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It’s no secret what Arsenal’s biggest weakness has been this season: their attack.

Injuries and poor form have seen Chelsea, Manchester City and Liverpool all score more goals than Mikel Arteta’s side in the Premier League.

Yet, for everything that’s gone wrong this year, the Gunners have still got the best defensive record in the competition, largely thanks to the incredible centre-back partnership of William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes.

Unfortunately, the pairing could soon be broken apart, with Real Madrid now upping the ante in their pursuit of the Frenchman.

However, it’s not necessarily all doom and gloom, as recent reports have linked Arsenal with another sensational centre-back who could prove to be a perfect replacement.

Transfer Focus

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

Arsenal's search for Saliba's successor

Because he has been performing at such a high level for a considerable period now, Saliba has long been linked with Real Madrid.

However, a recent report from French outlet L’Equipe has claimed that the Arsenal ace is now one of Los Blancos’ primary targets and someone they want to come in and lead the defence next season.

Losing the Bondy-born monster would undoubtedly be a massive setback for the North Londoners, but if they can secure the previously reported £86m for his services, then they can at least go out and look for a replacement.

In fact, that appears to be what they are doing already, as, according to a recent report from transfers expert Fabrizio Romano, Arsenal have maintained their strong interest in Bournemouth star Dean Huijsen, who is “the most in-demand centre-back in the world” in the words of data analyst Ben Mattinson.

Alongside the Gunners, Romano has revealed that Liverpool and Chelsea are also in the “race to sign” the Spanish international, who has a £50m release clause in his current contract.

It might be a lot to spend on a youngster, but given his ability and immense potential, it would be worth it, especially as he could be the ideal Saliba replacement.

Why Huijsen would be a great Saliba replacement

If Arsenal can get ahead of the chasing pack and sign Huijsen in the coming weeks and months, what makes him a potentially great replacement for Saliba?

First and foremost, even though he has only recently turned 20, he already has plenty of top-level experience.

For example, in addition to the two senior caps he’s won for Spain, the potentially “world-class” gem, as dubbed by one analyst, has made 33 appearances for Bournemouth this term, 27 of which have been starts, scored three goals and provided one assist.

On top of that, Arsenal fans will already be annoyingly aware of his immense ability, as not only did he start in the Cherries home win over the North Londoners in late October, he started in their win over the weekend, where he won his fourth Man of the Match Award this season and scored his third goal.

Finally, when we directly compare him to the Gunners’ supremely talented number two, the “perfect” Spaniard, as dubbed by analyst Ben Mattinson, actually comes out on top.

Non-Penalty Expected G+As

0.15

0.10

Non-Penalty G+As

0.16

0.06

Progressive Passes

4.68

4.15

Progressive Carries

1.45

0.50

Passing Accuracy

83.4%

94.2%

Key Passes

0.56

0.22

Passes into the Final 1/3

5.89

5.42

Passes into the Penalty Area

0.28

0.19

Shot-Creating Actions

1.61

0.81

Goal-Creating Actions

0.12

0.03

Tackles Won

0.93

1.11

Blocks

1.45

0.74

Interceptions

1.98

0.65

Clearances

7.06

3.44

Errors Leading to a Shot

0.16

0.19

Ball Recoveries

3.87

4.52

Aerial Duels Won

2.58

1.80

For example, he does better in practically every relevant metric, including but not limited to, expected and actual non-penalty goals plus assists, progressive and key passes, passes into the final third and penalty area, shot and goal-creating actions, blocks, interceptions, clearances, aerial duals won and more, all per 90.

Ultimately, while keeping hold of Saliba should be Arsenal’s primary objective, Huijsen looks like he’d be the perfect replacement.

If anything, he’s someone they should look to sign regardless of what happens to the Frenchman.

He'd revive Odegaard: Arsenal aiming to sign "the new Mbappe" in £85m deal

Arsenal need to sign a player who could revive the fortunes of Martin Odegaard.

1 ByJack Salveson Holmes May 5, 2025

Aston Villa moved up to seventh in the Premier League table by beating the team that were ahead of them – Brighton & Hove Albion – 3-0 away from home on Wednesday night.

The Villans, in a match that lasted over 100 minutes, secured all three points in emphatic fashion, thanks to goals from Marcus Rashford, Marco Asensio, and Donyel Malen, who all joined the claret and blue army in the January transfer window.

There were many impressive performers for Unai Emery’s side throughout the match at the AMEX, including the player who scored the opening goal on the night – Rashford.

Why Marcus Rashford's performance was vital for Aston Villa

The England international, who is on loan from Macnhester United until the end of the season, was the player to make it 1-0 for Villa with his terrific run in behind the Brighton defence.

He made a great movement off the shoulder of the last defender to race clear through on goal and the finish matched the run as the speedster brilliantly lifted the ball into the back of the net to give Villa the lead.

