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The influence of 49ers Enterprises is growing all the time at Leeds United ahead of their eventual takeover, according to journalist Pete O’Rourke.

The Lowdown: 2024 takeover expected

In January 2024, 49ers Enterprises are expected to take 100 per cent control of Leeds, bringing to an end the successful reign of Andrea Radrizzani at Elland Road and shilling out roughly £475m to the Italian.

With Jesse Marsch replacing Marcelo Bielsa as manager last week, there is a definite feel of a new, American-heavy era slowly dawning at the club, as the Whites fight to stay in the Premier League.

Judging by a new update, the incoming new owners are already making their influence felt.

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The Latest: Journalist reveals 49ers latest

Speaking to Give Me Sport, O’Rourke dropped a claim from ‘within the corridors’ at the club, believing 49ers Enterprises are ‘flexing their muscles’ at Leeds as their power grows following Marsch’s arrival:

“It definitely seems that the 49ers and the American influence does have some power within the corridors of Elland Road and it just seems they are trying to exert their influence.”

This follows the massive news last week that both Angus Kinnear and Victor Orta could leave this summer, as we really may be entering a totally new era in Yorkshire.

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The Verdict: Good for Leeds

In a financial sense, the change in ownership should be a good thing for Leeds, allowing more funds to be available for new signings, as the club builds as a whole – many would argue the failure to truly reinforce Bielsa’s squad last summer and in January cost the fan favourite his job.

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That being said, it is important that 49ers Enterprises show respect to Radrizzani and don’t get overly involved at this point, leading to a potentially bitter situation.

That shouldn’t happen, and the hope is that the change in ownership is a smooth transition in two years’ time, at which point the Whites will still hopefully be in the Premier League.

In other news, Leeds have been backed to sign a Premier League attacker this summer. Read more here.

Shoaib Malik’s promising start at the helm was quickly reduced to rubble following series losses against South Africa and India © AFP

Younis Khan, Pakistan’s vice-captain, has lashed out at the country’s former cricketers for criticising Shoaib Malik’s captaincy. Malik’s tenure has been on a slide after a promising start and drawn a string of criticism but Younis believes it is too early to take such a stand.”I am really upset at the criticism of some of our former players. Malik is a young captain and he will only learn from his mistakes,” Younis, the stand-in skipper in the Kolkata Test following Malik’s injury, told . “This has always been a tradition in Pakistan and India … Former players always tend to run down someone who is in trouble or facing a crisis.”The same people criticising Malik today didn’t say anything when he was named captain. At that time they supported his appointment. Malik needs to be encouraged and backed by everyone, including former players.”Malik’s tenure began with an ODI series win against Sri Lanka in Abu Dhabi and a place in the ICC World Twenty20 final but it went on a downward spiral thereafter, losing the ODI and Test series at home to South Africa before losing the ODI series and the first Test against India.Shrugging aside the recent losses, Younis said: “Malik is learning every day. His first experience has come against top teams like South Africa and India. He needs at least two or three years to mature into a good captain. I am sure he will learn a lot from playing and leading the side in India. He will learn because no one is born a leader.”Inzamam-ul-Haq, Pakistan’s former captain who retired after the Test series against South Africa, urged Malik to improve his individual performance in order to be a successful captain.”Unless Malik performs it will be very difficult for Pakistan to make a comeback in the Test series,” Inzamam told the daily . “Unless he [Malik] can withstand this pressure and come out of it, his problems will increase.”Pakistan’s third and final Test of the series begins in Bangalore on December 8.

