Oldham line up Scholes
JACK NOWELL looks set to miss England’s autumn internationals after being told he needs an operation on a broken cheekbone.
The Exeter wing, who toured with the Lions in the summer, was injured in a collision during the Chiefs’ Premiership victory over Newcastle on Saturday and faces up to eight weeks out of the game. PAUL SCHOLES is in line for his first managerial job after holding talks with Oldham.
The Manchester United legend is understood to have met officials of the League One club yesterday to discuss taking over at Boundary Park.
Scholes is a life-long Oldham fan and has been spotted at the ground a number of times over the years. He was invited to take a coaching session at the club last season.
He turned the job down in 2015, saying he was not ready for management, but it is understood he has now completed his coaching badges.
Scholes, 42, is among the two leading contenders for the job along with former AC Milan midfielder Clarence Seedorf, who was interviewed earlier this month.
Scholes retired in 2013 after making 718 appearances for United and has since worked as a pundit for BT Sport.
Oldham, who are set to be taken over, have been without a manager since sacking John Sheridan on September 23 following a 5-1 defeat by Rotherham – their seventh defeat in their first nine league games. Exeter will begin their European Champions Cup campaign without him at home to Glasgow on Saturday and director of rugby Rob Baxter said: “Jack has got a couple of fractures around the top of his cheek and his eye socket.
“It looks like he will require an operation to settle it down. It was a pretty innocuous BARCELONA have warned Liverpool they are returning with a fresh bid to sign Philippe Coutinho in January.
The Spanish club had three attempts to sign the playmaker rebuffed in the summer, including a final one of £117million, with the Reds holding firm despite the 25-year-old submitting a transfer request.
But their resolve is to be tested once more with an increased bid in January after Barca chief executive Oscar Grau indicated they are preparing an offer Liverpool cannot refuse with cash from the £199m sale of Neymar to Paris and unfortunate injury and we’ve been told it should be between six or eight weeks from the time of the injury if he has the operation.
“We aren’t anticipating any problems with his vision but it will take a little bit of time for other things to settle.”
The absence of Nowell, right, who has scored 11 tries in 23 games for England, means coach Eddie Jones may have to Saint-Germain. “We are ready to sign Coutinho or any other player the technical staff request in the winter window,” Grau said. “We want to have the most competitive squad possible. The club will be sustainable, we don’t want losses. If that is the case, we will look for means to generate income.” Liverpool are understood to be angered by Barcelona’s latest attempt to unsettle their player and manager Jurgen Klopp, left, could do without the distraction in the week they have lost Sadio Mane for six weeks to a hamstring injury suffered with Senegal. In shelve plans to experiment with Anthony Watson at full-back and deploy him on the right wing instead.
In-form Jonny May is favourite to claim the other wing spot for the autumn series after scoring six tries in six games for his new club Leicester since his summer move from Gloucester.