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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.

Rasmus Hojlund is in red-hot form for Manchester United, with the Danish striker making Premier League history with a stunning run of goals.

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• Danish forward took a while to get going
• Has hit a serious purple patch
• Flurry of goals see history books rewritten

• WHAT HAPPENED?

  The 21-year-old frontman was acquired by the Red Devils for £72 million ($91m) during the summer of 2023. He was thrown in at the deep end and initially found end product hard to come by in domestic competition – with his first five goals for United all coming in the Champions League.

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• THE BIGGER PICTURE

  It took until December 26 and a meeting with Aston Villa for Hojlund to open his Premier League account, but he has not stopped scoring since then. A flurry of efforts at the start of 2024 have seen Hojlund find the target against Tottenham, Wolves, West Ham and Aston Villa.

• DID YOU KNOW?

  He was back among the goals during a trip to Luton, with history being made in the process. Hojlund has, at the age of 21 years and 14 days, become the youngest player to score in six succesive Premier League games. That record has been snatched from Newcastle midfielder Joe Willock (21 years and 272 days) and ranks him above the likes of Erling Haaland, Romelu Lukaku and Thierry Henry, who all achieved the same feat at the age of 22.

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  WHAT NEXT?

  With confidence oozing out of him, Hojlund’s first against Luton – with Harry Styles among those watching on from the stands – saw him race through on goal, round Thomas Kaminski and stroke into an empty net. He then displayed remarkable reactions and control when diverting a wayward volley from Alejandro Garnacho into the net via his chest.

Marcel Brands will rue failing to offload Muhamed Besic to Reading on Deadline Day after they declared their late interest in the Everton midfielder.

What’s the word?

According to the Liverpool Echo, the Madejski Stadium natives eyed a late swoop for Besic after turning attentions to Goodison Park in the final hours of the winter transfer window.

Royals coach Veljko Paunovic is said to be a fan of the 28-year-old, while Besic would have been keen to secure a move to the Championship side.

Reading’s interest emerged with less than four hours remaining of the mid-season market but it led to another failed exit for the Bosnia and Herzegovina international, after a move to Rangers in October failed to materialise.

Besic has played no part in Everton’s 2020/21 campaign after being omitted from Carlo Ancelotti’s 25-man Premier League squad.

And while he spent parts of pre-season training with the Toffees first-team, he has since been working with the Under 23s to maintain his fitness.

The £2m-rated enforcer only has six-months remaining on his £30,000-per-week contract and he is likely to now leave Everton as a free agent at the end of the season.

A missed opportunity

Reading’s interest in Besic will represent a missed opportunity for Everton, and specifically, their Director of Football Brands, who would no doubt have wanted to get the Roberto Martinez signing’s salary off the wage bill.

Everton are currently paying Besic to not play, with the 28-year-old not even turning out for David Unsworth’s junior side, having been omitted from each of the U23s’ Premier League 2 fixtures this term.

The Blues managed to offload Cenk Tosun and Jonjoe Kenny’s wages for the time being with the duo departing on temporary deals with Besiktas and Celtic, respectively, while Yannick Bolasie sealed a loan move to Middlesbrough that will run until his Everton contract expires in the summer.

Despite Reading’s interest coming so late, Brands should have moved heaven and earth to see that Besic moved to the Madejski Stadium.

Yet Besic remains on Merseyside to train, stay fit and look ahead to pastures new, knowing he can now reach pre-contract agreements all the while offering nothing to Ancelotti or Everton, despite picking up £30,000-a-week.

AND in other news, the exit of a £28k-p/w dud is great news for a “gifted” Everton outcast…

Fans of Aston Villa have been reacting to a post on Twitter, in which Gregg Evans relayed recent comments made by Dean Smith regarding Morgan Sanson’s progression at the club.

Since joining Villa from Olympique Marseille in what was a £14.22 million deal back in January, Sanson is yet to be awarded a start in the Premier League, with the midfielder’s four appearances for the club all coming as a substitute.

However, speaking prior to the club’s clash with Sheffield United on Wednesday evening, the 49-year-old Villa manager provided a rather positive update on the development of the £18 million-rated 26-year-old, suggesting that the Frenchman could be in line to start a fixture in the near future.

He said: “He’s starting to show what he’s about in games when he’s been coming on. But he’s an ambitious young man who wants to start games and I’m confident enough now that he can start games for us and I have no doubts putting him in.”

And, after Evans relayed Smith’s comments on Twitter, fans of Villa flocked to have their say on the matter, with many urging their manager to play Sanson from the off against the Blades.

So, what exactly did these Aston Villa fans have to say in reaction to Dean Smith’s comments regarding Morgan Sanson?

