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Manchester United and Werder Bremen remain some way apart in their valuation of right winger Tahith Chong.Â

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has identified Borussia Dortmund star Jadon Sancho as United’s no.1 transfer target this summer, which has paved the way for Chong to continue his development on loan.

It had been reported that Werder Bremen were leading the race to sign the Man United midfielder, but Bild claims that is not the case.

The German publication, as per @utdreport, revealed the Red Devils are refusing to do business with the Bundesliga side until their Europa League campaign is concluded.

But Bremen have started preparations for next season and want to wrap up proceedings before the squad travel to a training camp in Zillertal.

Bremen director Frank Baumann has admitted he is concerned that talks are taking so long to sort out a deal.

He told reporters “it has not yet been decided and there is still no final agreement between the various parties. But we’re working on winning Tahith over so that he can play in the Werder jersey this season.â€

The 20-year-old signed a new deal with the Red Devils in March which will run untilÂ2022. However, he has struggled for game time under Solskjaer, having made a mere three appearances in the Premier League last term.

United have traditionally given youngsters plenty of opportunities, as Mason Greenwood and Brandon Williams are examples of academy graduates who have broken through the ranks into the first team in recent memory.

However, Chong needs to be playing games regularly, and could find chances even harder to come by if Sancho arrives at Old Trafford in the summer. It makes perfect sense for Solskjaer to send his burgeoning talent to the Bundesliga to gain some experience on loan. Now it is up to Ed Woodward to work out terms with the German club.

United fans, do you think Solskjaer should send Chong out on loan? Let us know down below!

The summer transfer window is only heating up and while there have certainly been some bombastic deals already done, the serious business is about to begin soon. For Everton and Carlo Ancelotti, this very much still involves a hunt for attacking reinforcements to the team.

According to a report from the Daily Mail, the Toffees are among a couple of Premier League sides that are still scrambling for the signature of Celtic’s young starlet, Odsonne Edouard.

But the forward wouldn’t exactly come cheap. The same source says the Hoops value their man at around £40m but when everything is said and done, he could indeed be worth it.

Everton, in particular, have been keeping tabs on the U21 star and have already scouted him a couple of times, even before lockdown. However, they are hardly the only ones as Daily Mail mention both Newcastle United and Aston Villa are interested in acquiring his services.

The Scottish Premier League giants would also love nothing more than to keep their hitman but this is also seemingly becoming an increasingly more difficult task as time goes on.

Not to mention that their recent elimination from Europe won’t do them any good on that front. The squad is bound to experience some changes and Edouard might be one of the players who leave the club sooner rather than later.

Can Everton really snatch him up and win the race against their Premier League rivals?

We’ll have to wait and see.

Verdict

There is no doubting Edouard’s current level and he is a youngster on the rise. If his performances so far are any indication, the sky could be the limit for the young Frenchman.

Of course, that also makes him an expensive target and Ancelotti may have to splash the cash to outbid his rivals in this race.

After signing from PSV in the January transfer window, Steven Bergwijn had a mixed start to life in English football with Tottenham.

The Dutchman got his career off to the perfect start with a wonder strike against Manchester City on his Premier League debut, before netting a further two times in his next five games in the top-flight.

After that however, things slowed down considerably, with Bergwijn – earning a reported £25k-per-week – failing to score in his last eight games for the club, and managing only one assist.

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But with a few months to get adjusted to the differences of English football, Jose Mourinho must surely unleash the Netherlands international next season, and he could be the unsung hero in Spurs’ push for a Champions League spot.

When you look at the 22-year-old’s performance against City in particular, Bergwijn’s intelligent movement and directness caused Pep Guardiola’s side all sorts of issues – something Mourinho hailed in his post-match press conference.

He said: “It was a very solid performance against such a difficult opponent like Kyle Walker. He was also clever enough to appear in other zones and to try to create some problems for City.”

As per Sofascore, Walker lost possession on 11 separate occasions, whilst he also won just 50% of his duels and forced into making four clearances over the course of the game.

Despite only having 32 touches in the 70 minutes that he was on the pitch, Bergwijn made things count, and the fact his impressive display came up against the then reigning Premier League champions just proved the immense potential he has.

Amidst all this recent talk about Spurs potentially making a sensational move for Gareth Bale in this transfer window, the Lilywhites would be better off trusting those who they already have at the club. Bergwijn could step up to be the man.

Plenty of West Ham United fans will have found this transfer window highly frustrating, with Tomas Soucek joining permanently from Slavia Prague still their only completed move so far.

