Arsenal are not interested in signing Barcelona playmaker Philippe Coutinho this summer but north London rivals Tottenham remain keen, sources have told ESPN FC.

The Brazil international is out of favour at Camp Nou and reports in Spain and France have linked the Gunners with the former Liverpool player, with some even stating that a deal was close to completion.

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However, sources have told ESPN FC that Arsenal are not in for the 27-year-old and never were.

Barca are trying to move their No. 7 on but so far has not found anyone willing to sign him. His £290,000-a-week wages as well as his price tag -- he was signed for €120 million rising to €160m 18 months ago -- have made a potential deal very difficult.

After the recruitment of Dani Ceballos, Nicolas Pepe, William Saliba, who has returned on loan to Saint Etienne, and Gabriel Martinelli, Arsenal and Raul Sanllehi, their CEO in charge of football operations, are now focusing actively on recruiting a centre-back. It will have to be a loan, however, as Arsenal have spent all their budget on transfers for this summer.

RB Leipzig's Dayot Upamecano is no longer an option as a deal was too complicated to conclude, though, Juventus' Daniele Rugani is in the frame following a meeting in London this week between Sanllehi and Juve director Fabio Paratici.

Despite Arsenal's lack of interest interest, Barca are still actively looking to place Coutinho in the Premier League before the transfer window closes in England this week.

Sources have told ESPN FC that the player has been offered to both Manchester United and Tottenham. United have not completely ruled out making a move but Spurs is a more likely destination.

Coutinho played under Mauricio Pochettino at Espanyol and has maintained a great relationship with the Argentine coach. A source close to Coutinho told ESPN FC the chances of a return to England this month are "low" but not impossible.

A move to Spurs is complicated, though, and would depend on a number of factors. Christian Eriksen would have to leave the club -- with United interested -- while deals for Giovani Lo Celso and Bruno Fernandes would have to fail to materialise.

Finally, Coutinho would possibly have to take a sizeable pay cut or Barca would have to accept a loan move. Sources at the Catalan club say a loan move is the last option as they look to move the Brazil international on on.

If a move to the Premier League fails to materialise, there remains interest from Paris Saint-Germain, with Barcelona still interested signing Neymar from the Ligue 1 champions.

ESPN FC first revealed after Barca's Champions League loss to Liverpool that the Blaugrana wanted to sell Coutinho, who became their record signing when they bought him from Liverpool in 2018.

Since then, there has been interest but no firm bids for Coutinho, who flew out to Miami with Barca on Monday. He was one of four players to train at Barry University on Tuesday ahead of Wednesday's game against Napoli.

Information from ESPN FC's Barcelona correspondent Sam Marsden was used in this report

D.C. United will hold talks this week with representatives of Arsenal midfielder Mesut Ozil, sources have confirmed to ESPN FC.

The Washington Post was the first to report D.C.'s interest in Ozil. One source added that any deal involving Ozil would occur during the January transfer window, which coincides with MLS' offseason.

News of D.C. United's interest in Ozil coincided with the announcement that Wayne Rooney will end his stay with the Black-and-Red at the conclusion of the current MLS season and join English Championship side Derby County as a player/coach in January.

Ozil has struggled to hold a regular place under manager Unai Emery at Arsenal. The Germany international logged just 1741 minutes in league play last season, the lowest figure since the 2007-08 campaign when he was breaking through with Bundesliga side Werder Bremen.

His current contract, signed at the beginning of 2019, reportedly pays him over $22.2 million a year. Since joining the Gunners in 2013, Ozil has made 231 league and cup appearances, scoring 43 goals while winning three FA Cups and a Community Shield.

Ozil began his professional career in 2006 with Schalke before moving on to the likes of Bremen, Real Madrid and then Arsenal. He was part of Real's La Liga-winning side in 2011-12 as well as the team that claimed the Copa del Rey the previous season.

At international level, Ozil has earned 92 caps with Germany while scoring 23 goals, and was part of the side that claimed the 2014 World Cup title. He retired from the Germany team in July, 2018 at the age of 29 citing racism.

Wayne Rooney has agreed a deal to leave Major League Soccer side D.C. United and take up a role as a player-coach at English second-tier club Derby County in January.

The former Manchester United forward moved to MLS from Everton in June 2018 and has scored 25 goals in 45 appearances.

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"I remain fully focused on giving my all for the team for the rest of this season and repaying the support shown by the Black-and-Red faithful by hopefully delivering an MLS Cup to Audi Field," Rooney said. "My time in Major League Soccer is something I will always be proud of.

