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Sheffield Wednesday take a break from League One action on Friday night as they host Morecambe in the FA Cup first round at Hillsborough.

While Owls fans will be expecting a win against a side who have won the fewest games in the division and will be hoping to progress to the next round, the game offers Darren Moore a chance to experiment with his team somewhat.

Although the FA Cup has a rich history of shocks, you would hope that, given their respective standings, Sheffield Wednesday’s reserves and younger players could still have enough to deal with the Shrimps, especially at Hillsborough.

Therefore, Moore should consider handing a rare start to Nottingham Forest loanee Alex Mighten, as it could be a confidence booster for the youngster after a difficult start to life with the Owls.

Despite featuring on the opening day of the Premier League season for Forest against Newcastle United, Mighten was allowed to join Sheffield Wednesday on loan for the campaign but has so far failed to live up to expectations.

The speedy winger has no goals or assists in just four appearances for Moore’s side, with WhoScored awarding him a disappointing 6.24 rating for his performances in League One.

However, the talent is clearly there and if Mighten can pick up a goal or assist against Morecambe on Friday night, it could be exactly what he needs to push on and make a difference for the Owls in their automatic promotion push.

Academy manager Gary Brazil sang the 20-year-old’s praises after signing a new deal with the Reds in 2020.

He said: “Alex is now developing into the elite footballer we all hoped he would become. Brave, exciting, self-confident, single-minded, he has all the ingredients to go a long way in the game. He is another quality outcome from a group of staff that continue to punch above their weight.”

Morecambe will no doubt sit back and look to hit the Owls on the counter, so having a tricky winger with Mighten’s quality might just be the difference as Moore’s side look to find the breakthrough on Friday night.

With the game presenting a great opportunity to rest key players such as Barry Bannan and Josh Windass, Moore should unleash the exciting Mighten for a rare start, so that fans can get a better idea of what he is capable of.

Liverpool are already in contact with Jude Bellingham’s representatives and will be in the race to secure his services, according to Fabrizio Romano.

The Lowdown: England call up

Bellingham got the nod from Gareth Southgate last week and will be representing England at the World Cup. The 19-year-old already has 17 international caps to his name and was part of the squad which made the Euro 2020 final last year.

The midfielder will be hoping to make Southgate’s first-choice XI after playing just 55 minutes at the European Championships, and his domestic future looks set to be a hot topic of conversation throughout the upcoming tournament in Qatar.

The Latest: Romano’s comments

Romano was speaking to GiveMeSport regarding Liverpool and Bellingham, saying that the Reds will 100% be in the race to sign the Borussia Dortmund star in an exciting new claim.

The Italian stated: “Liverpool will be in the race, 100 per cent. They’re already in contact with people close to Jude Bellingham, so Liverpool will be there.”

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The Verdict: Fingers crossed

You’d expect that a move for Bellingham in 2023 won’t be straightforward, with Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United also keen on his services.

However, the Reds could do with a marquee midfield signing given the age profile and injury-prone nature of some of their current options, so Bellingham would tick a lot of boxes both in the short-term and long run.

Hopefully Liverpool can persuade the 19-year-old to move to Anfield and the ongoing takeover saga doesn’t have a negative impact on their pursuit of Bellingham.

Manchester City have joined the race to secure a transfer for Las Palmas midfielder Alberto Moleiro. 

The Lowdown: Man City’s transfer track record

City have a track record when it comes to signing players from foreign clubs during previous transfer windows. The likes of Erling Haaland, Julian Alvarez and Ruben Dias, among others, have all come to the Etihad Stadium in recent years from foreign clubs.

It now appears that the Premier League champions have their eye on signing another talent who’s making a name for himself abroad, but they face some competition for his signature.

The Latest: Man City eyeing Moleiro

According to a recent report from Mundo Deportivo, City and Real Madrid have joined Barcelona, Liverpool and Borussia Dortmund in the race to sign Moleiro.

