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Steven Gerrard finally got what he wanted all along when Bongani Zungu joined Glasgow Rangers on loan from Amiens last month, but the South Africa international is yet to make his debut for the Ibrox outfit thus far.

What’s the word?

Rangers signed Zungu from the French Ligue 2 side on an initial loan deal on transfer deadline day. He has been named in the South Africa squad for their upcoming AFCON qualifiers as his quarantine restrictions in Scotland have come to an end following his loan move from Amiens.

Speaking to the This Is Ibrox podcast, South African journalist Lorenz Köhler believes Gerrard must unleash his countryman sooner rather than later.

“In my opinion, he’s best as a box-to-box midfielder because he’s an all-action player who just wants to be involved,” he said.

“He likes to take the game by the scruff of its neck.

“It’s going to sound ludicrous…when Yaya Toure left Barcelona, he was playing as a centre-back. He came to the Premier League and the manager saw that ‘this guy isn’t a centre-back’.

“I think the same can be said to Gerrard. He’ll take one look and say ‘this guy is not a defensive midfielder’. Unleash him. Let him be free, let him go forward. He’s got a bit of height to him, he can score from headers, he can find the top corner. He can do everything.”

The summer signing has been pictured training ahead of the club’s Europa League clash with Benfica.

Impact sub!

Zungu was an unused substitute against Lech Poznan last week, but was not included in the squad for the away trip to Kilmarnock on Sunday.

Whilst we have to admit that it’s highly unlikely the South African will start, as Glen Kamara, Steven Davis and Scott Arfield have all impressed in recent weeks, the midfielder may make an appearance as an impact substitute from the bench.

The 28-year-old has a decent personal record against the Portuguese giants, as he has previously scored one goal in four games, although it’s worth pointing out the fact that he has lost every fixture so far.

Last season, he played 21 games in Ligue 1, averaging more than one tackle and one clearance per game, via WhoScored. By comparison, even Arfield is managing fewer than one tackle and one clearance per game in the Scottish Premiership this season so far, as per WhoScored.

Flavio Meireles, the sporting director from Vitoria de Guimaraes, once hailed the South African powerhouse as a “special talent”, whilst Amiens sporting director John Williams insisted “he can do everything.”

If that isn’t enough to convince Gerrard to consider his options, we don’t know what will be. The Gers have the option to buy Zungu outright if he can impress the club during his loan spell at Ibrox. He just needs to get some minutes under his belt in order to demonstrate his value – the sooner he gets the time to shine, the better. Otherwise, what was even the point of signing him in the first place?

AND in other news, Shades of Prso: Steven Gerrard must unleash Glasgow Rangers ace Cedric Itten vs Benfica…

According to French journalist Manu Lonjon, Leeds United have made an offer for Bayer Leverkusen winger Leon Bailey.

What’s the word?

The Jamaica international enjoyed an impressive campaign with the Bundesliga side last season, scoring seven times in 33 games and providing a further three assists.

Despite not being a regular start for Leverkusen, Bailey came up with moments of brilliance, including a match-winning brace against Bayern Munich away at the Allianz Arena back in November.

Is it Haaland Snr or David Hopkins? Your Leeds knowledge will be put to the test with this quiz…



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Now, Lonjon claims that newly-promoted Leeds have set their sights on the 23-year-0ld and have already made an offer for him.

Far better than Jack Harrison

Whilst Marcelo Bielsa will no doubt be keen to reward those who secured Leeds’ promotion to the Premier League in the first place, when a player of Bailey’s quality becomes available, it’s a move you simply have to make.

Jack Harrison was the Whites’ first-choice winger out on the left-hand side, scoring six times and setting up eight others in the whole of the Championship. But whilst he was impressive for the Elland Road side, Bailey has been performing at a far higher level in the Bundesliga and European competitions.

In the German top-flight, the Jamaican averaged 1.3 shots, one key pass and 1.6 dribbles per game, and his talents are there for all to see. After helping to bring him to the club Leverkusen’s managing director, Rudi Voller, said: “He’s got extraordinary pace, he’s very skilful with the ball, and he will give further impetus to our attacking department.”

