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Douglas Luiz has taken to Twitter to tell Aston Villa fans he’s ‘happy’ at the club. 

Luiz tweeted a three-word message alongside two images of him training at Bodymoor Heath.

Speculation had swirled around Luiz

The Brazilian was reportedly the subject of interest from abroad in the final part of the transfer window, with Italian outlet Calciomercato claiming that he was one of AS Roma’s primary targets.

Luiz joined Villa from Manchester City ahead of the 2019/20 season for a fee of £15.12million. He’s gone on to make 78 appearances for the club in all competitions.

He missed the season-opening defeat at Watford following Olympic commitments with Brazil, but has started the last two league matches.

Across the two games, he’s registered 70 passes, 11 ball recoveries and six fouls (via Premier League).

Luiz has two years remaining on the four-year deal he signed upon arrival at Villa Park. He may soon be looking for a boost to his present salary of £33,000 per week.

Aston Villa fans flock to Douglas Luiz assurance

“Deano was pointing a gun at him when he tweeted this”

Credit: @mcBrodz

“We’re happy you’re here fella”

Credit: @publad

“Yes because Villa is the best club in the world lad”

Credit: @Saf1AVFC

“Dougie we love you at Villa mate. We hope you stay for a long time. You will win trophies with this club”

Credit: @GMP4AVFC

“Good man Douglas sign a new contract and keep improving”

Credit: @Drewwalsh32

“Hero”

Credit: @avfck1eran

In other news, Lange wanted to see more of this man.

Marcus North spent the last three days laying claims to a spot in Australia’s Test squad

Brydon Coverdale in Potchefstroom23-Feb-2009
Marcus North made a strong claim for a Test cap with two half-centuries and a six-for in the tour game against South Africa Board President’s XI © Getty Images
Marcus North turns 30 in July. It’s a birthday that scares some people but always justifies a big party. There should be extra reasons for North to celebrate this year after an international career he felt was slipping out of his grasp came a step closer with his outstanding performance in the tour match in Potchefstroom.Despite being a decade into his first-class career there was one thing that kept North hopeful that his chance to represent Australia had not passed him by. Call it the Michael Hussey precedent.”Each year you get closer to 30 and haven’t represented your country you do feel like you’re missing the boat,” North said after taking six wickets and making a pair of half-centuries in the warm-up game. “But you grab hope on guys like Michael Hussey, they’re 29, 30 when they made their debuts and he had 10 or 11 years of first-class cricket.”He has had an exceptional career for Australia and is still going. Without a doubt it felt like it was slipping away but to get that call up a month ago was very pleasing and to be here now is even better.”North has spent the past few seasons watching on helplessly as a host of his fellow Western Australia batsmen have been given opportunities in Tests, ODIs or Twenty20 internationals. Along with Hussey, Adam Voges, Shaun Marsh, Luke Pomersbach and Luke Ronchi have all tasted international action while North continued to pile up runs as the Warriors captain.Players from other states have also been preferred to North. When the Victorian allrounder Andrew McDonald was chosen for January’s Sydney Test against South Africa it was enough for the Western Australia coach Tom Moody to snap and loudly query why North was not considered good enough.The selectors could not solve the North-McDonald puzzle before the tour and hedged their bets by choosing both men. They batted together in the first innings but North insisted there was no tension between the pair as they competed for the No. 6 position that is usually held by Andrew Symonds.”I think Ronnie [McDonald] has been a consistent performer for a number of years now and the selectors, the way I looked at it, probably wanted that allrounder who could bowl medium-pace [in Sydney] and Ronnie was perfect for that,” North said. “There’s no gripes from my end.”It was nice to get a bit of support from Tom. I guess that’s what coaches do, have a bit of a ping and it’s nice to have that in the media. I think Ronnie deserved that opportunity. He’s been a great performer for Victoria and is a deserved member of this squad for sure.”It was North who came out on top after the tour match, where he posted a half-century in each innings compared to McDonald’s 23 and 29 not out. More importantly, North produced a remarkable spell of bowling in the second innings to record his first five-wicket haul in first-class cricket. He finished with 6 for 69 and his all-round efforts should ensure he lines up in the first Test at the Wanderers starting on Thursday.Although he felt it was not the best he had ever bowled – and he was helped by an aggressive approach from the batsmen – North’s figures highlight how far he has come in the past two years. Before Moody returned to Western Australia as coach ahead of the 2007-08 season, North was a batsman whose offspin was occasionally useful. Now he is bordering on allrounder status.”We sat down and assessed my game and where it was at and [Moody] targeted my bowling being something that is certainly worth working on, especially to push to that next level,” North said. “It’s something that I’ve worked extremely hard on in the last couple of years. I had a real good opportunity to work on that when I’ve gone and played county cricket in England.”North hopes he will have further opportunities to hone his skills in England this year – as part of the Ashes squad. But first he needs to transfer his strong form from a tour match against the South African Board President’s XI to a Test match against South Africa. Of course, that all depends whether he is selected. He has spent the past three days dramatically shortening those odds.

