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Many Leeds United fans have been reacting to news about Ben White, after The Athletic’s Phil Hay revealed a number of Premier League clubs are interested in signing the defender in the summer.  

Speaking on his weekly podcast, The Phil Hay Show, the sports writer provided an update on White’s future at Elland Road, with many of the league’s biggest clubs keeping a close eye on the youngster.

Hay said: “he’s had Liverpool on his case right the way through the season. Their talent scout is Andy O’Brien, the former Leeds defender, who’s been watching him a lot.”

He added: “I’m hearing that both City and Manchester United are keen as well.”

The Brighton loanee has attracted a number of admirers, including the likes of Premier League giants Liverpool, Manchester City and Manchester United, following a string of impressive performances for Marcelo Bielsa’s Whites.

After arriving at the Yorkshire outfit from the Seagulls last summer on a short-term contract, the 22-year-old has put in a defensive shift at the back, featuring in 37 games in the Championship, making 1.7 tackles per game, averaging 2.3 interceptions, and successfully completing 3 clearances on average in the English second tier (via WhoScored).

Naturally, loads of supporters responded to the pundit’s latest revelation. While some noted there are alternatives if Leeds get promoted, others lamented the suggestion White could leave the Peacocks before the start of next season. One fan sarcastically commented “cheers Phil, just what we need when we’re on lockdown.”

Scroll through some of the mixed reactions down below…

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A selection of West Ham United fans have offered up a surprise name to potentially replace Manuel Pellegrini as head coach of the club, with Leeds United’s Marcelo Bielsa emerging as a name in the conversation.

The Hammers are on a really rotten run of form at the moment, failing to win any of their last seven in the Premier League.

Saturday’s 3-2 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur made it three straight league defeats, and it is not as if it gets any easier as they prepare to head to Chelsea this weekend.

West Ham have reportedly held talks with Pellegrini about the alarming drop of form.

And some of the London club’s supporters think that they might have the solution to their problem.

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Indeed, when Leeds United boss Bielsa, 64, was named as a potential incoming at the London Stadium, some of the fans suggested that it would be a very good idea.

Leeds would surely fight tooth and nail to keep hold of the Argentine, although the lure of the Premier League would be very strong indeed.

With the Whites in the ascendancy and chasing promotion from the Championship, though, it seems unlikely the Hammers would be able to persuade him to move to east London in mid-season.

A selection of the Twitter reaction can be seen below:

Meanwhile, amid the team’s struggles, Pellegrini seems to be fast losing faith in one player in particular.

Newcastle fans haven’t always seen eye to eye with England cricket legend Steve Harmison, but they will surely love his latest comments on Mike Ashley.

Reports of a takeover at St. James’ Park are once again heating up, with The Chronicle’s Mark Douglas even admitting this week that he believes the deal will happen if “Saudi dosh” is involved.

Indeed, reports suggest a £340m deal with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, fronted by Amanda Staveley, could well be on the cards, and Harmison has urged Ashley to cash in, while also joking about taking abuse from the Toon Army himself.

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“Mike Ashley hasn’t covered himself in glory with Sports Direct & Newcastle. If ever there was a time for Ashley to get out of Newcastle, this is it,” he told TalkSPORT.

“We don’t want to be tarred with that brush anymore.”

Harmison, who was born in Ashington and has always supported the Magpies, has become quite a divisive figure due to some fans feeling he has been too favourable towards Ashley, so the fact that even he is now staunchly in favour of a takeover really says it all.

The club’s infamous overlord has quite simply burned all of his bridges, and the Toon Army will surely be praying that when football returns Ashley does not come back with it.

Check out what the Toon Army have been saying about the infamous Bowyer vs Dyer incident…

Concern is growing at Real Madrid over Jesus Vallejo’s time at Wolves according to a report from Defensa Central.

Reports in Spain suggest they are unhappy with the amount of game time he’s received during his stay in the Premier League, with the possibility of recalling him very much on the table.

