According to reports in the Turkish press Liverpool and Manchester United are gearing up for a battle for the exciting young Turkish winger Arda Turan this summer. The player is expected to leave Galatasaray with the club finishing a highly disappointing 5th in the Turkish league, 10 points behind champions Besiktas.

An added bonus for potential suitors of Arda is the player’s versatility as he can play on either flank or even in a more central role. Liverpool have been strongly linked to the golden boy of Turkish football as Rafa Benitez has been looking to add some much needed flair to his strong outfit. However, with Cristiano Ronaldo’s imminent departure from Manchester United, Sir Alex is also in the market and may struggle to sign number one target Franck Ribery. Whoever does sign the Turkish international will sign a player who’ll provide width and trickery in abundance.

The 22-year-old Galatasaray midfielder enjoyed an excellent season individually even though the team ultimately struggled after scoring 7 goals in 29 league appearances (27 starts). In the 2007/08 season he also weighed in with 7 goals in 30 league appearances (29 starts) which led to interest from England, Spain and Italy in the process.

Since breaking into the first team he has scored an impressive 19 goals from 86 (80 starts) league appearances and has become a mainstay of the team that won the 2007/08 Turkish title. His match-winning performances in Turkey’s superb Euro 2008 displays also intensified the growing interest in the exciting winger as well as increased his price tag.

The player is expected to cost around £13m which may not be too much of a gamble if he can realise his amazing potential in England.

He’d looked destined for St James’ last summer but Newcastle’s reluctance to pay more than £8.5million prior to Euro 2008 was met with disdain by Galatasaray President Adnan Polat. The Magpies were reportedly in a hurry to get Turan signed up prior to the European Championships as they feared impressive performances by the player would push his value up even further. Unfortunately for the Tyneside giants, that is exactly what happened.

Arda has won 31 caps for his country (3 goals) despite his tender age after progressing from the U19 and U21 sides. The youngster is both quick and two footed and has been likened to former Galatasaray legend Gheorghe Hagi in his home country so should give you an idea of how highly he is rated. It promises to be an interested summer battle between Liverpool and Manchester United in regards to who finally signs the golden boy of Turkish football.

So would you like to see this exciting young talent in the Premier League or do you feel he could flatter to deceive in the hurly burly pace of the English top flight? Let’s hear your views.

Duckworth Lewis crushed English hopes, West Indies Joined South Africa and Pakistan in Semis

West Indies won by 5 wickets. (Revised target - Duckworth-Lewis system)

Match Summary

England 161-6 (R Bopara 55)
West Indies 82-5 (R Sarwan 19)
West Indies won by 5 wickets. (Revised target - Duckworth-Lewis system)

Match Review

Directed from Sky Sports,

West Indies at the Oval on Monday.

Showers in London reduced the Windies target to 80 from nine overs, which they did with five wickets in hand and four balls to spare.

England had earlier posted 161 for six from their 20 overs, with Ravi Bopara hitting a maiden Twenty20 international half-century.

But rain then caused a halt in play and, despite breakthroughs in each of the first three overs, Chris Gayle’s team completed their first win in five attempts against England this summer to qualify for the semi-finals of the competition.

Tension
The Windies made hard work of the chase, though, as first Andre Fletcher fell for his third straight duck when he skied a cross-batted shot off James Anderson to wicketkeeper James Foster.

The ever-dangerous Gayle was next to go when bowled by Ryan Sidebottom and Stuart Broad then got Lendl Simmons caught at third man for a golden duck as the Windies were reduced to 16-3.

But the Caribbean men bat deep and Kieron Pollard and Dwayne Bravo rallied before recalled leg spinner Adil Rashid got the former bowled for nine.

Bravo swiftly followed as James Foster and Graeme Swann combined for a stumping - a repeat of the superb work done by the duo in getting Yuvraj Singh out in Sunday’s win over India.