Ken Cranston: led England in one game © Lancashire CCC

Ken Cranston, who captained England once in 1947-48, has died at the age of 89. He became England’s oldest living Test cricketer on the death of Mandy Mitchell-Innes on December 28. That mantle now passes to Surrey’s Arthur McIntyre.A tall and lithe allrounder – he bowled fast-medium batted in the middle order – Cranston’s first-class career was limited to two seasons immediately after the war during which time he quickly established a reputation as one of the country’s leading bowlers, being able to move the ball into the right hand off the seam or away in the air. He originally made his name in wartime games for the Royal Navy and Combined Services, but it was not until 1947 that he made his debut for Lancashire as their captain.He took 84 wickets and scored 1228 runs in that season, making the first of his eight Test appearances, against South Africa, barely two months after his first-class debut. In his second Test at Headingley he gabbed four wickets in one over and won a place on that winter’s tour of the Caribbean.England, under the veteran Gubby Allen, were a virtual B side, and Cranston was pressed into leading them in the opening Test when Allen injured himself on the boat trip out. He struggled for any form on a gruelling trip and lost his place when the side returned home.

Cranston tosses with West Indies captain George Headley ahead of the Guyana Test in January 1948 © Cricinfo

He continued his excellent form for Lancashire in 1948, and was recalled for the Headingley Test against Don Bradman’s Invincibles but failed to impress and was immediately dropped. He retired at the end of the summer to resume full-time work at his dental practice in Liverpool, as had always been his intention.After retiring he continued to play for Neston in The Liverpool and District Competition, and in 1950 made a rare first-class appearance at the Scarborough Fesitval where he cracked a career-best 156 for MCC against Yorkshire.In all he made 3099 runs at 34.92 and took 179 wickets at 27.84. In Tests he took 18 wickets at 25.61 and made 209 runs at 14.92.He maintained strong links with Lancashire and was their president in 1993-94. He was also president of the county’s Former Players’ Association.

ScorecardFifties from Arindam Das and Abhishek Jhunjhunwala saw Bengal close the second day at Kolkata 90 runs behind Railways’ first-innings 259. Ranadeb Bose was the star performer for Bengal earlier in the day, putting a poor season behind him by bagging a five-wicket haul that saw Railways collapse before lunch. Vineet Saxena top-scored with 65 before he fell leg before to Bose, while Yere Goud pulled his weight for a vital 47. Railways, who were relegated to the Plate Group following a draw with Maharashtra last week, have only pride to play for in this match.
ScorecardSachin Rana led Haryana’s reply to Services’ first-innings 241 with a gritty half-century before Siddharth Verma and Joginder Sharma safely negotiated the final session of play on the second day at Palam. Services, 226 for 5 overnight, were unable to add much to that total as Joginder and Rana ran through the tail following Sarabjit’s run-out for a well-made 89. Following a four-wicket haul with the ball, Rana turned in a credible showing with the bat. Coming to the wicket with Haryana on 77 for 4, Rana shouldered the responsibility of building an innings admirably. Following his dismissal, Verma and Joginder have added 58 runs for the seventh wicket and Haryana will look to the duo to extend that partnership into a sizeable innings lead tomorrow.
ScorecardDelhi, troubled by a crucial spell from Aashish Kapoor, the veteran offspinner, trail Tamil Nadu by 396 runs after Subramaniam Badrinath’s maiden double hundred allowed TN to declare it’s first innings on 481 for 6 at Chennai. Badrinath and Hemang Badani, the former TN captain, added 196 for the third wicket before Badani was dismissed by Chaitanya Nanda six short of a deserved century. Vital contributions from Dinesh Karthik, the wicketkeeper, and Sridharan Sharath aided Badrinath in his marathon innings. Delhi, at the lower half of the Elite Group A points table and with little going their way this season, have their task cut out in the two days remaining in this match.
ScorecardBaroda returned from an indifferent batting display yesterday to completely outclass Hyderabad on the second day at Vadodara, dismissing them for just 131 and then extending their lead to 244 at stumps thanks to Connor Williams’s second fifty of the match. For Hyderabad, it was a poor showing with the bat as nine wickets fell for the addition of just 103 runs. Shekhar Joshi, the medium fast bowler, and Yusuf Pathan, who got Baroda out of trouble with a vital fifty yesterday, shared seven wickets between them. Kiran Powar, who fell for a seven-ball duck in the first innings, was at the wicket unbeaten on 46.
ScorecardUttar Pradesh backed up a fighting lower-order contribution earlier in the day by restricting Andhra to 155 for 6 on the second day at Anantapur. Krishna Singh, Venugopal Rao and Ambati Rayadu all got starts but fritted away the initiative as UP’s bowlers turned in a tight spell in the second half of the day. With UP 217 for 5 at the end of yesterday’s play, Andhra would have been looking to dismiss them for under 300. However, UP’s lower order had other ideas and combined for an invaluable 148 runs in the first two sessions. Gyanendra Pandey extended his overnight score to 88 while P Kumar went on to smash a career-best 78 off 68 deliveries, complete with four sixes. D Kalyankrishna, though often bearing the brunt of the UP innings, collected figures of 5 for 105.
ScorecardFive wickets from Munaf Patel dismissed Mumbai for 175 – despite an unbeaten 78 from Ramesh Powar – as Maharashtra tightened their grip over the opposition on day two at the Wankhede Stadium. Resuming the day on 20 for 2, Mumbai were soon reeling on 47 for 6 as Patel produced a fine opening spell. Vinit Indulkar (40) and Powar resurrected much of the damage in a 94-run stand for the seventh wicket before Patel and Suyash Burkul returned to mop up the lower order. In their second innings, Maharashtra have progressed to 73 for 3 and will hope that Mansigh Nigde – unbeaten on 27 – can carry on the good work on day three.
ScorecardContrasting fifties from Hemal Watekar and Asif Makda gave Gujarat an 84-run lead earlier in the day, but Karnataka had whittled that down to just 16 by stumps at Ahmedabad. With Gujarat precariously placed at 67 for 6, Watekar was forced to put his head down and graft for 226 minutes and 164 balls for an unbeaten 64. His partner in a vital 85-run stand for the eight wicket was Makda, clubbing three sixes in a 49-ball 62, a career-best innings for the Gujarat fast bowler. Karnataka, for their part, have batted with much more composure than in their first innings, and with Robin Uthappa at the wicket as play resumes tomorrow, fireworks are never far away.

