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Manchester United secured their place in next season's Champions League with a game to spare, having seen off struggling rivals Chelsea with a brutal 4-1 victory at Old Trafford on Thursday evening.

While it was a far-from-vintage performance from the Red Devils, manager Erik ten Hag will be breathing a sigh of relief to have seen his side clinch their place in the top four, with United having no doubt come a long way since the early season defeats to the likes of Brighton and Hove Albion and Brentford.

The Red Devils haven't lost on home soil in the league since that opening-day defeat to the Seagulls and that unbeaten streak hardly looked like coming to an end against Frank Lampard's mid-table side with Casemiro heading home early on, before Anthony Martial tapped in just before the break to give the hosts real breathing room.

That lead was then extended after the interval as Bruno Fernandes won – and subsequently converted – a penalty for his side, before first-half substitute Marcus Rashford bagged his 30th goal of the season in all competitions to add further gloss to the scoreline, prior to Joao Felix's solo consolation.

On a night of notable positives for Ten Hag, one performance, in particular, may have been of concern to the former Ajax man, however, with experienced playmaker Christian Eriksen having looked somewhat off the pace in the centre of the park.

How did Eriksen perform against Chelsea?

With an FA Cup final showdown with Manchester City on the horizon, the 31-year-old is hardly nailing down a starting berth for himself for the mouthwatering meeting with Pep Guardiola's side, having again put in a mixed display last night.

Fresh from having not looked 'convincing defensively' during the weekend win over AFC Bournemouth – as per 90min's Tom Gott – the former Tottenham Hotspur man was again "defensively suspicious", in the words of journalist Michael Akomeah, after winning just one of his five total duels.

As journalist Scott Saunders also noted, the £150k-per-week dud is "bypassed too easily in a deep role", with writer Casey Evans going as far as to suggest that the Dane's "legs are just fully gone".

While Eriksen did play his part in proceedings after teeing up midfield colleague Casemiro for the game's opening goal, the 5 foot 11 maestro was at times rather errant in possession, having lost the ball on seven occasions from his 30 touches, while making only 18 passes in total.

That limited number of touches – which was actually fewer than teammate David De Gea in the sticks (35) – also laid bare the lack of creative impact from the 120-cap ace on the night, with it having been no real surprise that the tiring asset was withdrawn on the 70-minute mark.

Having racked up a lowly match rating of just 6.6, as per Sofascore – the worst of any starting United player, aside from the stricken Antony – Eriksen was clearly something of a villain for his manager, with Ten Hag likely to be contemplating whether to unleash the one-time Brentford man again this season, with both Fulham and City to come…

Jason Gillespie, Yorkshire’s head coach, will be leaving the club at the end of the 2016 season to return to his native Australia

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Aug-2016Jason Gillespie, Yorkshire’s head coach, will be leaving the club at the end of the 2016 season to return to his native Australia.Gillespie, who was appointed in November 2011, helped guide the club from the second division to back-to-back Championship titles in 2014 and 2015, with the club firmly in the hunt for a third title following last week’s victory over Nottinghamshire at Scarborough.In the course of 76 Championship fixtures at the helm, he suffered just five defeats.Yorkshire had hoped that Gillespie would stay for at least another year, and he had intended to reflect on the matter for a few months upon returning to Australia at the end of the English season. But after defeat to Surrey in the Royal London Cup semi-final on Sunday, he advised the Yorkshire board of his decision.Unusually, he made the decision without first informing Yorkshire’s players, suggesting that what he had long presented as a future dilemma had suddenly become a decision he could no longer put off.The announcement, which had been anticipated for much of the season, comes after Gillespie took up a contract to coach the Adelaide Strikers in the Big Bash, and his wife, Anna and their four children have recently returned to live back in Australia.”The club would like to place on record its thanks to Jason,” read a club statement. “The focus will now be very much on the remaining four County Championship fixtures, beginning with Wednesday’s trip to the Ageas Bowl to face Hampshire, and on securing the first Championship treble seen at Headingley since the 1960s.”Martyn Moxon, Yorkshire’s director of cricket, will not begin the search for Gillespie’s replacement until the end of the current season. Paul Farbrace is one name that is bound to be floated – England’s assistant coach had a successful period as head of Yorkshire’s academy – but the former England coach, Peter Moores, is an unlikely contender as he can expect to be promoted to head coach at Nottinghamshire in an end-of-season reshuffle at Trent Bridge.

