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Aston Villa have made contact over a deal for an “unpredictable” striker, and a January move could now be on the cards.

Villa vying to sign new striker despite financial limitations

Former Manchester City financial adviser Stefan Borson has suggested Villa may have a quiet January transfer window, due to Financial Fair Play constraints, saying: “I don’t think Aston Villa can do very much in January, actually. I think they may do a bit tinkering, but they’re under a settlement agreement with Uefa, and part of that is to reduce their general costs, so they’re on a quite strict set of restrictions.”

However, the Villans have continued to scour the market for potential new signings, and one position in which they are keen to strengthen is centre-forward, with it recently being revealed they have submitted a £26m offer for Real Madrid striker Gonzalo Garcia.

It remains to be seen whether the Spanish club are prepared to offload the 21-year-old, however, given just how impressive he was in his last La Liga outing, bagging a hat-trick in a 5-1 victory against Real Betis.

Garcia is not the only young striker on the shortlist, however, with a report from L’Equipe (via Sport Witness) revealing Aston Villa are now stepping up their move for Marseille’s Robinio Vaz, having recently made contact over a deal.

Vaz could now be available this month, given that negotiations over a new contract with the French club have recently broken down, and a deal could be possible for a fee of around €25m -€30m (£22m – £26m).

With talks about a new contract stalling, Unai Emery’s side have been presented with an ideal opportunity to sign the striker, but there will be competition for his signature, as Eintracht Frankfurt have also initiated contact.

"Unpredictable" Vaz could be Watkins understudy

There is no need to bring in an immediate replacement for Ollie Watkins, given that the England international only recently turned 30, and he has been in top form over the past few weeks, scoring four goals in Villa’s last three Premier League games.

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However, with Emery’s side on course to return to the Champions League next season, they could do with bringing in a young back-up striker, capable of slotting in for Watkins when required, and the Marseille striker may be the ideal option.

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Although he is still only 18-years-old, the starlet has already started to make an impact for Marseille at first-team level, chipping in with four goals and two assists in 14 Ligue 1 appearances this season, and scout Ben Mattinson waxed lyrical about him last February.

Given that he is still so young, Vaz may not currently be at the level to displace Watkins in the starting XI, but he could be a fantastic understudy to the Villa striker.

Aston Villa are believed to be considering a ‘fascinating’ move to bring one Man City star to Villa Park this month as Unai Emery attempts to, at the very least, secure European football next season.

Emery was effusive in admitting to his ambitions at Villa a few days ago, claiming that, just like at every other club he’s managed, his ultimate dream is to win the Champions League.

Despite their thrashing at the hands of Premier League leaders Arsenal, which brought them right back down to Earth after an unprecedented 11-game winning run, Emery’s job in the Midlands has been nothing short of remarkable.

It took Villa five top flight matches to finally score their opening goal of the season, which came courtesy of a long-range thunderbolt from Matty Cash at Sunderland, and if you asked anybody at that stage if they’d be competing for the title, the response would’ve been clear.

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Emery somehow completely transformed Villa’s fortunes from that point onwards, with their turnaround made all the more impressive considering they were last summer’s lowest spenders on new signings.

PSR issues have stunted the club’s transfer activity, putting them at a major disadvantage compared to their established rivals, but Emery says that Villa will reinforce the squad this month if given the chance.

If Villa really do want to be ambitious, you could hardly make a bigger statement than signing City forward Omar Marmoush.

Aston Villa make 'fascinating' Omar Marmoush move

The Egypt star, who’s currently away at AFCON, has struggled for game time this season under Pep Guardiola and his minutes will likely be even more contested once Antoine Semenyo completes his £65 million move to Eastlands soon.

Marmoush’s struggles have alerted rivals to an opportunity, and Villa are reportedly among them.

Journalist Dean Jones has told TEAMtalk that Villa are making a move for Marmoush after hearing ‘whispers’ from Egypt, and the idea of him joining Emery’s side is a ‘fascinating’ one.

However, as things stand, City aren’t keen on losing the 26-year-old mid-season, despite them being on the verge of signing Semenyo.

The £295,000-per-week forward, who can play both out wide and as a centre-forward, bagged an incredible 20 goals and 14 assists in all competitions for Eintracht Frankfurt in his final half a season before joining City last January.