“Then start him, Dean.”

@WatkinsOffside2

“That comment suggests it’s Nakamba – McGinn – Sanson tomorrow then, I’m fine with that.”

@WWE__History

“It’s fantastic that we have the opportunity to do that this season. Whereas last season we had to chuck all new signings straight in without a slow introduction. It really showed what a difference it made, after last seasons lockdown, how important it is to have a steady introduction.”

@stegzy80

“I think we are easing him into premier league life perfectly tbh. He will become more of a major player for us as time goes by. He looks decent.”

@coleman83avfc

“I can see Sanson / Barkley starting as a 10 tomorrow in place of Ramsay. Maybe he will save Sanson for Wolves on Saturday though.”

@avfcsarco

“Get in! SANSON STARTING CONFIRMED?!”

@trickytargett

“I like this talk.”

@GaryBolton91

In other news, these Villa fans are loving this crazy statistic – find out more here!

Harry Maguire is happy to stay back at Manchester United and fight for his place in Erik ten Hag's starting lineup.

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• Maguire happy to stay back at Man Utd
• West Ham wanted to sign the defender in the summer
• Has started in the club's last eight matches

• WHAT HAPPENED?

  Despite reported offers from West Ham to join them in the summer, Maguire decided to stay back at United and the defender now feels vindicated over his decision after starting in the Red Devils' last eight matches across all competitions.

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  THE BIGGER PICTURE

  The 30-year-old became an outcast ever since Ten Hag joined the club last season, having appeared in 16 Premier League games and clocked just 759 minutes on the pitch. Yet the English international never gave up. Since Lisandro Martinez got ruled out of action at the end of September, Maguire has become a mainstay in the club's team sheet and he claimed that he is enjoying his football at the moment.

• WHAT DID HARRY MAGUIRE SAY?

  Speaking to , the former Leicester City player said, "I played a few games last year, 16 or 17 starts, and I felt like I performed really well in the games I played in, I just didn't play as many as I would have liked. On the other hand, Rapha [Raphael Varane] and Licha [Lisandro Martinez] were playing brilliantly and kept numerous clean sheets.

  "I had to bide my time and be patient. I had two or three opportunities last season to get a run of games but I broke down with illness, I broke down with injuries twice, so I never got the rhythm and never got the run of games that I could prove myself to the manager. I have got that now. I am really enjoying my football and I really enjoy playing for this club. I was willing to stay and fight for my place and we have four or five top international centre-backs at this club and the competition for places is really high."

  He added, "Working hard in training is the main thing and making sure you're ready. I started 16 or 17 games last year and felt like my form was there. There was a lot of talk about me because I wasn't playing games, but that is the way it is. I was playing well for my country, went to the World Cup and played well and always thought my form was there. But I am up against some top, top-level centre-backs and last year they were playing amazing, so I didn't get as many opportunities as I would have liked. This club demands competition for places and that is what we have in my position."

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  The centre back will be next seen in action for the Three Lions as they take on Malta on November 17 in a Euro 2024 qualifying game.

Leeds United have suffered a major blow ahead of their Premier League clash against Southampton on Tuesday evening, with Robin Koch set to be missing once again.

The Germany international was a surprise omission from the side which beat Burnley 4-0 at the weekend, with Leeds manager Marcelo Bielsa later revealing that the centre-back was absent due to injury as he said: “Koch has a small knock in his hip and he could have played but we preferred not to risk him. The same as Pablo (Hernandez).”

It now appears that the summer signing’s Premier League season is now officially over, with Bielsa confirming that Koch will not be made available for the final couple of games for the Whites due to protecting him for the Germany team ahead of the upcoming European Championship.

Speaking in his pre-match press conference ahead of the game against the Saints, the Leeds manager said: “Koch has been given early leave with the potential for him to be called up or not called up to the German national team.  I don’t know whether he’s going to be called up to the German national team or not.

“It’s just that he has a small (hip) niggle and we didn’t want to run the risk of a small niggle being aggravated into something bigger. The injury that he has is not important and we didn’t want to take the risk of him playing and making it worse so we anticipated his holidays in the same way we did so for Klich.”

The news is a major blow for Bielsa and Leeds, with Koch having the started the two games before the match against Burnley in the holding midfield role with Kalvin Phillips ruled out.

The German looked impressive in that position, especially in the 3-1 win against Spurs, winning seven of his 11 duels on the day (the most of any Leeds player), also making three tackles and boasting an 83% passing accuracy.

It certainly would have been interesting to see whether Bielsa could have utilised both Koch and Phillips in midfield together, or whether the German would have dropped back into the centre of defence in place of either Diego Llorente or Pascal Struijk.

