Former Premier League striker Kevin Campbell has given his reaction to Leeds United transfer news involving Rangers winger Ryan Kent. 

The lowdown: Kent a target for Leeds

This comes following a report from Football Insider which claimed that the Whites are interested in signing the 25-year-old.

The ex-Liverpool academy prospect could be viewed as a potential replacement for Raphinha should the highly sought-after Brazilian move on from Elland Road.

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Kent is believed to have a £20m release clause in his contract at Ibrox – a deal which expires in 2023 (Transfermarkt) – although Campbell has suggested that it would be money well spent by Leeds.

The latest: ‘Very good business’

Speaking to Football Insider, the former Arsenal striker claimed that Kent would be capable of filling the void left by Raphinha if the Brazilian departs.

The 52-year-old said: “He’s done a great job up there under Steven Gerrard and now Giovanni van Bronckhorst, he’s been a real star.

“If Leeds look at him as the one who can come in and take that Raphinha role, with Dan James moving over to the right, then I think that would be very good business.”

The verdict: Time to move?

Since moving north of the border, Kent has been superb for Rangers and has directly contributed to 74 goals in 164 outings for the Scottish Premiership side.

So far this season, the man once hailed as ‘sensational’ by his former Ibrox boss Steven Gerrard has scored three times and provided 16 assists despite suffering with a hamstring injury for most of the autumn.

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As for replacing Raphinha, the £12.6m-valued Englishman predominantly operates from the left wing and would require the switch for Dan James, as mentioned by Campbell, to work in order to make the move worthwhile.

Given that some of the Welshman’s best performances this season have come when operating on the right on occasion, it could be a reshuffle worth making, therefore adding weight to the theory behind Leeds moving for Kent.

In other news, journalist backs Leeds move for Austrian Bundesliga star. Read more here

Leeds United’s recent upturn in form has meant they have put distance between themselves and the relegation zone. The Whites now find themselves on 16 points this term, three ahead of fellow strugglers West Ham United, who are 18th in the Premier League.

The impressive thing of late is the clinical nature they have shown in front of goal. In their last four games, Daniel Farke’s side have found the back of the net nine times, which is almost half of the total number of goals they’ve bagged all season, which stands at 20.

Leeds are seemingly set to push for more in the final third, too, and are linked with a new attacker in January.

Leeds ready to poach forgotten Premier League star

The West Yorkshire side already made a couple of significant additions to their attack in the summer.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin joined on a free transfer and has five goals this term, more than any other player, with Noah Okafor and Lukas Nmecha also signing for the club.

Now, according to a report from MOT Leeds News, the Whites ‘have expressed an interest’ in signing Tottenham Hotspur and Wales winger Brennan Johnson.

Transfer Focus

Mega money deals, controversial moves and big-name flops. This is the home of transfer news and opinion across Football FanCast.

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However, it is not clear if this would be a loan move or a permanent deal.

The Whites are not going to be alone in the race to sign Johnson this winter. South London outfit Crystal Palace are also said to be keen on a move.

They value the winger at £50m, so it could mean Leeds need to pay a fee in that ballpark if they want to sign him.

Why Johnson could be another Dan James

If there is one thing Johnson will add to the Leeds side, it is Premier League experience. He has played for boyhood side Nottingham Forest and, more recently, Spurs, making him something of a plug-and-play signing for Farke.

He’s made 120 top-flight appearances so far for the two clubs, bagging 26 goals and assisting 19 in that time.

In each of his two full campaigns for Spurs, he’s managed 16 goals and assists, his best numbers in a single season of the Premier League.

Johnson’s PL stats by season

Season (club)

Games

Goals (Assists)

22/23 (Forest)

38

8 (3)

23/24 (Forest/Spurs)

35

5 (11)

24/25 (Spurs)

33

11 (5)

25/26 (Spurs)

14

2 (0)

Stats from Transfermarkt

Of course, the Welsh international also played in Europe for Spurs, scoring the winning goal in the 2024/25 Europa League final against Manchester United. That is certainly a brilliant experience to add to Farke’s squad.

One of Johnson’s great strengths is the fact that he can hurt teams in transition. His pace is “frightening,” according to football social media presence HLTCO, and he has a real knack for popping up with a goal at the back post, referenced by The Overlap: The Breakdown host, H.

It is certainly possible to draw similarities between the potential signing of Johnson and that of Daniel James back in 2021.

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Immediately, it is easy to see how these deals are alike, with the pair both Welsh international wingers, joining from a traditional “big six” side, Manchester United in James’ case.

