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Following a slow start to the transfer window, in which they appeared to be doing very little, Arsenal have burst into life this week.

Mikel Arteta’s side might still be some way away from signing their marquee striker, but based on reports from the last few days, they appear incredibly close to securing the services of Christian Norgaard and Kepa Arrizabalaga – and the deal for Martin Zubimendi looks as assured as ever.

Interestingly, several links to the incredibly talented Eberechi Eze have also been emerging in recent days, who would be an exceptionally exciting addition to the Gunners’ squad.

Yet, if more recent stories are to be believed, Andrea Berta and Co may be looking at another English talent, someone who’d be an even better signing than the Crystal Palace star.

Arsenal chase England stars

While there was plenty that went wrong for them this season, Arsenal’s biggest issue was their lack of cutting edge, and at times, creativity.

Transfer Focus

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

So, with that clearly in mind, the club have been linked with a host of brilliant attack minded players inrecent weeks, a number of whom also happen to be England internationals, like Anthony Gordon and Eze.

The former reportedly has a price tag of around £80m, and while he didn’t have his best campaign to date this year, he was still reasonablly effective, racking up 16 goal involvements in 42 games – including three against the Gunners.

Eze, on the other hand, has a release clause in his current deal worth around £68m, and would therefore be little easier to bring to the Emirates.

However, as talented and exciting a player the 26-year-old is, it looks like the North Londoners could now be looking at yet another Three Lions star as an alternative, if not an outright upgrade.

At least that’s according to a recent report from the Express, which claims that Arsenal are very much interested in Morgan Rogers.

In fact, the report goes a step further, revealing that after making initial contact over a month ago, the Gunners remain in talks with the 22-year-old’s camp over a potential deal.

However, given his importance to the Claret and Blue, the report claims it will take an offer of around £70m from the North Londoners, if they want to get their man.

It would be a costly and potentially complicated transfer to get over the line then, but given Rogers’ immense ability and potential, it’s one Arsenal shoud be pursuing, especially as he’d be a serious upgrade on Eze.

How Rogers compares to Eze

So, with their price tag being nearly the same, why should Arsenal be looking to sign Rogers over Eze this summer?

Well, the first reason why relates to their output in the Premier League this season, as the Villa dynamo was able to score eight goals and provide 11 assists in 37 appearances, which comes out to an average of a goal involvement every 1.94 games.

In contrast, the former QPR gem scored eight goals and provided eight assists in 34 appearances, which comes out as a still good, but less impressive, average of 2.12 goal involvements per game.

The second reason for picking the Halesowen-born gem is that his advantage over the Palace ace extends to their underlying numbers as well.

For example, he performs significantly better in most relevant metrics, such as progressive passes and carries, as well as goal-creating actions, which helps demonstrate his creative potential, whether off the wing or in midfield.

Non-Penalty G+As

0.52

0.52

Progressive Passes

3.55

3.37

Progressive Passes Received

5.43

5.31

Progressive Carries

3.29

2.40

Passing Accuracy

73.2%

74.2%

Passes into the Penalty Area

1.62

1.35

Passes into the Final Third

2.11

1.70

Shot-Creating Actions

3.04

4.69

Goal-Creating Actions

0.46

0.35

Successful Take-Ons

1.91

2.33

Carries into the Final Third

1.97

1.67

Carries into the Penalty Area

0.95

0.76

Finally, the former Manchester City prospect is four years younger than the 26-year-old Eagles star and already has experience playing in the Champions League and fighting for places near the top of the Premier League, so the transition to title challenger should be easier for him.

Ultimately, both players would be incredible signings for Arsenal this summer, but thanks to his better output, underlying numbers, experience and the fact he’s far younger, Arsenal should be looking to sign Rogers over Eze.

Better than Sesko & Gyokeres: Arsenal have "looked at" signing £82m star

The incredible goalscorer would be an unreal addition to Arsenal’s squad.

ByJack Salveson Holmes Jun 27, 2025

Tottenham Hotspur are believed to be on the verge of appointing a 52-year-old, following some private talks with chairman Daniel Levy in early April.

Tottenham set for summer overhaul after disappointing campaign

Spurs have recorded a dismal 19 Premier League defeats under Ange Postecoglou this season, a record which could end up costing the Australian his job.

