The agent of Tottenham Hotspur target Nicolas Gaitan has told Foot Mercato that the midfielder will leave Atletico Madrid in January, reports talkSPORT.
What’s the word?
The North London outfit, as well as Manchester United, were registered with an interest in the Argentine earlier this year.
Gaitan has found it difficult trying to cement a place in the first team having started just six La Liga games this season.
The midfielder’s agent Jose Iribarren has told Foot Mercato that a number of English clubs are interested in his client, who intends to move on next month.
“I can tell you English clubs are interested. Yes, he’ll undoubtedly leave Atletico in January. He has a lot of concrete offers. Nicolas was an important player when he played in Argentina, at Benfica and with the national team.
“He can’t continue in these conditions. If he can’t play a string of matches, nor win the coach’s trust. A player wants to play. We’re going to see with Atletico which solution we can find.”
The 29-year-old has been at the Spanish outfit since 2016 when he made the switch from Benfica, where he made more than 250 appearances.
Do Tottenham need him?
The Premier League club may not necessarily be crying out for Gaitan, but he is certainly capable of providing the team with some attacking flair.
So far, Mauricio Pochettino has been reliant on Christian Eriksen and Dele Alli to lead the way from midfield.
However, both players have experienced dips in form in recent weeks, which could be down to the amount of games they are feating in.
Gaitan would be a decent player to call upon for an injection of quality, plus the midfielder has Champions League experience.
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The fact that the player’s agent has confirmed his client has a desire to move in January, puts Tottenham in a good position in terms of negotiations.
Much is made of Jack Wilshere being the prodigal son, but for me Ross Barkley is the real deal.
Everton fans may still be mourning the loss of Marouane Fellaini and rightly so because they have lost someone of undoubted quality. The Premier League club need not dwell on this for long though, because I believe they have a man of potential world-class ability waiting in the wings to fill the void.
Ross Barkley has taken the Premier League by storm this season, and has rightly won himself many admirers. Displays which have shown a degree of confidence and experience beyond his mere 19 years of age, the youngster has shown himself to be the creative spark to fire both Everton and England forward.
Standing toe-to-toe with the established stars of Chelsea, Barkley stood firm where others would have buckled. A constant source of inspiration and direction for the ‘Toffees’, the future appears to be bright for the talented youngster.
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At 19 he is far from the finished article, and as much as Saturday’s performance was a success for Barkley it wasn’t without its faults. From time to time he was caught in possession and gifted Chelsea the initiative when perhaps they didn’t warrant it. Whatever the critique and advice Barkley is afforded going forward, I am convinced he will take it in his stride.
His peers regard him as someone that realises that he was a lot to learn, and that he is readily keen to make the best of his abilities. In Roberto Martinez he has the perfect manager in my view to harness this precocious wealth. A midfield pool that contains the likes of Osman, Barry and McCarthy is definitely conducive to harnessing this talent, and the style of football that the Spaniard is trying to breed is perfect to develop Barkley’s abilities.
The manager has unerring faith, playing the Englishman as much as possible so far this season and clearly he understands the balancing act required here. Barkley has occupied an advanced playmaker role this season, and this suits him perfectly at this stage. Any mistake he makes has been easily covered by a supporting cast behind him containing the stoic Gareth Barry amongst others. The Premier League is a baptism of fire to even the hardiest of footballing souls, but I think the way Barkley has been employed so far is both shrewd and effective.
Perhaps most important for Everton fans, and this is something that cannot be taught, is Barkley’s innate Scouse steel. A terrible leg break may have set the youngster back somewhat, but now he shows the self-confidence and aggression crucial to Premier League success.
Watching Barkley he wants to be out there, he wants the ball as much as possible. Not shy of a tackle, he offers the balance that perhaps Everton and England both crave.
Such self-assurance would have been tested away on England duty, but from observers he looked every bit the assured talent that his admirers have touted him as. Could we have a future a star in our midst?
I believe so.
The future is bright for Barkley, but it always important to temper the excitement. Whilst the comparisons to Wilshere will be made, it is important to learn lessons from the Arsenal midfielders career so far. Played readily at such a young age, much by necessity, Wilshere has been constantly dogged by reoccurring stress fractures and related injuries. Maybe Wilshere will continue his rise to prominence, but personally his development has been slowed by an excessive workload at such a young age.
