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A major update has emerged on Sunderland striker Ross Stewart and his future at the Stadium of Light…

What’s the talk?

According to the Daily Record, the Black Cats are preparing to pin him down to an extended contract with the club to avoid losing him in the summer.

The report claims that they are aware of growing interest in his services after his call-up to the Scotland national team and Kristjaan Speakman is now eyeing up an imminent offer in an attempt to keep him on Wearside.

Buzzing

This update will surely leave the Stadium of Light faithful buzzing as they will be keen to see Stewart commit his future to the club.

He has been phenomenal in League One and allowing him to leave in the summer would be a major blow to the squad. His average SofaScore rating of 7.29 is unrivalled within the Sunderland squad and this suggests that he has been the club’s most consistent performer throughout the campaign as he has maintained a high standard all throughout 2021/22.

The Scot’s goalscoring numbers reflect his performances as he has found the back of the net a whopping 22 times in 39 outings for the Black Cats. He has been able to consistently bang in the goals in the third tier, whilst he has also shown off his link-up play with six ‘big chances’ created and 1.4 key passes per game.

This shows that he has been a major force at the top end of the pitch for Lee Johnson and Alex Neil this season. He can score and create goals as the number nine and his contributions have been key to the club’s promotion challenge as they sit in the top-six as it stands.

Therefore, his exit would leave Neil with a huge gap to fill in his starting XI. This would be particularly painful should the club achieve promotion to the Championship as it would, naturally, be harder to find a replacement whilst playing at a higher level in the football pyramid.

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This is why fans will be delighted to read that Speakman is set to offer Stewart a new contract. They will surely want to see him scoring goals for Sunderland for as long as possible and it would be intriguing to see how he would fare in the second tier if the Black Cats end up being promoted.

AND in other news, Left for £0, now worth £6.3m: SAFC had huge howler over “Champions League” quality gem…

Match facts

Sunday, May 18, 2008
Start time 20.00 (local), 14.30 (GMT)

	Will Shahid Afridi prevail in the opening dash? (file photo) © AFP

The Big Picture

The last time these teams met Adam Gilchrist blasted a century off 42 balls to hand Mumbai a crushing defeat, their fourth in a row. It was Deccan’s first win in the IPL; they have won just one more game since and must win on Sunday to keep alive their faint hopes of a semi-final spot. Mumbai went on from that match to string together five consecutive wins, the last two in spectacular and emphatic fashion, and will fancy their chances of becoming the first team in the IPL to win six in a row.Mumbai’s streak has been based on the explosive batting of Sanath Jayasuriya, the bowling led by Shaun Pollock and the morale-boosting return to the side of captain and icon Sachin Tendulkar. Their annihilation of Kolkata Knight Riders on Friday and the ease with which they dismantled Chennai Super Kings in the match before that are ominous signs of a well-oiled machine hitting full throttle.Deccan are yet to win a game at home and, languishing one spot above the bottom of the table, have seen the wheels come off their campaign. None of their bowlers has been able to provide early breakthroughs and the batting has been over-reliant on Gilchrist and Rohit Sharma. The big names – especially Herschelle Gibbs and Shahid Afridi – have flattered to deceive.

Tournament position

Deccan Chargers: P10, W2, L8, NRR -0.380
Mumbai Indians: P9, W5, L4, NRR +0.658

Form (last five matches, most recent first)

Deccan Chargers: LLLWL
Mumbai Indians: WWWWW

Watch out for …

The equivalent of an Olympic 100 metres final with Sanath Jayasuriya, Adam Gilchrist, Shahid Afridi, Herschelle Gibbs and Sachin Tendulkar getting ready to dash off the blocks.

Shaun Pollock will be the biggest hurdle for Hyderabad’s top order to clear before aspiring for a podium finish.

Rohit Sharma. Why Mumbai never picked him remains a point of debate and it will interesting to see if he feels he has a point to prove.

This is Dwayne Bravo’s last game for Mumbai before he joins the West Indies squad for the Australia Tests and he’d surely like to leave on a winning note.

