All posts by n8rngtd.top

Rangers have been warned that there will ‘plenty of clubs sniffing around’ Connor Goldson as his contract ticks down. 

Sky Sports pundit Kevin Phillips has been discussing the centre-back’s future with Football Insider.

The lowdown

Goldson joined Rangers ahead of the 2018/19 season, making a £3.06m move from Brighton and Hove Albion. He has gone on to make 173 appearances for the Gers, scoring 17 goals, and he has started all 11 matches for Steven Gerrard’s side so far this season.

However, his future at Ibrox is uncertain, with his contract set to expire at the end of May 2022. As it stands, he will be able to strike a pre-contract agreement with foreign clubs from January 1.

Football Insider reported last week that West Ham United were monitoring the centre-back with a view to possibly making an approach.

The latest

Phillips doesn’t think the Irons will be alone in pursuing Goldson if no Ibrox extension is forthcoming.

He told Football Insider: “What a bargain he would be on a pre-contract. But if he is to leave Rangers in such a way I’m sure there would be plenty of clubs sniffing around him.”

The verdict

This is a real worry for Gers fans. Rangers had hoped to tie down Goldson to a new deal before the end of the summer transfer window, but talks are dragging on and there’s no sign of any imminent breakthrough.

If he proves to be available on a free transfer, then English Premier League clubs will surely form a queue. He would probably be a squad option for West Ham given their centre-back riches, but teams further down the league could potentially offer him a greater role.

In other news, many Rangers fans were left fuming at this man’s performance on Sunday. 

Ange Postecoglou’s Celtic side head into Sunday’s Scottish Premiership fixture in an undeniably poor run of form, with the Bhoys having picked up just 10 points over their opening seven games of the 2021/22 campaign.

However, Celtic’s hosts this afternoon, Aberdeen, are also a side out of sorts at present, with Stephen Glass’ men being without a win in five league fixtures – with the Dons currently languishing down in ninth place in the league table on eight points.

So, with Postecoglou undoubtedly hoping the Bhoys can pick up their first away win of the season at Pittodrie, will the 56-year-old manager make any changes to the team which started in the 4-0 loss to Bayer Leverkusen on Thursday?

Here’s how we think Celtic could line up against the Dons, along with the latest team and injury news…

With Josip Juranovic, James Forrest, Mikey Johnston and Christopher Jullien all failing to recover from their respective injuries in time for Sunday’s clash – with Postecoglou hoping that all four of the stricken quartet are once available after the upcoming international break – in addition to the longer-term absences of both Greg Taylor and Karamoko Dembele remaining sidelined, the manager’s options for the trip to Pittodrie are still somewhat limited.

However, we nevertheless predict that the Hoops boss will make two changes to the side that started against Leverkusen on Thursday.

In defence, the back five of Joe Hart, Adam Montgomery, Carl Starfelt, Cameron Carter-Vickers and Anthony Ralston remains unchanged from the Europa League loss.

The first change comes in central midfield, with the £4.5m-rated David Turnbull dropping out of the side for James McCarthy, in order to provide greater balance to the Celtic side with a slight tweak coming in attack.

Here, attacking midfielder Tom Rogic has to make do with a spot on the bench, with Kyogo Furuhashi – who started as the lone striker on Thursday – dropping back into a support striker role, while Jota and Liel Abada retain their places on the left and right flank respectively.

Replacing Furuhashi up top is Georgios Giakoumakis, with the Greek international being handed his league debut against Aberdeen, as Postecoglou will undoubtedly hoping that the 26-year-old can end Celtic’s run of two games away from Parkhead without hitting the back of the net.

In other news: Ange must unleash £2.25m-rated Celtic “phenomenon” today, he’d terrify Aberdeen

As per a report by Italian source Calciomercato, a big update has emerged on Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Harry Winks and his future in north London.

The Lowdown: Winks impresses behind the scenes…

According a claim by The Sun last month, the England international actually got off to a pretty fine start to life under new head coach Nuno Espirito Santo.

[web_stories_embed url=”https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/web-stories/spurs-developments/” title=”Spurs developments!” poster=”” width=”360″ height=”600″ align=”none”]

Indeed, as per their information, Winks impressed the Portuguese tactician behind closed doors and it looked certain at one point that he would be staying at Tottenham.

However, as this news emerges from Italy, it appears there has been a twist in the tale.

The Latest: Winks actively looking, Italian clubs interested…

According to Calciomercato, the 25-year-old is now ‘out and looking’ for a new team in January after falling down the pecking order under Nuno in recent weeks.

Winks cut a bit-part figure under former boss Jose Mourinho too, starting just nine Premier League matches over 2020/2021, and it appears he could be going the same way this season – having played just over one hour of top flight football (WhoScored).

