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      Dan James can fill void left by Man Utd’s failed Jadon Sancho transfer pursuit, insists Wales boss Ryan Giggs

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      RYAN GIGGS wants Dan James to step up after Manchester United failed to land Jadon Sancho.
      The Wales winger’s Old Trafford career looked to be under threat as the Red Devils chased the England wideman over the summer window.

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      Daniel James was heavily linked with a move away from United this summerCredit: Getty Images – Getty

      But United would not meet Borussia Dortmund’s £108million valuation of Sancho, 20, before the deadline.
      Out-of-favour James, 22, was linked with Leeds and Brighton loans but Dragons boss Giggs — preparing for tonight’s Wembley friendly against England — hopes James can seize the moment.
      Giggs said: “Another winger coming in would mean maybe less games. That’s up to DJ to step up when he does get the chance.”

      James was excellent for Wales in last month’s 1-0 Nations League wins over Finland and Bulgaria but has played just 45 minutes for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side in the Premier League this season.

      Giggs hopes a change of scene can spark James into action, especially with big hitters Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey sidelined as Wales seek a first win over arch-rivals England since 1984.
      Giggs added: “DJ was excellent in both last games. He made the goal in the first and was brilliant for us. He had not played a lot but looked sharp.
      “Dan has friends here. He always enjoys coming away, the training, the atmosphere, playing for the country.
      “If Gareth and Aaron are here or not, he’s still a threat. He has got speed that always keeps the opposition interested.

      “He has that directness as he showed in our last games. If he has not been playing it gives him the opportunity to get minutes.
      “No matter what team goes to Wembley and wins it’s a huge achievement.
      “I have happy memories at both the old and new Wembley. Hopefully there’s another coming.”
      James was left out of United’s squad for Sunday’s 6-1 home defeat by Tottenham through sickness but Wales hope he will be fighting fit to start.
      Giggs said: “He had a bit of a bug. He played against Brighton in midweek, felt something before the game and afterwards it wiped him out.
      “He also had a knock on his foot so we are monitoring that. There are a couple of players in the same boat.
      “We are giving them as much time as we can then deciding on the team.”
      Giggs was in the Old Trafford stands for the Spurs hammering as he felt Bale could make his second debut for Tottenham after a loan move from Real Madrid.

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      Manchester United failed to sign Jadon Sancho during the summer transfer windowCredit: Getty Images – Getty

      He said: “I decided to go when Gareth signed and I thought he might have a chance. We had Dan there and Ben Davies and a number of good players on show.
      “I was about to leave when Ben came on. I thought I better stay!”
      Giggs confirmed his squad were tested for Covid-19 on Monday and the results were all negative.
      Ramsey will miss tonight’s friendly after Juventus’ squad were put into a “bubble” when two staff members tested positive for Covid-19.
      But he is expected to return for Nations League away clashes against the Republic of Ireland on Sunday and Bulgaria on Wednesday — despite two staff members testing positive for Covid-19.
      Giggs added: “Aaron has followed the protocol. We have gone along with that. We expect him to be available. Everything is in hand.”

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      Ryan Giggs has backed Daniel James to bounce back at Old TraffordCredit: Getty Images – Getty

      Jadon Sancho asked to take a pay cut by Man Utd More

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      Cristiano Ronaldo’s ‘£615k engagement ring’ for Georgina Rodriguez is most-expensive sparkler ever for a Wag

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      CRISTIANO RONALDO has topped the footballers’ engagement ring league by giving his fiancee the most expensive sparkler of all Wags.
      The Portugal captain, 35, is thought to have splashed around £615,000 on the diamond number for Georgina Rodriguez.

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      Ronaldo splashed out more on an engagement ring than any other footballer

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      Cristiano Ronaldo splashed over £600,000 on Georgina Rodriguez’s engagement ringCredit: Instagram @cristiano

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      Georgina fuelled speculation Cristiano Ronaldo had bought her the £615,000 engagement ring by commenting on this Instagram postCredit: Social media

      According to GamblingDeals, who compiled a list of the most expensive engagement rings in football, England keeper Jordan Pickford was second on £500,000 for wife Megan Davison.
      Ashley Cole’s £275,000 ring for ex-wife Cheryl ranked third.
      But England captain Harry Kane was just tenth with £180,000 for wife Katie Goodland, according to jeweller Roseanna Croft.
      Georgina and Ronaldo have two-year-old daughter Alana together and are raising his other three children – surrogate twins Eva and Mateo, three, and ten-year-old Cristiano Jr.

