All posts by h716a5.icu

Celtic were dealt a huge deadline day heartbreak as major January target Ben Davies signed for Liverpool on a £1.5million long-term deal. The Hoops had been in advanced talks with the former Preston North End centre-back and he had reportedly agreed personal terms with the Premiership outfit.

Naturally, when the reigning Premier League champions come calling, you answer that call. But that doesn’t take away from the disappointment Celtic must be feeling right now. However, this outcome will be good news for Brighton loanee Shane Duffy, whose loan deal with the Bhoys was at risk of being cut short.

Reprieve for Shane Duffy

Neil Lennon’s squad has been hampered with injuries this season and one man who has missed plenty of action is Christopher Jullien. According to Transfermarkt, the Frenchman has missed a whopping 29 matches through injury so far this term, plus a further three due to self-isolation.

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Partly due to Duffy’s inconsistent performances, the Celtic defence has been unnaturally soft. Their usual water-tight backline has been subject to a lot of leaks and Davies could have helped patch this up.

Ahead of his first appearance for Liverpool, the £5,500 per week defender has received praise in abundance. He was described as a “Rolls Royce” of a player by Peter Risdale, who is now an advisor to the owner of Preston. His stats for the season back this up – in comparison to Duffy, he has averaged more tackles, interceptions and clearances per 90 minutes this season, according to WhoScored.

Davies is also four years younger than the Brighton loanee and could have delivered a fresher outlook to Lennon’s squad. Missing out on signing the centre-back will be a huge blow to the Bhoys, who will be looking to limit damage caused by a lacklustre 2020/21 season.

However, for Duffy, talks of his loan deal coming to an early end have evidently not come to fruition and he will see out his full spell at Celtic Park. It’s fair to say that he has been a disappointment for the Hoops, now he could be given a chance to put things right and prove why Lennon was so keen to sign him in the first place.

In other news, Celtic suffer deadline day blow over Japhet Tanganga…

According to talkSPORT, West Ham United have made Josh King their top target before Monday’s transfer deadline…

What’s the word?

Ian Abrahams, affectionately known as Broadcast Moose on Twitter, told supporters on Friday morning that the AFC Bournemouth forward was atop David Moyes’ priorities.

He said:

“My sources tell me despite all the talk about foreign strikers, West Ham still have Josh King as top target and moves are afoot to approach Bournemouth. I’m led to believe reports about his huge wage demands are misguided.”

The 27-year-old is thought to be on around £45k-per-week at the Vitality Stadium.

Shades of Di Canio?

While recent links to the likes of Hwang Hee-chan and Patson Daka are hugely exciting and would certainly help bolster potential ambitions of a shock qualification to Europe this season, adding King instead is no mere downgrade.

The 51-time Norway international is vastly experienced in the Premier League having hit at least six goals in five successive top-flight campaigns with his best tally of 16 coming in 2016/17, via Transfermarkt.

But it is his other characteristics that make him an even-more desired addition and you could argue, he’s displayed shades of a Hammers great in Paolo Di Canio too.

The Italian sensation was absolutely one of a kind, but was also known for his versatility across the frontline, his technical ability, creativity, eye for goal and dribbling skills.

King covers a lot of these; as seen above, he’s been a prolific option in the Premier League and just like Di Canio at Sheffield Wednesday, he’s been tried and tested prior to a move to east London.

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In addition to that, only ten other players across the top-flight attempted more dribbles than King (122) last season, as per FBRef. By comparison, Michail Antonio topped the Irons’ charts with 107 attempts. If anything, that shows why King would be a decent fit for Moyes.

The Cherries frontman also attempted more carries into the final third of the pitch, averaging 1.66 times per 90, compared to Antonio’s 1.02 average, also via FBRef.

What makes King technically-gifted is his relentless energy to press the opposition’s backline. Again, only 14 other players across the whole division managed to win possession more times than the Norweigen dynamo (9.4 per 90).

It means his ruthless consistency in front of goal, ball-carrying skills and clinical finishing coupled with his dynamic versatility means West Ham could land the closest thing they’ve had to Di Canio, ever.

When speaking about King to Match of the Day, former Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe dubbed him the “complete package” as he is “outstanding physically, technically and mentally” (via The Football Faithful).

Again, those words are cut from the same cloth as the Hammers legend.

It’s thought that King could be available for just £10m before Monday’s deadline, according to The Athletic’s Wolves reporter Tim Spiers (5th Jan Molineux View), so that would certainly present good value considering Salzburg would want €25m (£22.5m) for Daka.

Getting all the aforementioned attributes for half the price the club sold Sebastian Haller for would be an absolute bargain for Moyes. The Hammers’ hierarchy, namely David Sullivan, needs to get this done in the next few days.