The report adds that the player has a release clause in his contract worth €30m (£26m), which will double should Las Palmas find themselves promoted back to La Liga next season.

The Verdict: Long-term investment for City?

At the age of 19, Moleiro has made 53 senior appearances for his current club, scoring three goals and providing four assists in the process. Three of those assists have come in his 14 league appearances for Las Palmas in the Spanish second tier this season.

In addition, only one player at the Canary Islands club has had more shots at goal than the teenager (21), further highlighting how much of an attacking threat he can offer.

Hailed as a “magic” player who has a “very high ceiling” according to Las Palmas coach Garcia Pimienta, Moleiro certainly has something about him to have caught the attention of the five clubs mentioned in the report.

Given how young he is, securing a deal for the midfielder could be a very smart long-term investment for the Manchester club if they can secure his signature.

If the youngster has a strong end to the season in Spain, then City should definitely explore the possibility of signing him and duly deciding what the ideal next step could be for him and his career.

Jurgen Klopp must finally ditch Liverpool midfielder Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain after the player has featured just four times this season due to injury.

What’s the news?

According to Fabrizio Romano, the 29-year-old looks set to leave Anfield next summer, with the Italian transfer insider revealing in a recent post on Twitter:

“Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, expected to leave Liverpool in 2023 as a free agent. There are no talks to extend his contract as things stand. New midfielders will be the priority for Liverpool on the market next year.”

It looks like a double boost for the Anfield faithful, moving the Englishman on while also prioritising some new midfield arrivals.

Klopp must bin Oxlade-Chamberlain

Oxlade-Chamberlain arrived at Liverpool in the summer of 2017 for a fee of £35m. Although an expensive purchase, his reputation as one of most talented English midfielders at the time was enough for Klopp to splash the cash.

He had won three FA Cups at Arsenal while registering 52 goal contributions in 198 matches for the North London side.

Despite winning a raft of honours on Merseyside, including a Champions League title and Premier League crown, the 29-year-old hasn’t quite lived up to expectations.

The £125k-per-week midfielder has played over 30 league matches just twice in five full seasons at the club, with injuries disrupting his chances of gaining any sort of consistency.

Indeed, since joining in 2017, he has missed a staggering 90 matches due to a range of injuries and with his contract expiring next year, it’s time both parties moved on.

Atul Kasbekar dubbed the midfielder as “woeful” at the start of the year and with the player costing Liverpool a whopping £73m over the previous five years (£35m transfer fee plus £38m in total wages), it represents a colossal waste of money.

Aston Villa were linked with him during the summer transfer window and Klopp might be able to entice new manager Unai Emery into revisiting a move in January.

It would be shrewd business by the German if he manages to get any fee for Oxlade-Chamberlain, and this can free up wages for some new midfield additions the club urgently needs.

Sunderland fans will have been keen to see how Jewison Bennette got on in his World Cup debut on Wednesday but the teenager’s dream quickly turned into a nightmare.

The 18-year-old winger started for Costa Rica in their Group E opener against Spain but he could do nothing to prevent Luis Enrique’s side from running out as emphatic 7-0 winners.

With further games to come against Germany and Japan, things are unlikely to get any easier for the teenager, and any hopes of causing an upset and earning progression to the knockout stages are surely over.

While this could be a good thing from Sunderland’s perspective, as it means that Bennette will probably be back in England in plenty of time for when the Championship resumes next month, it cannot be good for the youngster’s confidence to be on the end of such an embarrassing defeat.

Sadly for the summer signing, he simply failed to get involved in the game at all, as Spain dominated from start to finish.

As per SofaScore, Bennette would earn a poor 6.2/10 rating for his performance, registering just 14 touches of the ball and completing only two passes, despite being on the pitch for more than an hour.

For context, Costa Rica goalkeeper Keylor Navas would register 29 touches and complete 13 passes during the game, which emphasises just how little impact Bennette would have.

