Sitting fourth in the Premier League, few can contest Aston Villa's success this season. Unai Emery's men have defied the odds to keep pace with the big boys whilst continuing to compete in Europe. Now with the transfer window on the horizon, NSWE are desperate to make sure this season is not a one-off.

Villa's Portuguese scouting mission

After acquiring 46 percent of Vitoria Sport Clube back in February 2023, Portuguese football is far from unchartered territory for the Villa owners. With a keen interest in the region, it is now suggested that club officials have made the journey south to watch one of the league's top sides and keep an eye on potential signings.

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According to Sport Witness, Villa are interested in signing players from Portugal with club officials attending multiple FC Porto games in recent weeks. Whilst extensive scouting networks are nothing new in the modern game, the report claims NSWE have someone specific in mind – although they could not identify who.

Reports out of Portugal state that officials from the West Midlands outfit watched Porto's recent victories over Arsenal and Benfica. The former saw the home side cause a 1-0 upset against the Gunners, whilst Sunday's top of the table clash with Benfica saw Porto run away 5-0 winners.

With little certainty as to who Villa officials are keeping tabs on, reports out of a local outlet in Porto have suggested a couple of names that could be on their radar.

Local reports suggest two targets for Villa

Whilst local paper O Jogo has no concrete information on who Villa were scouting, they do suggest that Porto talents Galeno and Alan Varela could be on the club's radar. Varela is a midfielder who is at his best with the ball at his feet. A passing maestro who puts in the dirty work too, he could be the perfect replacement if Douglas Luiz is to depart this summer.

Non-Penalty Goals

0.12

74th percentile

Passes Attempted

66.65

89th percentile

Pass Completion %

87.3

90th percentile

Interceptions

1.11

64th percentile

Blocks

1.73

86th percentile

Whilst Varela's quality is clear, Galeno was arguably the stand out of the two games, scoring the only goal in the win over Arsenal as well as a brace at the weekend.

Galeno's stats for season have seen him provide 12 goals and 10 assists in just 35 games. With five of his goals coming in the Champions League, he is clearly a player built for the big stage that could be a huge asset to Emery's side. A winger with an eye for a goal would shift some of the scoring onus off Ollie Watkins and benefit the entire team as a result.

Whatever Villa's Portuguese excursion may bring, they are not watching these games for no reason and fans can expect the Villans to continue to pursue their targets.

On the final day of the 2023 summer transfer window, Manchester City completed a £53m deal to sign Matheus Nunes from Wolves after prior moves for Josko Gvardiol, Jeremy Doku and Mateo Kovacic.

Nunes has made 20 appearances for City so far across all competitions, starting five Premier League matches as well as four of his side's seven Champions League games to date.

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Pep Guardiola turned his attention to Nunes after City were forced to walk away from a deal for West Ham's Lucas Paqueta when they learned that he was under investigation for allegedly breaching FA betting rules, which he denies.

City had agreed an £80m deal for Paqueta in principle, but while they had to pull the plug on a summer transfer, sources close to the situation remained optimistic that a move could still happen in the future.

City ready to come back to the table for Paqueta

Now, according to Football Insider, City are eyeing up Paqueta again ahead of the summer transfer window. Guardiola's side have remained keen on the Brazilian, and could re-open negotiations over a transfer.

Significantly, West Ham are said to be willing to accept an offer for Paqueta that meets their price tag as they wait to discover the outcome of the aforementioned investigation, which is now close to being completed.

Paqueta is a game-changer for West Ham

Former Lyon man Paqueta has been out of action since the end of last year with a calf injury, and in that time, West Ham's fortunes have nosedived. They haven't won any of their seven matches across all competitions, losing to Championship Bristol City in the FA Cup and only picking up a point away to a Sheffeld United side that looks destined to be relegated. The Hammers shipped six goals in an embarrassing home defeat to Arsenal at the weekend, and have only scored four themselves over the last seven.

Lucas Paqueta stats		West Ham rank
Assists	5	2nd
Key passes per game	1.4	2nd
Successful dribbles per game	1.6	2nd
Tackles per game	2.4	3rd
Fouls drawn per game	2.3	1st
Points per game	1.83	1st* Minimum 10 apps

Irons fans' worst fears about the impact of his absence have been realised. The stats show that Paqueta is a vital figure for David Moyes' side, leading the way for points per game and also ranking in the top three for assists, key passes, successful dribbles and tackles.

It's no surprise that Guardiola is still keen on this all-round midfield maestro, but City will of course have to wait to see whether Paqueta is banned before they proceed. While the cases of Sandro Tonali and Ivan Toney were different, their combined 18-month suspension shows how seriously football's governing bodies are taking this issue. Any significant spell on the sidelines will surely see City move on for good.

