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ضاعف منتخب تركيا تقدمه في المباراة الجارية حاليًا ضد نظيره منتخب النمسا، في إطار منافسات بطولة كأس أمم أوروبا.

ويلتقي المنتخبان في إطار منافسات دور الـ16 من بطولة يورو 2024، التي تستضيفها ألمانيا في الوقت الحالي (لمتابعة المباراة من هنا).

ونجح منتخب تركيا في تسجيل الهدف الثاني في المباراة، في شباك منتخب النمسا، في الدقيقة 59 من عمر اللقاء.

جاء الهدف عن طريق ديميرال، بعد تنفيذ ركلة ركنية من الناحية اليسرى، وارتقى لاعب تركيا عاليًا ليسدد الكرة برأسه في الشباك. هدف تركيا الثاني أمام النمسا في يورو 2024

كان ديميرال قد سجل هدف منتخب تركيا الأول كذلك، في الدقيقة الأولى من الشوط الأول من عمر المباراة.

ويلتقي الفائز من تلك المباراة مع منتخب هولندا، في مرحلة ربع النهائي يوم السبت المقبل. 

The Australia allrounder sizzled against his former team to score his fourth T20 century as Super Kings reigned supreme at their adopted home ground

The Report by Shashank Kishore20-Apr-20184:02

Tait: Rajasthan Royals looked flat and lacked inspiration

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsFor the 1000-odd Chennai Super Kings fans who endured the 26-hour train journey to Pune, this was a night to remember. For Rahul Tripathi, a Pune boy who plays his domestic cricket for Maharashtra at the MCA Stadium, this was a night to forget. He put down a regulation catch at slip to reprieve Shane Watson in the first over of the match and watched him smack the season’s second century, off 51 balls, against his former side, with whom he masterminded a fairytale a decade ago.Watson and Suresh Raina, who replaced M Vijay, joined forces in the fifth over. When they were separated courtesy an outstanding catch by K Gowtham at deep midwicket, they had put on 81 off just 44 deliveries, with CSK in line to score 240. Some fine end-overs bowling by legspinner Shreyas Gopal and Ben Laughlin restricted them to 204, but that was hardly any consolation for Rajasthan Royals, who never got going in the chase and were bowled out for 140 in 18.3 overs.Watson turns it onThey said he was a spent force. His previous season with Royal Challengers Bangalore was a disaster by any stretch of imagination, just like it was for Thursday’s centurion Chris Gayle. While Gayle came into the tournament in patchy form, Watson was the fifth-highest run-getter (319 runs in 10 matches at a strike rate of 135.16) in the PSL season that finished late last month.Watson announced himself inside the first six overs. This made the generally effervescent Raina look subdued in comparison. But that was only until he launched Ben Stokes for four successive fours in the sixth over to move CSK to 69 for 1, their highest Powerplay score this season. That was the start of a giant yellow party that continued until the end of the match.In two of the first three matches, Watson had got off to starts but fell trying to muscle the ball. Here, there was a calculated effort to bide his time, but that wasn’t at the cost of scoring quickly. It also helped that the Royals bowlers, particularly K Gowtham and Stuart Binny, kept feeding him long-hops.Gowtham went for 31 off the 13 balls he bowled to Watson, including three sixes and one four while half of Binny’s ten balls to Watson disappeared to the boundary. Watson profited from the pull, with his leg-side strokes fetching him 63 runs in all. He ended up with a control percentage of 84, noteworthy in a T20 innings of this length, and reflecting the ease with which he picked apart Royals’ bowling.Watson reached his half-century with a slog sweep for six off his 28th ball. The next 50 took just 23 balls, the landmark coming in the 18th over with a single completed to the backdrop of wild cheers and manic whistles and celebrated with a subdued lift of the arms. He was dismissed off the penultimate ball of the innings for 106 off 57 balls, with nine fours and six sixes. He slowed down towards the end, making only 15 off the last 12 balls he faced, but it didn’t cost his team much.Shreyas Gopal holds his own amid the carnageIn an innings where CSK were motoring along at close to 11 an over for a better part of their first 15 overs, legspinner Shreyas Gopal maintained a tight leash and conceded just two fours in his four overs, ending up with figures of 3 for 20. The reward for his persistence were the wickets of Raina and MS Dhoni in successive overs. Then he returned for his final over, the 16th of the innings, to dismiss the in-form Sam Billings. These strikes somewhat softened Watson’s stinging blows at the other end, with Royals managing to put some sort of lid on the scoring in the last seven overs, which only went for 54. Gopal’s wickets this season also include Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers.A forgettable initiationTripathi strikes at over 10 an over in the Powerplay, but Royals have pushed him into the middle order to accommodate D’Arcy Short. On Friday, Royals left out Short but did not open with Tripathi, instead sending out Heinrich Klaasen.Klaasen was dropped by Watson at slip off the second ball of the innings, but he couldn’t capitalise. Indecisive footwork cost him big as Shardul Thakur’s length ball skidded through to beat his feeble push and crash into middle stump. Off the next over, Royals’ best batsman this season, Sanju Samson, fell to the pull shot for 2. When Ajinkya Rahane was bowled after charging down the pitch and missing Deepak Chahar’s knuckle ball, Royals were 33 for 3 in the fifth over.Royals’ ‘quantum of defeat’As steep their task was from there on, Royals had some hope with Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes in the middle. Both had trouble revving up the scoring rate. This forced shots out of desperation. While a few came off, like a Buttler six off Imran Tahir that sailed over long-on, CSK were always in with a chance of breaking the partnership. When Dwayne Bravo’s slower delivery felled Buttler, who sliced a catch to point, the chase was well and truly over. Then, Tripathi came out slogging, and holed out to deep midwicket. Out came the Bravo jig as whatever else Royals did from there on only served to “reduce the quantum of defeat”, as MS Dhoni put it the other night. Stokes top-scored with 45, taking 37 balls to make his runs.

