All posts by z3u9t.icu

It seems as if Tottenham Hotspur’s disastrous managerial search is finally drawing to a close…

What’s the word?

According to Italian transfer guru Fabrizio Romano, the club’s newly-appointed sporting director Fabio Paratici has now arrived in North London and is set to push ahead with his plans to appoint Nuno Santo this week.

He wrote on Twitter:

“Tottenham director of football Fabio Paratici arrived in London in the last hours. Talks on with Nuno Espirito Santo and his representatives.”

It comes just days after his initial claim that the Italian supremo was a huge admirer of the 47-year-old, dating back to his time at Juventus, where he considered him on the list of candidates to replace Maurizio Sarri.

Nuno was not under serious consideration by Spurs until the arrival of Paratici and he recently held talks over the vacancies at both Crystal Palace and Everton.

Finally over?

Whilst he’s far from the most popular choice of candidates amongst the Lilywhites fanbase, many have to be delighted that this horrible process is finally coming to a halt.

It’s been a long nine-to-ten weeks of speculation, setbacks and disappointment but it now certainly seems like the Portuguese coach is going to be the man to replace Jose Mourinho.

Some big and exciting names have been linked with the role over the course of the last two months, including Premier League champion Antonio Conte and even popular ex-manager Mauricio Pochettino.

No one will match up to either of these candidates but truth be told, they were quite unrealistic options to begin with. Conte wasn’t going to commit to the club unless he was well-backed in the transfer market, whilst Paris Saint-Germain were adamant in keeping hold of the Argentine.

Nuno is certainly a little more inspiring than either Paulo Fonseca or Gennaro Gattuso as, at the very least, he has a proven track record in the Premier League.

He steered Wolves into the Premier League and then the Europa League in their very first season back in the big time and despite going onto make the quarter-finals that year, he managed to guide them to another seventh-place finish.

Last season was a disappointing cross against his record, ending the season in 13th but he saw his star man Diogo Jota sold to Liverpool, whilst leading talisman Raul Jimenez suffered a cruel head injury that ruled him out all campaign.

Many would’ve taken Nuno this time last year, so perhaps it’s time to back him.

There may be several doubts over his credentials but everyone concerned with Spurs should be very happy that this is nearly finally over, with pre-season training starting on Monday.

AND in other news, Paratici could seal Spurs’ best signing since Son in £36m-rated Euro 2020 “dominator”…

Aston Villa’s defence has pretty much picked itself over the last 18 months after some solid results and excellent performances under Dean Smith and now Steven Gerrard.

Emiliano Martinez is the undisputed number one goalkeeper, while Matty Cash, Ezri Konsa, Tyrone Mings and Matt Targett make up the back-four in front of him when they’re all fit. The likes of Kortney Hause and Axel Tuanzebe make the central defensive positions somewhat competitive, but the full-backs have been pretty much set in stone.

So when Targett suffered a head injury against Manchester City and was forced off, there were instantly worries from Villa fans as to who would fill in and how much of a blow it would turn out to be in the upcoming games.

If the win and performance against Leicester is anything to go by though, they needn’t have worried because Ashley Young is on the scene.

The former Manchester United man made his name as a winger, lighting up the Premier League for Villa before his move to Old Trafford where he won the Premier League, FA Cup, League Cup and Europa League. But during his time up north, Young’s game transformed from a flying winger to a reliable full-back. That was solidified when he moved to Italy with Inter Milan and won the Scudetto playing as a left wing-back.

Upon his return to Villa Park in the summer on a free transfer, where he signed a £50k-per-week deal, many lauded his versatility as a big reason why the deal was a good one for the club despite him being 36-years-old these days. His performance against Leicester in the 2-1 win from left-back proved them right.

He won 100% of his tackles on the day and only Emi Buendia completed more dribbles than him in a Villa shirt during the game. Despite being naturally right-footed, he kept the width well to stretch the Leicester defence and was a threat going forward with his crossing ability. His performance meant Villa barely missed Targett in the game and were able to pick up three points without him.

With a trip to Anfield up next, Gerrard will want his strongest defence available to him. But with Young’s experience and winning mentality, that could well include the veteran who the Villans boss dubbed “outstanding” in a wing-back role to provide a threat going forward as well as security defensively against the most potent attack in the country.

As he proved only last weekend, he can be game-changing in that position.

AND in other news, Matty Cash stole the show against Leicester.

Newcastle United could offer Miguel Almiron to Villarreal as part of a deal for Arnaut Danjuma, according to The Sunday Mirror. 

The lowdown

Eddie Howe was in charge at Bournemouth when the Cherries paid Club Brugge £14.8million to sign Danjuma in 2019.