Martinez knows he has an abundance of riches in the middle of the park, with Gibson on the return as well. The need to push Barkley into the action week in week out isn’t there, and I can see the Spaniard rotating the squad heavily as we enter the bulk of the season. Difficult I know to do considering the excitement surrounding the player, but for the long term this is an understandable necessity.
A loan spell to the Championship may still not be a bad bet, even if it draws a degree of disappointment from fans.
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Everton may well have lost their talismanic star to United, but if they play their cards right they may have a gem for years to come.
Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney suffered a gash to his upper leg and looks set to miss four weeks of football that will include two World Cup qualifiers for England.
Rooney suffered the nasty injury shortly after coming on as a substitute as United picked up their first three points of the season in a narrow win at home to Fulham.
After being left out of the staring XI, with Robin van Persie taking his place, Rooney came on only to be heading down the tunnel shortly afterwards following a collision with Fulham’s Hugo Rodallega that left the England striker needing hospital treatment.
“It is a very bad cut,” Ferguson told the Daily Mirror. “He went straight to hospital. It looks like he will be out for four weeks. It’s a bad one.”
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Rooney will now miss key games for United, but also two vital World Cup qualifiers for England against Moldova and Ukraine where Hodgson will have to select from his limited attacking options.
Out-of-favour Leeds United forward Pawel Cibicki was spotted in the crowd watching a Legia Warsaw match last week to spark rumours that he could leave the club this summer, and Whites fans were quick to react to his potential exit on Twitter.
The 24-year-old moved to Elland Road from Malmo on a four-year deal on the last day of the 2017 summer transfer window, but he struggled to make a positive impact under previous boss Thomas Christiansen.
The Swede provided two assists in eight appearances in all competitions for the Yorkshire outfit, before he was frozen out of the first-team picture altogether by current manager Paul Heckingbottom, only making the substitutes’ bench on four occasions since the start of February and not playing a single minute of football.
We asked Leeds fans to vote on our poll to see whether they believed the club should keep the attacker and give him a second chance to impress next season, but a huge 71% said they wouldn’t.
They obviously weren’t impressed with the few glimpses they have had of the forward, and feel that they need to be doing better if they are to finally secure a top-six finish in the Championship next term.
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Well, Luis Suarez isn’t the only one who has a taste for Italian (sorry, that’ll never get old).
Arsene Wenger seems keen on Italian takeaway, too – well, an Italian team’s players, at least – with the Gunners being linked with two Napoli stars, Gonzalo Higuain and Jose Callejon. Wenger is set on adding a new attacker to his squad, but which Partenopei player should he choose?
Higuain is the flashier option, having scored 18 goals and registered seven assists in 37 Serie A games while finding the net 11 additional times in other competitions. The Argentine occupied the lone spot up top in Napoli’s 4-2-3-1 formation, a position that saw him average 3.1 shots per game in league play.
But when Higuain looks over his right shoulder for a pass, it’s Callejon who is there. Callejon notched seven assists on top of 12 goals and was Rafael Benitez’s most-used attacker, plying his trade for 4,323 minutes over 59 appearances for the club last term.
The Gunners are yet to add a marquee attacker during this transfer window, but they have seen the departure of winger Lukas Podolski to Galatasaray. Although Podolski very rarely came off the bench last season – and was loaned to Inter Milan for six months – Wenger would do well to reinforce his side with a player of similar style.
Arsenal already have Olivier Giroud and Theo Walcott as reliable striking options, so the club needs a versatile attacker to replace Podolski, not another out-and-out forward, which makes the case for signing Callejon over Higuain.
The 28-year-old averaged 1.4 key passes per game, most of which were short layoffs on the flanks, and his success rate for short passes was roughly 82% – better than both Arsenal wingers Alexis Sanchez and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. Callejon lost possession just 1.2 times per game, while Sanchez was dispossessed 10.4 times per game.
Callejon is already used to Wenger’s 4-2-3-1 system, and could easily play on either the left or right wing. The Spaniard puts an emphasis on passing and on attacking down the wings, both areas that Arsenal rely on to hold together a non-aggressive, possession-based style.
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If Arsenal are to mount a serious title challenge, they need to be able to hold onto the ball against Chelsea’s hardened defensive lines and attack from all over the pitch. Callejon has the agility and flexibility to be the heartbeat of the Gunners’ attack.
