Antoine Griezmann has informed Atletico Madrid that he will leave this summer, with sources confirming to ESPN FC that Barcelona are hopeful of signing him less than one year after he turned them down.

Atletico released a short statement Tuesday revealing that Griezmann had communicated his decision to leave the club after five seasons. They followed that up by posting a video of the French forward on social media explaining his decision to supporters.

"After speaking with [coach Diego Simeone], [CEO Miguel] Angel Gil Marin and with people in the club's hierarchy, I wanted to speak with you, the fans," Griezmann said. "You have always shown me a lot of love and I wanted to be the first to tell you that I've taken the decision to leave to see other things and take on other challenges.

"It's been a difficult route to take, but it's what I feel I need. Thanks for everything during five fantastic years here, where I was able to win my first big trophies. There have been some incredible moments that I will always remember. You, the supporters, will always be in my heart."

ESPN FC first reported in March that Griezmann, 28, wanted to leave Atletico at the end of the season. He had been offered to a number of Europe's biggest clubs, including Barca, although the Catalans weren't initially interested in reopening talks to sign him after he turned them down after last summer's events.

The 2018 World Cup winner with France has played his entire professional career in Spain, having arrived to Atletico from Real Sociedad in 2014. Another club with interest in Griezmann is Ligue 1 champions Paris Saint-Germain.

Barca thought they had a deal in place to sign Griezmann before the World Cup and were caught off guard when, days before the tournament began in Russia, he released a documentary called "The Decision," which ended with him committing his future to Atletico. He later signed a new deal at the Wanda Metropolitano.

However, Griezmann has had a change of heart since then and Barca, after much debate among the board, have also changed their minds since the possibility of signing him re-aired in March.

Griezmann scored a team-leading 133 goals in 256 games across all competitions in five seasons for the club. His 126 La Liga goal involvements (goals and assists) in that span are fourth in La Liga behind Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Griezmann won three titles in his five seasons with Atleti: the 2017-18 Europa League, 2018 UEFA Super Cup and 2014 Spanish Super Cup. He also missed a penalty in the 2016 UEFA Champions League final penalty-shootout loss to Real Madrid.

President Josep Maria Bartomeu told ESPN FC last month that there were no bad feelings with Griezmann over the documentary, which he labeled "water under the bridge." Barca have since made Griezmann, along with Ajax defender Matthijs de Ligt, one of their main targets for the summer.

The humiliating Champions League loss to Liverpool last week further enhanced the club's opinion that they need to add fresh blood to an aging squad.

Griezmann, meanwhile, has seen Atletico stagnate. They are on course to finish second in La Liga but came up short in the Champions League and the Copa del Rey. His closest ally in the squad, Diego Godin, also announced last week that he would leave when his contract expires in the summer. Griezmann cried at Godin's goodbye news conference.

Sources have told ESPN FC that Atletico were not informed by Griezmann where he will move, but he did tell them he will deposit his release clause with the league at the start of July. His current clause is €200 million, but it will drop to €120 million on July 1.

Barca could try to negotiate a deal with Atletico, but sources close to the club have said the Spanish champions remain reluctant to open talks before July when Griezmann's clause dips, due to the fact the Rojiblanco reported them to FIFA for making an illegal approach to Griezmann at the end of 2017.

In a bid to change the organization's future, the New England Revolution have looked to MLS' past. Bruce Arena is back, taking on the dual roles of sporting director and manager with the Revs.

It's a move that makes sense on multiple levels. On the NFL side, Kraft Sports Group has given New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick the kind of freedom to run the organization as he sees fit, resulting in six Super Bowl titles in 18 years. Arena is used to operating in a similar fashion, making the relationship, at least outwardly, look like a good match.

The entire Revolution organization on the technical side needs a reboot as well, particularly in terms of allocating more resources. This goes beyond simply shelling out money for another designated player, like the Revs attempted to do with Paul-Jose M'Poku to the tune of a reported $14 million total before the deal fell through. With the advent of targeted allocation money (TAM), there needs to be an increased commitment to scouting to fill out the remainder of the roster. While the hiring of Remi Roy as director of scouting back in 2018 and the subsequent addition of Sergio Neveleff as an international scout were positive steps, more needs to be done to catch up to the rest of the league.

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New England's penchant for grinding players down over contracts has long put it near the bottom of players' preferred destinations. While the league's player-acquisition mechanisms do plenty to stifle choice, there are enough holes that when the opportunity to leave presented itself, lots of players voted with their feet, from Jeff Larentowicz and Michael Parkhurst in the 2000s to Lee Nguyen and Jermaine Jones in the 2010s. Looked at another way, the Revs haven't signed a single player using the league's free-agent mechanism since its inception in 2015. (Jalil Anibaba was signed via a different mechanism, as his seven service years at the time of his signing meant he wasn't technically a free agent.)

Given Arena's track record in MLS, most recently with the LA Galaxy, he has the know-how in terms of what needs to be done to address these issues. Given free rein in L.A., it didn't take Arena long to turn things around, with the Galaxy finishing atop the Western Conference in his first full season in charge. The Galaxy went on to claim three MLS Cup titles in the next four seasons.

In this time, Arena showed an ability to bend the leagues roster rules to his advantage. Given the current state of the Revs' roster, that will no doubt come in handy.

As for Arena, the decision to join the Revs was easy. The most recent image of him on the sideline is the horrific night in Couva, Trinidad, when the U.S. failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup. This is a way to at least write a different final chapter to his coaching career. Arena is also a soccer junkie, and he has been keen to get back in the game ever since, with sources confirming that Arena sought positions both with the Galaxy and the Columbus Crew before landing with New England. He'll also have the same kind of power and control of the technical side that he had with the Galaxy.

There are no guarantees that this move will be a simple tap-in in terms of success, however. There is the sense that Arena wouldn't have taken the job without assurances from Kraft Sports Group that he will be provided with the requisite resources. Such are the sentiments when the ink on the contract isn't quite dry. The coming months will reveal the extent to which the organization's commitment proves sufficient.

Arena's history is by no means blemish-free, either. The World Cup qualifying failure leaves the kind of stain that can't be washed away, and there's more. His 15-month stint with the New York Red Bulls was middling at best. While the Red Bulls made the playoffs both years, they were bounced in the first round both times. They were also never more than a mid-table side, finishing sixth out of 14 teams in his one full season in charge. This was a team that also had two DPs in Claudio Reyna and Juan Pablo Angel, giving it an advantage over most MLS sides at the time. His final two seasons with the Galaxy witnessed a bit of a drop-off as well in terms of the team's performance.

MLS has also continued to evolve over the past 2½ years. The acquisition and spending of TAM has become more important as more money has been pumped into the system.

Then there is the criticism that Arena has been left behind tactically. Without question, he made his share of mistakes during his most recent stint with the U.S., most notably his insistence on playing with a single holding midfielder in the game against Trinidad & Tobago. The level of coaching in MLS also has more of an international flavor now and become more sophisticated.

But over the course of his career, Arena has proved himself adaptable in terms of dealing with the league's arcane roster rules. That shouldn't be an issue. The tactical element will be one to watch, although Arena's team-building, both in terms of personnel and the interpersonal relationships, on the field can do plenty to mitigate that.

The reality is that the Revs were in danger of being lapped by the rest of the league. Arena has the skill set to revive the franchise, but that will only happen if the rest of the organization buys into his vision.

It was arguably the best Premier League season in history. The battle between Liverpool and Manchester City came down to the final Sunday of the campaign and required City to win their final 14 games of the season to hold on to their one-point lead and retain their crown. Liverpool finished second with the third-highest point total in Premier League history, while City held on for dear life and survived with one of the most impressive stretch runs you'll ever see.

