Wolverhampton Wanderers are "in talks" with West Ham United over their leftback Aaron Cresswell, with the deal described as a "goer", according to Sky Sports reporter Dharmesh Sheth.

Is Aaron Cresswell joining Wolverhampton Wanderers?

It hasn't quite been the transfer window that fans of the Old Gold would have been hoping for this year.

The club are yet to make a major signing, with the only significant business at all being the sale of first-team players, none bigger than club captain and talisman Ruben Neves, who was sold for £47m last month.

The lack of spending stems from the club's concern over their ability to remain within the Premier League's profit and loss regulations after years of splashing the cash for little in return.

The regulations are clear that a club in the top flight cannot lose more than £105m over three years, with the punishment for doing so ranging from simple fines to points deductions.

According to The Athletic, Wolves aren't currently expected to breach the regulations, but if they repeat last summer's £100m spend, they would easily cross the line.

So, this summer, the West Midlands side will likely be spending much less on transfers, and the latest player linked to the club fits that bill, West Ham's Cresswell.

According to the Daily Mail, Wolves are keen to bring the player to Molineux, and the Hammers would be willing to let their man leave for as little as £2.5m.

Sky Sports reporter Dharmesh Sheth explained the situation live on Sky Sports News (via Football Daily), saying:

"They're also in talks, we're told, with West Ham United over their leftback Aaron Cresswell. He's entered the final year of his contract, he made 24 starts in the Premier League last season. But he wasn't in the starting eleven, and he was an unused substitute for the Europa Conference League final victory against Fiorentina last month.

"That one could be a goer because the talks are ongoing between the two clubs over Cresswell."

Did Aaron Cresswell have a good season last year?

It was a good season for the 33-year-old last year, as despite being an unused substitute for the Europa Conference League final, he was given plenty of game time during the Premier League campaign, starting 24 matches and coming off the bench on four other occasions.

According to WhoScored, he averaged a respectable rating of 6.61 across his 28 appearances, created one assist for his team and maintained a passing accuracy of 81.4%.

His underlying numbers, while nothing spectacular, demonstrate that, even at his age, he can perform at a high level.

According to FBref, who compare players in a similar position across Europe's top five leagues, he sits in the top 11% for progressive passes, the top 15% for shot-creating actions, the top 20% for expected assists, and the top 29% for attempted passes, all per 90.

One man who is certainly a fan of the Liverpool-born defender is former England goalkeeper Paul Robinson who, when speaking to Football Insider, said:

"Cresswell is an amazing player. Consistency is the word with him. You know what you are going to get week in, week out. He never lets the team down.

"It is just unfortunate for him that England have got so much strength in that position with the likes of Luke Shaw and Ben Chilwell.

"He has been the unsung hero at West Ham over the past couple of seasons."

While he definitely wouldn't be a flash or glitzy signing for the Old Gold, he would undoubtedly be a massive asset to the squad if the fee is only £2.5m; that seems like an excellent deal for a team unable to spend big this summer.

Everton's Dele Alli has an "uphill task trying to get into a Sean Dyche team" this season, as the former England international has yet to do anything in Merseyside that "suggests he deserves much of a chance in the team", claims journalist Paul Brown.

Everton transfer news – what's the latest on Dele Alli?

To say Dele's time at Everton has been a disaster would be an understatement.

The idea behind the transfer, if a little bit hopeful, was at least solid. Had it worked out, the former Spurs man would have had a platform to rediscover his form and the Toffees, for their part, would have a player that, at times in his career, has shown near enough world-class talent.

Ultimately though, it hasn't worked, and now Dyche and Co appear stuck with a player that looks like he doesn't want to be there and is still on a hefty £100,000-a-week for another year.

The former Burnley boss did speak positively about Dele in April this year, however, saying:

"I just got a sense that he wants to be back playing football and playing well."

While that may be true, the club have a serious decision about whether they will persist with the 27-year-old as a clause in his contract stipulates that Everton must pay Tottenham Hotspur an additional £10m should he reach 20 appearances. He is currently on 13.

What has Paul Brown said about Dele Alli's potential return to Everton?

Brown was blunt in his assessment of Alli's chances of saving his career whilst at Everton, explaining that he has shown the Toffees no reason to expect a resurgence in form from the former Spurs man.

