All posts by z3u9t.icu

[ad_pod ]According to The Telegraph’s north-east sports reporter Luke Edwards via his official Twitter account on Thursday, Newcastle United are hoping to extend striker Salomon Rondon’s loan deal beyond the end of this season before the transfer deadline.

What’s the word, then?

Well, the Magpies have already enjoyed a busy final day of the window havingcompleted deals for Miguel Almiron and Antonio Barecca, but it appears as though Rafa Benitez isn’t finished there if Luke Edwards is to be believed.

According to The Telegraph’s live transfer blog (11:53am), Edwards says that the Toon Army’s mystery striker target is in fact a player they already have on their books until the summer, in West Bromwich Albion’s Rondon.

However, the sports reporter suggests that they will give Jacob Murphy to the Baggies on loan if the Baggies agree to loan the 29-year-old to them for another campaign, rather than pay the £15m they west Midlands outfit would want if they were to sell him this month.

Would it be good for Newcastle to extend the deal?

It certainly would be.

Rondon is probably never going to be a 20-goal-a-season striker at Premier League level, he has six goals in 18 Premier League appearances this term as per Transfermarkt, but he offers far more than just being able to find the back of the net for his team.

The Venezuela international is strong, decent in the air and has shown that he can score if given decent service, as he did during his side’s massive 2-1 win against Manchester City at St James’ Park on Tuesday night.

There is no doubt that keeping the 29-year-old beyond the summer would be massive for Newcastle, even if it does mean that they have to sacrifice Murphy now.

The only people more shocked by Newcastle’s 2-1 win over Man City than City fans were the Magpies fans themsleves! Check out their brilliant reactions in the video below…

Everton will renew their efforts to sign Donny van de Beek on loan when the January transfer window opens, according to ESPN’s Rob Dawson. 

The lowdown

Van de Beek’s agent Guido Albers confirmed in September that talks had taken place with Everton during the summer (via The Athletic). United had moved to block the transfer on the penultimate day of trading.

But the Dutchman has remained an outcast in the early months of the season, playing just 15 minutes of Premier League football.

After the £120,000-per-week midfielder was handed a rare opportunity to shine in last season’s 4-1 European win over Istanbul Basaksehir, BT Sport’s Owen Hargreaves hailed him as ‘close to perfect’, so it is no surprise to see yet more links suggesting a player of that quality could be on the move.

The latest

Dawson writes that ‘a host of Premier League clubs’ are considering a January loan swoop for Van de Beek.

He explicitly names Everton as well as relegation-threatened Newcastle United.

Sources have told ESPN that the player himself is ‘keen to explore his options’ ahead of the mid-season market.

The verdict

Surely United can’t stand in Van de Beek’s way this time on the grounds that he’s part of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s plans? He’s effectively a forgotten man at Old Trafford, with Gary Neville even warning fellow struggling signing Jadon Sancho he could end up like the Dutchman (Sky Sports), hardly a glowing endorsement of his chances.

And he seems, understandably, to be unhappy with the situation, having been filmed throwing his chewing gum and training bib to the floor when Solskjaer overlooked him against Villarreal.

Everton could grant a new lease of life to a player who demonstrated at Ajax that he has plenty of quality – in his last season in Amsterdam, he recorded a whopping 30 goal contributions.

In other news, fans reacted to this Aaron Ramsey report. 

Rangers boss Giovanni van Bronckhorst is facing a huge first game in charge of the club as they take on Sparta Prague in the Europa League on Thursday.

The Dutchman takes charge after a frustrating 3-1 loss to Hibernian in the semi-final of the Scottish League Cup on Sunday, which robbed him of the chance of winning a trophy early on in his Gers managerial career.

Forget Balogun

One player in particular who struggled against Hibernian was Leon Balogun. The Nigeria international produced a worrying performance and Van Bronckhorst may take note of this ahead of his debut in the dugout.

