Manchester United have been busy in the transfer market in recent days, with Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s move from Crystal Palace all but confirmed. Today’s United transfer roundup includes an update in the pursuit of a Premier League ace, news on a 21-year-old midfielder and a battle to sign a Bundesliga youngster.
Aubameyang boost
Manchester United have been handed a boost in their reported pursuit of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang according to Tuttosport. The Italian outlet is reporting that the Gabonese striker has said yes to a potential move to Old Trafford.
Longstaff update
According to the Metro, United are willing to stretch their £25m valuation of Newcastle’s Sean Longstaff in an attempt to sign the midfielder this summer, with the club’s hierarchy believing that Rafa Benitez’s departure from the North East side has helped their chances.
United and City to battle for Bundesliga youngster
The Sun is reporting that United are to battle it out with Manchester City in order to sign Hoffenheim youngster Ilay Elmkies. West Ham are reportedly also interested in the 19-year-old who could end up leaving for training compensation in a year.
According to TuttoMercatoWeb, Liverpool are interested in signing Fiorentina attacker Federico Chiesa.
The Italian international hit 12 goals and recorded nine assists last term in the Coppa Italia and Serie A, and has clearly attracted the interest of Champions League winners Liverpool as a result of his performances.
You can relive Liverpool’s Champions League celebrations in glorious 2D thanks to the guys at 442oons in the video below…
Despite being a full senior international with 13 caps for his country, the 21-year-old has been busy starring for the Under-21 side this summer at the European Championships, where he has started to hog the limelight after a quite brilliant performance.
His latest showing in the tournament came against Spain’s Under-21 side, where he stole the show with two excellently taken goals.
The first of which was an exquisitely worked strike, but he also helped the Italians grab an equaliser before going on to net again.
A cross-field switch from Nicolo Barella was controlled expertly by Chiesa, almost as if he had glue on his boots, before he glided past his man and buried a shot past the keeper’s near post.
A finely built athlete with great technique, Chiesa can play anywhere across the frontline and would be an invaluable asset to Jurgen Klopp’s side given his versatility and quite scary amount of potential.
His two goals have rocketed him up to the top of the Under-21 European Championships scoring ranks, and if any Liverpool fan was watching his fine performance against the Spaniards, they would have found it difficult not to get excited at the prospect of him coming to Anfield.
He has also shown that he can adapt to Klopp’s high pressure, gegenpressing system by the sheer amount of tackles he made in this one game alone. Chiesa completed five successful challenges and is as industrial a forward as you can get.
It’s a transfer link to get the Anfield faithful salivating.
Dwight Gayle’s future has been far from certain after his loan deal with West Brom came to an end but one thing that did look certain was that he wouldn’t be returning to Albion.
Express & Star claimed in May that due to financial reasons they wouldn’t be able to bring him back. However, The Daily Mail claimed last weekend that the Baggies were still keen on a deal if Salomon Rondon heads back to Newcastle.
Yet, journalist Matt Wilson has since quashed talks of him returning, suggesting nothing has changed since last month.
Reacting to the news, West Brom fans were incredibly upset at the development as one called the club useless. Another supporter claimed that this was the reality of the situation facing Albion.
A further fan said that not bringing Gayle back would haunt them whilst another tweet hoped he’d take a wage drop in order to return.
The forward was in brilliant form for the Baggies last term, ending the campaign as their top scorer on 24 goals.
But despite his impressive season, it looks as though West Brom will now have to look elsewhere for a striker.
Last summer Fulham untangled themselves from the brambles of a ferociously competitive Championship season and prepared for a triumphant return to the Premier League after a four year absence.
They did so with a highly astute coach in Slavisa Jokanovic and a squad that was perfectly blended with youth and experience with plenty of quality throughout. Most of all they had two facets that are priceless to any ambitious club: momentum and togetherness. Had they kept everything exactly as is and made no signings the suspicion is that the Cottagers would likely remain a Premier League club right now.
