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Australian striker rejects move to Chinese club
Canberra: Australian striker Tomi Juric has rejected a lucrative three-year deal with Chinese club Shanghai Shenhua and will instead opt to move to a European club to continue his football career.
Juric looked destined to sign a deal worth $14 million over three years with Shanghai Shenhua and allegedly had a verbal agreement with the club’s president that he would sign by Thursday evening, as per reported.
That followed successful discussions between his current club, Western Sydney, and Shanghai Shenhua, in which a $1.2 million transfer fee was agreed.
However, after talking with Australian manager Ange Postecoglou, the 23-year-old has stalled on a move to China and will instead attempt to force through a transfer to a European club at the end of the current A-League season.
“Tomi had talks with Ange over his future and it may be that he told Tomi that he had to live and die by his decision,” Juric’s agent, Ante Alilovic, was reported by SBS to have said Friday.
“He told Tomi he picks his players on form, but the feeling may also have been given to Tomi by Ange that he would improve more in Europe than China. If I were a national team coach, I would have expressed that view.
Juric scored just his second senior international goal in Australia’s 4-0 victory over Oman at the Asian Cup Tuesday.
He also scored the decisive goal in Western Sydney’s historic Asian Champions League final victory over Saudi Arabian side Al- Hilal last year.
Although no European clubs are believed to have contacted Juric regarded a move in the January transfer window, the striker is out- of-contract in four months and is free to leave Western Sydney without a transfer fee having to be agreed upon.
Juric currently has two goals from six A-League appearances this year after scoring eight times from 20 matches last season.
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Sunil Gavaskar gives his opinion of GT allrounder Rahul Tewatia
The left-handed batsman from Haryana is garnering praise from all quarters for the way he’s finishing games regularly in the most exciting IPL season.
Gavaskar reckons Tewatia’s whirlwind knock in Sharjah (in IPL 2020) where he smashed West Indies pacer Sheldon Cottrell for five sixes in an over, gave him the confidence that he belongs to the big stage.
Speaking on Cricket Live on Star Sports, Gavaskar said, “That assault on Sheldon Cottrell in Sharjah gave him the belief to do the impossible and the confidence that he belongs here. We saw the impossible (he did with the bat) the other day as well. There’s no twitching or touching the pads (which shows a batter’s nervousness) when he bats in the death overs. He just waits for the ball to be delivered and plays his shots. He’s got all the shots in the book, but most importantly his temperament to stay cool in a crisis is brilliant.”
Gavaskar has also nicknamed the 28-year-old cricketer the ‘ice-man’ and lauded Tewatia’s ability to remain unruffled during the tense moments.