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Glasgow Rangers have officially made their first signing of the 2025 summer transfer window.

Right-back Max Aarons joins on a season-long loan deal, and the dynamic Englishman will certainly add some competition for James Tavernier.

The Ibrox faithful will be hoping that Russell Martin has several more announcements to make over the coming weeks, especially with the Champions League second round qualifying matches against Panathinaikos just weeks away.

Building a team capable of making it through to the next stage is Martin’s priority, especially with the financial rewards on offer if the Gers qualify for the lucrative group stages.

Buying new players could well depend on the club’s ability to sell a few of their prized assets this summer.

Indeed, Hamza Igamane potentially looks like he could be on the move. According to the Daily Mail, the striker has reportedly agreed personal terms with Ligue 1 side Lille, although no offer has been made.

The Light Blues only signed the player last summer, but it now looks as though Martin is aiming to rake in a solid profit, as Rangers could hold out for a fee in the region of £15m.

He isn’t the only centre-forward who looks set to leave. Cyriel Dessers might well be on his way this summer also. The Nigerian international has been a polarising figure during his two years in Glasgow, but will the club miss him?

Cyriel Dessers’ Rangers record

Just a few weeks ago, it looked as though Greek side AEK Athens were set to secure a move for Dessers. After days of negotiating over a transfer fee, however, this move looks like it could perhaps be in jeopardy.

Cyriel Dessers’ Premiership stats for Rangers

Metric

2023/24

2024/25

Goals

16

18

Assists

4

2

Big chances created

8

2

Big chances missed

27

21

Goal conversion percentage

16%

22%

Via Sofascore

Now it appears that Feyenoord are looking to hijack a move for the Gers frontman after they failed to land a couple of their main targets.

Much will depend on whether the Dutch side can offer a fee that the Glasgow outfit are happy with, as this is why the deal with AEK Athens has broken down.

Dessers cost the club around £4.5m in the summer of 2023 and Martin is looking to recoup the majority, if not all, of that outlay.

Across his two seasons in Scotland, the 30-year-old has netted a more than respectable tally of 51 goals across 109 games. This works out as a goal every 2.1 games.

Despite this stellar record in front of goal, Dessers often takes two or three chances to eventually find the back of the net in matches.

Indeed, during the 2023/24 Premiership campaign, the former Feyenoord striker missed a staggering 27 big chances across his 35 matches.

Last season, this figure dropped to missing 21 big chances, but having someone who is far more clinical in the opposition penalty area, as well as being able to link up well with those behind him, is Martin’s priority.

Moving on Dessers could be a smart piece of business by the new manager, especially considering who he is lining up as his potential replacement…

Latest on Rangers' search for a new striker

With Igamane looking likely to depart Ibrox, alongside Dessers, it is evident that the club need another centre-forward or two ahead of the Champions League qualifiers.

Israeli player Dor Turgeman has been on the club’s wish list for a while, but it remains to be seen whether Martin makes his move for the striker.

According to TEAMtalk, the Light Blues are now exploring a move for Croatian striker Matija Frigan, who is keen to make the move to Scotland, as per the report.

Martin will have to spend around £6.5m to sign the Westerlo player this summer, but if he can move on Igamane and Dessers for roughly £20m, he will have money to spend.

The club will be hoping a deal can be sealed before the crucial games against Panathinaikos, especially if Martin is lacking in firepower before then.

Frigan has the potential to be an excellent signing for the Gers. There is no doubt about that.

Why Rangers must sign Matija Frigan

The 22-year-old is yet to hit his peak and a move to Rangers would give him the platform to get even better, especially by playing European football.

Transfer Focus

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

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Across 41 games for the Belgian side last term, Frigan scored 14 goals and grabbed four assists in all competitions.

In the Belgian Pro League, the 22-year-old recorded 2.2 shots per game, while also creating six big chances and finishing the season with a goal conversion percentage of 14% for Westerlo.

Football talent scout Jacek Kulig lauded the Croatian as a “complete forward” two years ago, even stating that he was similar in style to Ciro Immobile.

As such, signing a player with his talent is surely a key priority for the manager, especially considering he has plenty of room to grow.

Although Dessers may have scored more goals last season, the fact that Frigan is eight years younger, meaning he is a crucial long-term prospect.

Last term, Frigan missed just 12 big chances, compared to Dessers’ 21, while he averaged more touches (22 vs 18.8) and successful dribbles (0.7 vs 0.3) per game in their respective domestic leagues.