AND in other news, Imagine him & Lingard: Why Hammers need to clinch this prolific machine…

West Ham United may have to pay the price for an apparent blunder, after Olympique de Marseille walked away from a deal to sign Manuel Lanzini in January.

What’s the word?

According to The Sun, Andre Villas-Boas had pushed the Ligue 1 outfit to sign Lanzini as part of a major revamp at the Orange Velodrome.

The former Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur head coach initially attempted to include Lanzini in a potential swap deal for Morgan Sanson, before later returning with a straight loan approach after OM sold the 26-year-old to Aston Villa for £15.5m.

Villas-Boas was keen for Lanzini to play a role in turning Les Phoceens’ fortunes around after a difficult campaign, but the Marseille hierarchy instead opted to sign Olivier Ntcham on a loan-to-buy deal from Celtic.

Villas-Boas had hit out at Marseille for signing Ntcham until the end of the season, noting via quotes by The Guardian: “I submitted my resignation saying that I did not agree with the sporting policy.

“We ended the transfer window with a new player [in Ntcham]. He is a player that I had said ‘no’ for.”

OM deemed his comments “unacceptable” and fired the 43-year-old following a season that saw Les Phoceens eliminated from the Champions League after the group stage.

A blunder by Sullivan?

West Ham failing to offload Lanzini to Marseille will go down as a blunder by the Irons’ co-owner and Chairman Sullivan, as the Argentine had seemingly been placed firmly in the shop window by head coach David Moyes ahead of the winter transfer market.

Lanzini was reportedly made available for a mid-season move in December but had failed to attract any interest before the window opened last month, when claims emerged that West Ham were valuing the five-cap international as highly as £15m.

It was no wonder Moyes was willing to sacrifice the midfielder given how infrequently he had featured over the first few months of the campaign, starting two of 11 Premier League appearances, and is unlikely to feature too often now than Jesse Lingard has joined on loan.

Lingard’s arrival from Manchester United has already seen the England international take a more prominent role in Moyes’ plans, starting both available games and scoring a brace on his debut, while Lanzini has been left an unused substitute in the Hammers’ last four top-flight fixtures.

Yet Villas-Boas clearly liked what Lanzini could have brought to the table at the Stade Velodrome. But he could not be united with the £70,000-per-week playmaker, potentially due to the Irons’ demands with Celtic sending Ntcham to France on loan with a £5.5m option to buy.

West Ham will now be left to rue pricing Lanzini out of a move to OM with his lucrative terms running to 2023. And with Lingard also now ahead of him in the pecking order, the Hammers will struggle to see the former Al-Jazira maestro maintain his market value until the summer and they may be forced to sell him for a cheaper fee when the season ends.

AND in other news, David Moyes can give a £3.5m-rated outcast a new lease of life at West Ham with one decision…

With just one defeat in their last six league outings, this was the ideal opportunity for Wolves to lay down their credentials.

By all accounts, this has been a torrid campaign for the Old Gold. Nuno Santo has rarely had many difficulties in his Molineux tenure, but this season has been full of them.

With injuries aplenty and his attack misfiring, Nuno’s men have been closer to relegation than achieving their ultimate goal of European football.

Against a timid Newcastle side, it was a performance that demonstrated everything that’s gone wrong with this Wolves team. Last season, they surely would have pushed the Magpies aside.

Their quick counter-attacking style of football would arguably have been no match for a rigid Steve Bruce team. Though, his side stood firm on this occasion and even took the lead.

It took Ruben Neves’ fourth goal in ten matches for Wolves to take a solitary point after drawing 1-1, but if there was a positive beyond that, it had to be Adama Traore.

In an otherwise tame display, the winger was rampant and is now beginning to creep towards his best form again. The Spaniard caused the goal against Leeds just over a week ago, thundering a fierce effort off the bar that came off Illan Meslier and then found the net.

Although he failed to score at St James’ Park, his performance typified the skills he’s brought to the Premier League since joining from Middlesbrough.

We know Traore has what it takes to beat a man but even he defied his usual standards on Saturday evening. In total, the 25-year-old succeeded with a total of 14 dribbles from 19 attempts. That tally happened to better his season’s best of nine dribbles in a game.

He had Toon right-back Emil Krafth in a spin as he was surpassed past on no fewer than four occasions by the rampant Traore.

It was a day to forget for the Swedish defender who found life incredibly difficult against the Spain international.

That wasn’t the sole positive from his outing, though. Traore set the tone for a remarkable display with four key passes leading to goal scoring opportunities, a tally that once again happened to be his best of the campaign.