Delighted to announce I'll be joining @dcfcofficial as player coach in January ? #WR32 pic.twitter.com/K5nVbhgopy

— Wayne Rooney (@WayneRooney) August 6, 2019

"The supporters in the Screaming Eagles, Barra Brava and District Ultras have made my time in America so enjoyable. While the decision to move home was a tough one, family is everything to us and we make this change to be closer to the ones we love back in England.

"The opportunity to go back home and start the next step of my career in coaching was the factor that made my mind up. I would like to thank everyone at D.C. United for the incredible support my family and I have received over my two seasons at the club."

Steve Kaplan and Jason Levien, D.C. United co-chairmen, added: "After speaking to Wayne and understanding his difficult situation of being so far away from his family, we have accepted that this is the best decision for all parties.

"Our main focus now is the 2019 MLS Season and ensuring we make a push towards the playoffs with the ultimate goal of bringing an MLS Cup back to the District.

"Wayne is an exceptional leader and one of the most iconic players to play the game so we look forward to his continued contributions to the team this season."

Levien, speaking exclusively to ESPN FC on Tuesday, said that Rooney had found it difficult to settle in D.C. and even took a midseason trip back to England to be with family.

"When [Rooney] came back he said he had a strong desire to return home, and not just to the U.K., but to his house where he lives, and didn't know if he was going to be able to continue after this season, or for the full [length] of his contract," said Levien.

"We talked about that, and the personal side of it, and what it meant for the club and what it meant for him, and how we could accept that and make the best out of the situation for everybody, and be supportive of what was going on with his personal life, his need to move back home."

Levien added that, upon signing Rooney last summer, the club always knew the midfielder was never destined to stay in D.C. for very long.

"We never thought that Wayne was going to stay here forever," said Levien. "We anticipated probably being here the full length of his agreement with us, but we're good and we're in a very different place than before Wayne arrived.

"We've got our stadium, we've got a lot of momentum from that. We've grown our fanbase, we've grown the visibility of our club in a big way the last two seasons. We don't plan to rest on our laurels or stop there. We want to take it to a whole new level."

To help cope with Rooney's absence, D.C. has already lined up the signing of forward Ola Kamara. And sources confirmed a Washington Post report that the club is in talks to sign Argentine midfielder Mateo Garcia, with the proposed transfer fee set at around $3 million.

At Derby, Rooney will look to learn from manager Phillip Cocu, who replaced Frank Lampard in the summer after the ex-England man was named Chelsea boss.

"Wayne Rooney is an extremely talented and top-class footballer," Cocu said. "It is an exciting prospect for him to be joining Derby County and he can bring so much to this squad, both on and off the pitch.

"He has enjoyed a wonderful career, both in club football and for England, and he still has so much to give as well. His credentials speak for themselves. But to have a player with his leadership, skill, experience, character and work ethic will be huge for us.

"I felt that the ambitions of the club match mine, in terms of where I want to go with my career." - @WayneRooney ?#WR32

— Derby County (@dcfcofficial) August 6, 2019

"He knows what it takes to succeed as a player and I have no doubt he will have a positive impact right across the club. The inspiration and motivation this can generate is massive for all of our players from the first team right through to the youngsters in the academy.

"It is entirely in keeping with, and in support of, the club's philosophy and approach. I am looking forward to working with Wayne from the start of next year and welcoming him to the club."

Rooney will be following most closely in the footsteps of Lampard, who last season took the team he is set to join all the way to the Championship playoff final. Lampard has now taken over at Chelsea, while Steven Gerrard is in charge of Scottish side Rangers.

Former Manchester United teammate Phil Neville has also impressed as England's women's team boss, having recently guided the Lionesses to the World Cup semi-finals.

"It's great to see them going into management. But it's not just because of that, I've always had an ambition to go into management," Rooney told reporters.

"It's great these young English managers are getting the opportunity. Over the past 20 years we haven't seen it so much. When the time is right, hopefully that's what I can move into. But ... my first aim is to play," he said.

ESPN FC U.S. Correspondent Jeff Carlisle and Reuters contributed to this report.

As break-ups go, Wayne Rooney's split with D.C. United seemed to come out of nowhere.

Rooney arrived in the nation's capital just over 12 months ago and almost immediately achieved icon status with the DCU faithful, scoring 12 goals and adding seven assists to spark the Black-and-Red to an unlikely spot in the MLS playoffs.