If Martin is able to sell the Nigerian player for the same price which Rangers bought him for, then it would be a wonderful piece of business by the new boss.

Frigan – who was also hailed as an “interesting youngster” by Jacek Kulig – has the potential to go from strength to strength by making a move to Glasgow.

Funds shouldn’t be an issue, as the report states the Light Blues may be willing to structure a deal so they will pay a lower fee initially, adding on potential add-ons to make the move more attractive.

With Aarons arriving in Glasgow, the supporters will be looking forward to more arrivals over the coming weeks.

Could Frigan be the next big summer signing? Only time will tell.

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Posts ByRoss Kilvington Dec 26, 2024

Tottenham Hotspur are closing in on the appointment of Brentford boss Thomas Frank as Ange Postecoglou’s immediate successor, just five days after the club announced chairman Daniel Levy’s decision to part company with the Australian.

Tottenham set to hire Thomas Frank as new manager after talks

The 51-year-old appears set to end his impressive tenure at Brentford in imminent fashion, after Levy earmarked Frank as the top candidate to replace Postecoglou.

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Posts ByBen Goodwin Jun 8, 2025

Unlike their infamously drawn-out hunt for a new manager in 2021, their search has ended pretty quickly, and Frank is now on the cusp of a switch to N17. Tottenham were in talks with Frank and Brentford over the last few days, with negotiations coming to a conclusion in a very swift fashion.

According to trusted journalist Fabrizio Romano, Frank will become Tottenham’s new manager, with the Lilywhites paying his £10 million release clause and already finding an agreement on contract terms/backroom staff.

The tactician is perhaps a perfect fit, considering he’s proven to be efficient at operating on a limited budget, not to mention working with a data-driven recruitment model at Brentford, which is quite similar to Tottenham.

Tottenham’s best-performing regulars in the Premier League – 2024/2025

Average match rating

Son Heung-min

7.00

James Maddison

6.98

Pedro Porro

6.95

Dominic Solanke

6.84

Dejan Kulusevski

6.83

via WhoScored

However, there are some reservations over Frank’s lack of experience when it comes to managing high-profile clubs, competing in the Champions League or winning silverware – with some comparisons already made to Spurs’ failed appointment of Nuno Espírito Santo.

Time will tell whether the Dane’s appointment will prove the correct one, but attention is now turning to how Tottenham will tackle the transfer market under his watch.

Thomas Frank urging Daniel Levy to consider Eberechi Eze deal at Tottenham

According to GiveMeSport, he’s already starting to have his say on Spurs’ summer recruitment drive, with Frank said to be a fan of Crystal Palace star Eberechi Eze.

It is believed Frank has already urged Levy to consider a Tottenham deal for Eze, if they cannot hijack Man United’s deal for Bryan Mbeumo, with the new head coach giving his green-light for them to move for the £100,000-per-week England international.

The former QPR star fired Palace to their first ever major trophy, scoring the winner against Man City in their 1-0 FA Cup final win at Wembley, adding to his 2024/2025 tally of 14 goals and 11 assists in all competitions.

Eze’s contract is rumoured to contain a £68 million release clause, so Spurs know the price it would take to back Frank with the attacker’s signing, which would undoubtedly be a statement signing.

“This guy is an immense talent, there’s no doubt about that,” said ex-Arsenal defender Martin Keown about Eze.

“He was released by Arsenal as a kid. I wonder if that will come back to haunt Arsenal here today? He said he cried for a week. He realised when it hits you really hard as a young man, you think, ‘Ok, I’m coming back from this.’ It proves that he’s made of really strong stuff.”

Rangers have reportedly sent scouts to watch a young striker in action, with the player in question having a release clause of just £42,000.

Rangers eyeing signings amid manager search

The Gers’ search for their next permanent manager continues, with Barry Ferguson expected to move on from his interim role at the end of the season. Russell Martin has been mentioned as an option in recent days, with the Englishman a talented young coach, despite being sacked by Southampton earlier in the season.

Current Sheffield Wednesday boss Danny Rohl has also emerged as a contender to come in as Rangers’ next manager, with the German looking increasingly likely to depart Hillsborough when the current campaign reaches its conclusion. Southampton are also reportedly keen on him, though.

England legends Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard have both been mentioned, too, with the latter impressively guiding Coventry City into the Championship playoffs this season.

In terms of possible new signings, Kevin Boma has been backed to join Rangers this summer, as they look to boost their defensive options. The Estoril centre-back has enjoyed a good season, averaging 2.9 aerial duel wins per game across 27 Primeira Liga appearances.

