05

0.04

Progressive Carries

0.57

0.69

Passing Accuracy

66.7%

64.8%

Goals per Shot

0.32

0.20

On top of the prestige that comes with being compared to such an incredible number nine, such similarities are also incredibly encouraging for the Monaco ace’s future valuation, as according to Football Transfers, the City star is worth up to €207m, which is about £172m, and considering his form and statistical similarities, who’s to say Biereth won’t be worth something similar in the future.

Ultimately, hindsight is a wonderful thing, but given his sensational form and their struggles in attack, we can’t help thinking that Arsenal made a mistake in selling the 22-year-old goal machine, especially if he could one day be worth a king’s ransom.

Better than Odegaard: Arsenal must regret selling £27m "difference maker"

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ByJack Salveson Holmes Feb 24, 2025

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