Swansea lose final friendly to Lorient
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The Sun
25 minutes ago
- The Sun
Mercurial Mohammed Kudus is a game-breaking Dream Team diamond… when he can be bothered
DREAM TEAM managers being seduced by a mercurial talent is a tale as old as time. For the latest addition of our SCOUT REPORT series, it's time to put Mohammed Kudus (£4.5m) under the microscope. 4 With Gameweek 1 fast approaching, Tottenham's marquee summer signing is among the most popular players in the game. His current ownership of 13.4% is bettered by just six midfielders at the time of writing. The long list of players less popular than Kudus includes heavy hitters such as Eberechi Eze (£5.5m), Declan Rice (£5m) and Morgan Rogers (£5.5m), who all earned over 100 points more than the Ghana international last season. Truth be told, Kudus was not at his best in 2024/25. He turned it on a few times but generally appeared unenthused as West Ham endured a joyless campaign. 4 When all was said and done, Kudus had just five goals and five assists to show for his efforts. For comparison, the aforementioned Rogers notched three times as many goal involvements (14 goals, 16 assists). So what makes the 25-year-old so popular? Clearly a sizeable portion of Dream Team bosses believe that his move to North London will provide a clean slate. A change of environment should motivate Kudus to rediscover his best form, a formidable prospect. He quickly became an effective value-for-money asset in his first Dream Team season when he joined the Hammers from Ajax at the start of 2023/24. Kudus scored 14 goals and provided nine assists that season and averaged a goal involvement every 146.4 minutes in the Premier League. 4 Needless to say, if Kudus can get back to that level in Spurs colours he will provide substantial returns for his owners. Plus, he will have European fixtures to bolster his schedule this term. It remains to be seen how Thomas Frank will deploy the skilful dribbler once the campaign gets underway. Kudus played predominantly from the right flank at West Ham but is also capable of playing from the left or centrally. Brennan Johnson (£4.5m) was Ange Postecoglou's preferred right winger and the Welshman finished 2024/25 as the club's top scorer (18 in all comps). The departure of Son Heung-min (£5m) coupled with injuries to James Maddison (£4.5m) and Dejan Kulusevski (£4.5m) means there should be plenty of minutes for Kudus in August and September but it will be interesting to see what happens when everyone is available - Mathys Tel (£3.5m) is also pushing for increased minutes this season. 4 What we do know is that Spurs are due to host Burnley in Gameweek 1. The Clarets smashed all sorts of records with their incredible defensive performances in the Championship last season but it's simply a fact that newly-promoted clubs have given up lots of points in recent years. No wonder Kudus appears in so many teams.
BBC News
25 minutes ago
- BBC News
Alleyne signing maintains Watford's youthful vibe
The loan signing of Manchester City defender Max Alleyne is another example of Watford recruiting young talent. All of the Hornets signings this summer have been in their 20s with some even younger with the likes of Nestory Irankunda and Othmane Maamma, who are both 19, joining Vivaldo Semedo, 20, Caleb Wiley, 20 and Luca Kjerrumgaard, 22 in the squad. Can these players step up and prove they can be consistent Championship players? If you bear in mind that last season Mamadou Doumbia, 19, Ryan Andrew, 20, Rocco Vata, 20, James Abankwah, 21, Kevin Keben, 21, Kwadwo Baah, 22, and Mattie Pollock, 23, were all squad regulars, it is clear this is an energetic young group being formed. But is there enough experience? How will they cope in tricky situations? In defence Alleyne joins Pollock, Abankwah and Keben as the centre-back options. All of them are under 24. Pollock featured the most last season and improved considerably. Abankwah caught the eye after joining in January. He can make the game look simple but sometimes his overconfidence can cause him some problems. Keben also showed promise. Watford have cleared out the defensive deadwood with Francisco Sierralta, Ryan Porteous, Joao Ferreira and Antonio Tikvic all going for fees which represents good business. But it's the youngsters who are going to be the intriguing ones this season, particularly in defence and Sissoko, Tom Ince, Edo Kayembe, Imran Louza and Hector Kyprianou offer the Hornets experience. They are all midfielders. Watford currently resemble a hamburger with an array of young talent filling the defence and attack 'buns' and wiser older heads making up the burger in the middle. It could be some tasty meal this season, or something less appetising.