The 27-year-old attacker’s goal broke the deadlock and allowed the away side to play with more freedom, having taken the lead, which teed up the rest of the performance for Villa to go on and win with ease, which is why his display and goal were so vital for Emery’s team.

Chalkboard

Football FanCast’s Chalkboard series presents a tactical discussion from around the global game.

There was a Villans star, however, who was even more important to the result, as Morgan Rogers proved that he is the main man for Villa with another sublime showing.

Why Morgan Rogers is the main man for Aston Villa

Emery has a host of brilliant attacking talents at his disposal, including the likes of Rashford, Asensio, and Ollie Watkins, but it is the former Manchester City man who runs the team with his performances.

As the attacking midfielder tasked with carrying the ball through the thirds, Rogers is crucial to everything that Villa do in possession and is now closing in on 20 goal contributions for the season, with 12 goals and seven assists in all competitions.

The 22-year-old dynamo, who was handed a player rating of 8/10 by BirminghamLive, added another two assists to his tally in the win over Brighton, playing a phenomenal long-range ball to Rashford for the opener, and racing down the flank to provide a perfect cut-back for Asensio to make it 2-0.

Minutes

88

65

Goals

0

1

Big chances created

2

0

Assists

2

0

Duels won

6/12

0/2

Tackles + interceptions

7

1

As you can see in the table above, the English whiz outperformed Rashford with his contributions to the side in and out of possession throughout the game, which shows that he offered more to the team overall.

Rogers, who was compared to Jude Bellingham on Sky Sports earlier this season, has proven himself to the main man time and time again for the Villans, as he has started all 29 of his appearances in the Premier League, whilst Watkins has been a substitute on five occasions.

Illustrating his all-round quality, Rogers is the only player in the squad who ranks within the top five for shots, dribbles, key passes, and fouls won per game, which speaks to how much of an influence he has on matches on the ball.

The Villa star can impact games with his energy out of possession, by winning tackles and duels, whilst also providing a threat as a scorer and a creator of goals, which makes him the full package for Emery and the manager’s main man on the pitch in the top-flight.

Monchi sends scouts as Aston Villa race to sign "special" Galatasaray star

He’s a wanted man…

ByTom Cunningham Apr 2, 2025

Bangladesh and Sri Lanka also want to “work on batting” after below-par performances at the T20 World Cup

Firdose Moonda15-Oct-2024Pakistan will seek new batting talent in the aftermath of the T20 World Cup, where they once again failed to make it out of the group stage. Their exit was confirmed after they were dismissed for 56 by New Zealand to add to a string of poor performances at the event.”Our problem area is batting, our line-up, and I think it’s about time we move forward,” Mohammad Wasim, their coach, said after the last group-stage match. “We need to change the mindset of this team, especially in batting.”We have seen glimpses of that but we haven’t seen it consistently. If we talk about the next World Cup, we will have to go for fresh blood, and we will have to do some new inductions in the team. The seniors in the team have to step up. Unfortunately, the seniors have not stepped up in the crunch batting moments. So that’s why I said that we need to move on and bring some new faces.”Related