      The couple first enjoyed on a string of dates towards the end of 2016.
      Ronaldo is thought to have asked the Spanish beauty to marry him in 2018.
      The former Manchester United forward, who donated huge sums of money to help medical supplies during the coronavirus crisis, has always insisted they will wed.
      Telling Piers Morgan of the couple’s “true love” on ITV last year, he added: “She helped me so much. Of course, I’m in love with her.

      “We’ll be [married] one day, for sure. It’s my mum’s dream as well.”
      Georgina has been snapped wearing a ring a number of times and in 2018 gave the biggest hint she was engaged to Ronaldo by commenting on a post of a Cartier sparkler.
      The shop assistant-turned-model posted four heart-eyes emojis in response to a snap of the ring Ronaldo is rumoured to have bought her.

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      She was seen sporting the diamond sparkler at a glamorous party Credit: Instagram @cristiano

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      Georgina showed off another huge sapphire ring on Instagram last month Credit: georginagio/Instagram

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      Ronaldo has always insisted they’ll get hitchedCredit: Instagram

      Cristiano Ronaldo goes diving on holiday as his camp slam ‘completely false’ rumours of transfer away from Juventus
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      Transfer windows play into hands of agents and are the last thing we need.. especially after coronavirus

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      THE main transfer window — that spectacle of decadence — closed on Monday night.
      I’ve never been in favour of them because the only beneficiaries are agents and players, with the huge inflation in prices and wages.

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      Premier League clubs spent £1.2bn on transfer fees in the summer window plus a load more on bumper loan deals and agent fees Credit: Getty Images – Getty

      The football industry brought inflexibility upon itself by deciding they can only buy and sell its key product when it chooses or needs to.
      The original notion of windows enabling clubs to settle on squads might have looked sensible to the leading advocates of it.
      One of those was Sir Alex Ferguson, which is OK if you are Manchester United and can buy what you want, when you want (Jadon Sancho excluded).
      But despite Harry Hindsight being the best trader in town, the window doesn’t work — least of all in a climate where Covid-19 has ripped the game apart.

      Football isn’t helped by the lack of flexibility and time pressure that drives up prices and even removes rational thinking from deals.
      Transfer windows are pretty much the living embodiment of the seven deadly sins. Sloth, gluttony, envy, greed, lust and pride are all represented in the frenzy of the market.
      The only absentee is wrath and that perhaps comes later — when owners realise they have been hoodwinked into buying a pup.
      In 2005, we tried to sign Dean Ashton for Crystal Palace from Crewe — but my lamentable integrity led me to suggest to the chairman of two other bidding clubs that we should coordinate our bids.

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      How the PL’s best transfer XI for this summer could look

      My idea was that we didn’t strangle each other for the benefit of Crewe and just let the player choose where he really wanted to play.
      That lasted five minutes as Norwich changed their mind — and whacked millions on.
      Off the player went to Carrow Road, not that Delia Smith cooked up a tastier dish as they finished below us in the league.
      As football is now being used to advance all manner of causes, it was hoped that it would show some restraint with spending, rather than cock its customary snook to the plight of others.
      This is an industry where the protagonists take 80 per cent of all revenue — but then refuse to consider pay reductions.
      Of course, there has been no temperance. The spending in the summer of 2019 was £1.4billion.
      This year — one with the country in ruins financially — has still seen a staggering £1.2bn spent.
      Despite hoping for a recession, part of me still understands the need to continue to invest in the talent pool, especially in the Premier League.
      CREME DE LA PREM
      What separates us from the other leagues around Europe is the scale of our broadcast deals and the competitiveness of our league.
      So the one thing clubs in the Premier League can do is retain the quality of their output, to at least try to keep the ever-increasing broadcaster reclaim of revenues to a minimum by offering the best fare.
      This window has seen luminaries such as Gary Neville say it’s easy to do business.
      The case in point being criticism of Manchester United not paying up for Sancho, a 20-year-old who is more potential than finished article.
      No other club is dipping into the £100m pond. It has been incredibly difficult. Some clubs desperate to bring in money — and others expecting discounts.
      Look how complicated and costly it was to get Gareth Bale out of Real Madrid.
      You may have previously expected that he would have been sent round in a cab.
      Listen to Simon Jordan and Jim White on talkSPORT at 10am Monday to Thursday.

