All posts by z3u9t.icu

Celtic will receive a £2m windfall for the transfer of Ryan Christie if Bournemouth win promotion to the Premier League, according to The Sun, cited by 67 Hail Hail.  

The Lowdown: Deadline Day business

The Hoops had a busy final day of the summer window, with three incomings and three outgoings.

Christie was one of those to leave, with the Cherries paying an initial £2.5m for the attacking midfielder.

Striker Giorgos Giakoumakis was the last permanent addition to Ange Postecoglou’s squad, costing just over £2m, and it appears as if that could be paid for thanks to Christie by next summer.

The Latest: Add-on details emerge

The Sun on Sunday, cited by 67 Hail Hail, claim that Celtic will receive a further £2m if Bournemouth win promotion.

They could then land even more if they stay up in a potential 2022/23 Premier League campaign.

The Verdict: Shrewd move

Christie was out of contract at Celtic Park in January, so bringing in an initial £2.5m in the summer was good business.

It seems as if it could get even better over the next seven months, which could, in theory, mean the Hoops’ move for Giakoumakis is all but paid for due to add-ons in Christie’s transfer.

All in all, it looks like a shrewd move by the Hoops hierarchy, who will more than likely be hoping Bournemouth can stay top of the Championship until May.

In other news: Celtic are considering boss with similar style to Ange; he played golf with Desmond last week. 

Joining Everton would be a good step for Manchester United midfielder Jesse Lingard, according to former Toffees striker Marcus Bent.

With just under one year left on his current Old Trafford deal, there has been much speculation surrounding Lingard’s future this summer, with a host of clubs reportedly interested in his signature.

One of those clubs was West Ham, but Sky Sports have recently reported that the Hammers now only believe they have a 10 percent chance of signing the England international.

Lingard was on loan at the London Stadium for the second half of last season, scoring nine goals and providing five assists.

With West Ham only giving themselves a small chance of re-signing Lingard, Marcus Bent thinks Everton should look to swoop in for his signature, exclusively telling Football FanCast: “If you look at it, he’s been on loan at West Ham and he’s done really well.

“I think at the moment, I don’t think he’s going to be number one, number two at Man United, so for a big club like Everton I think that would be a good basis where he can go and make his career.”

A Tottenham Hotspur insider has shed some light on rumours of Gareth Bale potentially returning to Spurs in the January transfer window.

The Lowdown: Conte wants Bale

According to journalist Eduardo Inda, Antonio Conte has asked for the North London club to sign Bale once more in the winter.

Of course, he was with the Lilywhites on loan last season, and managed to score 16 goals and make a further three assists in 34 games in total over all competitions (Transfermarkt).

Bale ended up as their third-highest scorer behind only Harry Kane and Son Heung-Min, and so it is not a surprise that Conte would like him to return once more, given that THFC are currently the Premier League’s second-lowest scorers with just nine goals in 11 games so far.

The Latest: Insider sheds light

Speaking to Football Insider, Tottenham insider John Wenham, who regularly breaks news about Spurs on his Lilywhite Rose social media channels, has shed some light on the rumours of Bale’s potential return, and thinks that he would be a ‘brilliant’ signing in January:

“The stats speak for themselves.

“I have seen some ridiculous statements that joked Bale was using Tottenham as a gym ahead of the Euros.

“Actually, he scored 11 league goals in very minimal playing time. He scored the same amount of league goals as Aubameyang and Mane.

“He scored more than Antonio and Firmino and he barely played.

“People were asking what he did in the cups, he didn’t play. Mourinho, for whatever reason, did not play him.

“He then had a real purple patch under Mason and scored a brace on the last day of the season, a result that earned us European football over Arsenal.

“I had hopes we were going to extend his loan after last season because I think we have missed his goals.

“Would I welcome him back? Absolutely, he’s a Tottenham legend. He ticks a lot of boxes. It would be brilliant.

“I hope we look at that. However, Alasdair Gold said there was basically nothing in it, so at the moment I think it’s just a rumour.”

The Verdict: Bring him back

Bale’s impact in North London during his loan spell last term is nothing to be sniffed at, and there is no doubt that he can make the same impact again.

Of course, he is 32 years of age now, but is still playing at the highest level with Real Madrid.

Nonetheless, as Wenham puts it, he is simply a legend at the Lilywhites, being part of the team that won the League Cup in 2008 and winning Player of the Year in the 2012/13 campaign (Transfermarkt), and would thus be a signing that would help get the fans onside during what could be a potentially tricky next few months.

