
Wayne ‘Ned' Larkins obituary: maverick batsman for England and Northamptonshire
'Ned', as he was known, was an opener who would hit the first ball of a match not merely through the cover fielders but over their heads for six. 'He did this to me and smiled back,' Agnew said. Had Larkins played under the current England management, who favour quick scoring, he would have made more than his 13 Test appearances and been in demand from franchise leagues all over the world.
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The Sun
an hour ago
- The Sun
‘This sums up Man Utd' – Newcastle make huge £55m transfer bid for ex-Red Devils star sold for just £15m
NEWCASTLE have launched a £55million transfer offer to sign Anthony Elanga, according to reports. The Athletic report Toon want to add the Nottingham Forest winger to their squad as they gear up for a campaign in the Champions League. 3 3 The bid is the Magpies' second bid for Elanga. An offer of £45m was previously rejected by the City Ground outfit. The 23-year-old played in all 38 of his team's Premier League season as they qualified for the Europa Conference League with a seventh-place finish. Elanga scored six goals and provided 11 assists in the league last season. The versatile Swede joined Forest in a £15m transfer from Manchester United in 2023. Since making the switch, he has scored 11 goals and added 21 assists in 82 games. Elanga made his senior Premier League debut for the Red Devils in 2021. However, fans on social media remarked the potential switch to the St James' Park club sums up the plight of his old club in the transfer market in recent years. One fan said: "If a potential deal has ever summed up United's ability to negotiate in the past 12 years it's this one. "Sold him for £15m 2 years ago from our own academy. And teams are now bidding £55m to try get him." Buzz Off! Brentford Demand £65M from Man Utd for Bryan Mbeumo | Transfers Exposed A second added: "He was the only youngster truly close to Ronaldo during his second spell — always learning, always grinding. "I've always believed Anthony Elanga was destined for stardom. If United hadn't sold him to buy Antony, they wouldn't be chasing Mbeumo now." Another said: "Man Utd just keep losing everywhere." Fortunately for the cash-strapped Old Trafford bosses, Man Utd are set to profit from the deal if it goes through. According to the Manchester Evening News, the club inserted a 20 per cent sell-on clause for any profit made on the winger. That means, with Forest due to pocket around £35m in profit, Man Utd are expected to make around £7m from the deal. Man Utd themselves are looking to finalise a deal for Brentford 's Bryan Mbeumo, having seen a £62.5m bid rejected with the Bees wanting £65m. They have already completed the signing of Matheus Cunha for £62.5m from Wolves. 3


Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Owen Farrell's Lions call-up does not make sense, writes CHRIS FOY... it's a gamble that could destroy unity in the squad
Owen Farrell is on his way to join up with the British and Irish Lions, prompting an outpouring of shock and one overwhelming question. Why? It makes no sense. It is a staggering call-up with profound implications. First, the 33-year-old is on his way to fill the void left by the injured Elliot Daly, but the England back wears 11, 13 or 15 and Farrell Jnr wears 10 or 12. The suspicion is he was always destined to be summoned, once any back beyond the scrum-halves was sent home. This is a player who generates such diverse opinion, so let us stick to facts and simple logic. He last played international rugby at the 2023 World Cup, then stepped away from England duties due to hostility from his own fans. The captain was booed throughout that tournament as Steve Borthwick 's side reached the semi-finals — as those following the national team did not believe in him as the right man to run the show at 10, while Marcus Smith was shunted out to full back. His decision to withdraw from the Test firing line made sense for him and his young family. There was a sympathetic response. But nothing since has led to a clamour for him to return. It is a long time since Farrell delivered an imperious display. There has not been one since he left his beloved Saracens more than a year ago. His move to Racing 92 in France did not work out. Injuries hampered him, so he could not fulfil his goal-kicking role. Trouble with his groin led to long absences and a hunt for a medical resolution which took him to Qatar. But Farrell's call-up was a major shock and it does not make sense for a variety of reasons The problem was sorted only for Farrell to injure his head, ending his season early. That was in May. He has played only a handful of times in this calendar year. He has not even completed the return-to-play protocols as he did not have a team to do contact training with. Farrell has gone back to Saracens to take on a player-coach role and he will surely thrive, but this? It is a wild development and could create tensions within the Lions set-up. It is a gamble by Andy Farrell to pick his son; one he did not need to take. Finn Russell has been imperious and the two Smiths — Fin and Marcus — offer creative variety as back-up options. Bringing in Farrell Jnr suggests the head coach does not truly trust the younger 10s to deliver when the chips are down. Savage. People will see this as preferential treatment. It will mean there is an elephant in every room wherever the Lions go in Australia. Those involved and those supporting from near and far want to feel it is a meritocracy and that a VIP lane does not exist. This is about pedigree and entries on the c.v. Of course, Farrell ticks those boxes. He is a Test centurion. He has been on three previous Lions tours. He has won titles with Saracens and England. He has captained his country in a World Cup final. He is the country's record points-scorer. Farrell is also respected as a supreme competitor, who epitomises the 'Test match animal' tag. But he is not the only one of those. A penny for George Ford's thoughts in response to this news. Over in Argentina, he is poised to win his 100th England cap. He is a supreme playmaker and has been in vintage form. But he is not coming here. Of course, the ploy could go down as a master stroke. But so many stars will have to align for that scenario to come to pass. While the Smiths will be understandably doubtful about their prospects for the remainder of this tour, Russell will also wonder about the implications of such a dominant character being in the squad. Not only will Farrell form a strong working relationship with his father, he will also resume a natural alliance with Lions assistant coach Johnny Sexton, who is an influential advocate of his friend and former long-term rival. Russell's position is secure right now, but all it takes is one off day and he might start worrying about some powerful dynamics all around him. This did not need to happen. The Lions have hit the ground running with two half-century wins here in Australia. They have various backs regaining match sharpness. They should have powerful momentum by the time of the series opener on July 19. They can take down the Wallabies without turning to a veteran who may not still have what it takes. There is going to be an almighty commotion about this call-up — a lot of external noise and fierce debate. It will overshadow the build-up to the fixture against the Waratahs on Saturday and perhaps every other subsequent game. Why? WHY??