	How will Deccan Chargers cope against Shaun Pollock? (file photo) © Getty Images

Team news

Gilchrist indicated there won’t be any changes from the team that played against the Delhi Daredevils two days back.Deccan Chargers (probable): 1 Adam Gilchrist (capt & wk), 2 Shahid Afridi, 3 Herschelle Gibbs, 4 Rohit Sharma, 5 Venugopal Rao, 6 Ravi Teja, 7 Scott Styris, 8 PM Sarvesh Kumar, 9 Pragyan Ojha, 10 RP Singh, 11 P Vijaykumar.Why change a winning combination, Mumbai might think. Considering three big games coming up they might like to rest the young medium-pacer Dhawal Kulkarni, who is recovering from an ankle injury picked during the match against the Chennai Super Kings earlier in the week.Mumbai Indians (probable): 1 Sachin Tendulkar (capt), 2 Sanath Jayasuriya, 3 Robin Uthappa, 4 Dominic Thornely, 5 Dwayne Bravo, 6 Shaun Pollock, 7 Abhishek Nayar, 8 Yogesh Takawale (wk), 9 Rajesh Pawar, 10 Rohan Raje, 11 Ashish Nehra.

Stats and trivia

With 18 sixes, Sanath Jayasuriya currently has hit the most number of maximums, one more than David Hussey’s 17.

Scott Styris has only managed 91 runs in six innings for Deccan, but more perplexing is that the runs have come at a woeful strike-rate of 90.09.

Deccan are the only team yet to win at home.

Quotes

“Rohit Sharma is a genuinely talented batsman. He is a very confident player and has his own style of play. The time I spent in Australia, batting with him [in the first CB Series final], was one of the longest innings I’ve played and I could see he was very calm, which is very important for a batsman.”
Sachin Tendulkar praises a fellow Mumbaikar who happens to be Deccan’s leading run-scorer.”We are already thinking about next year.”
Adam Gilchrist sums up the feelings in the Deccan camp.

Shaun Liebisch made 91 and took six wickets on debut © Keith Lane

Northerns routed Free State by an innings and 91 runs at the LC de Villiers Oval, the game all but decided on the first morning as Pretoria were skittled out for 98 after being stuck in on a green track.Poor batting was also behind Zimbabwe Provinces’ 210-run defeat by Easterns at Bulawayo as they were bowled out for 81 and 130.Deon Carolus grabbed 9 for 103 in Griqualand West’s draw with North West in Kimberley. His career-best 5 for 37 ensured that North West had to follow on, but they batted better the second time round and almost pulled off a remarkable win as Griqualand West finished on 139 for 8, chasing 157 in 23 overs.Western Province eased to an eight-wicket win over South Western Districts at Oudtshoorn. Esmund Peter van Wyk set up the victory with match figures of 9 for 67.

Pool A

Team	Mat	Won	Lost	Tied	Draw	Aban	Pts
Western Province	3	2	1	0	0	0	43.34
Border	2	1	0	0	1	0	22.92
Eastern Province	1	1	0	0	0	0	17.48
KwaZulu-Natal	2	0	1	0	1	0	13.06
S West D	2	0	2	0	0	0	7.64
Boland	1	0	0	0	1	0	6.96
KwaZulu-Inld	1	0	0	0	1	0	6.08

Pool B

Team	Mat	Won	Lost	Tied	Draw	Aban	Pts
North West	4	0	0	0	4	0	33.14
Northerns	2	1	0	0	1	0	25.34
Gauteng	2	1	0	0	1	0	22.92
Easterns	2	1	0	0	1	0	22.54
Free State	3	0	1	0	2	0	18.56
Griqualand West	2	0	0	0	2	0	16.56
Zim Provs	2	0	2	0	0	0	10.38
Namibia	1	0	0	0	1	0	8.8

SAA Provincial One-Day Challenge

Pool AA disciplined performance from Western Province’s bowlers handed them an impressive 86-run win over South Western Districts at Oudtshoorn. Western Province were indebted to Ryan Canning’s 67 in their 180, but William Hantam blew South Western Districts away with three early wickets before Esmund Peter van Wyk broke through the middle order with 3 for 20. Jonathan Beukes was left stranded on 50; the next highest total (other than extras, with 20) was Ntabyozuko Nobebe, the No.11, who made 8.Pool B
A blistering 71 from Niel Bredenkamp, the 20-year-old, led North West to an imposing 288 for 4 from their 45 overs, which proved too much for Griqualand West at Kimberley. Tianne Mostert got the innings off to a flyer with an 81-ball 74, combining well with Werner Coetsee who fell three short of a hundred when he was trapped in front by Jandre Coetzee. But it was Bredenkamp who gave the innings the injection they needed, smacking 71 from just 46 balls, heaving six sixes and four fours. Griqualand West fell 46 runs short, despite an unbeaten 93 from Wendell Bossenger. Etienne Gerber picked up 4 for 37.Northerns eased past Free State by 104 runs at Pretoria after dismissing them for 168. None of Free State’s batsmen moved out of first gear – Hancke van Rauenstein’s 31 came from 64 balls – as Mandla Mashimbyi, Roelof van der Merwe and Aaron Phangiso picked up two wickets each. Northerns’ 272 for 4 was led by Rushdi Jappie’s unbeaten 98 and a 36-ball 60 from Farhaan Behardien.A fine allround display from Geoffrey Toyana gave Easterns an easy four-wicket win over Zimbabwe Provinces in Bulawayo. Toyana’s 3 for 23 restricted the Provinces to 191 for 8, and he guided Easterns home with a slick 87.