The forward is often a bulldozer on the wing and he used his frightening levels of strength to maraud his way past opponents. During the contest, he won a colossal 19 ground duels, a tally that surpassed Wolves’ next best player (Jonny) in this department by a total of 13.

This was a mesmerising outing from Traore, one that signified he is now well and truly back.

All the Wolves star needs now is to find the back of the net. Amazingly, he is yet to do so in the Premier League this season.

AND in other news, Forget Gibbs-White: Nuno must unleash rarely-seen Wolves 18y/o who “scores every week”…

Former Scotland international Alan Hutton believes that Celtic’s head of recruitment Gary Penrice deserves to lose his job.

Penrice out?

The Bhoys spent a total of £14.13m (Transfermarkt) in the summer, opting to bring in the likes of Albian Ajeti, Vasilis Barkas and Shane Duffy on loan to bolster their hopes of winning an unprecedented 10-in-a-row.

However, that has not gone to plan with manager Neil Lennon resigning and reports suggested in January that transfer guru Nick Hammond could be dismissed in the summer in what could be a summer overhaul at Parkhead.

On top of this, Penrice has also been linked with a move out of the club after what has been a disastrous 2020/21 campaign for the green half of Glasgow.

Speaking to Football Insider, Hutton believes that Penrice is not up to the task anymore and expects him to be replaced this summer.

“They need to act, it’s as simple as that,” he said. “It’s not been good enough. It’s like any work you do, if you’re making mistake after mistake, you’re going to lose your job.

“You saw it happen at Aston Villa with Suso (Jesus Garcia Pitarch). He brought in so many players and it didn’t work out. He moved on and look at them now.

“I think if you go through the Celtic squad and what they brought in, yes they had some players that worked out but more often than not, it didn’t. They spent big money.

“It doesn’t surprise me they’re having a full shakeup, revamping everything.”

Transfer Tavern Verdict

There is no doubt that Celtic need a revamp – and fast. But supporters will probably need to accept that the rebuild could take a few seasons to get right.

While there are huge expectations for the Hoops to reclaim the Scottish Premiership crown at the first time of asking, it may take a couple of campaigns to put the respective measures in place to eradicate the deadwood in the side.

Ajeti, Barkas and Duffy have been heavily criticised for their abject performances this season – and rightly so. Time will tell whether Penrice is moved on or if Dominic McKay will trust him to move the club forward.

In other news, Celtic-linked manager reacts to Parkhead rumours; Mourinho dubbed him as ‘incredible.’

Ralph Hasenhuttl named a much-changed side for Southampton’s trip to league leaders Manchester City on Wednesday night and saw his side emphatically beaten 5-2.

The Saints started well at the Etihad before Kevin De Bruyne opened the scoring, although James Ward-Prowse equalised soon after with a penalty.

Goals from Riyad Mahrez and Ilkay Gundogan put the Citizens 3-1 up at half-time before Mahrez added another in the second half.

Che Adams then immediately grabbed a goal back but it would only be a consolation as De Bruyne scored a fifth for City, and Pep Guardiola’s side could and perhaps should, have scored more against a worryingly open Southampton defence.

One man who disappointed with his performance at the Etihad was Ryan Bertrand.

The 31-year-old featured as a right-back against City but struggled in an unorthodox position, with SofaScore rating him a 5.7/10 for his performance – the worst of any player on the pitch.

The former Chelsea man was constantly tormented by Phil Foden down the left-hand side, as the youngster picked up an 8.1 rating for his display; playing three key passes, completing four dribbles and registering two assists during his time on the pitch.

Bertrand, who reportedly earns £70k per week at Southampton, would make just one tackle and two interceptions during the 90 minutes, whereas Mohammed Salisu, who was playing at left-back, would make five tackles and two interceptions, which emphasises how much the Englishman struggled.

The defender would also manage to win just 3/8 of his duels during the game, resulting in a less than impressive 38% success rate, which was comfortably the worst of any Southampton defender on the night.

Bertrand was also wasteful when he had the ball, as none of his three attempted long balls were accurate, whilst he wouldn’t attempt a single cross in the 90 minutes.

Hasenhuttl put his faith in the experienced defender to perform at right-back in the absence of Kyle Walker-Peters, who was rested after only returning from injury at the weekend, but he clearly failed to repay the Austrian manager’s faith in him, as he produced a woeful display at the Etihad.