BBC Scotland’s chief writer Tom English blasted the 33-year-old defender during the game. He said: “Martin Boyle and Kevin Nisbet have just been toying with Connor Goldson and Leon Balogun. Balogun is having a shocker. On that form he would struggle to get a game for the local pub team. He has been absolutely ripped apart and Goldson is not much better. He’s gone from this incredible leader they had last season to looking very vulnerable.”

This could potentially lead to him being axed from the side for the clash with Sparta Prague. The experienced defender could be in need of a rest to reset himself after his Hibernian performance, so Van Bronckhorst must unleash Jack Simspon as his replacement in the starting XI.

Balogun’s poor display could provide an opportunity for the £3.1k-per-week Englishman to come in and stake his claim for a place in the team. His most recent appearance came as a substitute against Motherwell and he caught the eye with an impressive, albeit brief, showing.

As per SofaScore, the 24-year-old won 100% of his duels and provided an assist in just 12 minutes on the pitch. He also came off the bench against St Johnstone earlier this season and made five clearances, whilst winning 100% of his duels, in 13 minutes.

This suggests that he has the potential to put in a strong performance if given the opportunity to play the full 90 minutes, as he has been solid when coming off the bench. Therefore, bringing him in from the start to replace Balogun could be a good decision by Van Bronckhorst in his first game in the dugout.

Ross Wilson hailed Simpson as a ‘much-coveted’ player upon his arrival at Rangers earlier this year. He said: “His contractual situation at Bournemouth provided a natural and attractive moment for us to pursue Jack’s signature. It has been well publicised that he has been a much-coveted player south of the border but from our first discussion with Jack, we could see how the opportunity to join Rangers was one that was very appealing to him.”

These comments suggest that Simpson has potential as a player, given the interest which was seemingly surrounding his signature, and Van Bronckhorst could help to unlock that by showing faith in him. At the age of 24, he has plenty of time left to develop into a key player for Rangers, and the Dutchman could hand him a huge chance to impress this week…

AND in other news, Rangers secured dream deal with “brutally ruthless” £1m beast, he’ll be Gio’s main man…

Many Glasgow Rangers fans have been flocking to some comments which have emerged from Jermain Defoe.

Speaking on Sky Sports, the striker was talking about how he left club earlier this week and suggested that he wanted to stay and continue playing for them. He confessed: “Even at the age of 39 I still wanted to be involved. Towards the end it was affecting me, I was taking it home and I was a little bit down…”

Defoe was a wonderful servant to Rangers during his time at Ibrox, scoring 32 goals and supplying a further 10 assists in 76 games over all competitions across the last four seasons (title last term.

However, he has now left the Light Blues, and if he wants to continue playing football, he will have to find another club as a free agent. Nonetheless, many Gers supporters seemed moved by his admission.

Rangers fans on Defoe comments

These Rangers fans flocked to the striker’s comments as they were shared on Twitter, with one going as far as to claim that Defoe is a ‘phenomenal’ person:

“Phenomenal guy with a phenomenal attitude. @IAmJermainDefoe is always welcome back to Ibrox as a fan.”

Credit: @norrie9791

“Tears man… Absolute gem of a guy and fantastic player, wish we had him years ago, always welcome back JD”

Credit: @Rangers4life_

“Okay I wasn’t ready for this”

Credit: @RaviSood10

“Crying now! What a man”

Credit: @ClaireMackay19

“He gets it.”

Credit: @nrpsimpson

“Someone cutting onions somewhere”

Credit: @youngdavid85

In other news, find out what transfer update has had these Gers fans buzzing

Tottenham Hotspur are interested in a deal to bring Gianluca Scamacca to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in the January transfer window.

That’s according to a report by Italian media outlet CalcioMercato.it (via Sport Witness), who claim that the Sassuolo centre-forward is viewed by Spurs as an alternative to Dusan Vlahovic.

The report goes on to state that Fabio Paratici’s “excellent relations” with the 22-year-old’s agents should “not be underestimated” in Tottenham’s pursuit of the Italy international – who Sassuolo are reported to be open to parting with January should they receive an offer greater than the £21.5m they were demanding for the striker this summer.