However, it is the sale of Grady Diangana to West Bromwich Albion which unleashed the wrath of Hammers, as signified by the fact they got #GSBOUT as the top trend on Twitter after it was announced.

As well as looking to strengthen the side, it is likely those within West Ham will also be hoping to ease some of the fury being aimed towards them when bringing in any new players.

Is life under Gold and Sullivan really that bad? Maybe this quiz will change your minds, West Ham fans…

90min have reported that the Hammers are leading the way in the pursuit of Brighton & Hove Albion winger Solly March, with Everton, Newcastle United and Wolverhampton Wanderers also looking to bring him in.

There may be competition for his signature, but that doesn’t change the fact that March would be a massively underwhelming signing for the Hammers, considering the talent they just sold.

The 26-year-old March made 11 league starts and eight substitute appearances for the Seagulls last term, managing just one assist in that time and failing to record a single goal.

Meanwhile, 22-year-old Diangana, who helped West Brom get promoted while on loan, made 23 league starts and seven substitute appearances, scoring eight goals and providing six assists.

West Ham fans will have been looking for ambition in this window, especially after the disappointment that last season turned out to be, as the Hammers stayed up by a mere five points, finishing 16th in the table.

Signing somebody who played fairly sporadically for the team that finished one place higher gets nowhere near completing the brief of showing intent to move the club forward.

If a move is completed, there is, of course, a chance that things could eventually turn out well for March on the pitch. However, in the short-term, this really doesn’t feel like the sort of move that will appease the fans’ simmering frustrations.

Glasgow Rangers face Willem tonight in the Europa League third qualifying round, and the club will be hoping that they comfortably win the match in order to set up a tie against Galatasaray or Hajduk Split.

Key man Connor Goldson has played 115 times for the Scottish side since signing for £3.06 million from Brighton, per Transfermarkt, and the centre-back has even managed to pick up nine goals along the way.

He has been speaking before the game and the player has high hopes for the Gers and their European campaign this season, suggesting they even improve on their Round of 16 finish last time around.

Speaking to Rangers TV, via the Glasgow Times, the defender said: “It is massive for us. You want to test yourself every week, every year, against the best teams that you can do and, for us, that is getting as far as we can in the Europa League.

“Obviously we had a great journey last year and hopefully we can do just as well, if not more, this year. We feel like we are capable of doing so.

“The desire is there. We need to be in the Europa League for ourselves and for the club.

“The club deserves to be there, it deserves to be a European club. We showed that last year so hopefully we can do it again.”

The 27 year-old, who has captained the side before which shows how trusted and rated he is by the manager, has got lots of faith in his team, and it is easy to see why he is so highly rated by Steven Gerrard at the club.

Last season, the Gers managed to reach the last 16, before losing to Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen and it was a great campaign for them. It was also no embarrassment to be knocked out by a side who finished fourth in Germany in 2019/20.

It was the first time the Scottish side had reached this round in a European tournament since 2011, and it is easy to see why Goldson believes they can do it again as the club are progressing and have made some shrewd additions which has made the quality of the squad even better, per Transfermarkt.

It also shows the great mentality that Steven Gerrard has brought and this will definitely be crucial if the club do want to go further in the tournament this season.

Glasgow Rangers fans, what are your thoughts on this news? Comment below!

Everton Director of Football Marcel Brands has been forced into playing the pantomime villain role at Goodison Park this summer by terminating the contract of Shani Tarashaj.

What’s the word?

According to the Liverpool Echo, Tarashaj is no longer an Everton player after the Merseyside outfit terminated the striker’s contract upon his return to Finch Farm, following a failed loan spell with FC Emmen.

The Dutch side announced on Tuesday that the 25-year-old would be heading back to England mid-way through a two-season loan deal, having failed to make the grade in the Eredivisie through a string of injuries that prevented Tarashaj from ever making his debut.

Everton had extended the Swiss forward’s contract by 12 months last summer to see Tarashaj join Emmen on loan, who would have paid his remaining contract over two years rather than one.

It is not yet known if Everton have paid Tarashaj’s remaining contract off in full to release the attacker, or if the Goodison Park natives were able to reach a settlement agreement.

Tarashaj originally joined the Toffees from academy side Grasshopper Club Zurich in 2016 on a four-and-a-half-year deal, having been signed for around £3million but never played a first-team game and made just two U23 outings in royal blue before his release.

Brands: The needed villain

With news that Tarashaj is no longer an Everton player, his departure signals yet another needed step taken by Brands to clear out the woeful deadwood signed by his predecessors and avoid adding the striker’s remaining salary to a bloated wage bill.

