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Rangers have been linked with a move for IF Elfsborg centre-back Joseph Okumu recently and if the 23-year-old were to join Steven Gerrard’s side, it could prove to be the end of George Edmundson’s time at Ibrox.

According to Football Insider, Rangers are considering a move for the Kenyan international after it emerged that both Leicester City and Aston Villa were interested in signing Filip Helander ahead of next season.

The £1.08 million-rated defender has established himself as a regular in Sweden since joining from USA side Real Monarchs, having made 34 appearances in all competitions.

However, even if the young centre-back joins as the Swedish international’s replacement, you still worry that the added competition could bring an end to Edmundson’s Rangers career, especially after his underwhelming loan spell at Derby County this season.

After breaking lockdown restrictions in November, Gerrard sent the former Oldham Athletic man on loan to the Championship in January, although he has struggled to make much of an impression thus far, averaging a 6.7 rating across his six league appearances for Wayne Rooney’s side.

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Since joining Rangers from Oldham in the summer of 2019, Edmundson has managed just 17 appearances for the Light Blues, in which he has contributed two goals and one assist.

Although he is just 23 and has plenty of time to develop, recent reports have suggested that Rangers have ‘internal doubts’ about him, so the potential arrival of Okumu could prove to be the catalyst for him leaving Ibrox.

Rangers already have the likes of Connor Goldson, Leon Balogun, Helander available at centre-back, whilst Nikola Katic should hopefully return from injury ahead of next season, which leaves little room for Edmundson in Gerrard’s squad, especially if Okumu makes the move to Ibrox too.

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Unless Edmundson can return to Rangers in the summer and seriously impress Gerrard, who was clearly not happy with him breaking restrictions, then you fear that his time at the club could come to an end.

And, in other news… Gerrard suffers potential blow with £10k-p/w “leader”, Wilson can’t be bullied

In an exclusive interview with Football FanCast, ex-Southampton midfielder Carlton Palmer has suggested that his old club should have considered selling star man Danny Ings in the January transfer window.

Ings will only have a year left on his contract in the summer and looks no closer to signing a new one, with The Telegraph reporting that the 28-year-old is holding out for a Champions League club.

Ings started the season in fine fashion, registering four goals in Southampton’s first five Premier League games, but has since dropped off. His opener in a 2-1 defeat to Wolves is the striker’s only goal in his last eight matches, a cause for concern for manager Ralph Hasenhuttl, as the Saints continue to fall down the table.

Speaking exclusively to FFC about his former side’s dilemma with Ings, Palmer said:

“For me, I think they should have sat down with Danny Ings while the transfer deadline was on and said, ‘listen, if you’re not going to sign a new contract, it’s better you go now’.

“They might have had a discussion and he might be going at the end of the season where they think they can get the right replacement in. Or maybe, I don’t know, Danny’s said to them, listen, let’s see where we are at the end of the season. But it’s a strange one to me.”

Like the beginning of this campaign, Ings was in stunning form last term. He scored 25 goals in all competitions, with 22 of those coming in the Premier League.

The England international has been linked with a move to Tottenham, who could bring him in to provide competition for their leading striker Harry Kane. Whether Ings would be willing to accept such a role, though, remains to be seen.

With just one win in their last five Premier League games, it’s fair to say Leeds United have just hit a bit of a roadblock in the second half of this season.

Marcelo Bielsa’s side slipped to yet another defeat in the top flight when they lost 2-0 to West Ham last Monday, with goals from Jesse Lingard and Craig Dawson enough to ensure their poor form continued.

One man who really let his manager down in the game at the London Stadium was Helder Costa. The Portuguese winger looked completely off the pace in the game, and it’s a showing that arguably warrants him being dropped from the starting line-up for the clash against Chelsea on early Saturday afternoon.

His long-term future at Elland Road also appears to be in question amid suggestions that, with any potential summer signings, Costa may be one of the fall guys.

Responding to a question in The Athletic’s post-match Q&A after the clash against West Ham, Phil Hay said: “You get the feeling that if changes are coming in the summer, those two (Costa and Tyler Roberts) will be at risk. The consistent impact isn’t there.”

Costa just hasn’t cut it at Premier League level, with a measly return of just two goals in 18 outings in the competition this term. Throwing him into the starting line-up like Bielsa has done over the past couple of weeks has just held Leeds back, and it’s something that former Leeds man Noel Whelan picked up on quite recently.

Speaking after his performance against Aston Villa, the 46-year-old said: “Costa was given his opportunity and once again he did not take it. We are talking about a £16m player here who did not effect the game in any way shape or form. He needs to show consistency. You need to make that position your own when your manager puts his trust in you from the start.

“I saw absolutely nothing from him against Aston Villa. Nothing suggested to me that he has given Marcelo Bielsa a headache with that performance.”