And, in other news… Deadwood: Hasenhuttl should axe £10.8m-rated flop if he wants to rebuild this summer

Tottenham will be looking to continue their run in the Europa League with a positive result against Dinamo Zagreb on Thursday evening, although Jose Mourinho may have one eye on Sunday’s North London derby when he selects his team for the game at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Spurs progressed comfortably past Wolfsberger in the last round, whilst Dinamo Zagreb made it through to the Round of 16 after beating Russian side Krasnodar 4-2 on aggregate.

Whilst it won’t be an easy game for Spurs, the Portuguese manager should make the most of his squad depth and make plenty of changes for the visit of the Croatian side, with the likes of Harry Kane and Heung-Min Son perhaps deserving a rest.

Here’s how Football FanCast expects Mourinho to set his side up against Dinamo Zagreb on Thursday, with 10 changes from the side that started against Crystal Palace on Sunday…

Joe Hart is likely to continue his role as the usual starter in the Europa League, coming in for Hugo Lloris.

There are three changes in defence, as Serge Aurier comes in for Matt Doherty at right-back, and Ben Davies replaces Sergio Reguilon on the left.

Toby Alderweireld is rested, with Eric Dier partnering Davinson Sanchez at centre-back, with the Colombian the only man to keep his place.

Mourinho has already confirmed that Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg will be rested, and after sitting out against Palace, Tanguy Ndombele is likely to come back in, with Moussa Sissoko the man to partner him in midfield.

Dele Alli’s recent impressive form sees him come back in, whilst Erik Lamela and Steven Bergwijn start in place of Gareth Bale and Son, who reportedly earns £175k per week at Spurs, on the wings.

Finally, Carlos Vinicius will be looking to continue his decent record in the Europa League, with Kane rested, although it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Englishman feature if Spurs are struggling to make the breakthrough on Thursday.

And, in other news… Mourinho masterclass: Jose has revitalised £110k-p/w gem at Spurs with one simple change

Speaking exclusively to Football FanCast, former Premier League midfielder Carlton Palmer has hailed Aston Villa assistant head coach Craig Shakespeare for the impact he has had at the club.

Shakespeare, who has spent time working with Leicester City and the England national team, was added to Villa’s backroom staff by manager Dean Smith in August 2020 as the 49-year-old looked to add more experience to his coaching team.

That coaching team, of course, also includes former Chelsea and England captain John Terry, and Palmer believes the ex-central defender and Shakespeare have played a massive part in Villa’s defensive improvement this season. He told FFC:

“Conceding goals was a major thing that they had to address. I think he’s [Smith] done a fantastic job, he really has. I think his recruitment of Craig Shakespeare… been number two to Nigel Pearson, number two to Sam Allardyce at Everton, fantastic. He really is a fantastic coach.

“So he’s done well recruiting that and, of course, he’s got an ex-England international centre-back there. So obviously that will help with the defensive side of things.”

Without a doubt, the Villans have been exceptional in defence this term. In 27 league games, Smith’s men have conceded just 28 goals (per WhoScored). Only Chelsea (25) and title favourites Manchester City (21) have managed to register better records in that department.

It is quite the shift from last season, with Villa conceding 67 goals by the end of the 2019/20 Premier League campaign, the second-worst record in the division.

The Midlands club have also managed to keep 14 clean sheets this term, a number that only Chelsea (15) and Manchester City (16) can once again beat, really putting into perspective how solid they have been since last September.

Everton have landed a huge boost in the race to sign Lucas Vazquez after the Real Madrid maestro reportedly named Goodison Park as his preferred destination.

What’s the word?

According to a report in Spain, Vazquez has decided that he will leave the Santiago Bernabeu at the end of the season and he has his heart set on a reunion with Carlo Ancelotti and James Rodriguez.

Vazquez is due to be out of contract when his £113,000-per-week terms expire in June and he has not seen the La Liga giants reopen negotiations after he rejected the terms of a new deal.

The Spain international is now set to leave Real, unless there’s an expectational change in circumstances, and he has a wealth of admirers in Everton, Leeds United, AC Milan and Real Betis, while Valencia, Sevilla and SSC Napoli have previously been linked.

Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur and Atletico Madrid are also potential destinations, though Vazquez is now said to be considering a move to Merseyside as he knows what to expect if playing under Ancelotti.

Vazquez never made an appearance for Ancelotti during the Italian’s time in charge of Los Blancos, but the Everton boss apparently values how the £13.5m-rated winger has since developed and grown as a person.

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Should Everton sign Vazquez?

Everton’s alleged intention to bring Vazquez to Merseyside in the off-season to benefit Rodriguez is not new, with Defensa Central claiming at the start of the month that Ancelotti had targeted the Real Madrid forward as part of his plans to keep the Colombian on side.