£195k-per-week Chelsea player holds talks over joining Tottenham via agents

His team are trying to find a new club.

1

By
Emilio Galantini

Apr 30, 2025

Over the course of a campaign hampered by injuries and poor form, matters are made worse by reports that Levy and co are likely to employ a ‘sell to buy’ policy when the transfer window reopens this summer (The Telegraph).

The Lilywhites could see the likes of Richarlison, Cristian Romero and even Pedro Porro depart before 2025/2026, according to some reports, while Spurs attempt to garner enough funds to reinforce their squad across the board.

Tottenham want a new centre-back and are targeting Dean Huijsen, while it is believed Postecoglou’s side are eager to acquire a central midfield player too, leading to their interest in Eintracht Frankfurt midfielder Hugo Larsson (GiveMeSport).

Spurs are also boldly eyeing a move for West Ham forward Jarrod Bowen, which may seem far out of the club’s reach.

All of these ambitious plans will require an astute operator when it comes to behind-scenes transfer dealings, and ex-managing director Fabio Paratici will soon be available for hire again.

The Italian resigned from his post in 2023, after being slapped with a worldwide ban by FIFA, but that is due to expire on June 30th.

According to reports from his homeland, back in late March, Paratici held talks with Levy over re-joining Tottenham, and it was claimed at the time that they were ready to make him a rich offer.

Fabio Paratici "will sign with Tottenham"

After his failed switch to AC Milan, Italian media sources started reporting yet again in the last few days that Paratici’s return to Spurs is possible, with newspaper Corriere della Sera now sharing a pretty significant update of their own.

It is now believed that Paratici “will sign for Tottenham” once again, and he is likely to return to the same role he once took before the 52-year-old was forced out.

His return has been tipped for some time, with pundit John Wenham anticipating it after he was spotted at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for their clash against Eintracht Frankfurt.

“If Postecoglou is sacked, I’m not sure who will come in until the end of the season,” Wenham said to Tottenham News.

“We will have to wait and see. However, we saw that Paratici was at the stadium again on Thursday, sitting with the club legends. Therefore, it looks like he is coming back, and perhaps he is already lining up a new manager to replace Postecoglou.”

If confirmed, his hire would be seen as a major boost by some, considering the plaudits he received and how Paratici grew in popularity during his time at N17.

Chris Sutton admits he is “not sure what has happened” to an “excellent” Celtic player, following the weekend defeat away to St Johnstone.

Celtic suffer disappointing Scottish Premiership loss

Brendan Rodgers’ side produced a strangely below-par display on Sunday afternoon, losing 1-0 away to their bottom-of-the-table counterparts, in a result that few saw coming. The manager himself was livid at what he saw, sharing his unhappy comments after the game and making it clear his players had been read the riot act.

“There’s definitely anger. I’m trying to control it. And listen, I look at my own self first and foremost. I’m proud of my career and how I teach players and how I inspire them and how I motivate them. Am I doing the very best job I possibly can to inspire these and motivate these to get over the line? So that’s my first look.

“But I just think there’s a comfort there I don’t like. And it doesn’t matter if you’re 13 points or three points ahead. It’s not enough. We have to be much better than where we were in our ambition in the game.”

Rodgers sets high standards at Celtic and it is good to see him lambast his players, rather than go easy on them because of the state of the Scottish Premiership title race. The Hoops may be 13 points clear of Rangers, but it is clear that the 52-year-old is taking nothing for granted, not enjoying seeing his players perform with complacency.

Sutton bemused by "excellent" Celtic player's form

Taking to X after Celtic’s loss to St Johnstone, Sutton gave an assessment of the form of winger Nicolas Kuhn, among others, admitting he doesn’t know what has happened to him.

Sutton has every right to question the form of Kuhn, who made such a bright start to life at Parkhead, being lauded by Rodgers upon his arrival: “We believe he is a dynamic player who has an excellent level of quality and all the attributes to fit well into our style of play He has the profile we are looking for, he has a real attacking intent, a player with great pace and ideas, the ability to create and score goals and a player with a great energy and work ethic.”

Worse than Kuhn: Celtic must axe star who lost the ball every 4 touches

Celtic slipped to a shock defeat to bottom side St Johnstone on Sunday afternoon

ByRobbie Walls Apr 6, 2025

The German, thought to be on around £12,000 a week at Parkhead, has only scored twice since early January though, coming in 14 appearances, with a couple of assists also coming his way in that time. A long campaign may simply have caught up with him, but it is clear that he isn’t the force he was.