West Ham United are among the teams eyeing a move for Jed Wallace this January…

What’s the word?

According to Football League World, the Irons are watching the 27-year-old’s situation ahead of a potential move, with his Millwall contract set to expire at the end of the current season.

It’s thought that an offer to stay at the Den is currently on the table but nothing has been agreed so far, meaning interest has ramped up in recent weeks.

The Hammers face competition from Premier League rivals Burnley, Newcastle United, Crystal Palace and Brentford, as well as Championship giants West Brom and Scottish duo Rangers and Celtic, who are able to agree on a pre-contract agreement at the turn of the year.

Sources have told FLW that the chances of Wallace signing an extension appear slim at this stage.

Another Bowen?

West Ham have had plenty of success when dipping their toes into the lower leagues of English football, with notable cases being Aaron Cresswell and Jarrod Bowen.

In Wallace, they could certainly repeat their trick with the latter, who signed from Hull City after a few fruitful seasons in the second tier.

After ten goals and seven assists during the 2020/21 campaign and ten goals and 12 assists in 2019/20, the £6.3m-rated dynamo has continued his fine form into the current season, scoring three times and providing two assists in six appearances, as per Transfermarkt.

Lions boss Gary Rowett knows exactly how important he has been for his side throughout the past few seasons. After a win over Bristol City in 2019, he described Wallace as “instrumental in everything we achieve at the moment,” whilst he was dubbed a “game-changer” after his performance against Blackpool just last month.

Throughout the course of his career, Wallace has proven to be very consistent, which bodes well for his chances of making the big step-up into the Premier League – as per WhoScored, he’s averaged 1.9 shots, 1.6 key passes and 1.5 dribbles every game since 2015/16.

Meanwhile, he’s provided a total of 39 goals and 40 assists across 228 appearances, averaging a direct contribution once every 239 minutes, per Transfermarkt.

Considering the success of Bowen, the Irons should certainly take a punt on the 27-year-old attacker in 2022, whether that be in January or on a free transfer at the end of the season.

Wallace could be the next great success story of Moyes’ impressive recruitment.

AND in other news, ExWHUemployee drops major claim on £60k-p/w West Ham star, fans will be ecstatic…

Sachin Tendulkar, the captain of the IPL franchise Mumbai Indians, has said that it is disappointing that the 2009 season of the Indian Premier League has been shifted outside India

Cricinfo staff23-Mar-2009Sachin Tendulkar, the captain of the IPL franchise Mumbai Indians, has said it is disappointing that the 2009 season of the Indian Premier League will be played outside India. The tournament is likely to be shifted to either England or South Africa and Tendulkar said “it won’t be the same”.”It is disappointing that the IPL has been moved out of India,” he said. “We will certainly miss playing in front of our supporters. It won’t be the same. It was a good concept to play home and away matches. This is something that the teams will miss this time around. Wherever we play, we hope to have the same fervour that we had had last season.”Yuvraj Singh, the Kings XI Punjab captain, also said that this season was going to be different from last year. He also hoped that the Indian players would be allowed to take their families to the IPL because they would have just returned from a long tour of New Zealand.”It is sad that the IPL won’t be held in India. But we have to go ahead with it as it is the decision of the board,” Yuvraj said. “As we would be returning home from New Zealand after a long tour, we hope we are allowed to take our families along.”It’s a mixed feeling because we were looking forward to play at home, now we have to play away so we feel sad for a lot of Indians who were looking forward to watch it. But due to certain conditions we have play overseas, which is also going to be fun. Anyway if we were playing in India, a lot of home games were shifted to other centres. So it was not actually a home game or away game.”The organisers of the IPL were forced to shift the tournament out of India after the government said it could not guarantee adequate security for the matches because the tournament would clash with general elections in the country in April-May. The decision to shift was taken after the IPL schedule was reworked several times and yet no solution could be found.

While Mark Warburton saw his Queens Park Rangers side suffer their first defeat of the Championship season in mid-week, there are nevertheless a number of reasons for the 59-year-old Rs manager to be delighted with the way things are going at the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium this term.

