All posts by n8rngtd.top

Leeds United seemingly have this season’s loan star Ben White at the top of the shortlist this summer, but they’ll simply have to look at alternatives incase Brighton do not budge and they could call on Pep Guardiola once more.

What’s the word?

According to The Athletic’s Phil Hay, a new name was “mentioned” to him in the form of Manchester City youngster Taylor Harwood-Bellis. He revealed this information following a question about having a back-up to the Elland Road favourite.

He does go onto claim that he doesn’t know if the Whites will actually go after him considering that the Yorkshire giants seem to be all in on White.

Hay believes the club are “trying to make that happen” but it can’t hurt to have other targets.

Ben White 2.0

And that’s why Harwood-Bellis is someone that Marcelo Bielsa will absolutely have to consider as he seems to be picked from the same crop as the Brighton centre-back.

Despite being only 18, the young defender has impressed in Guardiola’s first team playing in the EFL Cup, Champions League and the FA Cup.

He’s described as a “powerful central defender also blessed with excellent skills on the ball” which is pretty much what you’d see next to White in the footballers’ dictionary.

Guardiola also lauded the academy grad as an “exceptional human being” with a “good mentality” after he made his senior bow back in September.

In addition, Haywood-Bellis has captained the U17 England squad, which only goes to show that he fits the leadership qualities that Bielsa would look for in a new signing.

Leeds ultimately need a new ball-playing defender with the only senior option going into next season’s PL return being skipper Liam Cooper.

If White can’t be secured, it’ll be big shoes to fill, but the club ought to look no further than the City sensation. Guardiola trusts him, so Bielsa should too.

AND in other news,£15m swoop for PL ace would be shades of JKA…

Liverpool could land themselves the perfect heir to Mo Salah with the door being opened for them to make a fresh move this summer…

What’s the word?

According to the Mirror, the Premier League champions are set to enter a transfer tussle over Wolves winger Adama Traore this summer as Nuno Santo could be forced into selling his prized asset.

It’s claimed that the Reds will battle top-flight rivals Manchester City for his signature this summer with Midlanders rating him at over double the £18m fee they paid for him back in 2018.

Wolves have a ready-made replacement to go in Daniel Podence and could be inclined to sell him as a result.

Salah successor

As with every transfer window, the future of Salah is thrown into question with the likes of Real Madrid and Barcelona hovering over the Egyptian wizard and whilst a firm bid is yet to come in for him, it would be wise to think about the future.

And Traore is probably the best option out there given he is now tried, tested and improving in the PL.

The 24-year-old Spaniard delivered a career-best six goals and nine assists in all competitions this season, averaging 4.9 dribbles, 1.1 shots and 1.1 key passes per game, via WhoScored.

No other player in the top-flight managed more dribbles with both Sadio Mane (2) and Salah (1.5) not even coming close.

Plenty of the Anfield faithful will remember Traore’s powerful display against Robertson back in January. Despite losing the game 2-1, the enigmatic wide man provided the cross for Raul Jimenez’s header beating the Scotsman in the process and also picked up the highest match rating (8.2) per SofaScore.

Robertson simply couldn’t compete with the brute after four successful dribbles, eight duels won and three free-kicks won.

Post-game Klopp was full of praise, calling him “unbelievable” and “unplayable” whilst fellow PL manager David Moyes felt Traore’s wrath and said: the boy’s power and pace is hard to stop sometimes.”

At a reported £70m, Michael Edwards should absolutely snap up the Wolves sensation before it’s too late.

AND in other news, Five realistic signings Liverpool should target this summer…

Speaking on YouTube (9:00), journalist Alasdair Gold has heaped praise on Tottenham star Tanguy Ndombele who could be a ‘phenomenal’ asset who is ‘such a nightmare’ to play against – urging manager Jose Mourinho to utilise the Frenchman after he sung his praises before a 1-0 defeat to Everton. 