Duncan Brede, a cricketer who represents the Australian Capital Territory, has been banned for two months under Cricket Australia’s Anti-Doping Policy after testing positive for prohibited substances. The positive test came from a sample taken from Brede after the game between ACT and the Queensland Academy of Sport at Allan Border Field on November 15, 2004.The prohibited substances that were present in Brede’s sample were the stimulants: amphetamine and methamphetamine. Brede also acknowledged committing a doping offence and waived his right to a hearing while the Australian board offered him help with counselling. The two month ban is effective from January 21.

Shane Warne’s use of a banned drug left Ricky Ponting, Australia’s one-day captain, annoyed at what he described as Warne’s “madness”. In his World Cup diary, which is published this week, Ponting said that his sympathy for Warne was tinged with “a feeling of annoyance”.Ponting said the Australians have a lecture on drugs every year, and as a result he was aware of the issues and checked any drugs before he took them. “That is common sense, and for Warney, who has been playing international cricket for over a decade, to ignore that approach is just madness.”Not surprisingly, given the campaign he was about to embark on in defence of the World Cup, Ponting said he was upset that the controversy came up when it did in South Africa.”I think there was plenty of shock in the room already,” he wrote. “But to then see the greatest bowler in Australian cricket so distressed in front of us all was as sobering a sight as you could ever wish to see.”The room was reduced to complete silence, an awkward silence, as Warney tried to regain his composure and finish what he was saying.”Ponting said Warne was more composed when he addressed his teammates again later that night, telling them: “You are a better team than just one person, and even though I am going to go home, you can and will win the World Cup without me.” Ponting wrote: “Whatever you might think of Warney, it took a lot of guts and quality for him to stand up, admit what he had done and wave goodbye to his dream of one last crack at the World Cup.”However, Ponting did say that he was looking forward to having Warne back in his armoury when the 12-month suspension for using a banned diuretic ends on February 10. “He’s a great player and I really hope I get to play some more cricket with him.”

