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Nearly a decade after leaving it for the world of football, Paul DePodesta is reportedly returning to the sport that made him famous.

DePodesta plans to leave his current position as the Browns' chief strategy officer to become the Rockies' head of baseball operations, according to a Thursday afternoon report from Ken Rosenthal of . The 52-year-old has served in his role with Cleveland since Jan. 2016.

Despite not having worked there in over two decades, DePodesta remains heavily associated with the Athletics and the analytics-first approach they helped pioneer in the 2000s. He served as that team's assistant general manager from 1999 to 2004; in 2012, actor Jonah Hill received an Oscar nomination for portraying a character based on DePodesta in Bennett Miller's .

In '04, DePodesta became the Dodgers' general manager, only for Los Angeles to fire him after two years. He spent time with the Padres and Mets before moving to the Browns, where he struggled under the supervision of owner Jimmy Haslam.

Colorado is coming off one of the worst Major League Baseball seasons of this century; it finished 43-119 and finished 50 games behind the first-place Dodgers in the National League West race.

But the question for Sunday remains the same as it has all series: if India are without Bumrah, do they have what it takes to get the job done?

Alagappan Muthu04-Jan-2025What would India do without Jasprit Bumrah? That question has constantly hung over this series. Now it looks like the series might be decided by the answer to that question.There was always a consensus that Bumrah would be India’s most important player in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. He was rested from the last Test of the home season to ensure his readiness for it. He didn’t even bowl in training. He was practically wrapped in cotton wool, a decision that looks prescient now that he’s had to deliver 150.2 overs in nine innings, but he still broke down because fast bowlers break down from workloads that high and his workloads were that high because India just didn’t have any other consistent threats.Rishabh Pant played like he took all that’s happened to India personally. First ball in on Saturday, he charged at Scott Boland and crashed him for six over long-on. Second ball he tried to reverse-scoop him. On Friday evening, addressing the media, Pant spoke of how he could have taken a 50-50 chance early in the first innings but didn’t. It was too early in the game to be taking risks, he felt. It was also too soon after he had been buried under an avalanche of criticism for the way he plays.Related

Australia regain Border-Gavaskar Trophy, set up WTC final date with SA

Border-Gavaskar Trophy nears dramatic conclusion after 15-wicket day

Bumrah leaves SCG for scans after experiencing back spasms

Stats – Bumrah hits new high, Kohli suffers new low

Rohit says he 'stood down' for SCG Test: 'It is not a retirement decision'

On Saturday evening at the SCG, things became really simple. These were the possibilities. With Bumrah, India would feel like they could defend anything. Without him, Australia would feel like they could chase anything.Despite what the critics have said, Pant has insisted he plays the situation. Here the situation was no longer about who could bat well or who had the best technique. It was purely about scoring runs. There is a trusted method that Pant has to score runs. If that method comes off, it often gets him a lot of runs really quickly. It came off on Saturday. At a really crucial time for India. He took their lead from 63 to 128 in a game where the highest total has been 185.”All of us were sitting together, the bowlers were sitting together and watching him bat,” Prasidh Krishna said after the day’s play. “And we definitely said if I was sitting at home and watching this, I would have loved it. To be able to do it from the ground, I mean, nothing like it. I know it’s a lot of risk, but that’s the way the game is played today.”India kept Australia to 181 with Bumrah bowling. They’ll likely need a cushion on that if he doesn’t bowl on Sunday.