As the midfielder seeks pastures new, it is believed that Serie A giants Inter Milan and AS Roma are battling it out on the January market for him.

The Verdict: Time to go…

It is clear that Winks’ time is well and truly up at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

After being deemed surplus by two different managers in two seasons, chairman Daniel Levy needs to make some profit off the homegrown academy ace as soon as possible.

His age and the fact he is indeed homegrown could raise his market value just enough for Spurs to command a reasonable fee for him.

Winks is also a composed dictator of the ball in midfield, as evident by the fact he has averaged a head-turning 90% pass accuracy across all competitions since making his senior debut for Spurs in 2014/2015.

In other news: Levy told to hire ‘world class’ boss over Poch if Nuno is axed, Spurs players love him! Find out more here.

Liverpool managed to keep their Premier League unbeaten streak intact following their 2-2 draw against reigning champions Manchester City over the weekend.

Goals from Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah were cancelled out thanks to goals from Phil Foden and Kevin De Bruyne, resulting in the Reds dropping the lead twice and two points in the process in their latest league match ahead of the international break.

One player, in particular, that stood out for Liverpool on the day, but for all the wrong reasons, in our view, was Fabinho who played the full 90 minutes of the match in midfield alongside Curtis Jones and club captain Jordan Henderson.

From a defensive point of view, the Brazilian won just 25% of his ground duels (two out of eight), only made one tackle, lost possession on six occasions and was dribbled past five times. That ultimately earned himself a rather disappointing overall match rating of 5.9/10, the lowest rating of any Liverpool player on the day according to SofaScore.

What didn’t help was a glaring miss towards the end of the match too. With the goal at his mercy, the holding player had a chance to find the net but was tackled spectacularly well by Rodri.

Since joining the Merseyside club back in the 2018 summer transfer window from French club AS Monaco for a fee of £40.5m, the 27-year-old has been a reliable figure, however.

Currently earning a weekly wage of £180k-per-week according to Spotrac, he’s made a total of 130 appearances for Jurgen Klopp’s side across all competitions. During that time he has managed to score four goals and provide eight assists along the way.

So far this season, Fabinho has made eight appearances for the Reds in all tournaments, scoring one goal and providing one assist in the process.

Despite his poor showing against Pep Guardiola’s side, we feel as if Klopp should continue selecting Fabinho in his starting XI for the remainder of the season wherever possible and just hope his underwhelming display against City was just a bad day at the office.

However, with Fabinho currently being the only Liverpool player that predominantly plays in the defensive-midfield position, we feel as though his place in the team would be safe enough anyway.

In other news: £7.5k-p/w Liverpool gem has seen his value soar by £25.2m in 2 years, he’s exceptional – opinion

Liverpool are interested in signing Leeds United winger Raphinha, according to his agent.

The Lowdown: Raphinha starring for Brazil

Raphinha has been a wonderful signing for Leeds, and while he has been loved by Whites supporters for the past 12 months, he is now gaining more widespread admiration.

The 24-year-old had shone from the substitutes’ bench in his first two appearances for Brazil during the international break, assisting twice against Venezuela on his international debut, before bagging two of his own in his first start against Uruguay.

His Selecao teammate, Fabinho, spoke about the links with Liverpool before the win over Uruguay, and now more comments have emerged on the interest from Anfield, this time from the player’s camp.

[freshpress-quiz id=“375277″]

The Latest: Deco makes Liverpool claim

Leeds could find it difficult to keep hold of Raphinha in the long-term, and according to former Barcelona, Chelsea and Portugal midfielder Deco, Liverpool are circling like vultures.

Speaking to Globo Esporte [via Sport Witness], the Portuguese star turned agent confirmed the Reds’ interest:

“Raphinha became an important player in the Premier League, the club knows he has grown and things will happen naturally.

“He is young, he has many challenges ahead, there are certainly several clubs that like him, and Liverpool do like him, there were approaches, but nothing official. Leeds wanted to keep him for another season.”

[web_stories_embed url=”https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/web-stories/latest-leeds-united-news-20/” title=”Latest Leeds United news!” poster=”” width=”360″ height=”600″ align=”none”]

The Verdict: Last season at Leeds?

Raphinha has been described as ‘electric’ by Jermaine Beckford and the thought of him moving on in the near future is a worrying one for Leeds fans.

Being realistic, however, the Brazilian may feel his long-term future lies at a more successful current club – one who is battling for major trophies and playing Champions League football year in year out.

It is easy to envisage Raphinha somewhere like Liverpool, given his style of play not being dissimilar to Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane’s, and it could be that he looks to move on next summer.