Like with most of the cases in which Barcelona look to offload their youngsters, the potential departure of Gerard Deulofeu this summer will see him return to Catalonia in the near future, likely as near as next summer. It’s for that reason that Dortmund opted out of signing the talented winger. What use would they have for the player, no matter how good he was, if he couldn’t really be considered as a replacement for the departed Mario Goetze?
The story on Deulofeu should be well known by now. He’s up there in the class of Andres Iniesta and Lionel Messi as one of La Masia’s most talented graduates. Under no circumstances would the club – for all the criticism that can be said of their transfer policy – allow Deulofeu to escape their grasp permanently.
Liverpool and Tottenham however, are said to be looking to take the youngster on loan for the coming season. The player himself wants to play at the top level of European football. A move to Dortmund suited him due to the German side’s participation in the Champions League, but at this stage of his career the Europa League would do just as well.
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You’d struggle to find any concrete reason to suggest that either Tottenham or Liverpool would be best suited for the player. Neither are likely to offer him regular first team opportunities considering the players already in both teams’ squads, while the Premier League isn’t really the most ideal destination for his football education. Barcelona will exercise extreme caution with Deulofeu, ensuring they don’t make the same mistakes as they did with Bojan Krkic. Provided everything goes to plan, Deulofeu will spend most of, if not all his career in Spain.
It’s not that Deulofeu would be a poor acquisition for either Premier League club, it’s that it would be a pointless exercise. Why invest time in the making of someone else’s player? We shouldn’t even entertain the prospect of either team landing him in a permanent deal. The player’s performances at youth level with Spain have been excellent, as he’s formed a promising partnership with Real Madrid’s Jese Rodriguez – one of his bets friends in the game and someone who he’s grown up with in the Spanish setup. Deulofeu’s most recent season with Barcelona B has also been his most productive, scoring 18 goals in 33 appearances in what is Spain’s equivalent of the Championship. He’s good enough for the first team of many clubs in Europe, yet just a little short of taking a spot in the Barcelona senior team.
Other clubs around Europe and in Spain are also said to be in the race for the player. Isaac Cuenca has talked up Ajax following the spell he had in the Netherlands last season, while Real Sociedad and Sevilla could be in line to take Deulofeu on loan for the coming campaign.
Barcelona, of course, will have the final say. Their priority is to ensure the player receives first-team football wherever he ends up, though their preference was to see him head to Dortmund prior to the Bundesliga side backing away from the deal. You’d have to ask whether Spurs and Liverpool can afford to take a gamble on Deulofeu in this regard, offering him regular minutes while still maintaining the upward trajectory they each seem to be on. The switch from Spain to Germany isn’t as noticeable as it would be if the player moved to England. Barcelona may also take note of Daniel Carvajal’s season at Bayer Leverkusen, in which the right-back earned a place back at Real Madrid following his sale last summer.
For now, Barcelona may find the most joy in sending Deulofeu to one of the La Liga teams interested in his services. The player’s integration at a club like Sociedad is likely to be a success considering their young core of players, while Sevilla have made him a priority this summer, with a view to using him as a short-term replacement for Jesus Navas.
Should Tottenham and Liverpool look to make a move for Deulofeu?