Ndombele, who found life difficult during his first season in north London after signing for a club record £63 million, could now be working his way back into Mourinho’s plans after the Portuguese boss claimed he has ‘never seen him look better’.

Reports emerged over the last few months of a fall-out between the Spurs boss and Ndombele, with Get French Football News breaking a rumoured bust-up, but those whispers seem to have been put to bed.

In response to the manager’s fresh stance on Ndombele, journalist Gold has tipped him to potentially become a real asset for Spurs as the 2020/2021 Premier League season gets underway.

Claiming he is ‘such a nightmare’ to play against, Gold even suggested deploying Ndombele in the number 10 role as a creative hub in midfield, especially considering he has been told that Spurs are not looking to bring in another attacking midfielder.

The transfer update, confirming that Tottenham won’t be after a creative outlet in the middle, could prompt Mourinho to consider playing Ndombele further forward along with Giovani Lo Celso.

Following the recently surfaced Gareth Bale and Sergio Reguilon developments, even though an attacking midfielder is off the table, Spurs are still after a centre-back and striker according to the Athletic – but Ndombele’s presence could prove fruitful if Gold’s verdict is anything to go by.

Spurs fans, will Tanguy Ndombele kick on this season? Have your say in the comments below…

A number of Glasgow Rangers fans were fuming after an image of an “appalling” tackle on Ryan Kent surfaced on social media.

Twitter user @Time3Rag uploaded a screenshot of a nasty challenge being put in on the ‘Gers winger in Sunday’s 2-2 draw at Hibernian, with one of the home side’s players going in with studs showing on the back of his left ankle just as the 23-year-old had laid the ball off.

The game at Easter Road was littered with contentious incidents, including an elbow from Paul Hanlon on Ianis Hagi and an unsubtle Ryan Porteous challenge on Alfredo Morelos (as per Sky Sports). While both elicited yellow cards, Steven Gerrard felt afterwards that stronger action should have been taken by referee Don Robertson.

A week previously, several ‘Gers fans raged at referee Kevin Clancy after he failed to send off Dundee United’s Liam Smith for a knee-high challenge on Brandon Barker which saw the Ibrox winger forced off through injury.

The image of the foul on Kent drew further ire from plenty of the Ibrox faithful, one of whom remarked “This is Scottish football” in a jibe at the treatment of the ‘Gers, who fought a long-running battle with the SPFL earlier this year over the early curtailment of the 2019/20 season:

‘Gers fans, are you appalled by the standard of refereeing in Scotland? Comment below with your views!

Another Tottenham Hotspur game and another starting XI without Dele Alli.

It’s quickly becoming the curious case of Alli in north London.

The 24-year-old superstar hasn’t started a game since Spurs’ 3-1 win over Shkendija in the Europa League third qualifying round several weeks ago. He’s not even been named in the matchday squad for their last two Premier League outings nor the Carabao Cup win over Chelsea earlier this week.

This is a player that looked set to benefit most from the Special One – following his appointment last November, Alli soon became the key man by delivering four goals and three assists in the Portuguese’s first five matches.

Now he’s on the brink of the first-team and has been linked with an exit to Ligue 1 champions Paris Saint-Germain.

It’s no secret that Mourinho isn’t a fan of how Alli trains – calling him something much more coloured than ‘very lazy’ during the Amazon docuseries – but we never heard Mauricio Pochettino talk about this. He was still played and he still delivered immensely for many years under the former Spurs boss.

“I think Dele Alli has a personality completely different maybe to Neymar. I think he’s a special player too. I think Dele is an unbelievable player, great player, still very young and his potential is massive and we’ll see what happens. He has the potential to improve a lot.”

Mauricio Pochettino on Alli.

On his day, Alli is one of the best attacking midfielders in the Premier League, the fact that he clinched two PFA Young Player of the Year awards defines that, and even though those days have been far and few between, it’s on Mourinho to get the best back out of him.

In some ways, he’s playing a very, very dangerous game. It could have as big of a detrimental effect as Christian Eriksen leaving in January.

Spurs are still yet to truly replace that creative influence. You can try both Giovani Lo Celso and Tanguy Ndombele there, and you can even bring in Gareth Bale, but there’s still a playmaker-like hole in that midfield.

Neither player has contributed to a goal in the Premier League this season whilst the pair only combined for a total of six goals last season.

This is where Alli is supposed to be stepping up, but how can he when game time is limited.

Once lauded as a “freak of a talent,” it’s time for Mourinho to throw his weight behind the €70m-rated (£64m) Englishman otherwise he’s at risk of failing to replace a key part to his system – that creativity.

AND in other news, Spurs should forget Skriniar to sign “natural leader” likened to Nemanja Vidic…

One thing Leeds United did a great job of last season was tying down their star players to new contracts.

Kalvin Phillips, Stuart Dallas, Liam Cooper and Pablo Hernandez all signed new deals last year, and that has left United with very few contract worries.

However, there is one first-teamer whose contract is up at the end of this season, and that man is Ezgjan Alioski.

The Macedonian is a cult hero at Elland Road, and the fans adore his insane off-field antics, but despite this, it may be time for the Whites to say goodbye to Gjanni.

Alioski’s role has been reduced for the past year and a half, with Stuart Dallas and Jack Harrison taking the starting roles at both left-back and left-midfield, limiting the 28-year-old to just 21 league starts last season.

With new boy Raphinha and the developing Ian Poveda both able to play down the left, Alioski may soon find himself way down the pecking order there too, while the progression of Leif Davis may also see him struggle to get much game time at left-back.

Alioski deserves better than to rot on the bench, while Leeds don’t need to be paying a player who is only going to play sporadically.

The 28-year-old has been a fantastic servant for Leeds appearing 137 times for the club and scoring 20 goals, but promotion to the Premier League has seen the landscape change at Elland Road. In this evolving squad, Alioski may not have a place any longer.

It’s not nice to say it, and it’s a brutal decision to make on a player that has served the club so well, but it may be time for the Yorkshire outfit to say goodbye to Alioski, be that in January or when his contract is up at the end of the campaign.

Leeds United face one of the toughest tasks of their season as they head to Villa Park on Friday.

The Villans have been one of the best teams in the Premier League so far this season, maintaining a 100% winning record after four games this term, and Leeds’ task has been made that much harder by an injury crisis.

The Whites are set to be without Kalvin Phillips on Friday, while two of their centre-backs have also had injury issues as of late, leaving Marcelo Bielsa with a number of problems.

Fortunately, Bielsa has come up with a plan on how to replace Phillips with the Argentine revealing that Pascal Struijk will slot into the defensive midfield role.

You can understand why Bielsa wants to use Struijk in that role as he clearly rates him incredibly highly, describing him as a ‘complete player’ earlier this season, but we can’t help but feel that Struijk isn’t as complete as Bielsa thinks.

The 21-year-old has some serious shortcomings in his came, and they’re really easy to spot.

When you’re replacing a man colloquially known as ‘the Yorkshire Pirlo’ your passing has to be first-class, and it seems as though Struijk doesn’t quite have the footballing IQ to play the 40-yard cross-field balls that have become something of a trademark of Phillips’ game.

Indeed, Struijk prefers to just smash the ball clear whenever he’s under a bit of pressure, averaging a massive seven clearances per game, which is a higher tally than any other player who has played enough minutes to be ranked on WhoScored.

In comparison, Phillips averages just 1.2 clearances per game, with the 24-year-old much more focused on being progressive and playing the right ball, averaging two key passes per game, while Struijk hasn’t played a single key pass, which can be excused due to the fact he has been playing as a centre-half.

Struijk has big shoes to fill on Friday, and he may struggle to play Kalvin Phillips’ role due to his limited footballing IQ and his preference to just hoof the ball clear at any given opportunity.