Indeed, prior to the 2-1 loss against a highly impressive AFC Bournemouth side, QPR had picked up three wins and three draws in the league, including impressive away wins at both Middlesbrough and Hull City, scoring 15 goals in the process.

However, it is undeniable that, should Warburton wish to reinforce his team’s top-six credentials to the rest of the league, the visit of a 12th placed Bristol City side is a fixture his side must be winning.

So, will the 59-year-old make any changes to the team that started last time out against Bournemouth? Here’s how we think QPR could line up against the Robins, along with the latest team and injury news…

With both Charlie Austin and Moses Odubajo once again being available for selection after missing the loss against the Cherries, Warburton has plenty to consider ahead of Saturday’s fixture against Bristol City.

However, while we predict that the Rs boss will make two changes to his starting XI, neither Austin nor Odubajo come into the side.

Instead, after highly impressing in two substitute appearances at wing-back – earning a SofaScore match rating of 7.3 against Reading at left wing-back and a 7.4 match rating against Bournemouth at right wing-back – Albert Adomah comes into the side for the £540k-rated Osman Kakay, who has been extremely disappointing in the position so far this season, and particularly on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, rather than Austin coming in up top, Andre Gray could be set to start his first league fixture since joining QPR on a season-long loan from Watford, with the 30-year-old having already bagged his first goal for the Rs on his debut against Reading.

Elsewhere, Sam McCallum keeps his place at left wing-back after impressing in mid-week, while the midfield trio of Stefan Johansen, Dominic Ball and Ilias Chair remains unchanged.

In other news: Warburton must unleash “positive” £18k-p/w ace vs BCFC, he could solve big QPR problem

Clare Connor, the former England captain, has been invited by the ICC to join its cricket committee as a representative of women’s cricket

Cricinfo staff18-Apr-2009Clare Connor, the former England captain, has been invited by the ICC to join its cricket committee as a representative of women’s cricket.”She has a wealth of experience in the game through her playing and administrative activities and has already been an active member of the ICC women’s cricket committee,” ICC president David Morgan said. “This is another reflection of the ICC’s commitment to the women’s game. We believe Clare will be a real asset to the group and I look forward to her taking her place at the table.”Connor is the head of the women’s game for the ECB and is also a non-executive director of Sussex cricket. She has played 16 Tests and 93 ODIs, including three women’s world cups, and led the England team for six years from 2000. She was awarded an MBE in June 2004 for her services to cricket and, 18 months later, an OBE, after leading England to an Ashes victory over Australia in 2005The ICC’s cricket committee, which comprises select present and former cricketers, as well as match and board officials, discusses cricket-related matters and makes recommendations on the same to the ICC’s chief executives’ committee (CEC).Its next meeting, chaired by former West Indies captain Clive Lloyd, will take place in London on 11 and 12 May.