The NCA chief talks about the work involved in looking after India’s top and emerging players

Shashank Kishore03-Oct-2024Meetings, mentoring sessions, project walkthroughs – VVS Laxman’s life as the head of BCCI’s new Centre of Excellence is comparable to that of a CEO’s.We’ve travelled about 35km from Bengaluru’s city centre to this new facility near the international airport. Once fully operational from January 2025, it will replace the existing National Cricket Academy, which adjoins the Chinnaswamy Stadium.”Better than the world’s best,” is how Laxman describes it to our media contingent. This “new NCA” has been in the making for 15 years, with litigation hurdles stalling its progress until two years ago. Since Laxman took charge in December 2021, he’s been busy engaging with site engineers and building consultants, overseeing blueprints, action plans and budgets among other things.”The target for completion was 15 months [from November 2022],” Laxman says. “I was a bit sceptical, but the way work has progressed right from the time construction began has been remarkable. I have been to some of the best academies in the world, not only limited to cricket, but other sports also, but I have not seen this kind of a facility.”As Laxman takes a seat in the media conference room on the second floor, overlooking the ground, he is reminded of his time before becoming the NCA head. “Haven’t seen mics and cameras for a while,” he jokes, referring to his television commentary stint in the past.This is his first official media interaction since taking on the administrative role and while Laxman has consciously avoided the media glare, today, he is happy to explain the ins and outs of his role as he basks in the afterglow of the project’s inauguration a day earlier.Related

Laxman: India have lot of players who will make country proud for next ten years

Rishabh Pant's recovery progressing faster than expected

New fitness target for Indian players: yo-yo level raised to 17:1 (2021)

