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Elgar, Browne half-centuries set platform for visitors on opening day in Canterbury

ECB Reporters Network24-May-2024Essex recovered from an early evening wobble to reach 287 for four at stumps on day one of their Vitality County Championship derby with Kent at Canterbury.Openers Dean Elgar and Nick Browne scored 77 and 65 respectively, putting on 146 for the first wicket.Joey Evison took two for 38 for a Kent attack weakened by injuries, but after reducing Essex to 224 for four, they were unable to shift either Jordan Cox or Michael Pepper, who were unbeaten on 51 and 35 at the close.When Essex won the toss and chose to bat a collective groan was uttered by the Spitfire Ground die-hards, who came in hope rather than expectation.A healthy first day crowd of 1,200 watched a one-sided first session unfold as an undercooked attack toiled.Browne was on nought when he drove at Stewart and Evison couldn’t cling on to a tough chance at mid-on, but that was about as close as Kent came during a sterile opening session.The hosts’ morning was summed up when Elgar reached 60 after a misfield from Zak Crawley, who sprinted 50 yards and clawed the ball back from the boundary, only for it to ricochet off his trailing arm and go back over the rope for four.An already injury-hit bowling attack was weakened further when Wes Agar injured his shoulder while fielding just before lunch, at which point it was 102 for nought.Browne reached 50 with two off Evison, but Matt Parkinson finally broke through in the 46th over, when Elgar charged down the wicket and was stumped by Harry Finch.Evison then produced a beauty that swing back in and bowled Browne middle-stump, which meant it was time for Cox to walk out at the St. Lawrence for the first time since his cross-Thames flit last year.He was given diplomatic applause, took ten balls to get off the mark and then hit Parkinson back over his head for six. At that point Cox looked like he was going to “go hard or go home”, but he reined himself in the face of some miserly Kent bowling and it was 185 for two at tea.Tom Westley flashed at Arafat Bhuiyan and was caught at first slip by Crawley for 21, but Grant Stewart couldn’t hold on to a violent return catch offered by Cox when he was on 15.Matt Critchley survived a strong lbw shot from Evison, only to be trapped in front by the same bowler in his next over for 13, but Kent opted not to take the new ball due to Agar’s ongoing absence.Cox continued to play watchfully while Pepper injected some aggression to tilt the contest back in Essex’s favour. They made an unbroken stand of 63 during the day’s final hour and Cox brought up his half-century with successive fours off Parkinson in the final over.

Openers overturn the deficit as Nottinghamshire set themselves for final-day push

