The Serie A club have launched a breathtaking new kit and have called on their brand new signing to feature as the poster boy

Genoa have just released their first-ever jersey in black colours, which will be used as the club’s third kit for the 2024-25 season. An unprecedented uniform in the club's history, the simple design with black as the predominant colour also features gold details.

To unveil the third kit, Genoa brought back “The Golden Dark Side of Genova” project, a campaign that began last season when the club released its gold kit.

The project celebrates the new third jersey and the urban fabric and cultural diversity of the city which can be heard in the soundtrack “Genovarabe” by trap group Helmi Sa7bi. They are part of the professionals from the world of music and photography who have elevated the overall production of this campaign.

Features of the new shirt include the various silhouettes of the Grifone – the main figure in Genoa's logo – spread all over the shirt. “DALL’INIZIO, PER SEMPRE” (FROM THE BEGINNING AND FOREVER) can be read on the collar, a tribute to the identity and history of the oldest club in Italy.

A symbol of identity, inclusion, and pride for the city of Genoa: the third kit represents the commitment of Genoa CFC to promote the fusion of cultures and languages, the connection with the territory, and the extraordinary liveliness of the indigenous music movement.

Empower Sports MARIO ONLY SMILES WHEN HE WANTS TOAdvertisementEmpower Sports AS GOOD OFF THE PITCH AS ON ITEmpower Sports THE GRIFONE IS EVERYWHEREEmpower SportsKAPPA HAVE GOT IT ABSOLUTELY SPOT ON

An elite European side are set for new talks with Chelsea over signing one of their players this summer, and talks have also been opened with his representatives.

Chelsea tipped for mass summer sale as Boehly plots overhaul

After sealing Mauricio Pochettino's replacement in new head coach Enzo Maresca, chairman Todd Boehly and the wider recruitment team have wasted no time in backing the Italian with fresh faces.

Chelsea consider offering two players in swap deal to sign £50 million star

It could be two out, one in at Stamford Bridge.

ByEmilio Galantini Jun 28, 2024

Centre-back Tosin Adarabioyo arrived on a free transfer from Fulham, with the likes of Brazilian starlet Estevao Willian and Omari Kellyman signing for Chelsea thereafter, as the Blues add some exciting talent to the books as well as senior first-teamers.

Kellyman swapped the Midlands for Stamford Bridge with left-back Ian Maatsen going the other way in a separate deal. Chelsea reached an agreement to sell Maatsen for just over £35 million, with the Dutch defender joining Thiago Silva out the Stamford Bridge exit door.

The 22-year-old impressed on loan at Borussia Dortmund last season, helping them reach the Champions League final, but his excellent displays weren't enough to convince Chelsea to not sell for a decent fee.

Dortmund 3-0 Freiburg

8.61

Dortmund 4-0 Darmstadt

8.49

Union Berlin 0-2 Dortmund

8.43

FC Koln 0-4 Dortmund

7.72

Dortmund 3-1 FC Bochum

7.47

Alongside Maatsen, it is believed a fair few current members of Maresca's squad could be sacrificed over the coming weeks, as co-sporting directors Laurence Stewart and Paul Winstanley look to balance the books and trim Chelsea's bloated team.

Armando Broja, Malang Sarr, Kepa Arrizabalaga, Trevoh Chalobah, Lesley Ugochukwu, Marc Cucurella, Mykhailo Mudryk and Conor Gallagher are all players who could be sold by Chelsea this summer.

Ipswich Town have also opened talks to sign Omari Hutchinson this week, according to multiple reliable sources, while flop £325,000-a-week striker Romelu Lukaku is attracting serious interest from Serie A again.

The Belgian, who Chelsea signed in a £98 million deal from Inter Milan three years ago, has since spent time back at the Nerazzurri on loan. Lukaku also played under Jose Mourinho on another temporary spell at Roma, and it is now believed AC Milan want to strike yet another loan for the 31-year-old.