BBC News
25 minutes ago
- BBC News
Welsh rugby 'optimal solution' to be unveiled
Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) chief executive Abi Tierney says the governing body will produce their "optimal solution" in the next couple of weeks to transform the failing game in WRU will outline their plans with the headline act the possibility of cutting from the current four regions - Dragons, Cardiff, Ospreys and Scarlets - down to three or two says the next couple of weeks are critical and represents a "once-in-a-generation chance to put Welsh rugby on a sustainable footing and ensure it doesn't find itself in this position again".The WRU executive will present its findings to the board in a document with new director of rugby and elite performance Dave Reddin described as the key governing body will then spend six weeks consulting with stakeholders, that include clubs, coaches, politicians and supporters groups, before the final decision is announced in October. 'No final decision has been made' Tierney has defended the decision to provide their preferred option before consultation with critics stating it is a 'fait accompli'."We want to consult on an option rather than just go out there with everybody having different views," said Tierney."We are following best practice by going out with a preferred solution. We're paid to make decisions, so it's important we take the opportunity of a leadership position on this."Tierney says there will be time for collaboration and change."While we're saying it's what we think is the optimal solution, we haven't made a final decision," she said."We're up to being challenged and for something different to emerge and we'll have six weeks where we listen and engage."You explain why it's your preferred solution and people have a chance to challenge and question and come up with maybe how you amend it. "The document's going to be public so people will be able to see it. So we have not made any decision and I'm going to be listening. "We've come up with what we think will work, based on a huge amount of feedback and input, but I'm under no illusion we've got it all right." Who is best in the west? Uncertainty has already created division between opposing sides. Ospreys have this week had a planning application agreed by Swansea Council to redevelop St Helen's, with a view to moving in next fans groups and local politicians objected to the development in Swansea because they felt it threatened the future of Llanelli's Parc y Scarlets if there was only one west Wales side. Tierney says the WRU gave no assurances to the council that Ospreys would exist if they received planning application, and also denied the governing body had chosen Swansea instead of Llanelli as the base for any west Wales was asked if any sides culled would be named at this stage or in the final decision in October."It's more the number and principles we are going to be consulting on, not where the teams are based or which teams they should be," said Tierney."We do not in that document get into, if it's a reduction of clubs, then it is this club over that club."There's so many different scenarios in this. One is you do it through consent, so through the consultation process. We have to first of all do that, to see whether we can announce at that point."One option is we then go out to tender if we don't get consent and clubs can't agree amongst themselves to merge. Scarlets and Ospreys have talked about a merger in the past."If we could get consent we will but if we can't, it will be 'this is our structure, this is the number of clubs we want and this is the model'. "Then people would bid for those licenses." 'Hard not to see rugby played in Cardiff' The latest domestic crisis has emerged after Cardiff went into administration in April and were taken over by the WRU with the governing body looking for new investors. Tierney accepts there is a perception the WRU owning a region in this process is a problem."I'm not involved in any way in Cardiff and we have a separate group managing them," said Tierney."We will shortly be naming an independent chair who will lead their response during this process."Tierney accepts it is likely professional rugby will continue in the Welsh capital."It's hard because we didn't choose for Cardiff to go into administration when it did," said Tierney."For lots of very factual reasons, populations, pathways, number of clubs etc. I said this was one of the reasons we chose to take Cardiff in house."So it's hard to see a model where you don't see rugby being played in Cardiff but other people can challenge that." Job concerns and losing fans Cutting two regions is likely to lead to job cuts and Tierney accepts it is an uncertain time, assuring people they will do the process "fairly, transparently and with compassion".Fewer teams could lead to alienating fans of the clubs that are culled."Fans are so important to this but it's not working at the moment," said Tierney."We've got to come up with something that wins the hearts and minds of fans back."We are already losing fans. Every year the number attending the regional clubs is going down."It's the challenge we are facing so we need to do something different on that. To me [the threat of losing fans], it's a bit of a red herring question."If we do change the club structure - and it's a big if - what are the brands we want to associate and how do we bring the fans along with us."Tierney has dismissed targeting an Anglo-Welsh league stating the United Rugby Championship (URC) "is the focus as the current competition the Welsh sides are playing in". "They [URC] are another one we are consulting with because any change to our structure we will need their consent to make that change as quickly as possible," said Tierney."If you do announce you are going to change then clubs become unstable." Why change is needed Tierney insists change is required with Welsh rugby in dire straits. The national men's side have a new head coach in Steve Tandy - who starts his role in September - but had lost a record 18 Tests in a row before victory against Japan in of the four professional sides qualified for last season's Champions Cup in a year when the final was staged in Cardiff.A new strategy was launched in June 2024 where the WRU committed to four equally funded past year has been dogged by yet more failure and in-fighting with the WRU announcing the sides would not be equally funded and they are now contemplating scrapping teams altogether."I can understand there's pros and cons and trade offs to all of this," said Tierney."There's no perfect solution and we are going to have to have an honest conversation about what we are willing to trade for what outcomes, because what we are doing now isn't working."So, I recognise there's risks in that but there's also risks in doing what we are doing. "We can't carry on doing the same things and expect different results."