      Simon Jordan discusses Man Utd’s reported new bid for Jadon Sancho More

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      Danny Welbeck and Jack Wilshere were Arsenal and England team-mates but are now staring into the abyss before age of 30

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      INSIDE 12 hours, two of England’s brightest talents of their generation suddenly found themselves staring into the abyss.
      Jack Wilshere, 28, spent the final hours of deadline day insisting he was fit after West Ham decided to pay up the best part of £4million to get him off their wage bill.

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      Former Arsenal team-mates Jack Wilshere and Danny Welbeck are both free agentsCredit: Getty – Contributor

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      Wilshere and Welbeck are both on the lookout for new clubsCredit: AFP or licensors

      And come Tuesday morning, Danny Welbeck — one of his team-mates in the World Cup squad just six years ago — was dumped by his club.
      The Watford striker, like Wilshere, still had a year left on his contract.
      But with his body betraying him and on £100,000-a-week wages, the Hornets decided to cut their losses and get the 29-year-old out.
      Welbeck’s departure was confirmed with a terse, 39-word statement on the Watford website, after an ill-fated one-year stint at Vicarage Road which led to three goals in 20 appearances.

      Midfielder Wilshere fared little better, with the Hammers delivering 57 words on their own announcement.
      Though after just 19 appearances in two seasons at the London Stadium, some may have forgotten he was even still there.
      As if to highlight the indignity of it all, Wilshere received an offer on Twitter from non-league Hitchin Town to train with them.
      A similar invitation duly arrived for Welbeck, this time from Matlock Town.

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      The one-time Arsenal stars now face the prospect of trying to find any top club prepared to give them a contract — and even then, it would surely only be on a pay-as-you-play basis.
      To make matters worse, they are on the market at just the wrong time — as football teeters on the brink of ruin because of the Covid-19 crisis.
      No clubs have money to gamble with.
      West Ham and Watford took a punt pre-Covid and paid for it, laying out big money for two talented players saddled with the misfortune of failing bodies.
      Arsene Wenger saw Wilshere as one of his brightest hopes, throwing him into his midfield while still a teenager and backing him to flourish in the Premier League and Europe.
      The Frenchman also thought he had pulled off a major coup in nabbing Welbeck from Manchester United for £16million in 2014.
      But what Wenger did not bargain for in either case was sheer bad luck.
      When Wilshere fractured an ankle in a friendly against New York Red Bulls nine years ago, it was seen as a minor hitch.

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      Welbeck and Wilshere both had a year left on their contracts before being let goCredit: EPA

      Instead, he missed the whole season and the long list of injury lay-offs — from numerous ankle surgeries and two broken legs — began.
      By the time he was fully fit earlier this year, Wilshere had lost the confidence of Hammers boss David Moyes in their relegation scrap.
      Welbeck’s is a similar tale, with a string of knee injuries stopping him in his tracks every time he was finding his form.
      Like West Ham, Watford thought it was worth the risk in taking him off Arsenal’s hands.
      And like the Hammers, they guaranteed a high weekly wage, only to get their fingers badly burned as the player spent as much time on the treatment table as on the pitch.
      The will and desire is there in both to continue playing. What is missing now may be the opportunity to do so.

      Transfer Deadline Day – catch up on all the biggest transfers from the summer More

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      Harry Kane and Gareth Southgate urge England stars not to bring shame on their country

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      HARRY KANE and Gareth Southgate told England players: Don’t bring shame on your country.
      Boss Southgate held a team meeting at St George’s Park to warn the squad about their responsibilities.

