While they’ve received stick for the way they’ve gone about it, Chelsea have built a seriously talented squad over the last few years.

While it’s most certainly not the finished product, Enzo Maresca has several genuinely world-class players he can pick from every week, be that Cole Palmer, Moises Caicedo or Reece James.

However, while the Blues have got plenty right with their squad building, they’ve also made unnecessary or downright pointless signings.

One summer arrival who is unfortunately veering more towards that camp this year is Jamie Gittens, although another in the squad is now looking even more perplexing.

Gittens' form this season

When Chelsea announced the signing of Gittens in the summer, there was some genuine excitement in the fanbase, and understandably so.

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After all, here was a young, dynamic winger who ended last season with an impressive haul of 17 goal involvements in 49 games for one of Germany’s biggest clubs.

Moreover, with goals away against Bayern Munich and Real Madrid, the 21-year-old looked like the sort of fearless attacker the Blues needed in their squad.

Unfortunately, since arriving in West London, the Reading-born ace has looked a shadow of the player he was at Borussia Dortmund.

It’s hard to pinpoint exactly why the youngster has been in such poor form, but when watching him, his ability to beat players on the ball has disappeared, as has his ability to make the right decision in dangerous areas.

Gittens’ recent league form

Season

24/25

25/26

Appearances

32

12

Minutes

1784′

426′

Goals

8

0

Assists

4

2

Goal Involvements per Match

0.37

0.16

Minutes per Goal Involvement

148.66′

213′

All Stats via Transfermarkt

This combination has seen him score just once and provide five assists in 20 appearances.

That might not sound too bad, but it’s important to note that three of his goal involvements have come in the League Cup and the other three have come against Ajax, Burnley and Leeds United.

The most worrying performance of his short Blues career came on Tuesday night, when, against League One Cardiff, he failed to create anything of note, ending the game without a successful dribble or shot on target.

In all, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to argue with one analyst’s claim that he’s been a “pointless signing.”

However, and worryingly for Chelsea, there is another player they signed in the summer who has arguably been even more pointless.

The Chelsea signing more pointless than Gittens

Of all the signings Chelsea made in the summer, the one that is increasingly feeling the most pointless is Facundo Buonanotte.

Now, to be clear, the youngster is a talented footballer and someone who could have a bright future ahead of him.

After all, he produced nine goal involvements in 35 appearances for Leicester City last season and has been described as having a “left foot made of gold” by talent scout Jacek Kulig.

However, he was signed on a season-long loan with no option or obligation to buy him at the end of the campaign, and, simply put, the few minutes he’s getting would surely be better given to the club’s many impressive academy talents.

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Moreover, Ecuadorian wonderkid Kendry Paez was sent out on loan to Strasbourg in the summer, so why not just keep him and forget about bringing the Argentine in altogether?

Furthermore, even when he’s played for the team, he hasn’t been all that impressive.

Yes, he did pick up an assist against Cardiff – only his second goal involvement in seven games for the club – but he was really relatively poor in the first half.

For example, he failed in 66% of his dribbles, took just one shot on target, lost the ball 12 times, lost eight of 11 ground duels and was generally deserving of the 6/10 match rating football.london’s Bobby Vincent gave him at full-time.

Ultimately, while Buonanotte is not a terrible player, bringing him in on loan with no option feels even more pointless today than it did in the summer, especially when some of Chelsea’s best academy players surely could have done a job against third-tier Cardiff.

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Neil McKenzie, ignored by the national selectors for the first three games againstNew Zealand, waved his bat under the noses of Rushdie Magiet and colleagueswith a stylish century to help Northerns Titans beat North West Dragons by29 runs at Supersport Park on Wednesday night.Not one of the national selectors in the Gauteng region turned up to watchMcKenzie in a Standard Bank Cup game where he put together the sort ofperformance which revived a struggling innings, his 103 coming off 109balls and including 12 fours.McKenzie learned only hours before the side left Nairobi on Sunday that hehad been left out of the national squad for the opening matches of thelimited overs international season against the competitive New Zealanders.This after the selectors had earlier indicated they were grooming the Titansbatsman for a middle-order place.McKenzie and the Northerns Titans captain, Gerald Dros, posteda national domestic record of 181 runs for the fourth wicket as Northerns puttogether a total of 239 for seven in their 45 overs.Dros scored an impressive 86 off 99 balls and, with his threewickets for 52 earned man of the match award.Greg Smith’s left-arm pace (3-24) ripped through the North West top-order asthe Dragons ran out of steam, scoring 210 for seven. Mark Lavine made 63 off 56 balls with three fours and six sixes, two of them among the biggestseen at the venue in a long time.

Almost a month after receiving the no-conflict-of-interest declaration from the BCCI, four member associations, including that of BCCI treasurer Anirudh Chaudhry, have still not signed the declaration. The issue is likely to be taken up at next week’s BCCI working committee.Haryana Cricket Association, Tamil Nadu Cricket Association, Karnataka State Cricket Association and Hyderabad Cricket Association have still not signed the dotted line of the no-conflict-of-interest declaration circulated by the BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur on July 21. Interestingly, all the four associations are loyal supporters of the former BCCI president N Srinivasan, though others close to him have signed it. Two of these four associations confirmed to ESPNcricinfo they will raise their concerns during next week’s working committee meeting, scheduled to be held in Kolkata on August 28.

Highlights of the conflict-of-interest declaration

• A ‘conflict of interest’ may arise by way of being influenced with any private or personal interest, directly or indirectly, while discharging my duties and responsibilities as Office Bearer of the Association

• Not to secure, receive or be part of any decision which may tend to scuttle my enshrined duties and responsibilities or which may ensure any benefit to me or to my relations, including financial, commercial or any other vested interest

• Not associated with any Institution or otherwise which derives any financial, commercial or any other benefits or gain from the BCCI directly or indirectly, other than the official grants received by the Association

• Not received any personal benefit directly or indirectly through my family or relations, while discharging my duties as Office Bearer

• Not hold any ‘Office of Profit’ or ‘commercial interest’ in any Institution or otherwise which derives any financial, commercial or any other benefits or gain from the BCCI

• Not made, and shall not be part of any decision from which any advantage, directly or indirectly could be derived by me, any of my family members, close relatives or otherwise constituting breach of the Code of Conduct of the BCCI or the Association

• In the event of any act, function of the Association or any decision making process or related to any Tournament or otherwise, any conflict of interest do arise, I shall forthwith disclose the same and refrain myself from being associated with the same in any manner whatsoever