Speaking to Football FanCast, he said: "Nothing that he's done in an Everton shirt since he's been there suggests that he deserves much of a chance in the team. If he comes back and he's suddenly on fire in training. Great, you know, I'm sure Dyche will look at that and make a decision.

"But I just think that the cold hard financials of it are that it just isn't really isn't in Everton's interest to be playing Dele Alli. He hasn't really given them any calls at the moment to get him in there. So I think he's got an uphill task trying to get into a Sean Dyche team."

How good was Dele Alli at his best?

It has been a dramatic fall from grace for the former MK Dons man, with last year's loan spell to Besiktas being perhaps the lowest point in his career thus far.

It starkly contrasts his first few Premier League seasons for Mauricio Pochettino's Tottenham. The 2015/16 season saw him truly burst onto the scene, starting 28 games for the North London side, scoring ten goals and providing another nine assists. It was around this time the Argentinian hailed him as "quality" and a player with "fantastic potential."

It was the year after, however, when he somehow found another level and threatened to become the best player in the league at certain points. It was this campaign when he scored a ridiculous 18 league goals and produced another seven assists.

It begs the question, could Dele get even close to these numbers again in the right environment? It could be a possibility, but with the performances he's put in over the last few years, Everton might well be better off just cutting ties at this point.

Pakistan’s new Test captain Sarfraz Ahmed believes filling Misbah-ul-Haq’s shoes will be a difficult task, but is counting on senior players to help Pakistan continue to move forward

Osman Samiuddin06-Jul-20173:59

Bazid: Sarfraz is first name on team sheet

The hardest part, Sarfraz Ahmed might reasonably think, is over. Becoming Pakistan’s limited-overs captain always loomed as the greater challenge, given the depths to which they have fallen there. But he’s come through that with flying colours, the Champions Trophy win the icing on a captaincy record that currently reads 14 wins from 17 matches (ODIs and T20s).Taking over the Test captaincy, by comparison, should be easier, given it is a more successful, settled side. Except that it is here that expectations will be highest – Sarfraz, after all, has the shoes of Misbah-ul-Haq to fill, Pakistan’s most successful and longest-serving Test captain.”It will be very different to ODIs and T20s,” Sarfraz told ESPNcricinfo. “Misbah did so well for so long and he really built the side up, a side that had some great success and was very stable.”So it will be a real challenge to follow on from that. And Tests anyway are not easy. You need some serious patience. I will try and do as best as I can. I’ve had some success with the limited-overs captaincy and hope I can do likewise with the Tests.”The exits of Misbah himself, and his middle-order comrade Younis Khan, mean that Sarfraz will effectively be overseeing as big a transition as Pakistan have faced in Tests since 2010. Their retirement leaves the side considerably less stable and identifiable than it had hitherto been, a quandary Sarfraz recognises.”If you look at the Test side right now, there are only 4 or 5 players settled in the XI,” Sarfraz said. “Asad Shafiq, Azhar Ali, myself, Yasir Shah and now Amir. In the middle we used to have Misbah and Younis with whom we knew, whatever position we were in, they could get us out of it.”If you batted first, you knew with them that we could target 400. That gave a sense of comfort. Now we have players coming in, like Babar [Azam]. Asad will move up the order in Tests now. Azhar will be there. These guys are the type of guys I hope, I feel, can take Pakistan along like Misbah and Younis used to.”As the schedule currently stands, it will be some time before he really gets a chance to build the Test side. To the bounty of 2016-17 – they played 15 Tests between July 2016 and May 2017 – comes the drought this season. Pakistan have a Test series against Sri Lanka in October-November this year, and then nothing – for now – until a two-Test tour of England next summer.Continuity of selection, Sarfraz said, will be the theme even in those limited opportunities. “Whoever we get in to the Test side, we’ll try and take them along for the future and build a team around them. We want to give guys a full opportunity so that they if they tour once, we don’t just drop and forget them.”The other challenge will be an individual one. Wicketkeeper-batsmen leading their sides across all formats are not that uncommon anymore. But that doesn’t make the role any less burdensome. Sarfraz’s batting has more or less held firm since he established himself in the Test side in early 2014 but his glovework has oscillated: generally unblemished to pace but error-prone to spin.But, as Sarfraz pointed out, captaincy is something his batting and wicketkeeping have had to accommodate almost from the start of his professional career. “I’m probably one of the only players in Pakistan history who has captained from junior level all the way up,” he said. “I’ve captained at club level, U-19, in every format, at domestic also.”I’ve come step by step. When I became T20 captain, I was vice-captain first. When I became ODI captain, I was vice-captain. Now I’m Test captain, I was vice-captain. So of course this is a challenge but I’m prepared for it. My responsibilities have increased so I will have to work harder on my fitness but I’ve been working hard on the ‘keeping and batting as well.”

