All posts by z3u9t.icu

Ipswich must seal a deal to sign centre-back Callum Connolly following his exit from Premier League side Everton.

What’s the talk?

Last month, TWTD reported that Ipswich are looking at Connolly as a potential target ahead of the upcoming transfer window to bolster their squad. Connolly spent the 2017/18 Championship campaign on loan to Ipswich from Everton and the club are now looking into the possibility of a return to Portman Road for the defender.

Everton have now confirmed that they have decided to release Connolly. The 23-year-old is out of contract at the end of the month and Everton have opted against renewing his deal, with Connolly now poised to become a free agent in July.

Former Fleetwood manager Joey Barton hailed the “superb” centre-back for his versatility and quality earlier this season. He told the Gazette:

“But the added bonus has been Callum Connolly. We thought he would give us versatility but every position he’s gone into, he’s just played better. He’s played left centre-half and was superb, then he flipped over to right centre-half and he was superb.”

Chambers 2.0

Ipswich and Paul Cook could be about to land Luke Chambers 2.0 if they are able to bring Connolly to the club on a free transfer this summer. The main comparison between the two players is that they are both leaders on the pitch. Simon Grayson arrived at Fleetwood in January and instantly made Connolly his captain for the rest of the campaign in League One. Chambers, who is set to leave Ipswich on a free this summer, has been the captain at Portman Road for the majority of his time in Suffolk and led the team on and off the pitch with pride.

They also play in the same positions on the pitch. Chambers and Connolly both played right-back and centre-back in League One this season for Ipswich and Fleetwood respectively. This proves that Connolly could come in and play the same roles that Chambers has been able to over the last decade or so, as both players are adept at playing in the heart of the defence and at fullback.

The £17k-per-week beast, Connolly, has already shown that he has the quality to excel at League One level. He averaged a superb WhoScored rating of 6.86 across 40 appearances on loan to Fleetwood in the 2020/21 campaign, starting 38 of those games at centre-back. This proves that he is a capable performer at this level and, at the age of 23, he could have the potential to play for the Blues for a very long time – just as Chambers was able to do.

AND in other news, Ipswich must seal swoop for “tremendous” £360k-rated beast, fans would be buzzing…

Aston Villa correspondent Ashley Preece has dropped a major update on Philippe Coutinho’s Villa Park future.

The Lowdown: Coutinho’s loan spell

Coutinho was Steven Gerrard’s first signing as Villa boss back in January, with the playmaker penning a loan deal until the end of the season from Barcelona.

Villa managed to negotiate an option to make a move permanent in the summer, which is thought to be in the region of £33.4m.

The 29-year-old has made 13 appearances in a Villa shirt, contributing to seven goals while playing on both wings and as an attacking midfielder.

The Latest: Preece’s reveal

Preece dropped a Birmingham Live Q&A in a story on Thursday morning, discussing a variety of Villa topics.

One of those was on Coutinho, with a fan asking Preece how likely a permanent deal was. This is what he had to say in reply, sharing a positive update.

“Coutinho deal is, I’m told, likely to go through. Just a case of dotting Is and crossing Ts.”

The Verdict: A relief

Coutinho has impressed since making the move to the Midlands, which has resulted in interest from the likes of Newcastle United, Tottenham Arsenal and West Ham.

Villa may have been slightly worried over a permanent move despite having an option to buy at the end of the season due to the growing interest.

Therefore, Preece’s update is a relief heading into Gerrard’s first full season, and the Villa boss will more than likely be delighted, as he confirmed he wanted to make a move permanent last month.

In other news: Gerrard now happy for ace to leave Villa Park; he’s ‘central to a lot of the problems’. 

According to a report by The Sun, super agent Jorge Mendes wants to get Wolverhampton Wanderers boss Nuno Espirito Santo to Tottenham and contact has been made over a potential switch in the summer.

Indeed, the 47-year-old has apparently been offered to Spurs by the agent who is already working on his successor at Molineux as well.

Nuno Espirito Santo offered to Tottenham

Mendes is ‘working’ on bringing another one of his clients, Bruno Lage, to the UK to replace Nuno at Wolves while he offers their current boss to Spurs and chairman Daniel Levy.

There is a sense, according to this report, that the time might be right for Nuno to move on to a bigger club who can consistently challenge for European football – coming after Wolves’ slight dip this season.

Now, the manager’s agent has apparently contacted Spurs over potentially appointing him as a successor to Jose Mourinho – with the Lilywhites now seemingly gifted a chance to hire him.

Transfer Tavern take

He is not without his plaudits, especially from players who have worked under his tutelage – Hassan ‘Kouka’ Ahmed opened up to the BBC over Nuno and their time together as player and coach, with the Egyptian heralding him as ‘fantastic’.

