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The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has suspended the central contracts of Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Nov-2010The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has suspended the central contracts of Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif, who are being investigated for their alleged involvement in spot-fixing during the tour of England in 2010. The decision was taken after Butt and Amir’s appeals against their provisional suspensions were dismissed by the ICC in Dubai on Sunday. Asif, who withdrew his appeal ahead of the hearings, also remained provisionally suspended.’We only give contracts to players who can play for Pakistan. Until their cases are decided … they can’t get any benefits from the board in terms of contracts,” PCB legal advisor Taffazul Rizvi said.Board official Zakir Khan also said the contracts had to be revoked following the ICC’s latest decision. “Their contracts were active until the appeal hearing, but once their initial appeals were rejected, under the ICC code we can’t keep them on contracts.”The board pays a monthly salary of about Rs. 250,000 ($2916) to players in the top grade, which the three suspended players are now ineligible for. Butt, Amir and Asif will appear before an independent anti-corruption tribunal that will look into the actual charges and give a verdict on whether they are innocent or guilty. Amir’s lawyer Shahid Karim told that under the ICC code of conduct, the sport’s governing body had to decide by December 2 whether to remove or retain the suspensions on the players.

Many Glasgow Rangers fans have been left delighted over transfer news which has emerged on Amad Diallo.

Italian football journalist and transfer expert Fabrizio Romano tweeted this afternoon that the Manchester United starlet is set to join the Scottish champions on loan for the rest of the season, but with no buy option included. The deal has now been confirmed by Rangers, adding to the fans’ prior excitement.

At just 19 years of age, Diallo is a rising prospect in the sport, having impressed at both youth and senior level for Serie A heavyweights £37.2m. He has also played three times already for Ivory Coast’s senior side despite his age, further showing his talent.

Rangers have done very well to attract the Premier League youngster to Scottish football, and he will no doubt give Giovanni van Bronckhorst another useful squad option.

Rangers fans on Diallo transfer news

These Gers fans lauded the transfer news as it was shared on Twitter, with one supporter even going as far as to call it ‘belting’ and others heaping praise on sporting director Ross Wilson for getting it over the line:

“Now we are talking”

Credit: @Stegthomson1

“Oft that’s a belting loan for us.”

Credit: @tattoo_stew69

“Great signing”

Credit: @joeblack1801

“What a signing this will be”

Credit: @craigtaylor_72

“That is an incredible signing man hwg”

Credit: @declan1ferguson

“Ross Wilson working his magic again”

Credit: @dballantyne86

In other news, these were Rangers’ three worst players against Livingston

Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s sublime start to life in charge of Rangers continued as he led his side to a 1-0 win at Ibrox in the Premiership on Wednesday night.

The Gers beat Livingston in a frustrating match to watch as the away side dug in deep and fought hard in an attempt to come away with a point and a clean sheet.

Scott Arfield came off the bench to win the match as he delightfully lobbed the ball over the Livi goalkeeper from a Borna Barisic cut-back.

Forget Arfield

Although the Canadian substitute ultimately sealed the three points, the real star of the show for van Bronckhorst was wide attacker Fashion Sakala.

The electric Zambia international was sensational in the absence of Ryan Kent and was unlucky not to end the match with a goal or assist to show for his efforts. He was a constant menace to the Livingston defence and played a huge role in the side’s dominance throughout the game.

Off the ball, he worked his socks off for the team. As per SofaScore, he won a whopping 12 of his 19 ground duels, whilst winning four tackles and only committing two fouls. This shows that he did not shy away from the physical side of the match and was willing to put his body where it hurt to win his individual battles to benefit himself and the team.

Offensively, he was outstanding. Via SofaScore, he managed three shots on target and created an impressive four chances for his teammates – suggesting that those around him let him down as they were unable to tuck away the opportunities he presented them with.

He also completed an exceptional seven of his nine attempted dribbles, showing that he was able to beat the full-back with ease to get fans off their seats and up in excitement.

Therefore, he was the real star of the show for van Bronckhorst as he caught the eye at both ends of the pitch and put in a stunning showing over the entire 90 minutes. He may not have scored or even assisted the winning goal, but fans will surely appreciate his magnificent performance, with it now being down to Sakala to consistently deliver these types of displays in the coming weeks and months.

