All posts by z3u9t.icu

Taking to Twitter, Daily Express journalist and transfer reporter Ryan Taylor has shared a promising update on Tottenham Hotspur’s pursuit of Fiorentina star Dusan Vlahovic.

The Lowdown: Spurs chase Vlahovic…

Spurs’ managing director Fabio Paratici has had his eye on the 21-year-old ever since the summer window.

Indeed, as explained by The Telegraph, Vlahovic was one of Tottenham’s striking targets at the time as they eyed alternative options to star striker Harry Kane.

Those links have continued well into the latter part of 2021 and especially after Antonio Conte’s arrival in north London, with La Gazzetta dello Sport (via Sport Witness) going as far as to say that Spurs have already held pre-transfer window meetings with La Viola chiefs.

Sharing more news on Vlahovic, Daily Express reporter Taylor has dropped a promising claim on Twitter.

The Latest: Spurs ‘serious’…

As explained by Taylor, sharing what he’s heard, Tottenham are the only Premier League club who are ‘serious’ about signing the striker in what could be a boost for Conte.

“From my understanding, Tottenham only PL club serious about signing Dušan Vlahović at this stage following background talks last summer,” the journalist said on social media.

“Nothing in the Arsenal links at the moment. Same with Man City but both could enter race.”

The Verdict: Get it done…

Going by this update, it appears that Tottenham’s only real competition for Vlahovic comes from abroad.

Juventus and Paris-Saint Germain are two European heavyweights repeatedly linked with a move for the Serbia international alongside Spurs, but it’s safe to say that the lack of English competition comes as good news.

Scoring 21 goals over the 2020/21 Serie A season, Vlahovic has maintained his brilliant form into the current campaign, with 10 goals and an assist in 13 appearances (Transfermarkt).

While he may cost a pretty penny, with reports suggesting that Fiorentina could demand around €70m-€80m (£59.9m-£68.4m), the striker’s age and proven goalscoring pedigree mark him out as a really fruitful transfer target for Conte.

Indeed, judging by his goal return in recent months, he may well be worth the investment.

In other news: £116,000-per-week ‘monster’ now closer to signing for Spurs, find out more here.

Ange Postecoglou’s Celtic side have been handed yet another boost ahead of their upcoming Scottish Premiership Old Firm clash.

What’s the latest?

That’s according to a report by the Scottish Daily Mail (via Ibrox News), who revealed that Fashion Sakala has fallen ill while on international duty with Zambia, and is now self-isolating as a result.

The report goes on to that this means the 25-year-old is now a doubt for the Old Firm meeting this Sunday, with Giovanni van Bronckhorst claiming that it is a “wait and see” scenario regarding the winger’s availability for the visit of Celtic.

Great news for Celtic

Considering just how impressive Sakala has been since his arrival at Ibrox last summer, the news that the forward looks set to miss Sunday’s potentially title-deciding Glasgow derby is undoubtedly great news for Postecoglou and Celtic.

Indeed, over his 24 Premiership appearances this season, the £3.6m-rated attacker has been in deadly form for Rangers, scoring seven goals, registering two assists and creating four big chances for his teammates, as well as taking an average of 2.1 shots and making 1.2 key passes per game.

These returns have seen the £10k-per-week winger average an incredibly impressive SofaScore match rating of 7.01, ranking him as Van Bronckhorst’s 11th-best player in the top flight of Scottish football this term.

As such, following the news that both Aaron Ramsey and Alfredo Morelos are both serious doubts for the Old Firm clash, should Sakala also be ruled out of contention this weekend, it would certainly provide Celtic with another huge boost to their chances of picking up all three points at Ibrox – with a Bhoys victory at the home of their rivals going an extremely long way to reclaiming their Premiership crown this season.

AND in other news: £10.5m and counting: £23.5k-p/w “monster” should have played his final game for Celtic

Leeds United retain an interest in Todd Cantwell, according to reports.

Over the weekend, journalist Pete O’Rourke revealed that the Yorkshire outfit have long held an interest in the Norwich City dynamo and he believes they are still keen on signing him during this month’s transfer window.

“Todd Cantwell’s an interesting one. Leeds were very keen on him last summer and maybe the window before that as well, he is someone who’s been on their radar for a long time,” he revealed to GIVEMESPORT.

The 23-year-old is thought to be available for around £15m to £20m, as per the Telegraph.

Leeds broke their club record to sign a winger during the summer transfer window in Daniel James and he has endured quite an inconsistent campaign thus far but so has Marcelo Bielsa regular Jack Harrison.

Of all the players to start ten or more games in the Premier League this term, the former Manchester City man ranks as the Argentine’s second-worst player, as per WhoScored ratings.