A round-up of the latest Friends Provident Trophy clashes

Cricinfo staff03-May-2009Group BJames Tredwell tore through Middlesex with six wickets as Kent notched their first win of their summer campaign, winning by six wickets at Southgate. Middlesex lost Billy Godleman early, and Neil Dexter, the former Kent batsman, soon followed. Thereafter Tredwell took centre stage, picking up 4 for 2 in 12 mesmerising balls, including Phillip Hughes for 23. Hughes may not have dominated, but that his 23 was the second-highest rather told Middlesex’s sorry tale, as they were rolled for just 133. Ben Scott smacked a quick-fire 29, and Steve Finn did his best at No.11, but there was little else of substance. Kent lost four wickets in reply but were never in serious difficulty, as Darren Stevens carved five fours in his unbeaten 37.Scotland became the second Associate nation to be reminded of the class in county cricket when Warwickshire hammered them by seven wickets at Edgbaston. The tourists were rolled for a paltry 182. Only their new captain, Gavin Hamilton (51), and the Australian Cameron Borgas (59 from 83) threatened to make life difficult for Warwickshire. Boyd Rankin picked up 2 for 20 from eight highly economical overs, and there were two wickets apiece for Rikki Clarke and Keith Barker. Warwickshire set off in pursuit of 183 in a hurry – Neil Carter hammering 65 from 38 unforgiving balls – before Ian Bell calmly guided them home with 51 from 54, the home side winning in the 31st over.Group CJacques Rudolph’s second hundred in a week wasn’t enough for Yorkshire whose middle and lower-order couldn’t see them across the line in their chase of 270 to beat Gloucestershire at Headingley. Craig Spearman was Gloucestershire’s anchor with a fine 92 from just 71 balls, after Kadeer Ali got the innings off to a solid start with 63. Rich Pyrah’s 4 for 54 stemmed the flow in the latter half of the innings, restricting Gloucestershire to 269. Yorkshire, however, only had Rudolph to rely on: the next highest score was Andrew Gale’s 33 at the top of the order, as Jon Lewis’s nagging seamers earned him 3 for 46 to leave the home side’s lower-order with too much to do.Mark Ramprakash’s masterful 109 went in vain as Surrey squandered a winning position to lose to Durham by one run at Chester-le-Street. Surrey needed five to win off the final over, bowled by Ian Blackwell, and just two from the last two balls. But at the other end, Grant Elliott drove straight into the waiting hands of Liam Plunkett at mid-off before Jon Batty pulled Blackwell to deep midwicket as Durham clinched a thriller. Ramprakash had appeared to put Surrey into an unassailable position when he brought up his hundred from 96 balls but, instead, he was left stranded. Durham’s 266 for 7 was set up by 61 from Phil Mustard and an unbeaten 77 from Dale Benkenstein.Group DGlamorgan pulled off a superb eight-wicket win at Chelmsford over the trophy-holders, Essex, chasing down 298 with overs to spare thanks to Gareth Rees’s unbeaten 123. Glamorgan’s chase was set up by Rees and Mark Cosgrove who put on 80 for the opening wicket: Cosgrove’s particularly savage 72 lasted a mere 36 balls, with 10 fours and three sixes. Mike Powell made 33 before Rees, whose hundred came from 122 balls, was joined by Tom Maynard, the son of Matthew and a batsman of great promise. Maynard propelled Glamorgan to their total with 59 from 45 balls, winning with almost four overs to spare. Essex’s 297 for 6 was set up by Varun Chopra’s 99 and 54 from Grant Flower, but they underestimated Glamorgan’s fire.Lancashire strolled past Derbyshire with embarrassing ease at Old Trafford thanks to Paul Horton (111*) and Mark Chilton (101*) who helped their side chase down 241. Horton cracked six fours in his ton but it was Chilton who really took the aggressive route, lifting two sixes along with six fours as the pair put on an unbroken and match-winning third-wicket stand of 202. Lancashire eased home with 21 balls to spare. Steve Stubbings made 50 and Wavell Hinds an entertaining 95 in Derbyshire’s 240 for 6, but Stuart Law, who left Lancashire last season, only managed 18.

Nottinghamshire 2 2 00 0 4 +2.643 505/80.0 367/100.0 Worcestershire 2 2 0 00 4 +1.265 500/83.0 395/83.0Hampshire 3 2 1 0 04 +0.047 809/148.1 812/150.0 Leicestershire 3 0 3 0 0 0-1.156 647/150.0 701/128.1 Ireland 20 2 0 0 0 -2.241340/83.0 526/83.0

Group B Team Mat Won Lost Tied N/R Pts Net RR For Against

Somerset 22 0 0 0 4 +1.566563/84.0 452/88.0 Middlesex 2 11 0 0 2 +1.178 435/100.0277/87.2 Warwickshire 2 1 10 0 2 +0.899 454/80.4 454/96.0 Kent 2 1 1 00 2 -0.597 318/75.2 424/88.0Scotland 2 0 2 0 00 -2.792 322/100.0 485/80.4

Group C Team Mat Won Lost Tied N/R Pts Net RR For Against

Gloucestershire 3 3 0 0 06 +1.174 765/146.2 608/150.0 Yorkshire 3 2 1 0 0 4+0.440 736/150.0 670/150.0 Durham 21 1 0 0 2 -0.790454/100.0 533/100.0 Sussex 2 02 0 0 0 -0.323 440/100.0455/96.2 Surrey 2 0 20 0 0 -1.290 405/100.0 534/100.0

Group D Team Mat Won Lost Tied N/R Pts Net RR For Against

Lancashire 3 3 00 0 6 +0.842 723/141.2 641/150.0 Derbyshire 2 1 1 00 2 +0.024 446/96.0 446/96.3Essex 2 1 1 0 02 -0.143 579/98.2 580/96.1 Glamorgan 3 1 2 0 0 2-0.546 665/146.1 744/146.0 Northamptonshire 20 2 0 0 0 -0.404521/100.0 523/93.1

Journalist Graham Smyth has tipped Tyler Roberts to start in place of Patrick Bamford in Leeds United’s Premier League clash with West Ham.

The Lowdown: Leeds host West Ham

Marcelo Bielsa’s side are back in league action this weekend, having got past Fulham on penalties in the Carabao Cup third round in midweek.

Leeds welcome a dangerous West Ham side to Elland Road on Saturday afternoon, looking to record their first win of the season in the competition.

