All posts by h716a5.icu

Tottenham’s record signing Tanguy Ndombele has struggled to settle down ever since he arrived last summer.  

Jose Mourinho insisted he was happy with Ndombele’s work ethic in recent weeks, as the Spurs duo broke the government guidelines to train together during the nationwide lockdown, but he didn’t even get on the pitch on Friday night.

After he again failed to make an appearance against West Ham, Mourinho was forced to deny rumours of a rift between the pair.

Despite Daniel Levy’s initial protestations, Ndombele wants to leave Spurs amid interest from Barcelona, according to The Independent. The chairman seems to have made a quick U-turn once the La Liga giants entered the mix.

Both clubs are working with a tight budget and Barca are only interested in a player-swap deal involving either Nelson Semedo or Philippe Coutinho.

The Portuguese is reportedly keen to sign Coutinho in the summer, with the Lilywhites working towards a loan move with the option to buy.

Although Ndombele has struggled for consistency, his omission from the starting lineup in the past two fixtures has raised many eyebrows.

Mourinho could kill two birds with one stone by ditching the 23-year-old and replacing him with Coutinho. Even though Coutinho has failed to replicate the form he enjoyed at Liverpool, he is still a world-class player.

While Spurs will want to recover some of the costs they spent on the Frenchman, the head coach may decide he would be better off without him in his squad.

As it stands, the two clearly have a fractured relationship, and a trade might be beneficial for all parties involved.

Tottenham fans, do you think Mourinho should give Tanguy Ndombele another chance? Let us know down below!

Newcastle United have signed up Adam Wilson to a new deal as he has proved his fitness in time for the upcoming 2020/21 season, as per The Chronicle.

As per the outlet, the 20-year old has been struggling with injury woes and apparently attracted some interest from Blackburn Rovers a couple of years ago.

Wilson had made seven appearances in the Premier League 2 in the 2019/20 season before it was cut short by the global pandemic outbreak, scoring two goals, and the Tyneside club’s under 23’s won five of those seven games with him playing a part, according to Transfermarkt.

The midfielder has featured in a total of 69 matches for the Magpies at youth level, netting 11 strikes and making five assists, and he has also played four times for England at under 18 level (via the website).

Wilson has predominantly played on the left-wing.

However, the 23-year old has sometimes lined up a little deeper on the left flank when Steve Bruce has played a 4-4-1-1 formation, like he did when they beat Chris Wilder’s European-chasing Sheffield United 3-0 at St. James’ Park after Project Restart, with Saint-Maximin scoring the opening goal of the match.

Perhaps Wilson can learn from the Frenchman if he has an ambition of eventually breaking into the first-team squad, as NUFC seem to see a future for him at the club given that they have tied him down to a new contract.

Geordies, will Wilson ever make it in the first team? Comment below!

Name: Ferran Torres

Club: Valencia

Date of Birth: 29 February 2000

Position: Right-winger

FERRAN TORRES – HIS CAREER SO FAR

Without too much exaggeration, Valencia’s Ferran Torres is among the best and most exciting young prospects in La Liga. But the prolific 20-year-old right-winger may very well be in line for a big transfer to the Premier League soon. Still, throughout his career, he was only loyal to one club and that’s Valencia.

The local boy joined his team’s academy back in 2006 when he was only six years of age. And even though the world had to basically wait until 2016 to see him make his senior debut coming on as a substitute in a 0–2 Segunda Division B defeat against Mallorca B, everyone already knew he was quite special. After all, he had made his debut while still only being a junior.

Ahead of the following campaign, Torres was promoted to the B side, soon registering his first goal against Peralada-Girona B and then, in October 2017, he would renew his contract with Valencia, fending off the interest of La Liga giants like Barcelona and Real Madrid. In 2018, he finally made his first-team debut with the Bats, following only 12 registered games for the youth squads, scoring once and assisting further five in the process as well.

He made his bow with the first team on 30 November 2017 as he came on for Nacho Gil in the Copa del Rey clash against Real Zaragoza. The league debut also wasn’t far behind that, coming on 16 December that same year against Eibar as he became the first player born in the new millennium to play in La Liga.

Soon, more good things followed and Torres tallied appearances in Europe, eventually also becoming the youngest Valencia player to play 50 league games at the age of just 19 years and 324 days, breaking a 40-year old record set by Miguel Tendillo who was 19 years and 351 days old back in his time.