While it would be difficult to expect a teenager to step up as the Central American side’s best player, especially against such strong opposition, he certainly didn’t repay Luis Fernando Suárez’s faith in him to hand him a start on Wednesday.

When Bennette arrived at the Stadium of Light during the summer, former manager Alex Neil dubbed him a “huge talent”, although he is yet to start for the club in the Championship even if he did score a memorable equaliser against Watford.

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Hopefully he still has a bright future with the Black Cats, but this World Cup defeat and performance are unlikely to have done his confidence any good, nor his chances of being handed that elusive first outing from the off at Sunderland.

Indeed, he ruined his big chance to impress on the greatest stage of all.

West Bromwich Albion could be set to land Carlos Corberan his dream first signing…

What’s the latest?

As per journalist Alan Nixon, speaking on his Patreon, the Baggies are keen on reuniting their Spanish boss with Jon Russell.

The Huddersfield Town midfielder has a contract that expires in the coming summer, lending to Lai Guochuan’s interest in landing a “bargain deal”.

Nixon continues in his report that there is hope that a “sensible fee will land the Jamaican next month”.

Dream deal

With Corberan having masterminded a turnaround in form before the World Cup-enforced break, it seems he is set to be rewarded with some purchases of his own this January.

Steve Bruce was somewhat hamstrung by the financial issues that plagued the Midlands outfit, affording him just £1.1m for summer deals.

Although he did secure some admirable transfers, the performances of his team were deemed unforgivable.

In Russell however, they could finally gain the perfect player to knit the squad together, adding a hulking presence to the engine room.

Standing at 6 foot 4, the 22-year-old joined the Terriers on a free contract in the summer of 2021 after a 13-year stint at Chelsea where he would play just 51 times across various youth teams.

What seemed to be a career somewhat stagnating, he was held in high regard by his former assistant coach Danny Schofield, who dubbed him a “special talent” who boasts a “real ability with the ball”, whilst also being “very composed in central areas”.

Adding stability that nearly led his side to promotion last season could be exactly what Corberan needs to mastermind a similar push with his new club, who will demand a return to the Premier League as soon as possible.

During that campaign, Russell averaged a 7.03 rating in what was only his second full season in senior football.

Boasting an 87% pass accuracy, he would prove an all-around star in the midfield as he would pair 1.0 shots per game with 1.3 interceptions, 1.4 tackles and 1.0 clearances, via Sofascore.

Although he and his 39-year-old boss fell short in the Championship playoffs, they could exorcise these demons should they reunite at the Hawthorns in a dream deal.

Jude Bellingham is a name on the lips of many supporters of Liverpool right now. He was before the World Cup got underway three weeks ago and since then, he has only elevated himself higher in the minds of English football fans.

Bellingham has been linked with plenty of clubs in the Premier League of late, no less than Manchester United and their rivals at Anfield.

Recent reports suggest Liverpool are leading the race for his signature in what could be a club-record deal and if they can complete a move, it would be one of the most impressive pieces of business in their long history.

After all, the central midfielder has shown during the World Cup that at the tender age of 19, he is already an elite talent.

The teenager has run the show on plenty of occasions, netting his nation’s first goal of the World Cup before playing an important role in assisting his potential new clubmate in Jordan Henderson for the opener against Senegal.

He even showed an iconic piece of leadership after Harry Kane’s missed penalty against France. He dashed over to the England skipper to console him in what was a remarkable show of solitude for someone so young.

For the most part, the Borussia Dortmund sensation enjoyed a fabulous time in Qatar, but there was one game where the Liverpool target failed to live up to the hype – the 0-0 draw with USA.

In that match, he came up against one of the most promising midfield trios in the competition with Gareth Southgate’s men struggling to contend with Weston McKennie, Tyler Adams and Yunus Musah.

