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It's been a busy deadline day at the City Ground so far, with Nottingham Forest kicking things off by signing teenage striker Rodrigo Ribeiro on loan from Sporting with an option to buy, having already tied up a temporary move for Borussia Dortmund's Gio Reyna on Wednesday night.

Manager Nuno, who's overseeing his first transfer window at the club after his appointment in December, has also been pursuing a new goalkeeper, and it looks like Matz Sels will be his man after Forest agreed a deal worth €6m, or £5.1m, to sign him from Strasbourg. Sels is now travelling to the UK to undergo a medical and complete a move that will likely spell the end of interest in Sam Johnstone at Crystal Palace.

Somewhat remarkably, the 31-year-old will become the third different goalkeeper signed by Forest this season after owner Evangelos Marinakis spent around £11.5m on Matt Turner and Odysseas Vlachodimos during last summer's transfer window.

Sels move baffles one reporter

Reacting to the move for Sels on Twitter, presenter and pundit Jack Collins appeared to criticise Marinakis for his reliance on transfers to solve every problem in his squad. With two comparable stoppers already on the books, he feels that the transfer makes no "sense" unless it heralds an imminent departure.

Sels shares same issue as Turner and Vlachodimos

First things first, you can see why Nuno wanted to bring in his own man between the sticks. After all, it's not his fault that neither of Steve Cooper's 2023 signings have impressed.

While Turner has started every Premier League game under the Portuguese, he had a five-game spell out of the side before Cooper's sacking, with Vlachodimos drafted in. Neither has been able to definitively make the spot their own, and that's partly because they've combined for the poorest shot-stopping record in the division.

Nottingham Forest

30.0

40

Brentford

26.6

36

Crystal Palace

29.1

36

Bournemouth

33.0

39

Brighton

30.9

37

The big question now, then, is whether Sels is the answer. Well, unfortunately, he too has under-performed this season, letting in two more goals than 'expected'.

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Even if he does ultimately offer a marginal improvement on what came before, you can see why Collins believes the investment isn't justified. Perhaps it was better to hold fire until the summer and press the reset button in that position, but Nuno clearly thought he couldn't afford to wait.

Chelsea fans are enduring a second year of footballing misery this season, as they sit tenth in the Premier League, miles off the Champions League places and 1-0 down in their League Cup semi-final against Championship side Middlesbrough.

Mauricio Pochettino has been unable to build a cohesive team with the wave of new players he was handed in the summer, and a number of those recent acquisitions could already be on the precipice of an early exit from Stamford Bridge.

For example, Axel Disasi has been a regular in the side since joining in the summer. Still, he has been underwhelming at best, and now, with Athletic Bilbao's Aitor Paredes linked to the club, the Frenchman could be about to lose his place.

Chelsea transfer news – Aitor Paredes

According to a recent report from the Sun, Chelsea are keen to add Athletic Bilbao's Paredes to their defensive ranks this month, and even sent scouts to watch him play against Seville last week.

The report has also revealed that, alongside the Blues, Spanish giants Real Madrid and Serie A behemoths Inter Milan are interested in securing the 23-year-old's signature this winter.

Should Todd Boehly and Co manage to get ahead of the competition, then they won't have to break the bank to get this deal over the line, as the Sun claim that a fee in the region of £20m should be enough to tempt Bilbao into selling due to the defender's contract expiring next summer.

In the case this deal goes through, the comparison to former captain Cesar Azpilicueta might become hard to ignore, and if he performs even close to the level of the Spaniard, that could spell trouble for Disasi.

Aitor Paredes' style of play

Azpilicueta had a brilliant career in west London, and considering he was bought for just £7m, he might well be one of the greatest transfers in the club's history – having made 508 appearances in all competitions, while winning a plethora of major honours.

With that in mind, comparing the young and relatively inexperienced Paredes to him could be construed as too kind, but there are a couple of key similarities.

First, both are defensively-minded players who can be deployed as both a centre-back and full-back depending on what is needed at the time, and second, they're both Spaniards who – if this deal does go ahead – would have joined the Blues early on in their careers and at similar ages.

