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After securing a return to the Premier League at the first time of asking, Southampton now have the task of building a squad ready to stave off relegation next season.

Saints preparing for Premier League return

The Saints' recent retained list has seen a number of out-of-favour players shown the door at St Mary's whilst the club attempt to tie down more important assets to new deals on the South Coast.

Related Southampton now looking to land bargain deal to sign "great" contract rebel

He’s yet to sign a new deal…

Posts ByTom Cunningham Jun 22, 2024

Southampton Retained List 2024

Players leaving club at contract expiry

Stuart Armstrong

Luke Pearce

Matt Carson

Dynel Simeu

Jake Vokins

Players in talks for new contracts

Che Adams

Alex McCarthy

In terms of incomings, the Saints have looked towards a number of ex-players to bring their squad up to premiership standard. Adam Lallana is the first to return to Southampton almost a decade after the midfielder left for Liverpool. The next former Saint in Russell Martin's sights appears to be West Ham's Danny Ings. The striker scored 46 goals in 100 games for Southampton and is now linked with a return to the club.

Whilst part of the recruitment team at St Mary's has their eyes on proven Premier League talents, some at the club are also eyeing up deals for players who look to have bright futures ahead of them.

Saints make contact with Peterborough star

As first reported by Sky Sports, Southampton are one of a number of clubs that have made contact with Peterborough United for defender Ronnie Edwards. The outlet claims that numerous Premier League sides as well as two teams from the Championship have reached out about the young Englishman's availability this summer.

Sky Sports state that Peterborough are willing to sell the young talent providing their price tag is met, which is understood to be in the region of around £10m.

Edwards featured a whopping 55 times for the Posh last season as they made the League One playoffs but ultimately fell short against eventual winners Oxford United. The central defender also scored twice over the course of the last campaign, his first in professional football.

Despite being just 21 years of age, Edwards has long been touted as one of England's most exciting prospects. Standing at just 5ft 11in, Edwards is far from your traditional defender, however, what he lacks in height he more than makes up for in his on-the-ball talents.

Edwards has long been seen as one of the Posh's most valuable assets with manager Darren Ferguson speaking on the defender's future back in August 2023 telling the press: “You can’t replace Ronnie because there is no one else like him and that’s just a fact. But I’m comfortable with the situation because I’m so used to it. It’s just the way it is and I have no issue with it. If Ronnie goes it will be for a lot of money."

Receiving a significant windfall from their promotion back to the topflight, there could be few better ways for Southampton to spend their money than a young player that could end up going right to the very top.

Eighteen-ball half-century sets agenda in run-chase at Trent Bridge

ECB Reporters Network11-Sep-2020

A destructive innings of 77 from Joe Clarke maintained Notts Outlaws’ unbeaten start to the Vitality Blast competition and strengthened their lead at the top of the North Group.Clarke scored his runs from only 36 balls as the Outlaws defeated Lancashire Lightning by six wickets at Trent Bridge.The right-hander hit five sixes and seven fours to speed Notts towards their pursuit of 168, eventually achieved with 18 balls remaining.Lancashire had earlier made 167 for 5, with Steven Croft top-scoring for 37, with three other players also passing 30. Samit Patel, with two for 19, was the pick of the home attack.Clarke began this competition with an unbeaten century against Durham and added a further hundred in the Bob Willis Trophy match against the same opposition, which ended on Wednesday.His eye clearly still in, he set about the Lancashire attack after arriving at the crease in the first over, following Chris Nash’s cheap departure.Danny Lamb felt the full force of Clarke’s power-hitting, going for 27 in the sixth over as Notts ended the powerplay on 74 for 1.Alex Hales was almost the silent partner, making just 19, as their second-wicket stand stretched to 82 from 42 balls, at which point Liam Livingstone turned a sharp leg-spinner into the stumps of the former England international.Having brought up his 50 from only 18 deliveries, with six fours and four sixes, Clarke cleared the ropes once more before hitting Livingstone into the hands of sub fielder Rob Jones.Ben Duckett fell to Matt Parkinson for 18 but the hosts romped to victory thanks to more punishing batting, as Tom Moores and Dan Christian added 35 from only 21 balls to guarantee the win.Moores hit three sixes in an unbeaten 31, leaving Christian to hit Hartley for the winning boundary, as he finished on 20 not out from just 13 deliveries.Alex Davies and Livingstone got Lancashire off to a blistering start after the visitors had been invited to bat first by Christian, the Notts captain. The opening three overs produced 38 runs, including a huge six over square leg by Livingstone.Steven Mullaney needed two attempts to catch Davies at midwicket for 18 off Christian but the opener was soon back in the middle, acting as a runner for Keaton Jennings, who pulled up injured at the end of the eighth over.Both Livingstone and Jennings then fell to Samit Patel, with each making batsman making 33. Ball’s well-judged boundary catch to dismiss Jennings reduced the Red Rose to 101 for three in the thirteenth over.Steven Croft hit Steven Mullaney over the ropes before falling in the penultimate over and Dane Vilas fell in the last, yorked by Luke FletcherOn a good batting strip, against a side chock-full of confidence in this format, the eventual target didn’t seem large enough and Notts proved that convincingly to win their eighth consecutive Blast game at Trent Bridge against Lancashire.Notts move on to 10 points and sit clear at the top of the group, whilst Lancashire’s first defeat leaves them on eight points.Both sides are swiftly back in action, with the Outlaws facing Derbyshire at Trent Bridge on Sunday and Lancashire play Yorkshire at Emerald Headingley 24 hours later.