They will have to make do without the injured Patrick Bamford in attack, however, giving Bielsa a selection headache going into the game.

[freshpress-quiz id=“359346″]

The Latest: Smyth makes team news prediction

Taking to Twitter, The Yorkshire Evening Post‘s Smyth gave his six-word verdict regarding how the attack could look, guessing “Rodrigo at 10, Roberts up front.”

[web_stories_embed url=”https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/web-stories/latest-leeds-united-news-17/” title=”Latest Leeds United news!” poster=”” width=”360″ height=”600″ align=”none”]

The Verdict: Fans won’t be happy

Playing Roberts in attack would be a risky call by Bielsa, with the Welshman not necessarily the most popular figure at Leeds, having only scored once in 27 league appearances last season.

Indeed, fans have criticised the forward’s play on several occasions, even as recently as this week against Fulham, so you’d think the feeling at Elland Road won’t be overly confident if the Wales international is handed the number nine role.

Playing Rodrigo as a centre forward instead, with Raphinha in a number ten role and Dan James and Jack Harrison out wide, could arguably be more a potent attacking unit, even if the Brazilian isn’t known for playing centrally.

In other news, a pundit believes Leeds could still sign a player they have been heavily linked with. Find out who it is here.

A late decision by the PCB to allow national team players to take part in the semi-finals of the ongoing RBS Twenty20 cup may have cost Islamabad Leopards a place in the final of the tournament

Cricinfo staff29-May-2009A late decision by the PCB to allow national team players to take part in the semi-finals of the ongoing RBS Twenty20 cup may have cost Islamabad Leopards a place in the final of the tournament.Pakistan’s team management had taken a decision after the Bhurban training camp that players involved in the ICC World Twenty20 would not take part in the entire domestic tournament, limiting their involvement to two or three group games.That meant players such as Rao Iftikhar Anjum, Islamabad’s captain, and Salman Butt, Ahmed Shehzad and Kamran Akmal for the Lahore Lions, and Shoaib Malik, Sialkot’s captain, would not be eligible for the semis.But a late overturning of the agreement on the day of the semi-finals – at the apparent insistence of Lahore and Sialkot – meant the players were allowed to play; all of them returned except Rao, who had already left by then for Khanewal, his hometown.That deprived an unfancied Islamabad of their captain and leading pace bowler and though stand-in skipper Raheel Majeed led well, Islamabad were edged out by three wickets in a low-scoring thriller.”The decision [to overturn the limit] was made late yesterday, after some pressure was put on by Sialkot and Lahore,” a board official confirmed to Cricinfo.Islamabad were also deprived of the services of another fast bowler, Shoaib Akhtar, at the start of the tournament. Though he was pulled out of Pakistan’s World Cup squad, he was set to take part in the local tournament. However, on the day the tournament started, the board told Islamabad that as Shoaib had been advised rest by a medical committee, as per his central contract, he would not be allowed to play.

Some Rangers supporters were unhappy with James Tavernier’s performance in the 1-0 win away to Dundee on Saturday afternoon.

Steven Gerrard’s side were looking to kick on after an inconsistent start to the season, taking on a Dundee side sitting bottom of the Premiership.

In truth, it wasn’t the most convincing performance by the Gers, but they ended up getting all three points thanks to Joe Aribo’s goal. Dundee even missed a penalty, perhaps summing up Rangers’ display despite the victory.

It was a milestone day for captain Tavernier, who made his 300th appearance for the club, having been a great servant over the past six years.

Unfortunately, the right-back didn’t mark the occasion with a vintage performance. He was dribbled past twice and lost five of his duels, while he gave away possession 23 times on Saturday, the most of anyone from either team (SofaScore).

Rangers fans criticise Tavernier’s performance

These Rangers fans took to Twitter to deliver a brutal assessment of Tavernier’s “shocking” afternoon at Dens Park.

“Lundstram carrying the team. Goldson and Tavernier embarrassing… again. What’s the point in Kamara in these games. Offers nothing. Roofe is awful 3 games, good one. Aribo lacklustre and spends the game staring at the floor. Good goal though.”

Credit: @Rfc1872l

“Tavernier was woeful”

Credit: @Delmonte72

“Agree, one to keep an eye on. Tavernier was poor but that boy showed great promise”

Credit: @JohnWardMcLeod

“Enjoy and congratulations skipper. But please help sort out the performances”

Credit: @AG55Rfc

“Tavernier diving in again. Awful”

Credit: @bluediamond62

“James Tavernier has been absolutely shocking”

Credit: @RangersRobbie83

In other news, this pundit is worried about one piece of Rangers injury news. Read more here.