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Leeds United’s transfer spending last summer went somewhat under the radar, particularly compare with fellow promoted side Sunderland.

Sunderland’s £162m total very much ended up trumping Leeds’ £98m, with the Black Cats now sitting pretty in the Premier League pile in eighth spot off the back of such a lavish summer.

Daniel Farke’s men will still feel largely pleased with their own activity, though, as the German arguably now has Leeds’ best bargain since Pablo Hernandez at his disposal, as he tries to guide the Whites away from relegation danger.

This is some statement to make, considering Hernandez was purchased for nothing after an initial loan stint, which ultimately led to him becoming a promotion hero in West Yorkshire.

Why Hernandez was a great bargain for Leeds

The Spanish attacking midfielder might well have eventually become synonymous with Marcelo Bielsa’s whirlwind reign at the club, but he was first purchased when Garry Monk still occupied the Elland Road helm.

His first season, on loan from Al Arabi, saw the former number 19 pick up six goals and eight assists as Leeds narrowly missed out on the second-tier playoffs. This would trigger a permanent move on a free transfer, and would ultimately lead to a match made in heaven with Bielsa, come the start of the 2018/19 season.

Across his two seasons in the EFL’s elite division under the iconic ex-Leeds boss, the former-Valencia playmaker would turn into a “silent leader” – as Bielsa once affectionately labelled him – with a jaw-dropping 42 goal contributions mustered up in league action alone.

18 of those would seal Leeds’ triumphant promotion at the close of the 2019/20 campaign, with this unfortunately proving to be the one-time free agent’s peak at Elland Road, as he would only ever amass two assists in the Premier League for his beloved side.

Still, in the words of journalist Phil Hay in 2021, Hernandez is considered “the best signing of the last 20 years” from a Leeds persuasion, and it’s hard to disagree, in an age where money is thrown about recklessly on some notable flops.

That said, at long last, there is a player in Farke’s current ranks who could be deemed the best bargain since the Spaniard’s memorable stay.

Leeds' best bargain since Hernandez

Leeds were fortunate to be in the right place at the right time to snap up Hernandez, with 167 career games in La Liga under his belt, before moving to England, showing off a star with some clear pedigree next to his name.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin, entering the ranks in the summer on a free transfer, had this same energy attached, with the Sheffield-born centre-forward once valued at the £60m range when powering home goals frequently for Everton. Pundit Tony Cascarino once even labelled the injury-prone striker as being “unplayable” on his day. Safe to say he looks a little bit like that now in Leeds colours.

Before joining up with Farke’s camp, the 6-foot-2 striker had a respectable 57 Premier League strikes to shout about, but with his last few seasons with the Toffees seeing plenty of injury issues come to the surface, and only three league goals coming his way all across last campaign, the plug was pulled on his Goodison Park adventure.

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Everton’s loss is now, very clearly, Leeds’ gain, with the 11-time England international already being showered with the same levels of praise Hernandez regularly received in West Yorkshire, as his new manager now even boldly labels him as one of “the league’s best” attackers on his day, which makes the decision to bring in him for nothing look even more like an absurd masterstroke.

DCL’s numbers for Leeds

Stat

DCL

Games played

15

Goals

5

Assists

0

Wage

£100k-per-week

Wage costs over the year

£5.2m

Sourced by Transfermarkt/Capology

Calvert-Lewin is already five goals down wearing Leeds white with the lofty attacker proving to be a vital fox-in-the-box presence for Farke and Co, having now scored across four consecutive league appearances as the Premier League newcomers have picked up one win and two draws.

This red-hot form makes his wage costs of £5.2m over a full year feel like a splurge worth making, with his goalscoring form potentially keeping Leeds up at the first time of asking, undoubtedly making him the best bargain signed off on since Hernandez’s promotion-winning exploits.

Farke will just hope he can remain fit for the rest of the season to come, as he has already become a crucial first-team presence, when he was once viewed as a gamble to bring in.