“All of us were sitting together, the bowlers were sitting together and watching him bat. And we definitely said if I was sitting at home and watching this, I would have loved it… I know it’s a lot of risk, but that’s the way the game is played today.”Prasidh Krishna on Rishabh Pant

“Well, clearly he’s the leading wicket-taker in the series so you’d say it would be slightly beneficial for us [if he can’t bowl],” Australia coach Andrew McDonald said. “If he wasn’t to be there then India would have come up with a new plan.” If they’d been able to they probably wouldn’t be here with him fighting off back spasms.Last season, Australia’s big three quicks got through seven full Tests without breaking down. But they were expected to. There were contingency plans in place. Boland had been told that at some point or other Australia would need him. That Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood lasted as long as they did in 2023-24 was an outlier. They were helped that none of those seven Tests went the distance.Melbourne did for Bumrah. The 52-plus overs he bowled there were the most he’s bowled in a Test match. He got though nine spells on day four when India tried to break open the game. They almost pulled it off. The image of him, keeled over, hands on his knees at stumps was a powerful one. He has been carrying the team all tour. It’s their turn now and, on Saturday, they were up for it.Steven Smith edges Prasidh Krishna to second slip•Getty ImagesMohammed Siraj saved India the hurt that could have been. He made sure Australia were already four down by the time Bumrah had to leave the field after lunch. This SCG pitch has offered a rich bounty to anyone willing to hit it hard. But Siraj, for some reason, felt differently. He began looking for swing and he found it. The host broadcaster said the first 10 overs that India bowled on Saturday contained the most swing of any 10-over block in the series. This is the Siraj that India have been looking for all series.Prasidh, for long typecast as a hit-the-deck bowler, did most of his damage by pitching it up. He dismissed three of Australia’s four top-scorers including half-centurion Beau Webster, and made Steven Smith wait a little longer to get to 10,000. “Difference was when I got back at lunch, I actually looked at where I was bowling, the length that I was bowling,” Prasidh said. “But my perception of the length that I wanted to bowl was slightly different. Then the analyst and me sat together and we had a better idea of what my reference point is when I am coming in to bowl the next ball and that really helped.”Saturday had one India captain saying that although he’d dropped himself he still had aspirations to continue playing. Saturday had another India captain walking off injured and a former India captain taking over two years after he’d given it all up. Saturday had a maverick who was coming under fire fighting back with fire. Saturday had 15 wickets falling. And yet Sunday seems like it is going to be so much bigger.

أوضح بايرن ميونخ موقفه بشأن مستقبل الثنائي هاري كين ومانويل نوير، حيث تتردد الكثير من التكهنات حول مصيرهما في صفوف البافاري.

وبحسب صحيفة “بيلد” الألمانية فإن بايرن ميونخ يخطط لتمديد عقد هاري كين والذي يرتبط بالانضمام لصفوف برشلونة الموسم المقبل، حيث يمتد عقد المهاجم الإنجليزي الدولي مع البافاري حتى عام 2027 ويرغب النادي في حسم مصير اللاعب قبل الموعد المحدد.

وكشف ماكس إيبرل المدير الرياضي لبايرن ميونيخ عن مستقبل هاري كين: “سنلتقي مع هاري كين في بداية 2026، ونناقش مستقبله، جميعنا نشعر بالراحة التي يشعر بها في بايرن ميونخ”.

ويستعد نادي بايرن ميونخ لاتخاذ الخطوة التالية في مستقبل هاري كين، حيث من المقرر أن تبدأ مفاوضات تجديد عقد النجم الإنجليزي في يناير، وينتهي بند فسخ عقد اللاعب الذي يتيح له الرحيل في الصيف بنهاية يناير.

أما عن مانويل نوير، فقد أصبحت الأنظار مسلطة عليه حيث لم يكن محظوظاً في الأهداف التي استقبلتها شباكه أمام آرسنال خلال المباراة التي انتهت بفوز الجانرز بثلاثية لهدف واحد.

أقرأ أيضاً.. رونالد أراوخو يدرس قرارًا بعد انتقاده في هزيمة برشلونة أمام تشيلسي

وعلى الرغم من أنه تمت مناقشة إمكانية عودة مانويل نوير لحراسة مرمى منتخب ألمانيا في كأس العالم 2026 بسبب مستواه الرائع هذا الموسم، إلا أنه عاد ليرتكب أخطاء قد تؤثر على حظوظه.