Haryana hasn’t yet signed because, according to an association insider, the communication is “invalid since it’s not a working committee resolution”. TNCA and KSCA will seek clarifications on the definition of business and commercial commitments of players and office-bearers. Hyderabad Cricket Association, meanwhile, is still deliberating the issue and will finalise its stance in an executive committee meeting later this week.TNCA secretary Kasi Viswanathan said they needed “a lot of clarifications at the working committee on what constituted business and commercial commitments of players as well as office-bearers” before the association can sign the document. TNCA’s alleged conflicts of interest, with president Srinivasan’s family business owning an IPL franchise, is considered to be the root cause of the problem.In fact, during its probe of the IPL corruption scandal, Supreme Court-appointed Justice Mukul Mudgal panel had barred none of the individuals associated with India Cements to be involved in Indian cricket.While KSCA secretary Brijesh Patel and president PR Ashok Anand remained unavailable for a comment, a KSCA source elaborated on their grievances. “Even the top players are associated with a lot of franchises. Conflict of interest… even some of our players are there as selectors, coaches, some of the life members are there as coaches, whether it will be applicable to cricketers. So BCCI’s clarification is required. No way [we will sign this before we get clarification],” he said.Patel, interestingly, wears plenty of hats at present. Besides being the KSCA secretary, the former India batsman also serves as the Royal Challengers Bangalore chief executive and the National Cricket Academy director.Hyderabad has an interesting tale, with president Arshad Ayub and secretary John Manoj both running renowned cricket academies in Hyderabad. Former HCA president Shivlal Yadav is reported to have accused both of them for selecting players mainly from their academies in Hyderabad teams during his recent deposition before the Lodha committee.”How will it be a conflict of interest?” an HCA official asked. “There are no parameters as such. Today they will say it is conflict. That means tomorrow if my son plays also then it becomes a conflict. Should he not play or what?”Lodha Committee is coming and checking. How will they know that a cricketer will start his life naturally with cricket [as a player] and if he wants to go into managing committee… he shouldn’t be stopped from doing that, no? Other than that [being involved in cricket], what we can do, you tell me?”While Thakur was unavailable for comment, a BCCI official clarified that the board was open to answering all doubts. In fact, when one of the four disgruntled association representatives raised the issue with the BCCI officials, he was told to “write in with all the objections so that they can be dealt with”. So far, the BCCI has not received any written communication.As for the lack of a working committee stamp on the BCCI circular, the official clarified that the BCCI rulebook authorises the secretary to initiate such actions with the permission of the president.Besides the former players’ involvement in various capacities, one of the major conflict of interest areas has been the in-stadia rights allocation for international matches. For every international match that even a small centre gets to host once every three years, it is observed that many associations award the in-stadia rights to kin of the key officials and allegedly get kickbacks.While Thakur is walking away with the credit for setting the motion in process, a BCCI old-timer said the move has been part of Dalmiya’s plans for a long time. He recalled an incident in 2004-05, when Dalmiya, who was the de facto head of the BCCI with Ranbir Singh Mahendra as a proxy president, had proposed a similar declaration. Facing flak during the controversial allocation of TV rights, Dalmiya had proposed in a working committee to sign an undertaking declaring no conflict of interest in awarding the broadcast rights and signed it himself. Other BCCI officials, however, objected to it.The declaration circulated by Thakur last month asks each office-bearer of all 30 full members to confirm: “I am not in any manner or mode associated or connected with any Institution, body Corporate, Association of persons, Partnership or otherwise in any form or manner which derives any financial, commercial or any other benefits or gain from the Board of Control for Cricket in India directly or indirectly, other than the official grants received by the Association I represent.”

ScorecardAndrew Gale can anticipate a second chance to lift the title•Getty Images

Andrew Gale could have written the script. Next week, a little under a year after a last-minute ruling from the England and Wales Cricket board denied him his dream of lifting the Championship trophy as Yorkshire captain, he will realise his ambition on their own front lawn, so to speak, at Lord’s.That this will happen is a formality after Yorkshire’s third win by an innings in the space of seven matches left them within a handful of points of winning the title for the second year running. Now they take on Middlesex, currently in second place, knowing that when they turn up at headquarters next Wednesday, a draw would put Middlesex out of the running and give Yorkshire enough points to ensure that Nottinghamshire could not catch up even if they won all their remaining matches with maximum points.

Gale reluctant to lose 16-game Championship

Yorkshire captain Andrew Gale has spoken against reducing the number of Championship fixtures from the current 16 per team in any restructuring of domestic cricket.
It is expected that a cut to 14 — opposed by county chief executives but supported in principle by county chairman after consultations at Lord’s this week — will be recommended when the ECB executive meets at the end of the month.
Polled by the Professional Cricketers’ Association, the majority of players said they wanted the primacy of the Championship to be preserved and Gale, about to lead his team to a second consecutive title, is among them.
“I’m not against 14 games but only as long as there is symmetry in the fixtures,” he said, “but I would prefer 16 because I think you need that number to properly reflect who is the best side in that format over a season.
“I’m also a Yorkshireman and a traditionalist and if you asked the members I think 99 per cent of them would want 16 games as well.”