Ajinkya Rahane’s third ODI century and Kuldeep Yadav’s 3 for 50 helped India thrash West Indies by 105 runs in the second ODI in Port of Spain and take a 1-0 lead in the five-match series

The Report by Sidharth Monga25-Jun-2017
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Fifty overs. Forty-three overs. It doesn’t quite matter. India are a bot designed to score 300 and not too many more when batting first, which proved to be more than enough against the inexperienced West Indies batting. No team has scored as many 300s as India – 96 – and it was fitting that they took the lead by seamlessly recalibrating their approach in a rain-curtailed ODI.Ajinkya Rahane got to his third ODI century – the period approaching his hundred was the only slow spell in India’s innings, Shikhar Dhawan’s run continued with yet another half-century, and Virat Kohli knocked off an effortless 87 off 66. Shai Hope delayed the inevitable West Indies defeat with a fine 81, but once they had lost two wickets before the first run had been scored off a bat, further rain was their only ally. It was not to be.Early morning rain had left the pitch damp and the atmosphere heavy, ideal bowling conditions that prompted the hosts to invite India to bat. The conditions eventually didn’t turn out to be as treacherous as expected, but it didn’t help that West Indies’ new-ball bowlers never got their length right. They were either too short or too full, getting cut and pulled or driven with ease. There was also more intent from the India openers, who as a partnership have the best average among all pairs who have added at least 1500 runs together. Rahane got going with an upper-cut for a six, and Dhawan loved the driving practice given to him, off-driving Jason Holder for successive boundaries before pulling him for one more in the eighth over. India’s 63 in the first 10 overs was about 14 more than what has been their average since the 2015 World Cup.The busy scoring continued, especially given that Devendra Bishoo, who bowled well in the first match, struggled with his length. In Bishoo’s third over, Rahane picked up two boundaries to get into the 40s. He lost Dhawan immediately after, stumped off the offspin of Ashley Nurse for 63 off 59, but took over the dominant role as Kohli settled down. As in the first match, this was atypical of Rahane, who usually slows down after a quick start against the hard new ball. Here, as on Friday, he accelerated gradually after a sedate start.From 36 off 45, Rahane scored the next 50 runs in 40 balls, but slowed down near the hundred. The nerves were understandable. Here is a Test shoo-in who has struggled to cement a place in ODIs because he has failed to convert those quick starts on a regular basis. With KL Rahul nearing fitness, this chance, which has come through the rest given to Rohit Sharma, could be his last. You can understand Rahane wanted to grab it. He risked a run-out, he edged a cut, and the next 11 runs took 16 balls. He then laced a cover drive to bring up the hundred, but fell immediately after, looking to slog.Kohli, though, didn’t let the wickets slow India down. His acceleration was dramatic. He scored his final 50 runs in 25 balls. You could see he was struggling physically because of the high humidity, which is perhaps why there was an extra effort to set that solid base and concentrate on the swing of the bat and not the power. He didn’t over-hit any of his four sixes, but hit them so clean that he didn’t need to look up to see where they went. In the end, that lack of power did him in when he lofted an Alzarri Joseph slower ball to long-on in the penultimate over of the innings.If there were any doubts about India getting the 300, Holder put paid to them by bowling three beamers and a foot-fault no-ball in his last two overs. The extra deliveries and runs took India over, making it 99 runs in the last nine overs. The next 99 runs would take more than half the length of West Indies’ innings, and three wickets to boot.Bhuvneshwar Kumar started off bowling in areas where batsmen’s mistakes hurt them, taking two wickets in his first two overs. In the fourth over, Hope steered Umesh Yadav to score the first run off the bat. By the time he hit the first boundary of the innings, in the sixth over, the asking rate had crossed eight.Hope showed the promise he carries with a composed innings, but he alone was never going to be able to make up for the disastrous and a struggling Evin Lewis at the other end. One of the final acts of the match belonged to a man bowling for the first time in ODIs: Kuldeep Yadav had Lewis stumped off a wrong’un, and Hope lbw on the sweep moments after the batsman had hit him for a six over long-off. He later came back to have Holder stumped off another wrong’un to stamp out the last bit of resistance.

