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Manchester United may not be the right destination for Wolves talisman Matheus Cunha, a former Molineux star has claimed.

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Cunha may have 'reservations' about move to Old TraffordDon Goodman believes Cunha could wait for better offersBrazilian star man in tough seasonFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?

Former Wolves striker Goodman revealed he would be "shocked" if Cunha didn't receive offers from top clubs across Europe. A move to Old Trafford may not be the best option for him, Goodman told .

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Cunha has struck 15 goals in 30 Premier League appearances this season, a key part of Wolves' survival. While Vitor Pereira's side have been in outstanding form as of late, Cunha has excelled all campaign – the best goal-scoring season of his career so far. The Brazil international has been at the centre of transfer speculation for months, and is expected to move on in the summer amid links to Man Utd.

WHAT GOODMAN SAID

Goodman said: "I wonder whether Matheus Cunha should have reservations about signing for Manchester United. At this moment, if I were Cunha, I would be questioning whether it would be a good move right now joining United, who have a lot of ground to make up and rebuilding to do to get where he wants to be.

"I think he's a top player who could play for any team in the Premier League or in Europe. That's how good I think he is. He needs to sort his head out at times, which is a separate issue, but Manchester United would be very lucky to have him.

"From his perspective, and I'm not dismissing the history and tradition of Manchester United, I'd be shocked if Matheus Cunha didn't have options to join better teams. I know it was on a different level but when I left Sunderland, who are a huge club, to join Wolves, it was because Wolves were in a better position to get me to where I wanted to be at that time.

"I suppose Manchester United can still win the Europa League, which may change things, but Matheus Cunha will have to sit down and talk through all the offers he'll receive with his representatives when the season draws to a close."

Getty Images SportWHAT NEXT FOR CUNHA AND WOLVES?

With mid-table safety already secured, Wolves host Brighton on Saturday before encounters with Crystal Palace and Brentford to see out the campaign. Cunha will have a big decision on his hands as to where his future lies in the summer.

Paris Saint-German fans put up banners at Parc des Princes targeting Arsenal ahead of their Champions League semi-final clash.

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• PSG fans unfurled anti-Arsenal banners
• Lost 3-1 against Nice in Ligue 1
• Will next Gunners in UCL semi-final tie

• WHAT HAPPENED?

  Just days before facing the Gunners in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final fixture, newly crowned Ligue 1 champions PSG suffered their first defeat of the 2024-25 league campaign as they went down 3-1 against Nice at home. During the match, banners were unfurled at Parc des Princes by the home fans as they wanted to send out a fiery message to the Premier League giants. The PSG fans' banner read: "Eliminate Arsenal, bring us to the final."

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  Arsenal are gearing up for their first Champions League semi-final appearance since the 2008-09 season, when they reached the last-four but eventually lost to English rivals Manchester United over two legs. Mikel Arteta's side reached the semis after they beat reigning champions Real Madrid 5-1 in a two-legged quarter-final tie.

• WHAT LUIS ENRIQUE SAID

  The defeat against Nice left manager Luis Enrique frustrated as he said after the game: "Based on what I saw, I’m signing up straight away for Tuesday in London and the return leg. Not for the result, obviously, but I saw a team that had 30 chances to score. I’m not worried at all. We attacked, didn’t calculate, and we came up against a goalkeeper who made some incredible saves. We are the best team in France, by far. We proved it. We have to be brave now and think about winning the Champions League. Right now, the players are clearly affected. We deserved to win, no doubt about it. But if the opponent is 100 per cent efficient and you’re not as efficient as usual, things turn around. It’s as simple as that."

  The Spanish coach also explained his decision to field a full-strength squad in the league clash ahead of a crucial European game as he added: "Draw whatever conclusions you want from that. I’m not going to give any clues to Arteta."

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  WHAT NEXT FOR ARSENAL?

  After facing the French giants on April 29, Arsenal will be back in action in the Premier League on May 3 as they face Bournemouth at home.

The home side have confirmed one change to their XI but Australia are still pondering their final call

Andrew McGlashan27-Jun-2023Big Picture
Are you ready for round two? The opening of this Ashes delivered everything it had promised. Four more matches of that level of exhilaration will be a test for everyone involved.Given all the talk of the past week, where both teams have had some downtime, it would be easy to think England are the side 1-0 up. But courtesy of the partnership between Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon, a stand that will go down in Ashes folklore, it is Australia who hold that advantage and, for now, are quite happy for England to say what they like.However, they also know the result could easily have been different. It probably would have been if England had held their chances, or even if Stuart Broad had not bowled Usman Khawaja with a no-ball. No one is getting carried away that Bazball has been shut down but the opening Test of an Ashes generally shows the way (albeit comparisons with 2005 abound).Related

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Cummins and Australia will stay true to their approach