While Blues fans would surely be delighted with a defender who could potentially replicate the career of a former captain, Disasi might be less pleased, as he would surely see a dramatic drop in his game time if he wasn't just sold altogether.

How Paredes compares to Disasi

The former AS Monaco man has featured in 90% of Pochettino's Premier League starting XIs this season, but in the words of talkSPORT pundit Andy Jacobs, he's been "a disaster."

Unfortunately for the 25-year-old, the board also don't seem to have a particularly favourable opinion of him either, as only last month, TEAMtalk revealed that he was among several names that the club would be willing to sell in January to raise funds.

So, how do the pair stack up when you compare their underlying numbers? Well, while there are a couple of areas in which the Chelsea man comes out on top, such as tackles won and general passing accuracy, he lags behind in most other critical areas.

Aitor Paredes vs Axel Disasi
Stats per 90	Paredes	Disasi
Passing Accuracy	85.9%	89.7%
Shot-Creating Actions	0.48	0.45
Tackles Won	0.24	0.68
Blocks	0.83	0.79
Clearances	3.45	3.28
Miscontrols	0.24	0.51
Dispossessed	0.06	0.56
Ball Recoveries	5.48	5.08
All Stats via FBref for the 2023/24 Domestic Season

The Spanish "titan", as described by journalist Luis Calabor Nunez, comes out on top for shot-creating actions, blocks, clearances, ball recoveries, and he is dispossessed a lot less than the Frenchman.

At the end of the day, for as often as Pochettino is playing Disasi, he isn't showing much in the way of improvement, and if Chelsea can sign Paredes for £20m and offload the former Monaco man for around the same price, then this deal seems like a no-brainer.

With Mikel Arteta seeking to bolster his attacking options in the new year, recent reports have indicated that the Arsenal boss could look to the Serie A market in order to snap up a high-profile January recruit.

Arsenal transfer news

According to Italian outlet, TuttoJuve, the Gunners are believed to be among a raft of clubs who are showing an interest in Juventus sensation, Federico Chiesa, with the likes of Liverpool, Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur also keen on the 26-year-old.

The report suggest that the Old Lady could consider cashing in on the wing wizard if they are to receive an offer of around €80m (£69m), with the former Fiorentina man currently having just 18 months left to run on his existing deal in Turin.

The belief is that the Bianconeri are still hoping to extend the forward's deal by a further year until 2026 in order to help ward off any interest, although failure to secure that extension could well have Arteta and co sniffing around, either next month or over the summer.

Federico Chiesa's style of play

While the north Londoners remain firmly in the title equation, it is fair to say that the frontline hasn't been firing on all cylinders of late, with Bukayo Saka currently leading the way with just eight goals in all competitions, while Gabriel Martinelli, for instance, has just four goals from his left-wing berth.

Bringing in increased competition in that role in the form of Chiesa could then represent an ideal scenario for those at the Emirates, with the Italy international the type of "unpredictable" talent who can help to wreak havoc on opposition defences – as hailed by former Azzurri striker, Antonio Di Natale.

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Having seen much of the last few years impacted by injury, the Euro 2020 winner is beginning to find his feet again in Max Allegri's side, recording a respectable haul of five goals and two assists in 15 Serie A games this season.

What is also interesting to note about the £153k-per-week speedster is his apparent likeness to a former Arsenal star, Alexis Sanchez, with the pair sharing a number of statistical and stylistic similarities, as per FBref.

1- Bryan Mbeumo

2 – Alexis Sanchez

3 – Omar Marmoush

4 – Sheraldo Becker

5 – Rodrygo

6 – Cody Gakpo

7 – Gerard Moreno

8 – Iago Aspas

9 – Gabriel Jesus

10 – Jonathan David

via FBref

That comparison between the two forwards – who can both operate off the left or through the middle – is best illustrated by their shared creative threat, with Chiesa ranking in the top 5% among his European peers for shot-creating actions, as well as in the top 12% for progressive passes per 90.

Sanchez, meanwhile, ranks in the top 6% for those same two metrics respectively, while also ranking in the top 15% for successful take-ons per 90 as a marker of his continued brilliance at beating his man – something which Chiesa ranks in the top 8% for.

