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Nottingham Forest are now making enquiries over a summer deal for an “underrated” forward, who is expected to have an asking price of around £20m, according to a report.

Nottingham Forest gearing up for European adventure

Having managed to qualify for a European competition for the first time since 1996, Forest may need to improve their squad depth in the upcoming transfer window, and they have now started to identify potential targets in a range of different positions.

Despite missing out on Champions League due to the 1-0 defeat against Chelsea on the final day, the Tricky Trees may still be in a strong position to attract quality players from some top clubs, courtesy of securing qualification for the Europa Conference League.

Target

Current club

Position

Taty Castellanos

Lazio

Striker

Jarell Quansah

Liverpool

Centre-back

Martin Baturina

Dinamo Zagreb

Attacking midfield

Luis Henrique

Marseille

Winger

Adrien Truffert

Rennes

Left-back

With Morgan Gibbs-White being heavily linked with a move away from the City Ground, however, it may be particularly important to bring in new attacking options, who are capable of providing goals and assists on a regular basis.

According to a report from GiveMeSport, Nottingham Forest have a new target in mind who could fit the bill in that regard, having now started to make enquiries about a potential summer deal for SC Freiburg forward Ritsu Doan.

Forest are now stepping up their pursuit of Doan, but there could be competition for his signature from Borussia Dortmund and Eintracht Frankfurt, with the Bundesliga sides known to be admirers.

Frankfurt are currently preparing an offer for the Freiburg star, so the Tricky Trees may have to move quickly if they are to secure his signature, with an offer in the region of £20m likely to be deemed acceptable by the forward’s current employers.

"Underrated" Doan impressing in the Bundesliga

The Japanese winger enjoyed an impressive 2024-25 campaign in Germany, picking up a combined 19 goals and assists in 36 matches in all competitions, during which time he also received praise from football talent scout Jacek Kulig.

Not only that, but the 26-year-old is also willing and able to pitch in defensively, ranking in the 92nd percentile for tackles per 90, and the 95th percentile for clearances over the past year, when compared to other wingers and attacking midfielders.

Nottingham Forest now "want to do" deal for "amazing" £50m Liverpool player

The Tricky Trees are eager to sign a Premier League gem, as they prepare for a European campaign next season.

ByDominic Lund May 26, 2025

As such, Doan could be a bargain signing for Nottingham Forest at just £20m this summer, at which point Nuno Espirito Santo may have to bring in at least one new winger, amid recent reports that Manchester United are now considering a move for Callum Hudson-Odoi.

After officially missing out on Dean Huijsen, Liverpool are now reportedly working behind the scenes to sign an alternative defensive reinforcement in this summer’s transfer window.

Huijsen ignores Liverpool and Chelsea interest to join Real Madrid

With Virgil van Dijk’s new deal lasting just two years and Ibrahima Konate yet to put pen to paper on a new contract of his own just one year before he becomes a free agent, Liverpool have reportedly set their sights on signing another centre-back this summer.

And for some time, it looked as though it could be Bournemouth’s Dean Huijsen who arrived. Even the Cherries reportedly expected former chief Richard Hughes to snap up the defender’s signature.

Liverpool set to sign one of the fastest players in the world within days

He looks set to become their first signing of the summer.

ByTom Cunningham May 17, 2025

As Liverpool know all too well, however, a Real Madrid call is not one that a player often rejects and Huijsen has more than just answered. The Spaniard, before the transfer window has even opened, has officially completed his move to join the Spanish giants, where he will line up next to Liverpool right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold next season.

It’s a killer blow for those at Anfield, who will be sick of the sight of Real Madrid following the Alexander-Arnold saga and now this. But Florentino Perez may not be done there with Liverpool.

In a repeat of his deal to sign their academy graduate on a free, the Madrid chief has now reportedly set his sights on signing Konate at the end of his Liverpool deal next summer. Losing Alexander-Arnold for free was a blow, but losing Konate for the same bargain price should be a reality that the Reds avoid at all costs.

With Huijsen no longer an option and Konate doubt creeping in, Hughes has reportedly been forced to turn his attention towards an alternative option.

Liverpool working to sign Nathan Zeze

According to The Boot Room, Liverpool are now working behind the scenes to sign Nathan Zeze from Nantes this summer in a move that would see them jump ahead of Bournemouth.

It’s a deal that would certainly make sense, too – the Cherries see Zeze as an ideal replacement for Huijsen, meaning that the Reds could skip a step altogether by signing the Frenchman first.

Minutes

1,493

2,324

2,410

Progressive Passes

2.77

4.96

3.92

Tackles Won

1.33

1.01

0.97

Ball Recoveries

3.73

3.91

3.32

Although the 19-year-old has struggled to match Huijsen when progressing play, his numbers out of possession highlight a player who could be an ideal candidate to replace Konate in the coming years.