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Marmoush is a player of immense quality and potential, and you can make a serious case that he’s being wasted at City right now.

If he continues playing a bit-part role, the player may well decide that a move elsewhere could be best for his career, but the finances involved would be very tricky for Villa to navigate.

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	Back in the reckoning: An injury to Neil McKenzie will give an out-of-form Herschelle Gibbs another opportunity © Touchline Photo

After being dropped from the team for the second Test against West Indies, Herschelle Gibbs is expected to return to the South African playing XI after his replacement Neil McKenzie was ruled out of the third Test.Gibbs, whose poor form saw him being benched, is likely to open the batting alongside Graeme Smith. McKenzie, who had returned to the Test team after three-and-a-half years, tore his right calf muscle during the match – which South Africa won by seven wickets – and was unable to bat in South Africa’s second innings.Meanwhile, Monde Zondeki has been drafted into the squad as cover for Dale Steyn, who strained his right hamstring during the course of the match. Steyn, though, bowled in both innings of the match, picking up eight wickets as South Africa levelled the series.Zondeki, rewarded for his impressive performance in domestic cricket this season, had taken eight wickets to help South Africa A beat the West Indians in a tour game.The series-deciding third Test begins on January 10 at Kingsmead in Durban.South Africa squad: Graeme Smith (capt), Herschelle Gibbs, Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis, Ashwell Prince, AB de Villiers, Mark Boucher (wk), Paul Harris, Andre Nel, Dale Steyn, Makhaya Ntini, Shaun Pollock, Monde Zondeki.

Sri Lanka have been fined for a slow over-rate during their five-run win over India in the second ODI at Rajkot on Sunday.Match referee Alan Hurst imposed the fines after Mahela Jayawardene’s side was ruled to be two overs short of their target at the scheduled finish of the India innings when time allowances were taken into consideration.In accordance with the ICC Code of Conduct governing over-rate penalties, players are fined five percent of their match fees for every over their side fails to bowl in the allotted time, with the captain fined double that amount.As such, Jayawardene has been fined 20 per cent of his match fee while his players have each received ten per cent fines. The punishment is a level one offence and for such offences the decision of the match referee is final and binding.

Saqlain Mushtaq will turn his arm over for Ireland in the C&G Trophy © Getty Images

Saqlain Mushtaq, the former Pakistan offspinner, is set to play for Ireland in this year’s Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy. Saqlain, 29, was confirmed as the first of two overseas cricketers that Ireland plan on signing in the new league format of the one-day game in the United Kingdom.Saqlain played 49 Tests and 169 one-day internationals for Pakistan, with 208 and 288 wickets respectively. The fastest bowler to reach 100 wickets in one-day cricket, Saqlain has been acknowledged as the first offspinner to master the , the delivery that spins away from the right-handed batsman even though it is delivered with an offspinner’s action. He also played for Surrey for eight seasons before a major knee surgery interrupted his run of success there.A highlight of Saqlain’s career was his ten-for against India at Chennai in 1998-99 when Pakistan claimed a 12-run win against their arch-rivals. He also claimed two hat-tricks in one-day cricket – both against Zimbabwe – and even hit a Test hundred against New Zealand at Christchuch in 2000/01.He has since fallen out of favour with Pakistan’s selectors, and in his last Test appearance in 2003/04 – against India, no less – he had the unflattering figures of 1 for 204.

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Queensland beat Victoria by 78 runs after a tremendous fightback by Brad Hodge and Jason Arnberger at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. They put on 266 after losing Matthew Elliott early (1 for 11), and then watched the rest of their team fritter away the platform in a string of scores less than 15. from 1 for 277, Victoria stumbled to 335 all out.Queensland had declared at 5 for 201 in the morning, giving Victoria 100 overs to score 414. For a long time it appeared that the move would backfire, until Arnberger and Hodge were dismissed in similar ways: pulling short deliveries by Mitchell Johnson straight to the fielder on the square-leg boundary. From there on it all went downhill, as Ashley Noffke grabbed 4 for 78 in 22 overs to help dismiss Victoria without further ado.