While the Chilean – who currently plies his trade for Inter Milan after leaving Marseille over the summer – may no longer be in his pomp at the age of 35, he is still a noteworthy figure to be likened to due to his prior heroics in north London.

After signing from Barcelona in 2014, the explosive ace went on to score 80 goals and provide 45 assists in 166 games in all competitions, showing himself to be a truly "class, class player" – as lauded by his ex-Barca boss, Pep Guardiola in 2017.

If Chiesa is to follow in Sanchez's footsteps and move from an elite European club to the Emirates, perhaps he can also take on a talismanic role at the forefront of Arteta's side – as his 5 foot 7 counterpart previously did under the great Arsene Wenger.

تحدث البولندي روبرت ليفاندوفسكي مهاجم برشلونة عن التغيرات بين المهاجمين في جيله والجيل الحالي.

ويرى ليفاندوفسكي أنه من الصعب العثور على مهاجمين مثله في الوقت الحالي، وأدلى بذلك في تصريحات نشرتها صحيفة “سبورت” الإسبانية.

وقال ليفاندوفسكي: “فان بيرسي، واين روني، بنزيما، أجويرو… هل تغير الرقم 9؟ عصري كان عصر كريستيانو رونالدو وليو ميسي، وأنا قريب أو ربما متأخر في عدد الأهداف”.

واستطرد: “الآن، تتغير كرة القدم، أعتقد أنه من الصعب العثور على هذا النوع من المهاجمين، مثلنا هذه الأيام”.

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وأضاف: “الجيل الجديد قادم، ربما يتعين علينا الانتظار بضع سنوات، لأنني أعتقد أن الأكاديمية، أو الأشياء التي يتعلمها اللاعبون الشباب حول كيفية لعب كرة القدم، تتغير، لأن جيلنا جاء من الشوارع”.

وتابع: “والآن يكاد يكون من المستحيل، لأن الآباء الآن يحضرون أطفالهم إلى التدريب، ويأخذونهم ثم يعودون إلى المنزل، لذلك أصبح الأمر مختلفًا تمامًا”.

وأشار ليفاندوفسكي إلى تعليمات مدرب برشلونة هانز فليك: “كما قال فليك منذ البداية، فهو يريد إنشاء فريق هجومي يولد الفرص، ويسجل العديد من الأهداف ويضغط بشكل جيد”.

Half-centuries from du Plessis and de Kock swelled South Africa’s lead before they lost 5 for 8 to set Sri Lanka 304