Included in an “elite” group of players by football talent scout Jacek Kulig last season, Zeze has only kicked on ever since. In the face of a centre-back dilemma, Liverpool could do a lot worse than turning towards the young Nantes star when the summer transfer window swings open.

Apart from everything else, interference from the BCB and the team management is something for Gazi Ashraf Hossain to deal with

Mohammad Isam20-Feb-2024Not many chief selectors’ reigns are especially notable. In the modern era, there has generally been a regular turnover, almost everywhere. Some have been lengthy: David Graveney was around for 11 years in England; further back, Lawrie Sawle helped transform Australian cricket as national selector from 1982 to 1995. Last week came the end of another – less radical – long stint, that of Minhajul Abedin, who was Bangladesh’s chief selector for eight years.The BCB has appointed Gazi Ashraf Hossain as Minhajul’s successor, starting March 1. The news was welcomed in Bangladesh, mainly because of the years of talk about Minhajul being a weak selector with little influence – BCB president Nazmul Hassan often talked to the media instead of Minhajul about selection matters.Ashraf has the reputation of being an able administrator, and is known to have one of the best cricket brains in Bangladesh. Ashraf will be the first BCB chief selector with the stature of a board director. This is impressive. Firstly, just that he could arrange such a deal. Secondly, more importantly, because it will allow him the authority a chief selector needs in the BCB, where there is a lot of interference in selection matters by the board’s administrators.

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Without doubt, he will face resistance from the Bangladesh team management and the cricket board – something that was almost institutionalised several years ago.Ashraf led Bangladesh in their first seven ODIs, from 1986 to 1990, also the entire length of his international career, where his top score was a rearguard 18 against Merv Hughes & Co.

“It was really surprising for me. I hadn’t heard his name as a candidate. Many other names were floating around. I am the [BCB’s] vice-chairman of cricket operations, still I didn’t know anything. This is what surprised me the most”Khaled Mahmud on Gazi Ashraf Hossain’s appointment

Bangladesh’s pre-Full Member days are now so removed from the average Bangladesh fans’ consciousness that the likes of Ashraf and Minhajul are sometimes judged only by their poor numbers – Minhajul averaged 18.87 with the bat and 39.30 with the ball in 27 ODIs between 1986 and 1999. But both Ashraf and Minhajul were domestic giants in the 1980s and 1990s, respectively.Ashraf’s peak was from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s. After leading Abahani Limited to six Dhaka Premier League titles during his time, Ashraf gained a reputation of being an astute strategist and is regarded as one of the architects of Bangladesh’s 1997 ICC Trophy title win in his role as manager. It is the triumph that started Bangladesh’s ascent towards Test status.As a board director, Ashraf held various roles in the BCB, including being the first BPL governing council chairman. After Khaled Mahmud defeated him in the 2013 BCB directors’ elections, Ashraf became a prominent face in TV talk shows and wrote a newspaper column. But unlike many former Bangladesh cricketers, he offered well-informed views and was usually a voice of reason.Former cricketers, however, rarely get roles in the BCB. Even in selection. Usually, one of the men in the chief’s panel is promoted.There have been exceptions. In 2007, Rafiqul Alam was a chief selector appointed from outside the board bosses’ close circle. But Faruque Ahmed was first made chief selector in 2003 after he had served under Aliul Islam’s selection panel; Akram Khan was made chief in 2011 after serving in Rafiqul’s panel; Faruque returned to the top role in 2013 after his 2003-07 tenure; when Faruque resigned in 2016 after clashing with BCB president Nazmul Hassan and head coach Chandika Hathurusingha, Minhajul, who was part of Faruque’s team, was given the top job.[File pic] Minhajul Abedin [R] was thought of as a weak chief selector•Raton GomesWith Ashraf, there is an argument to be made about his lack of experience as a selector. Faruque, Akram and Minhajul had experience as selectors before they got the chief’s job. Ashraf doesn’t.That the appointment has polarised the BCB became clear less than 24 hours after it was made formal – BCB director Khaled Mahmud, who had defeated Ashraf in the 2013 elections, said that he was surprised. He felt that former captain Habibul Bashar “deserved” the job.”It was really surprising for me. I hadn’t heard his name as a candidate,” Mahmud, also the coach of BPL team Durdanto Dhaka, said at a press meet in Chattogram on February 13. “Many other names were floating around. I am the [BCB’s] vice-chairman of cricket operations, still I didn’t know anything. This is what surprised me the most.”I feel that [Bashar] definitely deserved it. He was a successful captain of the Bangladesh team, he was a successful cricketer, and he also worked with the team for many years. I had hoped that he would be made chief selector if [Minhajul] is replaced.”Mahmud might have a point, but he wasn’t present at the board meeting. He was with the Dhaka franchise and the BCB directors present at the meeting reportedly agreed on Ashraf’s appointment unanimously after the BCB chief had proposed his name.