Newcastle United may look to consider furthering their interest in Chelsea midfielder Conor Gallagher following reports that the England international has been made available for transfer this summer.

Having finished fourth in the Premier League this year, the free-flowing Tyneside outfit have secured a return to Champions League football after two decades away, and the moves made on the transfer front since the lucrative PIF club takeover in 2021 have been nothing short of emphatic.

Manager Eddie Howe and technical director Dan Ashworth have hit the mark on almost every occasion, and knowing that the return to European football now demands first-rate acquisitions to retain this newfound stature has resulted in some stellar work this summer.

Sandro Tonali has arrived from AC Milan for £55m, while Harvey Barnes has joined the Toon ranks from Leicester City for a reported £38m; with the St. James' Park side starting to take shape, Gallagher could be a fine option to complete the squad ahead of an anticipated campaign.

Who wants to sign Conor Gallagher?

West Ham United have recently seen a £40m advance rebuffed by the Blues, despite claims that the 23-year-old has been deemed 'surplus to requirements'.

Speaking on the Ranks FC Ultras Podcast last week, journalist Dean Jones stated that Everton and Newcastle have both also tabled offers for Gallagher, and Howe could now decide to take things up a level following the recent revelations.

How would Conor Gallagher perform at Newcastle?

Some might consider a Magpies swoop for Gallagher unnecessary after the completion of the Tonali deal, but with the increase in competition that Champions League football will bring, it might prove to be a shrewd investment.

Especially when considering there is also now a newfound expectation for silverware, and as such Howe will seek for the best way to make progress in the FA Cup and Carabao Cup, claiming Newcastle's first slice of major silverware since 1969.

Gallagher might not have exhibited his best work last season with Chelsea, but the club were in such a staggering state of disarray that it was a tall order for anyone to flourish, and if his performances on loan at Crystal Palace the season prior are anything to go by, the Toon could sign a robust and "relentless" player – as he was hailed as by one analyst after his spell at Selhurst Park.

As per Sofascore, the seven-cap star recorded an average Premier League rating of 7.08 across the 21/22 campaign, scoring eight goals, completing 81% of his passes and averaging two tackles per game.

For comparison, Joelinton – who is the ace's most comparable player on FBref – scored six goals, completed 82% of his passes and averaged 2.2 tackles per match last year after an exemplary season.

Real Madrid prodigy Jude Bellingham is also listed as a similar player, ranking among the top 6% of midfielders across Europe's top five leagues over the past year for progressive passes, the top 8% for progressive carries, the top 1% for successful take-ons and the top 7% for blocks per 90.

There is certainly a semblance there to Gallagher's game, who ranks among the top 19% for progressive carries, the top 21% for successful take-ons and the top 4% for blocks per 90 – sure, not quite so impressive, but Gallagher has not demonstrated the best of his abilities at Stamford Bridge and given a clean slate on Tyneside, could raise such metrics even higher with a prominent role.

It's also worth remembering Bellingham is one of the most coveted talents in world football – evidenced by his recent £88.5m transfer to the Los Blancos fold, and the mere fact that Gallagher could be mentioned in the same breath is a testament to his own arsenal.

Once called a "manager's dream" by former Eagles boss Patrick Vieira, the £50k-per-week ace is seemingly at the end of the road in west London, and Howe could turn the key on his midfield construction and commence an auspicious new chapter at the club with his prospective signing.

Chelsea are still "following" Southampton midfielder Romeo Lavia for a summer move, however Brighton & Hove Albion's Moises Caicedo remains the "priority" target, according to transfer expert Fabrizio Romano.

Is Moises Caicedo signing for Chelsea?

Brighton manger Robert De Zerbi effectively proposed a swap deal involving Caicedo and Levi Colwill earlier this week, however Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino has made it clear the centre-back will not be put up for sale, recently saying:

“He is our player and he is going to continue with us. I am happy with him, his performance was good today, better than what I expected because it is only the first game with us after the season with Brighton. I am so happy, he can be one of the greatest centre-backs in England.”