Join the debate below
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Batter’s stock continues to rise after fifth Test hundred and first on home soil
Vithushan Ehantharajah24-Jul-2024″I want to be my own batter. I want to be Harry Brook, not anybody else.”Harry Brook is not the first athlete to trot out variations of this line in response to comparisons of the greats of yesteryear. Brook himself has used it in the past when others have sought similarities in his traits to some of the finest batters of the modern era.If such comparisons are a burden, it is one he finds easy to shed. And part of that is down to the fact that the player he is and the player he might become has never seemed closer. On Wednesday, he ascended to No.3 in the ICC Test rankings, fresh from his fifth century in just his 14th match – and first at home. A jewel in England’s Test batting line-up is already sparkling.That’s not to say the events of Nottingham were a coming of age. His work so far, across all formats, has been more about productivity than potential. His absence was felt in India, even if his presence would not have necessarily changed the 4-1 series result. Even the 14 innings between centuries number four and five were littered with half-centuries; a chase-saving 75 against Australia at Headingley and an 85 in the first innings of that final Ashes Test at the Kia Oval. England would not have come back from 2-0 down without them.But his second innings at Trent Bridge, particularly on the third evening under lights against a threatening West Indies pace attack, as he took the sting out of the session and somehow still finished unbeaten on 71 from 78 deliveries, felt quintessentially Brook. Calm yet destructive. At ease while eliciting discomfort.If the ball was not defended under the eyes, it was stroked through cover with sighing ease. Bouncers were swayed and pulled with enough regularity for West Indies skipper Kraigg Brathwaite to use the short-ball tactic so intermittently that it was both a first and last resort. Brook did not seem to go through the gears, yet by the time his innings had come to an end on 109, England were comfortably out in front.Brook produced a crucial half-century to help turn the Ashes series•AFP/Getty Images
And yet, Brook’s strive for individuality has been aided by some sparrow-ing of his favourite players. Including the bloke at the other end in a fourth-wicket stand of 189.”Nowadays you have to take different parts of other batters and put it into your game,” Brook said. “There’s so many good players out there.”An example is Rooty [Joe Root] playing the ball so late, or AB de Villiers hitting all around the ground, Kevin Pietersen for his power. So yeah, you do see little bits of other people’s games and try to fit it into yours. I’ve done a little bit of that… but not too much.”The mention of Pietersen – tee-ed up to Brook but embraced all the same – provides too convenient an avenue not to take. Both love to dominate, feet still, head to the pitch, hands so brutally into the ball it’s as if they’re trying to punch through it and cuff the bowler.They also – as method rather than fate would have it – do seem to have a shared knack of getting themselves out when their opponents seem incapable of doing so.Of the disparaging labels put on Pietersen during a hall-of-fame career, the occasional dismissal attributed to alphadom meant “selfish” stuck firmest. The easier you make the batting seem, the bigger the sin it is to waste.Related
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More than a decade on, attitudes have changed, particularly in the England dressing-room. Even during a period of self-imposed refinement, Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum are still encouraging their shotmakers and ceding to their judgement, particularly if they sense an opportunity to shift momentum out in the middle, as Pietersen often did.Brook’s first two dismissals in the series reflected this. At Lord’s, on 50, he decided to show Alzarri Joseph he would not relent against the short ball by taking it on again, only to cloth a top edge to Joshua Da Silva. It bore some similarities to his dismissal at the ground the year before, though, being an Ashes, that drew much harsher criticism.On day one at Nottingham, he walked off with a breezy 36, having toed a paddle scoop to short leg off Kevin Sinclair. Two innings played, two good starts burned.”I identified a gap behind square on the leg side and I wanted to manipulate the field to open other parts of the ground to score,” Brook said of that first Trent Bridge dismissal. “Maybe I didn’t need to play that shot but if I’d nailed it, they might have had to change the field and it would have opened up another gap.”It’s remarkable clarity from a 25-year-old, though nothing out of the ordinary for such a straight-shooter. That thrill-seeking proactiveness was still evident in his century. Once more, Joseph went after him. Only this time Brook, serene on 46, stepped to the leg side and attempted to carve the quick over cover. He came within a matter of inches of having his stumps rearranged and leaving England in a hole.Could a more risk-averse Brook be more productive going forward? That does not feel like the right question.Because, ultimately, that wouldn’t be the Harry Brook we have, or the Harry Brook he wants to be. And while he continues to make strides to better himself, notably with his fitness, fuelled by a desire to turn ones into twos and twos into threes, and contribute more in the field, the progression of his batting is likely to forever be governed by the lavish brazenness we have already witnessed.What was particularly instructive was his reaction to being informed his career average of 62.54 is now second only to Sir Don Bradman. How did Brook feel to be within faint sight of not just true greatness, but near-batting perfection?Well, a little nonplussed.”That could definitely fluctuate either way,” he remarked, before adding, “Hopefully I can keep if that high. But if not, so be it.”