AND in other news, “Will be back”: GVB handed major Rangers boost at Ibrox that’ll leave fans buzzing…

Aston Villa enjoyed their first win in three away from home at Goodison Park on Saturday, which has now put the side into the top half of the Premier League table, with the team climbing six places and earning 16 points since Steven Gerrard was appointed just over two months ago.

Gerrard is now taking on his first transfer window in charge, and with two star signings already made in Lucas Digne and Philippe Coutinho, he could be on his way to making his third marquee addition of the month.

What’s the word?

Sky Sports journalist, Rob Dorsett, has confirmed that Aston Villa have made an approach for Juventus player, Rodrigo Bentancur.

Dorsett tweeted; “EXCL: #avfc have made an approach to #Juve for defensive midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur.”

“Steven Gerrard believes the 24yr-old would offer good competition for Douglas Luiz. Negotiations between the two clubs are ongoing. It’s thought Juve value the Uruguay international at £16m.”

Fans will be buzzing

With Marvelous Nakamba sustaining a serious injury and the defensive midfield position being a thin area of the squad, fans will be buzzing to hear that the club have made moves for Bentancur to join the squad at Villa Park in January, with many already taking to social media to give their thoughts on the potential signing.

One fan tweeted: “Not even bothered about getting Bissouma now, Bentancur is an unbelievable footballer.”

The 24-year-old has made 25 appearances so far this season, with 17 of those in the starting line-up, bagging three assists across all competitions from his defensive role in midfield.

He is not short of praise either from Juventus legends who have played with him, with Gianluigi Buffon claiming the midfielder has “something different to everyone else” and added that he is “reliable tactically, technically and psychologically.”

Bentancur’s experience of winning seven trophies, including three league titles over his four and a half years at the Serie A club, whilst competing at the highest level in the Champions League, playing alongside the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Giorgio Chiellini, will definitely be an influence Gerrard wants to add into his team to inspire his current players to push on and compete for European football.

As a result, he would very much appear to be a perfect addition as Villa look to capitalise on the lure Digne and Coutinho have added to playing for Villa.

In other news: Aston Villa eyeing potential transfer move for Jesse Lingard

Indian captain MS Dhoni has signed a two-year endorsement deal worth approximately Rs 200 crore with a sports marketing agency

Cricinfo staff13-Jul-2010MS Dhoni has signed a three-year endorsement deal worth approximately Rs 2.1 billion ($ 42 million) with a sports marketing agency. The deal surpasses the three-year deal worth Rs 1.8 billion ($38 million) that Sachin Tendulkar signed back in 2006.Dhoni will be represented by a joint venture between Rhiti Sports Management run by Arun Pandey, a former Indian first class cricketer, and advertising agency Mindscapes. The venture will be responsible for the gamut of Dhoni’s endorsements, from brand associations to digital rights, as well as his presence on social networking sites. Mindscapes was already managing Dhoni’s endorsements prior to the deal, but not the rest of his properties.Rhiti Sports General Manager Sanjay Pandey confirmed the deal to Cricinfo, saying it was signed about a week ago.According to the , Rhiti and Mindscapes snapped Dhoni ahead of a number of other agencies such as IMG, Percept Group, PMG (promoted by Sunil Gavaskar) and the World Sport Group. The Indian captain currently endorses 22 brands, including PepsiCo, Reebok, Aircel, and Godrej.Dhoni is said to charge up to Rs 60 million( $1.3 million) an endorsement per year and according to magazine, took home $10 million last year, $8 million of which came from endorsements, making him the world’s highest earning cricketer. An agency typically gets a percentage of the total endorsement value of its client.With the World Cup being held in the India next year, Dhoni’s brand value stands to increase as companies will want to take advantage of the publicity the event is bound to attract. He had signed with Mindscape last year after ending his previous deal with sports management firm Gameplan Sports in 2008. Rhiti Sports also manages fellow Indian cricketers R P Singh and Harbhajan Singh.

Manchester United have been linked with a move for AS Monaco sporting director Paul Mitchell, Sky Sports journalist Florian Plettenberg has reported.

The Lowdown: Mitchell profiled

Mitchell, who previously played in the Football League, is 40 years of age and has been with the Ligue 1 club since 2020.

He has previous experience of working in England as a chief scout with MK Dons, Southampton and Tottenham, admitting last year that he loves the Premier League.

Mitchell has also worked in Germany and the USA, but it looks as if he is wanted back in England ahead of Erik ten Hag’s first season in charge at Old Trafford.