Test hopefuls jostle for limited slots as domestic season kicks off

BCCI inaugurates state-of-the-art 'Centre of Excellence' in Bengaluru

“When I took up this role, I was very reluctant,” he says. “But once I embraced this position, it’s been such a satisfying and fulfilling experience. You’re dealing with not only the established international stars, but you’re creating bench strength. And that has been very, very fulfilling – to see the amount of talent, the amount of potential at our disposal.”In the past the perception has been that the NCA is merely a facility for injured players. Laxman rejects that notion.”There has been a lot of misconception about how NCA is just used for rehab programmes and how players getting back also are getting injured [soon after they resume playing], but you have seen it with Rishabh [Pant], how well NCA manages [players],” Laxman says. “I can’t comment on what has happened in the past, but I can say with a lot of conviction that I am very, very proud of every member of my team.”It’s high-pressure work because they are dealing with injuries, and there is a misconception that timelines have to be met. I understand that at times you [the player] know you will be fit in a particular time frame, but sometimes the recovery won’t be [within a specific time frame] or the result won’t be seen, so having patience and following the protocols is very, very critical.”He also highlights the work the NCA staff put in to motivate and care for injured players.”I sometimes joke with my S&C coaches that they’ve become good counsellors because there will be days when the player will feel little down, a little frustrated, but you have those conversations to convince players that whatever is happening is in their best interest.”The challenging part of rehab is that the entire rehab will probably be done within two-three hours [in a day] and players have nothing to do for the rest of the day. We’re talking about elite sportspersons who are usually busy playing or training six to eight hours, and suddenly they realise they are confined to the rehab room.One of three grounds at the Centre of Excellence that can host first-class cricket•Shashank Kishore/ESPNcricinfo Ltd”Once they recover, they progress to the ground [at the NCA], but it’s a maximum of four to five hours, so they are required to be mentally strong and to not get frustrated. It’s very important that the player also understands that and there’s always one or two conversations around it.”Another aspect of the NCA that has come under criticism is the methods used for injury diagnosis. A few players have complained about the rigidity of the system – like having an injured player field for the entire duration of a 50-over game before being declared fit. Players say there have been instances when the ball has hardly come to them while fielding during the game and that processes designed to simply tick a box don’t help in the long run.Laxman tries to explain why the processes are necessary and insists that rapid strides have been taken towards injury prevention in recent times.The BCCI has adopted a system that determines through a series of tests – on shoulders, hip flexors, and hamstrings, for example – certain markers that indicate player fitness, which are then assessed to fine-tune their workloads.This helps determine the extent of injuries and monitors a player’s physical state. If any of the parameters seem off, the physios and coaches can tailor workloads, or look to avoid certain routines that run the risk of causing injuries.”The idea is to prevent injuries,” Laxman says. “And that’s why there has been a focus on recovery and setting fitness standards – it’s very, very critical. In fact, what we have done over the last two years is to standardise fitness procedures from top to bottom. It’s not only the Indian team, but even the state teams. As far as the fitness, recovery or S&C part is concerned, one of the main challenges was how to standardise. How can a player who is at the NCA continue to work on their fitness levels with the same intensity when they are at a zonal camp or back with their state associations?”A view of a dressing room in the 40-acre campus•Shashank Kishore/ESPNcricinfo LtdTo do that, the NCA has tied up with the Australian Strength and Conditioning Association (ASCA) to introduce upskilling programmes for state-level coaches and physios.The NCA also keeps tabs on players throughout the year, not just during camps, using an Athlete Management System (AMS), which monitors several parameters, like fatigue, sleep, mood, menstrual cycle in case of female athletes, and non-sport stressors. The data is analysed to chart out personalised programmes for every player.”When Rahul [Dravid] was the head coach of the Indian team, he used to take care of the contracted players and we at NCA took care of the targeted players, emerging players and the U-19s throughout the year.”They come for camps and once they go back to their respective state association, we [continue to] monitor them. Every coach would have at least ten players they are monitoring. So, one spin bowling coach, like a Sairaj Bahutule, would have ten spinners under him.”We know the areas they are required to work on, and through the year we make sure the player is working [on those]. We collaborate with the coaches back in the state. A majority of those coaches are part of our ecosystem through the summer programmes. I think ours is always a very open and inclusive way of working.”Laxman says the focus is centred on the player. “We don’t want the player to feel the burden of whose advice he has to listen to. We take into confidence the state association coaches, because they spend a lot more time with that player than we do [at the NCA].”The outdoor nets at the new facility feature 45 pitches•Shashank Kishore/ESPNcricinfo LtdAhead of the Border-Gavaskar series down under, India’s A team will also tour Australia, which gives players on the fringes of the Test squad the chance to make their case for selection. In recent times, there have been fewer India A tours, partly due to the knock-on effects of the pandemic on cricket’s calendar, but Laxman says the focus is to have at least two A tours every year.”It’s just about getting exposure to different kind of conditions, so that when they graduate to the national team they are ready. That is the whole objective of the A programme. I think the pitches here [some of which have been made from soil imported from UK and Australia, and others using soil from other parts of India] will allow them to improve their adaptability.”After this Q&A session, Laxman is heading to Chennai to meet the India men’s Under-19 team, currently playing a Youth Test against Australia, so the conversation moves towards the BCCI’s development programme, whose main focus is on age-group cricket.India have featured in the last five men’s U-19 World Cup finals, and won two. They also won the inaugural women’s one in 2023. While the policy of picking an age-group player for only one U-19 World Cup remains in force, there is a concerted effort to make sure that players who miss out on qualifying for the biennial event get some high-profile exposure as well. It’s partly why Samit Dravid was picked in India’s U-19 squad for the Australia series, even though he wasn’t going to be in contention for the next World Cup (injury has ruled him out since then).”When you go from one U-19 World Cup to another, there’s always one batch who misses out. While I’m not saying that it is the most important step in their growth and progress as a cricketer, when you represent India at any level it gives that confidence.”So now currently we are playing a series against Australia U-19 and, luckily, a lot of the guys who may miss out on the next World Cup are part of this series.”It’s time for Laxman to catch his flight to Chennai to meet this next generation of Indian talent. He signs a few autographs, poses for photographs with the Centre of Excellence ground as the backdrop, and as he exits, he asks: “I’ve given y’all three years worth of quotes, haven’t I?”He sure did. And as was the case most times in his career, he couldn’t have timed it better.