It’s news that has left Wolves fans absolutely elated as they took to Twitter to discuss the report and whether they’d be keen to see him go.

A number of supporters were simply buzzing as one called him a poor man’s Danny Batth, urging Madrid to recall him when the winter transfer window opens in just over a months time.

A further individual said it looked as though the Spaniard had come through the youth academy at Wimbledon in the 1990s, as opposed to one of the greatest clubs on the continent.

Since entering the Midlands, Vallejo has started just one Premier League game and has even found himself behind Leander Dendoncker and Romain Saiss in the defensive pecking order.

He’s accumulated just 162 top-flight minutes in what has been a rough time for the 22-year-old.

Here’s the best of the reaction.

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Transfer Focus series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent transfer news…

Tottenham Hotspur defender Danny Rose has confirmed that he intends to leave the club when his contract expires, per The London Evening Standard.

What’s the word?

The England international says that Spurs attempted to sell him in the summer – he was spotted at Watford’s training ground on transfer deadline day – after being told that he would not be given a new contract.

And Rose now says that, with his current deal set to expire at the end of next season, he will not be committing to fresh terms.

He said: “It’s pretty obvious what happened (during the summer). People upstairs at Tottenham were trying to do what they were trying to do. I’ve said, I’ve got 18 months left on my contract and I’m not going anywhere until my contract has ­finished.

“In January, you’re probably going to hear something (regarding a possible departure). I’m telling you right now that I’m not going anywhere until my contract is finished.

“(Spurs chairman) Daniel Levy told me in the summer there was no new contract for me at Tottenham, which is fine. I respect that. We move on.

“My contract is up in 18 months’ time and I’ll leave the football club then. People can save their time ­trying to get stuff ready for January about me being sold.

“Because I can tell you now: it ain’t happening. I know what people were trying to do in the summer… There were no bids — that was rubbish.”

The worst possible timing

Spurs haven’t won a league game since September.

They haven’t won away from home since January.

The club are currently 14th in the Premier League and 11 points behind the top four.

This is not the time for personal revelations about the transfer window.

Admittedly, Rose is currently on England duty so he is technically freed from his club responsibilities but, surely he knows that this comes at the worst possible time.

Spurs need to be presenting a united front, a togetherness that speaks to the supporters and tells them that they are working as hard as possible to steady the ship and come out of a slump that has led to reports that Mauricio Pochettino could lose his job.

Instead, Rose is in the press, talking about how he was nearly pushed out of the club and how he is likely to stay for at least another season essentially against their wishes.

This is despite a decline in form that has seen Rose collect an average rating of 6.61 from WhoScored thus far this season. He has already collected five yellow cards in just nine games.

He has no real right to open his mouth in the manner he has and this is unlikely to endear him any further to the fans who are paying to watch him, and the rest of the Spurs team, struggle on a weekly basis.

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…

Danny Murphy has said on talkSPORT that Harry Kane would get into the Liverpool side ahead of Roberto Firmino.

What did he say?

Tottenham are struggling at the moment. They are currently 11 points behind fourth-placed Manchester City in the Premier League table, and they recently suffered the ignominy of losing 7-2 at home to Bayern Munich in the Champions League.

The former Reds midfielder, along with talkSPORT presenter Adrian Durham, has suggested that failure to qualify for European football’s premier club competition may force the England captain to depart north London.

Were he to do so, the 42-year-old believes that he would replace Roberto Firmino in Jurgen Klopp’s starting XI. He explained:

“I think Harry Kane would get in Liverpool’s team ahead of Firmino, because I think he’d score more goals. I love Firmino but he’s not Harry Kane.”

Not the best fit

There is certainly an argument to be made that Firmino could score more goals. His highest-scoring season in the Premier League is 15, which compared with the likes of Kane, Sergio Aguero and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, does not really come close.

Considering that he plays for a team that has scored 173 times across the last two full terms – 89 last season and 84 during the 2017/18 campaign – you would expect more than his return of 27.