Just like Johnson would be if he moved to Elland Road, his compatriot was a plug-and-play addition.

James racked up 74 appearances for the Red Devils and chipped in with 18 goals and assists in that time. He’s since grabbed 51 goal involvements in a Leeds shirt.

However, as players, they have similar strengths, too. James is also a huge threat on the counter-attack and is known as one of the quickest players around. According to Speeds Database, his top speed is 31kph.

There are certainly lots of similarities between the pair of Welsh internationals. Signing Johnson could well make Leeds a bigger threat in the final third, and certainly give them an extra weapon in transition alongside James.

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Indian Railways denied an outside chance for Andhra Cricket Association XI to enter the semifinals by recording a 3 wicket win over the former at the AOL ground in Hyderabad on Saturday. At the start of the sixth round of matches India Pistons had to lose the encounter with Indian Oil Corporation by at least 100 runs and ACA to enter the semifinals had to defeat Indian Railways by the same margin.Electing to bat, the Andhra Cricket Association innings was soon in disarray, losing four wickets with only 47 on board in 18.3 overs. Then Venugopal Rao in the company of RVC Prasad defied the Railways’ attack for an 83 run fifth wicket stand in 13.5 overs. But after their departure the rest of the ACA batsmen could not manage to stick around and ended their innings at 155 for nine.Railways lost an early wicket that of Sanjay Bangar (5) to Panav Raju, the other opener Tejinder Singh (58) ensured that his team was on the right track with a 81 run second wicket partnership in 12 overs. VJT Rammohan then (4 for 48) triggered a minor collapse. But with only a small total on the board, Railways reached home safely in the 33rd over with 3 wickets to spare.

The next Xabi Alonso or Cesc Fabregas. These were the comparisons being made by fans and pundits when discussing the talent of Mikel Merino following a run of stellar performances for Newcastle at the beginning of the 2017/18 season.

His physical presence and composure on the ball, led to him becoming a fan-favourite on Tyneside.

But a back injury, which sidelined him for a month, was the start of a downward spiral for him, with the Basque play-maker never regaining the level of performance he had reached during his purple patch.

He was not able to cement a place in Rafa Benitez’s starting lineup, and on the occasions where he was given an opportunity, did not impress enough to warrant another extended run.

Speaking to the Newcastle Chronicle earlier this year, he described how he still looks back fondly on his time on Tyneside, and how he still looks out for their results, seeing himself very much a member of the Toon Army now.

In the end, a move back to his native Spain, with Real Sociedad, was probably the best outcome for both the player and Newcastle, although a perceived lack of commitment to the black and white jersey, when angling for a move so soon after turning his loan spell into a permanent move, and a nominal release clause — in the modern footballing world at least — being included in the deal at the insistence of the player’s agent, left a sour taste in the mouth for many Geordies.

Since moving to Sociedad, his performances have been okay rather than spectacular.

He has largely flown under the radar since the high-level comparisons that were being aimed in his direction during his early Magpies career.

Similar to the start of his Newcastle days, he had a spell of around a month out with injury in the early stages of the La Liga season — a groin problem the culprit this time — and, again similar to his time at St James’ Park, he has struggled to reach peak levels on his return.

According to transfermarkt.co.uk Since he came back into the fray at the end of November, Merino had completed only one full 90 minutes out of 13 subsequent La Liga games (although one was an enforced absence due to suspension).

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He has, however, completed the full 90 minutes in Sociedad’s last three games, with him getting one assist in that run.

The signs of a return to his best are there, but he still has a long way to go to get back to the standard he was setting at Newcastle, during which he became a regular in the Spain U-21 side, and saw him talked about as a future superstar.

A bullet dodged, or the one they let get away? The jury is still out for Newcastle fans, but regardless, it is definitely a strange tale of what might have been.

Scorecard

Sujay Tarafdar’s triple-strike in the second over jolted the Hyderabad Heroes© Cricinfo Ltd