Glasgow Rangers defender Connor Goldson is facing up to ten weeks on the sidelines with a foot injury, according to Michael Beale.

What's the latest injury news on Goldson?

The Scottish Premiership outfit secured a 3-1 victory over Hibernian on Sunday but had to play the game without the services of the 30-year-old who was completely missing from the matchday squad due to a problem picked up in the closing stages of his side’s previous encounter in the Old Firm derby.

During the 3-0 win against Celtic almost a fortnight ago, the centre-back was able to carry out the full 90 minutes but was reportedly playing through injury towards the end of the fixture, and having since seeked medical advice, it’s not good news coming out of Ibrox.

Speaking during his post-match interview following the three points over Hibernian at the weekend, Beale confirmed that Goldson is facing a lengthy spell on the sidelines after sustaining a serious foot injury. As quoted by Rangers Review, he said:

“He will be out for about 10 weeks. He had a funny land on his foot with a couple of minutes to go last week and wanted to play on. After we’ve had it scanned and seen a specialist. He will probably be six weeks to stay off it and then a four/five-week rehab back into next season. All going well, he’ll be available for the first game of next season, albeit he might have a slightly modified pre-season compared to others. This season seems to be the worst ever with injuries for the club, certainly in my time associated. Let’s hope that’s out the way and next season we get a clean bill of health.”

Will Goldson's absence be a blow for Rangers?

According to Sky Sports producer Andrew Dickson, Goldson is a “rock” at the heart of the Rangers backline and it will definitely be a massive setback for Beale not to have him available for the final few matches of the 2022/23 season.

The 6 foot 2 colossus, who currently earns £37k-per-week, was averaging three clearances and 2.6 aerial wins per league game prior to his absence, alongside recording an 89.2% pass success rate, via WhoScored, so he is clearly a huge physical presence in the centre of the defence, but he’s also a threat at the opposite end of the pitch having posted three goals and the same number of assists across all competitions since the start of the term.

Finally, Goldson is a wonderfully versatile option for the manager to have at his disposal with his ability to operate at left-back and right-back alongside his natural centre-back position, so the only positive to take from this injury update is that there’s a good chance he’ll be back out on the grass and ready to go again for the first game of the new campaign in August.

Alastair Cook has admitted that England lack the consistency to be rated the No.1 Test side

George Dobell at The Oval14-Aug-2016Alastair Cook has admitted that England lack the consistency to be rated the No.1 Test side.England could, had they won at The Oval and seen other results around the world fall in their favour, have moved to the top of the Test rankings. Instead they suffered a 10-wicket defeat that leaves them fourth in the rankings and reflecting on something of a reality check.Most of all, they were left to ponder the continuing fragility of their top-order batting that saw only two of the top five (predictably, Cook and Joe Root) average 30 and the unreliability of their close catching which, on average missed two chances an innings.While England’s middle-order, specifically Moeen Ali and Jonny Bairstow, often bailed the side out (both men averaged in excess of 50 in the series), none of Alex Hales, James Vince or Gary Ballance were convincing. Hales averaged 18.22 at the top of the order, while Vince has been given the entire Test summer in the side without registering a fifty; statistics that left Cook admitting “they haven’t been good enough”.”At the beginning of this game the talk was ‘you can become No.1; you could do all this, you could do all that’,” Cook said. “But these four days probably show exactly where we are. We’re a good side when we’re on it, but there’s a few areas we need to improve to make that next step.”Consistently over the summer, we haven’t scored enough runs at the top of the order. It is frustrating for us as a side. It’s a big area we’ve got to keep working on – and obviously, for us to take that next step to consistency, top-order first-innings runs are vital.”The lower order have got us out of trouble some of the time and it’s great that we’ve got strength in depth down there. But the majority of the time they should be putting the icing on the cake, not making the cake.”There is a hell of a lot of talent in the guys who are playing, but they just haven’t got that score. I can’t fault the lads’ efforts. It’s not for lack of that. It’s just they haven’t been good enough at this precise moment in time, and it’s something we have to look at.”Cook also conceded that England had to “go back to basics” to improve their catching. They put down 15 chances over the course of the series – four more than Pakistan – rendering the job of their bowlers all the harder.”With the catching this summer, we’ll need to go back to basics and work incredibly hard again,” Cook said. “We can’t afford to drop as many catches as we have in this series if we want to bowl sides out on good wickets like this one here.”There’s ‘could haves and should haves’ – all that kind of stuff – but we’ve given them four chances in that first session on day two. We should take three out of those four, and that puts a different complexion on it. That is a frustrating feeling.”There were, Cook felt, some positives from the series. He credited the improved performances of Jonny Bairstow, who has every chance of establishing a new record for the most runs scored in a year by a Test wicketkeeper, and Moeen Ali, as well as celebrating the much-improved relationship between the two sides. Bairstow has now scored 992 Test runs (from 16 innings) in 2016, meaning only Andy Flower (who scored 1,045 runs from 16 innings in 2000) has managed more. England, however, have another six Tests scheduled before the end of the year.”The relationship between the sides is a lot better than it’s ever been,” Cook said. “Both sides have made a conscious effort to talk about the cricket and let the cricket do the talking. We knew they were a good side and 2-2 is probably a fair reflection. The series was played hard, but it was played in good spirits.”Moeen has done a fantastic job for us since he came into the side as a batter who bowled a bit. He’s had to share a lot of responsibility to do that as part of a five-man attack.”He’s not a Yasir Shah as a spinner and he probably never will be. But he continues to work incredibly hard at it and he picks up vital wickets.”Jonny Bairstow has had a great summer. I don’t know if he has scored a thousand Test runs this year, but if not, he almost has. And, in these four games, he’s kept really well as well. He’s made a really good step forward, and he should be very proud of that.”There’s still a hell of a lot of work for him to do, but the way he’s batted and contributed to the side, he can be very proud of a good summer.”