Run machine Matthew Hayden will again force Australian selectors to split stable openers Adam Gilchrist and Mark Waugh when the triangular one-day series begins on Friday.Chairman of selectors Trevor Hohns confirmed Hayden would be used in the opening role and elsewhere in the batting order as the Australians rotate their best players through the series against New Zealand and South Africa.”We’ll probably rest a batsman from time to time as we have done previously and then the batting order is shuffled around,” Hohns said.”You’ll see (Hayden opening) at some stage but any decisions will be made by the selectors in conjunction with the captain.”It was a predictable step after Hayden unleashed the most lucrative calendar year of any Australian Test batsman, hitting 1391 runs at an average of 66.23.Captain Steve Waugh declared he could not “imagine anyone playing any better than that” after Hayden began the New Year with another Test century in the whitewash against South Africa.But the aggressive Queenslander hasn’t earned the same reputation in the one-day arena despite averaging 34.26 at a respectable clip in his 27 matches.Gilchrist and Mark Waugh are the greatest opening pair in Australian one-day history but the door remains ajar for Hayden if selectors opt for a settled combination for the World Cup in South Africa in 13 months.Hayden opened twice in the Australia’s most recent one-day outings against Pakistan and England seven months ago after opening in four of the five clashes with India on the sub-continent in March and April.The left-hander smashed more than 2000 runs in domestic one-day matches for Queensland before replenishing his international reputation in New Zealand two years ago.Despite his outstanding summer, Hayden is no certainty to play in the opening tri-series match on Friday when Australia meets New Zealand at the MCG.Hohns said selectors were looking towards the World Cup defence but he said the championship was “too far away to speculate” on any personnel changes.”There is a lot of water to flow under the bridge before that,” Hohns said.”We’re always looking towards it but plenty can happen in that time and this series is another in which we want to build the winning momentum.”Hohns said the 14-man Australian squad for the tri-series had not beenselected for a particular number of matches. That leaves Jason Gillespie with a chance of returning if he can prove his fitness when he resumes from injury for Australia A against New Zealand at the Gabba tomorrow.”He has two matches with Australia A to show us that he is fully fit andthen we would have to reassess it from there,” Hohns said.

Gloucestershire have booked their place in a hat-trick of Lord’s finals, asthey beat Lancashire by 15 runs at Bristol on Monday. Mike Smith led theGloucester charge, with figures of 4-27, as the Lancashire chased falters.The victory furthers Glouctershire’s claim to be the premier one-day side inthe country.A near capacity crowd cheered the Bristol-based side on, with a place in thefinal against Glamorgan beckoning. Despite Mike Smith’s efforts, it was RobCunliffe who earned the man of the match award, for a sparkling 71.Gloucestershire won the toss, electing to bat on a pitch which didn’t seemto have suffered any ill effects of the weekend rain. The game, of course,actually began on the reserve day, after Sunday’s effort was ruined thanksto a sodden outfield. Soon enough, openers Tim Hancock and Kim Barnett werehitting their straps. Hancock peppered the off-side boundary withregularity, whilst Barnett was dismissed just as he began to look settled.The veteran was neatly caught by Hegg, from the bowling of Peter Martin. Atthe other end, Ian Austin was his typically miserly self, bowling at acracking line and length which the batsmen could do nothing with.Chris Schofield entered the attack, and was immediately launched way overlong on, then through the covers, by an ever confident Hancock. Just asHancock looked as if he may destroy the Lancashire attack, he played a looseshot, and was well caught down the leg side by Hegg.New men Rob Cunliffe and Matt Windows kept the score moving, as theyscampered between the wickets at every opportunity. Windows was particularlysavage on anything short, cutting ferociously, whilst Cunliffe played theshot of the day, a perfectly timed off-drive. With the partnership locked on71, Windows found the bucket hands of Peter Martin at long on, dismissed fora fine 43. England all-rounder Mark Alleyne joined Cunliffe, as the boardticked at six an over. Cunliffe was rattled by a bouncer from Flintoff, thenmeekly spooned him to mid-off. It was a sad end to a very fine innings, froma player with enormous potential. In the final slog, Snape and Alleyne felllooking for runs, Alleyne for a classy 32.A target of 221 was certainly within Lancashire’s grasp. Gloucestershirewere weakened without their overseas star Ian Harvey, dubbed the finestdeath bowler in the world. Still, they were not prepared to lie down. JonLewis ripped out Mike Watkinson’s off-stump, whilst Mike Smith removed JohnCrawely’s leg peg. When Smith got rid of Andy Flintoff, to an ill-judgedpull edged onto the stumps, Gloucestershire were well on top. Mike Athertonplodded along at the other end, but was given a torrid time by Smith, whostruck him first on the finger, then on the box.Atherton and Fairbrother gave Lancashire hope, as Fairbrother used the sweepshot to great effect. Snape was in for particular punishment in his firstfew overs, and it was brave of Alleyne to keep him in the attack. Alleyne’sfaith was justified, as Snape got rid of Atherton. The off-spinner, who was(according to the speed-gun at least) varying his pace from 40-65mph, lobbedone up to Atherton who chipped it to mid-wicket. Snape picked up anotherwicket when Lloyd tried to turn to leg, trapped lbw. By now, the requiredrate was well over six.Warren Hegg, with 30, kept Lancashire’s hopes alive. At the other end,Fairbrother, who was batting with a runner, was supreme. He hit five foursand a six in his 74, which was ended by a fine catch in the deep from MattWindows. Chris Schofield played a cameo, and Ian Austin clubbed a few, butit was too little too late.Mention should be made of two others. James Averis, whose figures of 1-37betrayed a brilliant spell tarnished by two expensive overs at the death.Also, Chris Taylor. The youngster, who has played less than half a dozengames for his county, didn’t bat or bowl. But he scampered round theoutfield, fielding with enthusiasm that personified this, truly excellentGloucestershire team.