An inspired over from fast-medium bowler Sujay Tarafdar, in which he took three wickets, was a jolt that the Hyderabad Heroes couldn’t recover from as they tried chasing 169 in what was a must-win game for both teams to qualify for the semi-finals.The Tigers had been put in by Inzamam-ul-Haq, the Heroes captain, and got off to a steady but slow start, with 22 runs off the first five overs. Kaushik Reddy was then carted for 16 in the sixth, as the Tigers began gaining momentum.After Darren Maddy fell for a run-a-ball 32, it was the 72-run stand between Abhishek Jhunjhunwala and captain Craig McMillan that ensured the Tigers got to a competitive score. Sixty runs came between the 14th and 17th overs. McMillan finished with 50 off 35, well supported by Jhunjhunwala’s 33 and Lance Klusener’s 24 as the Tigers posted 168. Abdul Razzaq was the pick of the bowlers for the Heroes, with 1 for 13 off his four.Nantie Hayward struck twice in his opening burst, removing Ibrahim Khaleel for 1, and then bagging the big wicket of Inzamam-ul-Haq as the Heroes faltered in the chase. However, it was the second over, when Tarafdar scalped Shashank Nag, Nicky Boje and Chris Harris, that turned the game.From then on, the Heroes could have only hoped to rebuild their innings and strike with some big-hitting towards the end. Ambati Rayudu scored an un-Twenty20 14 off 16 balls, but it was the Pakistani pair of Abdul Razzaq and Azhar Mahmood that posed a threat for the Tigers.However, both fell in one Klusener over as they tried to up the ante. Their dismissals left the Heroes with almost no chance of going through to the semi-finals, and the Tigers duly completed a deserved 53-run win.The result means that two of the tournament’s biggest draws – Brian Lara and Inzamam-ul-Haq – will play in the fifth-place play-off on Saturday, while the Tigers face the Chennai Superstars in the semi-final on Friday.

Ahead of Australia A’s series against his side, the India A coach Rahul Dravid had made it clear he wanted quick, bouncy pitches. Viewing his role as “someone to develop young players so they can go and perform overseas”, Dravid had called for conditions that would test his young batsmen’s ability against the Australian fast bowlers.”If on tracks that have good pace and bounce, if somebody succeeds as a batsman, then we will know these guys are capable of playing at the next level.”Going by those words, the surface at the MA Chidambaram Stadium for the first four-day game will not have pleased Dravid. With the ball barely coming on to the bat, India A’s batsmen were engaged in an attritional battle against stump-to-stump bowling on day one. Australia A did not even bother with a slip after lunch on the first day, reckoning edges would not carry that far. Not that the batsmen were rejoicing: with the ball not coming on, they couldn’t play their shots for fear of scooping catches to short mid-on or short cover.KL Rahul, who scored a composed 96 on the first day, said it would have been “nice” to play on a quicker pitch, but maintained that the sluggish surface still posed plenty of challenges.”As players we were not focusing on what wicket we were going to get,” Rahul said, at the end of the second day’s play. “Whatever wicket you’re going to get, you have to put your best foot forward, make the best use of these conditions. And we know these conditions well.”We came here expecting slow turn, and we were prepared for this, but if we did get a bouncy wicket, it would have been nice, it would have been a good challenge for us. Not like this is not challenging, this is still challenging, because it’s very hot and the wicket is very slow. Outfield is a little heavy, so you have to push yourself as players and physically it is very tough. We’re enjoying this.”Still, between the two camps, you would suspect Australia A are happier with how the series is panning out so far – not so much in terms of the match situation, which is nicely balanced, as much as the kind of challenge their players are coming through.The management has already seen how their players respond to conditions vastly different from anything back home. They must be pleased with the discipline shown by the seamers on the first day, the way the left-arm spinner Steve O’Keefe bounced back from a poor start to finish with six wickets, and the century partnership between Peter Handscomb and Marcus Stoinis late on day two. They may even be thankful to the curator for providing their players such a test of their skill and adaptability.It has been a test for India A too; It just isn’t the test their coach had envisioned.

ScorecardDavid Lloyd, seen here in an early-season dismissal against Surrey, registered his top score [file picture]•Getty Images