After Costa’s anonymous display against the Hammers, it’s certainly time for Bielsa to ruthlessly axe the £70k-per-week winger from his starting line-up; and that could spell bad news for his long-term future, too, given what Hay has said.

Meanwhile, Bielsa should urge Leeds to make a move for this “talismanic” star…

Tottenham Hotspur have been dealt a fresh injury blow ahead of tonight’s Premier League encounter with Liverpool.

According to the Evening Standard’s Dan Kilpatrick, first-choice left-back Sergio Reguilon will miss the match with a muscle injury.

It’s claimed that the 24-year-old is set to miss ‘around three weeks’ which will come as a major blow to Jose Mourinho and his squad.

Reguilon was an unused substitute during their 4-1 win over Championship strugglers Wycombe Wanderers in the FA Cup fourth round on Monday night.

He underwent a scan on Wednesday to determine the extent of the problem.

This news comes at the worst possible time as Spurs not only have a difficult fixture against the defending champions, who they could leapfrog into fourth place this evening, but they also have London rivals Chelsea, a fifth-round tie with Everton and the league leaders Man City on the horizon.

As Kilpatrick says, he’s likely to be out for three weeks which means he’ll miss all of the aforementioned quartet of fixtures.

To make matters worse, Mourinho could even be without Ben Davies, the likely replacement for the Spaniard, as he was forced off with a knock in injury time earlier this week, though he’s hoping to be passed fit, as per the same report.

That leaves the Spurs boss with a mounting problem and a crucial decision as to who will fill the void. It could mean the relatively inexperienced Japhet Tanganga is thrown into the deep end in the role for only the fourth time in his short career.

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And even if Davies makes it, he has been wildly inconsistent, surpassing a mediocre 6.8 WhoScored average only twice in his eight league starts and in the last encounter with the Reds, he managed a disappointing 6.48.

Whoever is selected by Mourinho is going to face a tough evening with Mo Salah likely to line up on the right flank for Jurgen Klopp. The Egyptian winger has contributed towards 16 goals in 16 league starts this term.

After signing from Real Madrid alongside Gareth Bale for £25m in the summer, Reguilon has set the ground alight for Spurs this campaign.

He has started 12 of his 13 top-flight appearances and has featured a total of 20 times in all competitions, providing five assists, via Transfermarkt.

The five-time Spain international has been Spurs’ best left-sided defender as per WhoScored ratings (6.87), which also ranks him seventh in the whole squad of all players who have started ten or more matches in the Premier League.

Only Harry Kane (14) and Heung-min Son (ten) have contributed more assists than Reguilon this campaign, so clearly his influence in attack is just as valuable as what he can do defensively.

Even then, he’s performing better than Davies – per FBRef, the 24-year-old is averaging double the number of tackles per 90 (2.37) as well as double the number tackles and interceptions combined per 90 (3.47) than the Welshman, proving to be the tougher defender to get past on that flank.

Therefore, in his absence, Spurs are likely to be a far weaker team – both in attack and defensively. And there’s no guarantee that Davies is in full fitness, as suggested by Kilpatrick.

Mourinho has plenty to ponder before kick-off tonight.

AND in other news, Mourinho must unleash “unplayable” Spurs beast on Liverpool tonight…

The football community was left shocked by West Ham’s Tomas Soucek and his red card during his side’s 0-0 draw against Fulham on Saturday evening.

Terry in disbelief

The Czech midfielder was sent off during the dying embers of the game at Craven Cottage after he was judged by referee Mike Dean to have maliciously elbowed Aleksandar Mitrovic in the face.

However, replays showed that the Serbian striker looked to have made a meal of the contact. Despite referring to VAR and a lengthy wait, Dean believed it was worthy of an instant dismissal.

In reaction to this, Terry, now a coach at Aston Villa, initially spoke about the incident on his Instagram story. He said: “Never a red card. There is no way he has meant that.”

Following on from his brief 12-word outlook, the former Chelsea captain then reacted to Danny Murphy’s post, who applauded what Jamie Redknapp said after the full-time whistle.

“Outrageous decision after watching it 20 times,” wrote Terry. “I see it once and knew 100% it was an accident.”

Transfer Tavern Verdict

We have to agree with Terry completely. It was quite obviously an accident and we are not quite sure what Dean, or VAR official Lee Mason, saw that everyone else missed.

There is no aggression in his movement towards Mitrovic. To us, it looks like he is trying to get his body in front of his opposition number, rather than have his back to him.

That being said, referees do not take any accountability for their actions and offer no explanations for the calls they make. Until then, unfortunately, these decisions will continue week in, week out.

In other news, West Ham to take second bite of the cherry in pursuit of sign £35m-rated star.

Federico Fernandez is set to hand Steve Bruce a Boxing Day boost with the Newcastle United defender on course to make his return to action at Manchester City.