Amid injury problems, he made only 14 Premier League appearances (six starts) in his first season on the south coast.

Howe subsequently resigned, but Danjuma exploded into life in the Championship, scoring 17 goals and providing eight assists in 2020/21.

That earned him a move back to the top level with Villarreal, for whom he’s made 28 appearances this season.

The latest

Howe has already been reunited with Callum Wilson, Matt Ritchie and Ryan Fraser on Tyneside and, in addition to Danjuma, he’s also said to be keen on bringing Lloyd Kelly to St James’ Park.

Reliable reports on the south coast say Kelly will be the subject of a summer bid from the Magpies, with scouts allegedly attending all his games, and it appears he’s not the only former Howe student catching the eye.

The latest reports (via The Boot Room) state that Newcastle have identified Danjuma as a target ahead of the summer transfer window.

Almiron is one of the players the club are willing to sell this summer, and they could attempt a part-exchange with The Yellow Submarine.

The verdict

What would this deal look like? Well, there’s about a £30million difference in the two players’ Transfermarkt valuations (Danjuma £45million, Almiron £14.4million) and so, assuming Villarreal are interested in the Paraguayan, there may still need to be a negotiation over the fee.

It’s easy to understand why Newcastle are keen on Danjuma though, his team’s top scorer this season with 13 goals in all competitions.

Five of those goals have come in the Champions League, and the Dutchman is currently preparing for a quarterfinal meeting with Bayern Munich on Wednesday.

Villarreal vice-president Jose Manuel Llaneza has dubbed him a ‘Rolex player’, while talent scout Jacek Kulig considers him ‘one of Europe’s best dribblers’.

It’s certainly a signing, then, that the Toon could get excited about.

In other news, Keith Downie shares an update on Shelvey.

A big twist has emerged on Rangers’ search for a new manager, regarding former Barcelona head coach Ronald Koeman

What’s the talk?

According to Spanish outlet Fichajes, the Dutchman is ‘one step’ away from taking over at Ibrox to replace Steven Gerrard in the dugout.

The report claims that he is the favourite for the position, following Sky Sports’ claim that Gio van Bronckhorst has held positive talks with the club.

This marks a remarkable twist in the saga with a new coach suddenly leapfrogging previous candidates to become the favourite.

Elation

Rangers fans will surely be over the moon with this update as it suggests that Koeman could be Gerrard’s replacement at Ibrox. The experienced Dutch coach recently left Barcelona and is available as a free agent, with this report now claiming that he is on the verge of accepting the job to compete for the Premiership title this season.

Supporters would surely love to see him in the dugout as he has an impressive C.V spanning a number of years, whereas van Bronckhorst is still in the early stages of his own coaching career.

The 46-year-old won an Eredivisie title with Feyenoord and averaged 2.03 points per game across 136 league matches for the Dutch club in four seasons, whilst he also spent a short spell in China.

Koeman, meanwhile, has managed 342 Eredivisie games and averaged 2.06 points per match. This included time with Ajax, Feyenoord, PSV and Vitesse and he won three league titles in that time. He has won nine trophies in his career as a head coach, showing that he knows what it takes to win silverware – with more experience in the game than van Bronckhorst.

The ex-Barca man has also experienced coaching in Britain. He finished seventh, sixth and seventh in three full seasons with Southampton and Everton earlier in his career which shows that the 58-year-old has proven himself in multiple countries with several clubs. Van Bronckhorst’s C.V, however, is based on his four years at Feyenoord in his home country.

Therefore, fans will surely be over the moon with the prospect of Koeman becoming the club’s new manager. With all due respect to van Bronckhorst, Koeman has a better background, as shown by his managerial statistics, and could be a terrific appointment for the club as he has a track record of success over a prolonged period of time. It is now down to Ross Wilson to ensure that he can get a deal over the line that would surely elate supporters.

AND in other news, Time’s up: GVB could become an instant hit at Rangers by axing £1.8m-rated dud…

Crystal Palace left-back Tyrick Mitchell could miss the FA Cup semi-final with Chelsea through injury, according to The Evening Standard.

The Lowdown: Mitchell goes off

Labelled as ‘popular’ by former Eagles boss Roy Hodgson, the defender was forced off against Leicester City in his team’s 2-1 defeat on Sunday.

The 22-year-old has been a key member of Patrick Vieira’s squad during his first season in charge, starting every Premier League game.

However, he had to make way against the Foxes after just 34 minutes with what appeared to be a calf problem, and along with Michael Olise, he could now be in a race against time to feature at Wembley.

The Latest: Nervous wait

The Evening Standard’s Dan Kilpatrick shared a story regarding Mitchell on Monday.