Ideally, of course, the hope is that he remains a Leeds player for many years to come, but the Whites will at least be in line for a healthy profit if that does not turn out to be the case.

In other news, Phil Hay has provided a key update regarding one Leeds star. Read more here.

Luka Milivojevic came under fire from some Crystal Palace fans for his performance in Monday’s 2-2 draw at Arsenal.

Palace came from behind to lead going into injury time at the Emirates Stadium, with Christian Benteke and Odsonne Edouard finding the net. However, they saw three points slip from their grasp as Alexandre Lacazette fired home deep into stoppage time.

The result left Palace 14th in the Premier League, having won only one of their first eight matches.

Recapping Milivojevic’s night

Milivojevic lined up alongside James McArthur in Patrick Vieira’s 4-2-3-1 system and donned the captain’s armband. The Serbian was making his third consecutive start for the Eagles after missing the start of the season for personal reasons, but it was not a night to remember for the 30-year-old.

Just one of his five attempted crosses found a team-mate, while he also lost possession 11 times (via SofaScore). Vieira opted to take him off after 67 minutes, sending on Cheikhou Kouyate instead.

Here’s what a selection of Palace fans on Twitter had to say about the Serbian’s “awful” display in north London last night, with one describing him as a “poor man’s Jedinak” in reference to the Australian former Eagles midfielder.

These Palace fans rip into to Kouyate

“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again… Luka is not good enough. Terrible passing, terrible free kicks and lets opposition players ghost past him. He is a poor man’s Jedinak!”

Credit: @JayKnowles1

“LUKA LEAVE”

Credit: @w_cpfc

“There are still some people out there that think Luka can pass by the way”

Credit: @Dazzaedwardo

“What does Luka have on these managers to stay in starting 11”

Credit: @Ish_Zed

“Can’t wait till Luka leaves Palace”

Credit: @CraigParris96

“Luka has been awful”

Credit: @KPaddley

In other news, some Palace fans react to this Eberechi Eze post.

Tottenham Hotspur have confirmed that Nuno Espirito Santo has been sacked as the club’s manager.

The Lowdown: Spurs struggling

Despite winning their first three Premier League games (Sky Sports), Spurs have had an overall miserable campaign to date.

As it stands, they are eighth in the top-flight table and have won just two of their last seven league matches. Calls have been made for the manager to be relieved of his duties, and Daniel Levy has now made a decision.

The Latest: Nuno gets Spurs sack

As such, Nuno has this morning been sacked as Tottenham manager, with the Daily Mail’s Sami Mokbel breaking the news shortly before it was confirmed by the club.

His job was not deemed to be under threat before Saturday’s 3-0 loss to Manchester United, but the nature of that performance appears to have left Levy and Fabio Paratici with no choice but to part ways with the 47-year-old.

The Verdict: Next decision must be right

Nuno was far from Spurs’ first choice to become the club’s new manager in the summer. The likes of Antonio Conte, Paulo Fonseca and Gennaro Gattuso were all higher up the list but, for one reason or another, none of them made the move to north London.

After four months in charge, the Portuguese has been let go, leaving Tottenham in a poor position in the table. It is vital that Levy and co get the right man through the door to replace him after jettisoning a second manager in less than seven months, otherwise this could be an unstable season of struggle for Spurs, who already face an uphill battle to return to the Champions League.

In other news, Tottenham want to sign this up-and-coming defender

Top clubs are locked in an endless battle as they constantly attempt to replace a current or former star with the next big thing, and Crystal Palace are no different.

Soon, the capital club will be forced to scour the market and their academy for Wilfried Zaha’s potential successor, but there’s arguably a talismanic figure of their past who’s never been replaced.

Ian Wright made his name in professional football at Selhurst Park after being picked up by the Palace hierarchy while playing for Greenwich Borough in 1985.

The pacey forward grasped his opportunity with both hands after being forced to wait for his big break in the beautiful game, going on to score over 100 Premier League goals for Arsenal and earning 33 England caps.

However, his departure from south London in 1991 has left a sizeable gap in Palace’s forward line ever since.

Wright became synonymous with intelligent movement, electric pace and deadly finishing throughout his career, and only Andy Johnson has come close to replicating those attributes in an Eagles shirt since.

Not now, two decades on from Wright’s exit, the Palace hierarchy may well have the chance to finally bring in a worthy, long-term successor.

Over the summer, Eddie Nketiah was heavily linked with a move across the capital after becoming frustrated with his lack of first-team opportunities at the Emirates Stadium.

A report in The Athletic claimed that the Gunners were holding out for a £20m fee for the highly-rated youngster, but with Palace only willing to pay half of that total, a deal could not be reached, and Nketiah stayed put.