Forget Vlahovic

While it is undeniable that Vlahovic would be a fantastic signing for Spurs to get over the line in the January transfer window, the fact that Fiorentina are reported to be commanding a £68m fee in order to part with the centre-forward could well see Spurs priced out of a move for the 18-goal 21-year-old this winter.

As such, considering how much potential Scamacca quite clearly possesses, in addition to the forward’s considerably lower asking price, it could well be a wise move for Spurs to forget about Vlahovic and instead turn their attention towards the Sassuolo starlet.

Indeed, over his 18 Serie A appearances this season – only nine of which have come as starts – the £13m-rated man has scored six goals and created one big chance for his teammates, as well as taking an average of 1.8 shots and making 0.4 key passes per game.

These returns have seen the 6 foot 5 striker who Davide Ballardini compared to a young Christian Vieri average a SofaScore match of 6.85, ranking him as Sassuolo’s ninth-best performer in the top flight of Italian football.

As such, while the 22-year-old dubbed a “complete” player by Luigi Di Biagio would appear to be less of a finished article than Vlahovic, the Italian is someone who nevertheless possesses the ability to become a world-class player under the management of Antonio Conte.

That leads us to believe Paratici should forget about spending nearly £70m on the Serbia international next month, and instead splash less than half that amount on the Sassuolo striker.

In other news: Conte should brutally axe £27m-rated “freak” who must never play for Spurs again

Writing on his Patreon, reliable club insider ExWHUemployee has just shared the latest on West Ham United and their pursuit of Manchester United ace Jesse Lingard.

The Lowdown: Lingard saga never-ending…

It is well known that Irons boss David Moyes had the 28-year-old on his summer transfer target list after a very impressive temporary spell over the second half of 2020/2021 (WhoScored).

[web_stories_embed url=”https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/web-stories/west-ham-developments-2/” title=”West Ham developments” poster=”” width=”360″ height=”600″ align=”none”]

Indeed, Lingard was the subject of intense West Ham interest earlier this year as Moyes and the club looked to secure a permanent deal.

However, the attacking midfielder instead opted to remain at United in the hope of reviving his Old Trafford career (Manchester Evening News) – a plan which didn’t exactly work out given his lack of game time under former boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

As new contract talks stall, with Lingard reportedly open to leaving in January as many clubs circle (ESPN), ExWHUemployee has shared the latest on West Ham’s stance.

The Latest: West Ham set for early talks…

According to the insider, West Ham, and by extension their head of recruitment Rob Newman, will start talks ‘early’ in the January window in an attempt to sign Lingard.

Despite speculation surrounding a change in exit stance due to Solskjaer’s sacking, Ex says that he is ‘still expected to want to move’ in a possible boost for the Hammers.

However, there will also be plenty of competition for the England international’s signature and a ‘number of things to sort out’ with his deal.

The Verdict: Get it done?

Moyes’ high-flying Irons are seemingly on top of the world right now having just secured an impressive 3-2 win over European champions Chelsea at the London Stadium on Saturday.

However, given their increasingly congested calendar as they attempt to battle in the English top flight, domestic cups and now Europa League, West Ham will need to strengthen in January.

It is believed by another reliable source in The Evening Standard that Moyes will be backed to bring in a new striker, centre-half and potentially Lingard.

The latter man, we believe, shouldn’t come as a must for the club given they already have a wealth of options in the attacking midfield area – with Jarrod Bowen, Manuel Lanzini, Said Benrahma, Nikola Vlasic and Pablo Fornals all capable of shining there.

They are arguably in dire need of a natural striking alternative to Michail Antonio, especially given his concerning injury history, while new defensive worries surrounding Kurt Zouma and Ben Johnson indicate they may also be short defensively.

Lingard, despite being lauded as ‘unbelievable’ for his spell with West Ham last year by pundit Kevin Phillips, should be bottom of the priority list.

In other news: Journalist hints West Ham may now be in pole position to sign ‘world class’ forward for Moyes, find out more here.