Jurgen Klopp & Co. won't be too heartbroken if they win the Champions League on June 1, of course, but let's cheer them and the rest of the league by handing out arbitrary awards. Back in December, I went around the Premier League and gave out superlatives for everything from best substitute to most tired managerial storyline.

Let's go back to the well and hand out awards for the full season. I've narrowed down the categories a bit, but with a full season of data to work with, I've expanded the results from three selections to five. Where applicable, I've used advanced metrics and expected goals (xG) data prepared by ESPN Stats & Information. Transfer values are the prices listed at Transfermarkt.

Jump to: Best signing | Worst signing | Goal of the season | Save of the season | Young newcomer of the season | Team of the season | Player of the season

Best signing of the season

Let's start by running through the top signings of the past season, covering both the summer 2018 and winter 2019 transfer windows. These are weighted for positional scarcity -- basically, finding a striker for £10 million is more valuable than paying the same price for a wing back -- and cost. The players who belong on this list are the ones who have had their transfer value rise the most over the past 12 months, factors that contribute to keeping stars such as Felipe Anderson and Richarlison, as well as valuable veterans like Lukasz Fabianski, off this list.

5. David Brooks, Sheffield United to Bournemouth, £10.2m

It's rare for a player to move from a lower league to the Premier League after one season of senior football. It's even more unusual to make a big move after just nine starts at the Championship level, as Brooks did last summer. This was a hugely risky investment for manager Eddie Howe, but it paid off. Brooks was a creative force for the Cherries, producing seven goals and five assists in 2,276 minutes. The 21-year-old also barely seemed to tire as the season went along, which was promising given his slight frame and lack of experience. Bournemouth recognized Brooks' impact by signing him to a new contract in March.

4. James Maddison, Norwich City to Leicester, £22.5m

Leicester managed to overcome losing Riyad Mahrez to Manchester City by signing an even more creative player to replace the Algerian star. Maddison isn't the same sort of player, of course, but the Coventry City product created a league-high 100 chances for his teammates this season. Jamie Vardy finished fourth in the Premier League in xG during the second half of the season and Maddison -- who racked up 4.6 xG and 4.2 xA over that timeframe -- was the biggest reason. Given the inflated price of English talent on the market, Maddison could very well fetch twice this price if Leicester decided to sell him this offseason. He's more likely to be the focal point of the post-Mahrez side for years to come.

3. Lucas Torreira, Sampdoria to Arsenal, £27m

Torreira's numbers don't necessarily stand out in a similar way to Brooks' or Maddison's, but given how long Arsenal had been crying out for a defensive midfielder with some meaningful bite, it's no surprise Torreira has become hugely popular with Arsenal fans. Tackle numbers for teams with as much possession as Arsenal can be skewed, but Torreira ranks in the top 20 in ball recoveries and opponent-adjusted tackles among regular starters. He's also a more thoughtful player in possession than most players of his ilk. Torreira's numbers declined over the course of the season, which is why he fell from the top spot at midseason to third, but he's a building block for Arsenal.

2. Ricardo Pereira, Porto to Leicester City, £19.8m

The other key signing from Leicester's offseason, Pereira recently took home Player of the Season and Players' Player of the Season honors at the club awards for an outstanding debut campaign in England. Employed as both a traditional right-back and occasionally a right-winger under Claude Puel, Pereira chipped in with six assists while also contributing 117 tackles, the latter of which was second in the league among full-backs. Among Pereira's two goals, of course, was a wonder strike against Manchester City on Boxing Day. Pereira's not Mahrez, but he was an enormous upgrade on Danny Simpson at right-back and one of the best full-backs in the division.

1. Fabian Schar, Deportivo to Newcastle, £3.6m

When you rarely get to spend money, you need to make your few deals count. Rafa Benitez pulled that off yet again at Newcastle this offseason. Although Miguel Almiron was arguably the signing of the winter window before going down with a hamstring injury, I consider Schar the signing of the summer given the absurdly low price. Newcastle benefited when a relegation clause in the Swiss defender's deal knocked down Schar's value, but every other club could have made this move, too.

All that Newcastle have come away with is one of the most impactful defenders of the Premier League season. Schar has been the difference-maker for the Magpies this season. With him in the lineup, Newcastle has gone 12-7-5, averaging 1.71 points per match and allowing one goal per contest. Without Schar? Newcastle would be relegation bait at 0-10-4, good for an average of 0.3 points per match, while allowing 1.71 goals per contest.

Is it too simplistic to credit all of that difference to Schar? Probably. It also seems clear that he deserves a huge amount of credit for helping to turn Newcastle's defense around, as the 27-year-old ranks among the league leaders at his position in both interceptions and progressive runs per 90 minutes. Schar also scored four goals, including a world-class strike against Burnley that narrowly missed out on a place in my Goal of the Season superlatives.

Worst signing of the season

Likewise, it's time to judge the most disappointing transfers of the past season, too. I'll throw in age as a factor here: Although players like Yerry Mina and Caglar Söyüncü commanded significant fees and didn't make an impact in their first seasons in England, they're still young enough to turn good on their clubs' investment. In an era where players on the wrong side of 30 rarely command significant fees, guys in their late 20s need to make an immediate impact to justify large expenditures given the relative lack of resale value from their deals.

5. Matej Vydra, Derby to Burnley, £11m

Manager Sean Dyche has a habit of building his attacks around successful goal scorers at the Championship level, having signed Ashley Barnes, Chris Wood and Andre Gray from the second tier in years past. No surprise, then, when Dyche swooped for the 27-year-old Vydra this summer after the Czech international failed to agree personal terms with Leeds.

But Vydra has been a nonfactor. After scoring in September, he failed to hit the back of the net. He started in a 4-2 loss to West Ham on Nov. 13 and played just 68 minutes over the ensuing seven months, most of which came after Burnley's status in the top flight was confirmed in late April. Burnley will stick around in the Premier League for another season but Vydra might not be along for the ride.

4. Alireza Jahanbakhsh, AZ to Brighton, £17.1m

Brighton narrowly held on to their own Premier League status and scoring was their biggest problem. Chris Hughton's club scored a mere 35 goals this season, the fewest among the 17 Premier League survivors this season. Just 16 of those goals came from open play, which ranked 19th among the 20 Premier League clubs, ahead of only Huddersfield Town. After 35-year-old Glenn Murray, the club's second-leading scorer was center-back Shane Duffy with five goals.

Brighton had to be hoping for more from Jahanbakhsh, who was a nonfactor during his first season in English football. That's almost literally true: in 1,022 minutes, the Iranian winger failed to record a goal or an assist for Brighton. It's obviously a disappointing return given that the 25-year-old led the Eredivisie with 21 goals in his final season at AZ. Jahanbakhsh did miss two months with a hamstring injury and then went to the Asian Cup upon returning, but at best he has been a peripheral figure even when available. Brighton will expect more from their record purchase next season.

3. Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa, Marseille to Fulham, £22.4m

Picking the worst transfer from the bunch is difficult given that Jean-Michael Seri contributed all of one goal and three assists in more than 2,000 minutes after signing from Nice, while Alfie Mawson was wildly ineffective at center-back before undergoing knee surgery. Most observers would still give the nod to Anguissa, who'd really shined for only one season at Marseille before moving to London. Signed to play as the defensive midfielder with Seri presumably in an attacking role, it quickly became clear that the two were a subpar fit. Anguissa labored through a disastrous fall and then missed significant time with an ankle injury. While he has improved some upon his return and has been a steady presence in the lineup under Scott Parker, Anguissa simply hasn't delivered on the promise he showed in France.