ECB Reporters Network25-Jun-2024

Haseeb Hameed hits down the ground•Getty Images

Nottinghamshire 360 and 177 for 1 (Hameed 91, Slater 70*) lead Somerset 470 (Abell 111, Pretorius 95*, Pennington 5-96) by 67 runsSouth African all-rounder Migael Pretorius added an unbeaten 95 to his four first-innings wickets to help Somerset carve out a 110-run first innings lead on day three at Trent Bridge – yet with Nottinghamshire 177 for one in their second innings at the close, Craig Overton’s team have a lot to do if they are to take home a third Vitality County Championship win of the season.Pretorius, who spent part of last season with Durham, hammered six sixes and eight fours in a 71-ball assault to ensure that the efforts of Tom Abell and Tom Lammonby on day two were not wasted.Somerset had suffered a mid-innings stumble from 315 for four to 356 for eight and were still in arrears until Pretorius and Jack Leach (37) put on 79 in rapid time, the 29-year-old Pretorius missing out on a second career hundred only because he ran out of partners.Nottinghamshire fast bowler Dillon Pennington took five for 96, raising his tally for the season to 29 with his first five-wicket haul since moving from Worcester to Trent Bridge in the winter. Leg spinner Calvin Harrison’s reward for bowling 39 overs in the heat was figures of three for 173.Yet the wicket of Haseeb Hameed, bowled by captain Overton for 91, is Somerset’s only second-innings success so far from 58 overs of toil after the Nottinghamshire skipper had shared a 172-run opening partnership with Ben Slater, who finished on 70 not out in the company of nightwatchman Olly Stone.Earlier in the day, Abell could add only six to his unbeaten 105 on Monday before he misread a ball from Harrison that trapped him leg before. A glancing blow on the helmet facing fast bowler Stone had hardly helped his cause.His dismissal sparked a flurry of wickets. New batter Kasey Aldridge lasted only seven deliveries before being brilliantly caught at second slip by Harrison off Pennington, who found some extra bounce in his next over to frustrate James Rew, caught behind for 49.At 325 for seven in the 99th over, the sides were level on points, yet the next 11 overs saw Somerset surge ahead thanks largely to Pretorious, whose aggressive hitting brought him a 32-ball half-century.Pretorius hammered six over midwicket off Pennington and cleared the rope three times off Harrison, who was hit down the ground for another maximum by Leach. Back-to-back fours off Pennington from the England man raised the 400-mark in the 107th over.Pennington had Overton (20 from 13 balls) leg before and Harrison dismissed Leach via an edge behind soon after lunch, but Nottinghamshire missed out on a third bowling point. Not only that, they were powerless to stem the flow of runs from Pretorious.He launched one enormous slog-sweep off Harrison that achieved the not inconsiderable feat of clearing the Smith-Cooper Stand before driving Pennington for his sixth six – and could count himself mightily unfortunate to be left stranded when last man Jake Ball, who faced just five balls and contributed not a single run to a 35-run partnership, was leg before to give Pennington his five-for.Somerset were in a commanding position, in theory at least. Yet they would almost certainly have to bowl Nottinghamshire out for a second time if that position were to become a platform for a win, which looked potentially to be a tall order on an increasingly docile pitch.Thereafter, little happened to challenge that assessment. Dusty footmarks offered something for Leach to work with bowling from the Radcliffe Road End. The left-arm spinner was in action as early as the eighth over as openers Hameed and Slater set about negotiating the 26 overs up to tea but fashioned only one real chance in that period, the left-hander Slater put down by Overton at slip on 27.It allowed the pair to reach the interval with 72 runs knocked off the deficit, a platform from which their partnership became the biggest opening stand of the season for Nottinghamshire when it passed 81. Both completed half-centuries soon afterwards, the captain from 101 balls, Slater from 107.The final session similarly brought no rewards until the last 20 minutes of the day when Overton, bringing himself back for one last burst of pace, with Rew standing up to the stumps, bowled Hameed nine short of a century to break the partnership on 172.

After helping Sunrisers Hyderabad amass 287 for 3 with a 39-ball century and break the IPL record for highest total for the second time this season, opener Travis Head said his side would fancy targeting 300 as their next challenge. He also credited the captain Pat Cummins and head coach Daniel Vettori for pushing the openers to keep being aggressive in the first six overs.”[Our total] needs a three in front of it, does it now?” Head joked, when asked between innings about the benchmarks Sunrisers are setting for themselves, after the first innings against Royal Challengers Bengaluru on Monday. “It’s proper batting. We’ve wanted to be exciting the whole time, and we’ve wanted to take the game on, and Pat and then Dan have put pressure on the batting line-up to make sure we try and maximise the powerplay and then keep going.”We’ve got guys like [Heinrich] Klaasen, [Abdul] Samad and Nitish [Kumar Reddy, who] didn’t even get a hit today. We’ve got some power through the middle, and we want to keep just putting the foot down as much as we can. We know that’s not always guaranteed, but at the moment I think we’re setting it up really well in each game and getting to the score that we need.”Related

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Sunrisers smashed 22 sixes, the most in IPL history, and Head hit nine of them. Along with Abhishek Sharma, Head helped Sunrisers race away to 76 for 0 in the powerplay while also getting to his fifty. After the game, Head said he was enjoying batting with Abhishek. “We complement each other really well. He’s a young player and pretty fearless. There was a little bit of spin in the powerplay and he was so dominant against them. I’m loving it.”Head was eventually out in the 13th over for a 41-ball 102. His wicket brought zero respite though, as Klaasen pumped a 31-ball 67 from No. 3. Klaasen too was full of praise for his team-mate for setting up the match and making his job easier. “Unbelievable start there from Heady. It’s a special knock that. Puts the bowler under a lot of pressure,” Klaasen told the broadcaster after the game. “[I] came in and wanted to be very sensible and knock it around and make sure he faces majority of the balls. It is difficult to out-hit players like that so when it’s his night, make sure I’m on the other side and wait for a couple of bad balls. And then I should take over when he gets out.”It was nice batting out there, the wicket was nice and good but the tempo was set there upfront. Its nice to have bowlers under pressure when you come in.”