From his 16 appearances, the 25-year-old has delivered just one goal and one assist, a vast regression on his returns of eight goals and eight assists in 2020/21.

Meanwhile, even though Cantwell has struggled for minutes for the doomed Canaries this season, he would be an ideal upgrade to Bielsa’s attacking department as he fits the atypical profile of what the 66-year-old likes.

Described as a “god-given” talent by former youth coach Gary Cockaday to The Athletic, the £18m-rated dynamo has been likened to Man City star Jack Grealish in terms of playing style, as well as Spurs midfielder Dele Alli.

He is the sort of player that likes to take on the opposition’s full-back and he can easily change up the pace of a game at a click of a finger. Not to mention the way he can strike a ball so cleanly and his impressive work rate.

A career average of 1.4 key passes and 2.8 dribbles, via WhoScored, suggests that he’s certainly a nuisance in the final third, whilst 1.9 tackles per game in the Premier League this season alone would back up his non-stop energy and commitment to the cause.

“He trains unbelievably hard and in an outstanding way,” once claimed his former manager, Daniel Farke.

Harrison is managing half that number of dribbles per game in the top-flight and is tracking slightly behind in creativity, too, thus showing that there is possibly more potential in the versatile Canaries midfielder.

As such, it would be wise for Leeds to follow up their interest with a bid this month. For around £15m, it could be an absolute steal and in turn, Bielsa would be getting an big upgrade on the misfiring and out-of-form Harrison.

AND in other news, Alan Nixon issues big Leeds United transfer update, Bielsa will be buzzing…

Tottenham Hotspur have been dealt yet another injury setback ahead of their Premier League clash with Watford on Saturday.

What’s the latest?

In recent comments cited by football.london, manager Antonio Conte revealed that winger Steven Bergwijn missed out on Spurs’ 1-1 draw with Southampton on Tuesday afternoon as the 24-year-old forward was suffering from a calf strain picked up in the 3-0 win over Crystal Palace last weekend.

The 52-year-old went on to state that, as a result of this knock, the Netherlands international looks as if he will remain sidelined for the visit of Watford on Saturday afternoon, as the player will need more time to recover before returning to first-team football.

When asked whether Bergwijn was injured for the Saints game, Conte said: “Yeah, yeah. During the game against Crystal Palace, he felt a problem in his calf. Yeah, he was injured. Together with [Giovanni] Lo Celso and [Cristian] Romero and [Ryan] Sessegnon.”

The Italian was then asked whether the winger would be back for Watford, to which he replied: “I don’t think so. He has a muscular problem and he needs to recover more time than 10 days or only a week.”

Conte will be livid

As we are well and truly in the thick of the busiest period of the Premier League calendar, with Spurs having at least six fixtures to play between now and the end of January – with the potential of more being scheduled due to earlier postponements – the news that Bergwijn will be unable to feature against Watford is sure to come as a huge blow to Conte, as well as leaving the manager livid.

Indeed, with the 52-year-old recently revealing that he considers the forward as a backup to Harry Kane – currently Tottenham’s only recognised centre-forward – something that is evidenced by Bergwijn replacing the 28-year-old at Selhurst Park last week, the Dutchman’s injury severely limits the Italian’s options should he wish to give the England captain a rest in the club’s upcoming games.

Furthermore, with the likes of Lo Celso, Romero and Sessegnon already in the Tottenham Hotspur treatment room, a fresh injury is the last thing Conte needs heading into 2022, as the former Inter Milan manager will need as many of his first-team squad fit and firing as possible if he is to have any chance of guiding Spurs to a top-four finish in the league this season.

In other news: “Serious chance”: Romano drops teasing Spurs transfer update that’ll have fans buzzing

Liverpool remain interested in West Ham United star Jarrod Bowen, with the club still following his development at the London Stadium this season.

What’s the story?

The Athletic have claimed that, following their summer interest, the Reds have continued to monitor the winger’s progress as they contemplate making a new signing out wide.

He was superb vs Liverpool

During his time at Hull City, Bowen was labelled an “unplayable” attacker by his then-manager Grant McCann, and he lived up to that billing and more with a superb individual display in the 3-2 victory over Liverpool back in November.

He set up two goals on the day as West Ham ended the Reds’ impressive unbeaten run, and his underlying stats were equally impressive.

As per Sofascore, he provided two key passes (the joint-most of any Hammer), while he created two official big chances too – the only player to do so in the game.

That’s not to mention he led the team in the number of crosses he put in, was tied second for successful dribbles, and was fouled the second most of any player too – the kind of exciting display which had Andy Robertson tied up in knots.

The Scotland international finished the game with no shots or crosses whatsoever (the mark of someone who had been pinned back for the entire match), made no tackles or interceptions, and won just the one duel over the course of the 90 minutes.