The Sun
2 hours ago
- The Sun
Diogo Jota and Andre Silva's tragic deaths show sport is nothing more than a joyful distraction from what truly matters
AT THIS time of year, with the transfer market abuzz, there is a tendency to view elite footballers as commodities. Their price-tags, fees, resale values and contract lengths are discussed by us all with the casual air of stockbrokers observing the gilt markets. 9 9 And then on a sunny morning in early July, chilling news arrived from Spain which made all of that talk sound so trivial, so brutal, so cold. Diogo Jota — newly wed to Rute Cardoso, his childhood sweetheart and mother of his three children — was dead at 28. Jota was a freshly crowned champion of England with Liverpool and a mainstay of the Portugal team who had just won the Nations League again and are rated as dark horses for next summer's World Cup. But above all Jota was a human being, as fragile as the rest of us. A husband, a father, a son and a brother to Andre Silva — the 25-year-old fellow professional footballer who perished with him yesterday when a tyre blew and his Lamborghini burst into flames. Jota was at the peak of his powers and in the prime of his life — married for just 11 days, he had posted footage of his wedding on social media just hours before his death. The poignance was agonising; the grief of those left behind unimaginable. When the news of Jota's death broke, it was a warm, sun-drenched summer's morning in England. 9 9 The All England Club was opening up its gates for day four on Wimbledon's lawns, the cricketers of England and India were preparing for the second day of the Second Test at Edgbaston and transfer speculation was fizzing around online. Then, suddenly, the world of sport froze. For while sport is the most important of unimportant things, we all know at heart that it is nothing more than a joyful distraction from that which truly matters. At Anfield, masses of floral tributes were left and warm respects paid. Liverpool is a club which has sadly experienced tragedy too often before and which honours those lost with a fierce, protective pride. At Anfield, Jota will never be forgotten. Few football clubs cherish their heroes quite as warmly and Jota the Slotter, the clinical finisher with that extraordinary burst of pace, was one of the best of Arne Slot's champions. Sometimes, while watching the Reds, you could forget that Jota was on the pitch. Then, with a sudden acceleration and a thrust of the boot, he had won them the match. He so often proved the matchwinner when arriving from the bench, in the Anfield supersub traditions of David Fairclough and Divock Origi. But as a deep-lying centre-forward or from the left wing, he was an integral part of the squad built by Jurgen Klopp, and honed by Slot, which won the title by a country mile last season. 9 Jota scored the first goal of the Slot era in a 2-0 opening-day victory at Ipswich and the last time he netted was the winner in the Merseyside derby in April. A little over a month ago, he cavorted on the Anfield pitch when Liverpool lifted the Premier League trophy. Jota, capped 49 times by his country, was not the star of his club or international teams. Those were Mo Salah and Cristiano Ronaldo. Yet football's Galacticos do not win trophies without the versatility and selfless work-rate of players like Jota. Still, his record of 65 goals in 182 appearances for the Reds was extraordinary for a player who was not a regular starter. In five seasons, he won every major domestic honour and played in a Champions League final, against Real Madrid in 2022, which Liverpool were unfortunate to lose 1-0. After spells with Pacos de Ferreira and Porto in his home town, Jota arrived in England at Wolves, on loan from Atletico Madrid, and helped to propel Nuno Espirito Santo's team from the Championship to the Europa League in three seasons. At Molineux, his loss was also deeply felt by a club where he was 'adored and cherished'. Yet this year had represented his peak, as a footballer and as a man. In the space of a month Jota won major honours with Liverpool and Portugal, then married his girlfriend of 12 years — the couple posing before the altar of a church in Porto with their two sons and baby daughter less than a fortnight ago. 'I'm the lucky one,' Jota had posted on social media. How heartbreaking those words read now. How fragile we are. 9 9 9