How dynamic yet pragmatic methods have built a legacy and delivered results

Sidharth Monga13-Nov-20220:30

Buttler: Over the past few years we haven’t played it safe

In knockout team sport, not always does the better team or the ideal way of playing prevail. Thirty years ago, England were the futuristic ODI side with 11 first-class centurions in their playing XI without sacrificing the quality of the bowling, they were more consistent too, but they were undone by two pieces of genius in the final. At the same venue against a team riding a similar emotional wave and with genius bowlers in its arsenal in 2022, England, the side with the better method, prevailed.England’s comprehensive wins against two Asian sides in the two knockout matches were a vindication of the template of T20 cricket. ‘Template’ is a term cricketers are not a fan of. It is understandable because they adapt to different conditions and match situations every day. Template makes them sound like robots, but there is a method or structure or philosophy to every team, and England’s is truest to T20 cricket.Once we have the ideal resources available in terms of efficient hitters – perhaps a decade or more down the line – an ideal T20 XI will look a little like this: hitters through the line-up, one batter who can arrest a collapse, batters who can bowl both spin and pace, a legspinner or a mystery spinner, and some high pace. In other words, a line-up similar to the ones England have been playing, and did in this World Cup.Related

• England have the most bases covered in T20. It's no surprise they won the World Cup

• 'England have created a new set of rules in white-ball cricket'

• Sam Curran, England's unassuming superstar, delivers at the death in style

• Ben Stokes does it again – and surprises no one

• The beginning of the Buttler era

To T20 “purists” – or hipsters, depending on your outlook – this result is confirmation that the shorter the format gets the less say the bowling has. That if batting makes the more significant impact on the results, it is better to stack your side with players likely to get you that advantage.In the final, Naseem Shah bowled a beautiful spell, inducing 16 false responses – ten in 12 balls at one point – but got no wicket and went at a rate higher than the scoring rate in the match. A good ball or spell in T20 doesn’t draw the same amount of respect or correlation with the results as it does in longer formats. Adil Rashid is rightly recognised as one of the best bowlers in this tournament but he has only four wickets to show for it. This World Cup is being celebrated for the bowling quality and helpful pitches, but runs have been scored at a faster rate in this tournament than they were in last year’s edition in the UAE.By no stretch was England’s bowling attack sexy, to borrow the word that Indian coach Rahul Dravid almost used to describe Pakistan’s bowling, but it didn’t need to be. Jos Buttler said after the win that their bowling needed to improve coming into the tournament. What their bowling needed to do was to find a way to be efficient, which they certainly did.England’s personnel have changed, but the philosophy and results haven’t•ICC via Getty ImagesIn a tournament supposed to be all about powerplay wickets, England bowlers averaged the worst in that period. Sam Curran, the Player of the Tournament for his 13 wickets, picked up nine of them at the death. It was all about denial without being defensive. In Adelaide, they bowled full to discourage hits to the short square boundaries, in Melbourne they went short to use the big square ones.None of their bowlers went searching for wickets because they knew if they denied the batters for long enough, the wickets would come. Even if they don’t, you need to deny them only for 20 overs. Rashid said he only goes searching for wickets in T20 when he has a small total to defend or not enough support. They had enough depth and efficiency in the bowling to be able to force mistakes without having to buy them. They also had the batting that was equipped to and believed in going one run better.Perhaps the biggest window into how England play T20 was provided just before the semi-final against India. While all other teams talked about assessing quickly what a par total was, Buttler said he didn’t believe in the concept of par totals. “It’s about the winning score,” Buttler said.England don’t blindly hit out, but whenever they are in a situation where being conservative and aggressive has equal merits, they take the aggressive route. That is because they equip themselves with batters who can do that. When Dawid Malan got injured, they didn’t go around looking for another anchor but brought in Phil Salt, whose strike rate in T20 cricket is above 150.England used Moeen Ali down the order to have an experienced batter should it get tight. Ben Stokes was used as the batter who could arrest collapses even though his ideal position might be inside the powerplay. Other than that, Buttler and Alex Hales didn’t believe in preserving wickets or setting up platforms. You go, go, go, and it will have to be a really unlucky day for it to not come off if enough batters just go for it.It shows in their selections, which trickles down to domestic cricket. Their T20 sides value speed over consistency, in other words, T20 specialists. Once you see that kind of player getting the backing in national sides, domestic sides follow, and the message to those learning cricket is that if they want to play T20 cricket for England, they need to bat like Buttler, Jonny Bairstow, Hales and Liam Livingstone.It also involves being okay with the odd collapse that doesn’t give their bowlers any hope. However, the frequency of those collapses tends to come down once the batters have the backing. They try to hit the ceiling for those conditions. Even in the final, with almost all of the 80,000 in attendance getting behind the Pakistan attack, they didn’t look to absorb the pressure. They kept hitting, got ahead of the asking rate, and only Stokes played the anchor role.The day England lost to Bangladesh in Adelaide in 2015 and were knocked out of that 50-over World Cup, they drew a line in the sand. Since then, this method has taken them to the knockout stages of all five white-ball ICC events. They have won two, been runners-up once, and ended as losing semi-finalists twice. This is remarkable consistency in this era of professionalism and competitive teams. They have won this one without two of their first-choice bowlers in Jofra Archer and Mark Wood, and without Bairstow. The personnel have changed, but the philosophy and results haven’t.Not only are these results building a legacy, but it is also satisfying to see this method being rewarded through results. It might lead some of the other teams to move into the T20 era.