أكد جيرارد مارتن، مدافع نادي برشلونة، على سعادته الكبيرة بفوز فريقه يوم أمس الأحد على نظيره خيتافي ، وذلك لحساب بطولة الدوري الإسباني للدرجة الأولى.

برشلونة استمر في نتائجه الرائعة خلال الفترة الأخيرة هذا الموسم وحقق انتصارًا عريضًا على حساب خيتافي بثلاثة أهداف دون رد، ضمن الجولة الخامسة من الدوري الإسباني.

وجعل هذا الانتصار برشلونة يعزز موقعه في المركز الثاني وبرصيد 13 نقطة، خلف ريال مدريد المتصدر برصيد 15 نقطة وبالعلامة الكاملة من خمس انتصارات.

أقرأ أيضًا .. أولمو: لولا تسجيلنا مبكراً لأصبحت المباراة معقدة أمام خيتافي

وأشار مارتن في تصريحات نقلها موقع ”Barca universal” ، إلى أنه فخور حقًا بتحية جمهور برشلونة له في ملعب يوهان كرويف خلال لقاء الأمس ويسعى إلى تقديم المزيد.

وقال مارتن: ”أشعر برضا كبير عن مستواي وفخر كبير بتحية جمهور برشلونة لي وبرؤية أدائي الجيد وتقدير الناس لي، وفي النهاية، أنا سعيد للغاية وأريد تقديم المزيد”.

وأتم الظهير الأيسر في حديثه: “عندما تتاح لي فرصة اللعب، أسعى جاهدًا لاغتنامها وأظهر للمدرب أنني في أفضل حالاتي وهذا كل شيء”.

ويعول مدرب برشلونة، هانز فليك، على خدمات مارتن في مركز الظهير الأيسر بشكل أساسي، وذلك مع غياب أليخاندرو بالدي بسبب الإصابة.

Play domestic cricket, score runs and force the selectors to pick you again. This is India head coach Rahul Dravid’s simple message to Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan, on whom there has been much spotlight over the past two months for their decision to skip domestic cricket.Both Kishan and Iyer were not considered for the BCCI’s annual retainers in this round of recommendations for 2023-24. A board release at the time of announcement late last month reiterated its recent stance that “all athletes give precedence to participating in domestic cricket during periods when they are not representing the national team”.Kishan hasn’t featured in any form of cricket under the BCCI’s ambit since opting out of the two-Test series in South Africa. He had, instead, been training at a private facility for some time in Baroda with Hardik Pandya, his IPL captain.Related

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Iyer, who was left out after the second Test against England, missed the Ranji Trophy quarter-finals citing back spasms, even though he was medically passed fit by the board’s doctors. Iyer has since returned to play for Mumbai in the semi-finals and is due to play in the final starting Sunday.”They’re always in the mix,” Dravid said after India’s 4-1 series win over England in Dharmsala on Saturday. “Everyone who’s playing domestic cricket is in the mix. Firstly, I don’t decide contracts, right? Contracts are decided by the selectors and the board. I don’t even know what the criteria are. I’m involved in – people ask me my opinion on the 15, and me and Rohit select the XI. That’s how it works.”We’ve never discussed whether somebody has a contract or not, whether he’s going to be selected in the 15. There are enough examples of people playing different formats of the game, whether they have contracts or not.”I don’t even know sometimes what the list of the contracted players is, when we take these decisions, discussions on the 15 or the playing 11 for that matter. No one’s out of the picture, no one’s out of the mix, it’s just a question of hopefully them getting back and fit, playing cricket, and forcing the selectors to pick them again.”Minutes after India’s win, BCCI secretary Jay Shah announced a Test Cricket Incentive Scheme that will increase match fees of players by 300% should they feature in over 75% of the Tests played in a season.Dravid emphasised on the need to look at this step as a “reward” for hard work and not necessarily just think of it as a financial gain for being available to play Tests.”I really hope money is not going to be the incentive to play Test cricket,” he said. “It’s just nice the hard work and how tough Test cricket can be is being recognised. So, I wouldn’t see it as an incentive to make people play Test cricket, I hope not. I hope it never really comes to that. But I think it is just probably a recognition that this is a tough format, and it is a hard format.”And it takes a special person to do what [R] Ashwin has done, to play 100 Test matches. You go through a lot, and rightly so. You guys [media] celebrated Ashwin today, and Jonny Bairstow, you’ve celebrated Stokes a few games ago. Because I think all of you recognise how challenging the format is and what it takes to be able to have consistency and to be able to survive the test of time in this format.”We don’t celebrate 100 T20s in the same way, do we? But yeah, it is nice that the BCCI is recognizing it… I think it is a reward, not an incentive. Looking at the guys who came in and played in this series, I think everyone wants to play Test cricket. It’s just a recognition of what you need to be able to do to survive and play in Test cricket.”It’s only when you get here that you realise that sometimes it’s quite tough and it is not easy, but it is extremely satisfying. In especially a series like this and Test matches we’ve seen in the last 4-5 months, if they are well supported and well documented by people like you, I am sure that there will be a lot of people still wanting to play Test cricket.”

PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi fought back tears at PSG's Champions League victory parade and admitted to "sleeping with the trophy".

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• Al-Khelaifi fights back tears
• Celebrating PSG's Champions League triumph
• Admits to "sleeping with trophy"

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• WHAT HAPPENED?

  Al-Khelaifi has run the club since 2011 and has been intent on winning the Champions League, something that was finally achieved after 14 years via a 5-0 thrashing of Inter in Munich on Saturday. He was clearly emotional during Sunday's victory parade in Paris and appeared to be fighting back tears during an interview with .

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  PSG spent several years chasing European glory by signing some of the biggest names in the sport, including Lionel Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe. They have achieved success having moved on from that trio, however, with manager Luis Enrique credited for building a well-rounded team. Al-Khelaifi said to : "This year was very special. If we hadn't won before, it might not have been like this. With everything we've done for 14 years. It was very important for Paris, for France, we don't just talk about PSG but about France, we have the French flag on our jersey. We're proud of that.
  I slept with the Cup yesterday. I told myself that maybe it was a dream and when I woke up I said to myself no, it's true."

• AFP
  

  WHAT NEXT FOR PSG?

  PSG will next be in action when they travel to America for the Club World Cup later in June, where they will take on Atletico Madrid, Botafogo and Seattle Sounders in the group stages.

INEOS and Manchester United have now reportedly sent scouts to watch one defensive target as they begin to plot a summer swoop to secure his signature and ease their Lisandro Martinez injury woes.

Man Utd still targeting defensive additions

After Anthony Elanga ran the length of the pitch before firing home for Nottingham Forest in midweek, it should come as no surprise that Manchester United are still seeking defensive reinforcements. Now in April, the Red Devils are yet to win back-to-back games in the Premier League and their defensive issues in Ruben Amorim’s 3-4-2-1 system have played a large part in what has been a disastrous campaign.

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It should not go without saying, however, that defeat at the City Ground was United’s first in five league games and Amorim echoed that positivity in his post-match press conference, telling reporters: “It’s more [of] the same since this season began. So I think if you look at the game we are improving the way we play football. We are creating more chances, we are dominating more games.

“But in the end, when you don’t win, you feel that and that is a good thing. So we know that this season is going to be like that, the momentum. So we continue to go to the next [game].”

The former Sporting Club boss may well look at his side’s recent run as something to build on before welcoming some key additions. Among those already linked with a summer switch to Manchester United includes Oumar Solet. The Udinese centre-back has impressed at times this season and now has a queue beginning to form for his signature, with United in that queue.

Solet isn’t the only defender that has caught the eye of those at Old Trafford, however, with another Serie A star emerging on INEOS’ reported radar.

Man Utd plotting move to sign "superb" Comuzzo

According to Caught Offside, INEOS and Manchester United are now plotting a summer swoop to sign Pietro Comuzzo from Fiorentina this summer and have already sent scouts to watch the 20-year-old in action. Valued at around €45m (£38m) by the Italian club, the deal should be within the Red Devils’ range even as their cost-cutting measures continue around the club.