Meanwhile, he has also earned glowing praise from Man City boss Pep Guardiola who called him an ‘excellent manager’ back in 2018 (Express and Star).

Given his reputation in the footballing world, he could be a glowing outside candidate for the role behind favourites like Erik Ten Hag, now that Julian Nagelsmann is officially out of the picture.

In other news: Alasdair Gold drops Tottenham stadium naming rights update, find out more here.

Aston Villa saw a £25million bid for Yves Bissouma rejected by Brighton and Hove Albion, according to The Telegraph’s John Percy. 

The journalist tweeted that Villa are now prioritising a deal for Juventus’ Rodrigo Bentancur after Brighton batted away their offer for the 25-year-old.

Steven Gerrard seems intent on signing another midfielder before the January transfer window closes in a week’s time.

Villa bid was only half of Brighton’s valuation

The Athletic’s Brighton correspondent Andy Naylor wrote earlier in January that it would take a bid of £50m for the Seagulls to consider parting with Bissouma this month. They don’t see any need to sell, even though the Mali international is into the final 18 months of his contract and has apparently given no indication that he will sign an extension at the Amex Stadium.

Bissouma has previously been ‘linked’ with the likes of Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal, who all may now hope to beat Villa to his signature.

The Midlands outfit have spent £27m so far in Gerrard’s first transfer window, signing Lucas Digne permanently from Everton and loaning in Philippe Coutinho and Robin Olsen.

Here’s what Villa fans made of Percy’s revelation about the rejected bid for Bissouma, with many believing that sporting director Johan Lange has foolishly low-balled on the midfielder’s true value.

Villa supporters baffled by Bissouma bid

“25 mil? That’s embarrassing”

Credit: @_ali_mans

“Villa’s ‘bids’ for JWP, Smith-Rowe and Bissouma have been laughable. Significantly undervalued talent with bids that were never in a million years going to be accepted”

Credit: @military_villan

“Bidding 25m for Bissouma was kind of wild tbh”

Credit: @obeball_

“Lange are you ok? 25m you know”

Credit: @WazeUTV

“£25m, they were never gonna accept that”

Credit: @DaleAC93

“£25m is embarrassing”

Credit: @villavisionben

In other news, another midfield target has emerged for Villa

A summer of change has arisen at Wolverhampton Wanderers with the old guard being removed from Molineux and fresh faces gracing the Midlands.

Nuno Santo has already departed the Old Gold and has been replaced by Bruno Lage. However, we could still yet see some of their star men depart.

On the chalkboard

One of the main concerns for Wolves in the remaining weeks of the window will be losing Ruben Neves.

The Portuguese dynamo has been linked with the exit door for some time now with Arsenal reportedly interested in securing his services.

Tentative talks have taken place over his signing but it could be a deal that sets any willing suitor back a whopping £35m.

Neves has been exceptional for Wolves since signing for a Championship record fee back in 2017.

He has been a stalwart in the middle of the park, offering swashbuckling tackling and devastating shooting from long-range.

If he does leave, though, a replacement will be needed.

The solution

According to Spanish publication, Sport, Wolves have been in negotiations to sign Aaron Ramsey from Juventus this summer.

The midfielder is now 30 years of age but enjoyed a vibrant European Championships for Wales after barely starting for the Turin club.

Ramsey left Arsenal behind in 2019 to sign a massive £400k-per-week deal with the Italian champions.

Therefore, he would be required to take a massive wage drop in order to head back to English football.

If Lage can tempt the 67-cap international to join his project at Wolves, he’d be an excellent replacement for Neves.

Dubbed as an “outstanding technician” by Martin Keown, he has the qualities to pose a threat in the final third like Neves, but also sit back and defend well.

Ramsey has proven in previous campaigns that he’s a goalscoring midfielder, finding the net on 16 occasions in 2013/14.

That’s a tally that eclipses Neves’ best season for goals by quite some margin but he’s also shown an ability to defend exceptionally well. In the 2015/16 Premier League term, the Welsh dynamo prevailed in 2.5 tackles per match.

Compare that to Neves and the similarities are clear. He won 2.4 challenges per game in the top-flight last season for instance.

Although Ramsey would have to become one of the club’s highest earners, he would be worth it to replace their Portuguese maestro.

AND in other news, Wolves offered chance to sign “exceptional” 56-cap ace, he may be another Willian Jose…

Mick McCarthy’s Cardiff City side have set their stall out regarding the Bluebirds’ centre-forward Kieffer Moore ahead of the summer transfer window.