Glamorgan youngsters David Lloyd and Dewi Penrhyn Jones provided some light to another dull day at Wantage Road where Northamptonshire closed 128 for 5, 105 behind.Lloyd made a breezy 92 in the morning session – the first uninterrupted session of the match – and looked set for a maiden first-class century at the age of 23 but fell to a fine diving catch by Richard Gleeson running to his left from deep point.”It was a very good experience for me,” Lloyd said. “It was a tough wicket and to get 92 was a highlight of my career so far. I was disappointed not to get over the line but it wasn’t meant to be and hopefully there are plenty more chances to get a hundred.”I thought the way the wicket was playing and what the ball was doing, I thought maybe the way was to be as positive as I could be, going hard and attacking just paid off in the end so hopefully it’s helped the team’s cause with a few more runs than we were going to get at one point, and it came off.”Lloyd began the day on 64 not out – already his first-class best score – and continued to play with a freedom not seen throughout the rest of the order in swinging conditions. His driving was especially impressive.In total Lloyd struck 15 boundaries in his 106-ball stay and gave Glamorgan a batting bonus point and a smart recovery from 84 for 5.Jones, a 21-year-old from North Wales, then took his chance with the ball to take the first two wickets of his first-class career on debut. He was handed the final over of the morning session and with the last delivery, shaped one away from Ben Duckett to have the left-hander caught behind for 20.Jones’ second-wicket was the Northants captain Alex Wakely, who played confidently for his 40 before edging behind. Rob Keogh followed in the same manner off Graham Wagg, who also removed Josh Cobb, bowled for a 13-ball duck. It left Northants struggling to get on terms with Glamorgan but bad light around 3pm took the players off the field and they did not return.But there was at least some meaningful cricket in the morning session and Olly Stone took the remaining three wickets in the Glamorgan innings, on the day he was named in the England Performance Programme Squad for the winter training camps in South Africa and Dubai.Stone began with a sharp delivery that Andrew Salter could only fend off to leg gully. Jones was caught in the cordon before Lloyd’s wicket gave Stone 4 for 73 and 38 County Championship wickets for the season.

Odisha Cricket Association (OCA) secretary Asirbad Behara has said the state association will need to be more vigilant in the future to prevent incidents like the bottle throwing that disrupted the second T20 international between India and South Africa in Cuttack.Behara said spectators had been allowed to carry water bottles into the stadium to cope with the heat but that such allowances might have to be removed. Bottles, and other objects that can be used as projectiles, are not allowed inside most stadiums in India.”We decided to let spectators carry water bottles so that they can cope better with the sweltering heat and not have to climb down three storeys every time they had to drink water,” Behara told ESPNcricinfo. “But some of them decided to misuse the bottles. No way will we think of providing comfort to the spectators in future.”The episode also tells up to be extra-vigilant in future to avoid any such instances. We will take all the precautionary measures possible.”A BCCI official confirmed the board was still taking stock of the situation, and Behara said the OCA had not yet been asked for an explanation. “From what I understand, based on the match referee’s report, the ICC may write in to BCCI and the BCCI will then ask OCA for an explanation,” he said. “We will explain our side to the authorities.”All of us know cricket fans are crazy and tempers had been flared after India’s innings but still something like this is unfortunate and unacceptable. We must also realise that in a crowd of around 50,000, it was barely 100 or 150 spectators who kept throwing bottles, so it may be a ploy to defame Barabati. Over the last three decades, this is the first time some such incident has happened in Cuttack.”The first bottle-throwing incident was in the break between innings – India were bowled out for 92, their lowest T20I total at home – and did not interrupt play. The second came after 11 overs of South Africa’s chase and stopped play for 27 minutes. The players remained in the middle through the delay and play resumed at 10pm, with security personnel lining the boundaries. However, a third wave of bottle-throwing two overs later forced them off. Play resumed after a 24-minute hold-up once the police had cleared the section of the crowd causing the disruption. South Africa required another 4.1 overs, which passed without further incident, to complete the chase and seal the series 2-0.India captain MS Dhoni downplayed the incident, but South Africa captain Faf du Plessis said it was disappointing and expressed his desire to not see a repeat during the rest of the tour.

Yasir Shah is expected to be fit for the second Test against England in Dubai after recovering from the back spasm which ruled him out of the opening contest. However, team manager Intikhab Alam hinted there could be a surprise addition to the squad after Pakistan’s attempts to call up Zafar Gohar for this match were thwarted by visa issues.Responding to criticism from Pakistan’s captain, Misbah-ul-Haq, over the lack of spin cover in the initial 16-man squad, Alam told ESPNcricinfo. “We don’t want to reveal anything at the moment but we have some plans.”That could throw an intriguing couple of names into the frame. A long shot would be Saeed Ajmal, who tormented England here in 2012, but has had to remodel his action and was not effective for Worcestershire in the County Championship this year, while another option may be offspinner Bilal Asif even though his action is under scrutiny after the one-day series in Zimbabwe.Bilal was reported after taking 5 for 25 in Harare, but the reporting and assessment process laid down by the ICC allows him to continuing bowling until the results of the tests are known. The testing has to take place within 14 days of the report and he is due to travel via Dubai to Chennai, one of the ICC’s approved testing centres, on October 18 and be tested the following day. He would be available for selection until the results come through, a process that takes a further 14 days and means, in theory, he would at least be available for the Dubai Test starting on October 22.Ajmal, meanwhile, who on Friday was traveling from Faisalabad to Lahore, told ESPNcricinfo he was not expecting to be called-up. “Of course everyone might be thinking about me right now but I can confirm that they haven’t asked about my passport,” Ajmal said. “But I am sure in the present scenario they are definitely thinking about me.”At the toss Misbah expressed his frustration at the lack of an extra spinner in the squad, thoughts echoed by the head coach Waqar Younis when he spoke to TV on Friday. Pakistan’s plan was to play two fast bowlers and at least two specialist spinners but they were forced to bring in Imran Khan as part of a three-man seam attack after Yasir and Gohar didn’t make it.Over the last two days Yasir has been seen jogging around the ground during intervals and having a bowl in the nets. “He is fit and will be match fit by the second Test,” Alam said. “We no more require Zafar as he was only named replacement for the first Test but he didn’t make it, so we have plenty of time ahead of the next game to decide.”With Yasir set to be available it would appear unlikely that Pakistan would alter their first-choice spin pairing even though Zulfiqar Babar, by lunch on the fourth day, had bowled 48 wicketless overs. The first Test was still awaiting its first wicket for a spinner.

