Manchester United have now reportedly been offered the chance to sign an England midfielder for just £26m when the January transfer window arrives.

Man Utd seeking midfield reinforcements

In the summer, it was Ruben Amorim’s frontline that took the focus as INEOS welcomed Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo and Benjamin Sesko in an impressive window. Now, when 2026 arrives, it looks as though Sir Jim Ratcliffe is set to turn his attention towards Man United’s midfield.

Those at Old Trafford were eyeing a move for Carlos Baleba at the end of the summer window, before Brighton & Hove Albion priced them out of a move. Months on, it seems as though the midfielder has fallen down Man United’s shortlist of targets, with Nottingham Forest’s Elliot Anderson now taking centre-stage.

The 23-year-old is quickly becoming the most sought-after player in the Premier League, but he’s not the only option on United’s list of targets in the middle of the park.

They’ve also reportedly been told that they can now sign Conor Gallagher from Atletico Madrid at a bargain price in January. The former Chelsea man could be on his way back to the Premier League as he looks to earn his way back into Thomas Tuchel’s England squad ahead of the 2026 World Cup.

Man Utd now offered bargain Conor Gallagher deal

According to Pete O’Rourke of Football Insider, Man United have now been told that they can sign Gallagher for just €30m (£26m) when 2026 arrives. The England international has become surplus to requirements at Atletico Madrid and he’s now ready to leave the club in pursuit of consistent game time.

Dubbed “intense” by Simeone, Gallagher could provide the legs in United’s midfield that Casemiro is otherwise unable to provide these days. The 25-year-old is a true midfield workhorse, who also has a knack for popping up with goals when needed.

Although United’s big target is Anderson, they’d be doing their top four prospects no harm by welcoming Gallagher in the January transfer window, especially at just £26m.

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By
Sean Markus Clifford

Nov 29, 2025

Whether INEOS will be willing to act as early as the winter window remains to be seen, however. They may yet put all of their funds towards winning what is looking likely to be a hectic race for Anderson next summer.

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“Tour by tour, we will decide who will be joining the teams,” SLC CEO Ashley de Silva said

Madushka Balasuriya30-Oct-2025Sri Lanka Cricket has clarified that the appointments of Julian Wood and Rene Ferdinands as national batting and bowling coaches will not impact the continued roles of Thilina Kandamby and Piyal Wijetunge within SLC’s coaching structure, and that each coach will link up with the men’s national side on a “rotational basis”.”All these coaches, they are not being specified to say that they would be working with the national team,” SLC CEO Ashley de Silva said. “They work as the national coaches, but that does not mean they should work [solely] with the [men’s] national team.”Across the board, there are national teams, no? So on a rotational basis, tour by tour, we will decide who will be joining the teams. That’s how the high-performance centre operates now. That does not mean each person would only work with a particular team. Other than the head coach and a few other members, the rest of them would be rotated.”Related

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This sort of rotational set-up is unusual in world cricket, with the closest equivalent being that of South Africa, who have a batting and bowling lead – Imran Khan and Paul Adams – who occasionally get deployed to national sides across the board, though most of their work is done in the high-performance centre.Wood had been brought on board on a one-year contract following a week-long “power-hitting programme” earlier this year with various national squads. The players – both men and women – are understood to have been impressed with Wood’s input. Ferdinands, a biomechanics expert, also has a hefty pedigree, having previously worked with the BCCI’s National Cricket Academy and as a biomechanics consultant with New Zealand Cricket.Kandamby has been Sri Lanka’s batting coach since December 2023, while Wijetunge has been a fixture at SLC, having been a spin-bowling coach since February 2006. Their roles had come under scrutiny after Sri Lanka’s T20I series defeat to Bangladesh in July, but de Silva was clear in establishing their continued role within the national set-up.”They work in the organisation, [it is] not that their contracts have been terminated,” he said. “It doesn’t matter wherever they have been assigned; they should be prepared to work.””Even they [Wood and Ferdinands] have been designated the same way, so they would be working across the board. Depending on the tours, we, the ExCo [executive committee] will decide who should go on tour.”Sri Lanka’s next touring assignment is an ODI series in Pakistan in November, followed by a T20I tri-series there involving Zimbabwe. According to de Silva, no decision has been taken as yet on which coaching pair will accompany the side on the tour.