The Latest: Plettenberg’s post

Plettenberg took to Twitter on Tuesday morning to share some news regarding Mitchell and Manchester United.

He revealed that both Ten Hag and Ralf Rangnick are ‘pushing’ for him to move to Old Trafford and have given him their endorsement, with Mitchell ‘open’ to the idea of leaving Monaco in the summer.

The Verdict: Smart move?

United will be losing chief scout Jim Lawlor and head of global scouting Marcel Bout over the summer, so bringing in someone like Mitchell could be a shrewd decision.

Mitchell was the mastermind behind successful Spurs deals for Dele Alli, Toby Alderweireld, Son Heung-Min and Kieran Trippier, while he also helped RB Leipzig to establish themselves in the Bundesliga.

It looks as if it will be an extremely busy summer off the pitch at Old Trafford, with up to 10 new signings potentially coming in, so finalising a deal for Mitchell to help Ten Hag over the coming months could be helpful.

In other news: ‘Here we go soon…’ – Fabrizio Romano now drops big transfer blow for Man Utd and Ten Hag. 

Since current Aston Villa owners Wes Edens and Nassef Sawiris took over from Tony Xia for ownership of the Midlands club back in 2018, they have seen Villa rise out of the Championship and back into the Premier League with the managerial guidance of Dean Smith and now Steven Gerrard.

In that time, the Villa owners have not been shy in splashing the cash to bring players into the club, for example, in the previous summer transfer window, they spent a total sum of £89.84m on the attacking trio of Danny Ings, Leon Bailey and Emi Buendia after selling Jack Grealish to Manchester City for a fee of £100m.

However, not all of the players that Edens and Sawiris have brought into Villa have been successful, one example of which is their Brazilian striker Wesley, who Villa signed back in the 2019 summer transfer window from Belgian side Club Brugge in a deal worth a reported fee of £22m.

In that window, after winning promotion from the Championship in May, Villa also struck deals for the likes of Tyrone Mings, Douglas Luiz, Trezeguet and Matt Targett among plenty of others.

In his first season at Villa Park, Wesley was labelled as a “horrible” player to come up against in training by Villa defender Kortney Hause, but the striker only managed to score five goals in his first 21 Premier League injury that kept him out of action for a significant period of time.

Fast forward to the previous summer window and Villa gave Wesley the opportunity to get his career back on track by loaning him back to Brugge. However, with just six appearances and no goals or assists under his belt during his time back in Belgium, the 25-year-old returned to Villa early and is reportedly now likely to go back to his home country with Internacional on another loan deal.

Taking all of this into account, it’s safe to say that Wesley’s time with Villa has not been particularly fruitful, especially with the £22m fee that the club paid for the forward. After all, he is now currently valued at £5.4m according to Transfermarkt.

Undoubtedly, his injury was a big blow for him and his development there, but the way his career has panned out since then has not been ideal for anyone, arguably even more so than Trezeguet who joined in the same window as Wesley and also suffered a serious knee injury.

Though, he has at least managed to get some minutes in the team this season.

In other news: Lange could seal Gerrard’s dream AVFC deal with move for “magical” £16.2m-rated dynamo – opinion

Chirayu Amin, the interim IPL chairman, has said he was part of a consortium that bid unsuccessfully for a Pune franchise earlier this year