Dubbed “superb” by football talent scout Jacek Kulig, Comuzzo’s arrival would instantly see the injured Martinez replaced next season, before Amorim is handed the ultimate selection headache when the Argentine completes his eventual return.

Chattogram Challengers were limited to 135 for 9 in the knockout match

Mohammad Isam26-Feb-2024

Fortune Barishal will now face the loser of Qualifier 1 on Wednesday•BPL

Fortune Barishal kept themselves in the hunt for a place in the BPL final after they crushed Chattogram Challengers by seven wickets in the Eliminator match in Mirpur. Kyle Mayers starred for Barishal with an all-round show, taking two wickets before hitting a rapid half-century.Barishal lost Soumya Sarkar in the first over of their 136-run chase but Tamim Iqbal and No. 3 Mayers quickly hit back. Tamim struck Al-Amin Hossain for three fours in the second over before Mayers joined in with his first six in the third over. Mayers then blasted Shuvagata Hom for 26 runs in the fifth over, hitting three sixes and two fours.Mayers got out soon after reaching 50, caught behind off Bilal Khan, having faced 26 balls. He struck five sixes and three fours. Tamim kept the chase on track with his unbeaten 52 off 43 balls, including nine fours as Barishal won with 5.1 overs to spare. Barishal’s newcomer David Miller didn’t force the issue, hitting 17 off 13 balls before falling for a simple catch to deep midwicket. Mushfiqur Rahim was there with Tamim to complete the chase.Chattogram earlier had banked heavily on their in-form opener Tanzid Hasan. But he fell in the second over. Saifuddin got the big wicket when he had the left-hander caught behind. Tanzid’s opening partner Josh Brown briefly attacked, hitting three sixes and two fours, before holing out at point to Miller. Brown made 34 off 22 balls.Shuvagata’s 24 off 16 balls took Chattogram past the 100 mark, as the Barishal bowlers grabbed the game firmly for the rest of the innings. Mayers, Saifuddin and Obed McCoy took two wickets each while Taijul Islam and James Fuller picked up one wicket respectively.

The winter transfer window was nothing short of disastrous for Arsenal this year.

Mikel Arteta’s side were still in both domestic cups and just about within touching distance of Liverpool atop the Premier League when it was opened, yet the board opted not to sign a single player despite the attack being decimated.

The Gunners are now out of both cups, miles off the Reds in the league, and could still be without two of their regular front three when they face Real Madrid in the Champions League next month.

The only transfer-related positive to come out of January was the surprise news that the North Londoners were seen as the most likely to sign Real Sociedad’s Martin Zubimendi come the summer.

However, recent reports have linked Arsenal with a potential upgrade on the Spaniard, a player that incoming Sporting Director Andrea Berta has reportedly tried to sign before.

Arsenal targeting Zubimendi upgrade under Berta

According to a recent report from Spain, Arsenal are planning for a big summer of transfer activity and have identified Newcastle United star Bruno Guimarães as one of their key targets.

Transfer Focus

Mega money deals, controversial moves and big-name flops. This is the home of transfer news and opinion across Football FanCast.

In fact, the report has revealed that the desire to chase the Brazilian international stems primarily from incoming Sporting Director Andrea Berta, who is ‘in love’ with him and tried to sign him three times while at Atlético Madrid. The fact the Italian would like to bring him to the Emirates has already been brought up in talks with the player’s circle.

The good news for the North Londoners is that the story claims a failure to qualify for the Champions League this season will see the asking price for the midfield monster drop to just £60m.

It could be a complicated and still relatively costly transfer to get over the line, but given Guimarães immense ability, one well worth pursuing, even if that means skipping out on Zubimendi.

How Guimarães compares to Zubimendi

In an ideal world, Arsenal would be able to sign both midfielders this summer, but with the attack needing some serious investment, we can see a world in which it’s one or the other.

In that case, it would probably be a wise choice for Berta and Co to come down on the side of Guimarães, as while he and Zubimendi can both play in either the eight or six roles, he is the more dangerous of the pair in an attacking sense.