Mumbai Indians and KKR training at an “expanded quarantine facility” at Sheikh Zayed Stadium

Shamya Dasgupta01-Sep-2020Less than three weeks to go for the scheduled start of IPL 2020, and there’s still no sign of the final schedule for the tournament. Whatever the reasons for that delay may be, it has “nothing to do with the Abu Dhabi border or the quarantine restrictions”, according to a local cricket official.As it happens, training is in full swing for the two teams based in Abu Dhabi thanks to the “airbridge facility”. Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders have been training since day eight of their arrival in the UAE, despite Abu Dhabi’s 14-day quarantine requirements, thanks to an “expanded quarantine facility” at Sheikh Zayed Stadium. A 15,000 square-metre area, with 15 nets, has been cordoned off at the stadium for the two teams (to use one at a time), along with an 11,000 square-metre football field for physical training.ALSO READ: CSK’s coronavirus-free players set to start training on September 4″They have been training there since the eighth day of being in Abu Dhabi, so that’s seven days of training in what we call the ‘airbridge facility’. It’s a 15,000 square-metre extension of their quarantine, a place for them to have full-fledged training session. And they return to hotel and utilise the team rooms, and they come back to the airbridge facility the next day,” Matt Boucher, CEO of Abu Dhabi cricket, explained to ESPNcricinfo.”Once we receive those four test reports [one prior to reaching the UAE, and then three more in six days], the government approves the teams to expand their quarantine facility to outside the hotel with a very strict passage from hotel to bus and bus to Abu Dhabi Cricket [the stadium]. It’s a strict facility, where only the players and the teams’ support staff are allowed in.”One team comes in first and trains for a while, two-three hours, and the other comes in after that. Social distancing norms are in place, sanitisation norms are in place. We sanitise the entire facility before the next team arrives, everything is freshened up and sanitised for the next team. It’s a completely sterile facility.”Sections of the media have said that the Abu Dhabi government has granted special permission to the teams – and others involved – to move in and out of the city, but that might not be the case. The emirate’s rules are the same as they have been for a while now, but by the time the IPL starts, the mandatory 14-day quarantine would be over for anyone who had reached the UAE in the third or fourth weeks of August. So, they would then fall under the SOPs for the tournament as put together by the BCCI, with only border-checks regulated by the authorities as teams enter or re-enter Abu Dhabi.Reports of a spike in cases in the city are also not based on hard numbers – while there has been a rise in the UAE’s numbers, the data provided by the UAE is for the whole country and not each emirate individually.Therefore, the BCCI has not been served up any surprises in terms of the situation on the ground, and the delay in releasing – or putting together – the schedule is very likely for other reasons. An official from one of the teams say it’s a fallout of the positive Covid-19 tests in the Chennai Super Kings camp, which might yet force the BCCI to open the tournament with a different opponent for defending champions Mumbai Indians.As for Super Kings, team CEO Kasi Viswanathan has said that the team is ready to take the field on September 19 if required.