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Either way, losing him for the rest of the campaign just after he put in one of his finest displays for his new club is a gutting setback for Bielsa.

Meanwhile, Bielsa must drop this Leeds star tonight…

West Ham United are on an upward trajectory under David Moyes and they could land an exciting signing this summer in the form of Matheus Pereira.

According to the Daily Express, the Irons are among the Premier League teams interested in the enigmatic West Bromwich Albion sensation in the upcoming transfer window.

Former Hammers boss Sam Allardyce failed to keep the Baggies in the division, recording his first-ever relegation to the Championship, but it means the 24-year-old playmaker is likely to be hot commodity ahead of next season.

Premier League rivals Leicester City and Leeds United, as well as Bundesliga outfit RB Leipzig, have also been linked to Pereira.

Whilst it’s thought that the Brazilian midfielder is only seen as an alternative to Jesse Lingard, who Moyes will undoubtedly try to lure back to the London Stadium on a permanent basis, the club ought to consider signing the West Brom beast too.

Of course, the Manchester United loanee has been a revelation, providing nine goals and three assists in only 13 appearances since his arrival in late January but the East Londoners have long lacked that midfield genius that has supporters on the edge of their seat.

Dimitri Payet was perhaps the last man to do this for the club.

In terms of exciting dribbling skill, ability on the ball and from set pieces, and sheer individual brilliance, the £18m-rated Pereira is certainly cut from the same cloth.

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This season, the former Sporting Lisbon dynamo has delivered ten goals and five assists in the league, also managing to be a more creative influence than Lingard, managing double the number of key passes (1.8).

Only Harry Kane has contributed to a higher proportion of his team’s goals than Pereira this campaign.

Jermaine Jenas alluded to his quality after a particularly starring role against Aston Villa earlier in the campaign, he said: “He’s just silky. When he’s on it, he’s just got that lovely left-foot, (tucked) his penalty away, the delivery into the box for set-pieces was brilliant, and he wanted to showcase his skills.”

Whilst Allardyce has continuously waxed lyrical about his key man, as seen in comments from the very same game. The 66-year-old dubbed him a “big-game player” – very much similar to Payet, who was ever so special in his final campaign at the Hammers.

Just think back to the pair of free-kicks against Manchester United and Crystal Palace – truly sensational. He was a “genius” and that’s exactly what the Baggies star has been called in the past.

Pereira may set GSB back a good £30m or so but he will pay that back in abundance with his sheer attacking and creative ability. If they do bring in another striker, he could absolutely thrive with Pereira sat behind him.

Could there be another enigma like Payet at the London Stadium? Only time will tell.

AND in other news, Forget Arnautovic: West Ham must land 11-goal “elite talent” who’s “destined for greatness”…

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.

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.

[freshpress-quiz id=“351040″]

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.

West Brom have identified a new name as a potential replacement for Sam Allardyce this summer, according to reports…

What’s the word?

The Sun on Sunday (18/04, p67) claim the Baggies will target Barnsley boss Valerien Ismael should they fail in their attempts to keep hold of the 66-year-old past the end of the current campaign.

It’s suggested that the Midlands outfit would like Big Sam to remain in charge but he won’t make a decision until he knows what his potential transfer budget would be ahead of the summer window.

Ismael’s stock has risen this season after guiding the Tykes to the cusp of a playoff position having narrowly avoided relegation last season. The 45-year-old has also been linked to Crystal Palace, where ex-Albion boss Roy Hodgson is out of contract.

Big Sam successor?

West Brom are still likely to be relegated from the Premier League despite recording back-to-back wins as they still remain nine points adrift of safety, with only five games left to play.

The Championship is not a division that Allardyce has managed in nearly a decade and things have vastly changed since then – it’s certainly going to be tougher to get back up now.

And whilst he’s certainly turned around their form, the football on offer at times is still pretty drab and that’s something West Ham fans know all too well about, even when gaining promotion from the second-flight in 2012.

Ismael would bring an attacking brand of football to the Hawthorns and one that is certainly paying dividends in the Championship. He’s recorded a win rate of 61% since arriving at Oakwell in October 2020.

His stint in Austria, where he challenged for the league title with LASK Linz, earned the praise of them being the “second-best pressing team in the world” whilst his feat there has been dubbed “outstanding,” too.

With fans set to return to stadiums by the time next season gets underway, Luke Dowling could do no wrong by employing Ismael as their next manager. He’d certainly bring entertainment back to the west Midlands, and that could well be need post-relegation.

AND in other news, “Ruthless” £30k-p/w outcast in danger of becoming the Hawthorns’ next big flop …