Only they didn’t. Insecurities set in, that or impatience to quicker get where they ultimately wanted to be. In the last summer transfer window, Fulham brought in 10 new players at a combined cost of over £100m and that’s when their dream imploded.
The incoming talent – seven of which were from overseas – struggled to settle and the unforgiving top flight doesn’t offer up rehearsals. Jokanovic meanwhile struggled to find his best eleven as momentum halted and any togetherness in the camp dissipated. Their relegation was confirmed in early April but bluntly they were down from the get-go.
The three clubs that have reached the promised land this time out would do well to learn from Fulham’s mistakes and that applies mostly to Aston Villa. Why? Because the respective squads of Sheffield United and Norwich City each contain just a handful of players with Premier League experience and, with the greatest of respect, those players hardly set the division alight.
Take nothing away from how exceptional the Blades and Canaries have been this past year but you still feel they will need to add a bit more established quality to their ranks in order to survive, even thrive at the highest level.
Whereas Villa already have that top flight experience. They already have that quality. Even factoring in the recent releases of Alan Hutton and Mile Jedinak, the Villans still boast a multitude of players who have previously represented themselves well in the top tier and this number includes defensive stalwarts Neil Taylor, captain James Chester, and Ahmed Elmohamady, along with the seasoned Glenn Whelan.
As for the quality Jack Grealish obviously stands out, having easily made the Championship Team of the year through a series of outstanding individual displays. Also in that team was young striker Tammy Abraham whose 26 goals in 40 games last season proved so vital to Villa’s success.
The 21-year-old hotshot is pertinent here because he is, of course, a loanee set to return to his parent club, as too are Tyrone Mings and Axel Tuanzebe in addition to their play-off hero Anwar El Ghazi.
It is the nailing down of these four to permanent deals that should be Aston Villa’s main priority this summer and then, with the sensible recruitment of one or two new faces, the club can retain its momentum and keep the all-for-one mentality that has got them to this point.
Most importantly of all they can learn from the horrible failures of others who sailed in the same boat before them.
Everything looks rosy at Liverpool right now. Jurgen Klopp has turned them into genuine title challengers against one of the best teams we’ve ever witnessed in Premier League history: Pep Guardiola’s record-breaking Manchester City.
The Reds are also in the final of the Champions League for the second season in a row, where the likes of Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane have been in world-class form yet again to fire them through to the latter stages of Europe’s elite competition.
So, after this memorable campaign comes to a close, who should Klopp sell, loan out or keep? Football FanCast assesses the Liverpool squad…
[snack_break title=”Goalkeepers – Alisson Becker, Simon Mignolet, Caoimhin Kelleher”]
Soccer Football – Champions League Semi Final First Leg – FC Barcelona v Liverpool – Camp Nou, Barcelona, Spain – May 1, 2019 Liverpool’s Alisson gestures REUTERS/Sergio Perez
Alisson Becker – Keep, obviously.
Simon Mignolet – James Milner recently spoke of his admiration for Mignolet’s professionalism despite being benched in favour of Alisson. The Belgium wanted to leave back in the summer, but the Reds refused his wishes; maybe he should be granted his wish as a result of his commendable attitude.
Caoimhin Kelleher – Loan. The young Irishman is very highly rated at Anfield, but is in need of some first-team football elsewhere to truly test himself.
[snack_break title=”Full-backs – Alberto Moreno, Andy Robertson, Adam Lewis, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Nathaniel Clyne”]
Alberto Moreno – Out of contract in the summer, and not a big favourite at Anfield anyway.
Andy Robertson – One of the world’s best. Keep.
Adam Lewis – Klopp is clearly excited at the exciting youngster’s potential having included him in his squad for the warm weather camp in Marbella earlier this year. A loan would be a smart move for an obviously talented left-back.
Trent Alexander-Arnold – Also one of the world’s best, and a scouser. Looks set to stay for the long term.
Nathaniel Clyne – Loaned out to Bournemouth in January and could command a decent fee. Sell him and get cover for Alexander-Arnold in.