Cricinfo staff04-Jun-2010Chirayu Amin, the interim IPL chairman, has said he was part of a consortium that bid unsuccessfully for a Pune franchise earlier this year and also said he had kept the BCCI president informed of his role in the auction. Also included in the group as a technical partner was the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA), whose president said it was only involved in the bid to try and increase the usage of a stadium being built in Pune.The news comes on a day when ICC president elect Sharad Pawar, his wife and daughter were revealed to have a stake in a company that was allegedly a member of the bidding consortium. Pawar is a senior minister in the federal government and his daughter an MP; both have come under severe criticism through the day for not revealing their stake in the company when the controversy first broke in April.The controversy surrounds the potential for conflict of interest; it has already claimed the job of Pawar’s former cabinet colleague Shashi Tharoor, and questions have been raised over the dual roles of the BCCI secretary N Srinivasan, whose company India Cements owns the Chennai Super Kings franchise.Amin’s statement came in response to a statement by Lalit Modi, the suspended IPL chairman, that Amin had been involved in an attempt to acquire a new IPL franchise. Amin, who was appointed interim chairman on Modi’s suspension, said he would not have invested without the Indian board’s permission had he been successful at the auction.”I was approached by a group of businessmen to join them in the consortium to bid for the Pune franchise,” Amin said. “I agreed to invest upto 10% from one of our associate companies.”Before participating in the bid I wrote a letter to Manohar in this regard and also stated in my letter that further clearance would be taken from BCCI before investing in case the bid was successful. There was therefore total transparency at every step.”The consortium was headed by Aniruddha Deshpande, managing director of City Corporation, a company in which Pawar, his wife, and his daughter Supriya Sule together have a 16% stake. “We received letters of interest from quite a few prospective investors and Glycodin [one of Amin’s companies] was one of them,” Deshpande told Cricinfo. “The letters were merely to ascertain if the investor would be serious in case the bid was successful.”One of the entities that had sent a letter of interest to Deshpande was the MCA. Ajay Shirke, the MCA’s president, explained its involvement in the bid: “We wanted a team for Pune at any cost because we are building a modern stadium which has a huge capital outlay,” he said. “The utilisation of the stadium on a sustainable basis would improve if we had an IPL team .”Mr Deshpande approached us to utilise the MCA stadium which would also help him reduce the costs. We were willing to give it to anyone as long as the person won the bid. In the letter to the City Corporation, we said that the letter was being issued on a non-exclusive basis.”

Chris Rogers, the Australia opening batsman, has stepped down as Derbyshire captain and handed the leadership to Greg Smith for the remainder of the season

Cricinfo staff17-Aug-2010Chris Rogers, the Australia opening batsman, has stepped down as Derbyshire captain and handed the leadership to Greg Smith for the remainder of the season.Rogers has led the county since midway through the 2008 season but Derbyshire are currently bottom of Division Two in the County Championship with just two victories in the campaign. There is also a doubt as to whether Rogers will be able to return to county cricket next season because of the time lapse since he has played international cricket.”I have thoroughly enjoyed my time as captain of Derbyshire and there have been some fantastic moments along the way,” Rogers said. “Although I had every intention of captaining the team until the end of the season, both John Morris and I believe it is in the best interests of the club to give Greg this opportunity.”I will help him in any way that I can and will continue to act as a senior player and mentor for the younger players in our side as well as continuing to do my best for the team as a batsman.”Head of cricket John Morris added: “Chris has done a great job as captain of the team for the past two years and I thank him for his efforts and dedication to the role.”Having been vice-captain throughout the current season and experienced the captaincy during the Friends Provident t20 campaign, it is a natural progression that Greg now takes over as captain.”Smith, the South African-born allrounder, is having a solid season, scoring 585 runs at 32.50 in 12 Championship matches and taking 37 wickets and 30.59 with his mixture of medium pace and offspin.

Rangers legend Ally McCoist expected Giovanni van Bronckhorst to give Cedric Itten a chance against Motherwell on Saturday. 

The lowdown

Rangers exercised their recall option to bring Itten back from his loan at Bundesliga outfit Greuther Furth in January.

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He made consecutive starts against Livingston and Ross County at the end of January, but then missed out on nine straight matchday squads, with his only game time coming in the Scottish League Cup against Annan Athletic.

Ahead of the Gers’ trip to Fir Park, though, striker Kemar Roofe joined long-term absentee Alfredo Morelos on the injury list.

That seemed to present an opportunity for Itten, but Van Bronckhorst instead opted to field Fashion Sakala up front.

Itten did feature for the first time since the winter, but only for the final four minutes as a substitute.

The latest

Rangers’ all-time leading goalscorer McCoist, speaking live in commentary for Sky Sports, says it may be a damning reflection that Itten didn’t start even with the injuries Rangers had.

“Interesting, I heard the boys talking before the game,” he said, via Ibrox News.

“Obviously no Roofe, no Morelos, however would it not have been an opportunity for Cedric Itten? Or is he so far down the pecking order [that he didn’t get a chance]?”

The verdict

It’s clear now that Van Bronckhorst simply doesn’t rate Itten all that highly.

It was pretty telling that the Dutchman didn’t even include him in his squad for the Europa League knockout stages.

Itten was called ‘magnificent’ by former boss Steven Gerrard but regrettably, his record for Rangers – just seven goals in 48 appearances – doesn’t live up to that billing.

It certainly wouldn’t be a surprise to see Rangers look to shift the £2.7million-rated, £14,000-per-week frontman from their wage bill come the summer.

In other news, one Rangers player was rated just 4/10.