Despite predominantly being left-footed, Bailey can play on either flank like he did last season, and can take on defenders on both the inside and outside. As players like Kevin De Bruyne have shown in the Premier League, being able to use both feet equally well can be a huge difference-maker, and the Leverkusen star has that in his locker.

If Bielsa is looking for a winger to add a piece of magic to his team, then he should look no further than Bailey.

We’ve been hearing about Manchester United’s quest to bring Jadon Sancho to the Premier League for months now. Borussia Dortmund, however, are seemingly not willing to budge and are adamant on either keeping their young star or letting him go for a price north of £100m.

It goes without saying that the young Englishman is one of the best and brightest talents on the planet right now but it’s also true that the current climate has limited what clubs can do on the transfer market.

Even for a club of Man United’s stature, splashing such a sum right now is impossible. For that reason, as Daily Mail report, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer might turn his attention back to Aston Villa’s Jack Grealish instead.

The Villains star is valued at around £75m and while that may not be a low figure, he’s still more affordable than Sancho. And besides, there is no doubting the 24-year-old’s ability either.

He’s an elite chance creator and a player who was linked with Man United on numerous occasions before. Now, as it seems, he’s back on their radar and could be one of their targets in the ongoing summer transfer window.

Of course, Sancho is still very much the number one priority but it’s becoming increasingly likely that he’ll stay in Germany. This may be a now or never situation for the Red Devils but even they can’t afford the English star at this very moment.

Verdict

It’s been a ‘will he, won’t he’ situation with Grealish and Man United for quite some time now. Of course, with them turning their attention to Sancho, Aston Villa’s man was sort of left behind once again.

But he is more attainable and could offer a similar dose of quality as well. However, at the end of the day, he is not Sancho, not least because despite there being some similarities, especially in both players’ creative approach, they are different players with different roles on the pitch.

Only time will tell whether he’d be a good alternative or not.

Many Crystal Palace fans are reacting to the news that Genk striker Jonathan David is a player that the club are keeping their eyes on.

The Canadian has already set the Belgian league alight, scoring 37 goals in 83 appearances, per Transfermarkt. This is a very impressive tally at only 20 years-old and he has also managed to get three goals in seven Europa League appearances, showing he can perform consistently at continental level.

It is not just David’s goals that have caught the eye of the Premier League side either, as he has averaged 2.1 shots and 1.1 successful dribbles per game, per WhoScored, which highlights how much confidence the player has as an attacking threat.

According to the Guardian, Palace have shown interest in signing the forward, but he favours a move to Germany. Indeed, it is thought that Borussia Monchengladbach are very keen on the Canadian (Het Laatste Nieuws via BuliNews).

The attacker has already been linked to Arsenal and Manchester United too, via the Daily Express, so he clearly has the potential which some high profile clubs clubs want to unlock.

Whether Palace can compete with these clubs and sign him remains to be seen, but it seems he would certainly be a popular addition if the Eagles did get him – probably due to his fantastic goal record in Belgium…

Palace fans, what are your thoughts? Comment below!

Tottenham finished the 18/19 season with a bitter ending, losing their first-ever Champions League final to Liverpool.

The club set out big ambitions for this season, making record signings such as Tanguy Ndombélé, Steven Bergwijn, and Giovani Lo Celso just to name a few, in an attempt to challenge with the big dogs of the Premier League and finally become the title-challenging side that they have the potential to be.

Argentine manager Mauricio Pochettino had done wonders with the club prior to this season, and he and the club had their eyes on finally securing the club’s first piece of silverware under his reign. These dreams slowly came crashing down, however, with Pochettino being sacked before the end of November, and veteran villain Jose Mourinho being appointed less than a day later to try and steady the ship.

With big wins and even bigger defeats – how much can you remember about the club’s 2019/20 season?