Sadagoppan Ramesh – the outback awaits © AFP

Irfan Pathan, currently on Ranji Trophy duty for Baroda, was woken up in the dead of night with the news that he had found a place in the 16-man squad that embarks on a tour of Australia later this month. However, there was no place for Murali Kartik, as the think-tank elected to go with five pace bowlers and only two spinners, Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh.The selection committee, led by Syed Kirmani, has given the team management an extra opening batting option by including Sadagoppan Ramesh, and there’s also wicketkeeping back-up in the shape of Deep Dasgupta. Patel has been designated as first-choice keeper, but any serious gaffes in the warm-up matches could see the gloves handed over.Ajit Agarkar and Zaheer Khan lead an inexperienced pace bowling attack that can only boast of 55 caps between them. Aavishkar Salvi and Irfan Pathan can look forward to making their Test debuts, if selected, against the strongest batting line-up in modern times.The batting order more or less picks itself, though Ramesh will certainly push Akash Chopra hard for the opportunity to be Virender Sehwag’s partner at the top of the order. Of the seven batsmen selected, Chopra and Sehwag are the only ones without experience of Australian conditions.Despite plenty of speculation to the contrary, it was as you were in the slow bowling department. Harbhajan has never played in Australia, while Kumble’s lone tour there – in 1999-2000 – ended with a paltry five wickets at a cost of 450 runs.India have toured Australia seven times since 1947-48, winning just three Tests matches out of 28. Of those, only one came against a full-strength Australian side – a sobering figure that the select 16 would do well to forget as they set out on the hardest assignment that any cricketer can ever undertake.Squad Sourav Ganguly (capt), Akash Chopra, Virender Sehwag, VVS Laxman, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Parthiv Patel (wk), Harbhajan Singh, Anil Kumble, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Ajit Agarkar, Sadagoppan Ramesh, Aavishkar Salvi, Deep Dasgupta (wk) and Irfan Pathan.Comment: No real surprises, except for the inclusion of Pathan, whose 87 wickets in 29 first-class games is hardly the stuff of legend. L Balaji has been knocking over batsmen for fun in domestic cricket, but Pathan’s potential to bowl quicker – allied to some sterling performances for the U-19 side – got him the nod.Reputation, rather than form, was the criteria, when it came to picking the spinners. Kartik bowled quite beautifully when given limited opportunities in the TVS Cup, but the selectors plumped instead for a woefully out-of-sorts Harbhajan, and Kumble, whose overseas record won’t have the Australians quaking in their size-12 boots.Privately, they reckon they’ve worked out both men, and if proof is provided in Brisbane three weeks from now, India could be on a hiding to nothing. The pace bowlers will have to bowl out of their skins to trouble Australia’s top seven, and this time, there will be no Javagal Srinath to look to for advice.All in all, a pretty conservative selection, which goes to illustrate that world-class talent is a lot thinner on the ground than the team’s cheerleaders would have you believe. Any smidgen of hope will rest on Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman and Ganguly piling up the runs. If that fails, even Santeria won’t help…

England’s most consistent Test batsmen during the last year, Graham Thorpe, who left the recent tour of India early in order to attend to marital problems at home, has made himself available to go back to India for the one-day series and then on to New Zealand.This was announced in a media release from the England and Wales Cricket Board today. It also said that Andrew Caddick, who withdrew from the England tour of India in the aftermath of the September 11th attacks, has also confirmed his availability for the one-day series in India and both legs of the tour to New Zealand.Graham Thorpe said: “The past few weeks have been a difficult time for me and my family and I am grateful to the selectors for giving me as much time as I needed to come to this decision.”I now firmly believe that I can commit myself fully to cricket again and I hope to play a full part in both the one-day series in India and the one-day and Test series in New Zealand.”Chairman of selectors, David Graveney, added: “The selectors appreciate that this has been a difficult time for Graham and we are delighted that he has decided to commit himself in full to the remaining part of this winter’s tour programme. He is our leading batsman and I am sure that he will have a significant part to play in both India and New Zealand over the next three months.”Thorpe had not appeared to be himself in the early stages of the tour to India before announcing that he was returning home on the eve of the second Test in Ahmedabad. It will be a source of delight in the England camp if he can return to his form of old as he takes his place in the middle order.Caddick had forged a top-class new ball partnership with Darren Gough before the Yorkshireman decided to make himself unavailable for the Indian tour prior to the announcement of the teams. Caddick then decided he was not happy with the security situation and withdrew from the Test tour to India.As well as going to India now, he is also available to return to the land of his birth, New Zealand. The composition of England’s team to contest the Test series in New Zealand will be announced in due course, but there are no changes to the original squads already announced for the preceding one-day series in India and New Zealand.The England party leave for India on January 10th.

Gloucestershire are facing one of the heaviest defeats in their history after closing the third day of the Vodafone Challenge Series match with Zimbabwe in Gloucester on 98-4 in their second innings.The tourists had earlier declined to enforce the follow on after dismissing Gloucestershire for 167 in their first innings of 568.Zimbabwe captain Andy Flower then struck 116 not out in his side’s second innings 258-2 declared, which left Gloucestershire a nominal 660 to win.Gloucestershire’s decision to rest seven first team regulars was again exposed by Zimbabwe on a day of sweltering heat at the King’s School festival ground.Gloucestershire resumed on 146-7, but that was effectively eight wickets down with acting captain Tim Hancock unable to bat because of a fractured knuckle on his left hand.The last two wickets added a further 21 runs before the innings was wrapped up by Paul Strang, who had Ben Gannon caught behind, and Heath Streak, who had Martyn Ball dismissed in the same fashion.Gloucestershire enjoyed some early success with the ball when Gannon had Craig Wishart caught at the wicket by Jack Russell for a rapid 40 and Jon Lewis removed Trevor Gripper, also caught by Russell, for eight.But thereafter Andy Flower and his brother Grant sent the ball fizzing to all parts of the ground with a fine display of attacking shots.Grant Flower had struck ten fours and a six in his 76 when he retired hurt with a minor finger injury, having put on 170 in 27 overs with his brother.But Andy Flower progressed to a chanceless century, which was brought up with a cut to the third man boundary off spinner Martyn Ball.When the Zimbabwe skipper decided to declare at tea, he had made 116 from 129 deliveries and struck 15 fours and two sixes.No-one suffered more in the Gloucestershire attack than Tom Cotterell, whose left-arm spin went for 86 runs in 19 wicketless overs.Gloucestershire’s second innings got off to a poor start with the cheap dismissals of openers Dominic Hewson and Imraan Mohammed.Hewson cut a Streak delivery to Dirk Viljoen at gully for 11, then Imraan was lbw to Pommie Mbangwa for four as he shuffled across his stumps.Matt Windows made a fluent 25 for Gloucestershire before he was bowled by a Streak delivery which kept low.And then Chris Taylor fell lbw to Paul Strang’s leg-spin as he failed to get sufficiently forward.Jack Russell reached an unbeaten 19 by the close, but there appears little chance of Gloucestershire escaping with a draw.

West Brom have not been shy when it comes to spending money on bringing new players to the club during transfer windows.

However, not every deal turns out the way everyone involved would have envisaged at the start. One example of this at Albion concerns Oliver Burke, who made the move to The Hawthorns from German club RB Leipzig back in 2017 for a reported £15m.

During his time with the Baggies, the centre-forward made just 24 appearances across all competitions, finding the net just once before he was sold to Sheffield United in September 2020.

Before that, the striker had loan spells in Scotland with Celtic, where he scored four goals and provided three assists in 19 appearances, followed by a period in Spain with Alaves were he found the back of the net just once in 32 games.

In 36 appearances for the Blades, things have been pretty much the same, with just two goals and one assist to his name for the Yorkshire club.

In January, the former Baggies dud joined Millwall on loan until the end of the season, where he has since made six league appearances but, rather unsurprisingly, hasn’t been able to score or set up a goal.

To highlight the attacker’s downfall since he arrived at The Hawthorns, Transfermarkt had his market value listed as £10.8m in October 2017, whereas it now stands at just £4.5m.

Having been called a “disgrace” by Frank McAvennie because of a poor performance he delivered in an Old Firm derby during his time on loan at Celtic, Burke’s career has completely stalled since his disappointing spell with West Brom, who must now be regretting spending such a significant amount of money on him in the first place.

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Even though Steve Bruce’s side have struggled to score at times this season, which may well cost them a promotion place, it wouldn’t seem likely that anyone at Albion would have been wishing they still had Burke available as a squad option, given how finding the net hasn’t exactly been easy for him in recent years.

In other news – £11.5m wasted: “Lazy” £26k-p/w West Brom flop has been draining Lai for 137 weeks