He revealed that the full-back was due for scans on the problem on Monday, with Palace facing a nervous wait on the extent of the damage.

The Verdict: Fingers crossed

As mentioned, Mitchell has been an ever-present figure at Selhurst Park this season, so it would be a major blow if he is unable to feature at Wembley next weekend.

The Palace academy graduate has been their best-performing defender, as per WhoScored, and he is the only senior out-and-out left-back on the books for the Eagles.

Vieira will be keeping everything crossed that Mitchell can recover in time, as otherwise he will have a few selection headaches over the coming days.

In other news: Vieira now wants Parish to bring 25-assist star to Palace; club preparing to lose their player. 

Everton have been the epitome of frustration as far as a football club is concerned for a number of years now.

While many supporters would love to have the financial backing that the Goodison Park side have received in recent years, none would wish for their hierarchy to flutter away such vast sums so frivolously.

The likes of Morgan Schneiderlin, Davy Klaassen and Alex Iwobi have all arrived on Merseyside in big-money deals but ultimately failed to live up to expectations.

However, arguably none of the Toffees recent flops have left a bigger sense of frustration and disappointment lingering around Merseyside as Yannick Bolasie.

The Democratic Republic of Congo international joined Everton from fellow Premier League rivals Crystal Palace for a whopping £26m during the summer of 2016 after showing flashes of brilliance for the capital club.

During 2014/15, the tricky winger scored four goals and provided a hugely impressive 11 top-flight assists for a mediocre Palace side, highlighting his top-class potential.

Nevertheless, his purchase still represented a substantial risk for the Everton chiefs. While Bolasie clearly had the talent to become a more efficient forward, he had only scored 13 goals in 144 appearances for Palace prior to his sale.

The now 32-year-old made a fast start to life in his new surroundings, though, scoring one goal and laying on four assists for his teammates in his first 15 outings for the Blues in all competitions.

But then he suffered a devastating cruciate ligament injury which heavily impacted the future fortunes of his career. Bolasie only scored once more for Everton before embarking on a series of loan spells with varying degrees of success.

Short-term stints at the likes of Sporting Lisbon, Middlesbrough and Anderlecht failed to reignite his career, and he’s now plying his trade with Turkish outfit Caykur Rizespor.

Bolasie’s dramatic drop-off in form and fitness struggles saw him finally released on a free transfer this summer after a nightmarish five-year spell at the club. Sadly, both Everton and the player will be left wondering ‘what if’ for many years to come.

And, in other news…Fabrizio Romano drops exciting Everton transfer update that’ll have fans buzzing 

Southampton fans were far from happy as their B side lost 3-2 to Birmingham City on Monday despite being 2-0 up.

For the Saints’ senior side, it has not been the best start to the season at all. Eight games in, they have won just one match during 90 minutes, an 8-0 victory over Newport County in the League Cup, and they are without a victory after six Premier League matches (Sky Sports).

Things are not going to better for the club’s development side, either. They were without a win in five matches in their top flight, and were well in with a chance of changing that form against Birmingham. However, despite a two-goal lead, they were unable to hold on, and eventually lost 3-2. As a result, they remain rooted to the bottom of the table.

Southampton’s official Twitter account shared the result, and it attracted plenty of attention from the supporters. They took to the social media platform below.

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

“Some serious questions need to be asked about our academy…”

Credit: @TheSaintCentre

“What a joke”

Credit: @Conor_SFC

“We trudge on.”

Credit: @PixelKicker

“Rotten top to bottom”

Credit: @griffryan

“Losing philosophy throughout this club at the moment. Needs curing”

Credit: @liamd543

“Delete this club ASAP”

Credit: @WillWray10

In other news, Southampton fans slammed this man against Wolves.

Many Crystal Palace fans have been left buzzing on Twitter after popular Eagles account HLTCO posted pictures of their players sporting the new home kit in their 3-1 friendly win over Watford on Saturday.

Bringing their pre-season preparations to a successful close, Patrick Vieira’s side comfortably swept aside divisional rivals Watford in an entertaining encounter which saw Wilfried Zaha bag a brace prior to a late strike from Christian Benteke, who had earlier deflected Troy Deeney’s strike into the Eagles’ net. [Mail Online]

Palace will now turn their attention towards the start of their Premier League season, which sees them make the trip to fellow London club Chelsea on Saturday, with a 3pm kick-off.

Aside from the weekend’s win over Watford, many Eagles diehards took to Twitter to discuss their opinions on the new home shirt, which features the traditional red and blue stripes in a diagonal sash pattern.