Rangers send scouts to watch young attacker

According to 24Sports [via Ibrox News], Rangers have watched Anorthosis striker Evagoras Charalampous in his last three appearances, with scouts sent to monitor him. The 19-year-old has a release clause of just £42,000 and the Gers are now weighing up the idea of triggering it this summer and bringing him to Ibrox.

Charalampous isn’t exactly a world-renowned name who Rangers supporters will know a huge amount about, but the young Cypriot has already scored five goals in 16 appearances for Anorthosis, making the jump up to senior level impressively, and he is a three-cap Cyprus Under-21 international, netting once in that time.

Meanwhile, Sky Sports journalist Florian Plettenberg has said that Charalampous is “regarded as one of the top striker talents in Cyprus”, further highlighting why Rangers like the look of him.

Additional firepower is something the Gers need to focus on in the summer transfer window, giving their new manager more options in the final third and hopefully allowing them to narrow the gap on Celtic that has been so evident in the Scottish Premiership throughout this season.

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Posts ByRoss Kilvington May 11, 2025

Cyriel Dessers is Rangers’ top goalscorer in the league with 15 strikes this season, which shows there has been no prolific attacker for them, and they could see Charalampous as a future star.

Mikel Arteta has been in the hot seat at Arsenal for over five years now, and it wouldn’t be an overstatement to say the club today is practically unrecognisable from the one he took over in December 2019.

He’s led the North Londoners from mid-table mediocrity into one fighting for Premier League titles and who have just smashed Real Madrid 3-0 in the Champions League.

While much of this incredible turnaround has been down to the Spaniard’s methods, tactics and philosophy, it has also been helped by his signings, like the club-record acquisition of Declan Rice.

The £105m man, who was utterly sublime against Real Madrid, has arguably been Arteta’s best signing since taking the job, but if recent reports are to be believed, he could be about to secure the services of another international star who’d be the best signing since the Englishman.

Arsenal transfer news

It’s no secret that Arsenal’s priority heading into the summer is to sign a new striker, and as things stand, one of the names most heavily touted for a move to the club is Sporting CP star Viktor Gyokeres.

Transfer Focus

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

The Swede is supposedly available for a fee as low as £58m, which may prove to be a bargain considering he’s scored 44 goals and provided 11 assists in 44 games this season, but he’s not the only target.

Another name constantly linked with the Gunners is RB Leipzig star Benjamin Sesko, who could be available for around £67m.

The Slovenian hasn’t been as productive this season, racking up 25 goal involvements in 39 games, but is just 21 and playing in a top-five league.

However, there is another striker now supposedly high up on the Gunners’ wishlist, someone who’s an output machine and has plenty of experience in the toughest competitions: Lautaro Martinez.

Yes, according to a recent report from Spain, the Inter Milan forward is now one of the North Londoners’ top targets.

In fact, the report has claimed that Arteta and Co are ‘preparing an offer’ for the Argentine, an offer which could be as much as €150m, which is about £129m.

It would be an incredibly costly and complicated transfer to get over the line, but given Martinez’s immense ability, one well worth fighting for, especially as he’d be Arsenal’s best since Rice.

Why Martinez would be Arsenal's best signing since Rice

So, the first thing to say is that since Rice’s arrival was announced in July 2023, Arsenal have made other impressive additions to the squad, like David Raya and even Mikel Merino, but it would be fair to say that none have had quite the impact he has.

For example, he’s already made 94 appearances for the first team, scoring 14 goals, providing 18 assists, and helping transform the midfield as a six and then eight.

In short, removing him from the team would have a detrimental impact, so for a future signing to be the best since his arrival, they’d have to be pretty game-changing, which is just what Martinez would be.

The clearest example of why he’d have such an impact on the team is his utterly stupendous level of output from the last few seasons.

For example, since moving to Inter Milan in July 2018, the World Cup-winning monster has scored a staggering 148 goals and provided 49 assists in just 323 appearances, totalling 22597 minutes.

Appearances

323

Starts

259

Minutes

22597′

Goals

148

Assists

49

Points per Game

2.08

Goal Involvements per Match

0.60

Minutes per Goal Involvement

114.70′

That means the 27-year-old, whom renowned football podcaster Angelo Valdes described as “the best 9 in the world,” has averaged a goal involvement every 1.63 games, or every 114.70 minutes, for almost seven years.