Pool A

Team	Mat	Won	Lost	Tied	N/R	Pts	Net RR	For	Against
Western Province	3	3	0	0	0	13	+0.768	675/132.3	584/135.0
S West D	2	1	1	0	0	5	+0.176	126/50.0	211/90.0
Boland	1	1	0	0	0	4	+0.223	233/43.3	231/45.0
KwaZulu-Natal	2	1	1	0	0	3	+0.278	419/84.0	420/89.1
KwaZulu-Inld	1	0	1	0	0	0	-0.223	231/45.0	233/43.3
Eastern Province	1	0	1	0	0	0	-0.232	244/45.0	245/43.2
Border	2	0	2	0	0	-1	-2.426	201/90.0	205/44.0

Pool B

Team	Mat	Won	Lost	Tied	N/R	Pts	Net RR	For	Against
Gauteng	2	2	0	0	0	9	+0.961	352/76.5	315/87.0
Northerns	2	2	0	0	0	8	+1.199	510/89.5	403/90.0
Easterns	2	2	0	0	0	8	+0.436	415/88.4	382/90.0
North West	4	1	3	0	0	4	+0.035	975/176.0	968/175.5
Free State	3	1	2	0	0	4	-1.027	537/131.1	676/132.0
Namibia	1	1	0	0	0	2	+0.073	264/41.0	261/41.0
Zim Provs	2	0	2	0	0	0	-0.609	335/90.0	340/78.3
Griqualand West	2	0	2	0	0	-1	-0.528	443/90.0	486/89.1

Player of the Week

– Shaun LiebischAn impressive debut from Northerns’ 21-year-old Liebisch. The son of a retired umpire who has a reputation as a death bowler for the University of Pretoria, he moves the ball away from right handers and has a reputation for hitting the deck hard. He kicked off with remarkable figures of 12-8-7-4 with his accurate seamers and then top-scored with a three-hour 91 from No. 6 – he started his career as an opening batsman. His accuracy was again to the fore in Free State’s second innings as he finished with 16-6-38-2.

Group BShoaib Malik led Sialkot Stallions, the defending champions, into the semi-finals with a comfortable seven-wicket win against Hyderabad Hawks. Malik’s astute 53, helped equally by breezy thirties from Shahid Yousuf and Qaiser Abbas, saw the Stallions reach their target of 144, with an over and seven wickets to spare. Though Rizwan Ahmed top-scored for the Hawks with 42, disciplined Sialkot bowling all round, restricted their final total, with Tahir Mughal picking up two for 22.Group CFazl-e-Akbar, former Pakistan paceman and perennial domestic giant, took 3 for 9 as Peshawar Panthers thrashed the Islamabad Leopards by 65 runs to advance to the semi-finals. The Leopards were never in the chase for 147, as Umar Gul and Akbar reduced them to 31 for 5. Only Shoaib Akhtar, top-scoring with 14 took them to 81. Earlier, Shoaib had gone for over ten an over in return for a solitary wicket as middle-order forties from Riffatullah Mohmand and Wajahatullah Wasti saw the Panthers recover from an iffy start.Group AA 60-run partnership between Shadab Kabir and Fawad Alam took Karachi Dolphins home to a comfortable eight-wicket win over the tournament’s weakest links, the Abbotabad Rhinos. Chasing only 114, both batsmen took advantage of a weak bowling attack, Kabir’s 40 coming off 34 balls. Alam’s 35 complemented a fine bowling performance earlier in the piece, his two key middle-order wickets, helping restrict the Rhinos. Shahid Afridi, captaining the Dolphins, continued his good leg-spinning form, picking up three wickets for 23 off his four overs.Group DLahore Lions edged out the Rawalpindi Rams by only two runs in what turned out to be, comfortably, the day’s most exciting game. A blazing fifty from Kamran Akmal, with six fours and six, set the Lions on their way to a healthy total. Mohammad Yousuf, who has taken runs from the best this year, could only make 19 here and it was left to a manic 28-ball 51 from Adnan Raza to lift the Lions to 178. The Rams began as if to finish the game in ten overs, and Babar Naeem and Mohammad Wasim brought the fifty up in only fourth over. Thereafter though, they lost wickets at regular, brief intervals with Imran Ali, Kashif Sadiq and Sulaman Qadir (off-spinning son of leg-spinning Abdul) picking up two wickets each. And despite some lusty hitting by Akhtar Ayub and Sohail Tanvir at the death, including a four off the last ball, the Rams fell just short.