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      Harry Kane and Gareth Southgate have reminded England stars of their reponsibilitiesCredit: Reuters

      Star Dominic Calvert-Lewin revealed that Southgate ‘reminded us what it means, the expectations of playing for England.’
      He added: “You have got to be extra, extra careful and follow all the rules now.”
      Southgate was planning the meeting even before Covidiots Ben Chilwell, Jadon Sancho and Tammy Abraham were told they are out of the friendly with Wales after attending Abraham’s birthday party on Saturday.
      Mason Greenwood and Phil Foden were banned from the current squad for flouting coronavirus rules in Iceland.

      Ahead of Thursday’s Wembley clash, Three Lions captain Kane also addressed the team.
      Everton star Calvert- Lewin — one of four new call-ups — added: “We always have to be extra attentive to these rules.
      “That’s the way it is when you’re representing your country.
      “There have been a few lapses in concentration.”

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      Phil Foden and Mason Greenwood were both banned after their Iceland antics last monthCredit: Reuters

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      Dominic Calvert-Lewin has spoken after receiving his first senior England call-upCredit: PA:Press Association

      Leicester ace Harvey Barnes said: “It was a general meeting with the squad, not just Gareth.
      “As players we spoke as well — and made sure that we are all on the same page with it.
      “It wasn’t a telling-off, it was more reminding ourselves of what is acceptable and what’s not.
      “We are all very clear on that.”
      England are due to field an experimental team against Wales.
      Burnley’s Nick Pope is pushing to start in goal.

      England vs Wales – Watch LIVE for FREE, channel info and kick off time More

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      Jordan Pickford can prove critics wrong despite England and Everton place being under threat, says Toffes icon Southall

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      JORDAN PICKFORD has been tipped to bounce back from a run of blunders — by Everton legend Neville Southall.
      Under-fire Toffees keeper Pickford joined up with the England squad on the back of three recent mistakes.

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      Jordan Pickford has failed to impress between the sticks for Everton Credit: Rex Features

      He was at fault for both of Fleetwood’s goals in his side’s 5-2 Carabao Cup victory last month, before dropping a straightforward catch for Neal Maupay to score in last Saturday’s 4-2 Premier League win over Brighton.
      Three Lions boss Gareth Southgate is now under pressure to start either Manchester United’s Dean Henderson or Burnley stopper Nick Pope in goal for tomorrow’s friendly against Wales.
      And Everton chief Carlo Ancelotti has also increased the heat on Pickford by signing Roma goalkeeper Robin Olsen on a season-long loan on deadline day.
      But ex-Wales keeper Southall believes Pickford will prove his critics wrong and return to the impressive form he showed in England’s run to the 2018 World Cup semi-finals.

      The 62-year-old — who played 751 times for the Toffees, winning five trophies — said: “I think he’s had probably three bad minutes in six months — if that.
      “His mistakes aren’t killing us and once he finds his form, we’ll be flying.
      “There’ll be a time when we have that little bump in the road and maybe we’ll have to rely on him.
      “Maybe people will have to change their opinions.

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      Neville Southall has backed Jordan Pickford to get back to his bestCredit: PA:Press Association

      “But I do think if Mr Ancelotti wants to play you, you must be half-decent. If his job was on the line there’d be a taxi outside Goodison tomorrow.”
      Pickford, 26, got further support from another former Everton keeper in Tim Howard, who said Olsen’s arrival would benefit him.
      The former USA World Cup star, 41, told Sky Sports: “Every good goalkeeper needs competition.
      “Jordan is a top goalkeeper. There have been a few wobbles in his game recently but no one is exempt, at the highest level, from having a mistake or two.

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      Gareth Southgate could now start Dean Henderson or Nick Pope against WalesCredit: Reuters
      “Jordan just needs to get back to basics and put a ten-game run together where there are no errors.
      “But that happens at the highest level.
      “I think bringing in another goalkeeper always helps to create competition and urgency.”