Newcastle United are renewing their attempts to sign Napoli star Victor Osimhen, and would have to stump up a record-breaking fee to sign him…

What’s the story?

Reports back in the January transfer window from Calciomercato (via Sport Witness) initially claimed that Eddie Howe’s side have got “concrete” interest in signing the Nigeria international, and that if a sizeable offer does come in for him, then Napoli owner, Aurelio De Laurentiis, would be willing to come to the table.

Now, some further reports from Italy (via Sport Witness) have delivered an update on the situation.

They suggest that the Magpies are at the front of the queue to sign the star striker, and that they are ready to go crazy with their offer – it’s added that with Napoli having spent a mammoth €80m to get him in from Lille in the first place, they would want a significant return on that.

Fans would be excited

In the form of Osimhen, Howe would be getting an elite goal-scorer who has proven himself at the highest level with Napoli, both in the Serie A and in European competition too.

This campaign has seen him score 11 goals in just22 games for the Italian giants, including bagging four in just three Europa League group stage games – a couple of those coming away from home against Leicester to rescue a point for his team.

And, as per Whoscored, Osimhen also appears to be a far more complete striker than what Newcastle already have in Callum Wilson, averaging far more shots, key passes and dribbles per game this campaign, while his average match rating comfortably trumps that of the former Bournemouth star.

Even during his time with Bundesliga side Wolfsburg, the Nigerian made an immediate impression on his coaches, with then manager Andries Jonker saying: “He has great potential in him. He is ambitious, quick and highly unpredictable, he will be a star in the future if he maintains his focus.”

But perhaps the biggest indication of why Osimhen may be the perfect signing for Newcastle is the way his former Nigeria teammate Odion Ighalo has raved about his mentality.

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He said: “He’s the future, he’s going to do so well in football. I love him, he’s down to earth, he’s hard working, he has a future and he has the mentality of a winner, that’s what I love about him. He has that lion’s heart. I love him, I just want him to keep working hard the way he’s doing, he’s going to break so many records in Europe and Nigeria.”

The £54m-rated star would be a very exciting signing for the Magpies, and one that would surely get the pulses racing of the Toon Army.