Laura Newton – out © Getty Images

Laura Newton has left England’s tour party and flown home after fracturing a finger when fielding at cover in the third one-dayer against India on Sunday. She will visit a specialist who may prescribe surgery. The opening batsman Newton is the second casualty of the trip; the allrounder Katherine Brunt is already back in England after breaking a bone in her hand.Newton had a poor start to the one-dayers, with two ducks in succession, but hit her straps on Sunday with 40 as England slipped 2-1 behind India in the five-match series. She also hit 59 and 60 in England’s 2-0 whitewash of Sri Lanka earlier this tour. “I’m obviously disappointed to have to leave at such a late stage in this tour,” she said. “I’d have liked to have finished the job we started as a team, but these things happen and I have to accept that.”This squad has a do-or-die attitude and I know they’ll come out fighting for the remaining two games. It’s always tough touring India and this time has been no exception. We’ve had highs and lows and I’m sure the girls will focus on the positives to ensure the tour finishes with success. I’ll be following it all closely from home and wish them the best of luck.”Richard Bates added: “It’s definitely a huge blow to lose another key member of the squad. Laura is a prolific run scorer for us and to lose her as well as Katherine Brunt is a major loss.”As a squad we now really need to rally round, pull together and above all be strong as a unit. I really feel for Laura, but following medical advice the best thing for her is to fly back to the UK straight away and seek further medical opinion.”With Newton missing, Caroline Atkins may be boosted from the middle order to opener. Atkins was originally included in the squad as a replacement for Clare Connor, who has an injured ankle, but has batted in the top spot before – with some success. As an opener, Atkins averages 25.4 compared to 21.5 lower down the order. Her only one-day fifty has come from opening, too.

Darren Gough: ‘As the scale of the disaster grew it’s just been heartbreaking’© Getty Images

International stars from various countries have sent messages of commiseration to the people affected by the tsunami disaster that ravaged several parts of South Asia recently. Darren Gough, Chris Cairns, Daniel Vettori, Chris Gayle and Dwayne Bravo are some of the players who have have converged in Melbourne to participate in the charity game between an ICC XI and an Asian XI on January 10, and they all expressed their grief at the tragic event.Gough revealed the shock he had felt when he initially heard the news. “I suppose my first reaction was to think of all the really nice people I’ve met in Sri Lanka when I’ve played there, and memories of playing at Galle and other grounds. As the scale of the disaster grew and grew it’s just been heartbreaking.”Cairns was happy that the cricket community managed to organise an event of such scale in such a short time. “The massive logistical operation required to put on an event like this means all those involved are fully committed to making this a huge success.”Gough spoke of the generosity of the people from all over the world to reach out to the victims. “I think cricket has led from the front too. The generosity of people from Britain has been immense – my kids have given their pocket money and millions of people have made massive contributions. Then there are people like Murali who has been handing out food parcels virtually since it happened.”Vettori hoped that the rehabilitation efforts would be sustained over a period of time and added, “It is going to take a long time for people, cities, and countries to recover. It is going to take years of resource before communities are able to function. This appeal is not about one day or one week, it’s about being there for as long as it takes.”