Windies captain thanks Michael Holding for powerful words on race

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Jul-2020Jason Holder, West Indies’ captain, says that the unified display from West Indies’ and England’s players before the start of the first Test “meant the world” to him, as he thanked Michael Holding for his powerful exposition of the Black Lives Matter movement on the opening day of the match.Speaking to Sky Sports after claiming six wickets in England’s first innings at the Ageas Bowl, Holder described his emotions after the players, officials and support staff of both teams took a knee for 30 seconds in solidarity with BLM before the first ball of the match was bowled.Holder, along with his team-mates, wore a black glove on the right hand in an apparent echo of the Black Power protest from Tommie Smith and John Carlos at the Mexico Olympics in 1968, after Holding, in a live segment during the morning rain delay that has now been viewed more than 5 million times on Twitter, declared that racism would not stop until we “educate the entire human race”.”It meant the world to me,” Holder told Sky Sports, “just the support from everyone, everyone understanding the moment, everyone understanding the occasion. And to see both teams coming together the way they did, it sent a really strong message.”I happened to be on social media last night, and I saw a few Aussies posting the same pic of everyone on the knee, and it just shows the cricket world is actually unified. But I think we could come a lot closer, we could do a lot more for cricket in general.”With Holding listening in on the live interview, Holder added: “I must say, I saw the interview with Mikey yesterday, and I felt it in my veins, to be honest. To me it was powerful, I think he hit the nail on the head, he was spot on.”For me it’s more of an education. Guys need to make themselves aware of what’s in front of us. There’s a bigger picture sometimes in sport, but in the grand scheme of things, I just think we just need to be aware, we need to educate ourselves, and we need to have a level playing field for everyone.”Hopefully the message that you sent out yesterday can be viewed by all, and people just really need to understand and divulge it for what it was. And hopefully we can all get the systemic quality that we’re looking for.”Responding to Holder’s tribute, Holding, 66, added: “I don’t think you need to thank me, Jason. I think you guys need to just take the baton and keep on running with it.”My days are almost gone. They say the Lord gives you three score years and 10. I’m only four years away. You guys have a lot of years ahead of you, and not just in the sport. It’s about life, it’s about teaching people around you, because when you’re finished playing sport, you have to go back into society, you have to go home.”That’s what it’s all about, outside of the cricketing arena, outside of the sporting arena, that’s where we need equality.”

Everton's financial problems have been evident this season, with the club charged for multiple breaches of the Premier League's PSR rules which have resulted in an eight-point deduction.

The subsequent punishments have seen boss Sean Dyche operate on a shoestring budget for large periods, often having to rely on outgoings before making any signings.

The Toffees may also have to offload some more key first-team members this summer to prevent another breach next season, with Jarrad Branthwaite the most likely to depart given the rumoured interest from Manchester United.

However, midfielder Amadou Onana could also be sold during the upcoming window, as he boasts a £43m transfer value, as per Transfermarkt.

He's undoubtedly a top talent with huge potential, but should he depart, the fanbase shouldn't worry, as the Toffees have a ready-made replacement currently plying his trade within the club's academy.

Jenson Metcalfe's stats at Everton

After joining the club at the age of five, midfielder Jenson Metcalfe is Everton through and through, knowing exactly what is required to be a success with the supporters.

Now aged 19, Metcalfe has forced himself into the club's U21 side, becoming an integral part of the Toffees' side in the Premier League 2 during the 2023/24 season.

The youngster has featured 18 times, bagging himself two goals and four assists, with his latest strike coming in the meeting with Crystal Palace just a couple of weeks ago.

He's also featured three times in the Bristol Street Motors trophy, gaining valuable experience coming up against League One and League Two sides.

Less than two years ago, Metcalfe signed a new four-year contract at Goodison Park, keeping him at the club until the end of the 2025/26 campaign – a reflection of the faith the club have in him.

The 19-year-old recently featured on the substitutes bench during the 1-0 win against Brentford a number of weeks ago, with Metcalfe edging ever closer to his professional debut for the Toffees.

Premier League 2

18

6

1,620'

BSM Cup

3

0

270'

Total

21

6

1,890'

Whilst he's still only a young talent and still developing as a footballer, the midfielder certainly hasn't been short of praise at Goodison and following a good pre-season, he could certainly fill the void left by Onana should he leave during the off-season.