Coincidentally, the latter has also been on Liverpool’s radar in the last few weeks with any move set to cost a whopping £86m if his release clause at Valencia is met.

Once on the books of Arsenal, he “dusted Bellingham” in the words of Joey Barton during that encounter, truly showing the Dortmund ace who is boss.

Musah, who is only 20 years of age himself, completed 83% of his passes, won two tackles and was victorious in 100% of his aerial duels.

As for Bellingham, he was dragged off on 69 minutes having failed to register a single shot, key pass or successful dribble. It was a performance completely out of character with how the rest of the tournament went for the Three Lions star.

In that clash, however, Jurgen Klopp got an indication of why he must sign Musah.

Indeed, his all-round game and box-to-box qualities could be perfect for a Liverpool midfield that is in dire need of improvement.

It is the weakest area of the squad with James Milner, Jordan Henderson and Thiago now all in their 30s. Furthermore, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Naby Keita are out of contract next summer and Arthur Melo is only on loan.

Recruitments are much-needed, therefore, and in Musah, they could find the ideal solution.

During the World Cup, Musah showcased what a superb talent he is, making one shot, one dribble and 0.8 key passes a game as a marker of his influence in the final third.

From a defensive point of view, the American completed two tackles and 0.5 interceptions per fixture, while being dribbled past on just 0.5 occasions a match.

With that in mind, he is clearly an asset in multiple phases of play and one who could help the Reds greatly.

Rather than signing multiple players to plug a more defensive and offensive gap, they could just choose Musah, a young individual who can seemingly do an awful lot.

All he needs to do now is just add more goals to his game, scoring just five times in 81 outings for Valencia.

The USMNT star has seemingly taken on a deeper role in Spain, with his numbers in the Arsenal U18s far more impressive when he got forward, finding the net on five occasions again but this time in only 18 outings.

If he could begin to replicate that sort of form at senior level, he may well become one of the most unstoppable midfielders in European football.

Bellingham has already proven he is that but Musah, despite being a year older, is a rawer talent.

Klopp should be able to extract his potential, and in the process unlock the key to solving Liverpool’s midfield issue.

Leeds United have reportedly made the first steps towards signing Sampdoria attacking midfielder Abdelhamid Sabiri.

The Lowdown: Sabiri profiled

Sabiri is primarily an attacking midfielder and made a permanent move to Sampdoria over the summer following a successful loan spell.

The 26-year-old has scored 45 senior goals for club and country and is currently away with Morocco at the World Cup in Qatar.

He scored a penalty in the shootout win over Spain earlier this week and is now preparing for a quarter-final clash with Portugal, with links of a move to Elland Road now emerging.

The Latest: Leeds approach

According to La Gazzetta Express, Victor Orta and co want to sign Sabiri in January and have already made an approach over a possible move.

Leeds aren’t alone in their pursuit, though, with Lyon and Real Betis also thought to be keen, with a loan with an option to buy transfer mooted.

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The Verdict: One to watch?

Leeds appear to primarily be on the hunt for a centre-forward and a young left-back in January, but a move for Sabiri could still be one to watch.

He can play in a number of positions but is mainly an attacking midfielder, an area you could say Leeds are short in with just Brenden Aaronson and youngster Sam Greenwood the available options to Jesse Marsch at this moment in time.

Therefore, Sabiri could be a smart signing by Orta and potentially a cheap one with his current €3m Transfermarkt valuation.

Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has reportedly identified a score of targets as the January transfer window approaches, with Inter Milan’s Denzel Dumfries at the top of the winter shopping list. 

With the right-back position an area that Ten Hag is actively seeking to replenish, the marauding Netherlands sensation has been highlighted for a move, following his impressive exploits at the World Cup in Qatar.

According to prominent Spanish outlet Sport, Barcelona hold an interest in Diogo Dalot, who has recently emerged as the first-choice right-back at Old Trafford. The report adds that United may sanction the departure of the 23-year-old if terms cannot be agreed with the Portuguese defender.

With Dumfries available for around €55m (£48m), Dalot’s prospective departure could set the wheels in motion and provide the Red Devils with an upgrade at right-back. 

An upgrade on Dalot

Dumfries has made 20 appearances for Inter this season, scoring two goals and setting up a further three as the Nerazzurri chase silverware. 

However, it is his endeavours for the Netherlands at the World Cup which have truly reaffirmed his stature as a “deadly” weapon to wield down the right flank. As per Sofascore, the 42-cap ace started all five matches for his nation in Qatar, contributing with a goal and two assists – all clinched in a remarkable 8.6-rated performance in the round of 16 against USA. 

It was the complete package from Dumfries which would have pleased the likes of Ten Hag, with his 1.6 tackles and 1.4 interceptions per game highlighting his defensive aptitude when called upon, despite thriving as an attacking outlet. 

Hailed for his “breathless” displays by the likes of Micah Richards, the 26-year-old would likely harness his forward-thinking approach and merge with the United manager’s own philosophy to wreak havoc on Premier League defences. 

Dalot, while a promising prospect, simply does not offer the same level of creative flair as Dumfries, with United seeking new dimensions for the forward effort to drive a charge for silverware.

The Portuguese defender has made just seven goal contributions in 85 games for United, just two more than the Dutchman has managed in 20 appearances this term, so Dumfries would certainly offer an attacking upgrade.

With Barcelona lurking around the corner, seemingly intent on forging a deal for the 23-year-old, the Red Devils could look to maximise their profit from the deal and issue a like-for-like switch by placing Dumfries into the fray.

Reportedly earning £55k-per-week at Inter, Dumfries is demonstrating on the biggest stage that he can offer the skill set to fix Man United’s right-back issues; and with the desire for major honours intensifying among the Old Trafford fan base – the club last clinched silverware in 2017 – Dumfries could be the catalyst for change.

Leeds United could reignite their interest in a target that seems set to leave this January…

What’s the latest?

That’s according to German publication Sport Bild, who notes that Josip Brekalo could be set to leave VfL Wolfsburg due to a lack of game time.

Although not explicitly mentioned in the report, the Whites’ interest in the summer of 2021 was well-documented. Battling with Everton, ex-manager Marcelo Bielsa was clearly keen on signing the Croatian to no avail.

Now, director of football Victor Orta could reignite his interest to benefit the new manager.

Could be Leeds’ own Perisic

By signing this tricky winger, it could draw comparisons with Tottenham Hotspur’s summer move for Ivan Perisic.

The 33-year-old joined as a serial winner, boasting a wealth of ability even if he was a declining commodity due to his age. He still ranks in the top 2% for assists and the top 4% for shot-creating actions despite this.

Enjoying finding himself in attacking positions and boasting the quality to find the man, he has been a relative success thus far for Antonio Conte as he boasts a 6.91 average rating in the Premier League.

Whilst nine years his younger, there is a similarity between the robust nature of Brekalo and his legendary compatriot.

During his best season since moving to Germany, in the 2019/20 campaign, he recorded 14 goal contributions in what was his true breakout year.

The season following would then see him record a 6.97 average rating, as he would record 1.3 key passes per game alongside a 64% dribble success rate, via Sofascore.

His admirable defensive work rate to match is what further could draw comparisons with Perisic, as his 0.8 tackles per game suggest his willingness to work back despite his obvious talents.

Dubbed a “frightening” prospect for defenders by journalist Josh Bunting earlier in the year, this would be supplemented by Ronan Murphy’s claim that he is “able to unlock defences” and “torment defenders everywhere”. As a youngster, this could have been describing the former Inter Milan man.

The £31k-per-week dynamo has struggled for form and minutes of late, so a move to England could come at the perfect time for the 24-year-old who still has an illustrious career ahead of him should he just reach out and grab it.