All posts by n8rngtd.top

With Aston Villa enjoying a remarkable Premier League season thus far, Dean Smith will no doubt be incredibly proud of the work he and his players have done.

The Villans lie just outside of the top ten in the table, but have a game in hand on both Leeds and Arsenal above them, with a win being enough to seeing them leapfrog the two into ninth place.

But while Smith has done a fantastic job in turning things around so impressively since last season – Villa, of course, only managed to avoid relegation back to the Championship on the final day of the campaign – there is one major criticism that should be levelled at him.

A report conducted by CIES Football Observatory collated data from clubs all across the Premier League, to find out the “percentage of domestic league minutes by footballers who had not yet turned 21 at the time of the matches played this season”.

In it, Villa have the eighth-worst record in terms of giving minutes to it’s U21 players, with just 1.4% being taken up by those who fit that criteria – in comparison, Wolves, who have the best record in the division, have handed out a whopping 16.2% of their minutes to U21s.

It’s a report that exposes a worrying trend at Villa, and one that should have Smith ashamed given the incredible number of young talents coming through at the club via the academy system.

You only have to look at how Villa’s youngsters captured the imagination in their FA Cup third round defeat to Liverpool to see that the club have got a real golden generation coming through, while the side are also competing in the latter stages of the FA Youth Cup this season.

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The likes of Louie Barry, Aaron Ramsey and Kaine Kesler to name but a few have surely shown that they are worth bringing into the first-team fold and being handed minutes here and there.

With the modern game seeing more and more British-based youngsters heading abroad to seek out first-team opportunities – the likes of Jadon Sancho and Jude Bellingham at Borussia Dortmund spring to mind – Villa desperately need to start mapping out a better plan for their crop of talented youngsters.

Meanwhile, Villa must regret their howler over this “frightening” star…

To suggest Celtic’s recruitment in the last few years has been shoddy would be putting things lightly.

The Hoops have got a lot of their transfers wrong and on that basis, it’s easy to see why they’ve relinquished their grasp on the SPFL title.

Last term they signed the likes of Boli Bolingoli, Hatem Elhamed, Moritz Bauer and Patryk Klimala.

Of those players signed in 2019/20, only one of them is currently in and around the Celtic squad; Klimala.

Bolingoli is out on loan while Elhamed has gone back to Israel. As for Bauer, he never stood a chance of having his loan spell extended in Glasgow.

Nick Hammond seemingly didn’t learn a year on. Once again, their movements in the transfer market left plenty to be desired.

They signed Vasilis Barkas for a fee of £4.5m, a player who has made a number of individual mistakes since putting pen to paper. To make matters worse, he isn’t even their number one goalkeeper at the moment.

Unfortunately, they also decided to spend £5m on Albian Ajeti; a transfer that now looks nothing short of disastrous.

Ajeti has had a poor few seasons but at the age of 24, still has plenty of potential. After all, you don’t score 21 goals in one season for European regulars Basel without having a bit of quality.

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A move to West Ham followed that but he failed to score in 12 appearances. It’s not got much better for the Swiss forward since joining Celtic.

The striker has played 19 matches in the SPFL but has only scored six times. That means that Ajeti has cost Dermot Desmond nearly a whopping £1m per goal since signing. To be precise, he has cost £833k per goal.

Add his £13.5k-per-week wages into the equation and that’s a further £432k for the 32 weeks he’s been at Parkhead.

The money spent is made all the more frustrating by the small glimpses of quality we’ve seen from him. Ajeti scored five goals in his opening ten matches and netted a sensational strike against Kilmarnock in February.

Scott Brown played a long ball forward which was elegantly taken down by the Switzerland international. He was able to turn before firing the ball beyond the goalkeeper.

It was a strike worthy of a £5m player, but his form for large parts of the season hasn’t dictated that.

Ajeti’s goal against Killie was his first since September, a run stretching across 14 matches. Coincidentally, the former West Ham man hasn’t scored since that match.

Speaking in October, Alan Hutton suggested the attacker had been “anonymous” and that he was becoming a big problem for the management team. You can’t say the former defender doesn’t have a point.