So far, Torres has played a total of 97 games for his club and scored nine goals while assisting 12 more on the side as well. It’s a pretty good return considering the hardship the club had to endure in recent times and the player’s youth as well. Even more impressively, two goals and two assists were recorded in the Champions League of all competitions, showing that he’s a man for big occasions.

Now, the footballing world is already aware of who he is and big things are once again on the horizon.

TRANSFER LATEST

The latest transfer rumours report Torres has already agreed personal terms with Manchester City and is really close to making a switch to the Premier League. There, as the transfer news state, he is looking forward to learning under the watchful eye of Pep Guardiola who has seemingly secured his replacement for Leroy Sane.

In some other Valencia transfer news, Los Che initially wanted to get much more money for their brilliant youngster but seeing how he has refused to extend his contract, and there is just a year left on the current deal, they are not exactly in a position to negotiate.

For that reason, it very much feels like this is a done deal and soon, Torres will be a new Man City player.

PLAYER PROFILE

Torres is a prolific right-winger through and through. Some of his best traits include an incredible dribbling ability and pace with which to surge down the flanks and destabilise the opposition’s defensive blocks. He is highly unpredictable and can even play through the middle if required to do so. Technically, he is also great and his passing skills, albeit not on the highest level just yet, are commendable and always improving.

The 20-year-old can bring a lot of creativity into any side and is versatile enough to adapt to different styles, formations and the coach’s ideas, which Guardiola is sure to have in abundance. Under the Catalan’s tutelage, Torres is bound to break through the glass ceiling and become a world-class player he was always destined to be.

Slaven Bilic has secured Premier League football for West Bromwich Albion in the upcoming 2020/21 season. Now, however, comes the more difficult part and the Croatian coach knows his team will have to strengthen in order to compete with England’s best in the top-flight.

According to Sky Sport’s Rob Dorset, the Baggies are plotting Callum Robinson’s big return to the Hawthorns in the ongoing summer transfer window after he impressed on his last loan spell at the club.

This, of course, doesn’t exactly come as a huge surprise seeing how the 25-year-old has managed to net three goals in 10 starts for West Brom after arriving on loan from Sheffield United in the January transfer window. Now he’s back with the Blades but Bilic would be keen on his return, this time on a permanent contract.

But the same source does suggest that even though initial talks had been held already, there’s quite a lot interest from other teams as well, at least one of which is from the Premier League too. Needless to say, this could make the deal that much more complicated to get over the line.

At the moment, this is all we’ve gotten on this potential transfer and it will be interesting to see how things develop in the immediate future as the transfer window starts to heat up.

One way or another, we can definitely expect some new arrivals at the Hawthorns soon rather than later.

Verdict

Robinson has been a great addition to the Baggies’ team from January onward. He played his role perfectly and did his part to push West Brom towards promotion in the end.

For that reason, the fact that Bilic does indeed like the 25-year-old forward is not surprising. But following his good loan stint, Sheffield and Chris Wilder may want to incorporate him into their squad as well.

With that in mind, the stage is set for an interesting transfer battle between the two Premier League outfits.

In our Transfers that shook the club feature, Football Transfer Tavern takes a look at deals that many may not have seen coming and the impact that they had during their time by using statistical data and pundit remarks.

Kevin Keegan is a name that makes the hairs stand up on the necks of Newcastle United fans around the world.

A fine player for the Magpies, the now 69-year old scored a rather impressive 48 goals in 78 games in English league football between 1982 and 1984, according to Soccerbase.

Many supporters of the Tyneside club would have therefore relished the appointment of Keegan as manager ahead of the 1993/94 season, when he won 24 of his 43 matches in carge, with his team scoring 89 goals in the process, as per Transfermarkt.

The 1994/95 season would see his record dip slightly, as the Englishman won 23 of his 47 games as coach, with his side managing to score nine fewer goals (via Transfermarkt).

However, it was arguably not until the 1995/96 campaign that Keegan really made his mark. Finishing just a mere four points off of Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United in the Premier League table, the Geordie guided his team to a quite respectable second place. On the other hand, this could remarkably be seen as an ultimate failure, with the Magpies being 12 points clear at the top of the table in February.

Ultimately, Keegan’s tenure at St. James’ Park came to an end in the January of the following year, as the Toon Army still ponder what might have been.