Just imagine that level of consistent output leading the line for Gunners with Bukayo Saka to his right and Martin Odegaard behind him; he’d transform their attack.

Ultimately, while it would cost an extraordinary amount of money, Arsenal should do what they can to bring Martinez to the Emirates this summer, as he’d be their best signing since Rice.

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ByJack Salveson Holmes Apr 9, 2025

Rohit Sharma has led inspiringly and with tactical skill. Stokes is aggressive but has a task on his hands

Ian Chappell24-Feb-2024Despite the absence from the India-England series of star players Virat Kohli and Mohammed Shami, very good cricketers KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja missing Tests through injury, and the resting of elite pace bowler Jasprit Bumrah, India are still a very good team.They’ve unearthed talented players in opener Yashasvi Jaiswal and middle-order batter Sarfaraz Khan. Shubman Gill is a skilful batter and more responsibility on his shoulders should eventually pay dividends.While the spin bowling has been in the capable hands of R Ashwin and Jadeja for a long time, the realisation that Kuldeep Yadav is a reliable wicket-taking option is a bonus for India.Related

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One area of concern is fast bowling and the future support for the crucial trio of Bumrah, Shami and the feisty Mohamed Siraj. However, debutant Akash Deep quickly answered some of those questions, producing some skiddy fast bowling with the new ball in the fourth Test.In the sudden shuffling of the Indian side after a prolonged period of selection stability, the leadership of Rohit Sharma is often overlooked. Rohit, in his quiet but efficient way, is a very different leader from the aggressive and highly visible Ben Stokes. His capable handling of the many changes to personnel and the tough loss of the first Test shows his resilience. He also produced a masterful century when the Indian team needed it, at the start of the third Test, to confirm he wasn’t a ceremonial captain.Rohit has a pedigree of leadership success and his reputation helped him guide a fluid Indian line-up in the right direction. Any failure in his leadership could easily have led this Indian team to faltering when the going got tough. Thanks to Rohit’s strength under fire, it is now England who look to Stokes to provide the leadership to ensure there isn’t a serious letdown after two consecutive Test losses, the second of which was a flogging. There is no doubt the elite skill of Bumrah and the talent of Jaiswal and the other inexperienced players India introduced to the team is helpful. However, it required the leadership guidance and the tactical nous of Rohit to ensure that a changing team retained belief in their cricket.His clever use of Kuldeep during the third Test in the absence of Ashwin was a masterstroke in turning a potential disaster to the team’s advantage. Rohit’s ability to remain unyielding and calculating after a depressing loss in the first Test has helped his side bounce back against a competitive English team.

The elite skill of Bumrah and the talent of Jaiswal and the other inexperienced players India have introduced is helpful. However, it required the leadership guidance and the tactical nous of Rohit Sharma to ensure that a changing team retained belief in their cricket.

The outstanding success of Jaiswal at the top of the order has been crucial to India’s new-look team finding success. Jaiswal will no doubt have down periods but he has the shots and all-round skill to be an overall success in any format. His tremendous success has been symptomatic of the evolution of the Indian team under Rohit.By meekly capitulating against spin in the second innings of their devastating loss in the third Test, England left themselves vulnerable to another trial by slow bowling in the fourth match. This became pretty obvious once talk of Bumrah being rested reached a crescendo.Part of the task for Stokes was convincing the batters – mainly Joe Root – to be more judicious if they must employ any “fancy” shots. Root was a mammoth and quick scorer batting traditionally and I’m not sure why he wanted to employ any premeditated and therefore risky shots. Whether he personally decided it or Stokes prompted some introspection, the talented batter returned to his roots to produce a telling century on an engaging first day, dragging England out of a perilous situation to ensure the visitors provided a challenging first-day total in Ranchi.Captaincy didn’t suit Root but sensible batting does.Whatever the result, England have displayed their resilience under Stokes and the ability to not fold like a tent after a debilitating loss. Ranchi is shaping as yet another highly competitive Test featuring two very good Test captains.

Reactions on social media to the devastating news of Andrew Symonds’ death

ESPNcricinfo staff15-May-20222:52

‘When times were tough, Roy made it easier on his team-mates’

If Roy shook your hand you had his word, that’s the sort of bloke he was and that's why I always wanted him on my team. An extraordinary player and even better human being. Can’t believe he’s gone. Thoughts are with his family at this time. pic.twitter.com/7r7FiK1CzK

— Ricky Ponting AO (@RickyPonting) May 15, 2022