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The last taste of first-team football that Danny Rose got was at Newcastle United so now that he is a free agent Steve Bruce would likely want to bring him back to the club, according to former Hull City star Dean Windass.

Rose had a mixed spell on loan at Newcastle last season as he never set the world alight but was also a steady performer, and now that he has left Tottenham Hotspur Rose he has been backed to make a return up north.

The left-back received a mixed reception from fans when he joined having previously played for Sunderland on a season-long loan spell, however considering there were four other players contracted to the Magpies that had previous experiences at the Stadium of Light it was never going to be a problem.

Bruce may see signing Rose as a low-risk move given his Premier League experience and that left-back is an area of weakness at the club, so Windass believes that he could end up back at Newcastle, as he told The Transfer Tavern exclusively:

“I think Steve would take him back. Danny Rose obviously had a massive problem with Mourinho but Steve took a chance on him last season so why wouldn’t Steve want him back?

“I can see that happening, and I can see him going back to Newcastle.”

Last summer Bruce brought in Jamal Lewis from Norwich City, however, he failed to impress consistently which led to Matt Ritchie coming back into the team and playing as a wing-back, despite having a bust-up with Bruce earlier in the season.

Newcastle appear to be targeting left-back as an area of concern this summer and with Bruce’s budget set to be £10 million, and fellow free agent Jetro Willems is still reportedly very keen to come back to Newcastle.

Sunderland have now been dealt a fresh blow before they play Cambridge United at home in League One on Saturday afternoon.

The Lowdown: Big game

The Stadium of Light faithful currently find themselves out of the play-off places, and so need a result against Cambridge to get themselves back in contention.

With title-chasing Rotherham United to come on Tuesday night, this is a big game that they really need to get all three points from.

The Latest: Dajaku illness

Speaking in his pre-game press conference ahead of the match, Alex Neil has revealed (via The Chronicle) that Dajaku is still suffering with illness, and so will not be available for his team:

“Leon is still ill, so he won’t be available.”

The Verdict: Blow

It is certainly a blow for the Wearside club that they will be without Dajaku once more.

The Union Berlin loanee has played more often than not this season, and has contributed four goals and four assists in League One so far (Transfermarkt).

Dajaku has also picked up one man-of-the-match award, and ranks highly among his teammates in terms of average shots, dribbles and crosses per game (WhoScored).

Nonetheless, his creativity and directness would have been useful in helping unlock the door against what could be a stubborn Cambridge side away at the Stadium of Light.

In other news, find out who SAFC’s three worst performers were against Shrewsbury Town here!

Aston Villa are eyeing a summer transfer move for Manchester United defender Axel Tuanzebe.

What’s the story?

The £7.2m-rated ace is a familiar name at Villa Park, having played under Dean Smith during their time together in the Championship, and it appears that the manager is keen on enjoying a reunion with the centre-back this summer.

According to Football Insider, Villa are plotting a summer swoop for Tuanzebe as they look to bring in a new defender to replace Bjorn Engels, who looks set to depart the Premier League club.

The report added that Tuanzebe has been made one of Villa’s top targets and that “he fits the profile the recruitment team are seeking of a proven defender with Premier League experience who also has the potential to improve”.

Dean Smith rates him

Under Smith, Tuanzebe played 19 times for Villa as they sought to earn promotion from the Championship, and his impressive displays caught the eye of the Villa boss, who said at the time: “He is a terrific guy. He’s got a terrific attitude, that is the thing which will stand him in good stead with his career. I can’t speak highly enough of him.”

Smith added: “He has got great pace, he is a big prospect. I have known of him anyway playing through the junior ranks at England and watching his progression through that, and he looks a good player.”

While he hasn’t had much of a look-in at United this season – he’s only played 15 times for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side – one of those games came in a superb 2-1 win over PSG in the Champions League, with the manager reserving special praise for the youngster that night.

He said: “Axel’s a tremendous defender, a great leader. He’s come through the academy and we’ve known for years that he’s going to be a top player for us and he’s got the character and the attitude that a Man United player should have. Sometimes you’ll get in a foot race with Mbappe and you have to run with him and we know Axel’s qualities, he’s a top defender.”

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It’s no surprise, then, that Johan Lange is eyeing up a summer swoop for Tuanzebe.

Meanwhile, Villa are eyeing a move for this 6 foot 5 giant…

Sky Sports journalist Michael Bridge doubts that Tottenham Hotspur will swoop to sign Danny Ings this summer.