According to a report from The Times via Utd Report, Manchester United midfielder Fred was subjected to racist abuse during their 2-1 win derby day win over Manchester City – with rival boss Pep Guardiola reportedly consoling Fred in the tunnel after the full-time whistle. 

Goals from Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial sealed all three points at Eastlands despite a late comeback from City due to Nicolas Otamendi’s late header, with antics from a few supporters making headlines for all the wrong reasons – including United midfielder Fred being the subject of racist abuse from a handful of fans.

The Brazilian was reportedly shook up after the encounter, with Guardiola coming over in the tunnel after full-time and offering words of support due to the fact he was ‘concerned’ for the player’s emotional well-being.

As a result, Red Devils fans have come out in full support of the gesture and heralded the Spaniard’s professionalism on Twitter – here’s what they had to say.

Rangers have been slowly establishing themselves as one of Scotland’s premier clubs again in recent seasons following their rebirth in 2012.

Under Steven Gerrard, the club challenged Celtic for top spot for much of the first half of the year until a run of three league defeats from eight matches saw them fall behind.

However, the signs of improvement are clear and the club will hope that next season offers an even closer fight as they look to earn their first title since 2010-11.

Sadly for Rangers, the past decade has been dominated by their arch-rivals Celtic, who picked up their ninth consecutive title this month following the decision to call the season early.

Nonetheless, the Ibrox club’s journey back to the top level has been an entertaining one, with the club scoring plenty of goals and winning plenty of matches in the process.

Here, we look back at the top goalscorer at the club in each of the last 15 seasons.

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…

Manchester United clawed their way back to 3-3 draw against Sheffield United but despite being second best for the majority of the game, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer wasn’t too disappointed with his team’s performance.

What did he say?

But for a ten-minute spell in which the Red Devils scored all three goals, Solskjaer would have been facing a difficult situation with his players underperforming in an away match once again.

A point at Brammall Lane will be viewed as a good one considering the flow of the match, though it would have been all three but for Oli McBurnie’s last-minute equaliser.

As a result, it was a difficult game to assess, and that is reflected in Solskjaer’s post-match reaction. Speaking to Sky Sports, he said:

“Mixed emotions. We cannot be happy, we have not performed for the majority of the game, but we turned it around and we showed what we could be capable of. We have to do it now for a whole game.

“We know we can, we just have to show it. When you are 2-0 down you have to go for it, play with less fear and just go for it.

More worrying was his explanation for the first-half display, with several Manchester United players being out-fought on the ball leaving the Blades in the ascendency.

“It’s not something you can put your finger on here and now, but they looked like they wanted it more than us,” said Solskjaer, as reported by Fox Sports.

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Wrong mindset

The fact United don’t seem to be learning from past mistakes and poor performances is a concern.

This term alone they have failed to win away matches at Southampton, Bournemouth and West Ham to name a few, with insipid performances demonstrating a lack of effort and perhaps a lack of belief that exists in the squad.

That is not the Manchester United team that became so famous and allowed them to win so often, and it is up to the manager and more senior players in the squad to put it right.

At times in the first-half Harry Maguire was visibly angry with his teammates – Dan James and Fred bearing the brunt of his criticism due to continued sloppy mistakes in giving away possession.

The comeback displayed a strong spirit but if Manchester United want to progress they cannot rely on teenagers like Brandon Williams and Mason Greenwood to claw their way out of trouble.

They failed to put their stamp on the game throughout and if that style continues away from home then it is unlikely results will pick up any time soon.

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Opinion series, which provides analysis, insight and opinion on any issue within the beautiful game, from Paul Pogba’s haircuts to League Two relegation battles…

Troy Parrott keeps scoring goals in Tottenham Hotspur’s youth teams.

The striker scored twice on Monday as Spurs’ U18s beat Liverpool 4-2 in the FA Youth Cup, winning and converting two penalties throughout the 90 minutes.

Of course, with Jose Mourinho now as manager, the futures of the club’s youngsters are up in the air.

It remains to be seen if they will be given the chances that they may have been afforded under Mauricio Pochettino.