With Valerien Ismael’s West Bromwich Albion side heading into Wednesday evening’s Championship clash on the back of a rather resounding 3-0 defeat last time out, the Frenchman will have undoubtedly been hoping for a more positive result when Hull City visited The Hawthorns.

And, while the Baggies’ overall performance left a lot to be desired, Karlan Grant’s fourth goal in five games was enough to ensure that the 46-year-old’s side ran out 1-0 victors against the Tigers – a result which saw West Brom keep the pace with Fulham in the race for second.

However, while the spectacle may not have been overly enjoyable for the Albion fans in attendance, there was one positive to come out of the fixture – the performance of Taylor Gardner-Hickman on his league debut for the club.

Lost possession 18 times

With Darnell Furlong missing Wednesday evening’s fixture as a result of his red card against Fulham last weekend, Ismael placed his trust in the 19-year-old to fill in at right wing-back, and the youngster certainly did not disappoint.

Indeed, over his 90 minutes on the pitch, Gardner-Hickman enjoyed 66 touches of the ball – the joint third-most of any player to feature in the match – completed 24 passes, made one key pass and attempted six crosses and five long balls.

The right-back’s attempts to make things happen for his side was further highlighted by the fact he lost possession of the ball on 18 separate occasions – something that is usually viewed as a negative statistic.

However, when considering that Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold lost the ball 16 times against Atletico Madrid on Wednesday night, a fixture in which the right-back created two big chances and ended the game with two assists to his name, it is clear to see that the lost possession statistic can also reflect how creative a player is attempting to be for his side.

Although, it was not only going forwards that Gardner-Hickman impressed, with the teenager also helping his side keep a clean sheet, in addition to making one clearance, two tackles and winning six duels against the Tigers.

These returns saw the man who Sam Allardyce suggested could become an “important” player for the Baggies earn a very respectable SofaScore match rating of 7.0 – not bad for the first league start of his career.

As such, while Furlong will likely return to his starting berth when Middlesbrough visit The Hawthorns on Saturday, Gardner-Hickman undoubtedly proved against Hull that he is more than capable of stepping up for his side when required – something that will delight Valerien Ismael.

In other news: Journo drops fresh West Brom January transfer claim that will devastate Albion fans

Celtic have been dealt a big blow in their bid to bring Callum Styles to Parkhead in the January transfer window.

What’s the talk?

That’s according to a report by the Daily Record, who claimed that Barnsley look set to play hardball regarding the sale of the 21-year-old this month, as Poya Asbaghi recently revealed that he is not willing to let any of his first-team regulars leave the club midway through the season.

Speaking about his plans for the January market, the Barnsley boss said: “In the end, we want to make room in the squad and it’s better to let go of players who aren’t playing – not players who are playing. I will not go too deep into specifics on positions but I can say maybe left-back is not our biggest concern.”

The Daily Record went on to suggest that this update will come as a blow to Ange Postecoglou and his Celtic side, as the 56-year-old Bhoys boss is believed to have identified the versatile left-footer as one of his primary targets this month in a bid to solve the troublesome left-back spot in his Hoops side.

Postecoglou will be livid

Considering just how impressive Styles has been for Barnsley this season, in addition to how well suited he seems to Postecoglou’s particular brand of football, the news that the Yorkshire club look set to put up a fight for the 21-year-old this month is sure to have left the Celtic manager livid.

Indeed, over his 22 league outings in the current campaign, the £2.7m-rated man – who has often been deployed in a more advanced position on the left flank this season, as well as in central midfield – has scored one goal, registered one assist and created three big chances for his teammates.

The £3.4k-per-week 21-year-old has also averaged 1.3 interceptions, 2.3 tackles and one key pass and won 4.6 duels per game. These returns have seen the player who Cauley Woodrow dubbed a “massive talent” average a SofaScore match rating of 6.77, ranking him as Barnsley’s eighth-best performer in the Championship.

As such, due to his attacking inclination, positional versatility and extremely high potential, it is clear to see why Postecoglou would be interested in a move for Styles this month.