But the bowlers’ efforts proved of no avail, as Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan held their nerve to guide the Windies home with an unbeaten 37-run stand.

Problem
Bopara had earlier top scored for England with 55, but no other batsman made more than Kevin Pietersen’s 31.

Their partnership of 56 was ended when Pietersen was caught by Fletcher at deep square leg off medium-pacer Simmons for 31.

And Bopara, having made a fine fifty, could not press on and was lbw to occasional off-spinner Gayle, which ultimately meant the revised target always looked below par.

England sent India Packing, Former Champs out of the T20

England crushed Indian emotions by 3 runs

Match Summary

England 153-7(K Pietersen 46)
India 150-5 (Y Pathan 33)
Englan won by 3 runs.

Match Review

Directed from Sky Sports,

England knocked defending champions India out of the World Twenty20 tournament with a nerve-jangling three-run victory at Lord’s.

Paul Collingwood’s men looked to have fallen a bit short when they could only muster 153-7 when asked to bat first, but a superb bowling and fielding effort saw India fall just short.

Despite a fine late stand between skipper MS Dhoni and Yusuf Pathan India fell just three runs short on 150-5 and, after losing their Super Eights opener against West Indies, they now cannot make the semi-finals.

As well as dumping out the defending champions, England kept their campaign alive and they will now face West Indies in 24 hours’ time with Monday’s clash being a straight shoot-out for a semi-final spot.

Early loss
After losing Luke Wright in the second over, Kevin Pietersen and Ravi Bopara added 71 before the latter was bowled by 20-year-old spinner Ravi Jadeja for a run-a-ball 27.

Pietersen also fell to Jadeja (2-26), as he was trapped lbw just a ball after clubbing the youngster high into the stands, leaving the hosts on 92-3.

England’s innings stalled as a result, with Dimitri Mascarenhas unable to get going after being promoted up the order and sent in at number four, and runs came exclusively in ones and twos.

Owais Shah perished in the deep for 12 when he finally tried a big shot, and skipper Collingwood went for five in the penultimate over when trying a reverse dab against Zaheer Khan.

Harbhajan Singh then took two wickets in two balls, James Foster and Graeme Swann, to restrict England to just 153-7, which looked a small target to defend.

The re-called Ryan Sidebottom got an early breakthrough as Rohit Sharma chopped on in the second over for nine, and he then removed Suresh Raina as he finally succumbed to the barrage of short balls by finding Wright out at deep mid-wicket.

Jadeja struggle
Young Jadeja came in at four, but he and Gautam Gambhir struggled to keep up with the asking rate, and when Gambhir went in the 11th over India were on just 62-3.

Danger-man Yuvraj Singh came in and smacked his first ball for six off Swann to signal his intent and also signal that the victory target was still well in sight.

The 14th over proved crucial, as just after Yuvraj had slugged a second six Jadeja tried the same only for Broad to pluck a fine catch out of the air right on the fence.

Three balls later and Yuvraj was heading back to the pavilion for 17 after some excellent work from wicket-keeper Foster, who showed lightning quick hands to stump the Indian after he had over-balanced out of his crease when missing a Swann delivery.

Dhoni and Pathan gave it everything, taking 11 from the 17th and 18th overs to leave 29 from 18 balls to win, and that came down to 19 off the last after Broad had gone for just nine in the penultimate over - although he did fluff a sitter of a run-out chance.

Perhaps showing that the duo should have come in earlier, Pathan hacked a straight six off the fourth ball to leave nine required from two, but Sidebottom came back with a superb Yorker for a single.

Dhoni reached the fence off the last ball but it was too late and champions India saw their title defence end far too prematurely after losing a three-run thriller.

T20 World Cup

ICC T20 World Cup, Today’s matches are as follow

12:30 GMT, 13:30 local - Ireland v Sri Lanka
Lord’s, England
16:30 GMT, 17:30 local - England v India
Lord’s, England