It was thought that Ancelotti was pushing Everton to sign Vazquez as his arrival would help convince Rodriguez to stay at Goodison Park, as the Colombian had reportedly grown disillusioned by life in the Premier League and was considering a return to Spain.

But the Toffees can benefit from having Vazquez on the pitch, as well, as the soon-to-be free agent can allow Ancelotti to play with either a four or five-man defence after impressing in a right-wing-back role for Real Madrid this season.

Ancelotti has often rotated between naming two and three centre-halves this season, with a 4-3-3 his most-used system for Premier League games with it used on nine occasions so far. He has utilised three centre-back formations five times and two centre-half systems 23 times, per WhoScored.

It was also in a five-at-the-back that Everton hosted Manchester City in the FA Cup quarter-final on Saturday, with Seamus Coleman started at full-back over Mason Holgate.

Ancelotti has favoured Holgate in the role for 12 top-flight fixtures to Coleman on 10 occasions to date, in which they have contributed a respective 2.5 and 2.1 successful tackles, 1.6 and 0.5 interceptions, 0.3 accurate crosses from 1.6 and 1.4 attempts plus 0.3 and 0.5 key passes, per WhoScored.

Vazquez, meanwhile, has made 10 of his 22 La Liga outings this term as a wing-back, in which he has averaged three successful tackles, one interception, 1.4 accurate crosses from 5.8 attempts and 2.1 key passes.

That goes to show the Galacticos talent may not only create more goalscoring chances for the likes of Richarlison and Dominic Calvert-Lewin to fire Everton up the Premier League table, but also take some of the defensive burden away from Ben Godfrey and co. in the centre next season.

So, not only could Vazquez give Rodriguez a morale boost, but he could also give Ancelotti a competent and productive wing-back option without Everton paying Real Madrid a penny.

AND in other news, Everton are monitoring a £17m ace dubbed the next Erling Haaland…

Juan Foyth arrived at Tottenham Hotspur with a lot of potential.

After an impressive debut season at senior level for Estudiantes, former Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino swooped for the then 19-year-old for just £8m in the summer of 2017.

He was certainly earmarked as one for the future upon arrival, Pochettino told the official website:

“Juan is so young, he’s 19, but he’s started to show his potential. There were a lot of teams interested in him but he wanted to sign for us and that’s fantastic because he’s a big talent with big potential.

“He’s a player for the future who will need to adapt his game now to the Premier League and Tottenham. He’s young and needs to improve and learn. He will be great for us.”

Now, nearly four years later, there is a decision to make on the Argentinian defender – is he good enough to be part of Spurs’ future? You’d have to suggest that he’s not.

Despite Spurs losing veteran defender Jan Vertonghen in the summer, Foyth was still considered surplus to requirements by Jose Mourinho as he shipped him out on loan to Villarreal.

Reports have since emerged suggesting that the La Liga outfit would be keen to keep hold of his services permanently, but may not be able to afford the €15m (£13m) option in the current deal.

Considering Transfermarkt value the 23-year-old centre-back around £9m, the north Londoners – and chairman Daniel Levy, in particular – should take what they can for him.

Spurs’ defensive issues have been well-documented this season. Mourinho cannot decide which is his best partnership between Eric Dier, Davinson Sanchez and Toby Alderweireld, and all three have been at fault for numerous individual errors at times throughout the current campaign.

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And on Sunday, Joe Rodon delivered a major statement to stake a claim at keeping his place in the starting XI. We’ve since gone onto explain the merits of his ability, and how he could be the solution Mourinho desperately needs in this article.

You’ve also got speculation suggesting that the Spurs boss is keen to sign a new centre-back in the transfer window – one that could create a similar impact to that of Virgil van Dijk at Liverpool or Ruben Dias at Man City, according to the Evening Standard’s Dan Kilpatrick.

So any way back for Foyth in N17 seems rather unlikely.

Injuries have largely hampered his stint in Spain, having been restricted to only ten league starts and 1,466 minutes in all competitions, via WhoScored.

When you dig deeper, you’ll find that Foyth appears to be undergoing an identity crisis. Villarreal boss Unai Emery has utilised him at centre-back, right-back, defensive and central midfield in his last seven starts alone.

That’s doing Mourinho no favours in his ability to see whether or not he could come straight back into Spurs’ first-team set-up. At this point, he’s probably better off leaving.

If Foyth had anything special about him, then we’d have seen him more than just 32 times in three-and-a-half years. Levy must move him on in the summer, for the good of both the player and the club.

He’d be merely stealing a living sitting on Spurs’ bench or playing for the U23 squad. Just look at Danny Rose.

AND in other news, Valued at £90m in 2019, now worth £26m: Spurs “animal” continues to crash under Jose…