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There were no such questions about Hannan Sarkar, the other selector appointed alongside Ashraf. Hannan was the BCB’s age-group selector since 2015. It has been one of the best periods for the age-group sides in the country, culminating in the 2020 men’s Under-19 World Cup triumph. Hannan’s progression to the senior selection committee makes sense in Bangladesh’s context, since age-group cricket produces almost all of Bangladesh’s future senior cricketers.Hannan’s promotion seems ideal. But the BCB’s overall structure isn’t really supportive of such a pathway. Selectors have often been picked based on their status as cricketers. Faruque, Akram and Minhajul, and now Ashraf, are all ex-captains, while Rafiqul was a well-established senior cricketer. Those who toil for years in the age-group level and are considered good at scouting or talent spotting don’t get the BCB’s call-up for selection. Like former fast bowler Hasibul Hossain Shanto, who is known in the circuit as an efficient selector but has been kept in age-group cricket. Nazmul Abedeen Fahim, one of the senior-most coaches who is known for his depth of knowledge in age-group and senior cricket, was reportedly part of the discussions this time as a selector, but was passed over.Khaled Mahmud, Russell Domingo and Shakib Al Hasan at a practice session•AFP via Getty ImagesAnd then there is the BCB’s overall culture about team selection. Faruque resigned in 2016 after the BCB put the head coach, team manager, and cricket operations chairman in a “selection panel” to approve the selectors’ selections. Faruque’s exit was seen as a huge blow to the independent selection system. Minhajul, it is understood, worked with the system of interference in place, with Hassan taking on the media’s questions and offering his opinions on selection matters, and the understanding was that the selectors would not be taking the final call.The most extreme example of this came in 2018. Imrul Kayes and Soumya Sarkar were flown in to Dubai for the Asia Cup. It was reported at the time that everyone in the team management, including the captain and the coach, knew what was going on. The BCB’s top brass were fully aware, too, and arranged for the two players to fly in. Minhajul had no idea.Understandably, one of the early questions in Ashraf’s first press conference was about whether he would be allowed to work independently. Ashraf said that he wanted to follow “global standards” when it came to taking suggestions from coach Hathurusingha, but if recent history is any indication, it could be an uphill battle. Ashraf will not only have to change the selection panel’s image, but also put in place the right methods of selection.The new selection committee officially begins work on March 1. They will follow Bangladesh playing against Sri Lanka through the month. The white-ball squad is already out. The Minhajul Minhajul-led panel will be remembered for being weak, taking a backseat to the board and the team management. Ashraf’s stature as a board-director equivalent could help him, but his task is complicated, and it’s not just about selecting the best team for Bangladesh.

Manjrekar has asked for LED lights to do the job bails do, Shastri doesn’t want change after a “one-off case”

Nagraj Gollapudi and Raunak Kapoor13-May-20224:29

Is it time to do away with the bails?

Yuzvendra Chahal agrees with Sanjay Manjrekar that if a ball hits the stumps and the bails light up but don’t get dislodged, it should still be declared out.One such moment came during Rajasthan Royals’ loss against Delhi Capitals on Wednesday when off the last ball of Chahal’s first over, he beat David Warner with a legbreak that went on to hit the stumps. Unfortunately for Chahal, and Royals, Warner survived as the bails didn’t fall. Warner was on 22 at the time and the Capitals were 94 adrift of the target with 11 overs to go. Warner eventually walked back undefeated on 52 having seen Capitals home comfortably.Related

