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Aston Villa are expected to make a move for a new talisman before the conclusion of the January transfer window on Tuesday, and could move for LOSC Lille phenom Jonathan David.

Having sold centre-forward Danny Ings to West Ham United for £15m last week, Villan manager Unai Emery will indeed be aiming to wrap up a deal for a worthy replacement to spearhead the charge towards prominence in the Premier League once again.

While an £18m deal for 19-year-old forward Jhon Duran has been tied up this month, the Columbian gem is viewed as a long-term investment having signed from American MLS outfit Chicago Fire and still perching in the maiden period of his professional career.

With a move for David, who has been sensational in the French Ligue 1 since his arrival from Belgian outfit Gent in 2020, Villa could seal a deal for a highly sought forward with blistering pace, fierce physicality and a remarkable goal record.

Immobile 2.0

With Ings now gone, it would be a major surprise to see Villa see out the remainder of the January transfer window without securing the signature of a new first-rate forward.

While Olympique Lyonnais striker Moussa Dembele has been touted with a move to Villa Park, pushing for the signing of Lille’s David could be the deal that serves as the catalyst for success under Emery’s sagely tutelage.

This season alone, the Canadian sensation has scored 13 goals and provided four assists from 21 appearances, following on from a preceding term that saw him plunder 19 strikes across all competitions.

And with a resounding record for his national team – 22 goals from 38 caps – it is clear that the ace would bring an offensive calibre that could slot right into Emery’s blossoming system.

As per FBref, the “phenom” – as hailed by Tony Marinaro – ranks among the top 5% of forwards across Europe’s top five leagues for pass completion, which further adds fuel to the fire surrounding his prospective transfer, with a ball-playing aptitude only going to benefit Emery’s tactical set-up, putting emphasis on the counter-attack and swift transitional play.

The 23-year-old is a comparable player to prolific Lazio talisman Ciro Immobile, who has scored a remarkable 190 goals from 277 appearances for the Italian Serie A outfit.

With David averaging 1.9 shots over the course of his career, and the robust Immobile averaging 3.0, as per Whoscored, if the former can channel his output and turn the gear up in front of the net, he too could find success with regularity at Aston Villa.

Whether Emery manages to secure his man, who is valued at €50m (£44m) by his French side, remains to be seen, but a deal would represent a major play of the cards in English football and could be the catalyst for future success.

The Gunners secured a 2-1 semi-final win in dramatic fashion at the Emirates Stadium as their 16-year-old midfielder stood up once more

Myles Lewis-Skelly scored a dramatic winner in the final seconds of extra-time to book Arsenal a spot in the FA Youth Cup final following a 2-1 win over Manchester City at the Emirates Stadium.

It was an incredible end to an absorbing clash in north London, one that seemed certain to be heading to penalties until Lewis-Skelly bravely got his head to Bradley Ibrahim's excellent pass to break City hearts.

For City, who had played with 10 men for almost the entirety of the contest, it was tough to take. But for Arsenal it was yet another dramatic ending in a cup run that has been littered with them this season.

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Things couldn't have started any better for the home side, with City being reduced to 10 men inside eight minutes when Lakyle Samuel saw red for bringing down Omari Benjamin. Michal Rosiak then bent the resulting free-kick wonderfully into the top corner to put Jack Wilshere's side firmly in command.

City coped well for the remainder of the first half, despite being a man down, but Arsenal started to dominate after the interval and should have put the tie to bed. They wasted a number of opportunities, however, with Benjamin missing one glorious chance after being played through by Amario Cozier-Dubbery.

That proved to be a costly miss as, just a couple of minutes later, Justin Oboavwodou finished off an excellent City move to level things up and seemingly take the game to penalties.

But then, just as spot kicks seemed inevitable, Lewis-Skelly stepped up to send Arsenal through to the final where they will meet either West Ham or Southampton

GOAL rates Arsenal's players from Emirates…

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  Goalkeeper & Defence

  Noah Cooper (6/10):

  Hadn't had a save to make before the equaliser. Could do nothing about the goal.

  Michael Rosiak (8/10):

  Brilliant free-kick to give Arsenal the lead. City struggled to deal with his movement, especially in the first half.

  Josh Robinson (6/10):

  Very good on the ball, drove forward well a couple of times.

  Reuell Walters (6/10):

  Caught out a couple of times by runners getting in behind, but relatively untroubled.

  Lino Sousa (7/10):

  Very direct. Got forward as much as he could.

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  Midfield

  Bradley Ibrahim (9/10):

  Sat just in front of the back four and controlled the tempo well. Fine display. Brilliant pass to set up the winner.

  Myles Lewis-Skelly (9/10):

  Had some high quality moments. His ability to get out of tight situations was very impressive. Showed real bravery to score the winner in the last seconds. Great run from deep when everyone else was shattered.

  Jimi Gower (7/10):

  Worked hard, got into some good positions in the final third.

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  Attack

  Amario Cozier-Duberry (8/10):

  Real live wire, was always a threat. Linked up well with Rosiak down the right.

  Ethan Nwaneri (7/10):

  Had some flashes of real quality. His quick feet in the penalty area caused City real problems at times.

  Omari Benjamin (7/10):

  Went close early on. Had a great chance saved in the second half.

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  Subs & Manager

  Ismail Oulad M'hand (6/10):

  Caused some problems with his pace.

  Osman Kamara (6/10):

  Sent one volley over the bar.

  Sebastian Ferdinand (6/10):

  Injected some energy in extra-time.

  Jack Wilshere (7/10):

  His team played well, but should have taken their chances to finish City off.

Hong Kong allrounder Nizakat Khan’s bowling action has been cleared by the International Cricket Council, following remedial work after his action was found to be illegal in July 2015

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Dec-2016Hong Kong allrounder Nizakat Khan’s bowling action has been cleared by the International Cricket Council, following remedial work after his action was found to be illegal in July 2015 during an ICC World Twenty20 Qualifying match against Nepal.Nizakat underwent a reassessment of his bowling action on December 6 at the National Cricket Centre in Brisbane, where his elbow extension for legspin deliveries was found to be within the 15-degree level of tolerance permitted under the ICC regulations. His offspin has not been cleared since he did not bowl it during the assessment.Before the ban, Nizakat had economy rates of 3.67 in ODIs and an impressive 5.30 in five T20Is. He has continued to play for Hong Kong since, averaging 35 in 10 ODIs as a top-order batsman.

All signs point towards Australia calling upon twin spin in the third and final Test against West Indies at the SCG, a scenario the captain Steven Smith was more than open to as he assessed his side’s 177-run victory in Melbourne

Daniel Brettig29-Dec-2015A sore Peter Siddle, a tiring Josh Hazlewood, an emergent Mitchell Marsh, a dominant Nathan Lyon and a tour of Sri Lanka next year. All signs point towards Australia calling upon twin spin in the third and final Test against West Indies at the SCG, a scenario the captain Steven Smith was more than open to as he assessed his side’s 177-run victory in Melbourne.Siddle bowled only nine overs on the final day of the Boxing Day Test, his pace and penetration slackening as a result of a foot problem that compelled Smith to lean heavily upon the muscular fast medium of Marsh. Hazlewood, too, showed signs of flagging, and given Man-of-the-Match Lyon’s manifest success against the Caribbean batsmen, Australia’s selectors need only see a typical Sydney pitch to include Steve O’Keefe on his home ground.Depending on the fitness of Siddle and Hazlewood, the Victorian Scott Boland may be in line for a Test debut also, though for the time being it was the prospect of twin spin that enthused Smith, particularly when he looked ahead to the overseas assignments that beckon in Sri Lanka in 2016 and India the following year. He agreed that Marsh’s performance made him a viable option as a third seamer.”It’s possible,” Smith said. “We go to Sri Lanka later in the year, where there is a good chance we’ll see two spinners playing, or in the touring party. It’d be good to see a second spinner play and see what he has got to offer. We’ll wait and see what the pitch looks like and if the conditions are going to suit. If they do, there’s a pretty good chance we could see a second spinner playing.”I think when [Marsh] is in a good rhythm he’s as good as any of the bowlers around the country at the moment, and he hit that rhythm today. At the start of today his job was to bowl cross-seam and bash the wicket hard and try to get the ball scuffed up as much as possible to go reverse, and he did that job really well and got the rewards late in the day for the hard work he did early on.”Australia’s tired bowlers had themselves to blame for the match very nearly stretching into a fifth day, as the trio of wickets stolen away by no-balls left the coach Darren Lehmann making his unhappiness known to James Pattinson (twice on day three) and Hazlewood (once on day four) for their overstepping.”The bowlers don’t mean to overstep the mark,” Smith said. “It has been an issue for us this game because we had to take 23 wickets on a wicket that was quite hard to take wickets on. For us it was just about letting it go, continuing on and just having the energy that we had before that wicket, and I thought our energy, intent and all that in the field was probably as good as it has been this summer, and to be able to get that back was good.”We probably let ourselves down a little bit with the couple of no-balls taking the extra three wickets, probably takes a bit of time out of the game. I was glad the way we finished off though, taking that wicket just before the new ball was crucial for us, Lyono did what he has done for us all summer – he has got wickets at crucial times and he has bowled beautifully. Once we got the new ball, I was pretty confident we’d get the wickets.”A Jason Holder lbw referral to the DRS was unable to take its course when the ball-tracking technology was unavailable for the task, something that Smith said the team would discuss with the match referee, Chris Broad. However Smith noted he had actually been fortunate in that instance not to lose his review due to technical issues.”I think, looking at it, I was pretty lucky to get my review back to be honest,” Smith said. “It was probably sliding a fair way down leg, so it was a nice time to stop working if it’s going to stop working.”

“If you’d given me a choice at the start of the series between taking the ICC Championship points game 2-1, or winning the overall ODI series without those four Championship points, I would have gone for the points, no question.”That’s what New Zealand Women captain Suzie Bates had said in February after her team lost the ODI series 3-2 to England, despite an initial 2-1 lead that helped them go up a place in the ICC Women’s Championship. Only points from the first three ODIs were counted for the ICC tournament, and even though they got those, New Zealand are still second from bottom, only ahead of India.Now in India for the third time, just like head coach Haidee Tiffen, Bates feels familiarity with the conditions has provided them with the required knowledge and knowhow to win the upcoming ODI series against India in Bangalore.”Our focus is not just three first three matches, but on the entire series,” Bates told ESPNcricinfo. “From playing point of view, spin is obviously going to play a much bigger part than it does at home. We’ve got some quicks in our team that we still think we can use out of them, but the best we can play their spinners and the best our spinners can bowl, I think that will be crucial.”As a group we’ve talked about how fast the outfields can be [in India] but you’ve got to give yourself time to adapt when you are out in the middle and you’ve got to have wickets in hand to make the most of scoring runs at the end of the innings. We’ve talked about making sure that we play nice and straight and not playing around our pads because with the ball turning and perhaps staying a little bit lower than we are used to is not coming on as well as it does at home, so we’ve got to be more tight with our technique.”With the ball we are not going to get the bounce we are used to so adjusting our lengths as quick as we can. We’ve toured here before and we’re so well looked after that challenges off the field seem to have disappeared.”Tiffen toured India in 2003 for a bilateral series and later in 2007 for a quadrangular series. She is now on her first assignment after taking over as head coach and feels acclimatising to the conditions and pitches will be the main challenge.”Conditions-wise I think learning to apply yourself in the heat that’s a challenge,” Tiffen said. “They’ve got some world-class players like Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami, and they’ve got some young spinners coming through and it is a tough place to tour. Obviously the pitches are slightly different as well, they perhaps take a little bit more turn.”The first three ODIs will be in focus again for the Women’s Championship and the teams that finish in top four will directly qualify for the 2017 World Cup in England. A 3-0 score at the start of the series will see New Zealand jump straight to joint-third with West Indies. And if they win 2-1, they will be placed fourth.However, they will be without Sara McGlashan, their most experienced player, who made herself unavailable for the series. While Tiffen said that would give an opportunity to the younger players, Bates said it was not something to worry about as there’s enough depth in the squad.”She’s got a personal [reason] and is looking at her career outside of cricket,” Tiffen said. “That will provide an opportunity for other people to step up and we are looking at a few players to perhaps fulfil that No. 4 role. I suppose it’s about trying to find out questions of those players and who can adapt quickly and pay a role for us there.””I know we haven’t been as consistent as we’d like as a group with the bat and we have relied on some of the top order but Amy Satterthwaite has had match-winning performances for us at No. 3 and she’s a class player,” Bates said. “Kate Broadmore has come on for us internationally at that No. 4 spot.”Look, I think there’s always pressure on the top order…that’s what they are there to do, score the runs, and we know Sophie [Devine] can whack the ball and we’ve got Rachel Priest as well who’s been outstanding over the last series against England and West Indies, she’s been really consistent. Sara’s a huge loss, especially in the field she leaves a bit of a hole there at cover that I might have to step up my game for.”Among the other youngsters to watch out for, Bates spoke highly of tall fast bowler Lea Tahuhu, one of their bowling stars from the 2013 World Cup in India, spinning allrounder Leigh Kasperek, who took 3 for 19 in a warm-up against India A on Friday, and 18-year-old pacer Hannah Rowe.”Lea Tahuhu, although she’s been in the side for a number of series, she’s an exciting fast bowler and can bowl the ball pretty quick and she’s become more and more consistent for us opening the bowling,” Bates said. “We’ve got a couple of exciting allrounders – Anna Peterson and Leigh Kasperek – they bat lower order and bowl a bit of spin and these conditions will be really useful. There’s lots of other young girls – Hannah Rowe is probably our youngest, who bowls reasonably quick and swings the ball. She’s a netball player from back home as well so she brings a lot of skills and she’ll just grow and learn from these conditions, she hasn’t played much outside of New Zealand.”And when asked to pick between a scoreline of 2-1 from the first three matches and winning the series 3-2, Bates happily said: “5-0.”

Yorkshire won comfortably on the final day against Hampshire, despite the resistance of Lewis McManus and Will Smith and further demands from England

Paul Edwards at Headingley13-May-2015
ScorecardAdil Rashid took his match haul to eight wickets as Yorkshire won comfortably on the final day•Getty ImagesFor most of this match the alders and sycamores in the vicinity of Eden Crescent and Kirkstall Hill have offered a glorious portent of summer. “The trees are coming into leaf/ Like something almost being said,” wrote Philip Larkin, and yes, so they are. But the chaotic threshing of the unresting castles in the brisk westerly wind over the past few days might also be seen as a metaphor for the curious events at the ECB, and this, of course, is something in which Yorkshiremen are taking a sharp interest.Rather like a couple planning their weekly visit to the supermarket – Costcutter perhaps? – ECB officials are regularly shopping at Headingley at the moment. “We have to get an opener and that coach needs replacing,” they might say as they get into their four-door Fiasco and head north with the names of Adam Lyth and Jason Gillespie topping their list.But then suddenly, out of a sky as blue and fleece-fringed as that which domed above Leeds this lovely Wednesday, counties themselves sometimes have the temerity to try and control events. Many people were suggesting that this match wouldn’t last till lunchtime when play resumed on the final morning with Hampshire on 37 for 4 and their victory target of 449 as distant a prospect as the golds of autumn.ECB still to contact Yorkshire over Gillespie

Yorkshire’s director of cricket, Martyn Moxon, has expressed irritation that Jason Gillespie was named as a candidate for the job of England coach without Yorkshire being informed first.
“It would be nice if you got to know these things first but it’s not easy for Andrew Strauss when he pushed on these matters and I don’t hold it against him,” Moxon said. “We’ve been assured that any if any approach happens, it will be done in the correct manner and we trust the ECB to do that.
“I think the ECB are aware that we want Jason to concentrate on his day job and they’ll respect that. We’ve got a week between our next two T20 matches, so if the ECB want to contact us regarding Jason, there’s potential for them to do that.”
Moxon also defended Yorkshire’s decision not to make Gillespie available for interview after the Hampshire game.
“It’s difficult for Jason to say anything. What we want to avoid is for him to be here saying, ‘No comment…no comment…no comment’. It’s better for him not to say anything until we’ve got something official. If Jason speaks to Andrew Strauss, we’ll then wait and see if it’s the right job for Jason or not.”
Moxon also expressed his views about the way in which the Kevin Pietersen affair had been dealt with. “Quite frankly, I think it’s bit messy,” he said. “I don’t know the ins and outs of Pietersen’s time with England or what’s been said to him but it just seems very messy and sad for the English game that we are now being seen as a bit of a laughing stock.”

When nightwatchman James Tomlinson played inside a ball from Adil Rashid and Sean Ervine nicked a good ball from Tim Bresnan to Jonny Bairstow behind the stumps, these predictions seemed good calls. Hampshire were then 67 for 6 within the first hour of play and it seemed that we were all just waiting for the last knockings. But amid all the understandable furore about Kevin, Jason and England, this game has also been notable for the quietly proficient first-class debut of Hampshire’s wicketkeeper Lewis McManus, who had already kept well and batted decently enough in the first innings.And now McManus made his finest contribution to the game as he resisted Yorkshire’s attack for 100 minutes either side of lunch. In company with Will Smith, McManus added 56 runs in 30 overs although by that stage nobody gave a fig about the runs. As Rashid bowled unchanged from the Football Stand End in the morning session, McManus resisted him with a quiet resolve and tight technique which bodes well for his future career in the game.The 20-year-old was eventually dismissed 20 minutes after lunch when he rather fished at a ball from Will Rhodes and nicked a catch to Bairstow. He had made 28 off 91 balls and given the final day of this game a fascination which few expected it would possess. Certainly his colleagues could not emulate him in the slightest. Gareth Berg and Andre Adams were removed by successive balls from Rashid, the latter well caught at backward square leg by Jack Brooks when sweeping. Then Fidel Edwards swished at Steve Patterson, edged a catch to Alex Lees at first slip and the game was done.Yorkshire move to third place in a Division One table which is assuming an interesting shape and Hampshire return south counting the cost of their avoidable bowling lapses and gifted wickets.Before long the outfield was filled with camera crews wanting to find out about national issues and great controversies. It was, perhaps, always thus. But for a few players, this match has taken on a greater significance. Rashid’s 4 for 48 in the second innings gave him match figures of 8 for 118 and suggested that his omission for the Barbados Test was, indeed, an error. Adam Lyth made 76 runs in two innings and looked in decent nick, albeit that he was roughed up by Fidel Edwards before being dismissed by the same bowler before lunch on Tuesday.Lyth will probably make his Test debut against New Zealand next week and, if he does well, his colleagues may see little more of him this summer. Perhaps, therefore, in addition to the usual songs of triumph, he might have regaled his team mates this afternoon with a chorus or two of that grand old Gracie Fields standard: “Wish Me Luck As You Wave Me Goodbye”. This is, after all, been a week of grace and Gracie in this pleasant corner of Yorkshire and if Lyth is to face Mitchell Johnson and his chums, he may need all the good fortune available to him.

ScorecardFile photo: Eshani Lokusuriyage’s 46 and Player-of-the-Series award went in vain•ICC/Solaris Images

A sharp performance from South Africa Women’s pacers, combined with a fifty from opener Trisha Chetty gave the team a 2-1 series win in the fourth and final ODI of the series against Sri Lanka Women in Colombo. Sri Lanka were dismissed for 137 after they were put in to bat and South Africa chased the total down with five wickets in hand, and more than 15 overs to spare.Sri Lanka were rocked early when medium-pacer Shabnim Ismail took the first two wickets in her consecutive overs, and the hosts were 18 for 3 after losing three wickets for eight runs. Opener Chamari Atapattu resisted with a 71-ball 26 but didn’t get any company from the top and middle order, which managed only 18 runs without her, and the score read 76 for 6 when she became Marizanne Kapp’s first wicket. No. 7 Eshani Lokusuriyage revived the innings by scoring 46, which included two sixes, and finished as the highest run-scorer of the series. The tail also provided a bit of opposition, before they were bowled out for 137. Ismail finished with 2 for 15, including three maidens, from her seven overs and topped the wicket-takers list with 11 in the series. Kapp had figures of 2 for 17 from 6.4 overs.South Africa got a solid start with four fours in the second over, two each from Chetty and Lizelle Lee. Maduri Samuddika broke the opening stand in the sixth over and also removed debutant Andrie Steyn four overs later. Left-arm spinner Inoka Ranaweera gave the visitors two more jolts when she dismissed Mignon du Preez and Kapp for low double-digit scores. South Africa were now 90 for 4 in the 21st over. With only 48 runs left, Chetty nearly saw them through with her eighth ODI fifty. In the 35th over, Dane van Niekerk smashed a four and a six within three deliveries to seal the win.

Misbah-ul-Haq, the Pakistan captain, has urged the PCB to start grooming youngsters as future leaders

Umar Farooq04-Jun-2014

Misbah-ul-Haq, the Pakistan captain, has urged the PCB to start grooming youngsters as future leaders. Misbah, who turned 40 in May, said that players such as Azhar Ali and Umar Akmal could take over from him eventually.”It is important for the board to decide who they want as captain. They should start grooming and giving them the confidence,” Misbah said on the sidelines of the ongoing summer camp at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. “To me there are lots of players who could be given the captaincy… like Azhar Ali and Umar Akmal. Both are doing captaincy (in domestic cricket) and I think when they get some experience you can safely hand them the responsibility.”Pakistan suffered a mini-captaincy crisis after Shahid Afridi abruptly quit Test cricket in 2010 in the middle of the England tour and his replacement Salman Butt, who was marked as a long-term prospect, was banned after the spot-fixing scandal. Misbah took over the captaincy then and has since been leading the side in Tests and ODIs.Mohammad Hafeez was given the T20 captaincy in May 2012 after Misbah decided to step down. Hafeez was also vice-captain to Misbah in Tests and ODIs for the last two years but after Pakistan’s poor performance in the World T20 in Bangladesh earlier this year he quit from all posts.Despite his age Misbah is still one of the fittest and most prolific players to lead Pakistan. However, with the 2015 World Cup ahead and Misbah in the twilight years of his career, Pakistan still haven’t marked a potential captain with assertive leadership qualities.”I don’t think there is any problem as we have players who can take over the responsibility,” said Misbah, ruling out any stumbling in the post-Misbah era. “All the youngsters understand the game and are doing the hard work and performing but you will take some time, one-two years. Both [Akmal and Azhar] have cricketing sense and that’s what you need in the future.”When asked if he was facing any risk to his captaincy ahead of the World Cup as Shahid Afridi has said he is open to the job, Misbah said he did not think about matters not in his control. “I have always said that captaincy is not in your hand, it’s in the hand of the cricket board,” he said. “For me the important thing is to stay fit and give my best performance. My focus is on this, that how I have to perform according to my best ability and that’s what I am trying. Rests of the things are not in your control and I don’t even think about it.”The ongoing month-long camp will end on Thursday after extensive physical training and skill development. Misbah said the camp would be beneficial in the long run. “You might not get an immediate result. However, each player knows it has enhanced endurance. Your base is on your fitness in any sport and when you are fit you have better performance in all the three departments. Especially in such heat when you push yourself you increase your endurance, your strength is improved and you get improved in all the departments.”The biggest motivation is your passion about this game. If you don’t have passion then you just spend time and you don’t enjoy. When you have passion you compete with others and you try to be the best. Not only me the youngsters have very good fitness and all the senior players have worked hard and tried to push themselves. In future if we continue to push, our fielding level will increase automatically. In batting and bowling when your fitness is good it automatically improves too.”

Liverpool's summer plans are really hotting up at the moment with a number of deals potentially in the pipeline for Jurgen Klopp and co.

Liverpool transfer news – Reds favourites to sign Mason Mount

The Reds initially wanted to bring Jude Bellingham to Anfield this summer but after reportedly pulling out of a move, the Englishman has since closed in on a move for Real Madrid.

As a result, FSG has sought alternatives with Alexis Mac Allister topping their list.

It's thought that Liverpool are leading the race to sign the Brighton midfielder in a deal that could cost around £70m, as per the Mirror.

That said, he isn't the only domestic signing that the Merseysiders could make with the same report taking note of their interest in Mason Mount.

The Chelsea star is out of contract in 2024 and with no new deal seemingly forthcoming, a move may well be on the cards.

At the moment, it's Liverpool who are 'favourites' to sign the attacking midfielder 'for around £50m'.

Is Mount like Coutinho?

Whenever a new signing arrives through the door for the first time, comparisons are immediately drawn to players of old.

Normally they don't live up to the hype but in the case of Mount, a Premier League-proven player who has already won a plethora of honours, you can't go too far wrong.

In fact, despite his aforementioned price tag, this would be an incredibly smart piece of business and would also mark a statement of intent from Liverpool as they bid to revive their fortunes next term.

What better way to do so than by acquiring a player who possesses shades of a certain Philippe Coutinho?

The Brazilian may now be far past his peak, having scored just once for Aston Villa this term, but during his spell at Liverpool, he was one of the best around. Indeed, the playmaker found the net on 54 occasions in 201 outings, while boasting a further 45 assists.

Perhaps his best spell in England was reserved for his final six months before his move to Barca, with the 68-cap star registering 13 goal involvements in his first 14 Premier League matches of the season.

Since then, it has arguably been a tail of woe, with Liverpool arguably still missing his services; even if they do still have the likes of Mo Salah and co.

Writer Josh Williams noted such a fact in 2021, saying: "Liverpool have been without a player who can switch between midfield and attack since Coutinho, like Mount or KDB."

Therefore, in the Chelsea star, Klopp may well have a player capable of breaking those lines again and picking up pockets of space in which to create and score.

The England international hasn't enjoyed his best campaign, scoring just three times in 35 games, but like Coutinho has shown he can bag goals and assist them in regular and consistent fashion.

Only last term, the 24-year-old scored 13 and created a further 16 for his teammates as he recorded career-best figures.

Capable of operating in central areas or from out wide, there are further comparisons to be made between the two silky technicians.

in the last decade or so, there have been few better in this country in their position. Of course, you will always have the David Silva's and Kevin De Bruyne's of this world but in Mount, you have a clutch player who is still rather underrated.

Such a figure would be perfect for Klopp who is searching for reliable operators in order to get Liverpool back on track next term. With that Coutinho comparison whetting the appetite for what's to come, the Three Lions star would be an astute capture. Just imagine him alongside Mac Allister too; what a sight that would be for supporters next season.

The Anfield club have been used to turgid displays for the most part from their central players this term, but in those two players, they'd be incredibly well set.

Journalist Alasdair Gold has slammed Tottenham Hotspur for letting Matt Doherty leave in the winter amid the hamstring injury to Ryan Sessegnon.

Why did Doherty leave Spurs in January?

Ahead of Spurs’ dismal defeat at the weekend, Sessegnon was absent from the squad with an injury. Since then, it has been reported that the player is set to miss six weeks on the sideline.

This will no doubt come as a blow to manager Antonio Conte and the north London club may well be regretting their decision to let Doherty leave for free this winter now.

Indeed, Spurs were so happy for the Irishman to depart in January after agreeing to terminate his contract early so he could head to Spain and join Atletico Madrid permanently.

While speaking on his YouTube channel, Gold has now slammed the “stupid” decision and dubbed it a “complete mess-up” at Spurs.

The journalist explained: “The alternatives [to Sessegnon] are, you turn to Ben Davies, I guess. Not as attacking but certainly can deliver a cross. I think you have to think of that.

“Or I guess you could switch Emerson Royal maybe to the left…

“It’s just another thing that makes the Matt Doherty decision all the more stupid. It really does. That was such a mess of a move. Just an absolute complete mess-up.” What has Doherty’s exit meant for Spurs?

As Gold alludes to, Ben Davies can play on the left side of the defence. However, he has mostly played as one of Conte’s three centre-backs this season, so this would be a disruption to the formation.

If not the Welshman, then Emerson can play there in theory but again, with just one career appearance in that position, it’s not a role he’s played often –  so it is a bit of an awkward fit.

With all that being the case, it puts a lot of strain on 34-year-old Ivan Perisic to stay fit, when before hadn’t had to start every single game.

What’s more, Doherty has plenty of experience playing on the left side of the pitch when called up and so he could have helped ease the burden with Sessegnon out on the sidelines.

At the time it was reported that the Tottenham players were “shocked” to learn that their teammate was heading to La Liga permanently. Now, in reflection, they may also be pretty annoyed by the decision too.