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According to reports in The Sun on Sunday, West Ham United believe they can compete the signing of Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere this summer.

What’s the word, then?

Well, the England international’s contract with the north London outfit expires at the end of the month, and the two parties haven’t yet come to an agreement with The Sun on Sunday saying that Wilshere held talks with Unai Emery last Monday.

The Sun on Sunday says that the Spanish boss told the 26-year-old that he wants him to stay at the Emirates Stadium, but they aren’t willing to increase their £100,000-a-week offer – which would see the midfielder take a wage cut.

The report adds that West Ham, who should forget Alfie Mawson and sign a £10m-rated Championship centre-back instead, are willing to hand him a four-year deal worth £130,000-a-week, and Manuel Pellegrini has told him that he wants to build his newly-inherited team around him.

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How did Wilshere do during the 2017/18 campaign?

At the beginning of the season it seemed almost certain that the 26-year-old would be leaving the Emirates this summer, but he quickly became more and more of a starter under Arsene Wenger despite spending the previous campaign on loan at Bournemouth.

Wilshere made 40 appearances in all competitions, scoring two goals and providing a further seven assists.

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Would he be a good West Ham signing?

He certainly would be.

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The 26-year-old may have suffered his fair share of injury problems in recent years, but there is no doubting the quality he has.

He would be a huge character in the middle of the park for the Irons, and he would be a real statement signing on a permanent basis.

The England international would bring some bite and an ability to bring the ball forward, and he would help the east London club secure Europa League football next term.

According to the Daily Express, Arsenal are eager to sign Manchester United defender, Phil Jones, in the summer transfer window.

What’s the story?

Arsenal have allegedly expressed an interest in the Manchester United defender, and the Red Devils could be willing to allow the Englishman to leave because his contract expires at the end of next season.

The 25-year-old has registered several disappointing performances for the Europa League winners this season, and United could be keen to sell the defender – they’ve been linked with moves for defenders of late.

If United are willing to sell the former Blackburn defender, then it seems that the Gunners are ready to pounce on his availability.

Would he be a good signing?

At the age of 25, Phil Jones has won four major honours and has represented one of the world’s greatest clubs on 188 occasions. This is a testament to Jones’ capabilities as a footballer.

He is certainly not the best in his field. However, he is a very good player who has amassed plenty of experience of playing at the highest level.  The Englishman is regarded for his capacity to retain possession when necessary. Furthermore, he is a surprisingly good passer of the ball for a defender, and he has displayed his impressive crossing ability.

These qualities ensure that he would be a useful option for the Gunners, one that would be in keeping with the mentality that Wenger is keen to express.

Does Wenger need him?

While Arsenal have a relatively established defence, its members are ageing. Nacho Monreal is 31, Laurent Koscielny is 32 and Per Mertesacker.

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The addition of Phil Jones would provide quality and invaluable experience, while also helping to provide longevity and sustainability. Arsenal cannot depend on an ageing backline; the arrival of Jones would be welcomed.

After a little over twelve months, a group of alleged imposters masquerading as a transfer committee (which has now been cleared up) and dealing with one of the most stubborn football clubs in the game, Manchester United have finally signed Ander Herrera.

This is the time for giving credit where it’s due. Herrera to United looked dead in the water after the episode of last summer. The failure to land Herrera led to the player being benched early on by Ernesto Valverde, only to be gradually reinstated as a starting regular and ending the season on a personal high. Such was the mix up last season, if we’re going to call it that, and Athletic Bilbao’s red-faced stubbornness, the player looked all but set to commit his future to the Basque club.

Credit now to United for convincing the player otherwise, keeping the deal relatively quiet and wrapping it up in a manner as professional as can be done in such a situation. Bilbao, under no pressure to sell for a multitude of reasons, won’t settle for anything less than their players’ buyout clause.

The deal is somewhat of a surprise due to United’s apparent disinterest in returning to such a complicated negotiating table. Toni Kroos, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Arturo Vidal, and various others looked well ahead of Herrera as possibilities to be United’s next midfield lynchpin.

But this is what United needed. The misconception about Herrera is that he’s a young player – at 24 (25 later this summer) and having been a regular for Bilbao since 2011, he’s far from it. Questions about the player’s fee are warranted: is he worth that sort of money at this stage? It depends how you look at it. As of now, Herrera wouldn’t command a fee of £29 million elsewhere. But these were special circumstances, dealing with a club who simply don’t budge when it comes to transfers. In the future – and there can be little doubt that Herrera is well off his peak – the Spaniard will justify the figure United parted with.

The player has been talked up as one of the pivotal figures in the next wave for the Spanish national team. Along with Thiago Alcantara and Koke, any combination of the three could replace Xavi ad Xabi Alonso in Spain’s midfield in the future.

There’s a lot to like about Herrera’s game over both Kroos and last year’s transfer target Cesc Fabregas. He has bite, he’s not afraid to get stuck into the dirty work, namely winning the ball back high up the pitch. He’s intelligent and can create, which is well known, but his versatility is what makes him such an attractive prospect. Juan Mata or Wayne Rooney will fill in at No.10, but Herrera is just as comfortable there as he is deeper in the midfield. He can become the perfect centrepiece to employing stylish possession tactics.

Naturally, the midfield recruitment shouldn’t be over for United just yet. Herrera very much needs a partner or some form of safety net behind him. At Athletic Bilbao, Ander Iturraspe is a regular starter and would sit in front of the back four. United have a long-standing need for a player who can protect the defence, and now with the signing of Herrera, they very much need someone to help bring the best out of the 24-year-old.

Think of the rewards to be had with Herrera pairing up with a coach like Louis van Gaal. The Dutch coach is known for his preference of working with younger players; this Netherlands side at the World Cup very much leans on youth and inexperience. It was van Gaal who brought Thomas Muller into the Bayern team, as well as guiding a youthful AZ Alkmaar to the Dutch title. The bottom line is this: Herrera isn’t the finished product yet. He’s good, very good in fact. But this is a player who can be further moulded by a manager who has his preferred way of coaching.

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United have taken a considerable leap forward with this signing. They would have been impressed by the mauling suffered at the hands of Athletic Bilbao in the Europa League in 2012. Herrera racked up a huge number of games over that season, helping Bilbao to both the Europa League and Copa del Rey final.

This is the natural next step in his career. There’s added responsibility now and Herrera is more than capable of delivering.

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West Ham boss Sam Allardyce has slated his teams’ performance after their 2-1 defeat away at Wigan yesterday, as reported by talkSPORT.

West Ham were second best throughout the game at the DW Stadium and the manager felt that the performance was of a bottom three side rather than a top ten side which he expects from his players.

“It was a bottom three performance rather than a top four display. We never hit the level of performance that we know we can,

“We never really tested Wigan. When we got into the final third we hardly produced a ball of quality to cause them a problem. We also kept giving the ball away before we could get into their half. It was a lackluster performance all round in possession and out of possession.

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“We were chasing around instead of staying as a tight solid unit. We had too many players not hitting their top form,”

Tottenham Hotspur should consider making a move for Ajax playmaker Hakim Ziyech following his performances at the World Cup.

What’s the word?

The North London outfit could do with another creative player in their squad next season.

Mauricio Pochettino’s side have established themselves as regular top-four contenders, but they need strength in depth in order to take that next step.

One playmaker who could fall on the club’s radar is Ziyech, who has performed well for Morocco at the World Cup in Russia.

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Unfortunately for the 25-year-old, who is valued at £22.5m by Transfermarkt, his nation’s tournament is over.

The damage was done on Wednesday when Portugal earned a 1-0 victory, with Cristiano Ronaldo scoring the goal.

Individually, though, Ziyech put on a decent display, which could potentially attract interest from other clubs.

Is he good enough for Tottenham?

It is easy to be drawn to the high-profile names during the transfer hunt, but there are some gems that would be worth snapping up.

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Tottenham’s main creative outlet in midfield comes from Christian Eriksen, but Ziyech has the qualities to provide a different dynamic to Mauricio Pochettino’s team.

Last season, the Moroccan scored nine goals in 35 appearances in all competitions for Ajax, but more impressively created 17 assists for his teammates.

If Tottenham are in the market for a new attacking midfielder, then Ziyech should be on the pile of candidates, particularly as he could be a cheaper option that some other targets.

Newcastle United brought an end to their record of being the worst team at home in the Premier League this season when they picked up a much-needed 1-0 victory against Manchester United at St James’ Park on Sunday to move themselves out of the relegation zone.

The Magpies came into the clash without a win on their own patch since they beat Crystal Palace 1-0 in October, and they had taken just 13 points and scored just 11 goals in their 13 fixtures on Tyneside.

Considering the Red Devils have also been one of the best teams in the top flight on their travels this term, not too many people would have predicted Rafa Benitez’s men picking up all three points – or even one – beforehand.

To get results like the one against Man United you need your key players to be playing at the top of their games, and one of the reasons that Newcastle’s home form has been so poor and they find themselves struggling at the wrong end of the table is because that hasn’t been the case.

Winger Matt Ritchie and Jonjo Shelvey were two of the Toon players that shone as the Magpies lifted the Championship trophy during the previous season, and Benitez and the St James’ Park faithful would have been extremely hopeful that they would bring that form and influence to their Premier League campaign – especially when their summer transfer business didn’t exactly go to plan.

Ritchie scored 12 goals and provided a further eight assists in 42 second tier outings last term, while Shelvey made a big impact in the middle of the park week after week because of his quality in possession of the ball.

The same certainly couldn’t be said about the duo this time around though prior to the Man United clash, with Ritchie failing to score and registering five assists, while Shelvey had been sent off twice to cost his team not only in those games, but also the matches he missed subsequently because of suspension.

The former Liverpool midfielder has been in and out of the starting XI at points this term, including when he was an unused substitute in the 1-1 draw against Burnley at St James’ Park on January 31, and there was certainly no guarantee that he would keep his place in the team against Mourinho’s men considering he didn’t exactly impress in the 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace previously.

Ritchie only played 18 minutes against Manchester City and Burnley before also returning to the side against the Eagles, but he was another that did well from a defensive point of view, but failed to offer much going forward for his side.

Benitez had a big decision to make on the duo’s participation against the Red Devils on Sunday, and he decided to name both from the start despite the fact that the likes of Isaac Hayden, Mikel Merino, Jacob Murphy and Christian Atsu are all battling them for their spot in the side.

While the Spaniard may not have seen it as too much of a risk, it was one that paid off as it was Shelvey’s quick free-kick that eventually led to Ritchie getting first goal of the season and a crucial three points for Newcastle.

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The win moved the Magpies up to 13th position and on to 28 points, and the way things are going at the moment it would seem as though 40 points would be enough to guarantee survival, meaning they need 12 points from their final 11 Premier League games.

That is certainly an achievable target for the Benitez’s side, but one thing is for sure and that is that they need Ritchie and Shelvey to put in performances like they did against Man United every game from now until the end of the campaign.

It is no coincidence that Newcastle picked up a significant result when the duo shine, and it shows how influential and important they will be in the remaining fixtures.

The title is within reach for the fans, but Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers admits his focus isn’t on winning the title, but only as far as their next challenge, according to The Mirror.

The Liverpool supporters’ belief of finally clinching the Premier League title is high all around Anfield, as Liverpool  thrashed Tottenham Hotspur 4-0, but the Liverpool manager dismissed any claims that his current focus is winning the title.

Youanes Kaboul put in an early own goal to give the Reds the lead, before Luis Suarez, Philippe Coutinho, and Jordan Henderson all scored to cap off a memorable night.

But Rodgers is keen on only focusing on the next Sunday’s game against West Ham, as he is looking no further despite recording eight wins in eight games.

“The dream is for our supporters, they want to win the title,” he said. “It has been a long time but it’s not in my thinking.

“We just need to prepare and do well and if we do that, we will win games.

“We have won eight games in a row and we will enjoy that. It’s just about going back to work next week and we have a tough game against West Ham next.

“We just want to concentrate on the next game and that is what we will focus on.”

However, the manager had nothing but praise with his side now top of the league, while the result proved that it wasn’t luck and they have what it takes to go all the way.

“We were seventh last year so the expectation wasn’t there at the start of the season. Now we are up there at the top of the league with that pressure,” he said.

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“Today we answered the question about pressure. We like to dominate the ball and you saw that today. The movement, confidence and composure was good. We fight as a team to get the ball back and overall I was very proud of the team.

“That is eight wins in a row and that takes some going at this level.”

The great performers in Europe are always going to see their popularity rise in the Premier League. The pull of English football means that many of the best will always find a way to transfer to one of the leading clubs in England.

It may have been disappointing that England never got to witness past greats such as Zidane, Ronaldo and Rivaldo, and even now English clubs have to battle the two giants in Spain for the very best Europe has to offer. Regardless, it would also seen inappropriate for players to dismiss English football and any future in the Premier League. Rising empires all over Europe also means it’s difficult for many clubs to compete financially, but the history of some of the big clubs is sure to be a greater pull than the size of any potential pay packet.

English clubs want the glamour and high-profile nature of the best Europe has to offer. Their quality also almost guarantees security in clubs’ investment, although that’s evidently not always the case.

Some may be in their prime while others are still establishing their qualities in European football, but all of the following players would be big hits in England.

Click on Marco Reus to unveil the top 10

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West Bromwich Albion are interested in signing Celtic midfielder Stuart Armstrong this summer, according to the Daily Record.

What’s the word?

Baggies manager Darren Moore has an important few months ahead as he tries to shape a squad worthy of promotion back to the Premier League.

One man who has emerged as a potential target currently plies his trade in Glasgow as part of Brendan Rodgers’s Celtic squad.

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The Daily Record reports that top-flight sides Crystal Palace, Brighton and Southampton are also keen on the  26-year-old, who has earned six caps for the Scotland national team.

The publication claims that Celtic are open to offers as they want to avoid Armstrong leaving the club for nothing when his contract expires next summer.

What can he bring to the table?

Armstrong started just 15 Scottish Premiership matches last season and came off the bench in a further 12.

In 35 appearances in all competitions, the midfielder scored four goals, which is not the best return, but if given a regular starting spot, the Scotsman has it in his arsenal to find the back of the net.

Armstrong would certainly inject some creativity into West Brom’s team, and he can also pull the strings from the middle of the park or push further forward.

Do West Brom have a chance?

Game time would not be an issue for the midfielder, but the Baggies are at a disadvantage for being in the Championship.

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It appears that a handful of Premier League outfits hold an interest in Armstrong, so the offer of playing top-flight football could be too strong to turn down.

From West Brom’s point of view, they should certainly argue their case, but if a lengthy bidding war ensues, they should perhaps consider other targets.

The manner in which an intrinsic imbalance within the squad has consistently undermined Everton’s season appeared to reach something of a climax on Saturday.

After a 1-1 draw with West Brom which saw the Toffees record just four shots on target at Goodison Park against the Premier League’s 19th-placed side, manager Sam Allardyce confirmed what many have feared for the majority of the campaign; Gylfi Sigurdsson and Wayne Rooney just can’t play in the same team.

“I think Rooney and Gylfi playing together are very shrewd, very clever and talented players but in actual terms of covering the ground it is difficult – it’s not their strength. So I have to make a big decision on who plays this one and who plays for next one.

“For me, Gylfi has been trudging away outside on the left side, so play him in the position he wants to play and see what he can do.”

Both playmakers of rather modest speed and athleticism, there are too many similarities in terms of both strengths and weaknesses, not to mention their preferred position – the single slot behind the centre-forward.

Attempts to shoehorn both of them into the same Everton XI have produced unconvincing results and it now appears Allardyce is ready to make a long-term decision between the two. One will be his main man, the other will have to make do with watching on from the bench. But that leads to a final, inevitable question; which attacking midfielder should Allardyce choose?

Chris McMullan – Gylfi Sigurdsson

When you allow a player to sign on the dotted line after agreeing a £45m deal in the summer, the last thing you want to do is proclaim that you don’t believe he can play in the same team as the all-time England top scorer you also signed for an emotional return in the same window.

But, after a few months of madness at Everton, the optimism floating over Goodison Park has turned into a heavy, hanging stench. And now Sam Allardyce feels sufficiently emboldened in his job to claim that Wayne Rooney and Gylfi Sigurdsson cannot play in the same starting XI.

It makes sense, however. With Cenk Tosun up front, and with pace coming in the form of Theo Walcott and Yannick Bolasie either side, there probably is only room for one of the two unless some pace on the wing is sacrificed or both play in midfield – which isn’t an option many managers would countenance, and certainly not Allardyce.

And yet, when Rooney came back to the club, it was always seen as a risk. His fitness was questioned at the end of his Manchester United career, and back at Everton the same arguments were always going to be raised. With that in mind, surely it should be the Englishman who makes way in the team, taking his place on the bench to come on later in games or play more sporadically, whilst the Iceland international pulls the strings in the Toffees attack and provides one of the biggest threats in the Premier League over dead balls.

Christy Malyan – Wayne Rooney

Forget about ages and price-tags; team selections should always be made on merit and on the whole, Rooney has vastly outperformed Sigurdsson this season. The Icelander can argue he’s been played out of position for most of it, but the statistics speak for themselves; Rooney has scored seven more goals than Sigurdsson in the Premier League this term while producing the same number of assists.

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It’s certainly firepower Everton need at the moment, scoring just three timesn their last three games, and once again Rooney and Sigurdsson just don’t compare. One is England and Manchester United’s all-time record goalscorer, the other has never netted more than eleven times in a single top flight campaign.

That’s not to say Sigurdsson is a bad player – we saw how potent he can be during three seasons at Swansea and his lethal deliveries suit a manager who has made a career from maximising set pieces. However, the 28-year-old has failed at big clubs before – he hardly made a mark during two years at Spurs – and at least until the end of the season, Rooney’s experience and pedigree seems more dependable than Sigurdsson’s underwhelming, largely ineffectual form.

So, Everton fans, who should be Allardyce’s main man? Let us know by voting below…