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However, as we all know, scoring goals is not his main remit as the number nine in this Liverpool outfit.

With Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane on the wings, both of whom are stellar goalscorers – along with Aubameyang, they shared the Golden Boot last term – he is expected to be more of a creator than a marksman. In the last two-and-a-bit seasons, he has 31 assists in all competitions. Kane, by comparison, has 12.

He does have 75 goals across the same time period, though, which is very impressive. But his goalscoring ability would perhaps come with a price. Last term, he averaged 3.6 shots per game in the Premier League, compared to the Brazil international’s 2.2. Mane and Salah are so influential to how Liverpool play, but with Kane up front, there is a strong possibility that their overall goal threat would be heavily reduced.

Considering his ability, the 26-year-old would not struggle to find a new club were he to depart the Lilywhites. A move to Merseyside, though, would potentially unbalance the whole Reds squad. And with his Transfermarkt value currently resting at £135m, it would be far too much of a gamble.

This article is part of Football FanCast’s The Chalkboard series, which provides a tactical insight into teams, players, managers, potential signings and more… 

West Brom somehow remain atop the Championship table after a week where they failed to record a victory.

Slaven Bilic’s men currently sit two points ahead of second-placed Preston North End after 14 matches in the league while also keeping the accolade of being the only side with just the one defeat.

Saturday’s game against Charlton Athletic was marred by controversy as the visitors were handed a 94th-minute penalty to salvage a draw at the Hawthorns, not before the referee almost sent off the wrong Baggies player earlier in the match.

Charlie Austin’s struggles in front of goal continued as it is now the ten appearances with only one goal to show for it while Hal Robson-Kanu netted a scorcher off the bench for the second time in three games.

On the Chalkboard

Getting the best from his strikers has been Bilic’s biggest issue of the season so far, which seems hard to believe, considering only one team has scored more goals than they have.

The Baggies have netted 26 this term, with their strikers contributing to less than 20% of that figure – Robson-Kanu (two), Kenneth Zohore (two), Austin (one), per WhoScored.

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Their biggest threat has come from their number ten Matheus Pereira and winger Matty Phillips, so why doesn’t the Croatian utilise one of these two in the forward position.

Instead of being an out-and-out sole striker, a role that isn’t naturally suited to a winger’s frame, they can play as a false nine in what would appear to be a deadly formation.

Albion are practically playing without a main forward anyway as Austin’s contribution has been few and far between for so long.

The aforementioned duo and Grady Diangana as your main three in attack is a scary prospect, considering they account for 12 goals and nine assists between them.

Let’s face it not having a significant presence upfront is going to make too much, if any, of a difference as Austin only has one assist on top of that, meaning he has failed to contribute in that area also.

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Injury News series, which considers the impact of the latest updates on players’ fitness.

The Athletic’s Patrick Boyland has given Everton fans a positive update on the injury of Andre Gomes.

What’s the story?

The 26-year-old suffered a horrific injury against Tottenham Hotspur at the weekend. The initial tackle from Son Heung-min and then the collision with Serge Aurier caused a nasty fracture in his ankle.

Everton themselves recently reported that Gomes has been discharged from hospital, after undergoing a successful operation. Although, there can be little doubt that it will be many months until the Portugal international returns to Goodison Park.

However, Boyland delivered an encouraging update recently, as he wrote for The Athletic: “One source told The Athletic that estimates of a year-long absence for Gomes are likely to be wide of the mark, although no definitive timeframe has yet been given.”

Boyland also questioned Barry Sigrist, a director at BFitter Physiotherapy and Performance Clinic, who said: “There will be hydrotherapy — plenty of pool work relatively early. We know that if you get water up to your waist, you’re at 50 per cent of your body weight.

“We’re just trying to keep neural pathways to the brain hot so it doesn’t forget them.

“Exercise will be key from relatively early, particularly in the muscles you want to preserve like the hips, thighs and abdominals — getting him to be able to move the joint under no load as soon as he can tolerate”

Encouraging signs

As Boyland alludes to, Gomes may be back earlier than the initial prognosis suggests.