AC Milan set for new talks to sign Lukaku from Chelsea

La Gazzetta dello Sport claimed earlier this week that Lukaku gave his green light to join Milan, with Sky Italia sharing an update of their own on the matter. The broadcaster says Milan are set for new talks with Chelsea to sign Lukaku, and a meeting has been scheduled with his representatives to gauge the feasibility of a potential transfer.

The Rossoneri are pushing for a loan deal, but Chelsea are apparently demanding they pay a high portion of his wages. Lukaku has proved time and time again he can perform well in Italy, with Leonardo Bonucci branding him a "complete" striker.

Before the second innings in Durban, the South Africa captain had 22 fifties but only two hundreds to his name

Andrew Fidel Fernando29-Nov-2024Yes, it is a bowlers’ era, and sure, this is not the strongest South Africa batting order there has ever been, but eventually people are going to look across your stats, find the column under “Hundreds”, and check.Temba Bavuma is aware of this. Painfully aware.Before the second innings at Kingsmead, he had only two trips to triple figures, compared to 22 fifties. The rock to throw at him is that this is a poor conversion rate, even if many of those fifties came in difficult match situations. Both his team-mates and his opposition, for example, have praised his first-innings 70, for having taken South Africa from a truly modest total to a halfway-respectable 191, given the conditions.Related

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Still, that column on the stats page has eyes on it. And on Friday, at Kingsmead, he raised the count to three, hitting 113 against Sri Lanka. Will people wonder how he has been doing as captain and see that he averages 54.22? Will they wonder how many of his innings have come at No. 6 and lower (51 off 103 innings, by the way), and reason that these are not positions where centuries are harder to come by? Perhaps not many will. Hundreds are kind of a big deal.”Getting to a three-figure mark is always a lot more satisfying, personally,” Bavuma said, about making centuries vs important fifties. “When you bat in positions where the team is in trouble, and you get to a 50 to 60, I guess it’s good in terms of getting the team into a competitive position. But once you’re able to go over, you really get the team into a strong position.”Hundreds are a currency as a batter as well, I guess that increases that value. There’s obviously a lot of confidence that comes from scoring a hundred, and I think in terms of the batting line-up we’re getting to a stage where we’re starting to believe that in each innings, someone is able to go and get a hundred, so it’s good to add to that confidence.”

“Getting to the three-figure mark was quite nerve-racking. I went over to him and said, ‘Stubbo, please get me on strike. I can’t wait on this end'”

Bavuma’s approach to the hundred was fraught, however. Between getting to 80 and getting to triple figures, there was an edge that dropped short of the slips, a ball that jumped up and hit him on the glove, plays and misses, and an lbw shout and a review to the shot (it came off his glove) he got to triple figures off. Bavuma had, in fact, been asking for the strike.”I think I’m not too good when I get to the 80s and 90s. I’m going to try and get there [to a century] as soon as I can. They had the second new ball as well, and there was still something on offer for the bowlers. I was always looking to score.”Then, obviously, getting to the three-figure mark, it was quite nerve-racking. Against the spinner [Prabath Jayasuriya], I got one off the first ball, and then the next two balls Tristan Stubbs blocked. I went over to him and said, ‘Stubbo, please get me on strike. I can’t wait on this end.’ He was able to do that, so I was always going to play that shot.”The shot was a paddle sweep, and he just managed to get a glove to the ball before it hit him on the pads in front of the stumps.”It was a bit high risk, but the way the spinner was bowling, I was thinking of getting to that three-figure mark and then kind of starting again.”Sri Lanka reviewed that lbw, shout, but Bavuma had known he had got enough on it. He politely waited for the big screen to show the little spike as the ball brushed his glove.Then he celebrated his third hundred.