As Yorkshire celebrated this crushing win, Gale revealed that the title had not been mentioned in the dressing room, even though it is so close, but he was not denying the gleam in his own eye. Told that, because he was suspended after his verbal attack on Lancashire’s Ashwell Prince, he would have to stand aside as Yorkshire received their trophy last season, what should have been the sweetest moment of his career was soured. He knew he might never have the chance again but now 12 months later he has.”Since we came back for pre-season, the motivation for me to lift that trophy again after what happened last season has been a big driver,” he said. “To win back to back Championship trophies will be special but, for me, to actually lift the trophy myself will be even more special.”It would have been nice to do it here in front of our own fans but to do so at Lord’s, the home of cricket, will be a fantastic experience. I’m sure people will travel down to be there too.”And I don’t know if you noticed but I’ve been keeping my mouth firmly shut during this game, leaving the others to do the talking. And I’ll be keeping it shut again next week, just concentrating on the job in hand.”Amid intense competition for places at Headingley, Gale’s sometimes patchy batting form has again put him under pressure to justify his place but he has inspirational qualities as an individual to which his players respond time and again.On this occasion, his bowlers delivered twice, skittling Somerset for 110 in the first innings and making short work of them second time around. Resuming at 44 for 2 on the third morning, the relegation-threatened west countrymen managed to survive 35 minutes without losing a wicket but once the first incision was make by Steve Patterson they were ripped apart with ruthless zeal.Tom Cooper, driving expansively, was first to go, caught behind, followed by Jim Allenby, taken at third slip. Once James Hildreth, having reached 57 following his reprieve on 18 on Wednesday evening, had been seen off by Jack Brooks, it became only a matter of how quickly Yorkshire could finish the job.In the event, it was before lunch, more or less, the interval having been delayed for all of two minutes after the ninth wicket fell before Tim Groenewald squirted a catch to Gary Ballance at point off Tim Bresnan and the celebrations began. From the first wicket of the morning to the last there were 19 overs precisely, the last eight Somerset wickets falling for 68 runs.Patterson and Ryan Sidebottom in particular were impressive, the latter moving to within one wicket of 700 for his career in first-class matches, although Somerset’s resistance was feeble, their performance collectively that of a side who could not wait to be on the coach home.Their captain, Marcus Trescothick, admitted the next two matches are more important.”This was a comprehensive defeat and we were completely outplayed,” he said. “Yorkshire executed their skills far greater than we did in every aspect of the game. It is why they will almost certainly be champions for the second year.”Our next game is a crucial relegation clash with Hampshire and it is a massive game in the context of the season. We need to improve our skills and put in a much better performance to get the result we want.”We follow that with a visit to Hove so we have eight days of challenging cricket in nine days. We have got a mental battle ahead of us over the last few weeks of the season.”

Delhi coach Ajay Jadeja will miss his team’s opening game against Rajasthan because his son is unwell. “Ajay (Jadeja) has informed us that he would not be able to perform the coach’s duty as his son is not well,” DDCA president Sneh Prakash Bansal told PTI. “He is expected to join the team from the second match.” There was speculation that Jadeja’s absence was motivated by his displeasure over Amit Bhandari’s appointment as assistant coach. Bansal, however, denied it was the reason. “For us, Ajay is the chief coach and his decisions are final. If there would have been such a problem, we would have removed Bhandari as Jadeja is more important to us.”

J&K have two teams on eve of game

Jammu & Kashmir were faced with the possibility of fielding two teams on the eve of their opening game. The reported that while the Mithun Manhas-led squad was announced by the Imran Reza Ansari-led faction a few days ago, the rival Farooq Abdullah group announced their own squad, which did not feature Manhas and had Parvez Rasool as captain. The Manhas-led team eventually took the field on the first day.

Tiwary likely to be named Bengal captain

Manoj Tiwary is likely to be named captain of the Bengal side, after Laxmi Ratan Shukla requested Sourav Ganguly, the CAB joint-secretary, and the selectors to not consider him for captaincy. According to a report in the , Tiwary was the only option after Wriddhiman Saha was not firm on taking up the job. The official announcement, the report said, will be made on Thursday when the squad for Bengal’s first match, against Karnataka on October 8, is finalised.