Spurs have been linked with a potential bid to sign the Southampton striker in this transfer window after he rejected a new contract at St Mary’s Stadium.

He has also been linked with the likes of Manchester City and West Ham United, with a variety of clubs seemingly interested in signing him in this transfer window.

Spurs may need to bring in as many as two new strikers, particularly if Harry Kane leaves the club amid links with City.

Carlos Vinicius has returned to Benfica after his loan spell in north London last season, meaning that the club don’t currently have a back-up to Kane if he remains at Spurs.

Nevertheless, Bridge has cast doubt on any potential bid for Ings, who scored 12 goals in 29 Premier League games last season.

In total, Ings has netted 46 goals in 100 appearances for Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side.

Bridge said: “I’d be surprised. Look, he’s been on Spurs’ list for quite a long time but I don’t think Spurs and Southampton have a particularly good relationship at the moment.

“And let’s face it, he’s very injury prone, Danny Ings. When he’s fit he’s brilliant but that doesn’t strike me as a Spurs signing at the moment and I’d imagine Spurs will probably look abroad there as well.”

Burnley are in pole position to sign Celtic’s Ryan Christie this summer, according to The Sunday Mirror, as cited by 67 Hail Hail.

The Lowdown: Contract situation

Christie is now into the final six months of his Parkhead contract after it emerged back in April that his deal actually expires in January and not next summer.

The Athletic claimed in recent days that there is some hope the 26-year-old could still pen a contract extension in Glasgow.

Christie has been a regular for the Hoops so far under Ange Postecoglou, but it appears as if a move to Turf Moor could now be on the cards.

The Latest: Christie update

The Sunday Mirror’s print edition (08/08, page 75), cited by 67 Hail Hail, claimed that the Clarets are leading the way for the Scotland international, with Leicester City and Southampton also keen.

The Hoops were after £10m when Burnley, Newcastle and Nice were linked with a move back in October, but it seems as if they could receive half of that this summer.

The recent report suggested that Celtic could rake in as much as £5m for Christie this summer if he is moved on over the next three weeks.

The Verdict: Sell

Former Celtic striker Frank McAvennie recently labelled Christie as ‘lazy’, and if he is not willing to sign a new deal this month, the Hoops need to cash in on him.

His Transfermarkt valuation stands at £6.3m, so even though Celtic may bring in slightly less than that at £5m, it would still be a good figure when you take into account his situation at Parkhead.

What Celtic don’t need is to have a player around who doesn’t want to be there and could depart for nothing halfway through the current campaign. On that basis, you’d expect it could be a busy few weeks when it comes to Christie’s future.

In other news: Transfer listed: ‘Destructive’ Celtic-linked ace missing on Saturday as Hoops link resurfaces

If you thought Celtic were close to the appointment of Eddie Howe then think again.

This has been a tired old saga but the Hoops still aren’t in a place where they can announce his arrival at Parkhead.

That’s despite now being in talks with the 43-year-old for six weeks.

What’s the word?

Howe is still very much at the centre of Celtic’s thoughts with talkSPORT revealing last week that a deal had been agreed.

However, according to the Daily Record, any sign of an announcement in the early stages of this week won’t be forthcoming.

They report there won’t be any news to the London Stock Exchange on Monday with their sources seemingly adamant that he won’t become the new Hoops manager in the first few days of the week.

The newspaper pinpointed Monday 17th May as a landmark day in their chase for Howe with the Premiership season concluding a day before.

Though, for the time being, John Kennedy remains in interim charge.

More setbacks for McKay

The incoming CEO has only been at the club for a matter of weeks but he’s already tasted the rather hopeless atmosphere that’s surrounded Paradise all season.

Howe has kept Celtic waiting now for well over a month, issuing a number of demands to the club’s hierarchy.

First, he didn’t want to return to football until the summer before it was suggested he wasn’t keen on Fergal Harkin becoming their new director of football.

[snack-amp-story url= “https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/read-the-latest-celtic-manager-and-transfer-news-howe-favre-mcgregor-mccann-tierney” title=”Read the latest Celtic manager and transfer news!”]

It’s thought Howe has now loosened his stance on the matter but problems surrounding his backroom staff still lingers.

McKay will be eager to get this move through the door as quick as possible. With Celtic’s season finishing, it means the focus needs to switch from on-field matters to off-field recruitment.