Stephen Fleming has spoken out strongly against the scheduling of the ongoing triangular series, the TVS Cup. He has said that Australia and New Zealand have been made to play more day matches, and the quality of the pitches in some of them has been such that the toss virtually decided the match.SK Nair, the secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), has reacted to this by saying that the New Zealand board was aware of the scheduling and the conditions, and if Fleming has a problem, he should approach his own board.”They’ve got it wrong,” Fleming had said earlier. “You can’t start this early with wickets like this, there’s no point. We’ve been on the wrong side of it twice and it makes the next game a lottery too.”There’s two competitions going on – one for us and Australia where it seams around and is tough to bat and India lay another one where it gets lower and slower then turns. I wonder who did that itinerary.”New Zealand lost the toss against Australia at both Faridabad and Pune, and their top order was blown away in both games on a grassy pitch, in early morning conditons. They were all out for 97 at Faridabad, and though they did recover at Pune, the damage had already been done.”So much rides on the toss,” said Fleming. “At least in New Zealand it seams for 100 overs, here it seams for 25 and after that it’s a belter. I’ve talked to Ricky Ponting and he’s not happy either because we know how crucial the toss is.”Ponting backed up Fleming, saying, “They’re trying to better their wickets for the standard of their own cricket but they’ve just left too much juice in them for one-day cricket,” Ponting said.”When you are starting at that time of the morning it is bound to swing, and the wickets have had life in them which is tough for the side batting first.”Nair replied to Fleming outburst by saying, “He [Fleming] should ask his own Board [about the scheduling].” He said that both teams had been had been presented with the itinerary a month before the series began on October 23, and that neither team had raised any objections.Nair also asserted that not all venues in the country have floodlight facilities, and that day-night games were allotted on ” a rotational basis”.

Inspired spells of fast bowling from Paul Rofe and Mark Harrity have paved the way for a 66 run victory and a valuable bonus point for the Southern Redbacks over the Queensland Bulls in their ING Cup day/night clash at the Gabba.Defending a modest total of 8-203 the Redbacks were provided with a dream start after Rofe ripped through the Bulls’ top order batting.The much improved speedster picked up Test opener Matthew Hayden for two and then Martin Love for two with just 17 runs on the board.Andrew Symonds (18) then threatened to turn the match in a way only he can smashing 16 off five Rofe deliveries before the Redbacks trump surprised Symondswith an off-cutter that careered into his stumps.The Bulls had slumped to 3-43 and despite a 40 run partnership between captain Jimmy Maher (24) and Clinton Perren (24) the Redbacks were always incommand.All rounder Mike Smith ably supported the front row bowlers chiming in with two low order wickets while Greg Blewett grabbed the final one to fall.Earlier Blewett top scored for South Australia with 45 while Ben Johnson rallied the tail, making 44 ably assisted by Brad Young (32).For the Bulls Joe Dawes finished with 3-37 off nine overs while Damien MacKenzie took 2-21 off six.James Hopes was the pick of the bowlers though with 1-19 off his 10 overs.Redbacks left arm speedster Harrity was named man of the match for his outstanding figures of 3-15 in 10 overs.The win and a valuable bonus point has helped the Redbacks to move to equal first with the Bulls on the ING Cup table on 27 points.The two teams meet again next weekend in Adelaide.