As such, the Blues will have to match Brighton's asking price for the Ecuadorian midfielder if they are to sign him this summer, and journalist Dean Jones believes they will be willing to fork out £80m to get the deal over the line.

It is thought that the Seagulls would accept a bid in that region, but it also needs to be "topped up with add-ons, and Chelsea are now working on a deal of that nature, according to The Daily Mail.

The report also states that the 21-year-old has been assured he will be allowed to leave this summer, should a suitable bid be tabled.

Romano has now dropped an update on Chelsea's pursuit of Caicedo, while he also makes it clear that Lavia remains a potential target, telling CaughtOffside:

"Chelsea are also following the Lavia situation due to the connection with Joe Shields, one of the Chelsea directors, but it’s not linked to the Moises Caicedo deal. Caicedo remains the priority for Chelsea, but Shields had Lavia at Southampton and Manchester City, so he knows the player well and there is a good connection there."

How good is Romeo Lavia?

Lauded as an "absolute monster" by journalist Benjy Nurick, the central midfielder was a shining light in a poor Southampton side last season, averaging 2.1 tackles per game in the Premier League, the second-highest figure in the squad.

Over the past year, the 19-year-old has also displayed his defensive aptitude by averaging 1.90 blocks per 90, which places him in the 96th percentile compared to other players in his position.

The Saints are resigned to losing the Belgian youngster this summer, and they are hoping to receive a fee of £50m, which makes him a cheaper option than Caicedo, however there are doubts over whether he is at the same level as the Brighton midfielder.

Although he has been playing in a better side, the Ecuador international has averaged more tackles and interceptions per 90 than Lavia over the past year, while he has also recorded a far better pass-completion rate.

As such, it is the right call for Caicedo to remain Chelsea's priority midfield target, and they should only look to sign Lavia if they miss out on the Brighton star.

A new name has emerged as a reported transfer target for Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers ahead of the 2023/24 Scottish Premiership campaign…

What's the latest Celtic transfer news?

According to Ukrainian outlet FootballHub (via Sport Novyny), the Hoops are the leading contender to land Shakhtar Donetsk winger Tete during the summer transfer window.

The report claims that the Brazilian forward has requested a move away from the team as he would not like to return to Ukraine, after loan spells with Lyon and Leicester City over the last 18 months.

It does not state how much Shakhtar would demand for the 23-year-old ace's services or name any of the other sides in the race for his signature.

However, they may not have much leverage in negotiations as the player's contract with the club expires at the end of December later this year, which means that he will be a free agent when the January window opens for business.

How good is Tete?

Tete is a wide attacker with the potential to be the dream heir to Liel Abada, who has been linked with a £10m switch to the Premier League this summer, at Parkhead next season.

The Hoops head coach already knows all about the talented maestro as the Northern Irish tactician signed him for the Foxes at the start of 2023.

Rodgers hailed the gem's touch as "immaculate" and said: “Tete was what I have been talking about for 18 months – a right-winger that can take the ball, pass the ball, look after it, make runs and work.”

They were only able to work together for nine competitive matches, though, as the Foxes battled against relegation, which meant that Tete only contributed with one goal.

However, the £21k-per-week dynamo's form with Lyon in France suggests that the quality is there for him to be an excellent replacement for Abada, should the Israel international move on before the deadline.

The Brazil U23 international produced eight goals along with eight assists across 26 Ligue 1 outings, which meant that he averaged a goal contribution every 1.44 games on average.

Abada, meanwhile, scored ten goals and provided five assists in 34 Premiership matches, which works out to an average of one direct involvement every 2.27 outings.

The 21-year-old hotshot was Ange Postecoglou's third-top scorer in the league last term as only Kyogo Furuhashi (27) and Jota (10), who has since left to join Al Ittihad, found the back of the net more often than him.

His goalscoring talents make him an important member of Rodgers' squad, particularly after the former Benfica star's move to Saudi Arabia, and that is why signing a winger with the quality to offer a similar threat is important.

Therefore, Tete, who was once dubbed a "hurricane" by Shakhtar CEO Sergei Palkin, could be the dream heir to Abada as his form for Lyon indicates that the ability is there for him to be a regular scorer from a wide position.