2. Ben Gibson, Middlesbrough to Burnley, £15m

It's difficult to make less of an impact than Gibson has this season. Once called up to the English senior team, he was expected to figure into the starting XI for Burnley this season after a £15 million offseason transfer. Instead, Gibson entered the season with a hernia and ended up playing once, a 63-minute spell on Boxing Day in a 5-1 loss to Everton. The nicest thing you can say is that Gibson at least scored the consolation goal before he was yanked off and sent to the bench for the remainder of the campaign.

1. Fred, Shakhtar Donetsk to Manchester United, £53.1m

Could it be anyone but Fred? You might argue that the Brazilian has been unfairly scapegoated as the symbol of the bloat that's enveloped Manchester United in the post-Ferguson era, with the club spending over the odds to sign players their managers subsequently don't want to pick. Fred wasn't favored by Jose Mourinho, and while Ole Gunnar Solskjaer gave everyone at the club a fresh start, Fred also wasn't a significant part of the United winning streak in the league.

The 26-year-old played just 162 Premier League minutes during the 12-game stretch to start Solskjaer's run, when United took 32 of 36 possible points. While Fred also started in the miraculous comeback win over Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League, he gave away a penalty in the streak-ending loss to Arsenal and was overrun in the 3-0 loss to Barcelona. Fred came in for criticism from Roy Keane for his effort during United's loss in the Manchester derby. It's unclear whether he'll be part of Manchester United's next rebuild.

Goal of the season

A great goal is a great goal, but context helps here: an incredible strike that swung two points and helped decide the title race (hint, hint) means slightly more than the fourth goal against Huddersfield. Yes, that Vincent Kompany strike against Leicester is on the list, but did the City stalwart's effort make it to No. 1?

5. Son Heung-Min, Tottenham vs. Chelsea, Nov. 24

It's hard to believe that Son was once viewed as a disappointment after struggling to make an impact in his first English campaign. It's difficult to imagine Spurs without the effervescent Korean star at this point, given that the 26-year-old serves as both a valuable winger when Harry Kane is in the lineup and the focal point of the attack when he's not. Son's most notable contribution this season was when he scored three goals over two legs to help knock out Manchester City in the Champions League quarterfinals, but Spurs fans won't soon forget Son clowning Jorginho and David Luiz en route to scoring Tottenham's third against Chelsea.

4. Daniel Sturridge, Liverpool vs. Chelsea, Sept. 29

Although Sturridge has been goalless and anonymous since the beginning of October, he helped cover for Mo Salah's slow start to the season by scoring four times across August and September. In addition to a goal against PSG in the Champions League, Sturridge helped earn a crucial point for Liverpool by curling in a brilliant late equalizer against Chelsea.

3. Eden Hazard, Chelsea vs. West Ham, April 9

There are plenty of brilliant footballers in the Premier League, but I'd dare say nobody else could have scored this goal. Hazard manages to create a dangerous opportunity in the blink of an eye and dribbles through the roadblock West Ham has set at the edge of the box, then perfectly places his finish in the corner. Hazard would score a second later in the match but has failed to score since; it would be fitting if this moment of magic was his last goal in a Chelsea kit.

2. Vincent Kompany, Manchester City vs. Leicester, May 6

The goal that saved the title. We'll never know whether City would have managed to find an equalizer over the final 20 minutes if their longtime defender hadn't fired them into the lead, but this would be a suitable goal for deciding any championship race. Kompany's impact on title races in years past has been more subtle, but again, this would be a suitably significant moment to end Kompany's Premier League career if the Belgian does leave City. One of the final signings of the Thaksin Shinawatra era before City came under the ownership of the Abu Dhabi royal family in 2008, Kompany has been a massive force in the center of City's defense, and injury would be the only argument keeping him away from lists of the best defenders in Premier League history.

1. Andros Townsend, Crystal Palace vs. Manchester City, Dec. 22

It didn't end up deciding the title race after all, but even given the importance of Kompany's goal, I still think the sheer brilliance of Townsend's volley into the corner is enough to top this list. Remember how Paul George said that Damian Lillard's game-winning 3-pointer to seal the Blazers' series win over the Thunder was a "bad shot"? This was a bad shot. You shouldn't try this. It had a better chance of going 20 rows into the stands than it did of hitting the back of the net. Townsend did it anyway, and it produced the best goal he'll ever score.

Save of the season

With this superlative, we're looking for saves where a keeper had to react at the last moment, deal with a deflection or use every inch of his frame to stop a sure goal. Point-blank saves where a keeper doesn't know much about what's happening before the ball finds him are obviously valuable, but style counts here.

5. David de Gea, Manchester United vs. Tottenham, Jan. 13

I almost have to put a De Gea save from this match in the rankings, given that it was probably the single best individual performance from a goalkeeper all season. The longtime United star had a brutal end to the campaign, but United needed each of his 11 saves to secure a 1-0 win at Wembley against Spurs. You can pick your favorite, but I prefer his kick save to deny Harry Kane. (Another kick save that narrowly missed this list was Angus Gunn saving a would-be own goal against Arsenal.)

4. Hugo Lloris, Tottenham vs. West Ham, Oct. 20

Speaking of Spurs and uneven seasons ... Lloris went through his own struggles on and off the pitch this season, but his best performance came against the Hammers in October. Among Lloris' saves in a man of the match performance was this fingertip stop to deny Marko Arnautovic.

3. Kepa Arrizabalaga, Chelsea vs. Fulham, March 3

A lot of keepers in the Premier League had some pretty difficult moments this season, huh? The most memorable moment of Kepa's debut season in England came when he refused to be substituted during the League Cup final, which led to the £72m keeper being fined a week's wages. Seven days after the tempest, Kepa returned and delivered a fine performance against Fulham. Aleksandr Mitrovic has an unreal ability to get power on his shots without needing space or time, but Kepa was up to the task against this volley.

2. Lukasz Fabianski, West Ham vs. Manchester United, Sept. 29

Once known for his gaffes at Arsenal, Fabianski might have been the steadiest keeper in the Premier League all season. This was my midseason pick for save of the half-season and honestly, it still might deserve to be No. 1. It's a more difficult version of the Lloris save that finished fourth, as the Polish international is forced to react at the last moment, using incredible wrist strength to keep out a Marouane Fellaini header.

1. Jordan Pickford, Everton vs. Huddersfield, Jan. 29

Pickford failed to live up to lofty expectations after impressing during England's run to the semifinals of the World Cup over the summer, but there's no denying this is a great save. It usually didn't take much to keep Huddersfield out of opposing nets this season, but this free Elias Kachunga header was ticketed for the bottom corner, only for Pickford to sprint from one side of his goal to the other to tip the shot away. It ended up saving two points for the Toffees in a 1-0 victory.

Young newcomer of the season

I'm adding this award as a replacement for young player of the year honors, which went to Raheem Sterling. Honestly, Sterling deserves all the hardware we can give him, but it seems silly to give an award to Sterling for young player after he's already been established as a Premier League star for years. Sterling is only 24, but that's not even really a young player anymore. The average outfield player in the Premier League this year on a minute-adjusted basis was 26.8 years old, so let's shift the criteria for a different sort of award.

To be eligible for the young newcomer award, our candidates have to be 23 or younger at the end of the 2018-19 season. Players who had more than 1,000 minutes of Premier League experience under their belt before the season began are also ineligible, which notably removes Declan Rice from the equation.

5. Diogo Jota, forward, Wolverhampton Wanderers

Part of the Portuguese revolution propelling Wolves into the top 10 this season, Jota was initially signed on loan from Atletico Madrid during Wolves' successful promotion campaign last year before making a £12.6m permanent switch this offseason. The Porto product scored 17 goals and chipped in five assists in 3,632 minutes at the Championship level last season and he's nearly kept that scoring rate up at a higher level, with nine goals and five assists in 2,368 Premier League minutes this season. Three of those goals came in a Midlands battle against Leicester, one of just three hat tricks all season from a player who doesn't represent one of the top six.