ICC chairman Shashank Manohar has said the revival of bilateral cricket is in the hands of the members boards, as bilateral cricket does not fall under the jurisdiction of the cricket’s international governing body

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Sep-20162:29

‘The itinerary is just unworkable’ – Chappell

ICC chairman Shashank Manohar has said the revival of bilateral cricket is in the hands of the members boards, because bilateral cricket does not fall under the jurisdiction of cricket’s international governing body. The idea of two tiers in Tests was put forward by Cricket Australia and Cricket South Africa, Manohar said, and it was up to the members to decide what to do about it.”I can tell as a fact, this issue [two tiers] was raised by Cricket South Africa and Cricket Australia, and came up at the Chief Executives Committee (CEC) meeting in Edinburgh,” Manohar told the . “Being the chairman of the ICC, I don’t attend the CEC meetings, but I was specifically called for this agenda item. I said at the meeting that the ICC is not empowered to look into this because these bilateral rights are rights belonging to home boards and it’s for them to decide what to do. The ICC has nothing to say in this. This matter can’t be deliberated on the ICC platform.”Haroon Lorgat, CEO of Cricket South Africa and former ICC CEO, had similarly told ESPNcricinfo that it was the responsibility of the member boards and not the ICC to ensure bilateral cricket is in good health. Technically, the ICC is only in charge of organising ICC events like the World Cup, World T20, Champions Trophy and Intercontinental Cup.While revamps of bilateral cricket were being debated, Manohar said it remained equally important to pinpoint the basis of Test cricket’s attendance problems. He said he felt it largely came down to the many options today’s fans have inside and outside of the game. “I said at the [CEC] meeting that the decline in crowd attendance for Test matches is not because there’s no content. What should be done is a survey. You should find out why the popularity of Test cricket has diminished.”For that you will have to interview people who watch T20 games or ODI games. Because there the stadiums are full, so those people are interested in watching the game of cricket.”In earlier days, there were only about five Tests in two years’ time. There was no television. So people used to go and stadiums used to be full. But today, for all 365 days, there’s some game going on somewhere in the world. So you can watch a game of cricket anytime, any day. So why would a person waste seven hours for five days, from 10am-5pm? All these things had been argued at the meeting.”Manohar also offered specific numbers on the budget for the Champions Trophy 2017 to be hosted in England, saying the BCCI’s claim that it was “three times” that of the budget allocated to this year’s World T20 hosted in India was false. “That’s not factually correct. The budget for the World T20 2016, including the television production cost, was $55,084,116. The budget for the Champions Trophy 2017, including television production cost, is $46,781,507.”Yes, there were more matches and teams at the World T20 2016 compared to what will be there for the Champions Trophy. But the Champions Trophy games are full-day games and the accommodation and travel cost in the UK are substantially higher that what they were in India.”After replacing N Srinivasan as ICC chairman in November 2015, Manohar had stated his intent to end the imbalance of power at the ICC caused by the constitutional revamp of 2014 – the “Big Three” episode. Now he reiterated his commitment to the international governing body over the BCCI, of which he was president till May. “Today I’m unconnected with any particular member of the ICC,” he said. “I’m the independent ICC chairman, so I have to look at the best interests of the ICC. It’s for the BCCI representative to look after the best interests of the BCCI.”When asked if the BCCI’s views did not deserve special attention at the ICC level given it is the biggest contributor to world cricket financially, Manohar said: “I don’t agree with this. Then, why the same logic shouldn’t apply to the BCCI? There are 30 state associations [in India], why shouldn’t somebody have a veto power? For example, Mumbai generates the highest revenue but does that mean that they should have a veto power on the BCCI decisions? Institutions function in a democratic manner and decisions are taken by the majority.”