[snack_break title=”Centre backs – Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez, Joel Matip, Dejan Lovren”]
Virgil van Dijk – Arguably the world’s best defender. Do I even need to say it? Keep him and build that statue.
Joe Gomez – A fantastic young defender with incredible potential. Keep.
Joel Matip – Has shown in Gomez’s absence that he can be an excellent defender and a reliable presence; his ability to bring the ball out from the back has been impressive. He should be kept around.
Dejan Lovren – Nearing his 30th birthday and has struggled with injury problems this season. Probably best to move him on and get a decent fee for him whilst they still can.
[snack_break title=”Central midfielders – James Milner, Gini Wijnaldum, Jordan Henderson, Fabinho, Adam Lallana, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Naby Keita”]
James Milner – Milner is almost 34-years-old, and his current deal expires in just 12 months. His leadership and versatility have been key, but it might be time to move him on now Oxlade-Chamberlain is back fit and Keita has settled.
Gini Wijnaldum – Liverpool’s unsung hero. Wijnaldum is a fan favourite at Anfield and has come up with some big moments for the club. He is also a tidy footballer who never lets anyone down. Definitely keep him around.
Jordan Henderson – Captain fantastic. Maybe in the first half of the season you could have argued that the England international should be moved on but, after a chat with Klopp, he has become a key figure in Liverpool’s run to the Champions League final. Has to be kept.
Fabinho – The £39m summer signing has given Liverpool’s midfield some bite and a new dimension. The No.3 sets the tempo in Klopp’s gegenpressing system and is arguably one of the most important players in the side. A must keep.
Adam Lallana – Lallana has made just 16 appearances this season as he once again struggles to maintain his fitness. With the amount of midfielders Klopp has at his disposal, maybe it’s time for the former Southampton man to be moved on. Does he even get in the side when fully fit? Probably not.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain – The Englishman’s return to action after roughly a year out was one of the moments of the season. He is a popular figure at Anfield and offers something different in midfield for Klopp. Keep.
Naby Keita – The Guinean was just starting to find his feet at Anfield before suffering a groin injury against Barcelona – Keita had three goals in six games before the incident inside the Camp Nou. After a good pre-season, he should be more like the player we saw at RB Leipzig.
Soccer Football – Champions League Semi Final Second Leg – Liverpool v FC Barcelona – Anfield, Liverpool, Britain – May 7, 2019 Liverpool’s Xherdan Shaqiri celebrates after the match REUTERS/Phil Noble
Xherdan Shaqiri – Had a strange period out of the team after January, where he played just 40 minutes in almost three months. Showed his obvious quality against Barcelona, but there are some doubts over his work ethic. An improvement could easily be found, so Shaqiri should be moved on for a decent profit on the £13m Liverpool spent on him.
Sadio Mane – Keep. Obviously
Mohamed Salah – You’re joking right? Keep.
[snack_break title=”Strikers – Roberto Firmino, Divock Origi, Daniel Sturridge”]
Soccer Football – Champions League Semi Final Second Leg – Liverpool v FC Barcelona – Anfield, Liverpool, Britain – May 7, 2019 Liverpool’s Divock Origi celebrates scoring their fourth goal with Xherdan Shaqiri and Trent Alexander-Arnold REUTERS/Phil Noble
Roberto Firmino – Klopp’s No.1 choice for the centre-forward role and the man that makes Liverpool’s attack tick like clockwork – he must be kept.
Divock Origi – The Champions League semi-final hero, Origi’s status at Anfield has very quickly turned from bit-part player into a heroic figure. However, he hasn’t been needed for large parts of the campaign and Liverpool should use his newfound form to whack a few extra quid on his price tag and sell him on.
Daniel Sturridge – Is out of contract in the summer, and should rightly be let go. Looks a shadow of his former self.
Sunderland fans are desperate for a goalscorer, and in this out of-contract Scottish goal machine, they may have just found one. The Black Cats have been unable to bring in a suitable replacement for Josh Maja, who scored 15 League One goals this season before leaving in January, but if they signed Lawrence Shankland they’d have a worthy man to fill his shoes.