Sandeep, Aaron miss opening games

Sandeep Sharma has missed Punjab’s opening game against Railways with a back injury. He is reportedly out of action for two months. Meanwhile, Varun Aaron, who a few days ago said he wanted some game-time before the Tests against South Africa and was named Jharkhand captain, wasn’t part of the XI in their opening match against Services in Delhi.

BCCI bars 22 Delhi players for age fraud

The BCCI has barred 22 Delhi players from participating in age-group tournaments because of allegations of age fraud, the reported. The BCCI’s game development manager, Ratnakar Shetty, advised the DDCA against fielding the players till a clearer picture emerged about their age. Shetty’s instruction followed a letter from DDCA vice president Chetan Chauhan seeking clarity on whether the players could be fielded. “Two of those against whom the FIR has been filed were part of the under-19 team,” Chauhan said. “We didn’t want a situation where they were part of the playing XI and then there is further trouble. We are not targeting a particular player but as an FIR has been filed we have checked with the BCCI.”

BCB president Nazmul Hassan has said the killing of an Italian national in Dhaka on Monday could seal the fate of the Bangladesh-Australia Test series, officially due to begin next week. However, he also said he believed that the security assurance – including a four-layered cover – given to Cricket Australia’s security team by the highest level of the Bangladesh government in their meetings over the past two days should be sufficient for a touring team.Cricket Australia, Hassan said, is likely to inform the BCB of its decision on the tour in the next couple of days.While it is quite rare for a foreign national to be a target of such an attack in Dhaka, the timing of the incident will not help matters related to the tour. The team’s departure was delayed after the Australia government issued a travel alert last Friday.”The situation is now different after the death of the Italian national,” Hassan told reporters at his residence in Dhaka on Tuesday. “The UK and US governments have also given out alerts. This is a very rare incident in Bangladesh but one has to understand the difference between this and a cricket team that is given blanket security.”Hassan said that the specific threat did not relate to the touring team but to an annual event held by Australian expatriates in Dhaka. “Every year on October 2, Australians living here hold a private party in a hotel. They had information related specifically to that programme.”He also spoke on the meetings between the two sides. “In the space of a day and a half we took them to the highest level of our security and intelligence agencies, the home minister, as well as the prime minister’s security advisor,” Hassan said. “Everyone reassured them that there won’t be any trouble. We will give them four-layered security.”

Dale Steyn could spend the rest of the Mohali Test as a spectator after picking up a groin strain in the field on the second day. Steyn did not bowl at all in India’s second innings as a “precaution,” according to the CSA Twitter feed at the time, but the post-day analysis appears more serious.”I think he’s struggling. I think he has got a groin strain and I can’t see him bowling tomorrow,” Claude Henderson, South Africa’s spin consultant, said.The news will come as a blow to South Africa, who are looking to limit India’s lead, which has already reached 142 by the end of the second day, and may have looked to Steyn to generate reverse swing. They will not lack for an option in out and out pace though, with Kagiso Rabada bowling at around 145 kph plus.Steyn’s absence will leave Vernon Philander to lead the attack, with Morne Morkel missing the match through injury and will force South Africa to rely more heavily on spin. Henderson hopes legspinner Imran Tahir, who has taken three wickets so far but has been used sparingly by Hashim Amla, will have the opportunity to make more of an impact.”Imran Tahir has just come back into Test cricket. He is seen as an attacking bowler by Hashim, so maybe that’s why he is using him in short spells, and Dean Elgar took four wickets in the first innings. But I agree, I would have loved to see him bowl longer today. Maybe that will happen tomorrow,” Henderson said. “The good sign is I’ve seen Imran bowl a few balls in the last session that turned and bounced.”That sign may not be so good for South Africa’s chase, which is already looking tough, and which Henderson said could get tougher as soon as India’s lead pops over the 200-run mark. “We need wickets early to try to create some pressure. Anything above 200 will be challenging,” he said. “But I’ve seen this team do some special things. With our batting line-up I wouldn’t be at ease if I was India because there’s a lot of time left in this game. But you don’t want to go past 300.”

