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BBC 5 Live pundit Don Hutchinson has been full of praise for Leeds United midfielder Kalvin Phillips after his performance against Fulham.

The Lowdown: Impressive Phillips

The England international played the full 90 minutes and scored his penalty as Leeds progressed to the next round of the EFL Cup with a penalty shoot-out win over Championship side Fulham.

Phillips played in an unusual centre-back position, alongside Charlie Cresswell, and looked at home in defence, winning three of his five aerial duels and completing 80 per cent of his passes.

Tuesday’s victory is Phillip’s sixth straight full game as he continues to prove his importance to Marcelo Bielsa’s side.

The Latest: Best player on the pitch

Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live Sport, Hutchinson was stunned by Phillips’ talent and claimed the 25-year-old was the best player at Craven Cottage ‘by far’.

He said: “By far, Kalvin Phillips was the best player on the pitch. You watch him play, he glides through games and he sees the picture right in front of him.

“His passing range is outrageous. He is very, very calm. Everything about him. His running game.

“Sometimes when you see a player and you think ‘he is going right to the very top’.”

The Verdict: Consistency is key

Phillips’ eye-catching performances are the reason why Gareth Southgate injected so much trust and belief into the Leeds midfielder for last summer’s European Championships, where he started every game as the Three Lions reached the final.

Links to Manchester City in the past are rightly deserved, with Phillips adapting to Premier League football nicely since the Whites earned promotion in 2020. Last season, he made 1.6 interceptions per game, 2.6 tackles per game and won over half of his aerial duels.

With the rise of Jude Bellingham, Phillips’ consistency will be key if he is to withhold his shirt in the England squad and potentially secure a move to a top-four club, likely banking Leeds an enormous profit in the process.

In other news, an ex-Leeds man has slammed the club for this reason. Find out more here.

While life at West Bromwich Albion could not have got off to a much better start for Valerien Ismael, with his side scoring 11 goals and picking up 10 points from their opening four Championship fixtures, with just a few days remaining of the summer transfer window, there would still appear work to be done for the Frenchman.

Indeed, the departure of Romaine Sawyers on a season-long loan to Stoke City, as well as summer signing Matt Clarke being ruled out for around six weeks due to a hamstring injury, has left the 45-year-old lacking in depth in the middle of the park – with only Jake Livermore and Alex Mowatt being viable options in central midfield.

As such, it would appear extremely wise for Ismael to bring in another body in the position prior to Tuesday’s transfer deadline, with one player appearing to be a standout candidate for the club – Trevoh Chalobah.

Ismael must move

While the 22-year-old was heavily linked with a move to West Brom earlier in the transfer window, with some outlets going as far as to claim that the midfielder’s switch to The Hawthorns was all but done, Chalobah was a surprise inclusion in both the UEFA Super Cup final and Chelsea’s Premier League opener against Crystal Palace.

However, not only did the £3.15m-rated man simply make up the numbers for the Blues in these two fixtures, he starred for Thomas Tuchel’s side.

Indeed, over his 120 minutes on the pitch in the penalty shootout victory over Villarreal, Chalobah – being deployed at centre-back – made two tackles, five interceptions and six clearances, as well as winning five of his eight duels, completing 124 of his 130 passes and touching the ball a whopping 148 times.

These returns saw the man Paul Lambert dubbed a “complete” player earn a highly impressive SofaScore match rating of 7.6, ranking him as Chelsea’s joint third-best performer in the European final.

Rather remarkably, the £12k-per-week midfielder topped this performance in the 3-0 Premier League win over Palace, making two tackles, two clearances and bagging himself a goal – a display which earned the 22-year-old a SofaScore match rating of 8.1, the second-best of any player to feature in the game.

And, while it could be argued that Tuchel may be reluctant to sanction the temporary departure of Chalobah following these impressive performances, should the Blues go on to land Jules Kounde in the coming days, the German boss could well be tempted into a deal.

As such, should an opportunity present itself, it is obvious that Ismael must do all he can to secure the signing of the 6ft 3 midfielder, as he would be able to be deployed in the place of the injured Clarke in the Albion defence, as well as in central midfield upon the defender’s return.

However, there are still a number of things that would have to fall into place for a move to be viable for West Brom, but it is undeniable that Chalobah would be a fantastic addition to the Frenchman’s side, with Kevin Phillips dubbing the potential signing of the youngster as an “amazing coup.”