So to Lord’s, and five days that will likely decide if Australia can take a vice-like grip – and put themselves on course for a series win in England since 2001 – or whether the home side can draw level and set up a potentially great series.England, for all their talk, and perhaps that’s why they are doing it, have more questions to answer than Australia. Is it right to go without a frontline spinner? Is there enough point-of-difference in the attack? How much can Ben Stokes’ knee go through? Is Ben Duckett a sitting duck to Australia’s quicks outside off stump? Is attack the only way to go?One thing we know, if the players are to be taken at their word, is that they will respond to defeat by trying to be even more aggressive. It was a similar message put forward after the loss to South Africa last year which, ironically, was then followed by (relatively speaking) one of their more restrained batting performances, led by a captain’s innings from Stokes at Old Trafford.Australia believe they have considerable room for improvement. England may rue not winning a Test where Marnus Labuschagne and Steven Smith made just 35 runs between them. At Lord’s they are also going in with a base of knowledge they did not have before Edgbaston, although their camp is content with how the tactics played out under pressure.The marker for this series has been laid down. What happens next is really anyone’s guess. And that’s a tantalising prospect.Form guide(last five matches, most recent first)
England LWLWW
Australia WWDWLIn the spotlight
England’s response to defeat. What has been put together under Stokes and Brendon McCullum has clearly worked wonders, but it can’t be unquestionable. Last summer they bounced back against South Africa but the tourists had a poor batting line-up. Their only other defeat since then was the one-run loss to New Zealand in Wellington. Hitting back after going 1-0 down at the start of a home Ashes is something entirely different and the biggest test of the ethos (or cult?) that Bazball has created.Labuschagne was twice done by Broad’s new outswinger at Edgbaston, collecting his first golden duck in Test cricket in the process. In his last 17 innings he has made just two fifties at an average of 33 which is considerably below the extraordinary high standards he has set. Should he find his groove at Lord’s it would come at the ground where his Test career took off four years ago after he was parachuted into the team as Smith’s concussion sub.Team news
England have changed the balance of their side by calling up pace bowler Josh Tongue to replace Moeen Ali. Tongue took a five-wicket haul on his debut against Ireland at Lord’s earlier this season. They have backed James Anderson and Stuart Broad to get through another Test.England 1 Zak Crawley, 2 Ben Duckett, 3 Ollie Pope, 4 Joe Root, 5 Harry Brook, 6 Ben Stokes (capt), 7 Jonny Bairstow, 8 Stuart Broad, 9 Ollie Robinson, 10 Josh Tongue, 11 James AndersonAustralia have narrowed down a 12 with the final decision likely to be between Mitchell Starc and Scott Boland. England took Boland at nearly six-an-over at Edgbaston but the grass on the surface at Lord’s could keep him in the frame.Australia 1 David Warner, 2 Usman Khawaja, 3 Marnus Labuschagne, 4 Steven Smith, 5 Travis Head, 6 Cameron Green, 7 Alex Carey (wk), 8 Pat Cummins (capt), 9 Scott Boland/Mitchell Starc, 10 Nathan Lyon, 11 Josh HazlewoodPitch and conditionsThere was a significant green tinge on the surface ahead of the game, but that is pretty normal for Lord’s. There is the expectation of more pace and bounce than Edgbaston provided. The forecast is fine for the opening day but there is a chance of some interruptions after that.Jonny Bairstow and Brendon McCullum stop for a break at England training•PA Images via Getty Images

Stats and trivia Nathan Lyon, who becomes the eighth player to put together 100 consecutive Tests, needs five wickets to reach 500 Stokes needs five wickets to reach 200 in Tests In the last five Tests at Lord’s, since the year-long gap due to Covid, spinners have taken 15 wickets at 50.60 Conversely, in the last five years the ground provides the lowest average for England’s quicksQuotes”Cricket’s a fickle game sometimes. He was the No.1 batter in the world then Broady nicks him off twice. Players like that don’t miss out too often. Broady produced two unbelievable deliveries and it’s always great to see the back of Marnus Labuschagne and Steven Smith early but quality players always find a way to bounce back. We won’t be reading too much into it but it’s nice knowing there might be something there for Marnus.”
“My phone went crazy for a couple of days. These Ashes series, like World Cup finals, you realise how many people love cricket and how much it means to them. Hearing everyone’s stories about where they were when they found out what happened, or watching at all hours of the day is pretty cool.”

Head coach says outdoors lifestyle down under is key factor in producing natural athletes