But Parrott simply has to keep scoring goals and, thus far, he is doing that.

Transfermarkt state that he has scored 15 goals for the U18s but that number does not include his brace versus the Reds, taking his tally to 17 in total, while he has also scored nine goals in nine games for the UEFA U19s and four in 13 for the U23s.

He is currently the top scorer in the UEFA Youth League, too.

Reports have stated that Mourinho would like to bring in a striker in the January transfer window as he looks to secure some support for Harry Kane, who is the only senior out-and-out striker in the first-team squad following the exit of Fernando Llorente.

However, the same report states that the Portuguese will have to sell before he buys and it surely makes that little bit more sense to bring Parrott up to the first-team and have him around the squad, training consistently with Kane and the likes of Son Heung-min and Dele Alli.

It would save Mourinho the trouble of having to bring and bed in a new forward and allow Parrott to grow and improve while playing with perhaps the best striker in England.

There is nothing to say that he wouldn’t be able to occasionally drop down to help the U23s or the U18s too, but he could be a major winner of Mourinho’s reign in January.

The former Manchester United and Inter Milan boss ought to snub the chance to sign a forward, such has been Parrott’s excellent form for the youth sides.

Meanwhile, Spurs fans have reacted to the first sighting of Mauricio Pochettino since his sacking. 

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Opinion series, which provides analysis, insight and opinion on any issue within the beautiful game, from Paul Pogba’s haircuts to League Two relegation battles…

Mauricio Pochettino came out with a bizarre statement following Tottenham Hotspur’s 2-1 defeat to Liverpool on Sunday.

Asked about the impact of Tanguy Ndombele, the French midfielder who came on as a substitute and impressed, providing two key passes throughout his short cameo, Pochettino offered a puzzling answer.

He said: “A big difference? Doing what?”

The quote was quickly plastered across Twitter, going viral, leading to howls of derision from Spurs fans who felt this would knock Ndombele’s confidence.

The full quote, which must be examined, is not much better. After the reporter said, “his passes”, Pochettino replied: “Yes but in this time the game was different no? I think be careful how we assess. I was talking to some of your colleagues before the game.

“With 29 players in the squad, it’s so important to rotate and keep them all motivated to play. He played on Tuesday in the Champions League and I think Harry Winks was fresh to play.”

This smacks of trying to cover his team selection – Ndombele, of course, was on the bench – but it also speaks to a broken line of communication.

Pochettino has appeared to master English during his time managing in the Premier League but still we find these odd little idiosyncrasies.

In this case, he hasn’t thrown the player under the bus, but it speaks to a wider issue; what is the message at Spurs at this point?

In the summer, before the transfer window opened, Pochettino spoke of a need to undergo a “painful” rebuild. In the months following, of the first-team, only Kieran Trippier and Fernando Llorente left the club. Ndombele was one of a number of players brought in – Giovani Lo Celso, Ryan Sessegnon and Jack Clarke also came through the door – but there was no right-back bought to cover Trippier’s absence, while a striker was not recruited to fill the void left by Llorente.

That isn’t so much a rebuild as a lack of planning.

Danny Rose and Christian Eriksen could both have left, of course, with Rose close to a move to Watford and the Dane fluttering his eyelashes at Real Madrid and Barcelona but since then, they have both been reintegrated into the first-team, even despite some execrable form.

Following that, Pochettino told Spurs to change his job title from manager to head coach, while insisting he is not in charge of transfers. The 47-year-old, when he signed his new contract in 2018, had his title changed, or upgraded, from the latter to the former.

This Ndombele quote, then, is the problem in a microcosm. Fans are unsure what to expect from their manager at this point and it must be difficult for the players too.

Imagine how the club’s record signing would have felt seeing that quote plastered all over social media on Sunday night, having been one of Spurs’ best players at Anfield.

It is bizarre at best and genuinely worrying at worst; one thing is for sure though, and that is the fact that Pochettino needs to find some consistency in his message, otherwise everyone – those on the pitch and those in the stands alike – will be left wondering what he will come out with next.