Andre Gomes is a doubt for Everton’s upcoming Premier League clash with Manchester United after developing a minor knee injury in defeat to Newcastle, according to the Liverpool Echo.

Toffees boss Carlo Ancelotti has confirmed the Portuguese ace will need further assessment before being passed fit to face the Red Devils at Goodison Park this Saturday, having needed replacing on the hour mark at St. James’ Park.

The Italian is hopeful Gomes can feature at the weekend but will give the Merseyside outfit’s medical team room to monitor the situation, with Seamus Coleman, James Rodriguez and Ben Godfrey also missing the Toon affair with hamstring, haematoma and hamstring injuries respectively.

Gomes has started all five of his Premier League appearances for the season, but struggled to make an impact for the right reasons at Newcastle having fouled Callum Wilson in the box to hand Steve Bruce’s side the chance of opening the scoring.

The former FC Barcelona midfielder’s problems on Tyneside also led to a game-low SofaScore match rating of 5.8 out of ten, after losing all five of his ground duels, turning over possession nine times, misplacing 23% of his 30 passes – including his only cross and both attempted long balls – being dribbled past on three occasions and offering no shots, tackles, clearances or interceptions.

Gomes’ form could easily have seen that Ancelotti sought to bench the 27-year-old again after doing so at Southampton, but a potential injury scare will offer Fabian Delph an ever-more welcome gift with a chance to impress and protect his Everton career.

Delph started the Newcastle defeat as Ancelotti rotated his line-up to cover for the mounting injuries, and lived up to former Everton boss Marco Silva’s words of being an important player in Royal Blue with the game’s most touches (126) and accurate passes (96) plus three clearances, one interception, one tackle and a successful dribble, per WhoScored.

Silva, who signed Delph from Manchester City in a deal that could reach £10million, was full of optimism for what the midfielder could bring to Goodison Park last year, telling EvertonTV: “When we looked at our squad last season, we saw some important things Fabian could add.

“Not just his football qualities, he can give us different things and will be an important player for us. it is really important midfield players, everyone in the central zone, have that leadership and can command the team in some moments.”

But injuries ran riot through Delph’s maiden campaign at Goodison Park, with the former England international first sustaining a thigh injury during a pre-season friendly with Werder Bremen before a hamstring strain in October that he aggravated again in November.

He eventually returned in December but enjoyed just nine appearances before his debut season came to a premature end in March through sickness, as a muscle strain ensured he took no part in the Blues’ Project Restart efforts.

Altogether, the issues ensured Delph started just 13 of his 16 Premier League appearances for 1,190 minutes on the field, while playing his first minutes since February in Everton’s Carabao Cup win over Fleetwood Town in September.

Sunday’s defeat to Newcastle marked Delph’s first Premier League start this season, too, and any consistent time in the side could allow the 30-year-old to protect his Everton career after being linked with a move away this summer.

Reports by The Times claimed the Toffees were open to offers for a string of fringe players including Delph, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Bernard and Theo Walcott after Farhad Moshiri sanctioned the Goodison Park outfit’s pursuit of Abdoulaye Doucoure.

Being cast aside by Ancelotti this term could have put Delph back in the shop window, but an injury to Gomes could be what he needs to destroy the for sale sign altogether.

AND in other news, Marcel Brands can build Everton’s dream unit with a gem who Carlo Ancelotti calls “one of the best”.

Glasgow Rangers manager Steven Gerrard refused to discuss Steven Davis’ contract following the thrilling 3-3 draw with Benfica in the Europa League on Thursday night.

What’s the word?

The Ibrox boss praised the in-form midfielder for his recent “unbelievable” form but remained coy on the subject when asked about his future at Ibrox.

Davis has been in fine form for club and country since returning from lockdown and will be expected to start when Northern Ireland face Slovakia in Thursday’s Euro 2020 play-off final at Windsor Park.