In other news: Key West Brom figure drops update on “magnificent” £28k-p/w gem, it’d be a major boost

Nir Bitton is one of the most enigmatic players to grace Celtic over the last few years.

Standing at a height of 6 foot 4, the centre-back has all of the tools to be a standout and dominant figure at Parkhead.

However, for one reason or another, the Israeli has often found himself coming off second best and ridiculed as a result.

He was shoddy at times last season but he didn’t start life under Ange Postecoglou very promisingly either.

Bitton was sent off against Midtjylland in the Champions League and was then at fault as Hearts beat Celtic on the opening weekend too.

The centre-back was beaten to the ball by John Souttar who found the back of the net with a late header.

Postecoglou quickly lost faith in the 29-year-old and after he was described as a “walking joke” by Bhoys Analytics, you can hardly blame him.

Carl Starfelt who was signed from Rubin Kazan has taken his place but they also landed Cameron Carter-Vickers on loan just minutes before the deadline last week.

The American is a composed defender who should add a great deal to the side, especially as he buys into Postecoglou’s passing methods. For instance, he completed 84% of his passes on loan at Bournemouth last term.

Yet, with Carter-Vickers walking through the door, it appears to have been a wake-up call for Bitton.

When he and fellow countryman Liel Abada headed off on their travels a week ago, few would have expected the former to stand out more.

However, in consecutive games for Israel, the centre-back has been imperious. During their 4-0 win over the Faroe Islands, Bitton registered 99 passes at a success rate of 90%, proving he’d suit Celtic’s current style of play.

On top of that, he had 116 touches, more than anybody else on the field of play.

Israel would concede two against Austria in their last game on Saturday but his country prevailed 5-2.

Bitton stood out again and this time it was his defensive attributes that stole the show. He won 100% of his duels, succeeding in three ground battles and two aerial battles.

Furthermore, he didn’t commit a single foul and came away with pass accuracy of 88%. On this evidence, the Israeli looked like a changed man. Long may it continue.

AND in other news, Celtic could find another Van Hooijdonk by signing colossal 10-goal monster…

Flocking to Twitter, many Tottenham Hotspur fans have erupted over the official announcement of third major summer signing Cristian Romero after long talks.

Spurs have been attempting to sign the Argentine from Atalanta over these last two weeks with the Serie A side having remained stubborn in negotiations for a period.

However, news broke recently of an agreement between the clubs as Tottenham now finalise his signing and make an announcement.

Romero has joined the Lilywhites as Nuno Espirito Santo’s third major summer signing after deals for both Pierluigi Gollini and Bryan Gil, but his arrival in particular finally puts an end to Spurs’ long, long search for a star centre-half.

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Tottenham have been trying to sign a colossal defensive presence since last summer, sending Steve Hitchen out to negotiate with Inter Milan for the attempted signing of Milan Skriniar in 2020 (Alasdair Gold).

Romero, though, is arguably worth the wait given his credentials – having won the Serie A MVP award for best defender over 2020/2021.

Here’s how Spurs fans went wild for the big announcement, flocking to reply to the club’s official Twitter account.

Spurs fans erupt over Romero signing

“YES YES YES”

Credit: @GCSportsBetting

“Buzzing with this, don’t know much about the lad till we linked few weeks back.. The way players and football reporters talk about him u can only be excited.. Voted best defender in Serie A, just off back of Copa America victory.. Hopefully he hits the ground running.” 

Credit: @Lee88Jay

“Absolutely beautiful”

Credit: @conkhailou12

“Let’s goooooooo”

Credit: @EWF423

“So happy with this signing! Think this could be a game changer”

Credit: @Rozzi_B

“Top signing, and what we’ve been crying out for. Hopefully more to come”

Credit: @JasonKeatley

“A proper CB, tears in my eyes”

Credit: @WilliamsDan61

“Paratici masterclass”

Credit: @PaaaarthD

In other news: Alasdair Gold shares ‘further good news’ for Spurs involving Paratici target, find out more here.

Flocking to Twitter, many West Ham United fans have erupted in response to an official club announcement that defender Frederik Alves has joined Sunderland on loan.

Alves signed for the Hammers in January from Silkeborg IF with the Denmark Under-21 international even making a few appearances on West Ham’s bench over the second half of 2020/2021.

David Moyes is alarmingly short of central defenders as West Ham gear up for what will be a taxing 21/22 campaign given their involvement in the Europa League group stages.

