According to The Express, Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has identified Leeds United winger Jack Clarke as one of his targets for the upcoming summer transfer window.
What’s the story?
Liverpool welcomed no new arrivals in the January transfer window but their attentions already appear to be on the summer market. The Reds have apparently watched Clarke on several occasions, with Klopp having been impressed with the reports he’s received on the 18-year-old.
Liverpool are currently well-stocked in the wide areas, with the likes of Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah and Xherdan Shaqiri all having impressed on the flanks this season. The teenager would certainly have a job displacing any of these experienced first team stars at Anfield, but the Leeds academy product is certainly a tremendously exciting talent.
Watch the video below to see the most insane overhead kick you will see this week…
One for the future
Clarke has been in fine form at Elland Road this season. It is easy to see why Klopp might have earmarked him as a star of the future, and Liverpool could likely strike a deal for his services this summer for an affordable fee.
However, the winger should not come straight to Anfield. Too much time spent so far down the pecking order there could easily hamper the attacker’s development. Instead, Liverpool should sign him and then send him straight back out on loan.
If Leeds are able to secure promotion to the top flight this season then another campaign at Elland Road working under Marcelo Bielsa and gaining Premier League experience would be the best thing for Clarke’s development, and would also give him a great chance of succeeding at Anfield in the future.
Loads of West Brom fans have been reacting to their win over Aston Villa, and they’re absolutely stunned by the performance of loan signing Mason Holgate.
West Brom were forced to go to Villa Park without star man Dwight Gayle due to his two-match ban for diving, but the Baggies were able to pick up an excellent result without the Newcastle loanee.
Hal Robson-Kanu gave Darren Moore’s side the lead just before half time, and Jay Rodriguez’s deflected strike doubled the score minutes later.
Who are the best away fans in the Championship? Pl>ymaker FC’s Thogden gives his top 10 in the video below…
The second half was a tiresome and scrappy affair, but Moore’s side were more than good value for their 2-0 win, and fans are particularly impressed by Holgate.
The Everton loanee joined in January until the end of the season, and has now racked up two assists in six Championship appearances after setting up Robson-Kanu’s opener with a delightful cross.
At 22 years of age, his versatility, technical skill and athleticism are all extremely impressive, and he has certainly endeared himself to the Hawthorns faithful after Saturday’s dominant display down the right flank.
You can find some of the best Twitter reactions down below…
Liverpool visit Old Trafford this weekend for their clash with bitter rivals Manchester United and Jurgen Klopp will be hoping his side can burst Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s bubble. The Norwegian manager has completely turned the Red Devils’ season around since taking over from Jose Mourinho in December and a number of players are looking like new signings. Who, though, does Klopp think has improved the most?
What did he say?
Well, speaking to Sky Sports, the former Borussia Dortmund manager said:
“You never know in the beginning, that’s how it is when a new manager comes in.
“There’s a lot of things, maybe relief for players, for a few players of course because always when a manager has to go, a few players didn’t feel as they should maybe.
“But now, after nearly three months or so, it’s outstanding. I think Ander Herrera is in the best period of his life, it’s unbelievable how he’s playing, Pogba is Pogba again.”
Sleeping on Marcus Rashford?
You would be hard pressed to find any football fan who does not agree that World Cup winner Paul Pogba has been sensational under Solskjaer, but surely few would mention Ander Herrera in the same breath.
While Herrera was excellent against Chelsea in the FA Cup 5th round clash on Monday – he scored and put in a tremendous shift in the middle of the park – the exploits of Marcus Rashford in 2019 certainly overshadow the Spaniard’s.
England international Rashford has netted five goals in his last seven Premier League appearances for the Red Devils as Solskjaer deploys the speedster in his preferred centre-forward role.
That strike-rate surely alarms Klopp, but he appears more concerned with midfield duo Pogba and Herrera, rather than the almost telepathic link the former and 21-year-old Rashford have formed in recent weeks.
There’s good news for fans of City, Liverpool, Spurs and United in the video below…
By name-dropping Pogba and Herrera, the German boss seems to indicate that he believes Sunday’s battle will be won and lost in the midfield – the return of Virgil van Dijk from suspension and the surely subsequent restoration of Fabinho in the middle of the park will therefore be of vital importance to Klopp.
Is Klopp forgetting about one of United’s most dangerous players in Rashford, though?
West Ham fans have taken to Twitter to react after it was revealed that Declan Rice had won the ‘Young Player of the Year’ award at the London Football Awards on Thursday evening.
The Englishman has excelled for the Hammers this season, becoming one of the first names on the team-sheet under Manuel Pellegrini after breaking into the first-team in the previous campaign.