ولا يشعر بايرن ميونخ بأي ضغط في مفاوضات تجديد عقد نوير، ويبقى الوضع هادئاً ويخضع مستواه لتحليل دقيق، ومن المتوقع أن تبدأ المحادثات في مارس مع اقتراب عيد ميلاد الحارس المخضرم الأربعين.

ويحصل نوير على راتب إجمالي 20 مليون يورو سنوياً ويعد من بين أعلى اللاعبين دخلاً في النادي، ويعمل بايرن جاهداً لخفض فاتورة رواتب اللاعبين وسيضطر على الأرجح لقبول تخفيض راتبه في حال تجديد عقده.

ويرغب مانويل نوير في حال استمراره لموسم آخر مع بايرن ميونخ ببقاء يوناس أوربيج كمدرب حراس مرمى للنادي على المدى الطويل.

Durham batter hits final ball over long-on with five required to end Southern Brave’s perfect start

ECB Media13-Aug-2025A last-ball six from Graham Clark saw Northern Superchargers defeat Southern Brave on their home turf in a nail-biting finish.Put into bat, the Brave were soon in all kinds of trouble. Kiwi Jacob Duffy, fresh off the plane from a Test series with Zimbabwe, decimating their power-packed top-order, reducing them to 26 for 3 off 24 balls by dismissing Leus du Plooy, James Vince and Jason Roy.James Coles and the evergreen Laurie Evans rebuilt steadily then violently, putting on 87 in 57 balls to put a defendable total in sight despite spin twins Mitchell Santner and Adil Rashid keeping things in check, the Brave finishing with a middling 139 for 5.Jacob Duffy celebrates an early breakthrough•Alex Davidson/Getty ImagesCraig Overton replicated the work of Duffy, taking three relatively inexpensive wickets for the Brave, but Zak Crawley sparkled alongside England team-mate Harry Brook, both of whom scored quickfire 20s.When Chris Jordan pulled up with a groin injury, it felt like a game-changing moment but the Brave rallied, Jofra Archer bowling a brilliant penultimate set, going for just one run and taking two wickets to finish with 2 for 15.The Superchargers needed 10 off the last set, bowled by Tymal Mills. Dots off balls three and four left five needed off the last, at which point Graham Clark hit a back-of-the-hand slower ball over the ropes at deep midwicket to send the away fans into a frenzy.Clark, only playing due to a David Miller niggle, said he felt “euphoric” after sealing the points. “I thought I’d messed it up when I left that wide one and then missed a slot ball, but it’s such a good feeling to get over the line,” he said.”Batting in the middle order role is something I’ve never done before. I’ve spent the last few days with [batting coach] Neil McKenzie trying to improve my power-hitting. We thought it was a really good wicket, where you could play proper shots. Santner really took the pressure off: he’s a quality operator, when he fields, bowls or bats; such a calm character, and hits the ball so cleanly.”

Manchester United are now about to sign a South American wonderkid, according to reports, who is “on his way” to seal his move.

Man Utd have "no excuses", says Amorim

After a frustrating defeat against Everton at Old Trafford on Monday, the last thing that Man United need is a trip to face Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.

Those are the cards they’ve been dealt, however, and Ruben Amorim’s side now have the task of getting back to winning ways at one of the toughest grounds in the Premier League.

Man Utd in contact and lead race to sign attacking talent likened to Neymar

The Red Devils have a keen eye for talent overseas and could be about to rock the South American market in their latest pursuit.

By
Sean Markus Clifford

Nov 29, 2025

The Man United boss has no time for excuses this season, though – telling reporters in the build-up: “In our club it’s the same thing because last year we had to win every game all the time and we took a lot of things, a lot of criticism because we were not winning.

“So, in our club, there is no excuses. About Europe, I already talked about Europe, and I said the same thing last year when we were in Europe and I say the same thing this year, the advantage and the disadvantage of not being in Europe. So, there is no excuses. Last year or this year, we have always to win games.”

Victory could take the Red Devils to as high as fourth if other results go their way in what would be a major boost after 13 games. Defeat, meanwhile, could see them drop down to as low as 14th in familiar territory to last season.