He has been similarly effective in 2019 and D.C. is in postseason contention, but Tuesday brought the news that Rooney, who still had two-and-a-half years to run on a contract that sees him earn a $3.5 million salary in 2019-20, will join English Championship side Derby County in a player-coach role when the winter transfer window opens in January. A source told ESPN that the move will see the 33-year-old take a pay cut.

DCU co-owner and CEO Jason Levien confirmed to ESPN FC much of what transpired and had been reported in recent days: While Rooney continues to enjoy life in MLS, his family had found it difficult to settle and is eager for a return to England. Rooney took a short trip home after a July 18 match against FC Cincinnati to not only heal some nagging injuries but get in some family time. Upon his return, he expressed concerns.

"When [Rooney] came back he said he had a strong desire to return home, and not just to the U.K., but to his house where he lives, and didn't know if he was going to be able to continue after this season, or for the full [length] of his contract," said Levien, who noted Rooney had "never lived outside of a 30-40-mile radius his entire life until he came to Washington."

"We talked about that," Levien added, "and the personal side of it, and what it meant for the club and what it meant for him, and how we could accept that and make the best out of the situation for everybody, and be supportive of what was going on with his personal life, his need to move back home."

During last week's All-Star Game festivities, player and club plotted a way forward. Derby County's situation, with Philip Cocu newly installed as manager, appealed to Rooney, who desires to get into coaching, and the broad strokes of a deal were hashed out over the weekend with the club's CEO, Steve Pearce. Rooney flew to England on Monday night and finalized the move the following day.

"The opportunity came up for me to join Derby County in January, as a player but also as a coach, which was important to start that transition for the next stage of my career," Rooney said in an interview with DCU's website. "But also for my family and myself to be back in England around our extended family and friends was part of the reason also."

D.C. United sources confirmed that there is no transfer fee involved in the deal and that the marketing agreement attached to Rooney's contract, which has been reported as a seven-year deal worth $2.5m, will no longer apply. The team is exploring a "different relationship" with the player, according to one source.

Rooney will leave behind enduring memories, like the Herculean effort last season against Orlando City when, with his goalkeeper committed upfield, he tackled the ball away from Will Johnson at midfield, then turned and dribbled before launching a laser-guided cross that Luciano Acosta headed home for the game winner.

In conjunction with the opening of Audi Field, Rooney helped galvanize a franchise that had been stuck in the doldrums, content to exist on a shoestring budget as efforts to get a stadium plodded along. Further, he gave the team considerable cachet in the crowded D.C. sports market.

One certainly can't begrudge Rooney for putting his family first, but while there does not appear to be any acrimony over his departure, there is a sense that his contribution will be less than it might have been; not because he performed poorly, just not long enough. It also leaves the impression that DCU's momentum has been arrested.

"Legacies come from winning trophies," Rooney admitted this week, and that he is not leaving immediately means there is time to add to his American story. Ben Olsen's side is fourth in the Eastern Conference and targeting a playoff run, but this news dents optimism and that trend will continue if Acosta, whose contract is up at the end of the season, also departs. Further, the loans of Bill Hamid, Leonardo Jara and Lucas Rodriguez expire at the end of the 2019 campaign.

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Levien, though, does not believe that DCU's upward trajectory will be overly affected.

"We never thought that Wayne was going to stay here forever," said Levien. "We anticipated probably being here the full length of his agreement with us, but we're good and we're in a very different place than before Wayne arrived. We've got our stadium, we've got a lot of momentum from that. We've grown our fan base, we've grown the visibility of our club in a big way the last two seasons. We don't plan to rest on our laurels or stop there. We want to take it to a whole new level."

Hours after Rooney's move was announced, DCU traded for Felipe Martins. It has also lined up the signing of forward Ola Kamara and sources confirmed a Washington Post report of talks with Argentine midfielder Mateo Garcia over a $3 million transfer. The reported interest in Mesut Ozil, while tantalizing, represents a very different value proposition.

While those moves will soften the impact of Rooney's eventual departure, more needs to be done. The former England captain represented a unique opportunity in terms of name recognition and ability and in the last 12 months proved his worth on and off the field. The extent to which Kamara, Garcia or any others pick up slack is not yet known.

Before his sacking last year, Jose Mourinho would often dismiss change at Manchester United as having come "too late" and their £80m signing of Harry Maguire on Monday will not have changed his opinion.