Nevertheless, the youngster has continued to show his class in the current campaign in the limited opportunities he’s received, scoring in each of his two starts in the Carabao Cup, including an extremely well-taken goal against Leeds United.

And it was with the Yorkshire outfit where Nketiah first made his name despite things not working out under the tutelage of Marcelo Bielsa.

Former Republic of Ireland striker Tony Cascarino credits the 22-year-old’s six-month spell at Elland Road with having a sizeable impact upon his development.

“Although Leeds United did not benefit particularly from Nketiah’s loan spell there, it did the player himself the world of good,” he told The Times last year.

“It helped him reach a level of fitness that is very useful to Arteta, who has shown he believes in the player. Nketiah loves to get on the shoulders of defenders and turn them before darting in behind with his blistering pace.”

Cascarino then went even further in his praise for the former England U21 international, comparing him to Wright due to their similar style of play.

“He is agile with quick feet, much like his hero Ian Wright, which denies defenders the time to settle. He makes clever runs, taking defenders where they don’t want to go.

“A lot of young players coming through nowadays are more capable on their weaker foot than their predecessors were, and Nketiah ticks that box,” he concluded.

Only time will tell if Palace revive their interest in Nketiah over the coming months, but he’s certainly someone chairman Steve Parish should be carefully considering making a move for as the Eagles dare to dream of a prosperous new chapter in the club’s history.

And, in other news…Parish sealed dream Crystal Palace deal in “sensational” £15.3m-rated magician 

Some Manchester City fans are far from happy after Pep Guardiola said the match against Club Brugge was more important than the Premier League clash with Manchester United this weekend.

The Citizens face Club Brugge in the Champions League on Wednesday as they aim to move closer to a place in the next round of the Champions League. This weekend, they will travel to Old Trafford to play the Red Devils in a local derby that means a lot to the supporters.

Guardiola spoke to the press on Tuesday prior to the Brugge clash, and he was asked about which game was more important ahead between the next two matches. He said that, given the Premier League season has a lot more games to play, the match versus Brugge is more important (via Yahoo).

The comments were shared on Twitter by @City_Xtra, and it attracted plenty of attention from the supporters. They took to the social media platform to share their thoughts.

Let’s see what the fans had to say about the Guardiola comments below

“There you have it folks. Pep Guardiola conceding the PL title once more”

Credit: @MCFCfanboy

“No it’s not”

Credit: @MCFCAJ10

“Bit disrespectful i won’t lie”

Credit: @MCFCGeorge1

“This should never be the mentality. Every game is important especially when it’s a Derby”

Credit: @Shanologymcfc

“sorry what”

Credit: @jessmcfcx

“Maybe for you but not for the fans”

Credit: @etranzei

In other news, City fans want to sign this Bundesliga midfielder.

Flocking to Twitter, a number of Manchester United fans have erupted over a managerial update involving Paris-Saint Germain coach Mauricio Pochettino.

Incumbent Red Devils manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is currently under scrutiny at Old Trafford amid reports of player unrest and a dismal run of results.

Before the international break, United suffered crushing derby defeats to bitter rivals Liverpool and Manchester City, heaping pressure on the Norwegian, who is reportedly hanging on to the job by a thread.

As such, rumours have surfaced in recent weeks over who could replace the 48-year-old if United do decide to part company, with another update emerging involving Pochettino.

According to The Telegraph, Spurs’ former boss could ‘come into consideration’ in the event of a managerial change, and it is believed that the Argentine is open to a Premier League return in his next job.

Flocking to this claim, many Red Devils fans have been left excited, and it’s little wonder given Pochettino’s reputation, with ex-Lilywhites keeper Heurelho Gomes calling him a ‘football genius’ (ESPN Brasil via Sport Witness) and the 49-year-old guiding Spurs to the Champions League final in 2019.

Check out some of the best verdicts on the development below, with one United fan believing that Pochettino would be a “perfect replacement” for Solskjaer.

Man United fans flock to Pochettino claim…

“Poch hiveeee, we are back. Time to fulfill our destiny”

Credit: @MarwanM_

“If Ole goes this is the perfect replacement.”

Credit: @OleGunnar420

“Please let this be true. I am ready to hold on to Solskjaer till the season is over”

Credit: @snacksinthehall

“GET HIM INNNN”

Credit: @ELLIS22SZN

“Get it done I begggg, we’re tired of PASSION AND DNA man”

Credit: @canelo_

“Would I take Pochettino? 100%”

Credit: @Kyle39036251

“Bring me Poch now!”

Credit: @zeddyzed_

In other news: These MUFC fans erupt over another managerial update from Fabrizio Romano