Only Issa Diop, Craig Dawson and Angelo Ogbonna make up Moyes’ senior defensive options and it now appears that they will be short of a youngster to call upon.

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As per the club, making an official announcement, Alves has signed for The Black Cats on a season-long loan deal and will be a part of Lee Johnson’s squad for the entirety of this season.

Given their current squad depth in that area, it is little wonder many West Ham fans believe this decision to let him go is ‘staggering’.

Find all of their verdicts, in reply to West Ham’s official account, down below.

West Ham fans erupt over Alves news…

“Ridiculous this”

Credit: @HughMoore1997

“wow even less first team players now! what a joke”

Credit: @CaineRussell

“This club is a shambles”

Credit: @Mcglynn7James

“Done with this club”

Credit: @LH_WHU

“IS THIS A JOKE, WE HAD 4 CBs IN OUR ENTIRE FIRST TEAM SQUAD, WE NOW HAVE 3, AND OGBONNA IS INJURED. YOU CANNOT WRITE THIS”

Credit: @MattWallis25

“This club man. Staggering.”

Credit: @WestHamPlace

“Bonkers decision like we need the squad to get smaller”

Credit: @PalazonMark

“Absolute joke club. Just keep pushing them all out the door. We will have the best 5 a side team around. Parasite owners.”

Credit: @BMANWHUFC

In other news: ExWHUemployee says West Ham could swoop for perfect Antonio alternative in 16-goal ‘phenomenon’, find out more here.

Sheffield United have enquired about the availability of Liverpool centre-back Ben Davies, according to Football Insider.

The lowdown

Liverpool paid £2million to sign Davies from Preston North End in January amid a centre-back injury crisis.

Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez, Joel Matip and even makeshift option Fabinho were all sidelined at the time.

But the 25-year-old didn’t play a single minute before the end of the season, with Ozan Kabak, Nat Phillips and Rhys Williams preferred.

In fact, Davies only featured in the matchday squad for four Premier League fixtures.

Liverpool fans were finally given a look at him in their recent pre-season mini-game against Austrian side FC Wacker Innsbruck.

The latest

A Sheffield United source tells Football Insider that the Blades want to sign a ‘proven centre-back’ and have made an approach for Davies.

Liverpool are said to be open to selling the Englishman just six months on from his arrival.

Intriguingly, the Blades were apparently keen on recruiting Davies from Deepdale in the January transfer window.

The verdict

Davies’ total lack of involvement suggests he was brought in simply to make up the numbers in a time of crisis, rather than take up a squad role going forward.

And from a business point of view, it made sense. Davies only had six months left on his Preston deal when Liverpool snapped him up, but now he’s under contract for another four years. That should enable the Reds to turn a healthy profit.

Their efforts to raise funds by offloading peripheral players are progressing nicely. Another player unlikely to get a look-in – Harry Wilson – is poised to join Fulham for around £10million.

In other news, fans were left fuming as an old transfer target resurfaced.

Celtic’s negotiations with free agent James McCarthy have resumed, according to Celtic Underground.

The Lowdown: McCarthy links

Celtic Underground actually tweeted rumours of McCarthy heading to Parkhead on Friday evening.

Reliable reporters Alan Nixon and Stephen McGowan both then picked up on the story over the weekend.

Nixon claimed that Celtic are indeed discussing a possible swoop for the Irishman, whereas McGowan believed a move is being considered.

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The Latest: Negotiations shared

Celtic Underground took to Twitter on Monday to share two updates on McCarthy.

The first suggested that talks were proving tricky due to a basic salary and an appearance fee, with moves for Tottenham’s Joe Hart and Shamrock Rovers’ Liam Scales looking good.

However, a few hours later, Celtic Underground, who have 69,000 followers, shared another twist by saying that negotiations have resumed.

The Verdict: Celtic need to make a decision

With no transfer fee required after McCarthy left Crystal Palace last month, Celtic need to make a call on whether or not they are willing to meet the midfielder’s demands.

You’d expect that the 30-year-old, who has 272 Premier League appearances under his belt, will be able to find a new club this summer, so the Hoops may not be in a position where they can call all the shots.

Celtic should have a rough idea of what they are willing to offer the boyhood Hoops fan, and if he wants more, then perhaps they should look elsewhere for midfield reinforcements.

It seems as if talks are back on, though, so it’ll be interesting to see if an agreement can be reached.