Australia A will face New Zealand A in two four-day matches over the next couple of weeks
Andrew McGlashan31-Mar-2023Alongside those appearing at the IPL and preparing for spells in county cricket, there is a group of Australian players across the Tasman looking to make an impression on the national selectors.The Australia A squad that faces their New Zealand counterparts over two four-day games in Lincoln – using the Dukes ball to replicate Ashes conditions in the UK – is a combination of players close or recently in the Test team, some with a realistic chance of pushing for a place in the near future, a few reasonably experienced domestic cricketers and those at the younger end of their careers.It is not what an Australia A squad would look like if everyone was available – anyone with a county deal was not considered because they will already be playing in UK conditions – but Matt Renshaw and Mitchell Swepson are included from those recently in India. Peter Handscomb was in the original group but withdrew after getting his deal with Leicestershire.Related
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It will be an important couple of weeks for Renshaw who is viewed as a serious candidate to open again for Australia in the long term when a vacancy arises. However, India was a difficult tour for him where he missed out twice in the first Test in the middle order, having been preferred to Travis Head, then fell cheaply again in Delhi after being called in as David Warner’s concussion sub.He is likely competing with Handscomb, Cameron Bancroft and Marcus Harris for a spare batting spot in the Ashes. One thing in Renshaw’s favour is his versatility of being able to cover any position in the top six.Swepson, meanwhile, faces an interesting time in his career having been overlooked for the three Tests in India where he was available (he missed the Delhi Test to fly home for the birth of his child). With Australia’s next subcontinent Test tour not until visiting Sri Lanka in early 2025, it is difficult to see where Swepson’s chance to add to his four caps will come.Outside Renshaw and Swepson, the only other member of the squad previously capped by Australia is pace bowler Wes Agar who played two ODIs on the 2021 tour of West Indies when a number of first-choice players were not available.Matt Renshaw will still hope to be in Ashes contention•Getty Images
The name closest to breaking through to international level is Western Australia allrounder Aaron Hardie. He made an important 45 in last week’s Sheffield Shield final, and claimed four wickets, but his overall batting returns for the season with an average of 29.07 were probably a little below expectation.Hardie was touted as a possible replacement for Cameron Green when he was injured during the Australian season and is the closest like-for-like available, although Mitchell Marsh could yet come back into the frame if he is able to bowl substantially after his ankle surgery. Hardie and Nathan McSweeney will share the captaincy in New Zealand.With an eye on the Ashes, the selectors will need to consider how to provide wicketkeeping cover for Alex Carey. They could use Handscomb as was the case in India, but if they wanted a full-time keeper as back-up, Queensland’s Jimmy Peirson has a strong case to be considered although Josh Inglis likely remains in pole position. Over the last three seasons, Peirson has made 1337 Shield runs at 37.13 with five centuries (Inglis has averaged 51.56 in his 14 matches for WA in the same period) and he also impressed on the Australia A tour of Sri Lanka last year.However, the most intriguing name in the squad is left-arm quick Spencer Johnson whose remarkable rise continues after a season that brought BBL and Shield success for Brisbane Heat and South Australia respectively, including six and seven-wicket hauls for the latter.With Joel Paris, the WA quick, having withdrawn through injury, Johnson is now the one left-arm fast bowler in the squad and while it remains unlikely he will get an immediate international call-up, he could well be back-up to Mitchell Starc across formats.Elsewhere in the squad, there is a collection of top-order batters in the 18-25 age group with an eye on the future. The most exciting of them is 18-year Teague Wyllie, another from the WA production line, who made a maiden Shield century this season and was unbeaten in the chase to secure the title.Mitch Perry, a talented allrounder from Victoria, Xavier Bartlett and Jordan Buckingham (who replaced Parris) are pace bowlers who should enjoy the chance to operate with the Dukes ball.New Zealand’s resources are also stretched due to the ongoing series against Sri Lanka, but the side features a number of players with international experience, including Doug Bracewell and Scott Kuggeleijn who have played Tests this season and left-arm spinner Ajaz Patel. They will be captained by Tom Bruce who has 17 T20I caps.New Zealand A squad: Tom Bruce (capt), Adithya Ashok, Doug Bracewell, Henry Cooper, Jacob Duffy (game 1 only), Dean Foxcroft, Cam Fletcher, Mitch Hay, Scott Kuggeleijn (game 2 only), Cole McConchie, Robbie O’Donnell, Will O’Rourke, Ajaz Patel, Brett Randell, Sean SoliaAustralia A squad: Wes Agar, Xavier Bartlett, Jordan Buckingham, Aaron Hardie, Caleb Jewell, Spencer Johnson, Campbell Kellaway, Nathan McSweeney, Mitch Perry, Jimmy Peirson, Matthew Renshaw, Mitchell Swepson, Tim Ward, Teague Wyllie
