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Whilst the clock ticks down to Saturday’s huge Championship playoff final to decide who the final Premier League team will be ahead of next season, Burnley are already sat at the top-flight table.

Scott Parker’s Clarets would resoundingly finish inside the top two positions alongside Daniel Farke’s Leeds United, meaning any stress that inevitably comes from a big day out to Wembley hasn’t been felt by the Lancashire outfit whatsoever.

Instead, Burnley are filled with anxiety now about a number of their star Championship performers moving on this off-season, with standout defensive star CJ Egan-Riley already reportedly off to France.

The latest on CJ Egan-Riley's future

Unfortunately, these are the pitfalls that come with success, with a lot of Burnley’s imperious defenders now being eyed up by far-off suitors.

Reports are suggesting that Egan-Riley, who contributed to a bumper 26 clean sheets, has agreed a deal to join Liam Rosenior’s RC Strasbourg, with his out-of-contract situation no doubt irking Clarets fans after such a superb season in the second tier.

The unwanted misery doesn’t stop there with James Trafford also routinely linked with a move to the likes of Newcastle United, on top of Josh Brownhill being chased by Everton and West Ham United after chipping in with 18 league strikes in attack.

Of course, both Trafford and Brownhill might not follow Egan-Riley out of the door, but there is another notable face being touted with a switch away that will further iritate Clarets supporters considering he could go on to become the club’s next Ben Mee when climbing up a division.

Burnley's new version of Ben Mee

Amazingly, Mee has still been shining in the Premier League for Brentford three years on from his Turf Moor departure.

Whilst he did reaffirm his status as a reliable centre-back option with the Bees, he really did come into his own donning a Clarets jersey, away from lining up here and there for Thomas Frank’s men, with Mee going on to make a ridiculous 376 appearances over more than a decade.

Maxime Esteve will hope he can follow in Mee’s footsteps if he stays put with Parker’s side, with the Frenchman definitely capable of having a prolonged career in the Premier League like the 35-year-old, judging by his sterling Championship numbers.

Much like Mee during Burnley’s second tier title winning heroics back in the 2015/16 season, the “unbelievable” 22-year-old – as he was labelled by Parker – was an everpresent part of the Clarets’ formidable defence as promotion was won, with the Montpellier-born centre-back now ready for what awaits him in the top-flight with or without his current employers.

Games played

46

Goals scored

1

Assists

0

Touches*

78.0

Accurate passes*

60.5 (91%)

Ball recoveries*

3.7

Clearances*

5.0

Total duels won*

3.6

Clean sheets

30

It’s clear from the table above that Esteve excels both as a battler for Parker’s side but also as a comfortable operator of the ball, with a steep 30 clean sheets won, on top of also averaging 78 touches as a confident figure playing out from the back.

Mee operated in much the same vein for Burnley during only his second campaign at the daunting level, with the now-experienced defender finishing his 2016/17 season with nine clean sheets next to his name from 30 league contests, alongside also averaging 50.7 touches as a composed body.

It will be intriguing to see if Esteve wants to stick it out at Turf Moor to be held in the same high esteem as Mee, therefore. After all, he’s reportedly wanted by Crystal Palace and the temptation of moving on to Oliver Glasner’s FA Cup-winning side may prove to be too strong a pull.

Either way, Burnley are in a worrying state of limbo at the moment as to what their team will look like ahead of top-flight football returning to Turf Moor, with plenty of fingers crossed that Esteve becomes part of the furniture over being known as a fleeting promotion winner.

Worth more than Brownhill: Burnley have struck gold on "exceptional" star

This Burnley star has now seen his transfer value rise way above Josh Brownhill’s price-tag.

ByKelan Sarson May 18, 2025

Celtic ran out in front of their own supporters at Parkhead for the first time since they won the Scottish Premiership title when they faced Hibernian on Saturday.

The Hoops clinched the league title with a 5-0 win over Dundee United away from home at the end of last month, before they travelled across Glasgow to play out a 1-1 draw with their rivals last weekend.

It did, however, look as though Hibs were going to spoil the party when they took the lead at Celtic Park thanks to an opening goal from Martin Boyle in the 25th minute.

The Premiership champions, though, bounced back and led before the break after goals from Nicolas Kuhn and Adam Idah turned the game around, before Reo Hatate added a third in the second 45.

Cameron Carter-Vickers, who has suffered with hamstring injuries this season, was given the weekend off by Brendan Rodgers, in order to manage his minutes in the final few weeks of the season.

That opened up a position at the heart of the defence and the Northern Irish head coach opted to go with Auston Trusty next to Liam Scales.

Scales and Trusty's performances for Celtic this season

The Hoops reportedly paid a fee of £5m to sign Trusty from English side Sheffield United in the summer transfer window last year to bolster their left-sided centre-back options.

The USA international and Scales have competed for the starting berth next to Carter-Vickers at centre-back, but they have also had to play alongside each other at times when the former Spurs man has been unavailable, like on Saturday.

Although Celtic won the match comfortably in the end, Trusty, who lost 100% of his ground duels, had a moment to forget when his poor attempted clearance dropped straight to Boyle to find the back of the net.

Unfortunately, errors have been too common for the former Arsenal defender in the Premiership this season since his £5m move to Parkhead, particularly in comparison to Scales and Carter-Vickers.

24/25 Premiership	Cameron Carter-Vickers	Liam Scales	Auston Trusty
Appearances	29	25	21
Error led to shot	1	1	4
Error led to goal	0	0	1
Penalties committed	0	1	0
Dribbled past	3x	5x	11x
Stats via Sofascore

As you can see in the table above, Trusty has made more errors that have led to shots, more errors that have led to goals, and been dribbled past more times, despite playing fewer matches than the other two centre-backs.

This also shows that Scales, who was unlucky to give a penalty away at Ross County, has been more reliable than the American dud in the Premiership.

This is despite the former Aberdeen loanee being worth just £3m, as per Transfermarkt, which is £2m less than the fee the club paid Sheffield United for the other left-footed defender.

The Ireland international has not made as many errors as the former Premier League flop and that may be why Rodgers has preferred him over Trusty alongside Carter-Vickers in recent weeks.

However, the Celtic boss did still opt to select Trusty on the right side of the defence over Maik Nawrocki, a naturally right-footed player, and the Hoops must ruthlessly ditch the Polish centre-back this summer as a result of his lack of minutes on the pitch this season.

Why Celtic should cash in on Maik Nawrocki

The 24-year-old defender, whose Transfermarkt value is just £1.7m, was an unused substitute once again against Hibernian, as he failed to add to his paltry two appearances in the Premiership in the 2024/25 campaign.

When questioned about Nawrocki’s lack of game time in March, Rodgers explained that it was because he prefers to have left-footed players on the left. He said: “I do always prefer where I can a left-footed centre-half on that side, in all honesty, because that allows you to get through the pitch quicker and have more speed playing forward.”

However, Carter-Vickers was unavailable against Hibernian and the manager still opted for Trusty on the right side, despite him being a naturally left-footed player who has the same problems that Nawrocki has playing out on his weaker side.

Chalkboard

Football FanCast’s Chalkboard series presents a tactical discussion from around the global game.

This suggests that the former Legia Warsaw star’s lack of game time goes beyond Rodgers’ concerns about which side of the centre-back pairing he plays, as he was unwilling to give him minutes against Hibernian with no other right-footed centre-backs available and the title already wrapped up.

The most frustrating part of this for Nawrocki, however, may be that this has come after his impressive performances in the Premiership in his two outings in March.

All the way back in January of last year, Nawrocki told reporters that he was prepared for his moment to shine in a Celtic shirt, and that moment eventually came in March of this year when Trusty and Scales were injured and he was named in the XI against Rangers and Hearts.

Maik Nawrocki	Vs Rangers	Vs Hearts
Minutes	90	90
Clearances	7	9
Blocks	0	3
Tackles + interceptions	5	1
Duels won	7/10	8/9
Dribbled past	0x	0x
Pass accuracy	93%	98%
Error led to shot/goal	0	0
Stats via Sofascore

As you can see in the table above, the Polish star took his chances to impress with dominant and reliable defensive displays in those two matches, which led to pundit Chris Sutton hailing him as “fantastic”.

However, Nawrocki has been an unused substitute for four matches, missed out on the matchday squad twice, and not played a single minute of football since the win and clean sheet against Hearts.

As aforementioned, his Transfermarkt value now stands at just £1.7m. This means that he is worth less than Scales (£3m) and Trusty (bought for £5m), whilst also being the least used centre-back option, with just two league outings.

Therefore, Celtic must brutally axe the 24-year-old outcast from the squad in the upcoming summer transfer window because he is a depreciating asset who is not getting enough minutes on the pitch.

Celtic could sign £11m star who'd be their best striker since Edouard

Celtic could land their best striker signing since Odsonne Edouard by signing this star.

By
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May 8, 2025

Rodgers has shown that he is not ready to trust Nawrocki ahead of Scales or Trusty and it is now down to the board to find a team that is willing to snap him up so they can recoup some money for his services ahead of the 2025/26 campaign.