INEOS and Amorim will know just how important Champions League qualification is on and off the pitch. Away from the action, it would allow them to attract the likes of Elliot Anderson, who now also has the interest of Manchester City.

It would also make them an attractive option for more young players, having already agreed a deal to sign South American youngster Cristian Orozco.

Cristian Orozco now "on his way" to sign for Man Utd

According to Fabrizio Romano, Orozco is now “on his way” to sign for Man United and travelling with lead scout Giuseppe Antonaccio after INEOS completed a deal worth $1m (£750,000) with Fortaleza.

Those at Old Trafford have signed the 17-year-old in the hope that he follows the same path that others have done so many times before in South America.

The Premier League is littered with several stars who launched careers in South America before reaching stardom in English football. Usually, it’s been the likes of Brighton & Hove Albion taking full advantage, but Chelsea and now Man United are beginning to take full advantage.

The Blues now have one of the best teenagers in the world in Estevao Willian and if Orozco is anywhere near as talented as the winger then United have hit the jackpot.

Man Utd eye move for £80m star who Man City would "love" to buy in January

كشفت تقارير صحفية إسبانية ما جاء في تقرير حكم مباراة ريال مدريد وسيلتا فيجو في الدوري الاسباني، وما استند عليه لقيامه بطرد ثلاث لاعبين من جانب الفريق المضيف.

وكان سيلتا فيجو قد تغلب على ريال مدريد بثنائية نظيفة، بعد أن أكمل وصيف الليجا حالياً المباراة بتسعة لاعبين بعد طرد فران جارسيا وألفارو كاريراس، قبل طرد إندريك من دكة البدلاء.

وأفادت الصحفية “أرانشا رودريجيز” أن حكم مباراة ريال مدريد وسيلتا فيجو قام في الدقيقة 20 بطرد فران جارسيا لحصوله على البطاقة الصفراء الثانية.

بينما قام حكم مباراة الفريقين بطرد ألفارو كاريراس لاعب ريال مدريد في الدقيقة 90 بعد أن وجه كلمات له: “أنت سئ للغاية”.

أقرأ أيضاً.. تشابي ألونسو يهاجم حكم مباراة ريال مدريد وسيلتا فيجو: متساهل.. وقراراته أربكتنا

وفي الدقيقة 90 تم طرد إندريك فيليبي لاعب ريال مدريد لوقوفه من على مقاعد البدلاء ومغادرته المنطقة الفنية والصراخ على الحكم الرابع.

وبعد انتهاء المباراة، كتب الحكم في تقريره أنه في أثناء المرور في النفق المؤدي لغرفة الملابس، لاحظ عدم ارتداء داني كارفاخال ملابس التدريب حيث كان يرتدي ملابس عادية، فقد اقترب منه وقال: “هذا هو المستوى الذي تحكم به، ثم تبكي في المؤتمر الصحفي”.

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Atacante do Flamengo, Gabigol viaja nesta quarta-feira (5) à Suiça para participar presencialmente da audiência, que irá julgar de maneira definitiva a tentativa de fraude em exame antidoping por parte do jogador.

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Na Europa, Gabigol estará acompanhado do gerente de saúde e alto rendimento do Rubro-Negro, Márcio Tannure, que estava presente na coleta de urina, em abril do ano passado, no Ninho do Urubu. O advogado Bichara Neto, representante do atleta, também estará presente para sustentar a defesa.

A audiência de julgamento, que acontece em Lausanne, na Suíça, está marcada para começar no início da tarde no horário local. A sentença será definida pelos mesmos três árbitros que concederam o efeito suspensivo a Gabigol anteriormente.

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No entanto, assim como ocorreu no efeito suspensivo, que permitiu ao atacante retornar aos gramados, o resultado do julgamento não deverá ser anunciado na sexta-feira (7). Sem data marcada para o anuncio da decisão, as partes serão notificadas pela secretaria do tribunal.