Manchester United will be continuing their pursuit for dominance by bolstering key squad positions with quality in the summer transfer window and now a new update from a reliable source has emerged on the club's interest in a Premier League star.

What's the latest on Man United's interest in James Maddison?

According to CBS reporter and transfer expert Ben Jacobs, United are one of the clubs monitoring James Maddison's situation at Leicester City following their relegation from the Premier League this afternoon.

Jacobs took to Twitter on Saturday to reveal:

"A handful of other Premier League clubs also monitoring Maddison. #AFC have other priorities for now, but are aware of his situation. Same for #MUFC.

"Clubs looking at Mason Mount could turn more seriously to Maddison if they fail to land the Chelsea midfielder.

"Maddison price is unclear at this point. Leicester have consistently valued him around £60m, but suitors feel there's a deal to be had around £40-45m due to his contract situation."

Would James Maddison be a better signing than Mason Mount?

Despite a massively disappointing campaign for the Foxes, Maddison has been a stand-out performer in the squad and even earned a spot in Gareth Southgate's England World Cup squad at the end of last year due to his explosive start to the season.

Over 29 Premier League appearances, the 26-year-old ace – hailed a "creative genius" by statistic analyst Statman Dave – has scored ten goals, registered nine assists and created 12 big chances, as well as averaging 2.3 key passes, 2.8 shots on goal and 1.6 successful dribbles per game.

Not only that, when compared with other midfielders in the top five Men's European Leagues – as per FBref – Maddison ranks in the top 1% of his positional peers for non-penalty goals scored, assists, shot-creating actions and touches, proving that he is an incredible attacking presence.

Indeed, the versatile playmaker – dubbed "elite" by impressionist Al Foran – often floats between the midfield and forward line with no strict role in the Leicester team, but could be the perfect alternative for Erik ten Hag if they fail to complete a deal for reported target, Mason Mount.

When comparing the England duo's output over the season so far, it is clear that Maddison has outperformed Mount in a number of attributes including shot-creating actions per 90 (5.05 v 3.11), goal-creating actions per 90 (0.49 v 0.38), progressive passes completed (146 v 98), progressive carries (72 v 48) and shots on target (33.3% v 27.3%).

Defining Maddison's best role and harnessing his skills into a position that perfectly suits Ten Hag's system could save the club millions considering Mount has a reported £80m price tag this summer compared to the £45m valuation for Maddison cited by Jacobs in his tweets.

With that being said, the future is looking bright for Maddison with many clubs interested in snapping up his services and if Man United are serious about signing a player like Mount this summer to improve their attacking presence from midfield, then considering Maddison instead would make perfect sense.

Australia’s decision to rest Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood might have contributed to their being thrashed 5-0 in the one-day series in South Africa, but Hazlewood is confident that he will be better for the break this Test summer