However, little did they know back then that this was not the end of the Messiah. Indeed, the silver fox returned as manager in the northeast in January 2008 in what may have come as a shock.

Unfortunately, Keegan only managed to win four out of his 17 games in charge during his second spell in charge (per resigning after only eight months in the job, which left the club searching for a new boss very early in the campaign.

With all of this in mind, it cannot really be said that the return of King Kev was all that successful, and so fans may still be cursing their luck that his reign could be deemed ultimately as another failure, with flashbacks of the 1995/96 Premier League title collapse still fresh in their minds.

Geordies, was Keegan’s return to Newcastle a failure? Comment below with your views!

As per Casa Blanca, Glasgow Rangers have reached a €20m (£17.8m) agreement with Lille for Alfredo Morelos.

Morelos has been continually linked with Les Dogues, with him even said to have agreed personal terms with the Ligue 1 side.

Now, it seems he may finally be on his way to France, with this report saying the Ibrox outfit and Lille have agreed a fee of €20m (£17.8m).

Finally, there may be some positive news for the Gers. Whilst the Colombia international has been a fantastic player for the club, scoring 79 goals in 142 matches, he is clearly becoming a distraction – this is a situation that needs to be resolved as soon as possible.

He has not played a minute in either of the last two matches, and so far it has not appeared to have done anything to damage the 54-time Scottish champions’ quest for a first title since 2011 – they remain on top of the table, whilst they prevailed in both of those matches 2-0.

€20m (£17.8m) is a considerable amount of money for a player who cost just £1.08m in 2017. It seems the Gers and Morelos’ journey together is over – it is now time for the two to part ways as swiftly and amicably as possible.

Let us know what you think below!

Steven Gerrard has said that his Glasgow Rangers backline is “complete” with less than a month of the transfer window now left.

The Gers have been busy during the transfer window, and have made two signings in defence with Calvin Bassey and Leon Balogun both making the move to Ibrox. So far, the 54-time Scottish champions have been immaculate at the back, with them yet to concede in the opening six games of the Premiership season.

Discussing the club’s transfer plans over the next few weeks, Gerrard has said that the back four is all sorted. He explained to Rangers TV (via GlasgowLive):

“It’s a good place to be in and when I look at the squad now with four or five weeks left of the window, I’m really content we are complete in those areas and have two really good players in each position.

“The young kid (Nathan Patterson) is pushing Tav, Calvin (Bassey) is pushing Borna and the four centre halves are all good enough to play. I’m really happy with what I have from a back five point of view.”

There hardly seems to be any need to add to the back four, which is good news for Gerrard. However, other areas of the pitch could certainly do with a bit of improvement. Brian Laudrup has called out for a creative midfielder, whilst Ianis Hagi, an attacking midfielder, has been forced to play primarily on the right wing so far this season.

There is still time for Gerrard and Ross Wilson to bring in the players they need, but it is important they move quickly.

Let us know what you think below!

Liverpool are reportedly eyeing a cunning swoop for one of Europe’s most promising teenagers and he’s very similar to a former Anfield favourite…

What’s the word?

According to Sport Bild, Reds boss Jurgen Klopp is looking to raid his old club Borussia Dortmund for their attacking midfielder Giovanni Reyna.

The 17-year-old wonderkid is entering the final year of his contract at the Bundesliga outfit but is expected to sign a new deal when he turns 18 in November, which would mean that Liverpool would have to pay a substantial fee to secure him.

It remains to be seen how much Reyna would command as Transfermarkt value the American at £13.5m whilst Dortmund are wanting over £100m for his teammate Jadon Sancho, someone who he could emulate in seasons to come.

Shades of Coutinho

The Black and Yellows have been a hotbed for young talent to emerge in recent years and it appears as if Reyna is the next player to make an impact – already at such a young age, he’s played 18 times for the club, scoring once as well as providing two assists, via WhoScored.

Former New York City head coach Patrick Vieira once compared him to David Trezeguet but Bundesliga.com likened his playing style to that of Kaka, which is high praise indeed.

“His ability to run at top speed for extended periods, breaking into opposition boxes and scoring goals is more reminiscent of AC Milan and Brazil great, Kaka.”

Perhaps he could bring shades of Philippe Coutinho back to Anfield as a result with the website going on to describe the teenager as “a true all-rounder” blessed with “pace” and “excellent finishing ability.”