Martin Bicknell – bowling blitz has Leics in trouble Photo © Paul McGregor

Martin Bicknell broke through Leicestershire’s batting by taking five wickets for Surrey in a spell which had the visitors in trouble at 33-6 by the close at Guildford: they were just 63 runs ahead. He followed his seven first-innings wickets by dismissing both openers, Darren Maddy and Iain Sutcliffe, and taking three more wickets in ten balls.Earlier Leicestershire appeared to have gained a good grip on the game with James Ormond taking six wickets in Surrey’s 288 runs total which owed almosteverything to Ian Ward (107). Nadeem Shahid (47) and Ward took Surrey from93-1 with some positive stroke-play but the partnership was broken byleg-spinner Anil Kumble in the last ober before lunch.
Ally Brown, who had plundered the Leicestershire bowling a week ago, was forced to leave the field temporarily after being struck on the left wrist by a ball from Ormond. Yet Surrey pressed on purposefully with Ward and Ben Hollioakeputting on 75.On his return to the crease Brown partnered Ward through to his hundred butthe young quick bowler had him caught at the wicket for 34 and in the sameover dismissed Bicknell for a duck. Ward fell at last to DeFreitas afterbatting for 215 balls and hitting 14 fours. Ormond and Kumble then wrapped up the remaining wickets.

Spinners Robert Croft and Dean Cosker put on the breaks after bottom of the table Derbyshire looked set to amass a daunting target at the County Ground.England reject Croft took 1-31 and Cosker 1-30 from nine overs apiece to restrict the home side to 211-8 from their 45 overs.Derbyshire got off to a flyer with Michael Di Venuto and Matt Cassar cracking 37 off the first four overs.There was a short lull after Di Venuto holed out to Alun Evans off Owen Parkin for 16, but Cassar and Robert Bailey soon regained the momentum.Dave Harrision was taken out of the attack after being hammered for 41 from four overs and Glamorgan were pleased to see the back of Cassar when the total had reached 80 from 10 overs.He was caught by Croft off Parkin for 44 and Derbyshire were forced toconsolidate after Matthew Dowman joined Bailey.Dowman made 33 in a stand of 50 before he was ousted by Croft, but Bailey continued to play responsibly before he was bowled by Adrian Dale in the 43rd over for a solid 63.

The unpredictable Cape weather intervened on day three of this highly competitive Supersport Series match to leave both sides wondering how to avoid a draw going into the final day.When the umpires finally gave way to the elements as the red ball became hard to see under the floodlights, Western Province had reached 45-1 in their second innings, a lead of 104.Western Province captain H.D Ackerman might be asking himself whether his batsman, Gary Kirsten and Jacques Kallis, should have stayed out there in a bid to really force a result from this game. But with Shaun Pollock and Eldine Baptiste steaming in from either end, it was hard to argue with the batsmen’s decision.Despite the intervention of the rain, there was still plenty to enjoy for the small crowd that straggled in to Newlands in the knowledge that the weatherman had predicted a day of intermittent showers. In particular, there were a series of showdowns between South African internationals, of which there are plenty in this match, as the competitive juices really started to flow.Lance Klusener and Roger Telemachus, Pollock and Kallis and thenHerschelle Gibbs and Klusener again – all took their turns to offer some verbal opinions on the other’s ability – or lack of it. Klusener’s message to Gibbs after getting him out caught at the wicket was particularly forthright, the opening batsman standing his ground to see the umpire send him back to the pavilion after a short delay.The morning had seen Natal’s lower order do well to take the team within sight of the Province’s first innings total. All but Pollock got a start and young John Kent did better than that, finishing unbeaten on 74.Kent is a promising all-rounder – he took three Province wickets earlier in the game – and his innings was full of sweet drives and neat shots punched off his legs.