Maguire was one of the few defensive targets Mourinho and United's recruitment team agreed about last summer -- the Portuguese boss even made a personal plea after the 2018 World Cup -- but the club felt Leicester were asking for too much money and talks never got off the ground.

Fast forward 12 months and Maguire is finally a United player. After an initial phone call in May, it took more than two months for executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward and chief negotiator Matt Judge to talk Leicester down from £85 million, plus another £10m in add-ons, to the £80m they agreed upon.

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After a breakthrough in talks on Friday, the 26-year-old signed a six-year contract at Old Trafford a few days later, with the option of another 12 months. It is the longest deal United have ever offered a player and the fee paid is a world record for a defender.

In an inflated market, though, United feel they have got a fair deal for a proven Premier League performer and England international. There are several reasons why.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer wanted to bring in a player with leadership qualities. Having played alongside Roy Keane, Eric Cantona, Peter Schmeichel and Denis Irwin, the United boss felt the dressing room lacked focus and direction.

Privately, Solskjaer is already talking about Maguire as a future club captain. He will wear the No. 5 shirt and is seen as what United staff call an "attitude leader"; the club were impressed that he did not bring an entourage when he arrived at Carrington for his medical at 9 a.m. on Saturday morning, only his agent Kenneth Shepherd.

After completing four hours of tests and a lengthy MUTV interview, Maguire chose to spend a quiet evening at the Lowry Hotel while his girlfriend, Fern Hawkins, went out in Manchester. No wild celebrations, just focus on the job at hand.

United had reason to be happy, though. Manchester City were also interested in Maguire and it was telling that, after Sunday's Community Shield, Pep Guardiola made a point of congratulating his club's crosstown rivals before saying that City "could not afford" the £80m fee.

Good on the ball and with a talent for driving into midfield from the back, Maguire is a Guardiola-type player, but his arrival at Old Trafford is evidence that Solskjaer is trying to change the way United play.

The new man and Victor Lindelof will first-choice at centre-back, with the idea that attacks will start from United's half, rather than from direct balls into Romelu Lukaku, who might leave the club this month, or Marouane Fellaini, who departed in January.

Maguire's arrival could impact other central defenders, who include Lindelof, Eric Bailly, Phil Jones, Axel Tuanzebe, Marcos Rojo and, specifically, Chris Smalling, who was jettisoned from the England squad by Gareth Southgate after 31 caps because he is not as good on the ball as, among others, Maguire.

Smalling did not play a minute of United's final two friendlies against Kristiansund and Milan -- before Maguire had arrived -- and while the new contract he signed in December means he could refuse to move, it would not be a surprise if he was left out of the matchday squad when Chelsea visit Old Trafford to kick off the Premier League season on Sunday.

Even if no one else comes in, Solskjaer believes Maguire's arrival has taken United's summer spending from adequate to impressive.

After five years of scatter-gun deals, Solskjaer has tried to follow a plan. Three British players -- Dan James, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Maguire -- have come in for around £145m, all with the idea that they can improve. Just as important, they are signings that alter the dynamic of the dressing room.

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Solskjaer has a group of key British players that also includes Ashley Young, Luke Shaw, Marcus Rashford, Jesse Lingard and Scott McTominay. Though the manager was born in Norway, having played for 11 years under Sir Alex Ferguson in a successful team built around Keane, Irwin, Gary Neville, Nicky Butt, Paul Scholes, David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Andy Cole and Teddy Sheringham, he understands the importance of a homegrown core.

United certainly did not get Maguire, or Wan-Bissaka for that matter, on the cheap, but the club have been willing to push the boat out because these players are seen as a key part of what Solskjaer is trying to achieve both on and off the pitch.

As negotiations with Leicester reached a climax, United assistant Mike Phelan told Maguire he was the only defender they wanted this summer. His seven-year contract underlines how important the club think he will be to their future and, though he may not have the Instagram followers of Paulo Dybala or sell the same number of shirts as Gareth Bale, for Solskjaer he's a marquee signing, who can change a lot at Old Trafford.

Jofra Archer tuned up for a likely Test debut at Lord's next week with a six-wicket haul for Sussex's 2nd XI in his first red-ball appearance for nearly 11 months, before hitting a 99-ball 108 for good measure.

In the bucolic surrounds of Woodmancote, in rural West Sussex, Archer took two early Gloucestershire wickets with the new ball, before adding four more across two further spells in the morning session to end with 6 for 27. In all, he bowled 12.1 overs, and looked fully fit, coming in off his full run-up with good pace and hostility.

Archer came in at No. 6 with Sussex teetering at 52 for 4, but after being dropped at slip on 13, he punished George Drissell's offspin and scored freely off the seamers to reach his first hundred in a Sussex shirt.

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He suffered a glancing blow from an Adrian Neill bouncer after reaching his hundred, but continued batting after a quick concussion test from Sussex's physio.

Archer missed out on the England XI for the defeat at Edgbaston, having been named in the 14-man squad despite playing through the pain of a side strain for the majority of the World Cup. With James Anderson ruled out of the second Test, he is now in line to make his debut.

Captain Joe Root said before the Edgbaston Test that Archer's omission would "give him time to get absolutely ready and fit". But Jason Gillespie, Sussex's coach - who was not present, instead preparing for the evening's Blast game against Glamorgan - said that Archer "has to play" at Lord's.

"I was surprised he didn't play the first Test, to be perfectly blunt," Gillespie told TalkSPORT radio. "It's easy to say that in hindsight, but he's 100 percent fit, ready to go.

"He had to start the first Test, but the powers that be decided he wasn't quite ready. They thought he'd not played enough red-ball cricket … but the same people were saying he hadn't played enough 50-over cricket and he's gone and been the leading [England] wicket-taker in the World Cup.

"He adds another dimension to this England bowling attack - he's got pace, bounce, movement off the seam, through the air. Four or five-day cricket is his best format, so appreciate how good he is."

England coach Trevor Bayliss had said he hoped Archer would "just get through a number of overs" in the game, and Archer bowled eight with the wind behind him in his first spell. He struck twice, first removing Tom Price, a 19-year-old opener who feathered an edge to wicketkeeper Joe Billings - no relation of Sam - before Gareth Roderick, Gloucestershire's usual Championship keeper, fished outside his off stump and fended a catch to third slip.

Archer also hit Milo Ayres, another of seven teenagers in the Gloucestershire side, on the grille with a back-of-a-length ball that rose sharply off a noticeably quick, hybrid wicket, and despite batting on Ayres was visibly shaken.

Archer's second spell, which came after an end change, lasted only two overs. His first ball was driven down the ground by Matt Brewer, the No. 8, but Archer uprooted his off stump with a perfect outswinger three balls later.

In his final spell, back at the end he had started at, he removed Nos. 9 and 10 in quick succession - caught in the slips and clean bowled - before getting rid of top-scorer Greg Willows to finish with 6 for 27 in his 12.1 overs, Gloucestershire bowled out for 79.

Chris Jordan, Archer's close friend and team-mate, arrived at the ground just in time to see him walk off for lunch, and said that he was "more than ready" to play in the second Test.

"He's been good ever since the end of the World Cup," Jordan said. "He had that week break which did him a lot of good, freed his mind, rested his body, and as you can see in the couple of T20s he's played, and the session here today, he's more than ready.

"You've seen that every time a challenge is put in front of him he seems to rise to it. He's very competitive, and he sets himself high standards more than anything and he'll be looking to live up to those: going into the second Test he'll be a big, big asset for England."

That this was Archer's first red-ball game since a Championship appearance for Sussex last September is telling for two reasons.

Firstly, it demonstrates just how hectic Archer's schedule has been. Since the end of the county season last year, he has played almost non-stop in the T10 League, Big Bash, and IPL, before going straight into the England side for the World Cup warm-up series against Pakistan. It was, perhaps, no surprise that he found himself in "pretty excruciating" pain by the end of that tournament.

Secondly, it demonstrates the extent to which England have found themselves reliant on Archer so early in his international career.

Root and Bayliss have both highlighted their desire for a "point of difference" bowler in their attack, and Archer, Olly Stone, and Sam Curran all fit into that category. But with his World Cup showing counting in his favour, it seems that he is the most likely candidate to replace Anderson at Lord's, despite his opening burst here representing his longest competitive spell in almost a year.

As if to highlight Archer's rise, he was warned off speaking to the media present, and Sussex even hired a steward to ensure he remained off-limits.

His effort with the bat, for all its flamboyance, is unlikely to count too much in his favour, given the opposition as well as the number of allrounders already in England's lower middle order. His innings combined fluency and fortune: there were elegant cover drives and lusty blows over long-on, as well as an early chance put down at slip. He reached his hundred off 84 balls to put Sussex firmly in the driving seat.

Billings, Sussex's keeper, said that he was stood "certainly a bit further back than normal" to Archer, and that this was the quickest spell he had kept to in his brief career.

"I kept to Tymal [Mills] last week up at Horsham," he said. "That was pretty similar, but I think [this] wicket had a bit of extra pace and carry in it."

The messy fallout from South Africa's disastrous World Cup campaign is now out in the open. Various internal communications leaked to the media over the last few days have hinted at a somewhat fractious end to the tenures of both Ottis Gibson, the head coach, and Mohammad Moosajee, the long-standing team doctor and manager.

Over the weekend, the entire coaching staff of the men's team were let go amid a major restructuring exercise. It has since emerged that Cricket South Africa went back on an agreement - in principle at least - to extend Gibson's contract until 2021.

At a CSA board meeting in February the extension was agreed, and an independent director was asked to redraft a new contract. The specifics of the contract, however, appear to have been a stumbling block.

"I first spoke with Ottis, and I said I would like to suggest that the board have a look at your contract, with a possible extension," CSA chief executive Thabang Moroe explained at a press conference on Tuesday. "Ottis responded by saying that he would more or less look at being employed until 2021, and that's what I should suggest to the board. I did suggest that to the board. The board deliberated on that.

"What the board essentially said to me, to quote verbatim, was, 'we're agreeing that you can go ahead and extend the coach's contract, subject to him agreeing to key specific pointers in his contract changing'. Part of that being EPG [transformation targets], part of that being communication, part of that being performance. We went back to the coach, together with the now acting Director of Cricket and communicated that to the coach, of which he said he could not immediately agree until he saw what his contract looked like."

It has emerged since that the board was concerned at the team missing their transformation targets for the second year in a row, forcing them to enact a policy which would give Moroe final sign-off on team selections and enhanced ability to ensure targets were being met. However, that decision was made without taking the views of Gibson or selection convenor Linda Zondi, resulting in further friction.

"Now, that meeting is essentially the same meeting where this policy of selection was spoken of," Moroe continued. "Obviously it is well documented now in the media that the coach was not really be happy about the board now wanting to activate this policy."

This forced the board to quickly backtrack. It was subsequently reported that transformation targets wouldn't apply at the World Cup. "The perception that was already put out there was that the board, together with the CEO, was intending to interfere in selection, which wasn't true," Moroe said. "To dispel such notions or rumours, we just simply put the policy on ice.

"Similarly, with Ottis not agreeing, that's one of the decisions that emanated from that meeting. That caused the board to say, 'listen because the coach is not agreeable to a few things that we're already saying, lets rather put his contract on ice as well' and judge him the same way we said we would from the first, which is his performances at the World Cup'."

The result was that Gibson went to the World Cup unsure of his long-term future as South Africa's coach. There were more tensions yet, over the participation of several key players in the IPL, which preceded the World Cup. Gibson wanted his players back early, but Moroe is understood to have not forced the issue with the BCCI for the worry of potential financial consequences.

According to reports from leaked communication, Moroe confirmed to Gibson that it had been decided at an April 6 board meeting that CSA wouldn't be able to financially compensate the players for shortened IPL gigs, which is said to have further disappointed Gibson.

The outgoing South African coach wasn't the only member of the team management left disgruntled by events leading up to South Africa's reshuffle. It has also been revealed that there was an attempt to remove Moosajee from his position in September last year. However, Gibson and captain Faf du Plessis are said to have met CSA president Chris Nenzani to secure his position.

Last week, ahead of CSA's board meeting, Moosajee informed the board that he didn't want to continue, apparently also unhappy that he had been removed from CSA's Exco, a senior executives committee on which Moosajee had been able to directly represent the team he managed. The Exco forms part of the chief executives committee, on which sit both CSA and South African Cricketers Association chief executives.

The subject of CSA's strained relationship with SACA was also a talking point at Tuesday's press conference. SACA launched legal action against CSA on the eve of the World Cup over the restructuring of domestic cricket and Moroe said CSA are seeking to avert litigation with SACA by meeting with them to iron out any differences.

"It would be irresponsible for me to say no, we're willing to go to court at all costs," Moroe said. "If we have to we will, to defend our views as CSA. But yes, it is our hope that we don't go to court. At the end of the day, we are family with SACA and I'd like to think that whatever differences might be on the table, as family we should be able to sit around a table and thrash out those differences and essentially agree to move on. Whether the one party might still be unhappy to a certain extent or not, that should be irrelevant."