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“Since it was first time this happened with me, even I was shocked because the ball hit the wickets and the bails did not fall,” Chahal told ESPNcricnfo on Thursday. “If such a thing happens at a crucial time especially with a batsman like Warner, who does not offer too many chances… so if he had got out at that juncture then probably the match result could have been different.”Chahal said he had planned Warner’s wicket, leaving a point and just one fielder to man the covers. With the ball turning, Chahal said he went “fuller”. “The way he plays with a short backlift [trying to hit more square of the pitch], I wanted to create the gap [between the bat and the ball] because if the ball is turning, I have to go for the wicket.”The plan worked like a charm, and both Chahal and Sanju Samson started to celebrate, only to have their celebrations cut short.The LED-stump technology is used by match officials to adjudicate three forms of dismissals: bowled, stumpings, and run-outs. The existing playing condition dictate that the bails have to fall off the top of the stumps for the batter to be declared out. And the LED lights flash only when both spigots on one or both bails are dislodged from the groove, though they can settle back in.On Wednesday, just as the legbreak hit the stumps, the left bail came off the groove. Momentarily igniting the lights. But it rested back in the groove, reprieving Warner.Warner said cheekily after the match that he was “due some luck”. “You do the hard yards at training and you create your own luck and I think tonight I had some,” he told Mitchell Marsh during an interaction. “Spinners complain when the ball doesn’t spin and they complain when the ball does spin. It was one of those things where the stumps were jammed in the ground.”Chahal said while he respected the rule, he was in favour of it being changed. “We can do that because at a crucial time, and it is a big event or match or final, then something like this happens because if the ball hits the wicket then it should be out,” he said. “If it is given not out just because the bails have not fallen off then it could cost you a match. It definitely will affect the [bowling] team.”

“If you have bails, then the bails should fall off. If tomorrow you say get rid of the bails, then go by the lights. It’s a case of basically getting rid of the bails. But why change it? It’s there for a 100 years and the fun element is there, and the luck factor comes in”Ravi Shastri

Talking on ESPNcricinfo’s T20 Time Out on Wednesday, Manjrekar had stated that bails be made “redundant”, considering LED stumps are widely used these days. “It would have been a wicket, deserving for Chahal who bowled superbly,” he said. “It was a terrible shot from Warner, and it didn’t get a wicket. Unless it’s adding an aesthetic value, they should just get rid of the bails because they’re completely redundant with LED technology.”Ravi Shastri, though, had a more traditional viewpoint, saying that bails, which had been introduced in cricket to allow match officials to determine if the ball had hit the stumps or not, should stay. “It’s a Catch-22 situation,” he told ESPNcricinfo on Thursday. “Suppose I play a forward defence and the ball rolls on to the stumps at a very slow pace and touches the stumps, and the bails don’t fall off – is he out or not out? The debate will start there as well.Yuzvendra Chahal executed his plan against David Warner perfectly, only for the batter to get lucky•BCCI”If you are looking from the bowler’s point of view, you might say the lights have flashed, you should be given out. But if that’s the rule that has existed over a 100 years, there’s an element of suspense, whether it will fall or not fall, that makes the luck factor come into play. I think it’s very rare the bails won’t fall, you’ll have a one-off case like this.”If you have bails, then the bails should fall off. If tomorrow you say get rid of the bails, then go by the lights. It’s a case of basically getting rid of the bails. But why change it? It’s there for a 100 years and the fun element is there, and the luck factor comes in.”Shastri cited an example from his playing days when he was at the “receiving end” in a dismissal where the bails had fallen off without anyone noticing it. “I remember a game in Mumbai where I was batting against West Indies at the Wankhede and [Michael] Holding was bowling. I was batting on 70 or something and there’s one that nipped back and went to [Jeffrey] Dujon. And after a minute, there was an appeal because one bail had fallen down. No one heard anything, but the bail had fallen down and I was given out. It was the right decision because when they really showed it in slow motion, it was the pace of Holding. It might not have touched the stumps but the speed at which the ball was going it dislodged the bail. And that’s cricket. I was at the receiving end of it.”He, however, admitted that he would reluctantly agree for the existing rule to be tweaked. “If you see most of the rules, if they are in favour of the batsmen, then this one as a bowler to get something back, it’s not a bad thought,” Shastri said. “I don’t want to change things for the sake of changing.”

The New York Yankees have been in a prolonged slump and the team didn't get off to a hot start in the month of August, either. Following Sunday's 7–3 defeat at loanDepot Park, the Yankees were swept by the Marlins for the first time ever.

New York has not only seen its comfortable AL East lead slip, but they've even fallen into third place in the division behind the rival Red Sox. They're currently clinging onto a wild card spot by two games as teams continue to close the cap.

Following the humbling sweep in Miami, Aaron Boone spoke to reporters and addressed the team's current woes. He used three words to describe the situation, telling reporters it's "gut check time" for the Yankees as they embark on the final two months of the campaign, via Bryan Hoch of MLB.com.

As Hoch noted, the Yankees are 25-32 since the end of May and have been swept three times during that span, including twice against division rivals in Boston and Toronto. As the season continues to crumble, Boone is hoping his team can find the mindset needed to overcome their struggles and turn things around down the stretch.

The injury to Aaron Judge certainly makes things more difficult, but there's plenty to criticize about this Yankees team, in particular their lack of focus on defense and on the base paths. If they can't clean up their sloppy play, things may continue to get worse in the Bronx.