The exciting 5 foot 9 talent could even be an upgrade on the Premier League transfer target due to his ability to assist goals more frequently from the right wing, as Jota (11) was the only Hoops winger with more than eight league assists last season.

Tete's pre-existing relationship with Rodgers, along with the manager's comments on him, also means that he could be able to hit the ground running due to his familiarity with the ex-Liverpool coach's style of play.

Chelsea head coach Mauricio Pochettino has made it clear he is after more players this summer, despite the Premier League heavyweights already spending close to £650m on new recruits in the past year.

Who are Chelsea looking to sign?

Speaking earlier this month, Pochettino stated that he intended to bring in more players who suited both his and Chelsea's philosophy. That came after the Blues had confirmed the arrivals of Christopher Nkunku and Nicolas Jackson for a combined £83.5m.

However, for all the money spent over the past three transfer windows under Todd Boehly, it must also be factored in that Chelsea have raised substantial cash through player sales – though not as much as they would have liked.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang became the latest big name to depart Stamford Bridge this week when joining Ligue 1 side Marseille, while the likes of Kalidou Koulibaly, Mateo Kovacic, N'Golo Kante, Kai Havertz, Mason Mount, Christian Pulisic and long-serving Cesar Azpilicueta have also left.

Brighton & Hove Albion midfielder Moises Caicedo remains Chelsea's priority target with a little under six weeks of the window to go, but another attacking player also appears to be on Pochettino's radar.

According to a report from Spain, Real Madrid star Federico Valverde is one of those being eyed up by the Blues, who are supposedly weighing up an offer of up to €130m (£112.5m) to make the versatile player to most expensive signing in their history.

How many positions can Federico Valverde play?

It is almost easier to list the positions Valverde cannot do a job in, having been used pretty much all over the field by Carlo Ancelotti in recent seasons.

The Uruguay international's favoured position is in central midfield, with the majority of his appearances coming there last season, as per WhoScored, but he can also play anywhere down the right-hand side.

Valverde's numbers may be skewed somewhat due to the fact he has operated in numerous positions, but he shares plenty of similarities with teammate Luka Modric when it comes to their playing styles.

Indeed, FBref's player comparison model ranks Modric as the player fourth-most like Valverde among those from across Europe's top five leagues. That gives a good indication of what the Uruguayan is all about – and it could be particularly good news for new signing Nkunku.

Valverde assisted four La Liga goals on top of the seven he scored last season. While that may not seem like a big amount of assists on the face of it, he is among the top 3% of midfielders when it comes to expected assisted goals.

That effectively means the quality of passes Asensio played should have resulted in more goals, which is something Nkunku could hugely benefit from next season and beyond.

Nkunku scored 16 Bundesliga goals for RB Leipzig last season from an expected goals return of 14.4, showing that the France international scored more goals than anticipated based on the quality of his chances.

Valverde is also in the top 20% of midfielders across Europe's elite leagues for shot-creating actions – which takes passes and take-ons leading up to a shot into consideration – meaning he likes to get involved high up the field.

As an all-rounder – or a "total player", as Uruguay boss Diego Alonso put it – Valverde would undoubtedly be a huge addition to Chelsea's squad, and would possibly be the ideal player to get the most out of Nkunku up top.

West Ham United "dream" of signing Fulham star Joao Palhinha this summer but it could be a very expensive deal, according to Fabrizio Romano.

Who will West Ham sign?

After selling former star midfielder Declan Rice to Arsenal, in a marquee deal worth £105 million (including £5 million in add-ons), West Ham are set to benefit from a huge financial windfall.

The agreement took time to be finalised, as there were delays in documentation from Arsenal's end, but Rice has now become the most expensive English player of all time – overtaking the price tags of Jack Grealish (Man City) and Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid).

It's now up to David Moyes' side to put that money to good use and invest in major signings. West Ham are also in dire need of an out-and-out replacement for Rice in midfield.

Juventus midfielder Denis Zakaria, Bayern Munich's Leon Goretzka, Man United's Scott McTominay, Chelsea ace Conor Gallagher and James Ward-Prowse of Southampton have all been linked with taking up the role recently.

Palhinha is also a player on West Ham's radar and has been subject to approaches, and while the player is apparently keen on joining, it is believed his price tag could well be too much.