No team before New Zealand has won a Test by over 300 runs after losing the previous Test in the same series by over 300 runs

Sampath Bandarupalli17-Dec-2024423 – New Zealand’s victory margin of 423 runs in Hamilton is their joint-highest by runs in Test cricket. They won by the same margin runs against Sri Lanka in 2018 in Christchurch after setting a target of 660 runs.1 – New Zealand is the first team to win by a margin of over 300 runs after losing the previous Test in the series by over 300 runs – they lost the second Test of the series against England by 323 runs in Wellington.This has never happened before.England beat Australia by 322 runs in the first match of the 1936-37 Ashes before Australia returned the favour with a 365-run win in the third Test.Related

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Twice before has a team won consecutive Tests in a series by over 300 runs.South Africa beat Australia by 307 and 323 runs in consecutive matches in the 1970 home series and did the same in the home series in 2018 with victories by 322 and 492 runs.10 – New Zealand have played ten Tests at Seddon Park since their previous defeat there, in 2012 against South Africa. They have won eight out of these ten, while the other two ended in draws.1 – England is the first team to lose by a margin of 400-plus runs twice in a calendar year – they suffered a 434-run defeat against India in February in Rajkot.Six of the 15 instances of wins by 400-plus runs in Tests have come against England.13 – Men to have scored 40-plus runs and taken three or more wickets in both innings of a Test match, including Mitchell Santner in Hamilton. He is the first player to achieve this feat in men’s Test cricket since Daniel Vettori against Bangladesh in Chattogram in 2008.ESPNcricinfo Ltd1925 – Runs by Joe Root in Tests against New Zealand, the most by any batter, surpassing Javed Miandad’s tally of 1919. Root also has the most runs by a batter in Tests against India, with 2846.Root is only the second player to be the leading run-scorer against two different teams. Kumar Sangakkara is the top-scorer in Tests against both Pakistan (2911) and Bangladesh (1816).1006 – Root’s runs in New Zealand in Tests, making him the first visiting player to score over 1000 Test runs in the country. Root also has the most 50-plus scores in New Zealand by a visiting player – he has done it eight times.27 – Test wickets for Santner in 2024, making it the joint-most wickets by a New Zealand spinner in a calendar year since Vettori took 54 in 2008. Vettori also took 27 wickets in Tests in 2009.7 – Hauls of four or more wickets by New Zealand spinners in Tests in 2024. Santner and Ajaz Patel each took three, while Glenn Phillips contributed one. This tally is the second highest for New Zealand’s spinners in a calendar year, behind the nine they recorded in 2008, of which eight were by Vettori.

da wazamba： Southampton have reportedly reached an agreement with an “incredible” player ahead of a permanent St Mary’s transfer.

Southampton planning for Premier League return

da lvbet： The Saints and Russell Martin secured promotion back to the Premier League at the first time of asking following a Championship playoff final win over Leeds United last month.

Following the victory at Wembley, Martin admitted that he isn’t planning on changing his style for the top flight in 2024/25.

“For me, if you win this way, it’s the best way. There’s no right or wrong way but it’s what I believe in, it’s what we believe in. And we finally won something doing it … so I guess it will be some form of validation for some people. I love what we do and I’m not going to change and I’m sure it will start – it probably already has – that we won’t play this way in the Premier League and all of that stuff, the scrutiny and the intensity that will come with that. It is up to us to prove ourselves right and make sure we embrace it without losing who we are.”

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He has some Premier League experience…

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The club will more than likely be busy in the summer transfer window looking to bolster their squad, with a permanent move for Taylor Harwood-Bellis already secured due to an obligation to buy clause in his loan deal from Manchester City. Meanwhile, there have been rumours about a return to the south coast for Adam Lallana, whereas a bid has been made for teenage forward Jeronimo Domina.

Alongside Harwood-Bellis, the Saints could also look at permanent moves for fellow loan stars Flynn Downes and Ryan Fraser from West Ham and Newcastle United respectively, and it looks as if there has been a development with the latter.

Southampton reach Ryan Fraser agreement

According to The Athletic, Newcastle are looking to offload Fraser this summer and the player ‘has agreed a deal with Southampton’. It is added that ‘there are just details to be finalised with Newcastle’ ahead of a St Mary’s return.

Fraser played his part in the Saints’ promotion-winning campaign, making 44 appearances across the season, scoring eight times and registering three assists. The 30-year-old, on £42,000-a-week, started against Leeds at Wembley and was hailed as “incredible” by Martin following the win.

"Me, him and Matt Ritchie had many an evening in the Scotland squad where we would usually end up wrestling or fighting on some level.

