One player has his eyes on a potential move to Leeds United, with Daniel Farke’s side making their stance clear on a January deal.

Unbeaten Leeds eyeing January transfer moves

It’s been a solid last two months for the newly-promoted Whites, who haven’t lost a single Premier League game since November with eight points now separating them from the drop zone.

While this run has been peppered with stalemates, the signs are hugely encouraging for Leeds as they hope to put further ground between them and West Ham in 18th.

Newcastle United awaits on Wednesday evening, and while a trip to St. James’ Park is always tough, Farke’s men go into their North East clash with real momentum from a solid festive period.

The January transfer window also presents an opportunity to strengthen in what would be a crucial month.

While tempering expectations of quick-fire winter deals in the opening week, or any major spending, Farke told reporters before their 1-1 draw with Man United that signings are very much a possibility over the next few weeks.

It is clear by Farke’s message that only obvious squad upgrades will be prioritised, which explains their stance on re-signing Man City midfielder Kalvin Phillips.

The £150,000-per-week midfielder has only made one appearance under Pep Guardiola this term, a seven-minute run out in the Carabao Cup against Huddersfield, and has been frozen out of the side for a long time now.

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Phillips spent last season on loan at Ipswich Town, where he failed to convince the Tractor Boys to make his move permanent, and that move was preceded by a dismal six months at West Ham.

Kalvin Phillips keen to re-join Leeds as Whites transfer stance revealed

Now, according to FourFourTwo’s Joe Donnohue, the 30-year-old looks upon the idea of an Elland Road pretty positively.

Phillips is apparently keen on a return to Leeds, though the club are unlikely to pursue negotiations having already strengthened Farke’s midfield with last summer’s arrivals of Anton Stach and Sean Longstaff.

Farke views captain Ethan Ampadu as indispensable at the heart of his system, further reducing any potential pathway back for the former Yorkshire favourite.

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Wolves have emerged as serious contenders to offer Phillips a Premier League lifeline this month instead, exploring a loan deal as Rob Edwards seeks reinforcements for the club’s desperate survival battle.

The Midlands outfit finally secured their first league win of the season last weekend by demolishing West Ham 3-0 at Molineux, temporarily easing pressure on Edwards.

As things stand, Wolves are a far more likely destination for Phillips than Leeds, who won’t be swayed by the prospect of an emotional homecoming.

Leeds’ refusal to entertain an approach leaves Phillips facing the stark choice between proving his credentials in a relegation scrap or continuing his Etihad exile under Guardiola, who has made abundantly clear the midfielder holds no future in Manchester.

Related Leeds now very interested in signing £94,000-a-week Serie A striker this month

He could partner Dominic Calvert-Lewin.

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Darren Fletcher will finally get the chance to scratch the itch of management as he prepares to lead Manchester United as caretaker boss, and one of his first tasks will be reparing the academy he graduated from.

Fletcher set to lead United at Burnley

Ruben Amorim’s sacking as Old Trafford boss after 14 months has seen the 41-year-old former midfielder parachuted into the hotseat for Wednesday’s Premier League trip to struggling Burnley.

It is the latest chapter in Fletcher’s long association with United, whose sons Jack and Tyler have been on the bench in recent matches with the former making three substitute appearances.

Returning players may restrict opportunities under their father – who made 342 appearances for the Red Devils, winning trophies aplenty, before returning in 2020 to work within the academy as he “really got the bug” for coaching.

Speaking to the Press Association in August 2020, Fletcher said: “I’ve always wanted to stay in football. I’ve always had that goal and ambition.

“Management is something that does really, really interest me in the future. Not that I want to think about doing it (right now).

“I think the itch will need to be itched at some point, if you know what I mean, if the opportunity arises.

“But for me just now it’s about taking some time from not being a player and getting myself mentally prepared for my next whatever it is, my next challenge in life, in football.”

Related Man Utd identify "top target" to replace Ruben Amorim; INEOS love him

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Posts ByTom Cunningham INEOS angered by Amorim's treatment of two academy stars

While results on the pitch and his public barrage against the club’s leadership and recruitment staff were the nails in the Amorim coffin, Samuel Luckhurst reveals the club were also angered by his treatment of 18 year-olds Harry Amass and Chido Obi.

Amass is currently on loan at Sheffield Wednesday, where the midfielder has started 21 Championship games, but Amorim claimed he was “struggling” at Hillsborough.

Obi meanwhile has not made the same impact as Ayden Heaven after the pair moved from Arsenal, and the manager highlighted his lack of regular playing time for the Under-21s, which was not received well behind the scenes.

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The ownership also took issue with his public criticism of the now very in form Patrick Dorgu, who initially struggled to settle at United after his move from Italy.

Man Utd’s next manager

Odds

Xavi Hernandez

12/1

Gareth Southgate

10/1

Darren Fletcher

5/1

Oliver Glasner

5/1

Enzo Maresca

7/2

It is clear that Fletcher’s connection to the academy – both through his own career and his two sons – could help reinstil the famous pipeline that so many United greats have followed.

Tottenham are eyeing a complicated deal as they plot a move for a rising star who is set to join another club before he is available for transfer elsewhere.

Frank lauds Spurs mentality after win over Crystal Palace

Tottenham boss Thomas Frank hailed his players for a “huge mentality effort” after a gritty 1-0 win at Crystal Palace.

Spurs fans had started to turn on Frank after a run of five defeats in eight left them 14th in the Premier League on Christmas Day.

While there had been no suggestions internally that Frank’s job was under immediate threat, Tottenham needed to return to winning ways and Gray’s 42nd-minute header settled the contest between the current FA Cup and Europa League holders.

“I really liked the desire, details, mentality in the team and the character and resilience of the team is something I spoke about a lot,” Frank reflected.

“That is so important that we have that resilience in the team, because in a long Premier League season, you need to go to a very difficult away ground here and fight and show character. To get a clean sheet, win 1-0, that was a massive win in many ways.

“Was it a top performance? No. Are there things we can improve? Yes. But to go here, with the season having been a little bit up and down, I think it’s a huge mentality effort from the players.”

Sporting director Johan Lange is expected to be active in finding reinforcements for the manager in January, but their first signing of the month may not arrive until the summer.

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Posts ByDominic Lund Spurs eyeing complicated deal for Aleksandar Stankovic

According to reports in Italy, via Sport Witness, Inter are set to activate their €23m (£20m) buyback option on Club Brugge midfielder Aleksandar Stankovic, son of legendary midfielder Dejan, who won five Serie A titles and one Champions League title in Milan.

However, the Itallian club are not planning for a future with the 20 year-old defensive midfielder, but instead hope to immediately shift him on for profit.

Tottenham are waiting in the wings and are ‘ready’ to make an offer worth €40m (£35m), having already made contact over a move, but the Nerazzurri are expected to ask for more.

Stankovic can play at the base of midfield or as a centre-back, and has played in 19 of Brugge’s 20 league fixtures this season, scoring twice.

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The youngster has also started all six of their Champions League games, having been praised for his strength, aerial ability and long passing.

With four Serbia caps to his name already, Stankovic is showing plenty of signs he could follow in his father’s footsteps.

Ian Smith, the former South Africa legspinner, died at the age of 90 on August 25. Smith represented South Africa in nine Tests between 1947 and 1957 and picked up 12 wickets. His career-best match figures of 7 for 189 came in his debut in Nottingham, where England were forced to follow-on.The presence of spinners such as Athol Rowan, Hugh Tayfield and Tufty Mann resulted in Smith not being able to add a few more caps to his Test career. However, Smith, who turned out for Natal, had an impressive first-class record, picking up 365 wickets in 97 matches at an average of 22.55″On behalf of the CSA Family I extend our deepest condolences to his family, his friends and his cricketing colleagues”, CSA chief executive Haroon Lorgat said.

Wolves have certainly shown over the years that they are capable of spending money on new players, spending significant amounts of money on individual players such as Fabio Silva and Raul Jimenez.

One player, in particular, that cost the Midlands club a lot of money to bring to Molineux is full-back Nelson Semedo, who signed from Spanish club Barcelona in a deal worth a total fee of £37m back in September 2020.

Since then, the 28-year-old has gone on to make a total of 60 appearances for the Old Gold across all competitions, prior to their midweek Premier League clash against Arsenal, chipping in with two goals and two assists in the process.

Despite being a regular figure in the team after Matt Doherty left the club shortly before Semedo arrived, this hasn’t stopped the Portuguese international’s market value from taking a significant dip since joining Bruno Lage’s side.

Two months before he made the move to Molineux, Transfermarkt had his value listed as £36m, whereas it now stands at £22.5m, showing a quite meteoric fall since he moved from La Liga to the Premier League.

Labelled as a “liability” in the past by Wolves journalist Tim Spiers in terms of his defensive capabilities, Semedo has been listed as Wolves’ lowest-rated player for their two previous league games against Tottenham Hotspur and Leicester City, prior to the Arsenal match, with a rating of 6.4 for each performance from SofaScore.

Taking all of this into account, with his hefty transfer fee and significant weekly wages of £84k-per-week, making him the fourth-highest earner at Wolves in mind, Fosun have dropped a clanger on spending so much money on bringing the former Barcelona defender to Molineux.

If Wolves were of the mind to sell the full-back, it seems unlikely now that they would be able to make a profit on him.

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Therefore, their best option would be to keep hold of him and hope that he can finally repay the massive investment they made on him with consistent performances on the pitch, certainly from a defensive point of view.

In other news: Wolves can unearth the next Moutinho in 19 y/o who plays “like he’s in the playground” – opinion

Sunderland return to League One action tonight as they look to bounce back from their frustrating draw with Charlton at the weekend.

The Black Cats failed to build on their impressive 3-0 win over Wigan as they were held to a drab 0-0 draw with the Addicks on Saturday.

They now host Fleetwood at the Stadium of Light on Tuesday with the chance for Alex Neil to register his second win in charge of the club.

Axe him

One player the Scot must ruthlessly axe from the starting XI in order to give his team a better chance of winning is central midfielder Corry Evans.

The veteran has been in poor form as of late and must be taken out of the team for this clash with Fleetwood. Against Charlton, he lost 100% of his individual duels as he was unable to win any of the four battles he was involved in on the pitch.

This came after his shocking performance in the win over Wigan. As per SofaScore, he completed nine passes at a success rate of 47% in his 90 minutes of action, whilst winning one duel and making one interception in the holding midfield role.

He was below par on and off the ball as he struggled badly in his attempts to retain possession for his side and was weak when he was challenged by the opposition in a physical contest. This shows that he has not been doing enough in the middle of the park to warrant his place in the side.

Fan outlet Roker Report dubbed him an “anonymous leader” in February and Black Cats reporter Michael Graham Tweeted: “Seeing a lot of #SAFC fans criticising Corry Evans right now, both in terms of his on-pitch contribution and his disappearing act when it comes to fronting up to the media as captain after games. And, frankly, I agree with all of them.”

These comments suggest that he is not being the leader he is expected to be on the pitch, although it is impossible to know what sort of impact he is having in the dressing room.

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Judging by his performances on the field, however, the £14k-per-week dud should be ruthlessly axed from the team tonight. He has not been good enough in the last two games and Neil must now wield his axe and bring his namesake Dan back into the fold.

AND in other news, Major blow: Sunderland dealt big injury setback that’ll leave Neil scrambling…

Rangers will be hoping for another special European night under the lights at Ibrox as they move away from league action tonight.

The Gers will now be focussing on the Europa League after back-to-back wins in the Scottish top-flight, winning their last two matches 1-0.

Gio van Bronckhorst’s men beat Aberdeen 1-0 in their last outing, with Kemar Roofe scoring the winner off the bench, and now face Red Star Belgrade in Glasgow in the first leg of their knockout clash.

How many changes will van Bronckhorst make to the team? Here is our predicted XI…

We are predicting that he will make three alterations to the side against Crvena Zvezda (Red Star Belgrade), with Leon Balogun, Aaron Ramsey and John Lundstram coming in.

Starting off at the back, we are predicting van Bronckhorst to make a big call with Balogun returning alongside Connor Goldson due to his form in Europe.

In the Europa League this season, the Nigerian stalwart has averaged a sublime SofaScore rating of 7.16 – a score only James Tavernier (7.39) can better for the Gers this term. He has played five games in the competition and has averaged an incredible 5.2 tackles and interceptions along with 2.0 clearances per game.

The ex-Wigan man has also won a whopping 65% of his individual duels, which shows that he has been a strong defender throughout the campaign in Europe so far and is part of the reasoning behind the call to start him. This could then lead to Borna Barisic being axed from the side, with Calvin Bassey moving across to left-back.

In the middle of the park, Lundstram could return in place of Ryan Jack. The ex-Sheffield United man was benched against Aberdeen but his Europa League form suggests that he should be starting tonight.

He has averaged a score of 6.92 in Europe for the Gers, scoring once and making 2.6 tackles and interceptions per game in midfield. This shows that he has been consistently impressive in the competition and that is why he should partner Glen Kamara in the middle of the park.

Finally, we are predicting that van Bronckhorst will opt for Scott Arfield out wide on the right over “firework” – as dubbed by Alan Hutton – Fashion Sakala. The Canadian started both legs against Dortmund and works hard down the flank, which could appeal to the Dutchman in what may turn out to be a cagey first leg.

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This is not a change we would make, given Sakala’s three goals in his last six outings, but it is the alteration we think the head coach will make due to Arfield’s experience and the role he played against the German giants.

AND in other news, GVB must unleash Rangers gem who’s a “throwback” to Bryan Robson, he does “everything”…

Journalist Pete O’Rourke has dropped a claim on the 49ers potential increased involvement at Leeds United…

What’s the story?

According to recent reports, the Whites’ chief executive, Angus Kinnear, is set to resign at the end of the season, throwing a lot of things up into the air.

And now, O’Rourke has delivered his verdict on Kinnear’s potential exit, and what that could potentially mean for the 49ers too.

He said: “Angus Kinnear has done a good job in the background at Leeds United, so they wouldn’t want to lose him as well as Bielsa in a matter of months.

“Maybe that might point to more influence from the 49ers and the American side of things as well.”

Could be exciting times for Leeds

Leeds supremo Andrea Radrizzani has previously said: “Now we are partnered with 49ers, this is fundamentally very important because it will be very difficult to stay in the Premier League, but if we stay in it this year I think we can go much more than last year and go into the top six.

“Start to renovate the stadium and continue to grow the value of this club.”

The summer just gone by saw the Whites take a more reserved approach to the transfer market, but another season of staying in the Premier League would surely allow them to loosen the purse-strings.

Leeds fans will no doubt be watching the likes of Newcastle being taken over by new owners and the prospect of massive amounts of investment, and will be longing for a similar kind of spending spree in the future.

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If Kinnear does end up leaving and thus allowing for the 49ers to have increased influence, that could spell exciting times at Leeds in terms of potential new signings and the ability to compete with teams far higher up in the table than they are right now.

It could breathe some fresh air into things behind-the-scenes at the club and usher in a new era, particularly when they’ve also got a new manager at the helm too in Jesse Marsch.

Meanwhile, Leeds must finally unleash this rarely-seen star…

This is part of The Transfer Tavern’s Talking Tactics series, where we analyse two changes a manager should make in their upcoming fixture.

Glasgow Rangers have a healthy 3-0 aggregate lead going into the second leg of their tie away at Red Star Belgrade in the UEFA Europa League, but Giovanni van Bronckhorst will know that the job is not done yet, and that they will have to be professional if they are to see it through.

With players like Allan McGregor, Leon Balogun and Fashion Sakala left to rest on the bench in the most recent 3-0 win away at Dundee in the Scottish Cup, there will be plenty of potential changes for the Dutchman to make to his starting eleven, and we feel there are two big risks he should take.

Alex Lowry starts

Of course, with the likes of Alfredo Morelos and Kemar Roofe in the squad, young Alex Lowry has not had too many opportunities so far this season, with just four senior games played in total.

However, he came off of the bench late on against Dundee and made an instant impact, grabbing himself an assist for Sakala’s goal straight away.

The teenager will be full of confidence, and given that they are already three goals up, it would do no harm for van Bronckhorst to start him this evening, with the option of bringing on Morelos or Roofe if things are not quite working out.

Ryan Jack axed

Unfortunately for Jack, he was rather clumsy in conceding the penalty in the first leg, earning him an early yellow card, but luckily McGregor was there to spare his blushes in what could otherwise have been a very nervy end to the half.

Having played almost the full 90 minutes at Dundee as well, after being subbed off for Lowry, the £12,000-per-week ace may need a rest and just to be taken out of the firing line a little given what happened in the first leg at Ibrox.

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Nonetheless, he is still a handy option to have off of the bench, and van Bronckhorst may need to call upon him to help see the match out in the second half.

In other news, find out which ‘excellent’ talent Gers have now set sights on here!

Sky Sports journalist Michael Bridge has now revealed some big Tottenham Hotspur injury news involving Oliver Skipp.

The Lowdown: Return closer

As per Football.London’s Spurs reporter Alasdair Gold, Skipp is now closing in on a return to action, and is feeling less pain as he continues his recovery from a pelvic injury.

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The central midfielder has not featured for the North London club since the 2-0 loss away at Chelsea in the Premier League back in January, but now it looks as if he could make a swift return, with Antonio Conte’s team set to play against Newcastle United at home in their first game back after the international break.

The Latest: Newcastle return?

Speaking to GIVEMESPORT, Bridge has revealed that the Lilywhites are now trying to target the match against the Magpies for Skipp’s potential return:

“I’ve not heard anything too negative.

Apparently, they’re trying to target Newcastle, but nothing’s set in stone yet, so they’ve got a week-and-a-half.”

The Verdict: Big boost

If Skipp is able to return to the XI straight away, then it will certainly be a big boost for Conte and his side.

Since his injury, THFC have lost four out of their last nine games in the top flight, and have also been knocked out of the FA Cup (Transfermarkt), suggesting that they are better with him in the team.

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Skipp ranks highly among his teammates in terms of average tackles and passes per match in the league, while he boasts the best pass competition rate (90.1%) of any Tottenham player to have made ten or more appearances this season (WhoScored).

Nonetheless, the Englishman will certainly be welcomed back by the Spurs faithful.

In other news, find out who THFC have now ‘got in touch’ over signing here!