Writing in his post-match player ratings for The Liverpool Echo, Ian Doyle gave him a four, saying: “Plenty of overlapping down the left flank but delivery first half was inconsistent and had an absolute stinker second half.”

In fact, speaking before the game in his pre-match press conference, Klopp himself said: “I like Bowen a lot. He made his way up from Hull and took not too long to show exactly what kind of player he can be in the Premier League. He made big steps.”

He has scored six goals and provided nine assists in just 22 appearances in the Premier League, while he ranks as the Hammers’ best performing player with an average WhoScored match rating of 7.27.

The £31.5m-rated star could be a superb signing for Klopp’s side.

Meanwhile, James Pearce has dropped a Liverpool transfer update…

A number of Liverpool supporters are delighted after new photos showing Harvey Elliott recovering from his serious injury emerged.

The Reds have had to make do without the talented 18-year-old since the middle of September after he suffered a broken ankle away to Leeds United.

It was a cruel blow for Elliott, who had made a hugely promising start to the season, making three Premier League starts in the early weeks of the campaign.

[freshpress-quiz id=“375258″]

The midfielder has been making admirable progress in his recovery, however, and it now looks as though he could even feature as soon as next month.

On Monday, Liverpool’s official Twitter account posted photos of Elliott in action on the training pitch, suggesting his recovery is going swimmingly, as he is even working with a ball already.

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Liverpool fans love Elliott images

These Reds fans took to Twitter to provide their reactions to the images, showing their delight in the process.

“Yeah boiiiiiiiii”

Credit: @LilLoubieLou

“Great to see”

Credit: @Ricky_Gr8ness

“Inter are not ready for the Salah, Trent, Elliott link up triangle”

Credit: @fishtoes22

“Things you love to see in your timeline”

Credit: @lubomerkov

“What a sight”

Credit: @lfc_ali21

“Harvey Elliott will save our season during AFCON”

Credit: @NoSwearingHere7

In other news, Fabrizio Romano has given an update on a possible Liverpool transfer. Read more here.

West Bromwich Albion have only been able to score more than 50 league goals in just two of the nine Premier League campaigns they’ve been involved in since the start of the 2010/11 season.

Looking back down the years, one player the Baggies were linked with but didn’t end up signing that could have been a massive goalscoring threat for the team is Robert Lewandowski.

According to the Express & Star, former West Brom manager Tony Mowbray wanted to bring the then 20-year-old striker to the club in January 2009 when he was at Lech Poznan.

Having ended his time in Poznan with 41 goals in 82 appearances, it’s easy to see why the centre-forward was on West Brom’s radar.

The Polish side apparently wanted a fee of £2.6m for the striker, but Albion reportedly had no money to spend on him.Since then, the Poland international has shown with every season why the Baggies should have exhausted every financial possibility to be able to bring him to the Hawthorns when they had the chance.In the 2010 summer transfer window, the striker joined Borussia Dortmund for a fee of £3.7m where he then went on to score 103 goals and provide 42 assists in 187 appearances.The attacker then joined fellow Bundesliga side Bayern Munich in the summer of 2014 on a free transfer.During his time with the German giants, the 33-year-old has unbelievably found the back of the net 340 times in 369 appearances across all competitions.To highlight what an elite player he has become since moving to Germany, the veteran has won a combined total of 25 team titles and individual awards including nine Bundesliga trophies and one Champions League trophy.Labelled as a “breathtaking” player by Owen Hargreaves, Lewandowski has racked up a phenomenal total of 637 goals and assists throughout his illustrious club career.On the international stage, the former Poznan starlet has scored 75 goals in 129 appearances for Poland, showing just how much of an icon he is for his country.Taking all of this into account, it’s evident that had the Baggies been able to somehow finance a transfer deal for the striker, then they would have had a player in their side that could have been a vital figure for them.In other news: West Brom: Grady Diangana struggled in defeat to Stoke City…

After securing a 1-0 win over West Ham United last weekend, Wolves are back in action today with an away clash against Norwich City. 

Speaking ahead of the match in his latest press conference, Wolves manager Bruno Lage revealed that the club have been dealt some negative injury news as Willy Boly will be absent today after suffering a muscular injury.

With this in mind, here’s how we feel Wolves could line up to take on the Canaries this afternoon, with two changes from last Saturday. 

In goal, considering that he’s played in all of their league games so far this season, it seems likely that Lage will stick with Jose Sa to see if he can keep another clean sheet this time out. 

For the back three, we can see the 45-year-old sticking with the same trio which managed to keep a clean sheet against West Ham, with Max Kilman and Romain Saiss on either side of Conor Coady. 