Ajeti will desperately need to improve if he’s still at Paradise next term.

Marcus Rashford is an injury doubt for Manchester United ahead of their Premier League clash with Leeds United this weekend.

The Whites are back in action on Sunday afternoon, welcoming their Mancunian rivals to Elland Road in what has the potential to be an entertaining contest.

Leeds have taken four points off Manchester City and Liverpool in their last two matches and they should be confident heading into the game.

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Rashford a doubt for Leeds-Man United clash

While Marcelo Bielsa will have to make do without attacking duo Raphinha and Rodrigo, their opponents could also be missing a key man.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has confirmed that Rashford hasn’t trained all week, and while he will return on Saturday, it gives him little time to prove his fitness.

Transfer Tavern take

Rashford being out would undoubtedly act as a boost for Leeds, considering the 23-year-old goal’s threat, invariably from the left-hand side. He has scored 10 goals and registered eight assists in the league so far this season, highlighting his pedigree in the attacking third.

Indeed, he has been hailed as a “role model” by none other than England team-mate Phil Foden, who himself is having a season to remember.

Luke Ayling will be a relieved a man if Rashford doesn’t play, although there is the potential of Paul Pogba playing out on the left instead, giving the Leeds right-back a different kind of challenge.

In other news, Leeds have suffered a double injury blow ahead of the Man United game. Read more here.

Marcelo Bielsa has provided an important injury update on Adam Forshaw, Raphinha and Rodrigo ahead of Leeds United’s clash with Liverpool.

The Whites are back in action on Monday night, looking to add another famous victory to their collection, following their 2-1 win at Manchester City last time around.

Leeds welcome reigning Premier League champions Liverpool to Elland Road, in what looks set to be an entertaining game on paper.

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Bielsa gives injury update on Leeds trio

Bielsa has a number of injury concerns going into the game, however, and on Thursday, he provided an update on the current situation.

In what was the most positive news of the day, the Leeds manager confirmed (via Phil Hay) that Forshaw will play for the Under-23s against Aston Villa on Friday, as he continues to recovery from a long-term hip problem.

Meanwhile, Raphinha is still considered a doubt for the Liverpool clash and Rodrigo looks set to miss out, with a muscular issue keeping the latter sidelined.

Transfer Tavern take

The Forshaw news is heartwarming, considering the 29-year-old hasn’t featured for Leeds since the early months of the 2019/20 season.

There is clearly no chance of him playing against Liverpool, but it would be a wonderful moment to see him play for the first team again before the campaign finishes.

Raphinha’s potential absence is a big blow for the Whites though, with his trickery and end product – six goals and assists apiece in the league this season – capable of causing a makeshift Reds defence problems.

His fellow Brazilian winger Vinicius Junior caused the Reds lots of problems for Real Madrid in the Champions League, and Raphinha boasts a similar ability to drive at players one on one and make things happen out of nothing. Losing that would definitely harm Bielsa’s chances of getting a result.

In other news, a huge name has left the door open regarding a move to Leeds this summer. Read more here.

In an exclusive interview with The Transfer Tavern, Steve Howey, who made 157 appearances for Newcastle United, has revealed that he wanted the Magpies to sign Danny Ings when Steve McClaren was the manager.

Ings moved to Liverpool in 2015 when his contract expired, however, after several injuries over the years he managed just 25 appearances for the Reds and was eventually sold to Southampton for £20 million.

The £75,000 per week striker has been linked with a move to Manchester City, who are looking for someone to replace Sergio Aguero with the striker set to leave when his contract expires at the end of the season.

Speaking on why he wanted Newcastle to sign Danny Ings and how much he was telling them to pay for the striker, Howey told The Transfer Tavern:

“I’ve always liked him. I said when McClaren was manager to buy him and I think it was £10 million they wanted, and then it went up to £15 million, but I was still saying buy him.

“I think the club thought that was too much but he’s been in devastating form the last few seasons so it doesn’t surprise me that he’s been linked with Man City.”