Dinesh Karthik’s tactics have been called into question in KKR’s two losses so far this season. Now he must match wits with the man who led KKR for seven years, winning two titles

The Preview by Alagappan Muthu15-Apr-20183:53

Agarkar: I’d go with Curran over Johnson in KKR XI

Big PictureThey say they’ve parted on good terms, but neither Kolkata Knight Riders nor Gautam Gambhir will want to let off-field lovey-doveyness infect their on-field mission. The former captain is returning for a scalp.Both of KKR’s losses have come from tactical blunders – keeping Vinay Kumar for the last over of a tense chase against Chennai Super Kings and mismanaging of resources against Sunrisers Hyderabad. Dinesh Karthik is chained to a harsh spotlight and now he has to face the man against whom he will always be judged.Gambhir could not expect better circumstances for his return to Eden Gardens. He isn’t quite Sourav Ganguly stepping up in opposition colours and sparking widespread emotional turmoil but the atmosphere should still be interesting to behold.In the news Knight Riders’ Kamlesh Nagarkoti has been ruled out of the season without playing a single match, with Karnataka seamer Prasidh Krishna replacing him Chris Morris, it is understood, missed Daredevils’ previous game with illness. It remains to be seen whether he will be fit on MondayESPNcricinfo Ltd

The likely XIsKolkata Knight Riders: 1 Chris Lynn, 2 Sunil Narine, 3 Robin Uthappa, 4 Nitish Rana, 5 Dinesh Karthik (capt & wk), 6 Shubman Gill, 7 Andre Russell, 8 Shivam Mavi, 9 Mitchell Johnson, 10 Piyush Chawla, 11 Kuldeep YadavDelhi Daredevils: 1 Gautam Gambhir (capt), 2 Jason Roy, 3 Rishabh Pant (wk), 4 Glenn Maxwell, 5 Shreyas Iyer, 6 Vijay Shankar, 7 Dan Christian/ Chris Morris, 8 Rahul Tewatia, 9 Shahbaz Nadeem, 10 Mohammed Shami, 11 Trent BoultStats that matter Sunil Narine loves bowing at Daredevils. He has got 20 wickets from 11 innings – his second best against IPL teams, after his 26 against King XI – coupled with an economy rate of 6.3 Shahbaz Nadeem has an IPL economy rate of 7.16. That puts him at No. 9 among the 29 spinners who have delivered at least 500 balls in the tournament. For added context, a vast majority of those who have fared better tend to be considered A-list bowlers: Harbhajan Singh, R Ashwin, Narine, Muttiah Muralitharan, Shakib Al Hasan, Anil Kumble, Rahul Sharma, Johan Botha A pick-me-up for the local fans ruing defeat at Eden: the four times Knight Riders reached the IPL knockouts, they had won only four or fewer matches at home. Of course, when they won the title in 2014, they only played four games in Kolkata. When they did the same in 2012, they won only three out of seven on their own turf Since hitting three 80-plus scores in a row in 2014, Glenn Maxwell has been dismissed for 20 or less 34 times in 50 IPL inningsStrategy puntIs there a cure for Lynnsanity? Possibly. He has been dismissed by a left-arm spinner four times in the seven IPL innings he has faced one. Furthermore, take a look at his head-to-head with Shakib Al Hasan in T20 cricket: four innings, three wickets and only 