Why Jenson Metcalfe could be the perfect Onana replacement

Whilst he would undoubtedly have huge boots to fill should the Belgian be allowed to move on for a new challenge, the youngster certainly has huge potential to grow into the role and be a key player for many years on Merseyside.

As demonstrated in the video above, Metcalfe, who claims his idol is Sergio Busquets, likes to operate in a deep-lying role, regaining possession before offloading and allowing attacking players ahead to flourish.

The "dedicated" youngster, as described by Director of Football Kevin Thelwell, demonstrates an excellent passing range that looks well beyond his years – a trait that is only going develop under the guidance of boss Dyche.

He's certainly still a raw talent, but given his consistent minutes at an age group two years his senior, he could well be ready for the next step into the club's first-team.

With safety secured already for Everton, the boss should look to give the midfielder some Premier League minutes in the final outing against Arsenal at the Emirates, an experience that could be pivotal for a player of his age and potential.

Considering the club's financial situation, they may not be able to find a suitable replacement for the Belgian with the limited funds available, allowing them to devote more first-team minutes to youth prospects, like Branthwaite, and potentially reaping the rewards in the long term.

Everton star is fast becoming Dyche's best player after Sheff Utd display

He excelled in the Toffees’ fifth-straight win at Goodison Park.

ByEthan Lamb May 12, 2024

Since time immemorial, April has been wedding season for Australia’s cricketers, after the end of the season and before winter’s chill takes full effect.This year, however, the tally of delayed weddings provides yet another measure of the toll of the COVID19 pandemic, as best-laid plans are put off indefinitely, or at least until the end of next summer.No fewer than eight Cricket Australia or state contracted players have chosen to delay their nuptials due to strict restrictions on public gatherings, which in Australia limit the size of weddings to five people in total – the two participants, the pastor or celebrant, and their witnesses.Australian men’s wrist spinner Adam Zampa and women’s left-arm spinner Jess Jonassen are among the group, while Jackson Bird, Mitchell Swepson, Andrew Tye, D’Arcy Short, Katelyn Fryett and Alister McDermott are the others. All had scheduled their weddings for April or thereabouts, forcing postponements until such a time as they can enjoy their big days as originally planned.There are others not in quite the same company, having recently become engaged and now in planning for weddings to take place at a yet to be decided date. These include Glenn Maxwell and Pat Cummins, who said that he would now be far more involved in wedding plans on account of not having any cricket immediately in front of him.”First of all it means that I’ll have to be more involved with the plans because I am around more, which is good,” Cummins said. “No we’re lucky. Obviously just got engaged, so hopefully most of this would have blown over by the time our wedding comes around.”I really feel for a couple of close mates here like Adam Zampa who had to delay their weddings. It’s really tough times. So nothing’s hopefully changed too much from our point of view with that. Obviously bigger things at play.”Cummins’ fiancee Becky Boston is English, and he said his heart went out to all cricketers and families experiencing an even greater interruption than those to wedding plans – that of the start of the northern summer cricket season. He also noted the awful scenes in Italy and Spain, where coronavirus has taken a much harsher toll than that experienced so far in Australia.”It’s awful seeing things like – Italy and Spain, but now America and the UK in recent days – it’s just crazy how quickly it’s developed,” Cummins said. “Obviously got a lot of family over in England at the moment, speaking to them regularly – first of all making sure they’re staying indoors. But they’re all- it just seems like what we’re doing here but on an even more intense scale.”They’re really staying at home, trying to do all the right things. It’s obviously moving so quickly, so I think we’re scheduled to go over there in June I think it is. It’s still 3 months away, just have to wait and see. I know no call has been made on that either way, but I guess unless things improve, I can’t really see many tournaments going on anywhere in the world for a little while.”So just sit back and wait. Obviously wish everyone in England the best, especially from a cricketer’s point of view, speaking to a few close mates who play county cricket over there – they’ve gone through the whole pre-season and geared up for the start of their summer and they’re staring down the barrel of potentially their whole summer of cricket being over. So obviously the health risk is a big one, but those guys basically have to put their careers on hold.”Other nations, too, have seen wedding plans interrupted. In South Africa, the marriage of Lizelle Lee and Tanja Cronje was slated for April 10, but is now on hold.

Agreement reached after weeks of talks between board and players’ association

Firdose Moonda07-Feb-2020

The South African Cricketers’ Association (SACA) has withdrawn its ongoing court case against CSA, which related to a proposed restructure of the domestic game. The parties have agreed to a joint consultation and review process, to be completed by the end of June 2020, following the Members’ Council decision to rescind the plan to eliminate the six franchises that formed the premier tier of domestic cricket and revert to a 12-team provincial set-up, as was the case pre-2004-05.As reported by ESPNcricinfo last month, the Members’ Council, a body made up of 14 provincial presidents who form CSA’s affiliates, backtracked on their plan, which SACA claimed would cause up to 70 cricketers to lose their jobs. The Members’ Council initially proposed a more streamlined set-up as a way to cut costs, with CSA projecting substantial losses – their own estimates were R654 million (US$43.3m) but SACA put the amount closer to R1 billion (US$66.2m) – in the next four-year cycle.Currently, CSA financially props up a two-tier domestic system, which includes six franchises playing four-day first-class cricket and 14 semi-professional teams, who play three-day first-class cricket. All 20 teams receive CSA grants. The Members’ Council believed that culling the franchises would save CSA money. However, SACA argued it would lead to job losses and a decrease in the quality of domestic cricket.The players’ body also claimed it was not consulted about the plan to alter the domestic landscape and, in May last year, launched a case in the Johannesburg High Court asking CSA to show-cause for the restructure. CSA only filed answering papers seven months later, in November. In between, the relationship between the two organisations hit an all-time low, as CSA delayed payments of commercial rights fees and excluded SACA officials from high-level meetings.In December 2019, CSA underwent a major overhaul, which included the suspension of CEO Thabang Moroe. Jacques Faul was appointed acting CEO and one of his most pressing tasks was to repair the relationship with SACA, which hinged significantly on the domestic restructure. Weeks of meetings resulted in CSA and SACA agreeing to work together and the bodies released a joint statement on Friday afternoon confirming their new-found consensus.SACA’s president, Omphile Ramela, called it a “good day for cricket in South Africa”, while Faul said he hoped it would stop the talent drain. “This confirms that we have got our partnership relationship with SACA back on track and it will give everybody, especially our players, certainty and security on the road ahead,” Faul said. “It is an important part of the process to encourage them [the players] to stay in our system rather than seek opportunities abroad.”Exactly what this means for the 2020-21 season is yet to be revealed. With player contracts due to expire in April it will need swift work if a change in the structure is to succeed. ESPNcricinfo understands that one of the options being considered is an eight-team franchise structure, with provincial teams returning to amateur status.The future of the Mzansi Super League (MSL) will also be a key consideration with CSA running the tournament at a loss of more than R100 million (US$6.6m) in each of its two editions so far, following a failure to sell television rights. CSA has been holding talks with pay-television producers SuperSport in recent weeks, and although their broadcast deal will only be renegotiated next year, the MSL is understood to be an important point of discussion between the parties.

Gary Lineker has defended his criticism of England during Euro 2024, insisting his comments did not contribute to Gareth Southgate's resignation.

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• Southgate stepped down after Euro 2024 final defeat
• Lineker openly critical of England side
• Defends his take

• WHAT HAPPENED?

  England stumbled through the group stage at Euro 2024, beating Serbia but drawing with both Denmark and Slovenia. After the Denmark game, Lineker, on the Rest Is Football podcast, claimed the performance was "tactically inept" and that England were "sh*t".

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  THE BIGGER PICTURE

  England went on to reach the final, but they struggled to convince throughout the entire tournament. Slovakia were beaten in extra time, while a quarter-final clash with Switzerland required penalties. England did beat the Netherlands in normal time – thanks to Ollie Watkins' last-minute goal – but they came unstuck against La Roja. Following the final defeat, Southgate stepped down but Lineker is adamant his comments had nothing to do with his decision.

• WHAT LINEKER SAID

  Lineker said on his podcast: “We (pundits) were critical at times, because you can’t say when a team is not playing very well, that they played well.

  “If they played awfully, you say they played awfully, and they did in the early part of the tournament.

  “There’s no question about that. But then to try and make it that that’s the reason, that criticism is the reason he’s gone. It’s not. It’s not that at all. “We speak to the players and they understand where it’s coming from.”

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  WHAT NEXT?

  England are on the hunt for a new boss. They have been linked with a shock move to try to appoint Pep Guardiola, having already been rejected by ex-Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp.