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Liverpool are interested in signing PSV Eindhoven winger Cody Gakpo this summer, according to reliable journalist David Ornstein.

The Lowdown: Gakpo impressing for PSV

The 22-year-old is enjoying an eye-catching season for the Eredivisie giants, scoring eight goals and registering 13 assists in the division.

Gakpo also netted twice in the Champions League prior to PSV’s exit and he has been described as a player who ‘has everything’ by former Netherlands midfielder Theo Janssen.

The youngster’s current deal in Eindhoven may not expire until 2026, but a fresh update suggests that he could be on the move in the near future.

The Latest: Liverpool eye up move for Gakpo

Writing for The Athletic, Ornstein claimed that Liverpool are among the clubs interested in making a move for Gakpo this summer.

The likes of Arsenal, Barcelona and Bayern Munich are also seen as potential suitors, with PSV willing to sell if the right offer comes along. The Dutch outfit are not believed to have set an asking price, although offers in excess of £35m have already been mentioned

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The Verdict: One for the future

Liverpool have five excellent attacking options at their disposal these days, with Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane, Luis Diaz, Diogo Jota and Roberto Firmino all battling for minutes.

However, Firmino is now 30 years of age, while Salah and Mane will both reach that milestone later this year, so Gakpo could be considered a long-term replacement for them at Anfield.

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The majority of his appearances this season have been in a left-sided role, so he could be seen as Mane’s successor, although Diaz’s emergence does cloud the situation.

Gakpo’s versatility means that he can excel anywhere across the frontline, so Jurgen Klopp may feel that the 22-year-old is an ideal signing who can fill in across various roles as the years progress, eventually joining Diaz and Jota as a regular in a new-look front three at Liverpool.

In other news, Liverpool are interested in signing one highly-rated player. Find out who it is here.

	HBL will be bolstered by the inclusion of Younis Khan, with a terrific year with the bat behind him, in their squad for the final © AFP

Habib Bank Limited (HBL) have named a strong 15-man squad for the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy final against Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) to be played in Karachi from January 7. The squad is bolstered by the inclusion of current internationals including Shahid Afridi, Younis Khan, Danish Kaneria and Abdur Rehman. Hasan Raza, a former international and HBL’s captain during some of the round matches, might captain, though Afridi and Younis are also in the running.Imran Farhat and Taufeeq Umar, the two openers who took part in the Indian Cricket League (ICL), have been omitted on the orders of the PCB while Umar Gul, the fast bowler, has yet to recover fully from the injury sustained on the tour to India.While HBL looks set to field a strong side on Monday, SNGPL might be missing out on the services of Umar Akmal for the final. Akmal, younger brother of Pakistan wicketkeeper Kamran, has been called up to a Pakistan Under-19 camp in Lahore to prepare for the tour of Sri Lanka and the U-19 World Cup next month.Akmal has made a terrific impact this season, having scored 849 runs in eight matches in the current Quaid-e-Azam Trophy – his debut first-class season – at an average of 94.33. His tally includes 248 against Karachi Blues as well as an unbeaten 186 in the match against Quetta that was abandoned following the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.SNGPL will, however, have the services of Mohammad Hafeez, their captain, who has scored 639 runs in nine matches as well as Misbah-ul-Haq who scored an unbeaten 32 in his only outing of the current domestic season.

Eoin Morgan: heading inexorably for England © Getty Images

Each of the Associates has one, possibly two, star names but EoinMorgan, the Ireland left-hander, is one of precious few to have aprofessional contract with a county. His path to England has, so far,mirrored that of his friend and team-mate Ed Joyce who Morgan joinedat an increasingly Irish Middlesex. And he won’t be the last.”Ireland is really proving itself to be a hot bed of talent,” Morgansaid at a net session in at the Aga Khan Sports Club Ground inNairobi. “With the likes of Joyce and Niall O’Brien (Northants) playingcounty cricket, it shows we have a top youth development system. Andit’s just a matter of getting players over to England that little bitearlier, grooving them as soon as possible and getting them into thesystem.”Many at Middlesex, let alone those in Ireland, believe Morgan’s futureis even brighter than Joyce’s. A forgettable duck yesterday, inIreland’s win over Bermuda, followed a slick and graceful 41 againstScotland – a match Ireland lost off the last ball. Has his (albeitbrief spell) experience in England highlighted the gap in class of theAssociates?”There is a bit of a gap, but I think it’s consistency,” he said. “Themajority of our team are part-time, not full time. They all have jobsand play at the weekends – but fortunately they are talented and doput in good performances. The gap, if there is one, is with theconsistency. The guys in England have it, and we lack it because wedon’t play it every day because we’re not professionals.”In the long term the gap probably won’t narrow,” he said. “Not in mygeneration anyway. Cricket isn’t popular enough in Ireland; we needmore media coverage and more financial backing in order for it tobecome professional.”And therein lies the problem, not just for Ireland, but for Scotland,Netherlands, Kenya and Canada. Bermuda, the other Associate country,need to play as much as the others, of course, but their remarkable$11m grant from the government allows something of a cushion. Morgan’steam-mates are amateurs, financially aided by the Ireland CricketUnion – as close to a contract as they get. He insists, however, thathis team-mates’ noses have not been put out by the big Englishcounties poaching their talent.”They don’t really mind,” he said with his diplomatic hat firmlyscrewed on, albeit with a hint of a grin forming “and they don’treally say anything. They know that me being in England and playingprofessionally is going to have a huge impact on my game going forwardand my development as a cricketer is going to be over in London,mainly because the financial aspects allow me to play full-time. Thefacilities, the process, all the people around me at Middlesex aregrooving me to play first-class cricket and take me forward.”You can’t blame him, but you can feel sorry for Ireland; his absence,and others who follow him, leave a huge hole. Ireland need to enjoyhim while they have him.

ScorecardVictoria made South Australia pay for a poor batting performance as they passed their total for the loss of only one wicket at Adelaide Oval. The Bushrangers joined Queensland and Western Australia in sealing first-innings points on the first day in this round of matches as Lloyd Mash and Brad Hodge raised half-centuries. At stumps the pair had compiled 97 and the visitors were running comfortably at 1 for 137.South Australia began badly by losing Shane Deitz in the first over and their situation didn’t really improve apart from brief rallies from Greg Blewett 23 and Callum Ferguson 42. They were 6 for 80 at lunch and allout before tea for 134. Shane Warne was refreshed after three weeks holidaying in Thailand and Fiji and he picked up 3 for 35, including the caught and bowled of Ferguson, while Shane Harwood also created trouble with 3 for 44.The pitch offered early encouragement for the seamers and Mick Lewis and Gerard Denton took advantage with two wickets each. Denton’s first-ball removal of Darren Lehmann, who drove straight to Mash at point, was the most important and he returned to add Blewett. Victoria are now level with New South Wales and South Australia on 20 points at the top of the table.

Rahul Dravid deflects an offbreak to the leg side and chances a single asthe fielder at square leg, Mohammad Sami, darts in. In his haste to pickup the ball and throw Sami overruns the ball, and Dravid turns and chargesaround for a second run. Sami gets an earful from some of his team-mates,and Inzamam-ul-Haq has his hands on his hips as if to say, “Whichcricketer at this level does that?”Some overs later Yuvraj Singh flicks the ball to the left of Inzamam atmidwicket and takes off. Inzamam, finding the ball on the side off histhrowing arm and sensing the chance of a spectacular pick-up-and-throw,swoops down on the ball – upon it, and then past it. As he turns casuallyto clean up, he finds to his horror that Yuvraj is taking a second run,and is powerless to prevent it. Again all hands go on hips, while Inzamamtries to look like he is urgently contemplating an important bowlingchange.All fall downEvery man on the field except Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who has just completed amaiden hundred and is walking as tall as he has ever done, falls flat onthe ground to avoid what seems be a swarm of bees. Billy Bowden,theatrical as ever, waggles his legs in the air as he smells the grass,although one will have to dredge out one’s copy of the laws of the game tocheck is this is not some little-used signal for ‘play held up due toemergency’. When the interruption is over some of the Pakistani fieldersseem rather loath to get up again.The ball in the skyFor most of the day the cricket ball is seen against the brown of the pitch or the green of the outfield, but when it is struck mightily by the batsman it can be glimpsed against the blue of the sky, and the soaring arc that it describes, accompanied by the ringing sound of the stroke, provides great satisfaction to both eye and ear. Virender Sehwag supplies just this pleasure when he launches a delivery high over the extra-cover boundary in the third over.A cloud in the skyA cloud hangs over the game at Visakhapatnam – not a metaphorical one, a real one. The ACA-VDCA ground at Visakhapatnam is surrounded by hills, and while no one notices clouds when they make their way lazily across the sky, their shapes making patterns of light and shadow over the hills are too distinct to miss. It is as if some gigantic presence is hovering over the ground, stopping by to take a look and then moving on.

For much of the day, Justin Langer played second fiddle to the batsmen at the other end, but he came into his own later in the day. Especially impressive was the manner in which he handled Harbhajan Singh. Of the 68 runs that Harbhajan conceded, 47 came from the bat of Langer, most of them through sweeps – Langer attempted that stroke 19 times, and it fetched him 26 runs.

Langer v Indian bowlers
	Balls	Runs	Strike rate	In-control %
Zaheer	47	16	34.04	72.34
Nehra	44	24	54.54	84.09
Agarkar	25	27	108.00	68.00
Harbhajan	56	47	83.93	78.57

Harbhajan seldom looked threatening, but on a first-day pitch, the onus of taking wickets clearly lay on the three seamers. Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra and Ajit Agarkar bowled a few good deliveries, but it was largely a case of serving up far too many four-balls – the three seamers bowled 28 half-volleys, which were creamed away for 45 runs. Agarkar was the worst offender, bowling 15 of those.

The length bowled by the Indian seamers
	Balls	Runs
Half-volleys	28	45
Good length	143	39
Just short	98	50
Short	22	28

If Agarkar bowled plenty of tripe, he also came up with an extremely incisive second spell of seven overs – most of which he bowled to Ponting – in which he conceded just 19 runs, quite a contrast from his first spell of five overs for 40, including one over when he was smashed for three fours by Ponting. During his second spell Agarkar beat the bat seven times, and achieved a not-in-control percentage of almost 29 – that’s nearly three times in ten deliveries. The Australians survived that spell, though, and are now in a position to force the issue on the second day.

Agarkar v Ponting in the second spell
Balls	Runs	Beat the bat	In-control %
40	18	6	75%

Punjab sure have thrown up some impressive debutants in their Ranjipre-quarterfinal against Assam played at the Punjab CricketAssociation Stadium, Mohali. If it was Ishan Malhatra who impressed onthe first two days, Friday found his new-ball partner Harish Puriwarming the cockles of the discerning. The fast bowler claimed 5 for66 in the Assam second innings as the tourists slumped to a ten-wicketdefeat in under three days. Punjab now move into the quarter-finals ofthe premier domestic tournament in the country.In the morning, Assam, resuming at 53 for two, lost opener Parag Dasalmost immediately. A 47-run fifth wicket stand between wicketkeeperSyed Zuffri (40) and Sumit Ranjan Das (31), and a 32 from GautamDatta, were the only bright spots in an otherwise pathetic Assamreply. These cameos ensured that the visitors at least avoided theembarassment of an innings defeat. This though was replaced by thenone-too-pleasurable feeling associated with a ten-wicket thumping asthe Punjab openers duly notched up the 14 runs required to seal theirteam’s quarterfinal berth.

The last day of the Group C Ranji Trophy Super League match betweenTamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh at Kanpur on Thursday assumed farcicalproportions. The match ended in a tame draw. Tamil Nadu picked upfive points to finish with 26 while Uttar Pradesh got three to endwith 22.After scoring close to 700 runs in their first innings, Tamil Nadumade a meal of their second stint at the crease. The match was all butover before they came out to bat. With nothing to play for, Tamil Naduwere all out for 264 in the second innings. Hemang Badani who made 62in the first innings helped himself to a hundred while wickets fellaround him. Trailing by 733 with just 14 overs to play, Uttar Pradeshrightly saw no point in sending their openers out to bat. Instead,tailenders Mrithyunjay Tripathi and Musi Raza came out and made 28runs without being troubled.Sridharan Sriram, who was not out on zero at the end of the third day,was called away on national duty and could not take the crease on thefinal day. Sriram has been drafted into the Indian one-daysquad. Sadagoppan Ramesh batted at No 8, instead of opening theinnings.Reuben Paul, the Tamil Nadu wicketkeeper bowling an over just aboutsummed up the farcical nature of the last day’s play.

Crystal Palace impressed against Manchester City for the second time this season by holding Pep Guardiola’s side to a 0-0 draw at Selhurst Park on Monday evening.

The Eagles, who beat City in the reverse fixture back in October, defended superbly throughout and were good value for their point.

There were some impressive displays on show from the home side, but here at The Transfer Tavern, we’ve used statistical experts SofaScore to analyse who the three very best performers were for Palace.

Vicente Guaita – 7.9/10

No surprise to see Guaita top the rankings list, with the goalkeeper Palace’s best performer with a 7.9/10 rating.

The Spaniard made five saves, three of which were from inside the box, and completed 19 passes, eight of which were long balls.

Tyrick Mitchell – 7.2/10

Next up is Mitchell, who impressed up against Riyad Mahrez. The left-back won all of his four duels and completed 13 passes.

More importantly, Mitchell also wasn’t dribbled past all evening and made five clearances and four tackles.

Marc Guehi – 7.1/10

Captain Guehi is the third and final inclusion, ending with a 7.1/10 rating. The centre-back made nine clearances, one tackle and won all three of his duels.

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Guehi also wasn’t dribbled past all night and even made a key pass, losing possession on just nine occasions.

In other news: Palace want to beat Leeds to ‘instrumental’ 12-goal midfielder; same agent as Andersen & Edouard.

Shoaib managed just ten overs halfway through day one © AFP/font>

Shoaib Akhtar, the Pakistan fast bowler, was taken to hospital for an MRI scan after suffering back pain during the first day of the final Test against India in Bangalore. The scan revealed no injury but he has been experiencing muscle spasms and will not take further part in play on the first day. He will be assessed on Sunday morning.Shoaib bowled four overs in his first spell before going off the field at the end of the seventh over, during which he showed discomfort while bowling. He came back on after Gautam Gambhir was dismissed in the eighth over but once again left the field after bowling the ninth. He bowled eight overs in the first session and managed two more after the break before once again leaving the field at the end of the 32nd over.Akhtar, 32, took six wickets in Delhi and two in Kolkata, where he played with a chest infection. In this match, he can only bowl after spending as much time on the field as he did off it due to the injury.