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The places of former captain Nida Dar, who was replaced by Fatima Sana six weeks before the tournament, and others such as Sidra Amin and Iram Javed may be at risk. Dar batted at No. 5 in the first two matches, No. 4 in the third and No. 7 in the last game, and did not cross 30 in any of her innings. She last managed a 30-plus score 24 innings ago, against South Africa in September 2023, and has not scored a half-century since November 2022. Amin had a high score of 12 at the tournament and has one score over 30 in her last 12 T20Is, while Javed has recorded five ducks in her last ten T20I innings.While Wasim values the experience these players bring to a team, he also wants them to contribute more. “Consistency is the key for everything, to be honest,” he said. “But when you talk about consistency, then there’s a limit also. There’s a limit for the players also. We have changed many coaches. We have changed most of the staff. But it’s about time we need to look at the player side also.”He suggested Pakistan would look at their age-group structures as a starting point for new talent, especially as they have recently had an Under-19 tournament and another is ongoing.”If you look at this year’s domestic cricket schedule, you will see that women’s cricket is getting more importance than before,” he said. “There are U-19 matches starting, then there will be matches for seniors and different formats. So I hope we will get talent in the future. This is not an excuse that you have no talent, so carry on with the same thing.”When results are not coming, then you see what other options you have. It’s not that we don’t have talent. We are doing domestic; we will closely watch what replacements we have. Because we have time before the next event.”That next event is the ODI World Cup in India, which is exactly a year away. Pakistan have not automatically qualified, and currently sit seventh on the Women’s Championship table. India, as hosts, and the top five teams, are guaranteed a spot. Since Pakistan have played all of their matches, they have no chance to advance without finishing in the top two of a six-team qualifying tournament to ensure they make a fifth successive 50-over World Cup appearance.Bangladesh’s batting was their undoing at the T20 World Cup•ICC/Getty ImagesBangladesh, Sri Lanka also look for batting liftThat tournament will also be on the minds of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, who too depart the T20 World Cup but remain in the running for one of the six automatic ODI spots. Bangladesh are in ninth place, with six matches left to play – three each against West Indies and Ireland – and must win at least five of those matches. The importance of that was not lost on their captain Nigar Sultana, who turned her attention to it as soon as their T20 World Cup campaign was over.”We want to play the ODI World Cup without qualifying, that’s why we need some points. So our eyes are on that right now,” she said after their defeat to South Africa on Saturday.Like Pakistan, Bangladesh’s batting was their undoing at this tournament, where they won their opener against Scotland, but could not get more than 106 against any of England, West Indies or South Africa. While Sultana celebrated the lone victory, she was critical of their lack of intent in run-scoring.”We’ve been waiting for a win for the last ten years, and we got that. But as a batting unit, we learnt a lot of things,” she said. “We should be more positive, and what happened is that we were behind sometimes in the middle overs. Our thought process was not working. Sometimes we went away from our thought processes, so this is what we need to work on.”Sri Lanka seemed over-reliant on their captain Chamari Athapaththu•Getty ImagesSimilarly, Sri Lanka also identified their batting as a weak spot after they were held to under 100 in their first three matches, and then made only 115 against New Zealand in their last match. Sri Lanka lost all four games, which made it the first time they have not got a win in a T20 World Cup, and their defeats stung all the more because of the expectation with which they entered the tournament: over the last 18 months, Sri Lanka have beaten England and South Africa in series away from home, won the Asia Cup, and cruised through the World Cup qualifiers.”Everybody expected us to be not the top dog but [rather] the top underdog, so to speak, as the team which would beat the best teams. I think the expectations got to the team,” Rumesh Ratnayake, their coach said after their loss to New Zealand.He blamed “poor cricket in all three departments” for their underperformance, but was also repeatedly asked about their batting over-reliance on captain Chamari Athapaththu. Ratnayake acknowledged that she is key to Sri Lanka but also pointed to other important performances, such as Harshita Samarawickrama’s 69* in the Asia Cup final, and believes there will be more players to come.”The pathways are sort of sorted out back home and those things are happening,” he said.Sri Lanka’s increased focus on development through their school and age-groups structures is welcome news after they were graded “amateur” by the global player association FICA’s (now known as WCA) 2022 Women’s Global Employment Report, released ahead of last year’s T20 World Cup. Their domestic programmes were described as “underfunded”, and that “developing a depth of talent and progression up the rankings remains a significant challenge”. But in a short space of time, that has changed.Pakistan and Bangladesh were categorised as “fledgling professional”, with the hope that a women’s PSL and more investment into the game in Bangladesh, respectively, would aid growth in these nations. The former has not yet happened, and Bangladesh has since been through civil unrest which resulted in the ongoing T20 World Cup being moved out of their country while the economy took a hit. Ultimately, the lack of structural and financial support may only explain why these countries have performed poorly at the tournament.The three teams, and subcontinental giants India, have all not progressed to the semi-finals, despite suggestions that conditions would suit them. Their bowlers, especially their slow bowlers, made batting particularly difficult for opposition line-ups but their batters were unable to respond. All four will need to go back to the drawing board and rethink their approach to tournament cricket while the ongoing World Cup concludes without them.

If runs haven’t returned by then, the ODIs against England after T20 World Cup would be the natural point for a new captain to start bedding in

Andrew McGlashan04-Sep-2022It is a decent sign that a player is struggling for form when a single shot is analysed as a potential turning point: will that be the stroke that changes things for them?When Aaron Finch drove Richard Ngarava wide of mid-off in the third over of the third ODI between Australia and Zimbabwe in Townsville, it was, indeed, a very nice stroke. There was a decent stride, his weight came forward into the ball, it found the middle of the bat, and it was timed nicely.But it wasn’t – at least on Saturday – a turning point for the Australia limited-overs captain. Facing Ngarava’s next over, he fenced at a delivery outside off stump and was caught at second slip. It was the third time in the series he had fallen to Ngarava’s left-arm pace after dragging a ball on to his stumps in the opening match, and edging a lifting delivery to slip in the second.Related