According to The Northern Echo, the centre-half is being assessed ahead of Saturday night’s clash with Pep Guardiola’s Sky Blues after he was substituted off at the half-time break during last weekend’s draw with Fulham having shown signs of serious fatigue.

Bruce linked the Argentine’s issues to Newcastle’s recent coronavirus outbreak, and was forced to tackle Tuesday’s Carabao Cup quarter-final defeat to Brentford without Fernandez plus fellow defensive options Fabian Schar and Jamaal Lascelles.

Bruce is hopeful Fernandez will be passed fit to face the Citizens on Boxing Day as Newcastle begin a testing run of festive fixtures, with a midweek meeting with champions Liverpool to follow before hosting Leicester City next Sunday.

Fernandez is well-regarded as being the Toon’s most consistent centre-half thus far this season and one who could ease Bruce’s defensive concerns, after being forced to start Isaac Hayden out of position to help cover with his mounting challenges.

“I sincerely hope we’ll have a few back, certainly in the defensive areas, which then leads to putting midfield players in their right positions,” Bruce said. “It’s been very difficult for the last week or ten days.

“We have freshened things up, but we are desperately short in defensive areas where it has hit us most badly. We will be looking to freshen things up if we can, and it’s vitally important we do that because we have some big games coming up.”

Fernandez’s return would certainly be a welcome boost for Bruce against Manchester City, providing the £4m-rated 31-year-old has regained his match-fitness and will not need replacing at the break once again.

The former Swansea City man, who Bruce lauds as a “great professional”, has started all 12 of his Premier League appearances thus far this season, only sitting out the Magpies’ 2-1 win over West Bromwich Albion earlier this month.

His efforts in those fixtures have returned 64 clearances and blocked a team-high 19 shots – almost twice as many as any other Newcastle player in both accounts – plus 10 successful tackles and five interceptions while winning 18 ground duels and 22 aerial contests, per SofaScore.

Fernandez’s return to fitness would come at the perfect time for Bruce, after Manchester City appeared to near the best with a dominant win over Arsenal in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday night to stretch their unbeaten run to nine games across all competitions.

AND in other news, an £11m-rated Newcastle star betrayed Steve Bruce with an invisible display at Brentford.

Glasgow Rangers fans are far from happy with a Sky Sports interview with Richard Foster being recorded outside Ibrox.

Foster spent two spells with the Gers – one on loan during the 2010/11 season, and another from 2013 to 2015 as the 54-time Scottish champions worked their way back up the divisions. His time with the club came during arguably their least lucrative period, and he is certainly not a fan favourite as a result.

On Monday, he was interviewed by Sky Sports outside Ibrox – even though he was discussing the lower leagues of Scottish football and was not talking about the Gers directly. Not only that, he was referred to as a “former Rangers defender”, despite him now plying his trade with Partick Thistle.

The Gers supporters were perplexed by video, which was shared on Sky Sports’ Twitter account, and they took to the social media platform to share their thoughts.

Let’s see what the fans had to say about the Foster interview below

“So a Partick tThistle player talks about why his current club have had their season suspended but is standing outside his former club’s stadium”

Credit: @chrisross786

“Why is this person being interviewed at Ibrox?”

Credit: @alanmurdoch70

“Once again, a non-Rangers player being interviewed outside Ibrox about a non-Rangers story. Is this click-bait or is there something else going on??”

Credit: @tarmstrong98

“Current Patrick Thistle defender… absolutely nothing to do with Rangers! Poor journalism as always!”

Credit: @SBreingan27

“Hold on a minute… He currently plays for PARTICK THISTLE so why drag him to Ibrox and refer to him as an ex Rangers player? On a story that has nothing to do with Rangers? Get them told! @RangersFC @RangersFCSLO”

Credit: @ClubdeckGeo

“I’ve now saw a few interviews which have nothing to do with Rangers being filmed with Ibrox in the background. Why is this happening?”

Credit: @DeekMc1980

In other news, it has been suggested that this Rangers striker could leave the club this month.

Gabby Agbonlahor has tipped Jacob Murphy to make a career out of playing at right-back for Newcastle United.

Speaking to Football Insider, the former Aston Villa striker believes that the 25-year-old could thrive in his new role as the St. James’ Park faithful look to offer him a new deal in order to fend off the reported transfer interest from Rangers:

“I think sometimes you just need a chance and there’s probably a lot of wingers out there that will turn into right-backs.

“Matty Cash was a winger and he’s gone to right-back.

“Sometimes you have the winger qualities and then you can get taught how to defend a bit better and you can be a perfect right-back. Murphy could probably be that.

“He’s got the speed that you need at right-back, he’s got quality on the ball. We’ve seen his free-kick against Wolves.