Mark Wood has been cleared of a hamstring injury in a relief for England ahead of the Ashes, but he will not take the field on the final day of England’s sole warm-up game at Lilac Hill in Perth against England Lions.In what came as a scare for England, Wood experienced stiffness in his left hamstring on Friday after bowling two four-over spells to start the three-day match. He left the field after his second spell midway through the second session before being sent for scans.Related

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“Following precautionary scans on Friday, England fast bowler Mark Wood has been cleared of any concerns regarding his left hamstring,” the ECB said in a statement.The ECB also said that Wood would continue to train as planned ahead of the first Test, starting on November 21 in Perth, but whether England are going to select him or not remains to be seen.Brydon Carse, who overcame illness on the first day of the warm-up to claim three wickets in England’s second innings, welcomed the prospect of England’s fastest bowler being part of the mix at Perth.”That’s great news,” Carse said. “Woody found out last night that it’s nothing serious, he’s going to have a couple of days off and then have a good bit of training up leading up to that first Test.”For any player, when you’re waiting on a result of a scan, it can be a little bit niggly, but he was fairly confident. So, he’s all up and about and full of energy at the moment.”England have taken a cautious approach with Wood’s rehabilitation from the knee injury that he sustained at the Champions Trophy in February. He had initially hoped to feature in the final Test of their summer series against India, but a setback in training ended up ruling him out of the entire home season.”He’s got a huge amount of resilience,” Carse added. “You look back at some of the setbacks that he’s had over his career, to keep going through the processes to get back out on the field, it’s very exciting, and it shows the sort of character that he has.”Wood, on the first day, had bowled several lively deliveries on a relatively sedate surface at Lilac Hill, a suburban ground in the fringes of Perth.The conditions at the Optus Stadium are expected to be more conducive to fast bowling and, in addition to Wood and Carse, the squad also has Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Matt Potts, Josh Tongue and Ben Stokes as quick-bowling options.”This week was all about bowlers getting miles in their legs,” Carse added. “It’s exciting. I think we’ve got a group of six bowlers who, whatever dynamic we go with, will relish those conditions.”Later on Saturday, Australia suffered a major blow when Josh Hazlewood was ruled out of the opening Test with a hamstring injury after initially being cleared during the Sheffield Shield game against Victoria last week.

Despite Corbin Bosch’s best efforts, South Africa fell short of the 350-run target by 17 runs

Sidharth Monga30-Nov-20254:46

Takeaways – Kohli in comfort zone; Jansen, Kuldeep and Rana sparkle

Virat Kohli added to his world record of most ODI hundreds, Rohit Sharma brought up the world record for most ODI sixes, and a Sunday full house on a pleasant evening in Ranchi enjoyed watching India beat South Africa in a close first ODI of the three-match series. Kohli and Rohit turned back the clock in a 136-run partnership, Kohli went on long enough to hit seven sixes, and the fast bowlers inflicted just enough damage before the pitch eased out in the dew under the lights.The toss disadvantage that India had to overcome – having lost a 19th consecutive one in ODIs – was huge. During the afternoon, the old ball proved to be difficult to hit, resulting in a slowdown after the start Kohli and Rohit gave India. In the night, the pitch became dramatically easier to bat on.Related