There was music, fanfare, the opening of a new stand and an exciting match. In the end, however, it all drew out to one predictable result.The West Indians were beaten again on this tour, this time in a carnival one-day match against the Prime Minister’s XI here at the Manuka Oval in Canberra. The tourists lost by four wickets with nine balls to spare. This, after their young Australian opponents started over number forty-six needing twenty-seven runs off twenty-four balls.Fittingly, the heroes for the Prime Minister’s XI were two local boys – Anthony McQuire and Mark Higgs. McQuire (57), who turns twenty-eight in a couple of weeks, gave himself and the team an early birthday present with a clean-hitting innings that included four boundaries. After a slow start, he found his rhythm against the Windies’ quicks before being brilliantly run out by a substitute English fielder.Yes, the Windies camp is so depleted that they required their fielding coach, Julian Fountain, to take to the field, and he duly obliged with the direct hit from deep cover to effect the run out. In fact, Fountain’s fielding – as well as that of Roger Harper – provided an entertaining edge to the match. With six players out injured (Brian Lara: hamstring, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Mahendra Nagamootoo and Mervyn Dillon: rolled ankles, Shivnarine Chanderpaul: stress fracture in foot, and Nixon McLean: ‘flu), the coaches were forced on to the field to make up the numbers. Fortunately, though, most of the absentees should be ready by the time next week’s Third Test starts in Adelaide, and replacement Marlon Samuels is also due to arrive tomorrow.As for McQuire, whose taste of big-time cricket before today had extended to just six matches with the Canberra Comets in Australia’s domestic one-day competition, he was pretty happy with his efforts against an international attack.”It just took a little bit of time to adjust, they were a little bit quicker and I just had to take my time and realise the longer I was there the better I was going to hit them. So I just wanted to be patient and do the job that I had to do,” he said.Higgs starred as a genuine all-rounder, conceding only thirty runs from his ten overs before notching up a quick fire forty-nine not out from just forty balls. He brought up the winning runs when he slogged a Courtney Walsh (1/36) delivery over mid-wicket for four. In the previous over, it was Colin Stuart (2/53) who was the unlucky one, being smashed for three boundaries.The Windies sadly failed to consolidate their fairly satisfactory batting with bowling of the same standard. As captain Jimmy Adams pointed out last week after the Test loss in Perth, the team is still struggling to make the two coincide. The bowlers were carted all over the ground today, with Stuart receiving the most severe punishment.The bowling performance generally took the shine off the fine innings played by Daren Ganga (97) earlier in the day. However, Adams’ decision to bat first did pay off in one sense, allowing the batsmen some much-needed batting practice.Although their opposing bowlers perhaps did not perform as well as they would have liked, with the fast bowlers going for a few runs, the match was a fun and positive experience. Don Nash (1/31) bowled well, captain Adam Gilchrist (31) contributed a typically flamboyant innings, and Martin Love (56) was the second batsman to score fifty.The only low point was the injury to Tasmanian all-rounder Daniel Marsh, who rolled his foot trying to field a ball in this third over. But even that incident had its fun side, allowing Gilchrist to have a rare bowl.”That was unplanned, although I must admit the Prime Minister last night did tell me I had to bowl at some stage. So, when Dan twisted his ankle, I saw the window of opportunity open up and had to jump in there. Initially it was only going to be one ball, but when that was a maiden, I (thought I) better back up myself here. So I was disappointed when my slower slower ball came out and the batsman hit it into the corporate tents!” he said.The biggest talking point after the match, though, was whether the ‘keeper would feel comfortable taking on the Australian Test captaincy next week in Steve Waugh’s absence as is widely expected. Gilchrist, who did not don the gloves today, said he fielded at mid-off for most of the day because he wanted to give young Tasmanian Sean Clingeleffer a go, not because it would be too much for him to captain and keep at the same time.”The hardest part I found about captaining today was not keeping. That may sound a bit weird but whenever I’ve fielded in a game, I find it very hard to judge angles and field positions and then to know how the bowlers are bowling, what line they’re bowling, whether I’ve got the right field. That’s personally for me because I’ve grown up a keeper,” he said.”I enjoyed the run today, and the chance to captain. Get myself thinking more like a captain. I think a lot of the guys in the Test team do think like captains anyway and we’re all contributing to Stephen and he’s always asking us. Today was planned long before Stephen was injured so the fact that it’s coincided with that if I am named captain next week I’ll be thankful for the hit out today. It was good. Hopefully if I captain the Test, I’ll have the gloves on,” he said.The would-be captain also had some kind words for his opposition.”They played really well. They’ve had a tough time, their batsmen. All credit to them for continually working hard. The one thing that can be said about it is that they’re not giving up; their spirit’s still good. They’ve put in a good fight today and took it to the wire so all credit to them for continuing to fight on,” he said.Of course, being on the winning side, he could afford to be magnanimous. One thing was for sure, Gilchrist clearly relished the chance to lead today.”I really enjoyed it. Had a great day. It’s not the Frank Worrell Trophy that we’re playing for today but I must say all the same it was nice to win,” he said with a smile.

Lee Ryder has revealed that Newcastle United have now signed youngster Alfie Hughes from Leeds United as they wrap up some out-of-summer business before Thursday’s clash with Everton.

The Lowdown: One to watch

At 19 years of age, Hughes is certainly one to watch, having recently starred in the U23’s 1-0 win over Birmingham City while on trial.

Before that, he had made 23 appearances in total for Leeds’ youth set-up, scoring one goal and making two assists (Transfermarkt), and could now be drafted into the Academy at St. James’ Park.

The Latest: Signed

Writing in his latest piece for The Chronicle, Ryder has revealed that the North East club have now signed Hughes after his trial, with Academy sources confirming that the winger is currently being considered for a permanent spot.

His contract at Elland Road doesn’t technically expire until the summer, but the Tyneside outfit have now made their move.

It has not officially been announced yet heading into the game away at Everton in the Premier League, so perhaps we could see something on official club channels in the next few hours.

The Verdict: Smart business

With his contract expiring, it is smart business from the Magpies to snap Hughes up now, so that he can continue his development in their Academy.

Describing himself as a ‘creative’ player, Eddie Howe will certainly have one eye on him, with the view of potentially promoting him to the first team when he is ready.

FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. Subscribe FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.

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Nonetheless, it is good to see the Toon bolstering their Academy in light of their long-term project.

In other news, find out what ‘poor’ and ‘surprising’ update has now emerged on this ‘brilliant’ NUFC ace here!