Trevor Bayliss, the England coach, has said he would not be afraid to pick two spinners for future Test matches despite the poor returns of the slow bowlers against Pakistan in the UAE and suggested short-term struggles may have to be accepted for the greater good of English spin.England used three spinners in the Test series – Moeen Ali, Adil Rashid and Samit Patel (plus a little of Joe Root and one over from Ben Stokes) – and their 20 wickets came at an average of 60.01, the third most-expensive series ever for a collection of England spinners in Asia.After Rashid claimed 5 for 64 in the second innings in Abu Dhabi, Bayliss said how he believed he could play in a variety of conditions – not just spin-friendly circumstances – although following that haul Rashid took three wickets for 329 to finish his first Test series with eight scalps at 69.50.It would seem unlikely that England will use two main spinners at any point during the series in South Africa, which starts on Boxing Day, and it is also a rare combination to be seen in home matches. However, next winter there are series in India and Bangladesh and Bayliss knows that players only get better by having experience in the middle.”We’ll look at the conditions and team we are playing, their strengths and weaknesses,” he said. “I wouldn’t have any problem at all playing two spinners against an opposition we thought were weaker against spin than pace. If that means we play an inexperienced spinner because of it, well that’s how they get experience – by playing. If that means we have a bit of short-term pain for a bit of long-term gain then so be it.”Bayliss did not hide from the fact that the spinners had been disappointing throughout the series against Pakistan, especially in Sharjah where, even with a modicum of control, the efforts of James Anderson and Stuart Broad may not have gone to waste.”I think we’ve got the three best spinners here at the moment. I’m sure they’re a little disappointed as well, especially this Test match,” he said. “I thought we probably bowled a few too many full-tosses, long-hops and half-volleys in this match – which is unusual.”But having said that, for three inexperienced bowlers, it’s not easy bowling against some of the best batters against spin in the world. That does put extra pressure on you. Then having to perform, and put the ball on the spot, under that type of pressure is something they’re going to have to become accustomed to. They’re going to have to work it out, and get better in those circumstances.”Adil Rashid claimed a five-wicket haul in Abu Dhabi but averaged 69.50 in the series•Getty Images

Focusing on Rashid, Bayliss sees the potential of a long-term Test career but acknowledged that there was a lot of hard work ahead and no “free ride”.”He’s taken a five-wicket haul, he’s batted extremely well, he’s fitted into the team off the field extremely well. If it was against another team that wasn’t as good against spin the results might have been a lot better. It’s a tough initiation against these guys, the way they play spin bowling. That’s not taking away from the fact he has some improvements to make, some things to work on, and it will be hard work, it’s not going to be an easy free ride for him.”While Bayliss has to maintain a focus on the immediate future for England, starting with the ODIs against Pakistan which begin on November 11 in Abu Dhabi followed by the T20s and then the Test series in South Africa, he was well aware of the challenges facing the development of young spinners. Andy Flower, the former England coach who is now technical director of elite coaching at the ECB, has called on counties to play their role with more conducive pitches, and Bayliss said that if England want to lift themselves from No.6 in the Test rankings it was non-negotiable that they needed improved spin resources.”I’ve only been in England three months but there’s always talk of the type of wickets not being conducive to spin, captains that can use spin bowlers in the right ways. There are a number of areas that we can make improvements going forward … but the simple fact is if we want to be the best Test team in the world then we have to have two or three top-line spinners.”