According to Romano, speaking to CaughtOffside, the east Londoners "dream" of signing the Portugal international as he shares an update on West Ham's hunt for a new midfielder.

"Monaco want Zakaria, they have submitted their first bid for the player. It’s now up to West Ham if they want to bid again after initial proposal was rejected by Juventus 15 days ago," said Romano.

"Zakaria is still assessing his options, and Monaco could be an interesting option for him as their new manager Adi Hutter knows him well.

"West Ham’s dream target in midfield is Fulham’s Joao Palhinha, but that looks like being a very expensive deal.”

How good is Joao Palhinha?

The 28-year-old was one of Marco Silva's best-performing players by average match rating, according to WhoScored, and he racked up multiple goals from midfield.

Palhinha was also a fixture in the Fulham starting eleven last season, with the former Sporting Lisbon star playing more minutes than any other outfielder (WhoScored).

To further emphasise what a phenomenal player he is, the Portuguese averaged more tackles per 90 than any other player in the English top flight – making him the division's best in that regard (WhoScored).

Serbia international forward Aleksandar Mitrovic also called Palhinha the signing of the season for Fulham, not to mention an "amazing, amazing" player for the west Londoners.

“I think this year there’s been some sensational [signings] that we have made," said Mitrovic.

“For me personally, [Joao] Palhinha is the signing of the season so far, amazing, amazing [player].

“[Bernd] Leno is the signing that we made that’s amazing. The players who fit straight away and didn’t need time to adapt like before, they fit straight away.

Everything is going to plan for Worcestershire who will hope for a matchwinning flourish by R Ashwin on the final day

ECB Reporters Network30-Aug-2017Daryl Mitchell has put Worcestershire in a strong position•Getty ImagesDaryl Mitchell scored his fifth Specsavers County Championship century of the campaign as Worcestershire set Gloucestershire a 401 target at New Road.The 33-year-old opening batsman put a recent lean spell behind him – 33 runs from the previous six innings – in making an accomplished 130.Then star spinner Ravichandran Ashwin struck two early blows as Gloucestershire closed on 55-3.As on many occasions throughout his lengthy career, Mitchell, the curent PCA chairman, provided the glue which held the Worcestershire innings together.He went to three figures off 156 balls with 10 fours and a six in what is his 99th appearance out of Worcestershire last 100 Championship fixtures.It followed on from his 120 against Derbyshire, 161 versus Northamptonshire, 121 off the Sussex attack and 142 when facing Kent.Mitchell was eventually run out attempting a second run shortly before the declaration which left Gloucestershire a minimum of 121 overs to chase their daunting total.He has now amassed 894 Championship runs at an average of 47 so far this summer.Brett D’Oliveira, George Rhodes and Ashwin all provided excellent support for Mitchell as Worcestershire capitalised on their first innings lead of 105.The declaration came at 295-8 and the home side will be hoping the weather forecast is kind tomorrow particularly with promotion rivals Sussex triumphing against Glamorgan and moving into second spot.Worcestershire resumed on 10-0 and D’Oliveira launched an early offensive in making 55 off 58 balls and dominating an opening stand of 76 with Mitchell. He followed up his first innings top-score of 93 by striking 10 boundaries.D’Oliveira’s dismissal – bowled by Liam Norwell – triggered a minor collapse with the out of form Tom Fell falling in the same over for a second ball duck when caught behind and Joe Clarke perishing at square leg off a top edged sweep against Tom Smith.Rhodes proved a valuable ally in a partnership of 114 in 31 overs before he went to try and paddle Smith around the corner and was lbw.Indian star Ashwin raced to 28 as a further 55 was added in nine overs with Mitchell until he chipped Norwell to midwicket.Ben Cox showed positive intent with his first two scoring shots being sixes over long off at Smith’s expense. There was a flurry of wickets before the declaration as Mitchell and Cox were run out and skipper Joe Leach was bowled. Leach then took the new ball and, after switching ends, made the first breakthrough as Cameron Bancroft was caught behind by Cox in a sharp piece of work standing up to the wicket.Ashwin came into the attack after just six overs and quickly made an impact by bowling Will Tavare for a duck and then having Chris Dent caught at second slip. He ended the day with the impressive figures of 10-3-11-2.