      Jordan Pickford facing uncertain Everton future with Carlo Ancelotti not convinced he has future at club after huge mistakes More

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      Calvert-Lewin is Europe’s top scorer ahead of Ronaldo, Messi and Lewandowski after lessons learned at Stalybridge Celtic

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      DOMINIC CALVERT-LEWIN still has the scar under his left eye as a permanent reminder of his introduction to the brutal world of men’s football.
      The Everton striker, now 23, was just 20 minutes into his National League North debut for Stalybridge Celtic on Boxing Day 2014 when he was nutted in the face by a Hyde defender.

      Yet rather than shrinking into his shell, Calvert-Lewin relished the physical battle he found himself pitched into.
      And as the in-form star prepares to make his full England debut this week, he still thinks back to that brief spell in non-league on loan from Sheffield United.
      He said: “I remember I’ve gone to flick on a throw-in and this defender has just gone ‘bang!’ and headbutted me in the face.
      “I played the rest of that game with one eye closed up and I pretty much knew from that moment what was going to be required.

      “But that experience was the most I’d ever enjoyed my football up to that point.
      “I’ve always relished a physical battle and I actually enjoyed getting beat up because I went on to score two goals that day and it was such a good experience for me.
      “It gave me a sense of what it was to play proper men’s football in front of fans and at 17 years old that was definitely what I needed to propel me forward.
      “When you’re a scholar at the academy of a professional club everything is quite nice and easy.

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      Dominic Calvert-Lewin is relishing his first call-up to the England senior sideCredit: PA:Press Association

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      The striker is loving life at Goodison Park right now and is scoring goals for funCredit: Reuters

      “Then suddenly you’re up against opponents who are playing to put food on the table and you realise it means that much more.
      “It was a real eye-opener for me at a young age and a humbling experience.
      “I’m glad I went through that because it means I don’t take anything for granted.”
      Now the forward is putting those early lessons to good use, helping propel Everton to the top of the Premier League and himself to the top of the goalscoring charts.
      He became the first Toffees player since Dixie Dean to score back-to-back hat-tricks — against West Brom and West Ham — and on Saturday the first since Tommy Lawton to score in the first four league games of the season.
      But it is a more recent Goodison great who is his current inspiration —assistant manager Duncan Ferguson.
      Calvert-Lewin said: “People have Duncan down as this big angry man but he’s a nice guy when you actually get up close with him.
      “In terms of on the pitch, he told me to back myself more, to believe in my strength and stature and maybe be a bit nastier.

      Heading is a good weapon to have in my armoury and I enjoy being a presence in the box.
      Dominic Calvert-Lewin

      “It’s a confidence thing. When I signed for Everton four years ago I was still learning and when you go under the lights of the Premier League you’re under a lot more scrutiny.
      “But once you realise you can do it, you start to do it more consistently and it becomes part of your game, which I think is what has happened with me.”
      Another attribute he is working on with Ferguson is his heading ability, as Saturday’s opening goal in the 4-2 win against Brighton showed.
      He said: “You could say heading is a dying art in football because a lot of games are now played tiki-taka on the grass.
      “But it’s a good weapon to have in my armoury and I enjoy being a presence in the box.
      “If you get the cross in there’s always a chance I can head it into the back of the net. We’re always quick to pigeon-hole players and say ‘he’s a targetman’ or a ‘spin-in behind man’.
      “But I think I can bring different aspects of the game and heading is one of my strengths.
      “If you hang the ball up, there’s a strong chance I’ll win it and that can bring a different outlet to the team and a different way of scoring.”

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      Calvert-Lewin has learnt a lot from another former Toffees No9 in the shape of Duncan FergusonCredit: Getty Images – Getty

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      The front man knows his heading ability is a major strength in his gameCredit: AP:Associated Press

      A big turning point in Calvert-Lewin’s Goodison career came at the start of last season when he was given the No 9 shirt, vacated by Spanish flop Sandro Ramirez.
      He admitted: “That was a statement of intent for me.
      “There have been some exceptional players that have worn the No 9 shirt for Everton and I knew what it meant and what was required of me.
      “People were uncertain whether it was the right decision at the time but I’d like to think I’ve proved them wrong and now I wear that shirt with pride.”

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