However, following the latest update concerning the youngster’s future, it would appear as if a move for the Barnsley starlet may be rather tricky to pull off for Celtic this month, something which will undoubtedly come as a big blow to the Hoops manager and his side.

In other news: Postecoglou heading for Celtic disaster with “superb” £1.35m-rated beast as Anthony Joseph confirms bid

Manchester United have not made any moves in the transfer window so far, but with three weeks left the club has been linked with a number of players, especially in the defensive midfield position.

However, there has been an update on one particular target.

What’s the word?

Fabrizio Romano has revealed on Twitter, that there have been no further developments on Manchester United’s pursuit for Borussia Mönchengladbach midfielder, Denis Zakaria.

Romano tweeted on Monday:

“Manchester United have made no bid for Denis Zakaria as things stand. The option has been discussed as he’s appreciated by Rangnick – but there’s still no official bid to Borussia.

“More than four clubs are already working to sign Zakaria as free agent in July. Open race.”

United are reportedly joined by a number of clubs interested in signing the 25-year-old, who is out of contract in the summer, including Premier League clubs, Everton, Leicester and Arsenal, and if the Italian transfer insider’s tweet is to be believed, the chase for his signature remains wide open.

Fans will be gutted

Signing a defensive midfielder has been a long term prospect, especially in the eyes of the fans who have been crying out for in the side for over a year, so they will surely be gutted that no progress has been made on signing the Swiss target.

Taking to social media after a number of poor defensive performances from the Red Devils this season so far, citing how desperately the position needs to be filled, with one Man United fan tweeting:

“2 years ago we looked doomed at end of January after losing at home to Burnley. We signed Bruno, had a great run towards the end of the season and finished 3rd. Something similar needs to happen, but with a defensive midfielder if we’re to save this season.”

Zakaria has been impressive in his position for Gladbach, scoring two goals and bagging one assist for the Bundesliga side so far this season, with a 50% successful tackle rate. Meanwhile, he has completed 702 of his 777 passes successfully during his 14 appearances according to infogol.

All hope is not lost though, as Romano did hint in the aforementioned post that Rangnick has shown interest in the player and is “appreciated” by the German coach. Thus, it will likely not be the last time we see a connection made between the Switzerland international and the Manchester club, however, another club could swoop for the popular defensive midfielder if progress isn’t made soon.

The freshly appointed manager has a lot of work to do to get Manchester United into shape, but with an FA Cup win against Aston Villa on Monday evening, it will have given the fans a much needed boost after a disappointing performance in their last Premier League game against Wolves, when they lost at Old Trafford last week.

In other news: Rangnick could make a move for Milinkovic-Savic

Many Sunderland fans have been left raging over some transfer news that has emerged on Jermain Defoe before the Portsmouth clash.

As per The Northern Echo, Lee Johnson is reluctant to sign the former Glasgow Rangers striker in the January transfer window, despite the board giving the green light for a deal to go through.

Defoe himself would prefer to move to the Stadium of Light, but Johnson has reservations over his match fitness and what exactly his squad role would be.

With Nathan Broadhead currently injured at the moment, Ross Stewart is Johnson’s only striker option, and so it does seem strange that he would not want to bring another one in.

Defoe is also cult hero among the Black Cats faithful, having scored 37 times in 93 games in all competitions over three seasons (Transfermarkt), including a memorable winner at home to rivals Newcastle United in the Premier League back in 2015.

Sunderland fans on Defoe transfer news

These SAFC supporters raged as the transfer news was shared on Twitter, with one even going as far as to claim that they are ‘fuming’, while another simply called it ‘pathetic’:

“LJ not doing himself any favours here”

Credit: @safctim

“Trying to derail us or summit?”

Credit: @ColArmy86

“Johnson Out if we don’t sign him”

Credit: @Mustardinho

“The mind boggles. Fuming”

Credit: @ConnorBromley

“IF true, Johnson has just lost the fans”

Credit: @LewisGreaves1

“Pathetic”

Credit: @JHerra18

In other news, find out what exit claim has Black Cats gushing here!