Speaking after the game, Gerrard said: “Steven’s in good form. I think he has been since we returned from lockdown. You always wonder when players are that age and they have such a long break off with a lockdown, what are they going to be like when they return?

“But his professionalism and his attitude and his application – he came back in unbelievable shape and he’s built on that. I think that’s showing in his performances. He’s really really consistent at the moment and arguably in the best form since we’ve been working together.”

Davis has been an integral part of Gerrard’s side this season, but his performances on the pitch aren’t the only reasons why the Gers need to keep him.

The 35-year-old recently dismissed any talks of a possible retirement so it’s clear that he has no intentions of hanging up his boots anytime soon.

Get it done, Gers!

There is a real possibility that Davis will leave the club when his contract runs out next summer but Rangers chief Ross Wilson can’t afford to let that happen, especially amid recent talk about teammate Alfredo Morelos’ future.

The Light Blues brought in Bongani Zungu from Amiens on an initial loan deal before the close of play on transfer deadline day but the South Africa international is yet to make his first-team debut for the Ibrox outfit, so questions still remain over whether or not the Gers will trigger the option to buy clause in his contract.

Glen Kamara isn’t exactly short of admirers amid reports that the talented midfielder could be on his way out, which would leave Gerrard with fewer options in the midfield as an injury crisis could cause several problems.

Indeed, it’s fair to say that Rangers must throw everything at Davis, who currently earns wages worth £18,000-per-week, as they must try and convince the colossus to stay at the club in the summer, as his performances in recent weeks have shown that he still has plenty to offer.

Not only is the Northern Irishman an important player on the pitch, he is also an influential “leader” in the dressing room, who could bring the best out of some of the younger members of the squad like Ianis Hagi and Ryan Kent.

AND in other news, Glasgow Rangers should give Connor Goldson a rest after Benfica showing…

Liverpool midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum was once again able to showcase his class for the Netherlands on Wednesday night, as his late goal secured a 2-1 win for Oranje against Poland.

The 30-year-old captained his side to victory in Chorzow and was on hand to score an 84th-minute winner to complete the turnaround for Frank de Boer’s side (per SofaScore).

It continues the former Newcastle United man’s impressive international scoring stats, as he now has 15 goals in 62 caps for his country (per Transfermarkt).

This will perhaps be a cause for confusion amongst some Liverpool fans, as in 199 appearances for the Reds, he has just 19 goals, showing that he is much more prolific when he plays for his country.

The midfielder, who earns £75,000-a-week according to Spotrac, has endured a disappointing start to the 2020/21 season with Liverpool, having averaged a poor 6.54 rating across his eight appearances in the Premier League thus far (per WhoScored).

Jurgen Klopp will be hoping therefore that Wijnaldum will return to Anfield after the international break in much more confident form, as if he were to maintain his current level of performances in the Premier League, you would imagine it wouldn’t be too long until the German manager were to drop him.

The Dutch international has been a big part of Liverpool’s successes in recent years, perhaps most notably for his two goals in Liverpool’s incredible 4-0 Champions League semi-final win against Barcelona and this most recent international performance demonstrates his quality.

As per SofaScore, the 30-year-old earned a 7.5 rating for his display, with only Memphis Depay and Poland goalscorer Kamil Jozwiak rated higher on the night.

Wijnaldum enjoyed an impressive pass accuracy rate of 93%, with 26/28 of his passes finding their mark. He also made two key passes and lost the ball on just 11 occasions, suggesting that he was very proficient with the ball at his feet.

He also matched this technical ability with a real battling performance, as he won nine out of 16 ground duels, and two out of four aerial duels during the game, also winning the penalty which Depay dispatched to equalise.

Klopp will surely be delighted with Wijnaldum’s all-round impressive display and will be hoping for a similar performance when Liverpool face Leicester City at Anfield in their next Premier League fixture.

In addition, the Dutchman also sent an important message to Michael Edwards that even though he might be in the final year of his Anfield contract, he still has plenty to offer the Reds.