Then for the wing-back positions, we think Nelson Semedo and Rayan Ait Nouri will keep their places in the team, with the same pairing of Ruben Neves and Joao Moutinho in central midfield. 

Although we reckon Raul Jimenez will keep his place in the side to see if he can add to his goal tally for the season after scoring the winner against David Moyes’ Irons last weekend, we think Lage will make a couple of attacking changes to freshen up his team slightly. 

The first of those sees Adama Traore come back in on the left wing instead of Hwang Hee-chan, who didn’t have a shot at goal against West Ham. Also, Francisco Trincao comes in for Daniel Podence, who is currently earning a wage of £60k-per-week according to Spotrac, to see if he can help Jimenez in the attack. Despite Podence setting up the winner seven days ago, Trincao has had a higher WhoScored rating overall for the season and could be restored today.

With Norwich having struggled in the league so far this season, this is a great opportunity for Wolves to secure another win and push themselves higher up the table. 

In other news: One man is edging closer to a significant deal with the club

As per an update by reliable reporter Dan Kilpatrick of The Evening Standard, an exit update has come out of Tottenham Hotspur involving winger Steven Bergwijn.

The Lowdown: Conte makes ‘evaluations’…

As he recently admitted to the press, Tottenham boss Antonio Conte has been making his squad ‘evaluation’ for this January transfer window as he decides who could stay and leave north London this month.

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The likes of Dele Alli, Matt Doherty and Giovani Lo Celso have already been linked with moves away from the club this winter as Conte makes crunch decisions amid his potential overhaul.

As relayed by reporter Kilpatrick, Conte has ‘already’ made completed a thorough assessment of the Spurs team with decisions now made on who he can and cannot trust.

The Latest: Spurs could now sell Bergwijn…

According to The Evening Standard journalist, Spurs, Conte and managing director Fabio Paratici are now ‘open to offers’ for Bergwijn as well as midfielder Dele Alli.

The duo could be allowed to leave north London this month but Tottenham’s manager has apparently ‘ruled out’ an exit for midfielder Harry Winks.

The Verdict: Big update?

The Netherlands international only recently dazzled in a Man of the Match display during Tottenham’s 2-1 Carabao Cup quarter-final win over bitter rivals West Ham before succumbing to injury, so this news could come as surprising.

Bergwijn’s individual brilliance propelled Conte’s side into the League Cup semis where they take on Chelsea this evening and that wasn’t his only good showing this season.

Under former boss Nuno Espirito Santo, the 24-year-old shined at the start of 2021/2022 with the ex-Lilywhites manager hailing him as ‘fantastic’ and a ‘unique’ player within the squad (via TEAMtalk).

As Conte decides who he can and can’t trust with his evaluations made, we are surprised to see Bergwijn on the ‘for sale’ list.

In other news: ‘Expect an announcement’…Insider hopeful of big Tottenham news in ‘the next few days’, find out more here.

Sunderland moved up to third in the League One table on Tuesday night as they thrashed Morecambe 5-0 at the Stadium of Light.

The Black Cats were at their clinical best as they swept their opponents aside with ease, scoring two of their goals in the opening 17 minutes of the match.

Lee Johnson’s men are now two points off first place, currently held by Wigan, and two points behind second-placed Wycombe, who have played a game more than Sunderland.

Forget Broadhead

Nathan Broadhead scored two of the five goals and may take the plaudits for his fine performance, but another Black Cats star stole the show with a sublime showing on the night – Lynden Gooch.

The American winger was exceptional throughout the match and was pivotal to setting the tone with his direct running and ability on the ball.

He set up the first goal in the 13th minute with a sublime mazy run down the left wing, as he jinked past a number of challenges before firing the ball into Ross Stewart’s path for him to find the back of the net. Four minutes later, he produced a couple of stepovers to beat the full-back and clipped up a brilliant cross for Broadhead to find the corner of the goal.

On the ball, he was a threat all night down the flanks. As per SofaScore, he completed a whopping five dribbles, out of six attempts, and created three chances for his teammates – two of those resulting in the aforementioned assists for Broadhead and Stewart. He also completed three of his six long pass attempts and two crosses, whilst having 85 touches of the ball overall.

Gooch also competed out of possession. As per SofaScore, he won 60% of his ground duels (6/10) and made one clearance and one tackle. Given that Sunderland had 62% of the ball and he had little defensive work to do, this was a strong showing from him against the ball and shows that he can compete in physical battles to get the better of his opponents.

Therefore, the £5k-per-week wizard stole the show as he was able to win the majority of his battles off the ball and was a constant menace to the Morecambe defence on it. He was able to consistently cause problems for the opposition with his dribbling and chance creation, ultimately leading – directly – to two of the five goals and setting the tone for the night.