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In the end, India needed every last bit of that start of 161 in 21.2 overs and the two wickets in the first over that Harshit Rana bowled with the new ball. Even after being 11 for 3, this is how South Africa’s next three partnerships went: 66 in 10.2 overs, 60 in 6.4 and 97 in 11.1. Marco Jansen and Matthew Breetzke scored 70s, Dewald Brevis and Tony de Zorzi 30s, and the target came down to 123 from 17 overs when Kuldeep Yadav got the wickets of Jansen and Bretzkee in the same over to ease India’s breath.South Africa still refused to go away with Corbin Bosch’s 67 bringing them to needing 19 off 10, but with only the last man for company, Borch found himself handcuffed against Arshdeep Singh’s yorkers. It was especially heartbreaking for Bosch after he had bowled overs 46, 48 and 50 for just 21 runs to keep India down to 349.This ODI followed the grammar of ODI cricket in recent years in India. The new ball does nothing in the afternoon, but you can cleverly offset it with the pitch’s slowness when the balls go soft. Under lights there is a small window of movement with the new ball, which you need to maximise, because once the dew sets in, batting gets easier on every count.Kuldeep Yadav celebrates after getting rid of Tony de Zorzi•BCCI

Kohli and Rohit respected the need to maximise the new ball themselves when the early wicket of Yashasvi Jaiswal brought them together. For the first time when batting first in his career, Kohli hit two sixes in the first 10 overs, both off-drives that not long ago he might have kept down. Rohit, who is generally used to quicker starts, hit successive slog-swept sixes off offspinner Pernemal Subrayen to catch up with Kohli in no time.Rohit’s third six, a pull off Jansen moments after bringing up his fifty, took him past Shahid Afridi’s world-record tally of 351. It was also India’s eighth, the most they have hit in the first 20 overs of an innings. The next short ball from Jansen stayed low, trapping Rohit in front.Kohli, now 72 off 61, five sixes to his name, was deprived of strike as the next two batters struggled to come to terms with the slowness of the pitch. Ruturaj Gaikwad scored 8 off 14, Washington Sundar 13 off 19, and they also dominated the strike. Kohli had to grit his teeth and get through this period. He kept picking up singles with ease, but the period from Rohit’s dismissal to Kohli’s hundred brought India just 72 runs in 16.3 overs.When he brought up the hundred, Kohli broke into an emotional celebration. This was his first hundred since February; while he plays only one format, there is scrutiny around his and Rohit’s future. And now, Kohli went into a renewed assault, hitting two more sixes and scoring 35 off the next 17 balls. KL Rahul, who fought through the initial period, took India’s six tally to 16 and the score to 349.Rana immediately showed why the selectors and the team management show so much faith in him. In the second over of the innings, he swung the ball both ways and also found seam both ways to take the wickets of Ryan Rickelton and Quinton de Kock for ducks. Rickelton lost the top of middle with the ball swinging away and nipping back. Away swing and away seam were enough to take de Kock’s outside edge. Aiden Markram, captaining in the absence of the resting Temba Bavuma, looked to manufacture a cut off Arshdeep at the start of the fifth over but edged through to Rahul.Marco Jansen struck several meaty blows•Associated Press

By now the ball had stopped moving, the pitch had begun to skid, and the outfield had become moist only to become damp pretty soon. Everything played into the batters’ hands, leaving you wondering what a massacre it would have been but for those three early wickets.Kuldeep got de Zorzi lbw for 39 off 35, clever bowling from Rana contained a marauding Brevis for 39 off 28, and still Jansen and Breetzke proceeded to give India a right scare. After de Zorzi’s dismissal, Breetzke took upon the role of taking singles and watching the damage other batters did. What damage Jansen did in his 39-ball 70, the fastest fifty by a South Africa batter in India and the second-fastest against India.The dew got so heavy India had to forget about spinners for a while. Washington bowled only three overs. It was after having run through the fast bowlers that Rahul went back to Kuldeep, who, as wristspinners can sometimes do, drew the toe end from Jansen on a long hop. In the same over, Breetzke holed out to long-on, perhaps having got too close to the pitch of the ball.Incredibly, South Africa still refused to go away. Bosch kept South Africa interested with his maiden fifty, but never had the support left to pull off this heist. Arshdeep’s wicket-maiden in the 47th over seemed to have sealed the game, but Bosch still kept gasping. In the end, it probably came down to the two full tosses he missed from Prasidh Krishna in the 46th over.

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