But there is no doubt the injury itself can take months to recover from, then there is the gruelling fitness regime to get him back up to speed.

However, there have been many instances down the years where players have endured equally nasty injuries but came back much stronger. One of these players is Aaron Ramsey.

A tibia and fibula fracture to the Welshman forced him out for 248 days with Arsenal. Two years later, the midfielder scored 10 goals and registered eight assists in a breathtaking year for him. Ramsey would then go onto become one of Arsenal’s main men and he now lives the high life in Turin with Juventus.

Here’s hoping we see a similar route back for Gomes after this torrid luck.

This article is part of Football FanCast’s The Chalkboard series, which provides a tactical insight into teams, players, managers, potential signings and more… 

Georginio Wijnaldum has been in stunning form for the Netherlands recently, but there are two reasons he will never replicate that form for Liverpool.

The names of those two reasons? Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson.

Wijnaldum left Reds fans baffled as to how he can look like two completely different players again during this latest international break, as he scored twice in a Dutch victory over Belarus.

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His first strike was a deft header after some clever movement, and his second was an absolutely thunderous effort from outside the box.

He now has six goals and three assists in his last 11 international appearances after only scoring 14 in 151 Liverpool games, leaving some fans to wonder why on Earth he doesn’t replicate that form at Anfield.

Quite simply though, the £25m man will never produce those sorts of numbers for Liverpool because Jurgen Klopp’s system does not allow him to.

As has been pointed out in the past by Sky Sports, Liverpool’s style under Klopp relies heavily on the creativity of Robertson and Alexander-Arnold, leaving the midfield trio to string things together, switch the play, trigger counter attacks and stop opposition counters.

While it would be harsh to say Robertson and Alexander-Arnold racked up a combined 28 assists last season due solely to their advanced positions in Klopp’s formation, they certainly could not have produced those sorts of numbers if they were forever having to stay back because Wijnaldum or the other midfielders had ventured too far forward in search of goals.

The heat-maps below show Liverpool’s full-back duo’s average touch position across their last three wins, against Leicester, RB Salzburg and Sheffield United (WhoScored).

Not only do the pair rack up over 200 combined touches in all three games, they get on the ball in very advanced positions, almost playing as if they are wing-backs in front of a back three. They are only able to do this because the likes of Fabinho and Wijnaldum shield the centre-backs and prevent counter attacks.

In Wijnaldum’s two-goal display against Belarus, his full-backs were Daley Blind and Joel Veltman, hardly the type to bomb forward and rack up assists, playing much further back than the Liverpool pair and allowing their midfield trio to be more adventurous.

Of course, Winaldum did score at Bramall Lane due to a goalkeeping error, but if any Liverpool fans are hoping that is going to become a regular occurrence because of his international form, they are sadly mistaken.

Klopp’s system forces the former Newcastle ace to be more conservative, and with the Reds sitting top of the league with 24 points from 24, a certain saying about not fixing things that aren’t broken comes to mind.

Switzerland succumbed to defeat on Saturday evening as they lost 1-0 to Denmark in their Euro 2020 Group D qualifier.

RB Leipzig striker Yussuf Poulsen netted the only goal of the match in the 84th minute after Christian Eriksen picked out an audacious through ball despite having his back towards goal some 35 yards out.

The defeat sees the Swiss sink further away from the top two in the group, though they do have a game in hand against Gibraltar to come.

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Arsenal’s Granit Xhaka picked up his 78th cap for his nation and a number of Gunners fans took to Twitter to react to the terrible showing.

One supporter said that he was “Mustafi-ing” his career while another said his display was a “disasterclass.”

Others believed the 27-year-old midfielder is almost a completely different player for Switzerland than he is for the north London side.

A further international fan even claimed that it was saddening because he could actually be a good player for Arsenal if he had the right midfield partner.

Here’s the best of the reaction: