Chinese Super League side Beijing Guoan reportedly "tabled" a €20M ($23.6M) deal to "lure" striker MAXI GÓMEZ from La Liga side Celta Vigo. The Uruguay int'l left Uruguayan club Defensor Sporting to join Celta six months ago on a five-year, €4M contract (SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST, 11/17). ... EPL side Stoke City Manager MARK HUGHES thinks RYAN GIGGS "would be an ideal replacement" for CHRIS COLEMAN as the next manager of Wales. Coleman "dramatically quit" as coach on Friday and has "already taken his first training session" in charge of League Championship side Sunderland (YAHOO, 11/19). ... SIMON SPEIRS, 60, died while "taking part in the Clipper Round the World Race leg from South Africa to Australia." Organizers said that the retired solicitor, who was wearing a life jacket, "was washed over the side during gale force winds on Saturday" (BBC, 11/19). ... British motorcycle rider DANIEL HEGARTY died after "a horrific crash" in the Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix. The 31-year-old, racing for Topgun Racing Honda, "came off his bike at a sharp bend during the sixth lap and was flung into barriers, losing his helmet and sustaining fatal injuries" (London TELEGRAPH, 11/18). ... USAIN BOLT has "drawn on his power" to help Australian cricketers utilize the "asset between the wickets." The world's fastest man put a "handful" of Australian Ashes hopefuls "through their paces" and said that "the area he thought most needed work was their speed off the mark." Bolt: "It's all about explosiveness, and that's one thing I've noticed with cricket -- they don't really have a lot of explosiveness when they're running" (HERALD SUN, 11/19).