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Oct-2016Australia’s decision to rest Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood might have contributed to their being thrashed 5-0 in the one-day series in South Africa, but Hazlewood is confident that he will be better for the break this Test summer.While Steven Smith and his men fly home from their disappointing tour of South Africa, Hazlewood is in Sydney preparing to play in the later stages of the Matador Cup for New South Wales. Friday’s game against Victoria will be his first competitive outing since Australia’s one-day series in Sri Lanka in late August.Australia used three previously uncapped fast men during the South Africa campaign – Chris Tremain, Joe Mennie and Daniel Worrall – and although they all showed promise at times, overall it was a major step up for the trio. But despite the 5-0 result in the ODIs, Australia must now hope the decision to rest Hazlewood and Starc pays off in next month’s Test series against South Africa.”Sri Lanka was a long tour physically and mentally,” Hazlewood told reporters in Sydney on Thursday. “And with a lot of cricket coming up I think the rest was valid.”However, the absence of Starc and Hazlewood did not help Australia’s cause in the ODI series, during which Scott Boland and John Hastings were the senior fast bowlers in the side. Tremain finished as Australia’s leading wicket taker with seven at 36.42, Mennie had a poor debut but bounced back with 3 for 49 in the final game, and Worrall went wicketless in his two ODIs against South Africa.”It is an opportunity to see some younger guys,” Smith said after the final game in Cape Town. “I think with the schedule these days and the amount we play, it’s impossible particularly for fast bowlers to sustain bowling at good pace for long periods of time.”We’ve chosen to give Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood a rest for this series. It’s given an opportunity for a few younger guys to come in and try and impress. It’s been a very tough series for everyone, but I’m sure they’ll learn a lot out of it.””I’ve never played in a one-day series where we’ve lost all five games. It’s been a difficult task. We’ve been outplayed. But the group has stuck together well. We’re always looking at ways we can improve … We just haven’t been able to go out there and do the business. We’ve had a pretty inexperienced side, to be fair.”Smith also highlighted the lack of runs from the batting order, aside from David Warner, as a key reason Australia were unable to win a match. Warner finished as the leading run scorer from either side, with 386 at 77.20 including two centuries, and he is comfortably top of the ODI run list from all countries for the 2016 calendar year, in which he has made five hundreds.”We just haven’t been able to put enough partnerships together,” Smith said. “We’ve had guys who have had starts and not been able to go on with it. Having said that, Davey was magnificent today. To score 170 out of our 290 was remarkable. The rest of us weren’t good enough.”

Manchester United will likely continue their efforts to rebuild and improve the squad this summer and now a new update has emerged on a long-standing transfer target.

What's the latest on Man United's interest in Adrien Rabiot?

According to Italian newspaper Corriere dello Sport (via Sport Witness), Man United have revived their interest in Juventus midfielder Adrien Rabiot.

As per the report, Rabiot's outstanding form this season hasn't gone unnoticed with the Red Devils set to compete with Newcastle United for his signature this summer.

The Frenchman will be out of contract and available for free in a few weeks' time.

Who would Rabiot replace at Man United?

Whilst the highest priority at Old Trafford this summer will be to sign a prolific centre-forward, adding quality into key areas all over the pitch will be essential to continue the progress already made by Erik ten Hag in his first season.

The Manchester giants have made positive steps forward this season with a League Cup and Champions League qualification secured, so the signing of high-quality players will be important in their pursuit of challenging at the top again domestically and also putting in a strong European campaign too.

As a result, the signing of Rabiot could be exactly what Ten Hag needs to inject some great talent and a fresh perspective in midfield next season with the France international potentially standing as a much-needed Paul Pogba replacement.

Rabiot has stepped up into Pogba's role for both the France national team and Juventus over the last 12 months to become the beating heart in midfield during the Qatar World Cup and throughout the season in the Serie A, whilst the former Man United man has been out injured.

Over 31 league appearances, the 6 foot 2 titan has been an effective presence at both ends of the pitch having scored eight goals, registered four assists and successfully completed 60% of his dribbles.

Furthermore, the Juve star has averaged one key pass, 1.5 shots on goal, two tackles and 1.2 clearances per game, proving that he has the all-round game to replace Pogba at Old Trafford.

Despite a controversial past, the Frenchman has seemingly been reborn in Italy and has demonstrated his strong midfield attributes that has led to high praise from many including his manager Andrea Pirlo, who said:

"He is a complete player, I have rarely seen someone so strong both physically and technically.

"He doesn't even know the potential for improvement he can have, and we work on the mental side of things to make him understand that he is a champion. He is improving game after game."

With that being said, if Man United can snap up the services of Rabiot for free this summer it would be a great opportunity for Ten Hag to add some much-need quality in midfield with that Pogba-shaped void finally being filled.