The Report by Liam Brickhill15-Feb-2019Stumps Sri Lanka were buoyed by Lasith Embuldeniya’s debut five-for that rattled South Africa before tea, but hope dissipated soon after as they lost a clutch of wickets to give the hosts total control of the Durban Test.South Africa rode on Quinton de Kock’s second fifty of the match and Faf du Plessis’ 90 to inch closer to 300 before losing 5 for 8 to set Sri Lanka 304. Then their quicks dug in after a solid second-innings beginning from Dimuth Karunaratne and Lahiru Thirimanne. Once the 42-run stand was broken, they nipped out two more, and when bad light brought an early end to proceedings shortly after 4.30pm, Sri Lanka were tottering a 88 for 3.On his international debut, Embuldeniya picked up 5 for 66 to bowl South Africa out for 259 in their second innings. With Vishwa Fernando also taking 4 for 71, the hosts crumbled. Du Plessis was part of two vital partnerships, first adding 96 in concert with de Kock and then a further 60 with Vernon Philander to push his team further into safety before the dramatic collapse.The big turnaround for Sri Lanka came after the 66th over, when the ball had to be changed after picking up a white mark from landing on one of the crease lines. South Africa added just 28 runs after the ball was changed, Embuldeniya and Fernando striking repeatedly.Embuldeniya’s dismissal of Philander kicked things off. Having temporarily adopted a defensive line from over the wicket, the left-arm spinner switched around and soon got one to skid through, beating the under edge and rattling the stumps. Vishwa then got the better of du Plessis after an engaging battle between bat and ball. He troubled him with zip and brought indecision into his batting. The uncertainty soon told as du Plessis shouldered arms to one that seamed in to hit his front pad right in front of the stumps.Embuldeniya had his fifth when Kagiso Rabada gloved a turning delivery onto his thigh with Niroshan Dickwella completing the catch. South Africa were nine down in the very next over when Fernando disturbed Keshav Maharaj’s stumps. Dale Steyn lasted all of six deliveries before he walked across the stumps to flick, only to expose the stumps that were rattled.AFPThe speed of their collapse notwithstanding, South Africa had enjoyed a profitable morning with the bat as du Plessis and de Kock rapidly moved their team from parity into a position of strength. Having started slowly, du Plessis caught up to the more adventurous de Kock with a pair of drives off Lakmal, the first of which took the team’s score past 150. The second was the shot of the morning as du Plessis played with a straight bat, high elbow and held the pose for the cameras as he laced it through the covers.With both batsmen ticking, the lead soon progressed beyond 200, and there were other concerns for Sri Lanka in the field. Kusal Mendis was struck on an already-strapped right hand as he dived low to pouch a thick edge off du Plessis, and immediately left the field in pain. He didn’t come back out for the remainder of the session, although his absence was mostly precautionary as he is still recovering from a bad finger injury he picked up on Sri Lanka’s recent tour of Australia.It was Embuldeniya who finally broke through for Sri Lanka, trapping de Kock with one that spun back in sharply to hit the pad. Philander walked in with South Africa already 235 ahead, and with du Plessis bringing up his his 18th Test fifty, and first at this ground, the pair batted on into second session before the change of ball also brought a change of fortunes for Sri Lanka.Their bowlers ensured they won the session, but their batsmen were left with a monumental task. Karunaratne and Thirimanne survived until tea and then picked things up thereafter as South Africa gifted them a couple of extra lives. First, du Plessis and Elgar both stood motionless as an edge off Thirimanne’s bat flew right between them at second and third slip, and South Africa then failed to notice a feathered edge off a Karunaratne waft outside off.But the Sri Lankan captain couldn’t make the chance count as for the second time in the match, he was dismissed lbw by Philander, and for the second time burned a review trying to get the decision overturned. With Thirimanne having flashed an edge to du Plessis in the slips, Sri Lanka lost both of their openers in a matter of moments after they had put on 42.Kusal Mendis lasted just eight balls before he, too, nicked off to Duanne Olivier and after a relatively steady start Sri Lanka were wobbling at 52 for 3. Unbowed, Oshada Fernando and Kusal Perera played their shots and rode their luck to add an unbroken 31 for the fourth wicket before the weather closed in, but Sri Lanka need a further 221 runs to win the Test and, on current evidence, that total should be beyond the visitors.

PSG fought back to secure a 3-3 draw against relegation-threatened Le Havre but will have to wait to be crowned champions.

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Luis Enrique heavily rotates PSG teamCome back from 3-1 down to secure pointPSG title celebrations on holdGettyTELL ME MORE

A much-changed PSG side struggled their way through the first half. Although Ousmane Dembele opened the scoring, a quickfire response from the visitors saw them trail at the break. They added a third from the spot in the second half, before the Parisians worked their way back into the game. Achraf Hakimi and Goncalo Ramos scored late to snatch an unlikely point.

AdvertisementGettyTHE MVP

If you had to make a list of strikers most likely to walk away from Parc des Princes with a Man of the Match award in their hands this season, Andre Ayew would not be near the top. But the Ghanaian was excellent here. Ayew caused problems for the Parisian backline throughout his 71 minutes on the pitch, and scored an excellent second goal to give his side the lead. Le Havre are in 15th, above safety on goal difference. They will need Ayew to deliver to keep them up.

THE BIG LOSER

It was always going to be a bit of risk for Luis Enrique to change this PSG team so much. The Parisians, of course, would have loved to lift the league here, and against relegation battlers, normally would have snagged three points. It serves as a point of annoyance for the manager, then, that he will have to wait to be crowned champions.

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WHAT COMES NEXT?

The Parisians' focus now turns to the Champions League. They play Borussia Dortmund in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final on Tuesday. PSG can be crowned Ligue 1 champions before the game if Monaco fail to beat Lyon on Sunday.