Meanwhile, Newcastle have an exciting academy star on their hands…

‘If you just look to survive there will be a ball that gets you out’ © Getty Images

Apart from a lot of sweating and snake-spotting, England weren’t ableto ascertain too much from their opening warm-up match at the ColomboCricket Club. The bowlers toiled with little reward on a dead pitchwhile the batsmen enjoyed a succession of misleadingly unchallenginginnings. Nevertheless, for Alastair Cook, who top-scored with 63before retiring at the lunch break, the chance to build an inningsover the course of two-and-a-half hours was not to be sniffed at.For Cook, however, the more significant cricket took place not inColombo, but in Brisbane and Hobart, where he watched with interestthe success enjoyed by Australia’s domineering batsmen, not least hisfellow left-hander, Mike Hussey, who racked up hundreds in the firstinnings of each Test. Australia lost only 11 wickets out of a possible40 en route to a 2-0 series victory, and Cook believes that thepositive mindset they demonstrated – and the knock-on effect it willhave on Sri Lanka’s morale – is something that England have tocapitalise on in the course of the next month.”Obviously we don’t know what these wickets will be like, but we sawhow aggressively [Australia] played, and we know that you’ve got to bepositive and look to score,” said Cook. “On those wickets you couldprobably hit through the ball more, but if you just look to survivethere will be a ball that gets you out.” With that in mind, he’sdetermined to master the sweep – a shot that was his undoing onseveral occasions in the summer. “I’ve been working quite hard on thatas a gameplan B, and if I have to resort to it, I will.”Muttiah Muralitharan, who needs just five more wickets to overhaulShane Warne’s record tally of 708, is likely to be the target of thatstrategy. Few people, Cook included, doubt that the record will fallat some stage this series, but in Australia Murali managed just fourwickets at exactly 100 apiece. It’s proof that the man is notinvincible, and Cook believes that the experience he gained fromfacing Sri Lanka in 2006 will help him go some way towards emulatingthat success.”He’s a good bowler but picking him is the key,” said Cook. “Towardsthe end of the series in England I was picking him more and more, andif you can pick him and survive defensively, rather than defending andthinking you’re going to get out, it gives you a base to work from. Icertainly can’t score as quickly as the Aussies did, but we’ll just dothe normal stuff like rotating the strike and playing from the other end.”The strike rotation will be especially important now that England havesettled on their new left-hand right-hand combination – the firstthey’ve used since Michael Vaughan and Marcus Trescothick were aregular partnership from 2002 to 2004. There is more than a decade’sdifference between the ages of Cook (22) and Vaughan (33), but theyounger man is more than happy to have acquired such an experiencedsidekick – even if it means he’ll have to take first strike for thefirst time in his career.

‘Icertainly can’t score as quickly as the Aussies did, but we’ll just dothe normal stuff like rotating the strike’

“Vaughany’s a good man to bat with,” said Cook, after the pair had puton 77 in their first outing of the tour. “He’s a serious player who’sseen a lot in his career. He’s been here [to Sri Lanka] twice and heis quite good technically at picking out something that you’re notquite doing right – just one word and he reminds you of your basicskills. It worked well yesterday, and hopefully that’s just a goodstart.”He looks after a lot of the players in his own way,” said Cook.”He’ll wander over for a chat, and make sure everyone’s alright. Andwhen he’s playing he just checks up on you, because his game is quitebasic in terms of how he thinks about batting, and he relates that tothe way we bat. If your head’s falling over, for instance – simplethings that when you’re in the heat of the battle you forget about.That’s what I picked up from batting with him.”Vaughan’s batting looked to be back to its sublime best during thehome series against India, most notably during his century at TrentBridge, and he was once again full of attacking intent during hisbrisk innings of 38 on Thursday. By and large, however, Cook is awarethat he and his new partner tend to bat at the same tempo – much as heand the out-of-favour Andrew Strauss did during their summerpartnerships.”We’ll just look to get the side off to a good start in the mostnatural way we can,” said Cook. “It’s vital that we bat well togetherbecause we want to keep as many wickets as we can against the newball. That means it’s more overs that Murali has to bowl. The lastthing we want is to be four or five-down when he comes on.”