First-round wrap: Also find out about the South African who went to England but returned

Firdose Moonda10-Oct-2019South Africa’s struggles in India have put the spotlight on the country’s first-class season that is currently underway. With a home summer to follow against England, the national team could be on the hunt for solid top-order batsmen, a new crop of fast bowlers, or maybe even just a reassurance that the level below the best is strong and competitive.The first round of matches delivered plenty of thrills, which we re-cap here.A hat-trick to start the season Tshepo Moreki moved to the Titans at the start of the 2018-19 summer, after stints with Dolphins and Cobras, to gain consistent game time. He only featured in half of their first-class fixtures and was steady without being outstanding. But a season later, that might be changing.Moreki manufactured a victory against the clock with a hat-trick in the last hour of play on the final day, after Titans declared shortly before lunch, leaving themselves 71 overs to bowl Dolphins out. At 146 for 6 in the 53rd over, Dolphins may have entertained thoughts of escaping with a draw, especially after Andile Phehlukwayo looked like he’d settled in for the ultimate blockathon.He faced 45 balls and spent 62 minutes at the crease for his five runs when Moreki tempted him into a booming drive, but Phehlukwayo only managed an edge to short-third man. Moreki’s next ball bowled Eathan Bosch between the bat-pad gap, and he then had Daryn Dupavillon caught behind to leave the Dolphins 146 for 9 with at least 17 overs remaining. The last pair held out for another seven overs before the Titans sealed the win in the dying stages of the match.The South African who went to England but returned Johannesburg-born Neil Brand, 23, moved to Kings College in Taunton, hoping to qualify and play for England. He represented Cardiff MCC University and the Glamorgan and Somerset second XIs before returning to South Africa in December 2017. He joined the University of Pretoria (Tuks), where former New Zealand international Kruger van Wyk heads the structure, and had immense success. Brand was Player of the Tournament in the T20 Varsity Cup and the leading run-scorer in the national club championship. Tuks won both competitions. He made his franchise debut last season and was contracted to Titans for this summer, where he has immediately made a big statement.Brand scored 106 and 77 and set the Titans up for victory over Dolphins. His was not the only notable contribution, though. Farhaan Behardien’s 114 in the first innings contributed to the Titans being the only team to cross 400 in an innings in what appeared to be the best-behaved pitch of the opening round. What’s with the pitch in Potch?Early season pitches in Potchefstroom are unpredictable in every way. They are known to have uneven bounce and pace, and the one used for the season opener appeared particularly hostile. Thirty-nine wickets fell in two days in what became a low-scoring thriller. While the cricket was interesting, its quality was questionable, as a source told ESPNcricinfo.”That pitch really wasn’t fit for first-class cricket. It was completely underprepared,” the insider said. “The top was completely gone and in the end, seamers were even tougher to play than spinner as there was a complete lack of bounce.”Spinners took 28 of the 40 wickets and George Linde’s 11 saw him surge to the top of the wicket-taking chart after the first round of matches. But the Cobras walked away with only four points while defending champions, the Lions, claimed 22. While they will gladly take a winning start, they may now wonder why they didn’t get their campaign underway 120 kilometers down the road at Wanderers in Johannesburg, their other home ground.CSA hadn’t responded for a comment at the time of writing.Coetzee marks his arrival in styleIn Kimberley, legspinner Shaun von Berg made a Man-of-the-Match debut for the Knights where he took six wickets and scored an unbeaten second-innings 61 to steer them to victory over the Warriors. But the spotlight was on another newcomer. Nineteen-year-old seamer Gerald Coetzee also took six wickets, including 4 for 53 in the second innings, to announce himself on the first-class scene.Coetzee, a product of Saint Andrews in Bloemfontein, is a former South African Schools’ captain. Until Thursday, he was best known for his 5 for 32 against New Zealand at the 2018 Under-19 World Cup. He was part of the Under-19 side that toured India earlier this year but had to return home early after picking up a side strain.These are early days, but with concern raised over South Africa’s resources in the face of big-name retirements and continued Kolpak signings, Coetzee will be one to watch as the summer develops.

What the players will be looking for from the tour game in Vizianagaram

Karthik Krishnaswamy25-Sep-2019

BCCI

Rohit Sharma, the openerContrary to widespread belief, Rohit Sharma has done a pretty good job when he’s got the opportunity to play Test cricket. Since the start of 2016, he averages 53.00 in 11 Test matches. It’s a sign of the depth of India’s batting resources that he can’t command a consistent spot in the middle order.Watch cricket on ESPN+

India v South Africa is available in the US on Hotstar and ESPN+. Subscribe to ESPN+ and tune in to the three Tests.

Thanks to KL Rahul’s long run of poor form and Prithvi Shaw’s doping ban, however, he now has an opportunity to try and turn himself into a long-format opener. Moving to the top of the order transformed Rohit’s ODI career. Can he make a similar move up the order work in Test cricket too?Rohit doesn’t have much previous as a red-ball opener. In 137 innings in first-class cricket, he has opened just three times, the last of those occasions – when Mumbai attempted to chase an improbable target of 155 in 11 overs – coming in December 2012.Apart from the Test-match combination of Rohit and Mayank Agarwal, the Board President’s XI squad also includes two other openers, Abhimanyu Easwaran and Priyank Panchal. Those two will probably have to accept a move down the order for now.Can South Africa’s batsmen crack the Asia code?Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers, Faf du Plessis. Only one member of that world-class middle order remains standing now.This isn’t to say South Africa have an inexperienced batting line-up, per se. Dean Elgar (56 Tests) has only played two fewer Tests than du Plessis, while Temba Bavuma (36) and Quinton de Kock (40) have been around Test cricket for a while, and Aiden Markram (17) is well settled at the top of the order.But all of them have poor records in Asia.