This match was billed as a showdown between Faf du Plessis and AB de Villiers, who were at Afrikaanse Hoër Seunskool together in this very city, playing alongside each other there before moving on to be team-mates at Northerns, Titans and, of course, South Africa. In the end, it was de Villiers’ Tshwane Spartans who triumphed in a see-sawing, low-scoring thriller, chasing down Paarl Rocks’ 121 in the finalover.Spartans came into this match wanting not just a win, but a bonus point in order to keep their Mzansi Super League campaign on track. The end result doesn’t rule them out, but they are still in the fifth position on the points table and will need other results to go their way (as well as winning all of their remaining matches) in order to get to the playoffs.Spartans had only won two matches in this competition before the game, but they had also squandered some strong positions, and that was very nearly the case in this match. Needing to score at a run a ball to win, Spartans would also have had the potential bonus point – on offer for a victory in 16 overs or less – on their minds as they started their chase.All seemed to be going to plan when they had reached 63 for 1 midway through the 10th over, Andrea Agathangelou powering the chase with a flurry of boundaries to make up for Dean Elgar’s slow start at the top of the order. But when he was given out caught behind off the glove – somewhat contentiously – aiming a paddle scoop over short fine leg, Spartans started to slide.On a pitch that had plenty of cracks to encourage the spinners, Tabraiz Shamsi rocked the Spartans with two quick wickets in his third over, including that of de Villiers, bowled through the gate by one that gripped and spun in to him. Shamsi concluded by pinning a reverse-sweeping Eoin Morgan lbw for 4 as Spartans slipped to 82 for 5.While wickets were falling, the runs also dried up, and Spartans couldn’t find the boundary between the 11th and 16th overs. That put paid to any hopes they might have had of still securing a bonus point, but it also brought what should have been a straightforward chase to a nerve-jangling conclusion.Tony de Zorzi flat-batted David Wiese over cover to break the shackles, and then brought up the 100 in the 17th over with a shovel over Paterson’s head. With two overs to go, Spartans needed 15, and their job could have quickly become even harder when de Zorzi missed an attempted paddle at a Dwayne Bravo slower ball to be struck on the pad, but was very luckily not given out even though the ball would have cannonedinto leg stump.Bravo had his revenge three balls later, de Zorzi mistiming a heave at a slow bouncer to be easily caught in the deep, and Spartans went into the final over needing 11. Robbie Frylinck, who had nudged his way to 11 off 18, biffed the first ball over long-on for six, and the second straight down the ground for four more to draw level, before turning the third to fine leg for the winning run.While Frylinck was their hero with the bat, Lutho Sipamla was Spartans’ spearhead with the ball, operating as a one-over strike bowler and repeatedly returning to the attack to break through whenever Paarl threatened to lay a platform.First, he had a flat-footed Aiden Markram caught behind to snap the opening stand in his first over. With du Plessis scoring at a strike rate of 200 in the Powerplay, Sipamla returned to have him caught at cover by de Villiers for 38. After Dwayne Bravo hit three sixes off legspinners Jeevan Mendis and Shaun von Berg, Sipamla returned once more to remove him via a sliced drive, and he completed his bowlingwork for the day by conceding just two runs in his final over, the 17th of the innings, to finish with figures of 3 for 19.Though they leaked runs early when du Plessis and Bravo were on the counter-attack, Spartans’ spin attack struck back superbly to deal with the lower order. Von Berg had Vaughn van Jaarsveld caught at long-on at the start of his spell, and then returned to repeat the treatment against Mangaliso Mosehle. In the same over, von Berg combined with Rory Kleinveldt to get rid of Fortuin via the outside edge, Kleinveldtholding a stunning reflex catch at slip as Rocks slipped to 100 for 8.Paterson struck a couple of lusty blows, but Mendis returned to bowl the 18th over and brought the innings to a swift end. His googly caught the inside-edge of Tshepo Moreki’s bat, wicketkeeper Gihahn Cloete holding the catch between his legs, and Paterson mistimed a slog two balls later as Rocks were bowled out with more than two overs to spare. Had they scored just a few more, they might have won this game, but Rocks’ defeat mean they now have a slim lead of three points over Spartans, and the play-off race is still wide open.