The 23-year-old goalscorer has left Ayr United after two seasons plying his trade for The Honest Men and his goal return in his time with the club is absolutely incredible. Shankland has bagged himself an unprecedented 63 goals in 74 games, endearing himself to the supporters at Somerset Park and really leaving his mark in his two seasons with the club, and now he could be set for Sunderland.
When you have a goalscoring record like Shankland does at Ayr United, it’s hard to see why there wouldn’t be dozens of clubs lining up to poach the striker. The level at which his goals have come might mean that the top-level Premier League clubs won’t be after him, but with Sunderland competing in either League One of the Championship, Shankland is well worth a punt south of the border.
This season alone has seen the phenomenal 23-year-old contribute 34 goals and eight assists in 41 games in all competitions. If he can carry that on in England in either the second or third tier of English football with Sunderland then there’s no reason why he can’t kick on and become a household name for the Mackems and one day leave the club and generate a massive profit.
With that profit in mind, it’s worth mentioning that if Jack Ross was coy enough to make a quick move and offer Lawrence Shankland a role at the Stadium of Light for next season he would come in on a free as his deal with Ayr United is up. That may result in the Scot finding himself on larger wages, but with no transfer fee involved it certainly wouldn’t hurt to give the impressive youngster a go.
Thank goodness: Andrea Radrizzani apparently reveals future of Marcelo Bielsa at Leeds United and its great news for fans.
On top of contending with the hurt and anxiety of possibly missing out on their best chance for promotion in years, Leeds fans have been desperately worried about the long-term future of their Argentine messiah. However, recent revelations may ease their pain.
Andrea Radrizzani is apparently confident that Marcelo Bielsa will remain as manager of Leeds United next season regardless of whether they get promotion, as per Football Insider.
The Argentine signed a two-year contract when he joined in the summer of 2018 and, though the second year is only activated if the club take up their option to do so, we have zero doubts that they will opt to stay with El Loco.
A second term is triggered automatically if Leeds are promoted this season, the chances of which remain dubious as the club prepare for the end of the season play-offs after missing out on a top-two finish due to poor end of season form.
A source close to Leeds has revealed to Football Insider that Radrizzani has told friends he expects Bielsa to stay at the club even if it means leading them through another long-haul Championship campaign for a 16th consecutive season outside of the Premiership. And this can only be good news for fans, who experienced one of their brightest runs in recent history under a coach who genuinely seems to know what he is doing.
Confidence may not be high at the moment, but a single point against already relegated Ipswich Town will guarantee third place and play-off semi-final against the team finishing sixth, either Bristol City, Derby or Middlesbrough.
This would avoid a two-legged matchup against either West Brom and Aston Villa, both of whom are very capable of derailing Leeds’ promotion hopes.
Leeds fans, do you really see Bielsa staying? What changes would he need to make to get the club up next year? Join the discussion by commenting below…
John Carew, Carew, he’s bigger than me and you, he’s gonna score one or two, John Carew, Carew…and all that jazz.
We think it is fair to say that Aston Villa were enjoying their finest Premier League years towards the latter stages of the previous decade. They sat in the top half of the table, for one; that beats the utter tripe the Villa faithful had to endure more recently. And they had some top quality players at their disposal. You know, “proper” talents who deserved to slip on the claret and blue. The likes of Gareth Barry, Stiliyan Petrov, Emile Heskey, James Milner, Ashley Young, Luke Young and of course John Carew.
What a player. What a machine.
Aston Villa were in desperate need of some rejuvenating in the forward positions and John Carew was delegated the saviour.
But how much was he, you might ask? £10million? £20million? £30million?! None of the above. In what can only be described as daylight robbery, the 6ft 4in Norway international graced Martin O’Neill’s squad in a straight swap for Milan Baros (as per Independent). The Liverpool flop had been booed just the week before for wasting countless opportunities during the 2-0 defeat of Watford and registered just a single goal the season he left.