The top brass in Glasgow cannot achieve that without a first-team manager in place, however.

When a deal actually occurs is anyone’s guess but it could be that Howe is waiting on the result of Bournemouth’s play-off charge.

The Cherries are competing for a spot in the Premier League and will face Brentford in the semi-final first leg this on Monday. The second leg takes place on Saturday 22nd before a potential final awaits them on Saturday 29th May.

Howe is keen to bring Simon Weatherstone and Stephen Purches with him from Bournemouth but they need to wait until their season has finished for talks to conclude.

As a result, we are unlikely to receive any formal announcement this week.

The soul-destroying aspect is that Purches and Weatherstone are not guaranteed to come to Glasgow. After all, if the south coast side are promoted, picking up jobs in the top-flight of English football could be more appealing to them,

The frustrating and tiresome wait goes on for McKay and the club’s supporters.

AND in other news, Celtic can axe Griffiths by landing “terrific” 18-goal gem, he once embarrassed Bitton…

West Brom’s board will try and back new manager Valerien Ismael this transfer window, journalist Luke Hatfield has told The Transfer Tavern.

Ismael was appointed as West Brom boss at the end of last month and has already got to work in the market, with Alex Mowatt, who he managed at Barnsley, set to be playing his football at The Hawthorns this upcoming season.

On a free transfer, Mowatt looks like he could be a very good signing after scoring eight goals and providing seven assists from midfield in the last Championship campaign.

Ismael’s work is unlikely to be done there, though, with the 45-year-old set to be fully backed, according to Hatfield.

“The Albion board will try and back him with what they can in terms of funds,” the Express & Star journalist said.

“How much money he’s going to have in his budget is another question, but I think they’re excited by what they saw from Ismael at Barnsley.”

Indeed, even if he was not their first choice, it is easy to see why owner Guochuan Lai and the rest of the West Brom board have a lot of belief in Ismael. On a very low budget, the Frenchman was able to guide Barnsley to the play-offs last season.

When West Bromwich Albion signed Conor Townsend for £750k back in 2018, it would have been safe to assume that the left-back was brought to The Hawthorns as back up to the England international, Kieran Gibbs.

At the time of his arrival, the 28-year-old had just enjoyed a fantastic season with Scunthorpe United, scoring four goals and registering five assists over his 32 appearances in League One, while Gibbs – who had joined Albion from Arsenal in a £6.75m deal a year earlier – was the club’s undisputed number one in the position, having featured 33 times for the Baggies in the Premier League in 2017/18.

This remained the case throughout Townsend’s debut season in West Bromwich, with Gibbs highly impressing over his 38 Championship appearances, scoring four goals and registering four assists, while the newcomer had to make do with just 12 second-tier fixtures.

However, the tide began to turn in the following campaign, with the £14k-per-week Townsend featuring in 27 Championship fixtures, over which he provided one assist and averaged a SofaScore match rating of 6.89. In comparison, the £30k-per-week Gibbs was awarded just 14 league appearances, over which he averaged a SofaScore match rating of 6.76.

Townsend’s usurping of the 32-year-old was complete last season, when, despite the Baggies’ ultimate relegation from the top flight, the 28-year-old highly impressed over his 25 Premier League appearances – helping his side keep five clean sheets, registering two assists and earning a seasonal SofaScore match rating of 6.86. Meanwhile, Gibbs averaged an extremely disappointing SofaScore match rating of 6.53 over his ten top-flight fixtures – before being released on a free transfer at the end of the season.

This term, the former Scunthorpe man has ensured that his reputation as a first-class left-back has continued to grow, having already helped his side keep five clean sheets, registered two assists and created three big chances over his 12 Championship appearances – with these returns seeing the defender average a SofaScore match rating of 7.01.

Furthermore, the player who Thierry Henry once dubbed “amazing” has also seen his Transfermarkt value rocket from £180k at the time of his signing to £1.8m today – a 10x increase – which, coupled with his ever-improving level of performance, proves that West Brom struck gold when signing the 28-year-old.

In other news: “Confident” West Brom dynamo who lost possession 32x stole the show vs Birmingham

Manchester United pulled off a memorable victory over Atalanta in the Champions League on Wednesday night after coming back from two goals down.

The hosts deservedly found themselves trailing 2-0 at the half-time interval after strikes from Mario Pasalic and Merih Demiral put the Italian side in control of proceedings.