Moreover, with someone like Declan Rice on the team who can also play both roles to a high level, we’d argue that the ability to help out in attacks is more important, considering the defensive solidity of Arteta’s side.

For example, in just 36 appearances this term, the “world-class” midfielder, as dubbed by talent scout Jacek Kulig, has scored three goals and provided eight assists, equating to a goal involvement on average every 3.27 games.

In contrast, the San Sebastian-born ace has scored one goal and provided two assists in 36 appearances, equating to a goal involvement every 12 games.

Progressive Passes

7.32

6.15

Progressive Carries

1.45

1.21

Shots

1.15

0.59

Key Passes

1.38

0.54

Passes into the Final Third

5.06

4.98

Shot-Creating Actions

3.38

1.51

Goal-Creating Actions

0.52

0.21

Tackles

2.12

2.34

Interceptions

0.93

1.34

Successful Take-Ons

0.97

0.63

Ball Recoveries

5.06

4.44

The one-sided nature of this comparison only continues when we take a look under the hood at their underlying numbers.

For example, per FBref, the Toon star comes out on top in most relevant metrics, including but not limited to, actual and expected non-penalty goals plus assists, progressive passes and carries, shots and shots on target, ball recoveries, successful take-ons and more, all per 90.

Ultimately, while both players would be fine additions to this Arsenal squad, Guimarães would undoubtedly be the better signing and one that would kick-start Berta’s tenure in a big way.

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ByJack Salveson Holmes Mar 12, 2025

Glasgow Rangers officially confirmed that former central midfielder and Scotland international Barry Ferguson will be in interim charge of the club until the end of the season.

Philippe Clement was relieved of his duties by the Ibrox giants on Sunday after the 2-0 loss to St Mirren on Saturday left them still 13 points behind Celtic in the race for the Scottish Premiership title.

A takeover involving the San Francisco 49ers’ investment wing is expected to be completed between April and June and this may be why they have decided to go with an interim before the new ownership can make a decision on the long-term direction of the club in the summer.

There are still several months left and many matches to be played before the end of the 2024/25 campaign, though, and Ferguson will get a chance to lead the side out in the Premiership and the Europa League.

Barry Ferguson's Rangers to-do list

The former Rangers star is tasked with stabilising the team and ensuring that whoever takes over in the summer does so from a solid base.

This means that Ferguson and his backroom team must work hard to ensure that the team does not spiral down a dark road littered with several humiliating defeats before the end of the season.

Rangers face Fenerbahce in the last 16 of the Europa League next month and progression in that competition would be a bonus, to earn more goodwill from the supporters, but should not be expected of an inexperienced – at that level – interim.

In The Pipeline

A big thing on Ferguson’s to-do list in the second half of this season should be to integrate more academy players into the first-team, given that he came through the same youth set-up when he made his breakthrough with the Gers as a player.

Ferguson could strike gold with Bailey Rice

The interim head coach could hit the jackpot with 18-year-old central midfielder Bailey Rice, whom he could expose to more regular football in the coming months to prepare him to hit the ground running under the next manager.

Rice has played eight times at first-team level for the Gers to date and has only played 45 minutes in the Premiership, despite showing plenty of promise on the pitch.

Minutes

45

Key passes

2

Big chances created

1

Duels won

1/2

Clearances

2

Dribbled past

0x

As you can see in the table above, the teenage ace caught the eye when he came off the bench against Manchester United in the Europa League earlier this year.

Manchester United and England legend Rio Ferdinand was on TNT’s coverage of the game and was in ‘awe’ of the young gem. He, as relayed by the Daily Record said: “I’ll tell you what. I like Rice. He’s come on and looking composed and that left foot looks like it has a bit in it. He’s seeing pictures, playing, and executing. That is a wonderful pass.”

Rice also came on in the 4-0 win over Ross County earlier this month and won five of his seven defensive duels, without being dribbled past once, which further suggests that he is ready for first-team football.

Ferguson could hit gold for the Light Blues by providing the Scotland youth international with the chance to play week-in-week-out over the next few months, so that he can gain the experience he needs to kick on and become a regular under the next manager in the future.

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Rice could be a future star for the Ibrox giants, given that he has so many years left ahead of him to develop, but he needs an opportunity, which Ferguson could offer him in the coming weeks and months.