No julgamento da Corte Arbitral do Esporte (CAS), Gabigol tem duas opções: ser absolvido em definitivo das acusações ou cumprir a pena prevista pelo Tribunal de Justiça Desportiva Antidopagem (TJD-AD), que sentenciou o atacante a dois anos de suspensão.

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Vale lembrar que a punição começou a valer na data do exame, realizado no dia 8 de abril de 2023. Portanto, caso a pena seja mantida, Gabigol só poderá retornar aos gramados em abril de 2025.

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Tony Meola reacted to Gio Reyna’s showing in the USMNT’s 2-1 win over Paraguay, praising his goal and chance created and noting his importance to the team despite lingering fitness questions. He said Reyna should be encouraged by the performance, which marked a strong return after a long spell away. The 22-year-old played 75 minutes on Saturday.

• Getty Images Sport
  

  Reyna’s performance a positive step

  Meola noted that Reyna should feel encouraged by his recent display, which included both a goal and a chance created that led to Folarin Balogun's game-winner, marking a significant return to form after a lengthy absence from the national team. 

  “He should feel good about his performance, getting back to the national team,” Meola said on the podcast. “It’s a pressure moment for him. We talked about how this is the storyline for tonight. We can make up some of the other storylines, but Gio Reyna is the story.

  “He’s probably not even close to where he needs to be for his career with regards to fitness, minutes, and confidence, and all of that stuff. And we can only hope that his time at Gladbach continues to grow, and continues to get to a place where now he can go 90 minutes.”

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• Pochettino views Reyna as an exceptional talent

  According to Meola, head coach Mauricio Pochettino regards Reyna as an exception in the USMNT roster, highlighting the unique skill set and creativity he brings to the team. This distinction underscores the coaching staff’s belief in Reyna’s potential to influence games decisively when fully integrated and fit.

  “Mauricio Pochettino has been steadfast on if you don’t play at your club, you’re not playing in the national team,” Meola explained. “And then you go make, what he calls an exception, he’s the exception. Every manager has one of those but then you gotta go and you gotta play well. Then you gotta go and you gotta perform. You gotta show the manager ‘Ok you got faith in me? I got to give you something in the end.’ He gets a goal and probably the assist [for the second], he’s involved in the play and has great touches in the first half."

• Getty
  

  USMNT’s performance elevated

  Meola has regularly argued that Reyna brings a rare creative profile to the U.S. pool – quick feet, tight-space vision, and the ability to unlock defences – and reiterated that view after the Paraguay game. His position is straightforward: the USMNT is a stronger team when Reyna is firing on all cylinders, but that upside is only useful if the player can combine fitness and form consistently.

  “I still think and I’ve said this all along, we’re a better team when he’s at his best version,” Meola said. “And whether he comes off the bench or whether he starts, he can make an impact for this team.”

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  What's next for the USMNT?

  The USMNT will face Uruguay next on Nov. 18.

Pakistan were hurt by dot balls while batting and in managing the fifth-bowling options while bowling

Danyal Rasool10-Aug-2025

West Indies overcame Pakistan’s spinners as well as the weather to power home by five wickets to level the ODI series 1-1. In a chase which ebbed and flowed, a blitz from Sherfane Rutherford and a controlled innings at the death by Roston Chase saw them home with ten balls to spare.Their task was made significantly harder than it might have been when Jayden Seales’ standout fast-bowling performance had restricted Pakistan to 171 for 7 in 37 overs. The target was slightly upwards (181 in 35 overs) of what was scored owing to multiple rain delays in the first innings.Pakistan were put in to bat first and played stodgy cricket inconsistent with the decade they were playing in. Abdullah Shafique and Saim Ayub found the occasional powerplay boundary but interspersed it with strings of dot deliveries; the first ten overs had just five singles taken. When Seales’ extra pace and Shai Hope’s canny field placement extracted an outside edge from Ayub in the ninth over, it was the ninth successive ball the left-hand batter had faced that had not produced a run.Mohammad Rizwan couldn’t make up for a slow start•AFP/Getty Images