Arsenal’s number one priority this summer is clear: sign a striker.

On Saturday morning, Fabrizio Romano reported that the Gunners are close to signing Martín Zubimendi from Real Sociedad, expected to trigger his £51m release clause.

However, this is likely to be just the start of Mikel Arteta’s summer spending, with a new centre-forward top of the agenda, after Arsenal were dumped out of the Champions League by Paris Saint-Germain at the semi-final stage on Wednesday, despite accumulating an xG figure of 5.11 across the two legs, scoring just once.

So, could they secure a “huge talent” who might just be their best striker since Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang?

Arsenal's interest in a new striker

As reported earlier this week, Arsenal are believed to have made an offer for Ipswich Town striker Liam Delap over the possibility of a summer move.

Following the Tractor Boys’ relegation, it was reported by Jacob Steinberg, Nick Ames and Jamie Jackson of the Guardian that Delap now has a £30m release clause, which represents a bargain, given that Jacek Kulig of Football Talent Scout believes he is a “huge talent”.

As a result, Arsenal are certainly not the only club interested, with Wayne Veysey of Football Insider noting that Nottingham Forest, Manchester United and Chelsea are also courting the striker, while Danny Rust and Dean Jones of Give Me Sport claim that Tottenham have also ‘set their sights’ on signing him.

Nevertheless, on course for a third successive top two finish, and in serious need of a new centre-forward, Arsenal could be the most attractive proposition presented to Delap, so could he be the striker they’ve been searching for since a certain high-profile departure.

Why Delap could emulate Aubameyang

Aubameyang joined Arsenal from Borussia Dortmund for a reported fee of £55m in January 2018, still, to this day, the fourth-highest fee the club have ever paid, behind only Kai Havertz, Nicolas Pépé and Declan Rice.

The Gabonese international certainly made an instant impact in North London, scoring just 37 minutes into his debut against Everton, netting 92 times in just 163 appearances for the club in total, leaving him right up there in terms of modern Arsenal greats.

Thierry Henry

228

Ian Wright

185

Robin van Persie

132

Dennis Bergkamp

120

Alan Smith

113

Theo Walcott

108

Olivier Giroud

105

Paul Merson

99

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang

92

Aubameyang’s finest moment came in the 2020 FA Cup, scoring twice to defeat Manchester City in the semi-finals, before bagging another brace against Chelsea in the final in a 2-1 victory, securing the club’s most recent major silverware.

Straight after the final, Aubameyang was rewarded with a new three-year contract but, by 6 December 2021, he had played his final game for the club, seeing this same contract terminated to allow him to join Barcelona as a free agent, following a high-profile falling out with Arteta.

So, could Delap be the Aubameyang replacement three and a half years in the making?

Well, let’s compare Delap’s exploits for Ipswich this season with Aubameyang’s best campaign at Arsenal.

Appearances

34

36

Minutes

2,515

2,732

Goals

12

22

Assists

2

5

Shots

64

89

Shots on target %

43.8%

38.2%

Goals – xG

+2.3

-0.5

Goals inside the area

11

20

Goals outside the area

1

2

Big chances missed

10

23

Shot-creating actions

62

60

Goal-creating actions

7

11

Touches in opposition area

101

149

Touches per 90

24

35

As the table outlines, when it comes to certain metrics in particular, Delap and Aubameyang are very similar.

Both scored more than 90% of their goals inside the box, while the numbers also underline that both are low-touch, high-shot strikers, with neither touching the ball frequently, but both registering more than two shots per game, which is particularly impressive for Delap, considering how poor Ipswich have been this season.

The Englishman actually outperformed Aubameyang when it comes to shots on target %, goals – xG as well as shot-creating actions, while the former Arsenal man actually missed 23 Opta-defined big chances, the most of any player in the division in 2018/19.

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So, in a significantly stronger side, everything suggests Delap could be the lethal finisher that Arsenal desperately require to take them to the next level.

Best deal since Timber: Arsenal closing in on £25m star after Zubimendi

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ByBen Gray May 10, 2025

A late-career promotion has provided a fresh challenge for Chandimal, while also giving a boost to new star on the block, Kamindu Mendis

Andrew Fidel Fernando02-Dec-2024Thirteen years and more than 80 Tests into his international career, Dinesh Chandimal is in the throes of something brand new, in the same country he had debuted in.At his best, Chandimal is a free spirit – the kind of batter who goes out looking for run-scoring opportunities, then throws his entire body behind the aggressive shots.The lofted hits down the ground struck so vigorously his helmet shifts on his head, the back arched as he spanks a ball through the covers, the big slog sweeps in which he almost loses his balance – these are all hallmarks of his greatest innings.Related

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But now there is need for him to be a different sort of player entirely. The rocket-fuelled arrival of Kamindu Mendis means someone had to move up the order to No. 3. Chandimal was thriving at No. 5, a position in which he averages 50.29 and from where he had scored seven of his 15 centuries, and a double-century.But Sri Lanka needed Kamindu to move up, and Chandimal made way.”When the selectors and coach asked me to move up to No. 3, it was a new thing for me as well, because I’d only ever batted one innings at No. 3,” Chandimal told ESPNcricinfo. “I told them to give me a day to think about it. So I thought, well, I’m nearing the end of my career, and we need to groom youngsters. No. 3 is a big challenge, and that you face the new ball and fresh bowlers.”Batting No. 3 is notoriously difficult in a place such as South Africa. The first Test of this series was a case in point: Sri Lanka were guilty of playing too many aggressive strokes in their nosedive to 42 all out. “Batting at No. 3, you have to leave a lot of balls, and your forward defence has to be solid. Those are the things to tighten, and those are the biggest challenges for me.”Beyond this, on this particular tour, Sri Lanka are facing an exceptionally tall seam attack. Marco Jansen is a little taller than two metres. Kagiso Rabada stands a shade higher than 1.9 metres. Sri Lanka were perhaps guilty of not leaving as many balls on length as they could have, but they are also dealing with unusual trajectories.

“They gave me a lot of confidence that as long as they’re around, they will back me, whether or not the runs were coming at No. 3. It’s when there’s trust inside the team like that, that we are able to take decisions without being afraid”Dinesh Chandimal on the team management

“In Sri Lanka, we don’t have fast bowlers like that – with this kind of height,” Chandimal said. “So there’s no way to train against those kinds of release points. They get a foot or a foot-and-a-half of extra bounce. That is why it’s tough for us to judge.”It’s on length that you have to leave the ball, often. With a normal bowler, the ball has to pitch a little shorter for us to be able to leave on length. But with these bowlers, even if they pitch a couple of feet fuller than that, you can probably leave it based on length. If we get better at judging that length, we will be able to handle these bowlers much better.”Of Sri Lanka’s batters in Durban, Chandimal was the best at negotiating that bounce. Though he was out for a duck to a spectacular inseaming delivery from Jansen in the first innings, Chandimal was Sri Lanka’s best batter in the second dig. Arriving at the crease in the fifth over, he struck 83 off 174 deliveries.”When you play here, it’s not good to be tentative,” Chandimal said. “If you play a forward defence, you have to commit to it. If you play a shot you have to commit. And if you leave it, it’s the same. It’s that tentativeness that can get you.Dinesh Chandimal, who scored 83, was Sri Lanka’s best batter in the second innings in Durban•Associated Press”In the second innings, I just had it in my mind to be positive with every shot. If you’re in that mindset, you’re in a better place to pounce on the loose balls when they come also.”Part of that commitment will have flowed down from the management. When they asked him to bat No. 3, Sri Lanka coach Sanath Jayasuriya, the selectors, and captain Dhananjaya de Silva had assured him they would not abandon him if the experiment went badly.”They gave me a lot of confidence that as long as they’re around, they will back me, whether or not the runs were coming at No. 3,” Chandimal said. “It’s when there’s trust inside the team like that, that we are able to take decisions without being afraid.”In any case, If there is some spice in the Gqeberha pitch, as there is likely to be, Sri Lanka will be desperate for more such innings from their new No. 3. “There are some things you have to do for the team and for the future of Sri Lankan cricket, rather than thinking of yourself. I think I’ve always thought about Sri Lankan cricket first. I won’t complain about batting at No. 3. I’ll just take it as a challenge.”

The last time Australia had won a Test in India despite losing the toss had come in Bangalore way back in 1998

Sampath Bandarupalli03-Mar-20231135 Balls bowled across the four innings in Indore, the fourth-shortest completed Test hosted by India. The shortest completed Test in India was 842 balls when the hosts faced England in 2021 in Ahmedabad, followed by 968 balls during the India-Bangladesh Test in Kolkata in 2019 – both being day-night games. Afghanistan’s debut Test in 2018 against India lasted 1028 balls, the shortest red-ball Test in India.2012 The last instance of India losing a Test at home when they won the toss – against England at Eden Gardens. India won the toss in 22 matches at home since that defeat before the Indore Test, winning 19 games and drawing three.9 Wickets for spinners in Indore when batters played on the back foot. In the first two matches of the series, the spinners got only four wickets each when the batters were playing on the back foot.