Andrew Miller24-Jan-2025Jon Lewis, England Women’s head coach, has issued a robust defence of his team’s fitness levels, after they slumped to their fifth consecutive defeat of a troubled Ashes tour, but believes that cultural issues may be at the heart of Australia’s perceived edge in athleticism.Despite their best performance of the tour, England’s rain-affected loss in a closely fought second T20I in Canberra continued Australia’s dominance of a series in which they have now claimed the Ashes for a sixth consecutive series dating back to 2015. And with just two matches to come, including the one-off Test at the MCG next week, the prospect of a whitewash is looming large over the squad.The tour has also been overshadowed by an off-field row involving Alex Hartley, the BBC commentator, who claimed she had been refused a TV interview with Sophie Ecclestone after the first T20I, ostensibly due to her suggestion, in the wake of their T20 World Cup exit in October, that certain individuals were “letting the team down when it comes to fitness”.Though Lewis said he disapproved of Ecclestone’s reasons for turning the interview down, and that he would have encouraged her to do it had he known about the incident at the time, he was adamant that the squad could not realistically be expected to work harder on their fitness levels than they already do.”You guys need to come watch them. I promise you. I cannot defend them more around how hard they work on their physicality,” he said. “They are incredibly dedicated to what they do. I’ve never seen a cricket team work like this cricket team, and I’ve worked in professional cricket for 31 years.”Instead, he suggested the outdoors lifestyle in Australia was more conducive to producing natural athletes, and cited a recent trip to Bondi Beach in Sydney as an example.”On Sunday morning, pretty much every Australian in the eastern suburbs was in the water,” he said. “There’s about a million kids down there, and they were doing Surf Lifesaving, or playing touch rugby.”For me, that’s a cultural difference. I definitely think Australia have an advantage in terms of athleticism, and also our talent pool at the moment is small, so it’s important for us to grow the game.”However, Lewis also insisted that the gulf between the two teams was not as wide as the current 10-0 scoreline suggested, and that Australia’s seizure of key moments in each of the five matches to date had been the difference between the teams.Related

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• Alex Hartley: Sophie Ecclestone 'refused TV interview' after Ashes loss

“The space on the tour we didn’t get right was around the first two games,” he said. “Australia are a really strong team, obviously on their own patch. We knew that when we got on the plane. But in every game, there’s been moments where we feel that we’ve been in the game and had a good opportunity to try and push home a strong advantage. And we haven’t quite got those moments in the game right, and the opposition have.”Whilst it is 10-0, and whilst the margins of victory in the game have been at times large, I think the difference is isn’t as big as the margin suggests in terms of results, in terms of the performance.”The ECB are due to conduct a full review of the series at its conclusion, in which the roles of both Lewis and captain Heather Knight are sure to come under scrutiny. Despite a fighting innings of 43 not out from 19 balls in Canberra, Knight has now overseen five failed Ashes captains since taking over as captain in 2016, and at the age of 34, Lewis was unable to give her his unequivocal backing.”Like any selection, we make those decisions after the tour,” he said. “We will spend some time reflecting and make some rational decisions, and think about what the right thing is for the team further down the road. I don’t think now is the right time to consider that, to be honest,”We’ve got a game to play tomorrow, Heather’s in charge, and we’ve got Test match next week, which we need to get our heads round. And then after the tour, we’ll sit down, we’ll think about what the what the right thing is for team, and how we know we move forward, like we would do with every other selection.”On his own future, Lewis – who has been in the position since 2022 – was more forthright. “I’m really comfortable with the job that I’m doing,” he said. “I’ll continue to work to develop this cricket team as best as I can until someone tells me that it’s not the right time for you to do this anymore. I’m really excited about what the future holds for this team, and I feel like I’m the right person to coach it.”In the meantime, England have pride to salvage across their final two fixtures, starting with the third T20I in Adelaide on Saturday. Australia’s Grace Harris has already declared that her side will be gunning for a 16-0 points whitewash, adding that the aim was to “embarrass” their opponents. Lewis, however, argued that she had delivered his motivational speech for him.”I think Grace probably did my job for me,” Lewis said. “I’ll give her a pat on the back when I see her. The players are really aware that they need to win some cricket matches. They’re working incredibly hard to do that.”

England collapse after Archie Vaughan’s 60 before Bennie Hansen steadies run chase

ECB Reporters Network22-Jan-2025Daniel Bosman took three wickets in four balls as South Africa Men U19s clinched the Youth ODI series against England Men U19s with a four-wicket win in Stellenbosch.Young Lions captain Archie Vaughan top-scored with 60 but his dismissal prompted a collapse of four wickets in seven balls as the tourists were bowled out for 156.South Africa skipper Bennie Hansen then hit 56, falling just short of guiding his side home, after Tazeem Ali’s three wickets had caused a mid-innings wobble. The hosts steadied to reach the target in 35.1 overs.It was spinner Bosman who turned the game with his three wickets in the 37th over immediately after Vaughan, who had struck six boundaries, was caught off a miscue to the final ball of the previous over from Bandile Mbatha.Bosman’s key over saw Joe Moores bowled attempting a lap sweep before Harry Moore was stumped thanks to sharp hands from Hansen. Bosman then parried a return catch from Eddie Jack and saw it fall to him as he stumbled to the ground.South Africa made a solid start as Adnaan Lagadien and Chad Mason added 49 for the first wicket before Hansen took up the attack with a 46-ball half-century.The Young Lions battled back through Warwickshire spinner Ali, who returned 3 for 51, but the hosts needed only seven more when Hansen edged Alex Green to wicketkeeper Thomas Rew on 57.The two-Youth Test series begins at Coertzenburg Cricket Club in Stellenbosch on 27 January.