In other news: McGowan drops damning three-word update on Celtic’s pursuit of Aurelio Buta. 

Some Liverpool supporters have been showing their love for Reds cult hero Joel Matip, following a brilliant video which emerged of him in training.

The Cameroonian is a hugely popular member of Jurgen Klopp’s squad, possessing a likeable character that rubs off on both the fans and his teammates.

Most importantly, however, Matip is an excellent centre-back when he is available, although constant injury problems have held him back.

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The 29-year-old missed a huge chunk of last season because of fitness issues, but he is now available again and looking sharp in pre-season.

On Monday night, a brilliant video of Matip was posted on Liverpool’s official Twitter account, showing the defender producing strong physicality and also technical brilliance, marauding around the pitch in the process.

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Liverpool fans hail Matip training video

These Reds supporters took to Twitter to heap praise on the ‘unreal’ skills of the centre-back, as their admiration for him shows no sign of going away.

“Didn’t know we had the number 10 we craved among us already”

Credit: @tannaknowsball

“Unreal player love Big Joel”

Credit: @TheSalahRole11

“I think I can honestly say Matip is our best dribbler in the squad lool”

Credit: @TypeOfTime

“We already have a Gini replacement”

Credit: @LFC_Pranav

“Messi, come outside, Joel wants to talk to you”

Credit: @rithkiwrajendra

“Who needs Mbappe?????????”

Credit: @ctwo4n

In other news, some Liverpool fans have reacted negatively to a transfer claim that has emerged. Read more here.

Many Wolves fans have been buzzing as a transfer update emerged on Diego Costa.

Speaking to UOL, the former Chelsea striker shared that he will announce his future ‘in the coming weeks’, putting the Midlands club on red alert.

The Molineux club have reportedly been linked with a move for Costa in the summer window recently and so they will be interested to know where he sees his future ahead of a potential return to England.

The 32-year-old would add a lot more experience to Bruno Lage’s frontline ahead of the new 2021/22 season and has already proven himself in the Premier League, scoring 52 goals and supplying a further 18 assists in 89 games over three consecutive terms in the division (Transfermarkt).

Given the long-term head injury suffered by Raul Jimenez last campaign, Costa would be more than adequate cover for the Mexico international.

Wolves fans on Costa transfer update

These Wolves supporters were thrilled as the transfer update was shared on Twitter, with one saying that it would be ‘class’ if Costa joined Lage’s side:

“Costa and Jimenez. We can dream.. no chance we could afford wages.”

Credit: @Tofts8

“Do it”

Credit: @Darrgrady_

“Please”

Credit: @WolvesNumber37

“Get it done!”

Credit: @danwwfc11

“Get him in”

Credit: @tylerwwfc

“Oh yea class for us we need a player like that”

Credit: @Alfiewwfc_

In other news, find out what club update has left these Wolves fans buzzing!

German football expert Daniel Pinder believes Tottenham Hotspur could strengthen their attacking options by signing Austrian star Marcel Sabitzer in a cut-price deal, with The Athletic reporting last month he could be available for just £15m.

Spurs could be preparing for life without Harry Kane, with the England captain looking for a new challenge and attracting interest from the likes of Manchester City.

Dele Alli, who fell out of favour under Jose Mourinho and made just 15 Premier League appearances last season, has also been linked with departing north London and potentially joining Aston Villa.

Holding talks with Kane and Alli are among new head coach Nuno Espirito Santo’s priorities, while he is also looking to strengthen his options in the transfer market.

Spurs have been keeping tabs on RB Leipzig attacking midfielder Christopher Nkunku. The 23-year-old has reportedly been attracting attention from Arsenal and Barcelona following a fine season which saw him score seven goals in 40 appearances.

But Daniel Pinder, editor-in-chief at Get German Football News, believes Nuno should be in the market for Nkunku’s Leipzig team-mate Sabitzer instead.

Sabitzer – who starred at Euro 2020 before Austria lost to Italy in the last 16 – has been linked with Arsenal, Roma and Milan this summer.

But, with the 27-year-old yet to agree new terms with Leipzig, Pinder feels Spurs could bag a bargain deal if they move quickly.

Speaking exclusively to The Transfer Tavern, Pinder said: “Sabitzer’s contract expires in 2022, so they could potentially get him for a smaller fee than Nkunku.

“I think, should Dele Alli leave, Sabitzer would be a better replacement for Alli than Nkunku.”