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Scorecard

Liam Davis grabbed his opportunity, making 116 for the Warriors © Getty Images

Liam Davis outshone his more-fancied top-order colleagues with a century in his second match but Doug Bollinger’s five wickets helped New South Wales fight back late on the first day in Sydney. Davis, a late addition to the side, posted 116 and at the close Western Australia had 6 for 312, with Marcus North unbeaten on 13 and Aaron Heal (2) falling on the final delivery.The Warriors were well on top at 2 for 278 when a late rally from Bollinger with the new ball changed the situation significantly. Bollinger collected three wickets in five overs, the first of which was Davis lbw, ending a five-hour innings that would never have happened but for Shaun Marsh’s late withdrawal with a hamstring injury.Bollinger then grabbed a return catch to send back Adam Voges, who had made 84 and combined with Davis in a 153-run stand, and added Luke Pomersbach (10) to his collection. His 5 for 69 catapulted him to the top of this season’s Pura Cup wicket tally and he now has 39 at 14.35 from only six matches.But not even Bollinger could stop Davis, 23, from registering his maiden first-class century, which came up with a six over square leg off the medium-pacer Greg Mail. He opened with Australia’s latest Test recruit, Chris Rogers, whose return to state duties ended when was caught behind off Bollinger for 16.Another former Test opener, Justin Langer, then joined Davis and the pair added 94 for the second wicket. Langer (54) was Bollinger’s second victim but Davis kept the runs coming and ensured that even allowing for Bollinger’s heroics, the Warriors would have a healthy total to defend.

Sixteen members of the National Security Guards (NSG), who look after VIP security in India, will cover the Indian team © Getty Images

Elite commandos are being flown to the Caribbean to provide security for the Indian team at the World Cup, media reports said on Friday.Sixteen members of the National Security Guards (NSG), who look after VIP security in India, will cover the team during the 48-day tournament, the reports said.Security officers have in the past carried out pre-tour checks in various countries where the Indian team was due to play, but this is the first time Indian commandos will be deployed to protect the players.”The decision, taken early this week by the government, comes after a security assessment that terror groups could target the Indian team, which was followed by a formal request from the West Indies,” said the .According to the newspaper, an Indian security assessment said “there were chances of terror groups targeting the tournament, particularly at venues where the Indian team is slated to play. The matter was taken up with the Caribbean authorities, who felt such elaborate security cover may not be possible without assistance.”The newspaper quoted government sources as saying that West Indian officials indicated they did not have the expertise to deal with such terror threats and urged India to help “as the Indian team was identified as a prime target.”The commandos will be located in Jamaica, where India play warm-up matches, and in Trinidad, where the team’s preliminary matches will be held, the paper added. Meanwhile, the Indian board said it had not received any information about the government’s decision to provide the NSG cover to the team. “Security issues are decided by the government taking into account the scenario at the venue. The BCCI had not made any specific request,” BCCI vice-president Rajeev Shukla told PTI.”Till now we have not received any intimation from the government. Past security issues in the West Indies could have prompted the government to ensure that the team is guarded well,” Shukla added.Two senior players, Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly, already have NSG cover in India following threats to their life from militant groups.

You won’t be seeing this signal during the ODIs between Pakistan and Sri Lanka. © Getty Images

The Pakistan and Sri Lankan cricket boards have reached an agreement not to use the Supersub rule during their upcoming three-match one-day series from March 17.The bilateral decision has been made after a recommendation made by the International Cricket Council (ICC) chief executives last month in Dubai that the trial of the Supersub playing condition should be discontinued.”Pakistan and Sri Lanka believe that as the Supersub experimental rule is going to be discontinued from later this month,” said an official of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). “There is no purpose using it in the coming series. Many other countries have also taken such bilateral decisions in their matches.”David Richardson, ICC’s general manager, said that the Supersub rule had not achieved what it set out to deliver. “The intention of Sunil Gavaskar and the panel of former players on the ICC Cricket Committee, which recommended the trial of this playing condition, was to encourage teams to make greater use of allrounders in the ODI game,” he said. “In practice, teams have elected to nominate a specialist player as the substitute and this is placing undue importance on winning the toss. There is no desire to create a situation where 12 players are used to do the job of 11 so we did not support the alternate view of allowing substitutes to be nominated after the toss. The proposal that the playing condition should be discontinued has been endorsed by the CEC and will now go to the Board for ratification.”If the board accepts this recommendation, the Supersub playing condition will no longer apply to series that start after 21 March 2006.