Crystal Palace FC fans react:

Replying to popular Crystal Palace page HLTCO on Twitter after they described the kit as a ‘belter’, here is what some supporters had to say about the images of the shirt, which one fan described as “really nice”:

“In about 2 days I went from hating it to loving seeing it in person at Watford (what a game that was as well)”

Credit: @AdamAdimi123

“Wasn’t keen until I realised it was the sash on steroids.”

Credit: @Sarf_London

“It looks 100 times better on the pitch than it did in the studio. Really grown on me”

Credit: @BenH11TON”Love it”Credit: @nialljclark”Actually really nice. The freak out for it was for no reason”Credit: @Bunds_”I agree 100%. Looks great on the pitch!”Credit: @TonyCpfc”If the shorts were red I think it would be top tier”Credit: @RussellMoleIn other news, Crystal Palace are set to miss out on a reported transfer target.

Crystal Palace’s positive start to the season means that they’re unlikely to ‘go all out’ in January, according to Sky Sports journalist Michael Bridge.

The lowdown

Back-to-back victories over Manchester City and Wolves saw Palace climb into the top half of the Premier League table prior to the international break. Patrick Vieira has lost only two of his first 11 league matches in charge, and those were away to Chelsea and Liverpool, both of whom currently reside in the top four.

The start of the Vieira era was greeted with a £66m summer spend, and Palace didn’t sell any players to fund that spree (via Transfermarkt).

There have been some rumours of further activity in January, with Transfer Market Web reporting that £10.2m-valued Eddie Nketiah is a target for the Eagles. The Arsenal striker is England under-21s’ all-time record goalscorer with 16 in just 17 caps at that level.

The latest

Speaking to GIVEMESPORT, Bridge suggested that Palace chairman Steve Parish would be far more likely to invest if the club were nervously looking over their shoulder in the Premier League table.

He said: “Knowing Steve Parish like I do, I don’t think he will go all out in January when things have gone well.

“It’s usually when they’re a bit worried and looking behind them that they would spend but I don’t think they’re looking behind at the moment. They’re looking at what’s in front of them in a positive sense.”

The verdict

This is an entirely understandable stance from Parish if true. Palace’s current squad are motoring quite nicely and you wonder if they might try to keep some cash in reserve so that they can make a bid to sign Chelsea loanee Conor Gallagher permanently.

The 21-year-old, who has scored four goals and set up two more, is comfortably Palace’s top-rated player for 2021/22 on WhoScored with an average of 7.5/10. However, based on those displays, his value is rising all the time, so it may become increasingly difficult for the Eagles to keep hold of him beyond the end of the current campaign.

It seems that if Palace don’t plan to spend in January, that’s a good sign as it suggests that their trajectory is very positive.

In other news, Palace have taken a keen interest in this rising talent

A number of Liverpool supporters have been reacting negatively to Gini Wijnaldum’s comments regarding some Reds fans’ treatment of him.

The 30-year-old’s time at Anfield has come to an end, following five memorable seasons on Merseyside.

Wijnaldum proved to be a vital player for Liverpool during a hugely successful period in the club’s history, with both Champions League and Premier League glory achieved.

[freshpress-quiz id=“359326”]

Despite being adored by many supporters, Wijnaldum has opened up about his treatment from others on social media, telling The Times that some people singled him out if the Reds lost a game.

While he doesn’t use this as the reason for his exit, it could be argued that it played a part in him not extending his stay beyond this summer.

[web_stories_embed url=”https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/web-stories/the-latest-liverpool-transfer-news-8/” title=”The latest Liverpool transfer news!” poster=”” width=”360″ height=”600″ align=“none”]

Liverpool fans react to Wijnaldum’s remarks

The response to Wijnaldum’s comments has been mixed, but these Liverpool fans took to Twitter to criticise the midfielder, suggesting he is no different to any other player and that left because he wanted more money.

“Absolutely not true. He was loved here at Liverpool, no idea what this is all about”

Credit: @CiaranM88

“Embarrassing himself here. Fans that went the game loved him. And he knew. We sang his song at the ground. His move wasn’t about a lack of feeling loved”

Credit: @PaulSmithJnr

“I’m sorry but for a professional footballer to concentrate so much on what people say online is ridiculous. I love Gini, respect him to the highest level as a Liverpool player. But seriously, get over yourself”

Credit: @matips_men

“I’m sorry, but he was nearly putting pen to paper on a deal with Barcelona whose fans were outspoken about not wanting him”

Credit: @chattingwham

“Such a cry baby”

Credit: @frizzyfroze

“Rather just say he went for the money”

Credit: @BillyCarney85

In other news, Liverpool have reportedly received an inquiry regarding one player – find out who it is here.