What’s the latest?

That’s according to a report by Wales Online, who claim that Cardiff will not accept an offer of anything less than £15m for the 28-year-old centre-forward this summer, in a desperate attempt to keep hold of the 15-time capped Wales international.

Fans will be buzzing

Having only moved from Wigan Athletic to Cardiff in what was a £1.98m deal last summer, Moore has already proven during his short time at the Cardiff City Stadium that he can play a huge role in Mick McCarthy’s side putting together a push for promotion next term.

In the season just past, the £6k-per-week striker highly impressed over his 42 Championship appearances for the Bluebirds, scoring a whopping 20 goals and registering one assist, as well as taking an average of 2.5 shots and making 0.5 key passes per game, culminating in a remarkable average SofaScore match rating of 7.28 – ranking him as the club’s best performer in the second tier.

As a result of these impressive displays, it would hardly be surprising if a number of the Championship heavyweights, or even a couple of Premier League sides, were tempted into making an offer for the former Rotherham United forward this summer.

However, after Cardiff confirmed that they will accept nothing less than a £15m bid for the 28-year-old this summer, this is highly likely to put a number of clubs off of a move for the hitman, which, in turn, provides Cardiff’s promotion ambitions ahead of next season with a rather substantial boost.

As such, with Moore looking extremely likely to still be playing his football in the blue of Cardiff next term, things very much seem to be on the up for the Welsh side, something that will undoubtedly leave fans of the club buzzing.

In other news: Tan must seal Cardiff deal for “outstanding” £15k-p/w star, he’s crucial to McCarthy – opinion

Arsenal have yet to receive a formal bid for Newcastle United target Joe Willock, according to The Athletic. 

The lowdown

The 21-year-old spent the second half of the 2020/21 season on loan at St James’ Park and plundered in eight goals in just 14 appearances. His goal in the 2-0 victory against Fulham on the final day of the season took his scoring streak to seven consecutive matches, matching the club record set by Alan Shearer (via BBC Sport).

The £14.4m-rated midfielder has now returned to north London and still has two years to run on his contract at the Emirates Stadium (via Transfermarkt).

Willock had been limited to just two Premier League starts under Mikel Arteta in the first half of the 2020/21 campaign.

The latest

The report from James McNicholas and David Ornstein in The Athletic states that Arsenal plan to sit down with Willock when he returns from his holiday to discuss his prospects.

It’s expected that the Gunners will consider any ‘suitable offers’ which arrive for the 21-year-old, but at this point Newcastle’s ‘interest’ has yet to progress to the bidding stage.

The verdict

It will feel like a step backwards if Newcastle fail to secure Willock given how integral he was to the run of form which lifted them from the brink of the relegation zone to a 12th-place finish.

He was the engine of the team in the middle of the park, and Newcastle don’t really have another player who can replicate his role of providing a regular scoring threat from midfield.

If Arsenal’s price tag proves to be unrealistic for the Magpies, perhaps they could look to arrange a second loan and instead pursue a permanent deal next summer, when you’d hope the uncertainty around the club’s ownership will have been resolved.

In other news, Newcastle are the favourites to sign this Euro 2020 star. 

After tasting their first win of the Premier League season against Watford last time out, Leeds United will be hoping to make it back-to-back victories when they take on Southampton on Saturday afternoon.

Marcelo Bielsa’s side claimed all three points against the Hornets thanks to a goal from Diego Llorente, and the Whites manager will have some big decisions to make before today’s clash against the Saints.

Along with a number of injury issues, Bielsa also has to contend with uncertainty over Raphinha’s availability following his exploits with Brazil on international duty.

With that in mind, here is a look at how Leeds might line up for the clash against Southampton at St Mary’s later this afternoon.

In goal, Illan Meslier will be looking to keep his second successive clean sheet after shutting out the Hornets, while Bielsa should look to keep faith in 22-year-old Jamie Shackleton, who impressed against Watford by winning four tackles.

Further up the pitch, the Leeds manager will be desperately hoping that Kalvin Phillips is passed fit for the game, while he could also make a big call by dropping the underperforming Stuart Dallas from his starting line-up.

That could see a potential opportunity for Tyler Roberts to come into the team, while if Raphinha fails to come through in time, Jack Harrison should come in from the bench to start today.

With Patrick Bamford out once again like he has been for the past couple of games, Rodrigo will once again be tasked with leading the line.

Meanwhile, Phil Hay has confirmed an encouraging Leeds boost over Kalvin Phillips…

If Ange Postecoglou didn’t already have selection issues heading into Celtic’s first competitive fixture next week, he certainly does now.