If Rahul Dravid strutted his stuff on the first day, then it wasthe turn of Younis Khan and Yousuf Youhana to show just what theywere capable of on the second. Dravid was rarely troubled duringhis knock, and today it was the same story with Youhana andYounis ­ both achieved in-control percentages of more than 80,with Youhana¹s (86) being marginally higher than Younis¹s(82.24).They complemented each other wonderfully too ­ if Younis favouredthe off side, getting 77 of his runs on that side of the wicket,then Youhana¹s preferred zone was the leg side, which fetched him67 out of his 101 runs. Both picked on a region behind the stumpsto score the majority of their runs ­ for Younis it was thirdman, while Youhana chose fine leg.Running them ragged
The other feature of their stand was theiroutstanding running between the wickets ­ 62 out of their 203runs were scored in singles, and 18 of them came in the arcbetween backward point and extra cover, most of them the resultof soft hands, excellent placement and fine judgement. A wicketearly on the third day, and the Indians can at least be sure thatthe next pair will be unlikely to steal these cheeky singles.

ScorecardA blistering century by Justin Langer, along with an unbeaten 117 from Chris Rogers, steered Western Australia to a record win over Queensland in the day-night ING Cup match at the WACA.Langer reached his hundred in 75 deliveries, just one ball more than the record jointly held Stuart Law and Brad Haddin. Meanwhile, WA’s seven-wicket win went down in history as the highest run-chase at the WACA.The victory means WA are now two games clear at the top of the table, while Queensland slipped to fifth after South Australia’s defeat of Tasmania.Martin Love appeared to have given Queensland the upper hand after he struck 110 off 97 deliveries with eight boundaries and a six. Love, batting at No. 3, was the rock around which the innings was built. James Hopes provided some big hitting towards the end with 46 off 37 balls.WA’s chase started slowly, but Ryan Campbell, who snared three catches in the Queensland innings, soon got the score ticking over. But he was dismissed for 23 in the seventh over, and John Taylor, promoted to No. 3, followed him back to the pavilion in the next over.Langer came to the crease with the score on 42 for 2 and he raced to a half-century from 46 deliveries, and needed only 29 more balls to reach three figures.However, the reintroduction of Michael Kasprowicz to the attack resulted in Langer’s dismissal, and that slowed the innings dramatically.Only 41 runs were scored off the next 11 overs as Chris Rogers continued to play the sheet-anchor role and Murray Goodwin took time to find his feet. The pair picked up the rate in the 40th over with 11 runs, and followed that with 10 to reduce the asking rate down to under five an over with nine overs remaining.Rogers brought up his 100 in the 43rd over with a crashing square-drive and Goodwin finished on 43 not out as they completed the chase in the 47th over.

New Zealand’s stature on the world cricket stage continues to rise after Daryl Tuffey broke into the top 10 on the PricewaterhouseCoopers rankings after the second Test victory in Hamilton.Having twice dismissed Sachin Tendulkar in the Test and ending with eight for 53, he shot ahead of Shane Bond into ninth position on the ladder.Bond slipped down to 12th, two ahead of injured all-rounder Chris Cairns.Since the PwC rankings, or the Deloittes rating as they were originally known when developed in the late-1980s, this represents one of the more encouraging developments in the New Zealand game.Sir Richard Hadlee was always a top-ranked bowler, and in his prime he had close support from Ewen Chatfield and John Bracewell. But with New Zealand holding its third placing on the International Cricket Council Test Championship ladder, it is growing confirmation of the improved health and resources of the New Zealand game.Not since Hadlee, and several players who had been a vital part of the New Zealand game, retired in 1990 has there been the strength and depth to the national side that is reflected at the moment.