The glowing endorsements don’t stop there either, current boss Lucien Favre claimes Reyna has “something special” whilst his father, Claudio, claims he’s a “goalscorer” who can “strike a ball well.”

Liverpool have lacked goals from midfield for quite some time – in his final two seasons at the club, Coutinho bagged 20 times in the Premier League but last term, the likes of Gigi Wijnaldum, Naby Keita, Jordan Henderson and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain only manged 14 between them.

Whether this move can happen this summer or way down the line, he’d be a phenomenal talent to have in Merseyside. Michael Edwards could deliver yet again.

AND in other news, Exclusive: Neil Mellor delivers verdict on huge Liverpool transfer decision…

Former Premier League striker Noel Whelan believes Aston Villa manager Dean Smith will find it tough to offload Anwar El Ghazi and Frederic Guilbert before the domestic transfer deadline passes.

Can Dean Smith find new clubs for the pair?

It was previously reported that both players have been told to look for new clubs as Villa seek to significantly reduce their wage bill.

The Midlands-based outfit have been busy this summer, spending a total of £74.12m (according to TransferMarkt) and bringing in a total of five players, including Ross Barkley on loan from Chelsea. This will have bumped up the cost of their wage bill, which Smith now must try and reduce before Friday’s deadline in order to balance the books.

El Ghazi has not featured for Villa since the final game of last season despite being a regular during the 2019/20 season and Guilbert has made just two outings this term, both of which have been in the Carabao Cup. As things stand, it’s difficult to see either having much of a part to play at Villa Park this season.

With this in mind, there is some doubt that Villa will be able to readily get rid of the pair. Speaking to Football Insider, Whelan was asked whether Smith will find it challenging to find suitable outfits for both players.

“They are indeed, absolutely,” he said. “Guilbert’s not been there that long so his contract’s probably got a couple of years left on it.

“I think for those sort of players if they’ve had the conversation with the manager, it’s about getting them out on loan.

“If it’s not going to be a permanent signing and they’re surplus to requirements at Aston Villa, which they will be now with the signings they’ve made, they’ve got to get out there and just try get them loaned out to some clubs and gets some wages off the bill.”

Dean Smith needs to get rid of unwanted deadwood

As we’ve seen so far this season, Villa are starting to go places despite barely retaining their Premier League status at the end of last term. The Villa Park faithful recently applauded the work that Smith has done since he arrived in the Midlands just over two years ago.

Currently second in the Premier League, Villa will likely look to shift some of the deadwood in their squad if they want to maintain their momentum.

However, Whelan is right. Finding clubs for fringe players like El Ghazi and Guilbert could be a tall order this week.

Villa fans, do you agree with Whelan? Will Smith opt to stick with Anwar El Ghazi and Frederic Guilbert or can he show them the door? Join the discussion by commenting below…

A seven-figure transfer fee, a relegation to his name and now a surprise omission from Slaven Bilic’s matchday squad.

Things aren’t going to plan for Kieran Gibbs at West Brom.

The 31-year-old was sent off against Everton last month and despite being eligible to return against Burnley on Monday night, the Albion boss instead started Conor Townsend and named Dara O’Shea on the bench.

“It was selection. With Dara, we can cover both positions as a full-back. With Kieran, of course, he is a quality player and I expect him to prove in training like every other guy in the squad and only the performance in training will get players closer to the starting XI or the bench,” said Bilic after the 0-0 draw.

The Baggies recorded their first clean sheet of the season, so the veteran left-back may find it even more difficult to break back into the lineup, so perhaps there’s more to this than meets the eye.

Gibbs cost the Midlands outfit £7m back in the summer of 2017, which took Tony Pulis’ brash spending to a total of £38m following the arrivals of Jay Rodriguez, Ahmed Hegazi and Oliver Burke.

He is thought to also be on a whopping £55k-per-week contract, though fortunately that is set to expire at the current campaign.

It means West Brom have thrown around £16m down the drain to this day and that’ll increase by the time the season draws to a close in 2021.

During his three years at the Hawthorns, Gibbs has racked up 91 appearances but could only start 14 league matches during their promotion-winning run due to injuries and not being selected.

His latest snub could well be the last straw with Townsend and O’Shea both impressing Bilic in recent times.

That move by Pulis is certainly now looking like a catastrophically bad decision. In return for that £18m, Albion have received a relegation and a plethora of injuries.

AND in other news, West Brom lightweight who LOST possession 30 TIMES badly let Bilic down…