"I know he's strong. I know he's aggressive. People questioned why we signed Wee Man. I knew him so well as a teammate and he has had a really tough couple of seasons. He has been incredible for us. "Not just with his performances but in training every day, the way he is has been amazing."

A permanent move to the south coast appears to be on the cards, and he’ll offer Martin plenty of Premier League experience back in the top flight, looking to add to his 173 games in the division next season.

Wicketkeeper-batter says time is right for “new challenge” as he seeks England honours

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Jul-2021Alex Davies will leave Lancashire to join Warwickshire on a three-year deal at the end of this season.Wicketkeeper-batter Davies, who linked up with Southern Brave on Monday ahead of The Hundred, said he saw the move as a chance to press for England selection and that it was the right time “to look for a new challenge”.”Warwickshire are a massive club with a proud tradition of winning,” Davies said. “The Bears squad have potential to win trophies and I want to contribute to future success. At the same time, I remain totally committed to my ambition to play cricket for England and I believe that Warwickshire can help me do that. I have loved my time at Old Trafford and am now looking forward to an exciting next chapter in my journey.”Davies made his first-team debut in 2011, going on to become the first Lancashire keeper to score 1,000 first-class runs in 2017. He has made 90 appearances in red-ball cricket, scoring 4,682 runs at an average of 36.57 and he has 170 catches and 16 stumpings.Davies has also excelled in white-ball games as part of the Lancashire Lightning side that won the 2015 Blast. In T20s, he averages 27.40 with 42 catches and 10 stumpings and, in List A, he has made 1,380 runs at 32.08, with 48 catches and 11 stumpings.Davies has largely played this season as a top-order batter with Dane Vilas keeping wicket for Lancashire. Middlesex wicketkeeper John Simpson got the nod for England honours when a new-look white-ball squad had to be plucked from the counties for the recent ODI series against Pakistan following a spate of positive Covid tests within the original group.Paul Farbrace, Warwickshire’s director of cricket, described Davies’ signing as “huge” for the county.”Alex has firmly established himself as one of the best wicketkeeper-batters in the domestic game and he knows what it takes to win,” Farbrace said. “In the red-ball game Alex has broken Lancashire records, whilst in white-ball cricket he bats with a fearless approach that can change the course of games.”To have a player of his calibre want to join Warwickshire with an ambition to win trophies and push for international selection is a fantastic boost to everyone connected with the club. Aged only 26, we believe that Alex’s best years are ahead of him and we’re committed to giving him the best platform possible to push for a place in the England team across all formats.”Paul Allott, Farbrace’s counterpart at Lancashire, said: “We are sad to see Alex leave Lancashire, but respect his decision to move on. On behalf of everybody at the club, I would like to thank Alex for his commitment and efforts during his time at Emirates Old Trafford and wish him well for the next stage of his career.”

The debate is whether de Kock was trying to deceive the batsman or signalling to his team-mates

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Apr-20212:23

Fakhar Zaman on his run-out: ‘Fault was mine as I was busy looking out for Haris Rauf’

The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) has weighed in on Fakhar Zaman’s contentious run-out on Sunday night in the second ODI against South Africa, saying it was “up to the umpires to decide” if Quinton de Kock had attempted to distract or deceive the batsman.The run-out, with Zaman on 193, took place in the final over of Pakistan’s chase of 342, when they needed 31 from six balls. The batsmen – Zaman and Haris Rauf – were trying to complete a second run, which seemed on, and wicketkeeper de Kock gestured towards the bowler’s end even as Zaman neared the batting end. Zaman appeared to slow down, and a direct hit from Aiden Markram at long-off caught him short.Later on, the MCC Twitter handle posted the law related to the dismissal – about a fielder wilfully attempting to distract, deceive or obstruct either batsman – but without really saying if de Kock was guilty or not.

The Law is clear, with the offence being an ATTEMPT to deceive, rather than the batsman actually being deceived.

It’s up to the umpires to decide if there was such an attempt. If so, then it's Not out, 5 Penalty runs + the 2 they ran, and batsmen choose who faces next ball.

— Marylebone Cricket Club (@MCCOfficial) April 4, 2021