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Manchester United are set to launch a fresh enquiry into signing a £100m-rated midfield star this month, according to recent reports.

Man Utd in pole position to sign La Liga star

It could be a busy month for the Red Devils, who seem destined to welcome at least one midfield reinforcement after Ruben Amorim has seen the depth of his squad tested to its limits in recent weeks.

It was another evening to forget for the Man United boss last time out as his side were held to a 1-1 draw by bottom side Wolverhampton Wanderers at Old Trafford. The Midlands club picked up just their third point of the season and even had chances of their own to secure what would have been a famous victory,

Related INEOS could sign a £61m "nightmare" who's shades of Amad for Man Utd

This attacking star can add a new dimension in the final third for United

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United, meanwhile, were given a stark reality check that they must heed heading into the new year if they want to finally turn a corner. And if INEOS were watching, then they should act sooner rather than later in the January transfer window.

To that end, Conor Gallagher is a name to watch. According to recent reports, Man United are now in pole position to sign the Atletico Madrid man, who is seeking a return to the Premier League this month.

A deal to sign the England international would have to be permanent rather than on loan and it remains to be seen whether that deters Man United this month.

It could force them to turn towards their long-term options six months early, including Brighton & Hove Albion’s Carlos Baleba.

Man Utd set to launch fresh Baleba enquiry

According to TeamTalk, Man United are now set to launch a fresh enquiry to sign Baleba from Brighton this month. The Red Devils have been monitoring the midfielder alongside the likes of Liverpool and could now make their move when he returns from AFCON.

Alas, the deal won’t come cheap. Just like in the summer, Brighton reportedly value Baleba at a hefty £100m which would instantly make him the most expensive player in Man United’s history. For that price, they simply must make sure that the 21-year-old is the man to transform their midfield.

PL stats P90 25/26

Carlos Baleba

Manuel Ugarte

Minutes

896

554

Progressive Passes

2.4

5.16

Tackles Won

1

2.74

Ball Recoveries

5.1

5.16

On current form, the truth is that United should be steering clear of Baleba at £100m. The Brighton star showed what he’s capable of at his best last season, but has struggled to repeat that form in the current campaign. Whether it’s a knock-on effect of missing out on a big move in the summer is not something that United should find out.

Subscribe to the newsletter for expert United transfer insight Stay informed on Manchester United’s midfield options by subscribing to the newsletter for in-depth transfer analysis, player comparisons (Baleba, Gallagher, Wharton, Anderson) and expert context that helps you follow the club’s recruitment decisions.

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The Red Devils need a midfield reinforcement and that should come in the form of either Adam Wharton or Elliot Anderson, not Baleba this year.

Pruning the national selection committee from five to three, as the Lodha report has recommended, would be a bad idea given the size of the country and the number of first-class teams involved. That’s the opinion of three former selectors – Dilip Vengsarkar, Kiran More and Sanjay Jagdale – who say that the increased workload cannot be offset by the proposed Talent Committee that will do the basic scouting.One of the key reforms proposed by the Lodha committee, which submitted its various recommendations on Monday, was to limit the selection panel to three former players, all Test cricketers, retired at least five years prior to their appointment. According to the Lodha committee, a Talent Committee would facilitate the national selectors, reduce their workload and effectively “increase the authority” of the panel.But all the former selectors ESPNcricinfo spoke to disagreed. “India is such a vast country. At the moment the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy [the domestic Twenty20 tournament] is taking place across four venues. Suppose there are three selectors, then how many games can they watch?” More, the former Indian wicketkeeper, said. According to More, it would not be the right decision to adopt the same structure that is in place in countries like Australia, which have only a handful of first-class teams.More felt at least four selectors are required, but he was happy to have the four best men from around the country chosen instead of zonal representation, which has been the norm for long and opens up the possibility of nepotism.Former Madhya Pradesh allrounder Jagdale, who served two terms as a national selector between 2000 and 2008 as part two selection panels, said that the five-man panel was a “proven formula”, so why change that now.Former India captain Vengsarkar said he would stick to five-selectors policy. “The game has spread even to the small cities. The BCCI is sending grants to every association and they in turn are creating the infrastructure to encourage youngsters to play the game. So the player pool has increased now,” Vengsarkar, who is now the director of the National Cricket Academy, said. He pointed out the proposed Talent Committee has already been put in place by the BCCI, with the plan to appoint 30 talent and research development officers (TRDOs) comprising three scouts at the Under-16 and Under-19 levels each, across the five zones.Asked whether three selectors would not be enough, given the 30 scouts on the junior circuit providing feedback, Vengsarkar felt more is still better. “It always helps to have more views and opinions on a particular selection at times,” he said.According to More, relying on talent scouts was never enough. “Recommendations are fine. But you have to see the player yourself, you have to study the conditions. One guy could score a century but a on a (flat) wicket whereas another batsman might score 50 on a difficult wicket.”As for the proposal on the panel comprising only Test players, Vengsarkar and More differed. More preferred a mix, keeping in the mind the importance of limited-overs cricket and how it would not be correct to ignore former players who might have been good in the shorter formats but missed out on playing Tests. Vengsarkar felt if a player had dealt with the rigours of Test cricket successfully, he could easily adapt his thinking to the shorter formats even if he might never had played or excelled at them.Jagdale did not want to comment whether having a Test cap was an important prerequisite for being a selector. “It would not be fair for me to say anything,” he said. “I was a non-Test playing selector for such a long period.”

Mark Newton continues to face tough questions about the state of New Road © Getty Images

The England & Wales Cricket Board have launched an investigation into the circumstances of Worcestershire’s County Championship washout against Kent at New Road. The game had to be abandoned without a ball being bowled, after the ground was flooded on June 26 when the River Severn burst its banks. Kent had asked for the game to be moved to Beckenham or elsewhere in the county, but Worcestershire declined, prompting their opponents to lodge a complaint with the ECB.On Sunday Mark Newton, Worcestershire’s chief executive, said he would stand by his decision over not relocating the match because of an important Pro40 game at the ground on Friday. From the start of the match there seemed very little chance of any play, with large areas of the ground like a mud bath.”We are not trying to be confrontational and sympathise with Worcestershire’s position,” said Kent’s chief executive, Paul Millman. “But we do not feel the game should go ahead under the present conditions.”Graham Ford, Kent’s director of cricket, was less than impressed by the situation: “There is sympathy for Worcestershire in the sense it has been a pretty tragic situation in terms of the flooding. But I would be being dishonest if I didn’t say we feel pretty hurt and let down,” he told the Press Association.”When a decision like that is made, surely the people who made the decision were aware of what is an acceptable set of conditions for first-class cricket. That is what they needed to present us with and they must also be aware of the punishments that are in place for not presenting the right conditions and they failed pretty dismally.”Under those circumstances, some action should be taken. Worcester have made their problems our problems.”The match was called off by the umpires Richard Kettleborough and Martin Bodenham after only an hour of the third day, with pools of water still sitting on the outfield. “We will be reviewing all the circumstances of the match and will make a decision,” said the ECB chief executive David Collier. ” There are quite significant implications and precedents we need to have a look through. We will be reviewing all of the facts and will make a decision in the next 48 hours.”On Monday, Robert Key, Kent’s captain, said: “Both sides agree, and the umpires agree, the ground is nowhere near fit. Worcester are prepared to go out there and we are not at the minute. It is just mud. As soon as you start running around on it, it is going to go all over the place.”I understand the decision their chief executive has made for business reasons. Unfortunately this game is suffering for it which I am sure they would agree with.”Key also said he had health concerns with the recent flood waters having contained sewage and also didn’t want to risk any of his pace bowlers on poor run-ups.Newton continued to stand firm and was confident the ECB wouldn’t come down too hard on Worcestershire. “The ECB could have a word and say ‘it was an ill-advised decision’ but I’ve already admitted it could be a risk and I am going to defend my decision,” he said. “But they wouldn’t do anything fine-wise because we missed a day or two because of the weather.”