Ings has suffered more injuries this season with his latest one seeing the 28-year old come off against Tottenham Hotspur after scoring earlier in the game.

Southampton enjoyed a great first half of the season which saw them sit top of the table, however after another 9-0 defeat safety ended up being the priority.

Leeds United are reportedly interested in signing Sampdoria centre-back Omar Colley this summer.

Marcelo Bielsa is seemingly set to delve into the transfer market when it reopens, allowing him to add more quality to an already talented squad.

Leeds may have European aspirations in 2021/22, following an excellent first year back in the Premier League, but top class additions will be needed for that to come to fruition.

The Whites are relatively well-stocked in defence at the moment, but that hasn’t stopped a fresh rumour from doing the rounds.

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Leeds keen on signing Colley

According to ClubDoria46, Leeds are eyeing up a move for Sampdoria centre-back Colley, as are several other Premier League clubs.

The 28-year-old, who earns £30,000 per week in Italy, has won 25 caps for The Gambia since making his international debut back in 2012.

Colley’s current Sampdoria deal doesn’t expire until 2025, however, meaning the Serie A club are in a strong position, but the report claims they would only be looking for around €10-15million (£8.7-13million) for their 6 foot 3 ‘power plant’.

Transfer Tavern take

In truth, there is no great need for Leeds to be signing a player of Colley’s ilk, even if he is Sampdoria’s highest-rated player this season (Whoscored), with other areas of the pitch more important to improve in.

In Liam Cooper and Diego Llorente, Bielsa has an experienced centre-back pairing already, with Robin Koch and Pascal Struijk also reliable options for the future.

Should Leeds manage to negotiate a good price for Colley it may be worth it, but if not, their funds should be spent elsewhere, such as left-back, considering Ezgjan Alioski looks likely to move on.

In other news, Leeds are reportedly keen on signing an exciting young talent. Read more here.

Writing on Twitter, the Sun journalist Alan Nixon has provided an update on the Tottenham Hotspur managerial situation and claims the club are biding their time and assessing which bosses in work would take the job – and he believes that the Lilywhites would be ‘daft’ not to consider the recently linked Nuno Espirito Santo.

Journalist drops managerial plea involving Nuno

Nuno has guided his side to two seventh-placed Premier League finishes, the FA Cup semi-finals and Europa League quarter-finals since the beginning of his Wolves reign, recently emerging as a candidate for the Tottenham vacancy.

Indeed, a report from the Daily Express last month stated that chairman Daniel Levy is a ‘major’ admirer of the 47-year-old – with Nuno being thrown into the managerial mix alongside a plethora of other names.

A fan asked Nixon on social media who he believes Spurs should appoint as an heir to Jose Mourinho and the reporter dropped his take while sharing the latest from Hotspur Way.

“They are buying themselves time,” explained Nixon on Twitter.

“While checking what bosses in work would take it, would be pretty daft if they didn’t consider Nuno among them.”

Transfer Tavern take

Given his plaudits over the Wolves tenure, we believe he is certainly a sound managerial candidate for Tottenham and one that could come cheaply given his current deal is worth a reported £4 million-per-year (sportekz.com).

Chairman Daniel Levy will debatably want to avoid a lucrative deal for any new boss he appoints given the financial toll brought upon by coronavirus over this last year.

Nuno could come as a bargain yet reasonably qualified coaching option given what he has managed to achieve with Wolves before injuries ravaged their current campaign.

Former Wolves keeper Matt Murray, speaking to This is Futbol recently, lauded the boss as a ‘genius’ and even compared him to Leeds United manager Marcelo Bielsa.

So, Levy could certainly do worse as he weighs up some outside candidates for the role.

In other news: Tottenham enter race for this electric defender, find out more here.

Frank McAvennie has exclusively told Football FanCast that he doesn’t have a problem with West Ham’s goalkeeping situation amid Lukasz Fabianski’s recent contract extension, but he expects the 6 ft 3 star to only be there one more year.

The former Arsenal shot-stopper has been the Hammers number one ever since his arrival from Swansea in 2018, missing just 15 Premier League games in total.