The 19-year-old Delhi batsman walked out to bat on an empty stomach and ended up feasting on Jharkhand’s attack on a flat track with a 48-ball hundred

Arun Venugopal08-Nov-2016Rishabh Pant probably doesn’t intend to deliver punchlines, but does them anyway, and in style. Sample this: ” (There are no limitations in cricket. Everything is unlimited. I need to raise the limits of my performances).” The Delhi batsman said this after smashing a 48-ball century against Jharkhand in Thumba to add to his hundred in the first innings.With 799 runs, including four hundreds, Pant is also the leading run-getter so far in this Ranji Trophy season. The 19-year-old, though, doesn’t want to count the number of centuries he has scored. “Only performances matter – the bigger the better,” he tells ESPNcricinfo.Delhi’s top order responded strongly after being asked to follow on, scoring 214 for the loss of three wickets. When Pant’s turn came, he walked out to bat on an empty stomach, again. “I get very little time for breakfast,” he said with a laugh. “Because, every day I either have batting or wicket-keeping [drills before play]. That’s the system in every match.”That, however, didn’t stop Pant from creaming Jharkhand’s bowlers for 135 in 67 balls, with 78 runs coming in sixes. Pant was surprised to learn his 21 sixes in the match was the second-most in a first-class game. (I felt I wasn’t batting properly and that I had to play better, that’s all). I had got an opportunity to bat again; that hasn’t happened in the most of our matches,” Pant, who has batted in only seven innings from five games, says.Jharkhand left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem, who is Pant’s Delhi Daredevils team-mate in the IPL, was at the receiving end of some “unbelievable” strokes. “There was some rough and we were trying to land there, but he would step out and easily hit sixes off even those deliveries that were out of his reach,” Nadeem says. “In the first innings, he was batting on 99, and when Sunny Gupta, the offspinner, was bowling, he hit him against the spin over midwicket. That was a pretty huge six.”According to Nadeem, bowling to Pant was particularly difficult given how flat the pitch was. “There are the Virender Sehwag-types who believe in their strokes right from the start rather than taking singles. Pant belongs to that category,” he says. “There were fielders on the boundary line, but he was still clearing them easily.”For his part, Pant said when the shot is timed well, it doesn’t matter if the ground is small or big. Coach KP Bhaskar had called for better shot-selection from Pant after Delhi’s 160-run loss to Karnataka, but according to Pant, Bhaskar has asked him to back his natural game. He believes playing his natural game and batting responsibly aren’t mutually exclusive. “When you express yourself, it doesn’t mean you are not playing responsibly,” he said. “People generally think that when someone plays attacking cricket, he doesn’t bat responsibly. But, if you don’t play responsibly, there is only one outcome: you get out.”Does Pant think he could have scored the hundred in fewer deliveries? “Of course. I had reached 96 in around 42 or 43 deliveries. But then, they were bowling outside off, and I couldn’t force myself to go after those deliveries,” he says, and throws in another punchline for good measure: ” (Anything can happen in cricket).”

Fulham are interested in signing Fiorentina centre-back Igor Julio, who is keen to leave this summer, according to reports from Italy.

What's the latest Fulham transfer news?

Fulham will have their work cut out trying to keep hold of midfielder Joao Palhina this summer, with the Portugal international emerging as a target for multiple teams who have European football on offer, including West Ham United and Liverpool.

The Cottagers are looking at bringing in new options in midfield, having recently been linked with a move for former player Fabio Carvalho, although the Liverpool youngster will only be available on loan, while Wolfsburg's Patrick Wimmer is also a target.

There has been less talk about new defenders, perhaps in light of the respectable defensive record in the Premier League last season, however there have now been reports about a move for Igor.

According to reports from Italy (via Sport Witness), Fulham are showing an interest in the Fiorentina defender, who is keen to leave the Serie A side this summer, despite their progression to the Europa Conference League final last season.

The Brazilian is "one of the first candidates" who will leave the Italian club, as he wants to have a new experience outside of Italy, having been in the country since moving to SPAL in 2019.

As the defender's contract is set to expire next summer, Fiorentina will need to sell him this summer, in order to avoid losing him on a free transfer.

Who is Igor Julio?

The 25-year-old has spent the vast majority of his career in Italy, across spells with SPAL and Fiorentina, however he first made a name for himself in Austria, totalling a combined 85 appearances during his time with Red Bull Salzburg, Wolfsberger AC, Austria Vienna and FC Liefering.

Journalist Alvaro Canibe has described the Fiorentina ace as "crazy", while also lauding him for the "incredible" levels of "security and reliability" that he has brought to his current club defensively.

Fiorentina had the joint-seventh best defensive record in the Serie A last season, with the £15k-per-week defender making a total of 27 appearances, and he ranks in the top 25% for blocks and tackles per 90 over the past year, when compared to his positional peers.

Igor could be a solid addition to the Fulham backline, having proven himself in the Serie A, and Marco Silva should now look to the take next step by lodging an official bid.