Earlier this summer, Everton agreed to allow Sandro Ramirez to join La Liga side SD Huesca as a free agent three years on from his arrival, having managed just one goal in 16 Blues appearances before spending two-and-a-half-years away from Merseyside in various loans.

It is not Brands’ fault, nor head coach Carlo Ancelotti, that they have been left in a position where they must make the difficult decisions on the futures of players not of the standard needed at Goodison Park.

In Tarashaj’s case, particularly, Brands agreeing to extend the Swiss forward’s contract last summer to ensure he could join Emmen goes to show how the Dutchman did whatever was needed to help the player in an unfortunate situation, but things did not play out as planned.

The failing of Tarashaj’s time as an Everton player falls solely at the feet of the people who brought the 25-year-old to England originally, even if then-manager Roberto Martinez considered the 5-cap international to be a “special” talent.

“I would encourage our fans to look forward to a special talent,” Martinez said upon Tarashaj’s signing in 2016, via quotes by the Daily Post. “He is probably the best young talent in Swiss football.”

AND in other news, Carlo Ancelotti can look to exploit an “incredible talent” when Everton host Liverpool this Saturday.

Well, it was going to end at some point Aston Villa fans. Dean Smith’s side had enjoyed an incredible start to the Premier League season, racking up four wins from four and blowing teams away.

But a home clash against Leeds United on Friday night proved to be the end of the road for their winning run, with a hat-trick from Patrick Bamford consigning them to a 3-0 defeat at Villa Park.

In truth, it could have been more, had it not been for some pretty questionable finishing from Marcelo Bielsa’s side. Villa boss Smith will be keen to ensure that a bit of perspective is put on the defeat – after all, this was a team that had narrowly avoided relegation back to the Championship on the final day of last season.

However, he needs to make a ruthless call on one under-performing ace: Trezeguet. The Egypt international has watched Bertrand Traore arrive from Lyon in the summer transfer window, and that added competition appears to have just knocked him off his stride a little.

Despite starting every single Premier League game this campaign, he had yet to find the back of the net prior to Friday, and against Leeds, delivered unquestionably his worst performance of the season.

He struggled to get into the game whatsoever, and the tempo of Leeds’ pressing and intensity seemed to catch him off guard. As per Sofascore, he made just seven successful passes in the 66 minutes that he was on the pitch, whilst his tally of 25 total touches was the lowest of any player who started the game for either side.

He lost a whopping nine of his 14 total duels, and also committed a team-high of five fouls. He also failed to register a single shot on target, whilst he sent in no accurate crosses either.

With Traore waiting in the wings for his chance to start, Smith must make a tough call and drop Trezeguet.

Southampton will consider allowing Angus Gunn to make another loan move to Stoke City next summer, if the 24-year-old impresses at the Bet365 Stadium this term.

Gunn departed from the South coast on deadline day, completing a loan move to Stoke to replace the departing Jack Butland. The keeper needed to go and get regular game time after falling down the pecking order at St. Mary’s over the last 12 months.

Southampton will need to monitor keeper’s progress

The 24-year-old had started last season as Southampton’s first-choice keeper and he did go onto make ten appearances in the Premier League (Sofascore). However, following the 9-0 battering at home to Leicester City, Gunn lost confidence and his place in the side after conceding an average of 2.5 goals per match (Sofascore).

The keeper is still thought to be in Ralph Hasenhuttl’s plans for the future, but the Saints are now prepared to sanction another loan move for him next summer, per The Sun on Sunday (25/10; p 61). That though will depend on whether the 24-year-old can establish himself as Stoke’s number one during the rest of the campaign.

Gunn has yet to make his first appearances for Stoke with Adam Davies maintaining their number one spot so far. The Saints will be continuing to monitor the keeper’s situation with the Potters and decide in the summer whether it is worth sending him out on loan again, per The Sun on Sunday (25/10; p 61).

Gunn needs to take his chance to impress

The keeper went into the start of last season firmly in the plans of Hasenhuttl, who had described Gunn as having a ‘big future’ in the past. However, the 24-year-old has now found himself behind both Alex McCarthy and Fraser Forster in the pecking order at St. Mary’s after a challenging first half of the campaign last term.

The stopper has been granted a chance to re-find some form and get his career back on track, but it seems he could have to bide his time to get into the Stoke side as well. If he impresses in the Championship it would be worthwhile sending him out on loan again given he is unlikely to take McCarthy’s place.

In other news, find out what these Southampton fans had to say about the performance of this key player in their win against Everton here and don’t forget to comment below!