His contract at the London Stadium was set to expire at the end of the campaign, but the Pole recently extended his deal by an additional year.

It’ll be a huge relief for West Ham, who felt Fabianski’s absence last season when Roberto endured a disastrous spell in the team, but the Spaniard was sold in the summer, meaning 35-year-old David Martin and Darren Randolph have been fighting for the number two spot.

Randolph is currently out injured, and former striker McAvennie is content with both Fabianski and Martin, who only has five Irons appearances under his belt, as the two senior stoppers, despite the former making the occasional mistake this term.

He told Football FanCast:

“Goalkeepers are always going to make clangers somewhere. He makes more saves than he drops. There are not many goalkeepers that are going to come in and challenge. The boy Martin, Alvin’s son, will be keeping him on his toes.

“I think Fabianski will be there another year, although Martin may come in and get a couple of chances.”

Fabianski has been a highly-reliable goalkeeper for West Ham in recent seasons, so it’s no wonder the club were keen on keeping him around for another 12 months.

And if the Hammers keep picking up results, then Fabianski’s fourth and final campaign at the London Stadium might be in Europe.

Speaking exclusively to Football FanCast, former Premier League midfielder Carlton Palmer believes the criticism that Gareth Bale has received this season has been fair.

Given the impact Bale made during his first spell at Tottenham and what he managed to achieve at Real Madrid, much was expected of him.

However, the 31-year-old has been unable to replicate the sort of form that made him such a popular figure at White Hart Lane first time round, failing to nail down a regular spot in Jose Mourinho’s starting XI, including being left on the bench and featuring for zero minutes in the win against Aston Villa on Sunday.

As a result, Bale has come under fire, though ex-Manchester City and England defender Micah Richards recently came out to defend him, believing the Welsh forward has been disrespected to a certain degree.

Palmer, however, is not too sure and feels Bale should be delivering more. Discussing the Wales international, who is on loan from Real Madrid, the retired Premier League footballer told FFC:

“I think everybody would have expected that Gareth would have done better than what he’s done. Of late, he’s started to show signs of the old Gareth Bale, but you can’t just go off what people have done in the past and say that you should give him respect.

“He’s not come over to Tottenham on a free transfer and on small wages. He’s come over on a huge salary. If he was honest and if Jose was honest, they would have both wanted his impact to be more.”

In recent weeks, Bale’s form has certainly picked up. He scored two goals in Tottenham’s 4-1 win against Crystal Palace at the start of the month and another two prior in a 4-0 win versus Burnley.

However, before that, he was having very little influence on the pitch, really struggling in front of goal when called upon, making the criticism he has faced this season unsurprising.

Former Premier League striker Marlon Harewood has given the thumbs up to Rafael Benitez to Celtic in an exclusive interview with Football FanCast.

Following the resignation of Neil Lennon last month, Celtic are in need of a new permanent manager, and Benitez is just one name that has been linked with the job.

The 60-year-old Champions League-winning boss is currently available after leaving Chinese Super League outfit Dalian Professional earlier this year, so he would be free to join the Bhoys in a move that would be massive for the club, according to Harewood.

Speaking of the possibility of Benitez in the Celtic Park dugout, the ex-Aston Villa and West Ham forward exclusively told FFC:

“It’d be good if they can get him. Wow, that’d be a massive appointment for them. Obviously, it’s hard when you talk about [Scottish] football [to ignore] Celtic. Everyone looks forward to the Celtic-Rangers games.”

Harewood, however, did question whether the Glasgow club could convince the ex-Liverpool manager to join. He added: “It’s hard to get a manager to go up there and be excited, so they obviously have to get a package together for him to go up there.”

After losing the SPFL title to rivals Rangers and missing out on 10 in a row, Benitez is exactly the type of manager Celtic could do with.

With experience in England, Spain and Italy, winning multiple trophies during his time in those three countries, the Spaniard has the kind of pedigree that could help Celtic wrestle the title back from his former player and progress in Europe.

It remains to be seen just how interested Benitez would be in the gig at Celtic Park if at all but, even so, he is an option that surely has to be considered.