“Bargain” springs to mind.
Of course, we were not to know that Carew was going to be such a hit. The Norwegian had been in pretty poor form himself only netting once in Ligue 1, and his history off the pitch was not exactly inspiring either – having attacked international John Arne Riise on their country’s team bus.
That is beside the point, though, being John Carew, Carew…
The forward left Villa after four seasons with a pretty decent record of 37 goals in 113 appearances. Cult hero? We think so.
Everton fans will all agree that Marco Silva needs to make a number of changes in the summer transfer window, with a number of players getting on with age and consistency being an issue.
The Toffees will still have their sights set on securing a European spot in the Premier League this season but their lack of consistency throughout the current campaign has meant that they’re now forced to chase the teams above.
It’s safe to say that one area that needs improving is at right-back as Seamus Coleman is getting on with age and Jonjo Kenny hasn’t exactly had much of an impact on proceedings.
Interestingly, the Toffees are reportedly (as per The Sun) lining up a £20 million bid for Kieran Trippier.
It’s believed that Spurs are willing to offload the Englishman this summer, which is perfect for the Toffees as they won’t have to look very far to find a potential replacement for Coleman.
Mauricio Pochettino has transformed Trippier into one of the best right-backs in the Premier League since he arrived from Burnley, but his performances have dropped slightly in the current campaign.
Although, he could be the perfect man to line up for Everton at right-back as he loves to get forward and whips in a very dangerous ball into the box. Also, he’s solid in defence and possesses the ability to snuff out attacks with ease, which is something that has let the Toffees down at times this season.
Indeed, Goodison Park would be delighted to see an attack-minded right-back who has the ability to influence the game in the final third, as they’ve adored Coleman’s bursts down the right-hand side over the years.
Marcel Brands shouldn’t face any great difficulties in getting a deal done for the 28-year-old and £20 million seems like a very reasonable price for an accomplished right-back.
Everton fans, could you see Trippier replacing Coleman? Join the discussion by commenting down below!
كشفت صحيفة “لاجازيتا ديلو سبورت” الإيطالية، كواليس غضب كريستيانو رونالدو مهاجم يوفنتوس، ومغادرته النادي بعدما رفع صوته على بعض مسؤولي السيدة العجوز.
رونالدو كسر قواعد الإجراءات الاحترازية بفيروس كورونا المستجد، كوفيد 19، وغادر مقر النادي، من أجل اللحاق بمباراة إسبانيا والبرتغال الودية.
يوفنتوس قرر إخطار الصحة العامة بأسماء اللاعبين المغادرين لمعسكره وسيقومون بإبلاغ مكتب المدعي العام، ليخلوا مسئولية النادي من إصابة أي لاعب منهم بفيروس كورونا (طالع التفاصيل).
وقالت لاجازيتا إنّ رونالدو كان أول لاعب غادر صفوف يوفنتوس، حيث كان غاضبًا للغاية ويرى أنه ليس من العدل ألا يكون قادرًا على التواجد في المباراة.
وأكدت الصحيفة أنّ رونالدو لم يوافق على البقاء لعدة أيام في إيطاليا قبل السفر، لأن ذلك كان سيمنعه من خوض مباراة البرتغال وإسبانيا الودية، التي أقيمت مساء أول أمس الأربعاء وانتهت بالتعادل السلبي.
وأوضحت الصحيفة أنّ رونالدو “رفع صوته” أمام مديري النادي وزملائه وقرر مغادرة غرفة ملابس أليانز ستاديوم، مساء الأحد، ثم عاد لمنزله وسافر في اليوم التالي إلى البرتغال.
رونالدو كان أجرى اختبارين كورونا والنتائج جاءت سلبية، ولكن وفقًا لـ بروتوكول الاتحاد الإيطالي، فإن رونالدو كان بحاجة للبقاء ليوم آخر، لعمل اختبار ثالث، وهو ما رفضه البرتغالي، ثم يسافر إلى ماديرا لخوض المباراة.