4. Lucas Torreira, midfielder, Arsenal

I mentioned Torreira's exploits earlier in talking about him as a great transfer; the Uruguayan doesn't turn 24 until next February, so he should be part of the squad Unai Emery will try to build in North London for years to come.

3. James Maddison, midfielder, Leicester City

Likewise, Maddison is both a great transfer and a very promising Premier League debutant. It's been a remarkable rise for a player who first began to make his name as a teenager in League One before going on loan to Aberdeen. Two years ago, Maddison had barely made any appearances in the Championship. Now he's on the fringes of the English national team.

2. Ruben Neves, midfielder, Wolverhampton Wanderers

It's another Portuguese player at Wolves! Like Jota, Neves was along for the ride as Wolves won the Championship last season. He was arguably the best player in the second tier a season ago, which might not seem like a surprise given Neves' £16 million transfer fee, but perhaps should be given that the fellow Porto product was only 20 years old for most of the campaign.

Neves wasn't quite as dominant in the top tier, finishing the season with four goals and three assists, but there are few players who do as many things as well as Neves does. The 22-year-old finished eighth in the league with 73 interceptions, but he simultaneously has free kicks like this stunner against Arsenal in his locker. It's no wonder the Gunners are rumored to be interested in signing Neves as a replacement for Aaron Ramsey.

1. Aaron Wan-Bissaka, right back, Crystal Palace

The most stunning breakout of the season belongs to the most successful graduate of Crystal Palace's academy since Wilfried Zaha. The 21-year-old Wan-Bissaka only peeked into the first team last February, and while he played well enough to justify a spot in Crystal Palace's senior team this season, nobody could have seen this coming.

AWB had 91 successful tackles this season, second-best in the Premier League behind Wilfried Ndidi and 25 more than any other right-back in the league. The only defender in the league with more than 2,000 minutes played who has topped Wan-Bissaka's 65.5 percent success rate on tackle attempts is Virgil Van Dijk. The Palace star also finished second in the Prem with 84 interceptions. Wan-Bissaka's revelation of a campaign is enough to justify pitting him against Trent Alexander-Arnold as England's right-back of the future. A national team call-up is surely on the way; a move to one of the top six might follow.

Team of the season

I'll pick a starting 11 out of a 4-2-3-1 formation and seven substitutes to follow. Before I get started, though, I should warn Spurs fans that there aren't any Tottenham players in the first team. Based on Premier League form alone, there wasn't a logical spot for one. Kane made my midseason XI and would have likely been this team's striker before his ankle injury. Players like Christian Eriksen, Moussa Sissoko and Toby Alderweireld all had excellent seasons, but there were clearly more productive players at their respective positions. Son Heung-Min is brilliant, but he narrowly topped 2,000 minutes in the league and has to compete with a handful of world-class wingers.

The only thing that might cheer Spurs fans up -- outside of the upcoming match in Madrid -- is that Arsenal don't have a player in the team, either.

GK: Lukasz Fabianski, West Ham
Fabianski over Alisson or Ederson? The 34-year-old certainly didn't cost as much as the two Brazilians and allowed more goals this season, but Fabianski had far more work to do and played a huge role in West Ham's rise up the table after a slow start. Fabianski led the league in a variety of categories: overall saves (148), collected saves (58), saves on shots in the box (104) and even fingertip saves (five).

At 73.2 percent, Fabianski had a higher save percentage than Ederson (72.3 percent), who faced less than half of the shots Fabianski had to deal with all season. Alisson was ahead of Fabianski at 78.2 percent, which led the league, but again, the former Roma star had to deal with only about half of the shot volume Fabianski dealt with over the course of the season. Alisson also got to play behind an acclaimed defense on a team that had the second-highest possession percentage in the league, whereas Fabianski's side took a league-high five red cards, was middle of the pack in possession and didn't exactly have Van Dijk at center-back.

RB: Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Crystal Palace
Alexander-Arnold could figure here -- we're living in a truly gilded age for hyphenated English right-backs -- but I'll lean toward the defensive strength of Wan-Bissaka over the attacking edge Alexander-Arnold offers as a crosser. Again, Wan-Bissaka finished the season second in both successful tackles, interceptions and crosses blocked. Alexander-Arnold's clearly a more complete player, but it's incredible for a right-back to be as productive defensively as AWB has been for Palace this season.

CB: Virgil Van Dijk, Liverpool
Duh. More on him in a minute.

CB: Aymeric Laporte, Manchester City
An unmarked Laporte scored what will go down as the title-clinching goal for City during Sunday's 4-1 win at Brighton, and while it will unquestionably be lost to history in comparison to Kompany's goal against Leicester, Laporte has been an absolute rock for a defense that finished only one goal behind Van Dijk's Liverpool side. There's a gap between Van Dijk and the other center-back candidates around the league, but Laporte scored three times and was the ever-present center-back on a team that allowed only 23 goals all season, one off Liverpool's pace.

LB: Andrew Robertson, Liverpool
There were five players in this team who were easy selections, and while Lucas Digne impressed in his debut season one mile north for Everton, Robertson was one of those five. The Scot, who started his professional career just seven years ago in the lofty heights of the Scottish third division with Queen's Park, has stunningly matured into one of the best left-backs on the planet since moving to Liverpool. No left-back in the league recovered the ball or successfully completed tackles more frequently than the 25-year-old, and the only defender to rack up more assists than Robertson's 11 was his teammate, Alexander-Arnold.

CM: Fernandinho, Manchester City
Fernandinho is not City's best player, but is there anybody Pep Guardiola would miss more if he weren't available? The Brazilian played 29 matches this season and in those contests City went 25-2-2 while allowing just 15 goals. City lost twice during Fernandinho's nine absences and allowed eight goals across those nine contests. The 34-year-old ranked 13th in the league in adjusted tackle rate and 19th in adjusted interception rate among players with 2,000 minutes or more and chipped in with six through balls. He even added a beautifully targeted goal on a 0.05 xG attempt against Burnley. He remains essential to City, even at an age when other stars at his position would typically be moving into part-time roles.

CM: Paul Pogba, Manchester United
Picking someone like Fabianski might be controversial in one way; adding Pogba is controversial in another. Pogba's a perennial flashpoint and seemingly the cause of some portion of United's problems at all times. The World Cup winner spent the first half of the season seemingly sulking under the fading regime of Mourinho, and while he seemed to shine once Solskjaer took over, Pogba's displays toward the end of the season -- most notably against Everton -- attracted criticism from Roy Keane.

If Keane wants to parse Pogba's body language and hold him up to his own lofty standards, that's fine. Here's what we know about Pogba: He's critical to United's chances of winning. He scored 13 goals this season, and while seven of them were on penalties, Pogba also created 50 chances for his teammates, which was behind only Bernardo and David Silva among central midfielders. The Frenchman created nine assists on just 4.86 xA, which owes some to his impressive range as a passer. His 21 expected goals and assists were 10th-most in the Premier League and most for any central midfielder.

Has Pogba lived up to his £89m transfer fee? I'm not sure. Are there moments where he doesn't track back the way a former player would want? Probably. Would United be better off without the 26-year-old in their team? Absolutely not. He won United points on his own this season, with this interception and sublime pass to set up Marcus Rashford for the game's only goal against Leicester as an example.

Selling Pogba would be a step backward for United.

RW: Mohamed Salah, Liverpool
Salah wasn't shortlisted for the PFA Player of the Year award after winning it last season, but that's a mistake and likely a product of an unrealistic baseline. It was always unlikely Salah was going to top 30 goals in consecutive seasons, given that his 32 goals came against a baseline of 25.3 expected goals last campaign. He scored "only" 22 goals this season, but by creating more scoring chances and staying healthy for a full 38-game campaign, Salah was still the most productive attacking player in the Premier League by a comfortable margin for the second consecutive campaign.