Scorecard

Support was passionate for Guyana © Joseph Jones

A five-wicket haul by West Indies fast bowler Jerome Taylor followed by a merciless assault by Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels helped Jamaica decimate Bermuda by nine wickets in their Stanford 20/20 match in Antigua. The West Indies trio proved too hot to handle for the World Cup qualifiers as Jamaica eased to their target of 75, getting there in only the sixth over.Taylor finished with fantastic figures of 5 for 10, which included a three-wicket burst in the space of four balls in his third over. Jermaine Lawson too kept the batsmen under check at the other end with some incisive seam bowling as Bermuda were tottering at 26 for 4. Oliver Pitcher and Delyone Borden made a recovery of sorts, adding 30 before another burst of wickets let them down. Pitcher top-scored with 19 as his side were bowled out for 74.Bermuda caused some early jitters, as George O’Brien bowled Xavier Marshall for a duck. Samuels earned a reprieve, skying his first delivery to extra cover, only to be dropped by Pitcher. From then on, it was Jamaica all the way with Gayle smashing four sixes in his unbeaten 40 off 22 balls. Samuels smacked five boundaries in his unbeaten 25, as Jamaica booked their place in the quarter finals.
ScorecardTravis Dowlin, the Guyana opener, hit an unbeaten half-century to guide his side to an easy eight-wicket win over Montserrat in their Stanford 20/20 match in Antigua. Dowlin and Narsingh Deonarine (31 not out) reached the target of 116 with 21 balls to spare in front of a capacity crowd which had a large Guyanese contingent.Choosing to bat first, Montserrat struggled to force the pace against the slow bowlers, led by former West Indies spinners Mahendra Nagamootoo and Neil McGarrell. Montserrat had an encouraging start, with their openers Nesta Piper and McPhearson Meade adding 46, picking runs of the seamers. The spinners then came into play, sharing five wickets between them to restrict Montserrat to 115 for 8. Guyana made a steady reply, with Dowlin opting to graft it out instead of going for the big shots.Guyana will now meet Jamaica in the quarter-finals next Friday.

Sheriff Hutton Bridge 203 for 6 (Crowder 76) beat Eynsford 201 (J Wise 59) by four wicketsSheriff Hutton Bridge, from North Yorkshire, won the National Village Cup final at Lord’s, beating Eynsford (Kent) by four wickets with eight balls to spare.A good-sized crowd basked in glorious sunshine, although their attention sometimes wandered as events unfolded at Trent Bridge. Chasing 202 to win, Sheriff Hutton Bridge, who were beaten semi-finalists in 2004, reached 203 for 6 off 38.4 overs.Eynsford, who won the toss, were bowled out for 201 in their 40 overs. Jamie Wise, one of three brothers in the side, top-scored with 59 before holing out to long-off.Sheriff Hutton Bridge got off to a flying start in reply, racing to 108 for 2 in 20 overs before being pegged back. Steve ‘Stiggy’ Crowder emerged as the hero with an unbeaten 76, including nine fours, after crucially being dropped at long-off when he had made 56.Crowder, who was named Man of the Match, hit the winning runs when he pulled spinner Ian Playfoot for four over mid-on to finish with 76 not out.

Andrew Flintoff: was cleared to bowl in the first Test© Getty Images

Peter Gregory, England’s chief medical officer, has hit back at criticism regarding the handling of Andrew Flintoff’s ankle injury.In an official release, the ECB wanted to clear up what they called “further misguided and unjustified criticism of the management” about the situation. Despite his injury, Flintoff was cleared to bowl in the first Test against West Indies after a cortisone injection, but the England management came under fire for allowing him to do so, with suggestions that Flintoff was needlessly being rushed back in to action.However, Gregory was quick to point out that wasn’t the case, and that the medical staff were carrying out a routine procedure regarding this type of injury, with a break from bowling and then a cortisone injection top the of the doctors orders. “If the first two stages of this process are not successful, then an operation may be required as a last resort,” Gregory said. “But we would not want Andrew to undergo surgery unless this was absolutely necessary and it would be irresponsible to carry out this procedure until we have exhausted all available other options.”He added: “Andrew’s ankle has responded well to treatment thus far and the risks associated with injection for this condition are far less than for undergoing surgery that would keep him out for a significant period of time.”We are fully aware of the international programme England face over the next 18 months,” he continued, “but elective surgery is not being considered, as the cortisone injection has been effective at present and Andrew continues to bowl pain-free.”Flintoff, who played as a batsman only in the NatWest Series, bowled only 11 overs in the first Test, but still took four crucial wickets in the match, as England won by 210 runs.

Wes Hall’s criticism of the International Cricket Council (ICC) for the scheduling of the series between the West Indies and Sri Lanka during the rains was misplaced, according to Malcolm Speed, chief executive of the ICC.Speed said that Hall, the president of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), was wrong to blame the ICC because it was the responsibility of individual country boards to decide where and when matches would be played.”The only role the ICC has in scheduling [matches] is to make sure that all teams fulfill their commitment to play each other in a series of not less than two Test matches and three one-day internationals both home and away in a five-year cycle.”In this year’s West Indies schedule, the WICB, for sound cricket and commercial reasons, decided to play four Tests and seven ODIs against Australia and this decision obviously impacted on their ability to schedule the Sri Lanka series.”The previous chief executive of the WICB raised some concerns about the timing of this tour with the ICC last year and we indicated that there were alternative times available for the games to be played within the five-year schedule but no alteration to the schedule was made.”Hall had earlier said that scheduling matches in June – the hurricane season in the Caribbean – was “cricketing madness”. He also expressed his inability to alter the itinerary. “You may ask then why, as president, I don’t change it. I can only say that the West Indies board has only one vote at the ICC and I can only hope that we are able to convince the authorities that it is madness to play in June.”

Tasmanian captain Ricky Ponting used it as an opportunity to make history. And Jamie Cox used it as another chance to continue banging down the door for Australian selection.But it has to be said that the fourth and final day of this Pura Cup match between New South Wales and Tasmania otherwise carried something of an air of uselessness as it inexorably resulted in a high-scoring draw.Ponting celebrated a cool but sunny day here at the Sydney Cricket Ground by scoring twin centuries in a match for the fifth time in his first-class career. In so doing, he became the first Australian to achieve the feat as many times, snatching for himself a record that he had previously shared with Sir Donald Bradman, Greg Chappell, Stuart Law and Cox himself.Though it was only constructed before a small crowd – herded into a tiny section of the ground – his 154 was a masterpiece in concentration and execution.His strokeplay was just as effortless, in fact, as it had been in his first innings contribution of 126. Other than for a tired, top edged pull that finally brought about his undoing, the only real hint of a false stroke came with his score at 55 as he was nearly caught behind fiddling at a delivery down the leg side from left arm spinner Mark Higgs (0/46).Cox’s score of 80 also came from another fine innings, though it was a little rusty at times by his own high standards. He was dropped twice and played and missed more than once outside the line of off stump. The almost inevitable outcome was yet another big score against an opponent that he has grown to love.Captains old and new complemented a 77-run stand for the opening wicket between Cox and Dene Hills (32) by forging another 127-run union for the second to ensure that Tasmania’s progression to a finishing score of 3/356 was always going to be smooth.Though the only sting left in the game by now was the one coming from the howling southerly wind ripping across the ground, there was time enough for Shane Watson (58*) to bat attractively and for Don Nash (2/62) to grab his first two wickets of the match. But there was no confusion by then that proceedings would be called off half an hour early.”We knew this morning that we had to go out there and bowl them out,” lamented New South Wales captain Shane Lee.”I thought that if we could have got one or two quick wickets – particularly get Cox out and Ponting – anything was a chance. Unfortunately, that just didn’t happen.”We’ve got to lift a lot for our next game. We dropped five catches overall and that’s too much in a first-class game. We definitely paid for that.”Where Ponting’s batting was encouraging for Australian followers ahead of the opening Test against New Zealand on 8 November, the bowling of paceman Glenn McGrath (1/35) would also have heartened those close to the team. Though he only claimed the wicket of Hills – to a dubious lbw decision – his line and length was generally impeccable and he looked to be returning to something approaching his best.At the end of a frustrating week, leg spinner Stuart MacGill (0/88) also bowled tidily. His figures would have been substantially improved if Michael Bevan had not spilled a mistimed cut by Cox (then on 27) or if he had held a sharp, low caught and bowled chance offered by the same batsman two runs later.

ScorecardAlex Wakely recorded his fourth first-class hundred•Getty Images

Alex Wakely’s first-class best 123 led Northamptonshire from danger on the opening day at Wantage Road. From 42 for 4, Northants recovered to post 325 against Leicestershire. Three wickets late in the day as the visitors began their reply completed the comeback.Mark Cosgrove’s decision to bowl first initially paid dividends when Clint McKay struck four times in the opening hour but Wakely settled and went through to his fourth first-class century, helping his side to a healthy total but perhaps only a par score on a good batting surface.Wakely looked in superb touch from the start of his innings with a delightful back-foot drive off Ben Raine and an imperious pull against Wayne White among the 10 fours that he scored in reaching his fifty from 68 balls. He survived a strong shout for lbw on 52 and was becalmed in the hour after the lunch break. But he began to move his tally along again, opening the face to run White towards vacant third man, and a second pull stroke took him to 90. Clipping the off spin of Rob Sayer through midwicket nudged him three away from a century and a paddle sweep brought up his fourth first-class hundred with his 18th boundary.It was Wakeley’s second century in four Championship matches, made in similar circumstances to his first of the season at Cheltenham six weeks ago with his side also in trouble. Here, he shared stands of 71 with Josh Cobb, 78 with Steven Crook and 69 with David Murphy to make good progress throughout the afternoon.Northants could well have been shot out for far fewer after the Australian McKay took four wickets in his opening eight-over spell. He struck in his second and third overs to remove both Northants openers. First the in-form Ben Duckett was lbw to an inswinging yorker and then Rob Newton, pushing hard at a ball swinging across him, got a leading edge to mid-off and fell for just 9 in his first Championship match since June.Two further wickets fell in the first hour. Both Rob Keogh, trying to leave, and Richard Levi, attempting a cut, dragged into their own stumps. Wakely and Cobb settled the situation but a dropped catch by Angus Robson at first slip – Cobb on 11 – was a sliding-doors moment. It would have given McKay a fifth wicket shortly after lunch. As it was Cobb saw off McKay and the Leicestershire back-up bowling was not as incisive. An injury to Raine did not help; he limped off having taken a knock diving for a catch at long-on.Cobb only added 19 after being dropped but Steven Crook, after his whirlwind first-class best against Australia last weekend, continued the counter-attack. He flicked his first ball for four through midwicket, and immediately took on the offspin of Sayer, slog-sweeping him over midwicket. But having late-cut his eighth four, he skipped down to Sayer, missed, and was stumped for 40 in 31 balls.Overall, the last six Northants wickets added 283 with Rory Kleinveldt making 43 to push Northants to a third batting point.And they were able to apply pressure in the 15 overs they had to bowl at Leicestershire late in the day. Lewis Hill failed to deal with a rising Kleinveldt delivery that he gloved down the leg side and the same bowler produced a good delivery to square up Ned Eckersley and take out his off stump for a duck. A third wicket fell five overs from the close with Sam Robson chasing a wide ball and edging behind. Leicestershire closed 295 runs behind.

Watch Nathan Coulter-Nile up close and it is not hard to see why Australia’s selectors drafted him into the squad for Hobart. Tall, strong, and athletic, he can hit the ball miles and then hurl it down the wicket at speeds approaching the 145kph mark. He is also an outstanding fielder, rivalling the best of Ryan Harris for covering ground and firing in flat returns from the outfield.Yet his tendency to be injured and his lack of recent cricket have made Coulter-Nile a figure of some curiosity since his first call-up to the Test squad. Coulter-Nile had been a reserve alongside Doug Bollinger during the 2013-14 Ashes summer, but since then his ODI appearances have been sporadic, and he notably missed this year’s World Cup due to hamstring surgery.At 27, Coulter-Nile is aware that his opportunity is now, and he has no intention of simply making up the numbers either in this squad or the Australian bowling attack should he be granted a chance due to the heavy workloads being placed on the likes of Josh Hazlewood and Peter Siddle.”Every Test is an opportunity. I mean, you take five-for in a Test it becomes very hard to drop you,” Coulter-Nile said. “That’s why none of the boys want to give up their spot. You don’t see Sidds going, ‘Oh I’ve got a sore back I’m going to have a rest,’ because you don’t want to give the opportunity to the next bloke. I’m the same. If I get an opportunity I don’t want to just feel like a gap-filler, I want to press my case to play the next Test and the one after that.”The shock of not even being in contention for the World Cup after being around the limited-overs mark for some time had a considerable effect on Coulter-Nile, leaving him to reassess how seriously he took the game and how he prepared for it. That realisation did not prevent further injuries – a hamstring strain in England during the ODIs earlier this year and a shoulder problem that kept him out of action for the early part of the Sheffield Shield season – but it has hardened his outlook.”Not to be even in contention for selection was a tough one, it was a bit of an eye opener,” he said. “It was the time the penny dropped, I needed to sort my body out, sort myself out and I did and then I got injured again. It’s part of the game. If you want to bowl fast and put your body through that you are going to get injured it is just something you have to deal with and get on with I guess.”Adam Voges is Coulter-Nile’s state captain, and a well-placed observer of his abilities. He foresees a role similar to that played by James Pattinson, the other firebrand in the team following the retirement of Mitchell Johnson and now injury to Mitchell Starc.”He can be used primarily as a strike bowler for us, I think,” Voges said. “He bowls good pace – he can touch sort of mid 140kph and get some good shape at that pace as well. In terms of whether he gets a game or not I’m not too sure but I see him and Jimmy Pattinson in a similar vein in terms of good pace and can swing the ball. It’s certainly a good asset to have.”Obviously with his hamstring troubles that we know about, he’s had some issues there. The shoulder he’s coming back from was from a freak accident in a warm up game so that was just really unfortunate but from what I saw from the back end particularly from the last Shield season where he played six games in six weeks and just got better and better the more he played. The resilience was there and I think it’s coming, he’s just been a little bit unfortunate with his injuries.”The fresh intensity Coulter-Nile brought to his playing of the game has had one unfortunate side-effect. A dissent charge after disputing an umpire’s wide call during his return from injury in the Futures League led to a suspension from the one Shield game available to him before this week, and a moment’s pause about his Test prospects. The selectors, however, kept faith with someone who has been in their plans now for several years, reasoning that he had shown enough signs of rhythm in the earlier fixture.”I was playing a 2nd XI game to get back into the shield team and I played it as hard as I could, as aggressively as I could,” Coulter-Nile said. “I stepped over the line, paid the price and I missed a Shield game, it was just very fortunate that I have got the opportunity here. That’s how I play my best cricket and I don’t see myself changing but I definitely will respect the umpire’s decision.”If you’d had it [the injury] for a long time and you haven’t bowled I guess it’s hard, but the injury I had I started bowling two weeks later, so I didn’t miss a lot of bowling. I feel pretty good in that space. I feel like I play cricket 365 days of the year so I don’t feel like I’ve missed a large portion of cricket.”I’ve been bowling a long time, it’s not like I’ve had to build back up or anything, I didn’t start up on half run and build back up, I was straight off the long run and bowling flat out, so it wasn’t really an issue there.”The question of whether Coulter-Nile can put all that ability together and perform on the Test match stage will remain open until he gets his chance, but said he will try not to think about that. “I don’t really get drawn into how I’m going to go, I just go out there and try my best,” he said. “If it comes off, it comes off. If it doesn’t work this time, hopefully it works next time. I don’t get caught up in how it’s going to go, you can’t change that.”In one net session at Bellerive Oval, Coulter-Nile lost little by comparison to the rest of the bowling attack. His talent indicates that he belongs – he awaits the chance to back that up with performance.