The Hoops drew 0-0 with their pre-season opposition on Wednesday evening but it was a clash marred with injuries.

On the chalkboard

Mikey Johnston earned a rare opportunity but had to be withdrawn early in the first half while Odsonne Edouard also sustained an injury against Charlton.

The Bhoys were already missing James Forrest due to his self-isolation period and he remains a doubt for their match with Midtjylland next week.

They could also be without Vasilis Barkas. The Greek stopper was injured in the warm-up and had to sit on the sidelines for the entire game.

He was pictured sitting next to the pitch with his fingers on his right hand severely strapped up.

The extent of his problem isn’t known but Celtic already have somewhat of a headache in his position.

Barkas missed a great deal of last season after he suddenly became number 2 to Scott Bain. His first campaign in Glasgow wasn’t an easy one as he was subject to a number of individual errors.

However, Bain and third choice ‘keeper Conor Hazard weren’t a pillar of solidity either, making their own mistakes.

Their £4.5m signing from last summer had been entrusted between the sticks against Sheffield Wednesday and Charlton but now faces a race to be fit for next week.

The solution

One of the areas Celtic needed to look at strengthening this summer was their goalkeeping department.

They’ve been linked with moves for Benjamin Siegrist and Mat Ryan but the latter has now departed Brighton for Real Sociedad instead.

Another target has been Freddie Woodman but there could be complications regarding a swoop for the Newcastle stopper.

Leeds are also interested in the 24-year-old but he was on the verge of joining Bournemouth on loan before the Magpies realised that Martin Dubravka had sustained an injury.

This may give Celtic an opportunity to weigh up a bid themselves and if they can conclude a deal, it would surely fix Postecoglou’s biggest headache.

[snack-amp-story url= “https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/read-the-latest-celtic-news-doig-nketiah-mccann” title= “Read the latest Celtic transfer news!”]

The new head coach would have a reliable man to replace Barkas next week and potentially aid their leaky backline throughout the entirety of 2021/22.

The £9m-rated Woodman has previously been described as “unbelievable” by Lee Clarke who coached him at Kilmarnock and it’s easy to see why; he’s a very safe pair of hands.

He didn’t miss a single game last season for Swansea, keeping 21 clean sheets during his 48 outings for the Championship side.

The Newcastle goalkeeper’s form in recent campaigns has also earned calls for him to be included in Gareth Southgate’s England set-up.

Clearly highly thought of, he’d be a wise signing for Postecoglou and co.

AND in other news, Celtic expected to launch bid for 23 y/o who “terrifies defenders”, he’s a big upgrade…

Charlton put on a show on Tuesday night as they produced a magnificent display against Crawley in the EFL Trophy, winning 6-1.

The Addicks have had a disappointing start to the 2021/22 campaign and this result could help lift the confidence heading into the rest of the season. Nigel Adkins’ side lost four of their first five competitive fixtures and picked up one solitary point in a 0-0 draw with Sheffield Wednesday on the opening day.

Their first League One victory came last weekend with a 2-0 win over Crewe Alexandra, with Charlton following that up with an exceptional 6-1 win against Crawley. Josh Davison scored twice, with Corey Taylor, Elliot Lee and Mason Burstow also scoring, along with an own goal from Crawley’s George Francomb.

Davison and the other goalscorers will take the acclaim for finding the back of the net, but there was a player in Charlton’s midfield who was the unsung hero with his performance in the middle of the park – George Dobson.

The 23-year-old, who arrived from Sunderland in the summer, put on a superb display in midfield as he dominated the game. He recorded a SofaScore rating of 7.9 for his showing, the highest out of all the players who failed to get on the scoresheet – with goals, of course, boosting the ratings of the goalscorers.

Per SofaScore, Dobson won the majority of his duels on the pitch – winning seven of his 12 contests, six of 11 on the ground and one out of one in the air. His key defensive stats, however, are where the true excellence of his performance lay. He made three clearances, five tackles, two blocks and eight interceptions over the course of 90 minutes.

To put that into perspective, Ian Maatsen’s average of 4.5 tackles and interceptions per game in League One was the highest in the Charlton squad last season. Dobson managed a combined 13 tackles and interceptions against Crawley, illustrating his dominance in midfield.

Whilst it is easy to be attracted to the players who scored the goals, Dobson was the one winning the ball back and initiating the attacks for Charlton. Without his incredible work in midfield, the rest of the team may not have had the opportunities to go on and score the goals they did, whilst the ex-Black Cats man also registered an assist for his troubles as well.

This is why he was the unsung hero for Adkins on Tuesday night. However, the Addicks boss will now be wanting to see a similar style of display more consistently from the beast in League One going forward.