He finished the season by producing 31.7 combined expected goals and assists; Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was second with 29.1 combined xG+xA, and then nobody else in the league topped Raheem Sterling's mark of 25.3. Salah wasn't as good as he was last season, but he was still arguably the best forward in the league.

AM: Raheem Sterling, Manchester City
After years of underperforming his xG marks and gaining an undeserved reputation as a poor finisher, Sterling finally managed to produce 17 goals against 14.8 expected goals this season. No attacker in the league who attempted 50 or more unblocked shots managed to put a higher percentage of those shots on target than Sterling. It wasn't all about finishing, either: Sterling created 64 chances from open play, the third most in the Premier League. The 24-year-old also deserves plaudits for his role in publicly combating racism, both inside stadiums and within the media. He's essential for club, country and the league itself.

LW: Eden Hazard, Chelsea
Moving back inside from the left to accommodate Sterling and Salah on the wings is Hazard, who might have been the only thing keeping Chelsea in the top six this season, let alone third. The Belgian star finished the season with 31 combined goals and assists, the most of any player in the Premier League. He created a league-high 75 chances from open play, nine more than any other player. In a "Sarriball" attack that seemed to devolve into self-parody during the winter, Hazard was Chelsea's "get out of jail free" card. This is a club that managed to get only 12 goals out of 2,777 minutes from the trio of Gonzalo Higuain, Alvaro Morata and Olivier Giroud at striker throughout the season.

Sarri needed Hazard to carry this team, and he did enough to propel Chelsea into third place and a Champions League berth. That's significant guaranteed income for a club that is about to enter a two-window transfer ban and is essentially in a holding pattern until next summer. Hazard seems likely to follow Thibaut Courtois to Madrid, but he'll be leaving after his most productive -- and in its own way, most important -- season in a Chelsea kit.

ST: Sergio Aguero, Manchester City
As is the case with Salah, we might be setting our baseline expectations for the legendary Argentinian too high: 21 goals would be a record season for most Premier League strikers, but it's just another season for Kun, who finished his fifth consecutive 20-goal campaign with the equalizer in Sunday's title decider against Brighton. It wasn't quite as impressive of a strike rate as last season, when Aguero scored 21 goals in just 25 matches, but 21 goals in 33 appearances should be impressive by anyone's standards.

Aubameyang would also have a right to sneak in here given that he finished second in both goals and expected combined goals plus assists, but the Arsenal star scored 16 goals from open play to Aguero's 18, with the latter figure topped only by Sadio Mane. Aguero also added eight assists, topping both Auba (eight) and Mane (one).

Substitutes
GK Alisson, Liverpool; LB Lucas Digne, Everton; CB Shane Duffy, Brighton; CM Bernardo Silva, Manchester City; CM Christian Eriksen, Tottenham; FW Sadio Mane, Liverpool; ST Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Arsenal

Player of the season

Let's finish by picking the best player of the campaign. In my eyes, there are four viable candidates for the award, and if you ordered that top four in any way, I wouldn't fault you. (I understand you might not offer me the same courtesy.) As you might suspect given the final table, four of the five candidates come from the top two clubs.

5. Sergio Aguero, Manchester City

I would argue that Aguero narrowly misses out on that top foursome in part because he didn't play quite as much; he finished the season with 2,479 Premier League minutes under his belt whereas the four other players in this top five were on the pitch between 2,776 and 3,385 minutes each. City were understandably comfortable giving minutes to Gabriel Jesus at striker, but that costs Aguero in terms of a discussion about individual value.

4. Raheem Sterling, Manchester City

It does seem strange that the two City representatives in these rankings finish below the two Liverpool options, but I think the top-five format might undersell just how good City are as a team. If I were making this a top-15 list, it would include Laporte, Fernandinho and Bernardo Silva. Ederson and Leroy Sane probably make it in if it's a top-30 list. No team -- even Liverpool -- goes as deep with world-class talent as City.

Sterling finishing fourth as opposed to first is simply a matter of context and preference. He didn't have to shoulder as much of the load as Hazard, which isn't Sterling's fault, but impacts his value. The English international was more productive than Salah on a per-minute basis, but if we're thinking about this in terms of who generated the most value for his team, Salah staying about as productive as Sterling while playing 309 additional minutes in the league means he brings slightly more to the table. If your criteria are picking the best player on the best team in the league, you could pick Sterling and I wouldn't bat an eye.

3. Eden Hazard, Chelsea

For the reasons I mentioned above, I think Hazard was probably the most important player in the league to his club. If we're using actual finishing versus expected finishing, Hazard's 31 combined goals and assists top the scoring table. Those are two great reasons to place Hazard first. I'd hesitate only because it seems difficult to pick the player of the season from a team that finished 26 points off the pace in the league, even if that had absolutely nothing to do with Hazard's play.

As you can probably surmise, that leaves us with Salah and Virgil van Dijk for the final two spots. I thought I would try to figure out whether the offense or the defense played a bigger part in Liverpool's season, but in using standard score to try to contextualize their performance, I found that Liverpool's offense was 2.0 standard deviations better than the mean. Liverpool's defense was ... 2.0 standard deviations better than the mean. That doesn't help.

Van Dijk turned around the Liverpool defense when he arrived last January, but he had help this season from a starring left-back in Robertson and a wildly expensive keeper in Alisson. Salah shouldered more of the load with Roberto Firmino missing for a chunk of the season, but he also got to play alongside Mane, who helped finish some of the chances Salah created or passed up. Salah made his attacking teammates better. Van Dijk did the same in the defense. Both had their reputations backed up by advanced metrics.

In the end, with the two relatively equal, I have to resort to positional value. With player of the season awards and transfer fees alike, we've generally come to a conclusion that world-class strikers are more valuable than world-class defenders. Van Dijk just sold for £76m, of course, but if Liverpool decided to sell Salah, they would easily get double that figure. (They're not going to sell Salah.)

If Van Dijk and the defense had been the best in the league by a handful of goals, I'd pick him as the player of the season. Instead, with the two Liverpool stars on a similar tier, I'm breaking my own tie by picking the forward over the defender.

2. Virgil van Dijk, Liverpool

1. Mohamed Salah, Liverpool

Hampshire 291 for 6 (Alsop 131*, Donald 75) v Warwickshire

Tom Alsop's second first-class century lifted Hampshire to a solid 291 for 6 on the opening day of their Specsavers County Championship match against Warwickshire at Edgbaston.

Hampshire were looking for leaders in their batting, having lost Aiden Markram and James Vince to international duty and seen India batsman Ajinkya Rahane's debut delayed due to a BCCI player engagement.

Alsop, 23, rose to the challenge in polished fashion. After Hampshire chose to bat, he compiled a career-best unbeaten 131 not out from 273 balls to steer his side away from uncertain positions at 44 for 2 and 171 for 5.

A depleted Warwickshire attack missing the injured Olly Stone, Liam Norwell and Ryan Sidebottom and the unavailable Chris Woakes, persevered well, led by the excellent Olly Hannon-Dalby. But Hampshire got away from them in the final session when Alsop was joined by the aggressive Aneurin Donald.

Hampshire had lost their openers in the first 16 overs. Joe Weatherley fell lbw to Hannon-Dalby in an excellent opening spell of 7-4-4-1 by the seamer and Oliver Soames tickled a leg-side delivery from Jeetan Patel to wicketkeeper Tim Ambrose.

As Hannon-Dalby and Patel applied pressure, Alsop and Sam Northeast knuckled down to add 73 in 27 overs either side of lunch before the latter played across a Hannon-Dalby in-ducker and was lbw.