Impressively, the 20-year-old beat off competition from Crystal Palace starlet Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Arsenal’s Matteo Guendouzi, Queens Park Rangers attacker Eberechi Eze and Huddersfield’s Karlan Grant, with the latter earning his way onto the shortlist after a goal-laden spell with Charlton.
Rice is amongst the leading prospects in English football, and recently declared his intention to switch his allegiance to the country of his birth, having featured in friendly matches for the Republic of Ireland.
The previous winner of the award was Fulham sensation Ryan Sessegnon, who has been linked with a £50m move to Manchester United recently, and the 20-year-old is the first Hammer to pick up an award at the event since Dimitri Payet back in 2016.
Obviously, West Ham fans are beyond proud of their academy graduate, so let’s take a look at how they reacted to the news on Twitter…
[ad_pod ]Celtic fans have taken to Twitter following the 2-0 win over Hibernian to state their desire to see on-loan star Oliver Burke sign on a permanent basis.The Scottish international arrived at Celtic Park on loan from West Brom back in January, and has scored four goals in his five league starts for the Hoops since his arrival.Burke cost the Baggies around £15m when they signed him from RB Leipzig, so one would assume that they may hope for a figure close to that sum to allow Burke to leave permanently.The former Nottingham Forest star impressed massively in the Scottish Cup quarter-final win over Hibernian, which keeps the Bhoys’ treble hopes alive.The 21-year-old’s pace and power was yet again key in another easy win, and Celtic fans are desperate for the young forward to sign permanently given his impact since arriving in Scotland.
Let’s see what the club’s fans are saying on Twitter…
Leicester City tasted defeat in their first game under new manager Brendan Rodgers on Sunday.
The Foxes lost 2-1 to Watford at Vicarage Road, with striker Andre Gray scoring the winner in the final throes of injury time.
The loss was Leicester’s fourth in their last five games, their only success coming against Brighton & Hove Albion last week.
Rodgers’ men appeared to have earned a point against the Hornets, with experienced star Jamie Vardy cancelling out Troy Deeney’s fifth-minute opener.
However, their bad luck under Claude Puel appears to have followed Rodgers to the King Power Stadium, as a defeat was snatched from the jaws of a draw.
Foxes fans were understandably ticked off about the result but many do not expect the appointment of the former Liverpool and Celtic manager to be a quick fix.
Take a look at some of the best of the reaction on Twitter below!
In a matter of weeks, Spurs have fallen headfirst out of the title race and been plunged into the deep end of a top-four battle.
After losses to both Burnley and Chelsea, Spurs somewhat steadied the ship with a 1-1 draw against Arsenal. However, on Saturday, with manager Mauricio Pochettino in the stands, serving the first of his two-game ban for an altercation with referee Mike Dean, the club fell to a 2-1 defeat to Southampton at St Mary’s.
Having taken the lead through Harry Kane, the back-four took leave of their senses to allow Yan Valery to equalise, before James Ward-Prowse smashed home a free-kick to give the relegation candidates all three points.
The result against Southampton will perhaps have hurt more than any other; Spurs were well on top in the first half and could have been out of sight at the interval. Instead, they went in with a goal advantage and seemed to conspire to throw it away through a combination of terrible decisions and poor game management.
Now they sit only a point ahead of Arsenal, three in front of Manchester United and four clear of Chelsea. There is a very real possibility that Tottenham could end the season in sixth.
This after challenging Liverpool and Manchester City at the top of the table for so long.
The problem, and it is an unpopular one to point out, is the return of Kane.
Now, this is not to say that the England captain, the winner of the World Cup Golden Boot and perhaps Spurs’ best striker in a generation is by any means a harmful presence. Not at all.
But his return has coincided with a severe drop-off from Son Heung-min, who was playing some of the best football of his career when Kane was injured. Trusted as the focal point of the attack, the South Korea international scored in every Premier League game that Kane missed, helping his side to victories over Watford, Newcastle United and Leicester. He has not scored since the Englishman was restored to the line-up, nor has he provided an assist.
Christian Eriksen, too, appears to be in the midst of his once-a-season run of dismal form; he, too, was last involved in a goal when Kane was injured.
Perhaps, then, the problem is expectation.
Pochettino does not alter his formation all that much, his system tends to remain the same regardless of the personnel on the pitch. Kane has routinely been on the field when Son has enjoyed a fantastic performance, ditto Eriksen.
Yet their dips come at a time when they are not being relied upon to provide the spark. The problem with Kane is the inverse to that of many players: it is not that he isn’t good enough for the team, it’s that he’s actually too good.
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Kane has come back in and scored against Burnley, Arsenal and Southampton. He is half-fit, that much is plain to see, but he continues to score goals at a terrifying rate of knots.