His all-round contributions go under the radar but he is highly prized if you go by the impact he has in every match

ESPNcricinfo stats team10-Sep-2020The average IPL fan may not pick Shane Watson among their top three players of all time in the IPL, but he does lay a strong claim to that status. He has been the Most Valued Player in the IPL twice; he has more hundreds than most other batsmen in the tournament, barring Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli; and, as the 2018 IPL final showed, Watson has a habit of turning up for the big games. Yet he may not spring to mind as an obvious candidate for the top three because his contributions are often split across batting and bowling and do not always come with the spectacle of a traditional milestone of a hundred or a five-for.While it is not unusual to give the Man-of-the-Match award to a hundred or a five-for in a winning cause in the longer formats, it is often a fall-back option in T20 cricket when there’s no immediately obvious match-turning effort to reward. The rarity of hundreds and fifers increases their perceived value in T20s. They are often not the most influential contributions in a match. ESPNcricinfo’s Smart Stats looks beyond these conventional notions to credit performances that are truly impactful in the context of the match.According to Smart Stats, Watson has had the highest impact by any player on the outcome of a match on 23 different occasions in the IPL – eight more than the 15 Man-of-the-Match awards he has won. With one such stellar effort in roughly every six games, Watson is the third-most impactful player of the IPL.ESPNcricinfo LtdThe graphic lists Watson’s top five highest impact performances in the IPL, according to Smart Stats. While the top four are instances where Watson was also the official Player of the Match, the fifth was overshadowed by a century from Kohli, who was also the official Player of the Match. Smart Stats identifies this instance among the eight matches in which Watson has played a bigger role than any other player.In this Royal Challengers Bangalore match against Rising Pune Supergiants in 2016, Kohli’s Batting Impact was comfortably greater than anyone else’s, but Watson’s all-round impact was greater than Kohli’s. In an innings in which nearly every other bowler went for ten runs an over, Watson bowled four overs for 24, taking the wickets of Ajinkya Rahane, MS Dhoni and George Bailey during the challenging 16th and 19th overs. Watson’s impact with the ball in the match was valued at 121, almost 20% more than the bowler with the next highest impact. With the bat, Watson hit a quick 13-ball 36 and his impact with the bat was valued at 87 – second-highest after Kohli’s. However, Watson’s Total Impact in the match of 208 (Batting Impact + Bowling Impact) comfortably beat Kohli’s.ESPNcricinfo LtdPlaying for Rajasthan Royals in 2014, against Kolkata Knight Riders in Ahmedabad, Watson’s triple strikes derailed the chase in the 15th over, but it was spinner Pravin Tambe who got the Player-of-the-Match award for his hat-trick in the 16th. Chasing 171, KKR were cruising at 121 without loss when Watson dismissed the openers, Gautam Gambhir and Robin Uthappa, on 65 and 54, respectively, and then Andre Russell (admittedly not yet the power-hitting giant he was to become). These important wickets turned the tide of the game. Add Watson’s 31 off 20 balls to it to get a Total Impact in the match of 145, which was comfortably ahead of Tambe’s 114.Such all-round efforts tend to be overlooked when we size up Watson’s claim as one of the all-time IPL greats. That is not to say that Watson hasn’t had his own share of match-winning efforts that have grabbed our attention, but Smart Stats takes into account these not very obvious, yet telling, contributions to rate Watson at No. 3 in the all-time list of the most impactful players in the IPL.