It was a dreadful first 45 minutes from United, who lacked any coherent plan, organisation and structure, with the gap between Fred and Scott McTominay and the front four leaving them vulnerable to attack every time they lost possession.

But it was arguably in defence where the main issues arose from for the Red Devils. World Cup-winner Raphael Varane was sidelined with an injury, leaving Victor Lindelof to partner Harry Maguire at centre-back.

And it was an extremely uncomfortable night for the Sweden international. He struggled to cope with the physicality of Luis Muriel and then his replacement Duvan Zapata throughout the 90 minutes, almost resulting in the visitors putting the game out of sight.

With the score at 2-1 in the 71st minute, Zapata rolled Lindelof on the edge of United’s 18-yeard box far too easy before blasting his effort at David de Gea, who saved with his feet before quickly reacting to Ruslan Malinovskyi’s follow up effort.

United’s poor showing at the back during this calendar year has drawn criticism from former legend Paul Scholes, with the BT Sport pundit picking out Victor Lindelof in particular, saying: “I think in the middle of defence, Lindelof especially, they lack authority. He can be bullied, sometimes he’s not strong enough.

“I think both (Lindelof and Harry Maguire) can be very timid. They don’t really command or bully centre-forwards, they don’t really demand from the rest of the team. I think these two positions, in particular, are massive for teams that are going to win the league.”

And the underlying numbers from United’s midweek encounter back up Scholes’ fears from a few months ago. As per FotMob, Lindelof failed to win either of his duels and didn’t make a single tackle throughout the 90 minutes, resulting in him receiving a miserly match rating of just 6.5 out of 10.

He did complete 92% of his passes but ultimately it was his lightweight ability in physical situations that cost his team so dearly. The very fact he made two fouls sums that up.

With Varane set to be sidelined for several more weeks, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will be hoping to see a much-improved performance from Lindelof over the weekend when United take on fierce rivals Liverpool.

And, in other news…Forget Ronaldo: Man Utd gem who won 10 duels was Ole’s real hero against Atalanta

West Ham have seemingly turned their attentions to a new midfield target…

What’s the word?

According to GIVEMESPORT, the Hammers have made an enquiry for Rangers star Glen Kamara after he excelled at Euro 2020 for Finland and they could look to prioritise a move for him over the Czech Republic’s Alex Kral.

It’s claimed that the East London outfit have asked the Scottish champions about the potential finances involved in making a swoop for the 25-year-old former Arsenal graduate this summer.

Noble successor

On the face of it, the Irons may not need another central midfielder in David Moyes’ ranks but they are merely one or two injuries away from a bit of a crisis and this time next year, they’ll certainly need more bodies.

That’s because Mark Noble is retiring after 18 years at the club and currently, he’s the only backup to first-choice duo Tomas Soucek and Declan Rice.

With West Ham competing in Europe this season, it would be wise for them to add strength in depth sooner rather than later, which is why a move for Kamara makes a ton of sense.

He could well be the perfect successor to Noble’s throne at the London Stadium.

The 34-cap Finland international was one of Steven Gerrard’s standout performers as the Gers recorded their first league title in a decade – no outfield player managed a better average passing accuracy per game (90.5%) than Kamara.

In addition to that, he averaged one tackle, 0.9 interceptions and 0.9 key passes per league outing, whilst at Euro 2020, this increased to 2.3 tackles and 3.3 interceptions even though he faced semi-finalists Denmark and one of the favourites Belgium in their group, via WhoScored.

The 25-year-old is widely regarded as one of the best midfielders north of the border, at least according to former Ibrox star Charlie Miller, who told the Daily Record:

“Glen Kamara is the best midfielder in Scotland.

“He has the ability to go and play at a very high level. He is athletic, technically very good, is good in the tackle and is becoming a complete player. Maybe he could do to add a few more goals but he certainly assists in that area.

“Put it this way, there are players going for £30-£40m in England who couldn’t lace Kamara’s boots.”

Furthermore, this kind of praise was also seen during his time at Dundee, so it wasn’t merely a one-off. His former boss Neil McCann labelled him a “special talent” to reporters during their time together.

All in all, on the above evidence, this is surely the sort of player that Moyes would love to have in his squad, especially with Noble’s retirement on the horizon.

Previous reports have suggested that he could be available for just £10m, whilst Transfermarkt value him at just £5.4m. He’d surely be an absolute steal.

AND in other news, ExWHUemployee drops encouraging West Ham transfer claim, Moyes will surely be buzzing…