“That might be the new position for him and something that he’s probably working on now and will be the career ahead for him.”

Murphy new to the right-back role

Indeed, Murphy has only played in the right-back role a mere all come in the 2020/21 term in the Premier League.

The Tyneside club have had quite mixed fortunes while he has been playing in that position, drawing 1-1 away versus Wolves – a match in which he scored a fine free-kick,  a 2-1 home win against Everton and a 2-0 loss away at Southampton (Transfermarkt).

Nonetheless, Agbonlahor believes that it is a role that Murphy can certainly adapt to and thus play out throughout the rest of his career.

Should Murphy carry on at right-back?

Indeed, the question now is whether Murphy should carry on in the right-back role for Steve Bruce’s team.

Traditionally a winger, he may not get as much game time as he would like with the likes of Allan Saint-Maximin, Miguel Almiron and Ryan Fraser all occupying the side positions in the North East.

With just Javier Manquillo and perhaps Emil Krafth, who is also capable of playing as a central defender, to compete with at right-back, perhaps Murphy could well make a career for himself in a new role as Agbonlahor claims.

In other news, find out the promising view that a legal expert has given on the takeover here!

Leeds will face their next Premier League hurdle tomorrow evening as they travel to Old Trafford in a mission to thwart Manchester United.  The newly promoted Whites will be on a high after their thrilling 5-2 victory over Newcastle last time out. Marcelo Bielsa will hope that his side can deliver the same fighting performance to the Red Devils.

Their Newcastle performance has shown that they certainly have the firepower to trouble the United backline, but they must be equally prepared for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s attack.

Man United pulled off their own hard-fought win in their performance against Sheffield United on Thursday. The Reds just scraped through with the three points, thanks to goals from Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial.

Rashford’s brace now takes him once again to the top of United’s goalscoring tally this season with 12 goals, sitting ahead of Bruno Fernandes by one (via BBC Sport). He will be hungry for more after such an influential performance and the man recently dubbed a “predator” by Martin Keown will see Leeds as his next victims.

Bielsa must prepare for the England international to be at the top of his game tomorrow night. Because of the threat he poses in front of goal, he cannot afford any mistakes or Rashford will punish them.

The Whites have been hit with several injury cases already this season and are currently without centre-back duo Robin Koch and Diego Llorente. Bielsa has been using Luke Ayling as a central defender recently, but he must consider re-introducing Pascal Struijk to the starting lineup.

The £7,000 per week Dutchman has fallen down the pecking order this season but he has a huge chance to make an impact on his side.

Whilst nothing takes away from the hard work Ayling has put in, Leeds need a natural centre-back to support Liam Cooper and Illan Meslier as they prepare to face United’s clinical attack. Struijk and the captain can protect the goal whilst Ayling returns to his usual position at right-back.

In other news, Radrizzani will be glad to offload one Leeds player next summer…

Liverpool have identified Schalke 04 defender Ozan Kabak as Virgil van Dijk’s potential replacement in January, according to reports.

Kabak on the Anfield radar

The Dutchman is set to miss a significant amount of the 2020/21 campaign after damaging his anterior cruciate ligament during last weekend’s 2-2 draw in the Merseyside derby against Everton at Goodison Park.

As the incident occurred just after the transfer window closed, the Reds will now have to wait until January if they want to bring in defensive reinforcements.

According to Sport Media Set (via talkSPORT), Kabak, a 20-year-old Turkish centre-back, is believed to be the answer for the future as they adjust to life without the Dutchman. However, Kabak was involved in a controversial incident which saw him severely punished by the German Football Federation (DFB).

The 1.86m (6 foot 1) defender appeared to spit at Werder Bremen’s Ludwig Augustinsson and was sent off later in the game following his side’s defeat, subsequently being found guilty of unsporting behaviour and suspended for four matches. On top of this, Kabak was fined €15,000 (£13,640) and later apologised for his actions, stressting that they were unintentional (via AA).

The next El-Hadji Diouf?

Liverpool are known for having a squad with a strong bond and players who possess powerfully positive mindsets. Having a player like Kabak around the likes of Jordan Henderson and James Milner on a daily basis could disrupt the group.

The Reds have had troublesome figures play for the club over the years, most notably El Hadji-Diouf, who was caught spitting at a Celtic fan during a UEFA Cup game at Celtic Park in the early 2000s.

It is something that the Merseysiders will want to eradicate from their history. Any risk of such incidents reoccurring should be enough for Liverpool to steer clear of Kabak, never mind to replace their best defender.

Jurgen Klopp would be better going for someone like RB Leipzig’s Dayot Upamecano, a promising centre-half who is playing in the Champions League regularly and has the potential to fill Van Dijk’s shoes.

In other news, 6 ft 2 ace could become Michael Edwards’ first flop after startling Klopp revelation.