11 runs off .Fantasy pickThere are several bankable players to choose from here – Narine, Russell, Lynn – but won’t most of the guys you’re playing against be thinking along those very same lines? So why not a gamble? Why not Rishabh Pant, who at No. 3 will get enough time in the middle to collect points for you (with the added bonus of helping his team, of course). He should also offer a few add-ons for catches and/or stumpings. And he’s not half bad against spin, specifically legspin: 115 runs off 78 balls while being dismissed only twice in 12 innings. Translation: average of 57, strike-rate 147.Quotes”As a young player trying to find your feet, you don’t always get to bat where you’re used to. It’s the same with bowlers. Most teams have a number of experienced players, not many are playing 18-year-olds. I think [here] they’re backed just by the fact that they’re in the team.”

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Four second-innings wickets from Mitchell Starc were the highlight of the third day’s play in Benoni, where the Australians wrapped up victory over South Africa A by five wickets. Resuming on 55 for no loss, South Africa were bowled out for 248, leaving the visitors a target of 140 that they chased down in 29.3 overs.Each of Starc’s wickets was of a top-five batsman. His wicket of Pieter Malan, in the fourth over of the day, ended an opening partnership of 62 with Zubayr Hamza. There were two other significant partnerships in South Africa A’s innings – 60 for the fourth wicket between Khaya Zondo and Senuran Muthusamy, and 81 for the eighth between Malusi Siboto and Shaun von Berg. Seven batsmen got to 20 but only Von Berg, who smashed 52 off 43 balls, got to a half-century. This reflected a larger trend across the match – it would continue through the Australians’ chase as well – which saw 24 scores of 20 or more but only two half-centuries.Shaun Marsh top-scored in the fourth-innings pursuit of 140, scoring an unbeaten 39 to guide the Australians home. Cameron Bancroft (22) and Smith (25) also spent decent lengths of time in the middle, but Peter Handscomb failed for the second time in the match, bowled by Duanne Olivier – who picked up four wickets to go with two in the first innings – for 5.

West Ham United are expected to submit an imminent bid for Paris Saint Germain’s Hugo Ekitike, and a new report has revealed the price it will take to bring him to the Premier League.

Are West Ham signing Hugo Ekitike?

Standing at 6 foot 2, Ekitike only completed the permanent move to the Parc des Princes last month following a successful loan spell from Stade Reims, as per Transfermarkt, where he’s made a total of 33 appearances to date, but there’s a strong possibility that he could be on the move before the end of the ongoing summer transfer window.

Despite still having another four years to run on his contract, Luis Enrique’s side are reportedly ready to cash in on the 21-year-old striker in order to fund new signings of their own, and should he depart, he’s got a potential suitor waiting for him in the form of David Moyes in E20.

RMC Sport previously revealed that the Irons had expressed an initial interest in the Frenchman, whilst Sport Zone have since claimed that the London Stadium outfit have stepped up their pursuit of the centre-forward following the departure of Gianluca Scamacca who has left the club to join Atalanta in the Serie A.

According to L’Equipe (via Sport Witness), West Ham are in “direct contact” regarding a summer swoop for Ekitike and are set to “quickly make an offer” of a loan with an option to buy for a fee in the region of €35m (£29m).

Should PSG’s star make the permanent move to the top-flight, it’s stated that the requirements needed to trigger that option would be “very easily attainable”, and with Moyes appearing “confident” that his target has the necessary qualities to succeed, this could be one to keep a close eye on in the final weeks of the market.

How many goals has Hugo Ekitike scored?

Since the start of his career, Ekitike has posted 35 goal contributions (24 goals and 11 assists) in 87 appearances which has seen him dubbed a “revelation” by football talent scout Jacek Kulig, so should he put pen to paper, it could be a massive coup for West Ham.

The Reims native also recorded 34 shots over the course of the previous campaign which was the fourth-highest number throughout the whole of his squad, via FBRef, which is pretty good going when you consider that he had to compete with the likes of Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe and Neymar.

Read The Latest West Ham Transfer News HERE…

PSG’s attacker additionally has experience competing in the Champions League and will know what it takes to be successful at the top level having been crowned Ligue 1 winners for 2022/23, so could bring a welcome winning mentality to the capital.

Furthermore, Ekitike has the versatility to operate out wide on the left wing as well as in his usual role through the middle so he could be a great option for the boss to have in the building should any unexpected injuries occur, making this a no-brainer of a deal to complete and one to keep an eye on before the deadline.

An update has come to light on the future of Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Giovani Lo Celso with Real Betis making a late move for him.

Who will Spurs sell?

New manager Ange Postecoglou, speaking to the media recently, candidly admitted that Spurs may need to trim their bloated squad numbers before making any further signings this summer.

"The reality of it is we can't just keep acquiring players," said Tottenham's head coach.

"We've got too big a squad as it is. It affects the training, the players themselves because they all want to play and be involved.

"It's not so much one has to happen for the other but our focus at the moment is trimming the squad down and seeing where that takes us in terms of reinforcements. We're assessing that on a daily basis. There's still two weeks to go in the window and I'm sure you'll see some movement."

Exits will, therefore, be absolutely key at Spurs in the final days of the transfer window, but they're running out of time with just nine days remaining to conclude all of their business before January.

There have been many players linked with a move away from Spurs, including Tanguy Ndombele, Lo Celso, Djed Spence, Davinson Sanchez, Japhet Tanganga and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, who are all on the chopping block with moves away.

Young striker and Republic of Ireland international Troy Parrott is another to be mentioned, and could be set for a shock move to the Eredivisie after Postecoglou's cold shoulder (TEAMtalk).

The aforementioned could join Harry Kane, Harry Winks, Lucas Moura and Joe Rodon out of the exit door, but it's Lo Celso who is central to a new claim.

Indeed, it is now believed the Argentina international is "pushing" for a move away from Spurs this summer, as his former side Real Betis attempt a late transfer.

That is according to journalist Rudy Galetti, who took to X with what he's heard on Lo Celso and where he may go.

"Lo Celso, Real Betis are still trying to understand if there’re margins for a loan move with buy option," said Galetti.

"Talks with Tottenham are on: Giovani is pushing for his return at Betis. THFC are open to let him go but – to date – only including a buy obligation."

How good is Giovani Lo Celso?

The South American hasn't quite lived up to his price tag in a Spurs shirt, but has thrived on loan at Villarreal under Unai Emery on previous loan spells.

Goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli, speaking to Super Deporte in 2022, even branded Lo Celso a "top player in the world".

"He gives us a plus as a team," said Rulli.

"He helps us improve and I don’t discover anything by saying that he is a top player in the world. I know him well as a player and a person, so I hope he does very well."

Read the latest Tottenham transfer news HERE…

While he may not be a match made in heaven for Spurs, Lo Celso can turn it on when at his very best, and perhaps a move back to Spain would suit all parties.

Manchester City target Michael Olise could replace Riyad Mahrez on the right flank at the Etihad Stadium, according to transfer guru Fabrizio Romano.

Which clubs are keen on Michael Olise?

According to 90min, Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal have all expressed interest in Crystal Palace winger Olise this summer, who has a £35 million 'mechanism' in his contract at Selhurst Park.

Nevertheless, the report claims that Chelsea are 'confident' that they have won the race to acquire Olise ahead of other competitors and cite the positive relationship between the Blues and Olise's family due to his younger brother, Richard, being on the books in west London.

Football Insider have revealed that Pep Guardiola is targeting Olise as a potential replacement for veteran winger Mahrez, who has recently left the Etihad Stadium to join Saudi Pro League outfit Al-Hilal.

Despite this, Crystal Palace are believed to be prepared to offer Olise over £100,000 per week to commit his future in south London and continue his development in his current surroundings. The France Under-21 international is 'content' at Roy Hodgson's men and values the level of first-team involvement he receives at Crystal Palace greatly in spite of interest from elite-level sides.

Last term, Olise made 40 appearances in all competitions for Crystal Palace, notching two goals and 11 assists in total, as per Transfermarkt.

Speaking to GIVEMESPORT, transfer guru Romano thinks that Olise could be a serious candidate to replace Mahrez at Manchester City and has declared his situation as 'one to watch' in the coming weeks.

Romano stated: "City are looking for that kind of player. They have a list of three wingers this summer because they have to replace Mahrez, who's going to join Al Ahli in the next few days.

“So yes the conversations are ongoing at the moment, still not something that is advanced, but I think Olise could be one to watch in August.”

What now for Manchester City?

Citizens boss Guardiola will be keen for his side to come alive in the transfer market between now and the end of the window to add some quality reinforcements to join Mateo Kovacic in the North West.

New signing Kovacic has indicated that he would be delighted to see his international teammate Josko Gvardiol arrive at the Etihad this summer as negotiations continue between Manchester City and RB Leipzig over a potential deal, as per The Daily Mail.

Kovacic said: "Josko has great potential. He can come here and learn and be the best version of himself. I’d obviously like it — I’m a good friend with him and he’s Croatian. It would be nice to have a Croatian by my side here. He is ready for this step.

Manchester City are also said to be 'following the case' of Lyon forward Bradley Barcola at close quarters amid interest from Paris Saint-Germain and RB Leipzig in the Villeurbanne-born ace, as per RMC Sport.

Bayern Munich defender Benjamin Pavard has been earmarked as a potential replacement for Kyle Walker at Manchester City should the veteran English defender head the other way to join the Bundesliga champions this summer.

There’s a general decorum around pre-season games, regarding the type of challenges that are put in, and the overall desire to avoid injury all around. Occasionally, some players don’t quite get the memo, however, leaving opposition managers rightly fuming.This was the case in Wrexham’s recent friendly against Manchester United, as young goalkeeper Nathan Bishop left Paul Mullin with a punctured lung.With an injury of that extent – you can see the concerning scenes below – the star striker will likely miss the first stages of Wrexham’s League Two season.

In a classy gesture from Ryan Reynolds, however, the club’s Hollywood co-owner has personally messaged Bishop to wish him well despite the incident, as per The Atheltic’s Laurie Whitwell.

As they seek back-to-back promotions, too, the last thing Phil Parkinson’s side needed was an injury to their best goalscorer.

The Welsh club officially get their season underway on Saturday, August 5 against MK Dons, giving Parkinson some time to find a solution to Mullin’s absence.

The Wrexham manager was not left best pleased with Bishop, though, and let his feelings known.

What did Phil Parkinson say?

Frustrated by the injury, Parkinson said after the game, via SportBible: “I mean, listen, Mulls has got a small puncture in his lung, he’s in hospital at the moment. But it’s a clumsy challenge from the goalkeeper and, for me, there’s no need to make it.

“It’s a straight red. The reason it’s a straight red, and even if the ref said to me that maybe there’s a covering defender, it’s a dangerous challenge.

“If you add those two situations up, he should’ve been off the pitch. Listen, it’s a massive blow for us to lose Paul. He’s an outstanding player.”

The referee wasn’t shy when it came to showing red cards, either, sending off United’s Daniel Gore for his reckless challenge.

The challenges set the tempo for a feisty affair, in what was supposed to be nothing more than a friendly between the two sides.

Mullin’s injury stole the headlines from an otherwise impressive performance by Wrexham, which saw the League Two club defeat a youthful Manchester United side 3-1, courtesy of goals from Elliot Lee, Aaron Hayden, and Sam Dalby.

How have Wrexham performed in pre-season?

Touring America, Wrexham have enjoyed an exciting pre-season so far, with the highlight being the victory over Manchester United, albeit coming in a game which saw Mullin injured.

As for the rest of their results, the Welsh club have done fairly well, losing just once in three games.

They began their USA tour with an impressive 4-0 victory over MLS side LA Galaxy, before suffering their one defeat so far against Chelsea, losing 5-0 against the Premier League giants.

Their time in America peaked when they defeated Man United 3-1, and with Philadelphia Union up next, they will hope to end pre-season in style.

Parkinson will be hoping that the preparation has been enough in the last month, as an important campaign in League Two beckons for his side.

Likely forced to start their season without Mullin, though, it may be a case of avoiding disaster in their opening games, rather than going all out for victory.

The last thing that Wrexham will want is a damaging start to their season to make promotion an uphill climb.

Sri Lanka’s bowling coach has drawn attention to the tendency to produce spin-friendly pitches in first-class cricket that are stifling the development of quick bowlers

Andrew Fidel Fernando in Pallekele12-Aug-2017Sri Lanka’s bowling coach Chaminda Vaas has become the latest insider to criticise the country’s domestic system, drawing particular attention to its tendency to produce pitches unsuited to quick-bowling.Of the top 15 wicket-takers in the most recent first-class season, 14 were spin bowlers. In the previous Premier League Tournament season (2015-16), the most successful fast bowler had been placed at 15th overall – only two seamers entering the top 20. It is not unusual for spinners to take the new ball in first-class cricket, where dustbowls are routinely prepared, especially towards the end of the season.”We can’t be satisfied with the way first-class cricket is,” Vaas said. “We need to make first-class cricket work for fast bowlers. We talk a lot about what ails first-class cricket, but no matter how much we talk, the issue hasn’t moved forward.”It is widely believed that it is partly because of the poor nature of domestic surfaces that Sri Lanka do not possess a well-honed battery of quicks. Promising fast bowlers are generally picked in the academy, but must largely develop at the A-team and international levels.”If we want to improve our cricket and increase the number of fast bowlers we have – if we want to do justice to our cricket – we need to make pitches that are suited to fast bowlers,” Vaas said. “If we do that I trust that our bowlers would be better off than they are now.”Sri Lanka’s meagre fast-bowling depth was of particular relevance in the ongoing Pallekele Test, in which Lahiru Kumara and Vishwa Fernando were the frontline quicks, following injuries to Nuwan Pradeep and Suranga Lakmal. Fernando is playing only his second Test match. Kumara, 20, is playing his seventh Test, but has played only three domestic first-class games in his career, having been in the Under-19 team only a year ago.”They need to play more, I think,” Vaas said. “If you take our first-class cricket, they don’t have enough first-class experience to play well. If you take quicks from any country, they start bowling well after they have played 20-25 Tests only. We can’t suddenly expect a lot from Vishwa and Lahiru Kumara. It’s with their mindset that they can improve. They need to practice a lot and play a lot of games. With that match experience only they will develop.”First-class surfaces have been unduly spin-friendly for at least five seasons now, and two seasons into their tenure, the SLC board headed by Thilanga Sumathipala has failed to bring about meaningful change to domestic pitches. Sumathipala has conceded the surfaces are a problem area, however. In an interview with ESPNcricinfo in May, he said the board would make improvements on that front.”Next year we’re going to have independent curators approving certain wickets,” he had said. “It’s all costing us money because we have to retain a lot of people.”According to Sumathipala, part of the problem is that some first class clubs – such as Badureliya CC or Ragama CC – do not have grounds of their own, and are forced to hire grounds for their home matches. Those venues, in turn, are not adequately maintained, said Sumathipala.”We’re putting the grounds on notice. By June or July, we’ll tell them they need to have good wickets ready by September. They have to put the top dressing and so on. It takes about three months. Hopefully next year we’ll have some better wickets. We’re importing rollers. We would like to have more of those three-ton rollers, because that is important to getting an even surface. We’ve asked our curators to go around and give the ground staff some training. We need to give some infrastructure assistance to the clubs. By the time we get to September, they’ll be sound.”His board, however, has done nothing to cut down the number of first-class sides, which may help ease pressure on the common grounds that are on rotation in domestic cricket.

Celtic's squad will continue to be in almost complete overhaul this summer, with Brendan Rodgers admitting via The Scottish Sun that he plans to get rid of several fringe players.

When did Brendan Rodgers take over at Celtic?

The Scottish Premiership outfit once more claimed the league title in 2022/23, courtesy of another impressive campaign led by Ange Postecoglou. Having led the Hoops to first place in both of his campaigns in charge, it meant that the Australian certainly had a successful tenure during his time at Parkhead. It also meant that he ended up on the radar of other teams – and he was eventually poached to manage Tottenham ahead of the next campaign.

It left Celtic needing to fill their managerial position once more, and the club settled on bringing Brendan Rodgers back to Scotland, re-signing their old coach in the middle of June 2023.

Having left Leicester, with the Foxes heading towards Premier League relegation, he was available to bring in free of charge – release fee wise at least – and the Hoops jumped at the opportunity to bring the former Liverpool man back to the club. During his last stint with the side, he managed to bag two Scottish Premiership titles, two Scottish Cups and three Scottish League Cups.

Even more impressive is that he also went unbeaten domestically during his first year at the helm – so fans will be delighted to see him back in the hotseat.

What's the latest Celtic transfer news?

He now has some work to do in order to get the squad back to his liking ahead of the 2022/23 season. He's already seen several deals take place under his leadership, with four incomings and three outgoings for the club already. They parted with a seven-figure fee to bring in Odin Thiago Holm from Valerenga for starters, and have also spent a similar amount to snap up Hyun-jun Yang from Gangwon FC.

Rounding out their business, they've added a winger in Marco Tilio and have signed 26-year-old Tomoki Iwata. They should still have plenty of funds available though, with the Hoops having sold Jota to Ittihad in the Saudi Pro League for a fee which hit nearly £30m. Conor Hazard has left for Championship Plymouth and Adam Montgomery has departed on loan.

And that certainly doesn't look like it will be the end of their transfer business. According to boss Rodgers, via The Scottish Sun, Celtic will offload even more of their squad players this summer, with the manager feeling that the squad needs to be cut down ahead of the new season. It's unclear which players will be shown the door, but he said: "We will be looking to trim the squad. That will be the natural process. I've already spoken to a couple of players and I'm sure I will do over the course of pre-season.

"You have to be honest with players. Even if it's a tough conversation, it's the most humane way and the most direct way to tell them the plan. If that's to move on and get playing football, then that's what they have to do."

Rodgers then clearly already has a vision in place about the type of squad he wants at his disposal. Having already won pretty much all there is to win with Celtic previously, you would trust him to mould the squad to his liking in order to repeat the feat in 2023/24.