Quetta Gladiators came close via Iftikhar’s mighty blows, but fell just short in the end
Danyal Rasool31-Jan-2022It was a game that was the length of a shoelace from going to a Super Over, but because Tim David ensured the shoelace in question didn’t touch the boundary rope, Multan Sultans sealed a scintillating six-run win against the Quetta Gladiators. For the first time this tournament, a side managed a successful defence of a total after Sultans scored 174, thanks to a blistering 57-ball 88 from unlikely leading scorer of the tournament Shan Masood. In a chase that saw wild swings of the pendulum, especially in the final five overs, David Willey was the star of the night, sending down two sensational death overs to just about keep Sarfaraz Ahmed’s men at bay.Chasing 175, Khushdil Shah was superb in nailing the Gladiators down early with the ball, a superb return catch to get rid of Will Smeed the highlight. Ahsan Ali was good for a few lusty blows but the Sultans kept chipping away with wickets, and Imran Tahir burst through the middle order with the successive wickets of Ben Duckett and Ashir Qureshi, before Khushdil returned to remove a struggling Sarfaraz Ahmed for 21 off 23.The final five overs of the contest were an epic in themselves. Sultans appeared to have sealed the game after Tahir’s three wickets helped his side burrow deep into the Gladiators’ lower order, but they hadn’t yet got rid of Iftikhar Ahmed. Traded in from Islamabad United, he demonstrated why he’s been such hot property in Pakistan T20 cricket over the last year or so. Three sixes and a four in the 17th over suddenly put the Gladiators back in charge against all logic, with the asking rate down to under nine once more.But Willey came in and bowled a nerveless, near-perfect 18th over, removing Iftikhar for a 13-ball 30 and conceding just three runs. Shahnawaz Dahani was less accurate in the penultimate over and fortunate not to see more slot balls dispatched, leaking 15 in his six deliveries. Crucially, however, a bit of brain-fade running from Sohail Tanvir cost Gladiators the priceless wicket of James Faulkner, and Quetta still needed eight with Tanvir off strike.It was down to Willey to execute once more. Three balls later, he had allowed just one run and seen Tanvir hole out to square leg. Mohammad Rizwan, calmness personified in a game of nail-biting drama, fatefully sent the tall Tim David out to the cow corner boundary where Naseem walloped the next ball. David held on, and ensured he’d tipped the ball back in before overbalancing and came back to collect cleanly, clinching a dramatic win for his elated side.Earlier – ages ago, it now seems – the Gladiators won the toss and inserted Sultans in. Mohammad Hasnain and Faulkner were miserly up top, and aside from Masood, no one could quite find their range for much of the innings. Rizwan fell for a rare second-ball duck after a miscue into the onside, and in his absence, the Sultans looked wobbly in the Powerplay. It was only at the death when the Gladiators lost their discipline slightly that the Sultans really made up for lost time. Once Masood slapped Iftikhar for two sixes in the 16th, the batters switched to death hitting mode, and a switch appeared to flicker on for Rizwan’s side.Tanvir missed his lines at the end and found himself punished, and despite Hasnain continuing the good work he’d begun in the Powerplay, the Gladiators conceded 67 off the final five overs. The Sultans subsequently took the momentum with them at the change of innings, and though it ebbed and flowed over the next 20 overs, the final swing, for once, went to the side that batted first.
Former England fast bowler honoured for services to cricket and charity
ESPNcricinfo staff10-Oct-2020Darren Gough, the former England fast bowler, has been awarded an MBE for services to cricket and charity in the Queen’s birthday honours list.Gough, 50, took 229 wickets in 58 Tests for England between 1994 and 2003, as well as playing 159 ODIs and two T20Is. He represented Yorkshire and Essex in county cricket, before retiring in 2008 and moving into a career in broadcasting. He currently hosts a radio show on talkSPORT.A Level 3 qualified coach, Gough was used as a bowling consultant by England on their tour of New Zealand last year, and was credited with helping the likes of Chris Woakes make better use of the Kookaburra ball.He has also dedicated much of his time to raising money for charity, in particular wildlife and conservation efforts. Earlier this year, he donated memorabilia to an auction for the Centre for Disaster Philanthropy in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.The Queen’s birthday honours are usually announced in June, but this year were held back in order to recognise the efforts of those helping to deal with the coronavirus.