Three balls later, Babar Azam was cleaned up by a Seales special that burst through the gate and made a mess of his stumps, and put West Indies firmly on top.It brought Mohammad Rizwan out, but he appeared to have left positivity behind in the dressing room – he scored just 4 off his first 23 deliveries. A shower that delayed play by 90 minutes did not help Pakistan find their rhythm. Jediah Blades took his maiden ODI wicket by drawing an edge from Shafique that ended his battle of an innings the over after play resumed.As run-scoring increasingly became a struggle, West Indies’ bowlers – spinners and seamers alike – kept making inroads. Gudakesh Motie trapped the Pakistan captain in front. Chase got a ball to keep low and produce an under edge off Hussain Talat’s bat to conclude his comparatively brighter innings. Salman Agha struggled to see any scoring area beside the little dab to deep third, and when Shamar Joseph surprised him with the straighter bouncer, a top edge sent him packing.Multiple rain breaks curtailed Pakistan’s innings•AFP/Getty Images

A further rain delay truncated the game to Pakistan’s benefit with the innings winding down, allowing Hasan Nawaz to go for broke in what became seven death overs. Cruelly for Pakistan, though, that stubborn cloud unloaded its contents upon the Brian Lara Stadium once more just as he had begun to get going. That little passage of play saw 32 scored in 3.1 overs, but Pakistan were denied a big finish with their final three overs wiped out.West Indies were set an entirely manageable target, though Hasan Ali’s opening salvo soon cast that expectation into jeopardy. Wickets in each of his first two overs sent the openers back, and the hosts found themselves stuck in the same mire that had dogged Pakistan. Rizwan, sensing an opportunity to strangle, brought the spinners on after six overs, with Mohammad Nawaz and Abrar Ahmed producing the desired results.The scoring rate briefly slowed to a trickle, particularly as far as Keacy Carty was concerned. His first 26 balls produced just three singles, piling the pressure on his captain at the other end. An intriguing plot point concerned Pakistan’s fifth bowling option; the one over Ayub had bowled leaked 10, and another from Salman shed another 11.Sherfane Rutherford took Shaheen Afridi down in the 17th over•AFP/Getty Images

With a newly arrived Rutherford at the crease and the asking rate over six, Rizwan made the fateful decision of turning to Shaheen Afridi, and the batter picked his moment. Two fours and a six saw him plunder 17 that over, and with Rizwan turning immediately to the part-timer Salman, another 20 were lopped off the target.It bought West Indies the cushion to see off the primary spinners Abrar and Mohammad Nawaz more respectfully, but the pair wasn’t content with containment. Nawaz found extra turn to have Hope stumped before, in what felt like a game-turning moment, he induced Rutherford into a smear that found square leg. It was part of an eight-over period that saw just 17 scored, but just as significantly, Pakistan had bowled out Nawaz.Chase slapped a couple of sixes the following Ayub over to wrench the asking rate below six once more, and it was there that it would stay for the rest of the game.The returning fast bowlers never packed the same threat, and West Indies began to milk them in addition to finding the odd boundary that took the game further out of the visitors’ reach. Justin Greaves had looked uncertain against the turn, but was impressively assured now, a wristy flick over mid-on for six off Hasan perhaps the shot of the innings. By now, the equation was purely mathematical, With Chase’s crisp drive through the off side sealing a topsy-turvy win on a day that promised each outcome at certain points, before settling on the one the Trinidad crowd had come to witness.

Manchester City cruise through to yet another Carabao Cup quarter-final.

On Wednesday night, despite actually falling behind early in South Wales, the Citizens ultimately swatted aside Swansea City 3-1, thanks to goals from Jérémy Doku, Omar Marmoush and then Rayan Cherki.

This is the 11th time in 19 seasons that the Citizens have reached the quarter-finals, hoisting the trophy aloft on six occasions since 2014, firm favourites to beat Brentford at home in the last eight just before Christmas.

As Manchester City, largely, motor on impressively this season, has Pep Guardiola found his new Lionel Messi, but it is not someone who caught the eye at the Swansea.com Stadium?