Those around him, then, are all too happy to sit back and watch. Perhaps it is not even deliberate, perhaps this is a subconscious attitude that even Son, Eriksen and others are not aware of.
But Tottenham do appear to have a team-wide inferiority complex. They believe, whether they want to or not, that Kane is their saviour, the player through which everything good must be funnelled.
This works more often than not; Kane has ridiculous scoring statistics and relishes big games. But this season, there has been a notable downshift from those around him since his return.
Eriksen and Son perhaps believe they no longer need to produce the goods with Kane in the team, so good is the striker.
The opposite, of course, is true. Kane cannot do it all on his own.
A trip to Anfield looms large on the horizon following the international break, which means a clash with a Liverpool team that boasts perhaps the most fluid and coherent front-three in England.
Pochettino has to solve the riddle and ensure that Son, Eriksen et al are reminded of their responsibilities. If they leave it all up to Kane, he runs the risk of burning himself out, and with that comes the likelihood of a slide down the table at the worst possible time.
Wolves supporters have been left elated at the news that one of their star players Diogo Jota has been called up to the Portugal squad.
This marks the first time the forward has been included in the European champions’ senior squad and fans have been sharing their adulation and praise for him on Twitter.
Although he started the season slowly, Jota has been in superb form for his club of late and has become one of the major reasons why Nuno Santo’s men are performing so admirably. He’s become a fan favourite and the impressive reaction to his call up is evidence of that.
Plenty of supporters said how well deserved his inclusion was with one individual keen to voice the increasing threat he’s become to Premier League defences. Another reaction saw the decision to include him in the squad labelled a no-brainer.
At 22, Jota is one of the Premier League’s best upcoming talents and the Molineux faithful will hope he gets the chance to prove himself on the international stage when Portugal take on Ukraine and Serbia.
The former Atletico man has followed up a 17 goal breakthrough season in the Championship by registering six strikes this term as his side sit 7th.
Here’s the reaction to the soon to be Portuguese international getting his call-up.
Liverpool fans have waxed lyrical over former defender Daniel Agger after he once again pulled on a red shirt for a legends game against AC Milan on Saturday.
The Reds ran out 3-2 winners at Anfield in a star-studded fixture.
Two former strikers, Robbie Fowler and Djibril Cisse, gave the Reds a 2-0 lead in the game, which was played to raise money for the LFC Foundation.
Milan, however, fought back and Andrea Pirlo and Giuseppe Pancaro levelled proceedings before, perhaps inevitably, Steven Gerrard scored a last-minute winner for the hosts.
Agger featured, too, making his return to Merseyside for the first time since 2014.
The former Denmark international retired in 2016, after spending two years with his first professional club, Brondby.
Agger won the League Cup with Liverpool in 2013-14 and made a total of 232 appearances for the Reds over an eight-year stay.
And Reds fans, in reply to a tweet posted by the club’s official Twitter account, have lavished praise on the ex-defender, who is still highly thought of at Anfield.
Louis van Gaal has admitted in an interview with the BBC that he regrets deciding to join Manchester United instead of Tottenham Hotspur.
The Dutchman managed his country at the 2014 World Cup and was courted by both clubs, though he eventually chose to move to Old Trafford.
What’s the word?
Van Gaal struggled somewhat during his tenure at United but, coming off an excellent World Cup in which he guided the Netherlands to a third-place finish, he was in demand in the summer of 2014.
United convinced him to snub Spurs and the latter’s chairman, Daniel Levy, subsequently appointed Mauricio Pochettino.
Van Gaal lasted just two seasons in Manchester, taking United to fourth in his first season and fifth in the second, after which he was sacked and replaced by Jose Mourinho.
He did win the FA Cup in his final season in charge but he has now admitted that he should have pitched up in north London instead.
He told the BBC: “Tottenham were a better selection because Manchester United were an old team and I knew I would have to transform them.
“Was it the wrong choice? Maybe, but I follow my heart. I worked at the number one team in the Netherlands, Germany, Spain and now also in England.”
Spurs have enjoyed an excellent run with Pochettino at the helm, launching two title charges, qualifying for the Champions League in three consecutive seasons and also (almost) completing the move into their new stadium from White Hart Lane, via Wembley.
Dodged a bullet
Spurs should count their lucky stars that Van Gaal decided to move to United.
He championed a slow, dirge-filled style of football and would not have fitted in at Spurs.
Pochettino would have ended up at another club; he would not have taken the club to their current heights, they may not have been able to champion the progressive style of football, and the likes of Harry Kane, Dele Alli and Harry Winks may not have had the breakthroughs they have enjoyed under the Argentine.
Pochettino, to put it simply, is perfect for Spurs.
Van Gaal showed no signs of adapting to life in England, despite his FA Cup win, and was something of a disastrous appointment at Old Trafford.