When Rilee Rossouw skied Patel to Craig Miles at mid-off, Hampshire were wobbling at 122 for 4. Liam Dawson was immediately fortunate to survive a run-out appeal from Miles' direct hit, but survive he did to add 49 with Alsop before lifting Hannon-Dalby to Rob Yates at point.

At 171 for 5, the day was in the balance but former Glamorgan player Donald yanked it Hampshire's way with a vivid counter-attack. He struck ten fours on his way to a 41-ball fifty and 75 out of a partnership of 84 with Alsop before slashing Hannon-Dalby to gully.

Hannon-Dalby was denied a richly-deserved five-for when Alsop, on 105, was dropped by Dominic Sibley at extra cover. Gareth Berg was also reprieved, on 2, when Henry Brookes grassed a caught-and-bowled chance and, let off the hook somewhat, Hampshire will aim to crack on past 400 on the second day.

That would pile pressure on a Warwickshire top order missing the injured Sam Hain and Ian Bell and including 19-year-old Rob Yates on his first-class debut, and Adam Hose, back after a month out with a broken thumb.

Lancashire29 for 1 trail Northamptonshire 230 (Wood 66, Gleeson 5-63, Onions 4-45) by 201 runs

There was the unmistakable smack of modernity about the cricket at Old Trafford on the first day of this game - yet there was also a pleasing air of timelessness. For all that Northamptonshire's side contained two loan signings and Lancashire's its third Australian debutant of the season, the cosmopolitan make-up of the teams could not quite silence echoes from say, the 1960s, when the first-class season comprised nothing more than a knockout competition and the three-day County Championship.

Though so much has changed, today's county professionals still know what their predecessors faced. Both these teams have over two months of red-ball games ahead of them and whatever the transient gaiety of the Blast might yield, even white-ball specialists like Luke Wright insist that it is upon championship performances that most cricketers are still judged.

So Richard Gleeson will be a contented man this Tuesday evening. Injured at the start of the season and left out of Lancashire's side for the Royal London Cup, Gleeson made good use of a lively first-day pitch to take 5 for 63 against the county to whom he owes so much for helping him revive his career. By sticking to a tight line, he justified Dane Vilas's decision to bat first, a choice whose merit was not lessened by the dismissal five overs before the close of Haseeb Hameed, caught behind for 7 when he pushed forward to a good ball from Ben Sanderson.

That wicket was a setback for Lancashire but it hardly diminished the achievement of their quartet of seamers in dismissing Northamptonshire for 230 on a wicket which, if true to form, should get better. Despite a fine fifty by Luke Wood and a typically determined 48 from Luke Procter on a ground he knows well, Alex Wakely's batsmen had been restricted by Lancashire's four pace bowlers operating in impressive harness. At the day's end Gleeson correctly pointed out that both Tom Bailey and Saqib Mahmood had done all that could be asked yet it was he and Graham Onions who had taken nine of the wickets.

Yet to sharpen that distinction even further it was Gleeson who dismissed four of the top five in Northamptonshire's order after the game had begun in what some may now label the traditional fashion with a tossed coin. Surprisingly to some, Lancashire asked Northants to bat, which is logically what the visitors wanted to do, but the first session neither justified nor mocked Vilas's tactic. The accumulation of 80 runs was balanced by the dismissals of both Ricardo Vasconcelos and Wakely, both of whom were caught behind by Lancashire's wicketkeeper-captain off Gleeson.

Northamptonshire's problems were compounded when Rob Newton went down with a groin problem - a beguiling euphemism covering a multitude of agonies - and required a runner for the rest of his innings. Having displayed chivalry a few moments earlier - more of that later - Vasconcelos now added selflessness to his virtues by agreeing to do the job.

That problem, though, was minor when set beside the disasters that befell the visitors in the first hour after lunch. On the resumption Blackpool-born Gleeson returned to the attack and removed both Newton for 32 and Rob Keogh for 3, both courtesy of leg-before decisions. That left the visitors on 101 for 4 but worse was to follow in the next over when Rob Jones dived to take a superb gully catch off Bailey and send Josh Cobb on his way on his way for nought. Onions may then have been fortunate to get a leg-before decision against Temba Bavuma but the South African debutant's dismissal for 39 left his side on 119 for 6.

Almost all the rest of the session, however, was dominated by a shrewd partnership between Procter, who worked the ball around well, and the Nottinghamshire loanee, Wood who cut the Lancashire bowlers with impressive ease whenever they strayed. Just before the close of an absorbing session Procter was caught at slip by Keaton Jennings for 48 when driving at Gleeson, thus giving the bowler his maiden five-wicket haul for Lancashire in what was his first game of the season and also his home debut. That wicket ended Procter's useful 70-run stand for the seventh wicket with Wood and it was also the prelude to Onions taking the last three wickets in the hour after tea.

Wood perhaps deserves more than to be sent on loan so frequently yet Worcestershire and Northamptonshire's keenness to take him reflects well on his professionalism. He was eventually out for 66 when Bailey got under a mighty hook at long leg and dived to take an excellent catch.

That piece of athleticism and judgement was rightly applauded yet maybe the best moment of the day - and one which recalled the game's ethos - had occurred five hours earlier when Vasconcelos needed only Vilas' assurance that a very low catch off Gleeson had carried before making his way back to the pavilion. It rather recalled the time in another fixture between these sides when Ken Higgs was enraged by David Steele's failure to walk after what the bowler considered an obvious edge.

Those were the days when Steele and Higgs caught the same train to Old Trafford for such games from their homes in the Potteries. But that evening, when he saw the Northamptonshire batsman waiting on the platform, Higgs spurned even the possibility of travelling in the next carriage to someone he believed guilty of sharp practice; instead, he plonked his vast arse on a seat in Piccadilly station and awaited the next departure to Stoke.

Gloucestershire 360 for 6 (Bracey 152, Roderick 88) v Glamorgan

Croeso I Gymru. Welcome to Wales. The friendly words beneath the red dragon greet M4 drivers after they cross the Severn Bridge immediately before the lanes narrow and average speed checks of 50mph take force. There are two parts to the message and while few ever question the warmth of said welcome at Glamorgan, the cricket has not always felt particularly Welsh.

A cynic might have thought as much again en route to the club's newest Championship ground, Spytty Park, in Newport. The vowel-shy name is authentically, even evocatively Welsh. But it is actually closer to the land border with England than the Swalec Stadium in Cardiff, which is preparing for the World Cup later this month.

In fact, the ambiguous status of Monmouthshire as Welsh was only legally clarified in the Local Government Act of 1972, and even then, boundaries could be blurred. Mike Knight, the chairman of Newport CC, bumped into a number of visiting Gloucestershire supporters as he lapped the ground who recalled playing here in the nineties when the club featured in a league in England.

Knight smiles at the historical nuances. His greater emotion is one of pride at seeing around 1000 people enjoy the weather and the cricket almost three decades after Newport's previous ground, Rodney Parade, was sold off after nearly a century to leave the club's future in jeopardy. It is now the sight of a school, and, yes, Maindee Primary does offer cricket of a sort to its boys and girls.

"There are people here from Newport and Gwent," Knight says, pointing to the ring of spectators. "We are not far from Cardiff [around 12 miles], but it is an opportunity for people to see cricket in their local area and possibly they are not comfortable going to Cardiff for whatever reason. Also, there are people here because they want to see a new venue. I understand Glamorgan's commitment to Cardiff, but varying grounds does widen interest."

Rodney Parade hosted its final Championship match in 1965. Glamorgan included seven Welsh-born players on that occasion. Here the total was only three: David Lloyd, from Denbigh, Jeremy Lawlor (Cardiff) and Kieran Bull (Haverfordwest). Five of the current side are not even from the same hemisphere. Some more stats: In 1965, Glamorgan used seven home venues, this season four - though the fact that they played away at Leyton, Weston-Super-Mare and Nuneaton reminds that they are hardly alone in centralising their home.

Robert Croft was sacked as head coach last year after a third poor finish in a row having tried (partly for budgetary reasons) to give young talent its head. It worked, but not often and then in fits and starts. In fact, poor results long pre-date Croft's appointment to that post. Since 2000 when the Championship split into two divisions, Glamorgan have spent only two years in the top flight - and been relegated both times.

In his 2017 Wisden notes, Edward Bevan, the doyen and great optimist of the Glamorgan press scene, said that more local players emerged in 2016 than for many seasons. He cited Aneurin Donald, Kiran Carlson, Lukas Carey and Owen Morgan. Carlson would be playing here but for exams, while Carey is twelfth man. But Morgan is back in the second team and Donald, a prolific and exciting schoolboy batsman, was playing for Hampshire having left last season, he said, to further England ambitions.

Knight describes the Welsh representation as "a sore point" and talked about the game well below first-class level. "We are seeing the demise of cricket in schools," he says. "If we didn't do as a club what we do for the junior cricketers there would be no cricket in Newport, or almost nothing.

"Our next step is to try to develop an indoor cricket school here to safeguard things. We have the building. We just need some help. Our junior kids have to go to Ebbw Vale for a training session indoors in winter for their coaching. That can be impossible in the evenings and I am sure it is contributing massively to the demise of cricket in Gwent. Cardiff is nearer, but that caters for the South Glamorgan area."

Another problem is the relatively small sector of Welsh independent schools. Hugh Morris, Glamorgan's chief executive, estimates that only 1% of Welsh children attend private establishments compared to 7% in England. Here, at least, cricket has facilities and budgets to thrive. In June, Glamorgan are hosting a 20-over competition involving Monmouth School, Christ College in Brecon and Cardiff's Cathedral School along with a number of Colleges to try to identify talent.

Morris played in the last Glamorgan team to win the Championship, in 1997. Bristling at suggestions the county is insufficiently Welsh he delivers a register of current officials. There is Gerard Elias, the president, who replaced the man Morris describes as "Mr Welsh Cricket," Alan Jones. The roll continues: Gareth Williams, a Welsh-speaking chairman, Matthew Maynard, interim head coach, with fellow coaches Steve Watkin, Adrian Shaw and David Harrison.

"Do we want to get more Welsh talent in the side?" Morris answers his own question. "Yes, absolutely. Last season, we did that, we were in a position where we had to play too many youngsters and it was too early for them. But we do want to get more talent through." Talks are ongoing with Cricket Wales over the pathway through junior levels up to the age of 17. "The will is there to have a much stronger Welsh core in the team."

Just as the World Cup has opened opportunities for out-grounds this season, so The Hundred will force eight county sides to move 50-over fixtures from their headquarters next year. Newport want more of the action and can only hope the metaphorical sun shines on them as brightly as the real one against Gloucestershire, although it was hot work for the bowlers as James Bracey compiled 152. Glamorgan are also looking at an array of grounds with their second team this year. One of them, Pontypridd hosted Surrey on Tuesday.

As Morris spoke, Lloyd was bowling his medium pace from the opposite side of the ground, a rare example of a Welshman established in the side. His steady, all-round progress gained due reward in a ceremony in front of the pavilion before lunch when he received his County Cap. Andrew Hignell, the club historian, suggested he thus became the first North Walian by birth to be capped since the formidable Wilf Wooller, captain of the 1948 title-winning side. Well played David Lloyd, but that fact has to be an indictment of something.

Middlesex 325 for 8 (Gubbins 75, Scott 52*, Lace 51, Abbas 4-57) v Leicestershire

Mohammad Abbas claimed four wickets on a topsy-turvy first day of Leicestershire's County Championship fixture with Middlesex at Lord's. The Pakistan Test bowler looked a class above the rest in returning 4 for 57 to restrict the hosts to 325 for 8 on decent batting surface.

Half-centuries from Nick Gubbins, Tom Lace, on debut, and George Scott kept the home side in the hunt, but they will be frustrated no one was able to kick on and make a truly telling contribution.

Despite cloudless skies, Leicestershire exercised their right to field and claimed immediate reward when Abbas trapped Sam Robson lbw with the first ball of the match. It was the beginning of a testing opening burst which would have yielded further reward had Harry Dearden clung onto a low edge at third slip when Max Holden had made 13.

It was a costly miss as Holden and Gubbins settled down to build a century stand. Gubbins in particular found his fluency, hitting 10 boundaries as he passed 50.

It was Abbas again who broke the stand shortly after lunch with one which left Holden off the seam and was edged through to wicketkeeper Lewis Hill.

Gubbins, in a rich vein of form after three scores of 90-plus in the Royal London Cup continued untroubled, taking his boundary count to 15, but with a century in the offing the left-hander needlessly aimed a sweep at offspinner Colin Ackerman and gently lobbed a catch to short-fine leg.

That brought in Stevie Eskinazi, skipper in the absence of the injured Dawid Malan, and he moved briskly to 33 at more than a run a ball courtesy of six fours. However, he too fell victim to Ackerman when trying to cut one too close to him and edging through to Hill.

His departure ended a stand of 46 with Lace, who was making his first-class debut for Middlesex after being recalled from a loan spell with Derbyshire. He too played nicely, surviving just one scare when top-edging one from Abbas over the head of Hill.

His eighth four took him to 50 just before tea, but he departed almost immediately afterwards when edging a lifting ball from Ben Mike and giving Hill his third catch of the day. And the hosts were in trouble when two balls later Mike struck again, trapping John Simpson lbw with one which seemed to keep low.

Scott and James Harris, the latter fresh from his maiden century in Middlesex's Royal London Cup play-off defeat to Lancashire dug in adding 55, before Abbas got the new ball in his hand and snared the latter leg before for 24.

Ollie Rayner in his first match of the season suffered the same fate just two balls later, meaning Middlesex needed Scott, with a career-best 52 not out, to steer them past the sanctuary of 300.

Worcestershire 1 for 1 trail Durham 273 (Burnham 76, Bancroft 70, Morris 6-53) by 272 runs

As curators of the county circuit's most aesthetically appealing backdrop, Worcestershire have an onerous responsibility. Having upset enough traditionalists by allowing a monstrous (to some critics) four-storey hotel to be built in one corner of the New Road ground, the decision to erect a new electronic scoreboard next to it cannot have been taken lightly.

The one it replaces was so small as to be barely visible, particularly now that the banks of seats obscure half of it anyway. Make it too large, though, and there is danger of encroaching on The View. Happily, the chosen dimensions have avoided that, although the grey open metalwork surrounding it is not a masterstroke of urban minimalism: it just isn't finished yet.

The numbers on the scorecard showed both sides in the ascendancy at different times on a sunblessed day of the kind that shows off the cathedral at its best, set against a crisp blue backcloth, framed by vibrant spring green.

Durham rejected the chance to bowl first and won the right to bat, which did not seem too smart as openers Alex Lees and Cameron Steel were being dismissed with just 10 on the board. Lees drove ambitiously at a ball from Charlie Morris and a thick inside edge clattered into his stumps, then Steel followed one outside off stump and Riki Wessels took a sharp low catch at first slip. It was a wicket for Joe Leach, the captain, significant because he had not played competitive senior cricket for 11 months after suffering a stress fracture in the back.

Leach struck another blow in his next over as Gareth Harte was leg before and at 14 for 3 Durham were in a spot of early bother. Leach finished his opening spell with 2 for 12 from six overs.

Once the shine began to wear off the new ball, however, the story began to change. Cameron Bancroft, the Durham captain, applied himself judiciously, as too did Jack Burnham, the former England Under-19 batsman. They negotiated a steady and for the most part untroubled path to lunch at 77 for 3.