Rayan Cherki's importance

Having sat out eight matches due to a thigh issue, Rayan Cherki started for the first time since August on Wednesday night, putting in a sparkling, man of the match display, capped off by firing home the clinching third.

The table below documents just how impressive the Frenchman was in the EFL Cup.

Goals

1

1st

Assists

1

1st

Shots on target

1

1st

Shots off target

4

1st

Attempted dribbles

4

2nd

Accurate passes

74

3rd

Key passes

6

1st

Ground duels won

5

5th

Possession lost

31

1st

Touches

119

2nd

As the table highlights, Cherki was the outstanding player on the pitch in mid-week.

He ranked first for shots and second for attempted dribbles, behind only Jérémy Doku, while his tally of six key passes is off the scale; normally a player would not register that many in a month!

The Frenchman did lose possession on 31 occasions, almost twice as often as anyone else, which obviously isn’t ideal, but underlines that he is always trying to make something happen.

The 22-year-old arrived from Olympique Lyonnais for £34m too much excitement, given that Lyon teammate Ainsley Maitland-Niles labelled him “the best natural talent I’ve ever seen. An absolute master, a wizard with the ball”.

Upon his arrival in Manchester, Guardiola said that Cherki “is one of the most talented players I have ever seen in my career”, high praise from a manager who has coached Andrés Iniesta, Xavi, Thierry Henry, Franck Ribéry, Arjen Robben, Thiago Alcântara, David Silva, Kevin De Bruyne, oh and a certain Lionel Messi.

Despite their stylistic similarities, Cherki is not the new Messi in this Manchester City side, that acclaim goes to a rather more high-profile “monster”.

Guardiola's new Lionel Messi at Man City

By scoring twice against Nashville in Fort Lauderdale on Friday night in round one of the MLS Cup play-offs, Messi has taken his tally to 891 senior goals for club and country.

Of these, 672 were scored for Barcelona, with 211 coming during Pep Guardiola’s reign, most notably bagging 91 goals in just 69 appearances for club and country in 2012, featuring hat-tricks against Switzerland, Brazil, Bayer Leverkusen, Málaga twice, Valencia, Granada, Espanyol and Deportivo La Coruña.

This is surely a calendar year record that will never be beaten but, if there is one player who could come close, it is of course Erling Braut Håland.

Already this season, the Norwegian striker has scored 15 goals for Man City, which accounts for 65% of all goals they have managed across the Premier League and Champions League.

Former Bayern Munich striker Mario Gómez labelled Håland a “monster”, adding “I think every team on the planet has to fear” him, while Barney Ronay of the Guardian describes him as “the complete centre-forward” who is more than just a goal machine.

Nevertheless, right now, Håland’s goals are perhaps masking Manchester City’s issues, over-reliant on him to score in every game, but if you’re going to be over-reliant on someone, he isn’t a bad choice!

In 2025 so far, he has scored 43 goals for club and country, while his most productive year was 2023, netting 50 times overall, four more than he managed in 2022.

This merely underlines how mind-boggling it is that Messi reached 91 in 2012, but with Norway almost guaranteed to return to the World Cup next summer, their first appearance since France ’98, an injury-free Håland could trouble that record in 2026.

Back in 2010/11, when Guardiola’s Barcelona won La Liga and the Champions League, Messi scored 53 goals across all competitions, just one fewer than Barça’s next three highest scorers that season combined, namely David Villa, Pedro and Iniesta.

Well, considering Håland has 15 goals this season, while Man City’s second-highest scorers, namely Cherki and Doku, have just two goals, the Sky Blues are even more reliant on their superstar forward than Guardiola ever was in Catalonia.

Nevertheless, this is a recipe that has proved fruitful before, if Guardiola has the right ingredients of course, so Håland could well fire the Sky Blues to the game’s biggest trophies pretty much all by himself.

The Norwegian requires another 72 goals to become the highest scorer under Guardiola, a record held by Messi of course, but one that he could break in double quick time.

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