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It left Finch with a tally of 21 runs in three innings for the series, and it extended what is increasingly looking like a trend. In 2022, Finch has now made 164 runs in 11 ODI innings – 62 of them in one knock against Sri Lanka – with six single-figure scores in that stretch – a big enough sample size for it to be a legitimate talking point, and a looming problem for Australia.”When I get a bit heavy there, it starts to affect the rest of my game,” Finch had said ahead of the final ODI against Zimbabwe. “I feel as though that’s coming along really well. The rewards will be there very soon; just hasn’t happened just yet.”I know that I’ve got the full support of the players and the coaching and selection staff, so I’m working hard on my game. It just hasn’t quite flowed yet. It just comes down to giving yourself a bit of time, and hopefully getting a big one shortly.”There is no chance of anything dramatic happening in the short term. Australia have named their T20 World Cup squad, which Finch will captain. But it is worthwhile separating the two white-ball formats. While Finch’s ODI returns are in a rut, he has managed to maintain his T20I output at a better level with 247 runs at 30.87 this year, albeit his strike rate of 121.67 is his lowest of any 12-month period.It means there is a crucial week for Finch coming up against New Zealand in Cairns in terms of what might happen after the T20 World Cup. Unsurprisingly, he has had support from across the board – team-mates, national selector and head coach – over his position, but another difficult series will keep the issue bubbling away.It has the makings a tough examination as well, with New Zealand being able to pick a pace attack from Tim Southee, Trent Boult, Lockie Ferguson and Matt Henry.”Across his career, it’s ebbed and flowed. His movement patterns sometimes early in his innings are compromised, whether that’s through perceived pressure that he puts on himself or what the bowler does,” head coach Andrew McDonald told reporters after the Zimbabwe series.”We are working through it. He’s working hard on his game… he’s continuing to work on the same things he always works on. It’s about getting a start and maximising that start. At the moment he hasn’t quite got to that stage but we feel he can, hence he’s still around the group and still a valued member as our captain.”It will be about clearing his mind, clearing his thoughts, going out there and looking to be positive. When he’s positive, his feet move a lot better than potentially when he’s doubting. That’s every batsman’s case when they feel they haven’t got the runs they want.”They search for a little bit more, and sometimes that can take away from just responding to what is coming down… so if we can get a clear mind, I think there’s an opportunity for him to have an impact in that New Zealand series.”Alex Carey could be a contender for the ODI captaincy should Aaron Finch need to be replaced•Associated PressIf runs haven’t returned by then, the ODI series against England after the T20 World Cup – which has nothing much riding on it due to not being part of the Super League – would be the natural point to make a change that would leave time for a new captain to bed in.In that scenario, Finch holding the T20 World Cup aloft on home soil on November 13 would be the ideal way to sign off, although sport offers no promises of a perfect ending.There may be parallels with how Eoin Morgan’s career came to an abrupt end earlier this year after consecutive ducks against Netherlands. Like Finch, Morgan’s captaincy continued to be held in huge regard, and it is unlikely he would have been pushed, but Morgan woke a couple of days before England’s final game in that series and knew his race was run.Whether it plays out that way for Finch remains to be seen.Australia are not short of potential top-order replacements who have made strong cases of late, which may yet be a factor. Travis Head, absent from the Zimbabwe and New Zealand series on paternity leave, has averaged 62 in ODIs this year; Ben McDermott made 55 and 104 against Pakistan; and Marnus Labuschagne looks a better fit as a top-three player than in a middle-order role.However, replacing Finch as captain would be the tougher decision, although Alex Carey and Mitchell Marsh would likely be contenders. But if someone with experience was wanted to get through the World Cup, Steven Smith’s name could be considered too.Finch has turned things around before, not least ahead of the 2019 ODI World Cup, when a run of low scores against India became one of his best years. For now, the final stages of Finch’s outstanding international career remain in his hands, and a big score or two in Cairns will shift the conversation.Another lean series, however, and his path will become a trickier to plot.

England may have fewer options at finisher but Jos Buttler’s form as an opener makes him look irresistible

Matt Roller06-Sep-2020Opening the batting in T20 cricket usually involves a trade-off between scoring quickly and consistently; batsmen either look to fly out of the blocks and make the most of the hard new ball and the field restrictions, or get themselves set and take an innings deep.For most opening batsmen, it is a binary choice: Jason Roy, for example, chooses the former, while Babar Azam opts for the latter.But Jos Buttler is not like most opening batsmen. Since his promotion to the top of the Rajasthan Royals order in May 2018, Buttler has scored 1414 runs in 33 innings, averaging 47.13 while maintaining a strike rate of 153.86. No wonder so many of his team-mates refer to him as a “freak”.If that record isn’t enough in and of itself, consider this. Many astute analysts considered Sunil Narine’s promotion to open to be a seminal moment in how T20 cricket is played, such is the disregard he shows for protecting his wicket while swinging from the hip.And yet, since midway through the 2018 IPL, Buttler has kept pace with Narine, with his 153.86 strike rate only fractionally slower than Narine’s 154.57; meanwhile, Buttler’s average is nearly three times higher.