The day became a significant one for Burnham, too, as he seeks to rebuild his career after a year of enforced absence, the consequence of three failed tests for recreational drug use. There are some who advocate life bans for any form of drug abuse but 12 months is a long time for a 21-year-old for whom it must have once seemed he had the world at his feet.

He took himself off to labour on a road gang for part of his time away, reacquainting himself with a world in which money is too sparse to throw away on the empty self-gratification that tempted him before. Durham, who need talented young players more than ever, will hope it is all in the past.

When Burnham passed fifty off 109 balls it was his first since July 2017. He and Bancroft added 149 in 46 overs.

But then the balance of the day shifted again as both fell in consecutive overs towards the end of the middle session. Josh Tongue, with the second ball of a new spell, removed Bancroft, trapped in front for 70 trying to work to leg, then Morris, who was to be the bowler of the day, had Burnham caught behind for 76. When Leach then bowled Liam Trevaskis, Durham had slipped from 163 for 3 to 177 for 6.

More rebuilding followed as Ben Raine and Ned Eckersley, reprising old Leicestershire partnerships, added 60 for the seventh wicket, but then, with the new ball taken, it became a Morris dance through the tail, the right-arm seamer dismissing both in consecutive overs and taking the last four wickets in the space of five overs as Durham were out for 273.

Morris spent much of last season away from the first team remodelling a once-suspect action. His 6 for 53 followed his 7 for 45 in Worcestershire's opening win over Leicestershire, so whatever remedial work he undertook seems to have worked.

Chris Rushworth's action could hardly be better honed. As if to demonstrate that fact, as Worcestershire began their reply, the Durham stalwart struck with his second ball to remove Daryl Mitchell.

The lawyers for the family of Nicholas Immesberger have alleged that The Woods Jupiter has destroyed video evidence of the employee drinking at the bar for three hours -- to the point of severe intoxication -- prior to his fatal crash in December.

The family is suing the restaurant, owner Tiger Woods and restaurant general manager Erica Herman, who is Woods' girlfriend, for the wrongful death of Immesberger, who had a blood alcohol reading of .256, more than three times the legal limit in Florida, when he lost control of his car, crashed it and suffered fatal injuries on Dec. 10, 2018. Immesberger was 24.

"One of the most significant issues we have here is the destruction of evidence," attorney Spencer Kuvin said Tuesday. "Obviously it shows that somebody knew something had gone wrong and they wanted to get rid of that evidence. We have evidence to show that that videotape, showing Nick at the bar that night after he got off at 3 p.m., drinking for three hours at the bar, was destroyed shortly after the crash had occurred.

"So we have through our investigation uncovered evidence to show that the bar knew what happened, they knew about the crash that night and shortly thereafter that video evidence was destroyed and deleted off the servers they had there at The Woods."

Immesberger was a bartender at The Woods, and the suit alleges that Woods, Herman and other employees were aware that Immesberger had a drinking problem but regularly overserved him during and after his work shifts.

"Tiger knew, or reasonably should have known, that Immesberger was habitually addicted to the use of any or all alcoholic beverages, and/or was a habitual drunkard,'' the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit alleges that Woods and Herman were "drinking with him" a few nights before the fatal crash. It is unclear whether Woods or Herman were at the restaurant on Dec. 10 after they had returned home from a trip to Australia on the night of Dec. 7.

"We're all very sad that Nick passed away," Woods said during media availability for the PGA Championship on Tuesday. "It was a terrible night, a terrible ending, and just -- we feel bad for him and his entire family. It's very sad.''

Kuvin also said Tuesday that Herman and other restaurant employees were aware that Immesberger had wrecked another vehicle just one month before the fatal crash after being "overserved again" at The Woods.

"Erica specifically asked him to come back to work at the bar, and she was aware of his addiction and problem," Kuvin said.

With the Portland Trail Blazers and Toronto Raptors each four wins away from a matchup in the NBA Finals, plans are being made to ensure Blazers starting center Enes Kanter can safely participate in all the games.

Oregon Senator Ron Wyden is sending a letter to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on behalf of Kanter encouraging safe passage for the Turkish center to Canada for all games.

"I ask your government to facilitate Mr. Kanter's safe passage to and from Canada should the Portland Trail Blazers play the Toronto Raptors in Toronto, Canada, in the upcoming NBA Finals," the letter states. "I also urge your government to state publicly that it will not comply with any Interpol red notice meant to interfere with Mr. Kanter's livelihood and to intimidate him and his family back in Turkey."

Kanter has found strong support from Wyden since joining the Blazers in February after being bought out by the New York Knicks.

"I have full confidence to myself and my team to win the Western Conference finals," Kanter told ESPN via text message. "Going to Toronto will be a bit hectic for me for the reasons you know, and I know Senator Wyden is working hard to make sure that I can make it and I really appreciate it.

"On the other side, I know the Prime Minister of Canada, Mr. Justin Trudeau is a good leader and I have confidence in him to help with my situation," Kanter said. "I know this because he's already helping many more Turkish citizens, in the Hizmet movement, who are oppressed by the Dictator Erdogan regime right now."

Kanter has been an outspoken critic of Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Kanter is aligned with Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, who the Erdogan government accuses of helping orchestrate a failed coup attempt in 2016.

Because of safety concerns and issues with his immigration status, Kanter, who has a green card, did not travel with the Blazers to play the Raptors in early March. Kanter had his Turkish passport revoked in 2017 and has had a warrant out for his arrest in Turkey since January. Turkey also reportedly seeks an Interpol red notice for Kanter, which could result in him being detained and deported back to his home country.

"On another note, even if Senator Wyden and PM Trudeau does their best, Dictator Erdogan will try using/abusing all his powers to manipulate red notice system through Interpol," Kanter said in the text message. "As you know, I am a law abiding citizen both in Turkey and here in the U.S. -- I never broke a single law in my life, didn't even have a parking ticket, but Turkish government cancels my passport ... WHY? it's simply because I'm an outspoken critic of Dictator Erdogan. So, Erdogan might push all his chances through Interpol, which I believe he tries abusing it.

"Interpol should not let itself to get abused by any Dictator regime, including Erdogan's," Kanter said. "No matter whatever they do, I won't back down from my fight in the path of democracy, uplifting human rights and freedom of speech."

In January, when Kanter was with the New York Knicks, he did not travel to London for a game against the Washington Wizards, citing safety concerns.

"As President Erdogan continues taking Turkey down a dark, authoritarian road, Mr. Kanter is hardly the only person to face persecution," Wyden's letter to Trudeau says. "But without his Turkish passport -- and not yet able to qualify for an American passport -- Mr. Kanter does find himself in a particularly tenuous legal position resulting from being a public person using his bully pulpit to speak out against a dangerous bully.

"I have instructed my staff to work with our administration to ensure that Mr. Kanter could travel safely to Canada and return unimpeded in the event of a Portland-Toronto NBA series," it says. "I urge your government to ensure the same with respect to Mr. Kanter's ability to enter Canada, play in Canada, and then return safely and expeditiously to the United States. I also urge you to state publicly that your government will ignore any red notice against Mr. Kanter."

Kanter is in the process of becoming a United States citizen, but he won't have that finalized until 2021.

With the Blazers in the Western Conference finals, Turkish broadcaster S Sport will not televise the series against the Golden State Warriors.

"I can say clearly that we will not be broadcasting the Warriors-Blazers series," S Sport commentator Omer Sarac told Reuters. "Furthermore, if Portland makes it to the Finals, [that] will not be broadcast either ... This situation is not about us, but it is what it is."

According to NBA deputy commissioner and chief operating officer Mark Tatum, "fans in Turkey can watch all playoff games featuring Enes Kanter and the Portland Trail Blazers on NBA League Pass and NBA TV International."