Max Kepler started in left field for the Philadelphia Phillies and went 2-for-4 with a home run and a double. The strong performance at the plate came a short time after manager Rob Thomson had to explain why he was even in the lineup to the Philadelphia media.

According to Thomson, he had told his outfielders that they would be a platoon for six days which is why Kepler was in left on Tuesday while Weston Wilson and Harrison Bader, who both hit home runs in Monday's game, were out of the lineup tonight.

That opened the door for Kepler to hit his first home run since June 22nd a day after Bader hit his first home run as a Phillie.

Kepler talked about his struggles during a rare postgame interview and joked that "the boos are their love language" when asked about Phillies fans.

The Phillies acquired Harrison Bader at the trade deadline form the Minnesota Twins.

The United States national baseball team will soon include one of the game's brightest young stars.

Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. intends to play for Team USA in the 2026 World Baseball Classic, he told MLB Network Thursday morning. Witt, 25, won the American League batting title and was the league's MVP runner-up in 2024.

"Being a part of that team a couple years ago was amazing, now we want to bring home the gold," Witt said.

Witt played sparingly for the American squad in 2023—a team that made the final before losing to Japan in the consensus greatest international game ever played. He had better luck in the 2018 U-18 Pan-American championships in Panama, which saw him hit for the cycle in the final.

In 80 games this season, Witt is slashing .282/.338/.484 with 10 home runs and 40 RBIs. His 27 doubles and 197 assists lead all of baseball.

Witt will join a squad captained by reigning AL MVP and New York Yankees right fielder and designated hitter Aaron Judge.

Another day, another baseball play we’ve never seen before.

Miami Marlins catcher Nick Fortes wanted to swing with two strikes against him in the bottom of the sixth inning against the Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday night. But after starting his swing, he tried to pull back, a move which would result in a strike or a ball depending on the umpire’s call 9,999 times out of 10,000.

But somehow, Fortes’s check swing turned into a grounder, as the 93-mph heater miraculously made contact with the knob of his bat and redirected the dribbling ball into the infield.

He didn't realize the ball was in play, waiting a moment to see what happened before he ran to first. While Fortes was thrown out at first, but the runners on first and second advanced a bag on the fielder's choice—they both later came in to score.

You can watch the wild sequence and heads-up play from Phillies third baseman Alec Bohm here:

You can file that away in your things you don't see every day folder.

The Marlins and Phillies are in the midst of a four-game weekday series at loanDepot Park in Miami. The Phillies took the first game of the series 5-2 on Monday.

Rajat Patidar has been handed Madhya Pradesh’s all-format captaincy ahead of the 2025-26 domestic season that begins with the Ranji Trophy on October 15.Patidar got the job to replace Shubham Sharma after getting from MP director of cricket Chandrakant Pandit. It’s understood that the Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association was keen on an expanded role for Patidar following his recent success.The 32-year-old Patidar was first trialled as captain during the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy last season after he had spoken to Pandit over a similar possibility arising in the IPL with Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). He was given the job and repaid the faith by leading MP to the final, where they lost to Mumbai.Related

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Patidar has since led RCB to their maiden IPL title and recently helmed Central Zone to a title win in the Duleep Trophy, for the first time since 2014-15.Last week, Patidar led a strong Rest of India (RoI) squad, comprising big names like Ishan Kishan, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Abhimanyu Easwaran – all state captains – at the Irani Cup in Nagpur, where they lost to Vidarbha by 93 runs.He made 529 runs in 11 innings at an average of 48.09 in the 2024-25 Ranji Trophy season, with one hundred and two half-centuries. This was the second-highest runs tally for MP that season, behind Shubham’s 943 runs at 104.77.Patidar has been in excellent form already this season, hitting two centuries and three half-centuries in seven innings. One of his hundreds was in the final of the Duleep Trophy that helped Central Zone set up a massive first-innings lead, and eventually a six-wicket win, over South Zone.MP open their Ranji Trophy campaign with a home game against Punjab in Indore. The Ranji season will be played across two phases – the first will be played from October 15 to November 19, before the season takes a break for the white-ball tournaments. The second leg will be played from January 22 to February 1 next year, with the knockouts from February 6 to 28.