Debutatant Arijit Bose’s century and a swashbuckling innings of 128 byskipper Devang Gandhi placed Bengal in a commanding position in theirRanji Trophy tie against Tripura at the Eden Gardens today. Bengalfinsihed the day at 333 for the loss of three wickets in reply toTripura’s first innings score of 170. The aim of the Bengal team is topile on another 150 runs by lunch tomorrow and then put Tripura intobat again.However, Devang Gandhi played a more cavalier knock, the talk of theday was Bose’s innings. The 22 -year cricketer, who started playingthe game quite late is incidentally the son of the former India openerGopal Bose. Gopal Bose had played a couple of unofficial Tests for thecountry. Arijit, however, is quite different from his father in thesense that he is a left hander. More than the runs he scored it wasthe way he played the innings. The Tripura bowling had nothing reallyto offer. But even then Arijit Bose played with a lot of composure.The hallmark of his innings was the amount of time that he had to playhis shots. His innings of 101 was marked with lovely drives throughthe cover. At times, he showed that he was ready even to hit the ballover the fielders. He finally fell, caught at point by Gourpada Banikof the bowling off medium pacer Rajiv DevBurman. He tried to drive aball away from his body and as a result spooned it to point. But bythen he had scored 101 in 184 balls with 15 fours. After the end ofthe day’s play Bose said, “On Sunday, when I first went down to bat, Idid not feel any pressure. Today however, pressure got to me. As Idesperately wanted to reach three figures.”Gandhi’s innings on the other hand was expected. He has changed hisstance and now does not straighten up as he used to do last year.Against a mediocre Tripura bowling, it was expected that he wouldscore runs. He reached his 100 cutting off-spinner Sujit Roy to thepoint boundary. At the end of the day he was unbeaten on 128 with 16boundaries and three sixes. The last one was the best as he hit ChetanSachdev for huge blow over mid wicket.Rohan Gavaskar however, disappointed. He looked very patchy. Maybe,the slowness of the pitch affected his batting as he has been used tobatting on harder tracks in Mumbai. He holed out at cover after beingbogged down for quite sometime off Sachdev. At the end of the day,Saba karim, was keeping Devang company on 11.

Jack Pitt-Brooke has revealed that Tottenham Hotspur are now eyeing four major signings this summer.

The Lowdown: Champions League uncertainty

Spurs are not guaranteed to finish in the UEFA Champions League places this season, given that they are currently three points behind fourth-placed Arsenal, who have a game in hand on their North London rivals.

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It would be more difficult to attract the calibre of player that they would want should they miss out, and they could also potentially lose some of their best players, with the likes of Harry Kane now being linked to big-spenders Newcastle United.

The Latest: Four signings eyed

Writing in his latest piece for The Athletic, Lilywhites journalist Pitt-Brooke has revealed that Antonio Conte’s team are now looking to make four major signings in the summer.

They reportedly want to bring in a new left-sided central defender, two wing-backs, and a back-up to Kane.

The Verdict: Exciting

It is certainly exciting for THFC fans that they seem to be looking to go on a spending spree this summer.

The likes of Omar Marmoush and Lautaro Martinez have been linked as striker options, while Ben Davies could become more of a squad member next season, meaning that a more natural centre-back will likely take his position on the left of a three-man defence.

Djed Spence has been strongly linked with filling in the right wing-back position at Tottenham, while at left wing-back, Sergio Reguilon has not always been in favour under Conte.

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Nonetheless, it could be a new-look Spurs side built in Conte’s image by the end of the summer transfer window, which should surely excite the Lilywhites faithful.

In other news, find out who THFC have now held talks over signing here!

	Not gone yet: Adam Gilchrist will still be thrashing the ball in April during the IPL © Getty Images

Adam Gilchrist’s retirement from international cricket will be short-lived after he confirmed he would appear in the Indian Premier League in India during April. Gilchrist will step down from Australian duties in March, but will be back in action for the lucrative Twenty20 series.”I’m signed up like most of our players have,” he said. “I see that as an amazing entertainment package.”Eleven players contracted to Cricket Australia have IPL deals, but the Test team is due to be in Pakistan when the tournament begins. The crowded schedule no longer bothers Gilchrist and he will be free to take part alongside Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath, his fellow retirees.The new format has grown on Gilchrist, who was a reluctant Twenty20 participant when it was first played internationally four years ago. “I was a bit of a traditionalist,” he said, “and wasn’t so sure about this short version of the game.”But over time, and having played more of it and seen the way it works, I’ve realised it’s an important part of the cricket structure now. It is entertainment and I feel like I’ve tried to be entertaining all through my career, but I’ve done the real serious hard yards and enjoyed that and loved all the sweat and the tears and the laughter.”While the huge sums of money being reported will add to Gilchrist’s retirement package, he is also excited to be involved in the innovative concept. “I hear guys talk about World Series Cricket and how exciting it was to be a part of that,” he said. “I see this IPL situation being very similar to that. Who knows where it could grow to? To be part of that founding group would be a huge thrill.”