In other news, find out what transfer boost Conte has been gifted here!

The previous summer transfer window was a fairly busy one for Liverpool in terms of moving certain players out of the club, either on permanent or temporary deals, with Ibrahima Konate being the only new face to join the Merseyside club.

One player that moved away from Anfield over the summer on a loan deal was 26-year-old defender Ben Davies, who joined Championship side Sheffield United on a loan deal until the end of the season after not making even one appearance for the Reds since he joined in the previous January transfer window from Preston North End.

Back to the present, it seems as though Liverpool will have another decision to make in the summer when it comes to Davies’ next step.

What’s the news?

It has recently been reported by The Star that the outcast is likely to rejoin Liverpool in the summer when his current loan deal ends, with the Blades apparently not interested in signing Davies, who was picking up a weekly wage of £60k-per-week last season according to Spotrac, on a permanent basis.

With this in mind and the fact that Liverpool currently have five centre-backs in their squad at the moment, with three of them being younger than Davies, it would be in the club’s and Davies’ best option if he were to leave Liverpool on a permanent basis in the summer when he returns from his current loan deal if he isn’t likely to get much playing time at Anfield under Jurgen Klopp, which seems like it could be the case moving forward.

Given his lack of game time last season for Liverpool and the fact that they shipped him out on loan last summer, it does seem strange they the Merseyside club signed the defender on a lengthy contract that isn’t set to expire until 2025, even though Paul Carden, who Davies played under at Southport earlier in his career, called him “different class” upon his arrival at Anfield.

During his time with the Blades, Davies has made 10 appearances for them in the Championship, completing the full 90 minutes in all but one of them, showing that he has been getting a decent number of minutes under his belt this season, which will be good for his chances of another club potentially coming in to sign him in the summer on a permanent basis so he can bring an end to his Liverpool nightmare.

In other news: Forget VVD: “Influential” LFC ace with 1.5 tackles a game has been Klopp’s unsung hero – opinion

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.

According to a report by Turkish news outlet Fotomac, via Sport Witness, Galatasaray could open ‘official’ talks to sign West Ham United forward Andriy Yarmolenko once their new president is elected.

The Lowdown: Yarmo out of favour…

The Ukraine international barely featured for West Ham over 2020/2021 due to a combination of injury issues and other players being ahead in the pecking order.

Indeed, Yarmolenko started just one Premier League game all season under manager David Moyes and played out the vast majority of his appearances as a substitute.

The 31-year-old bagged three goals in six appearances across both the Carabao Cup and FA Cup competitions last year but that was the summary of his contribution.

The Latest: Galatasary come calling…

Fotomac, via Sport Witness, now bring the latest on Yarmolenko and his future in the English capital.

[web_stories_embed url=”https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/web-stories/west-ham-latest-news-2/” title=”West Ham latest news!” poster=”” width=”360″ height=”600″ align=”none”]

The forward is now attracting heavy interest from Turkish Super League giants Galatasary who plan to be ‘aggressive’ in the transfer market this summer.

It is reported that they could even open official talks to sign Yarmolenko once some club issues are resolved, such as the election of a new president and the future of their current manager.

The 94-cap international’s agent even apparently confirmed that Turkish clubs are looking to sign him according to this report.

The Verdict: Time to go…

West Ham star Declan Rice once dubbed Yarmolenko as ‘really special’ in an interview with the club’s official website, but we believe now may be time for him to leave east London.

Yarmolenko played far more often over 2019/2020, scoring five goals in the Premier League, but he has cut a bit-part figure to say the least over these last six months.

The Hammers may need to adopt a sell-to-buy policy like many clubs up and down England due to the coronavirus pandemic and we can’t think of anyone better for the chopping block.

In other news: Barry Fry makes claim on potentially ‘great news for West Ham fans’, 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

Sheffield United have been dealt a blow in their bid to bring Robin Olsen to Bramall Lane this summer.

What’s the talk?

That’s according to a report by Italian media outlet Calciomercato, who claim that the AS Roma goalkeeper is stalling over a potential move to the Blades, in the hope that a Premier League side firm up their interest in his services.

It had previously been reported that Slavisa Jokanovic’s side had identified the 31-year-old shot-stopper as their number one candidate to replace the recently departed Aaron Ramsdale, and were locked in discussions with the Sweden international – whom Jose Mourinho is believed to be open to parting with this summer.

Jokanovic will be livid

With it being all well and good that Oslen is stalling over his potential move to Bramall Lane due to his desire to play Premier League football, the goalkeeper’s indecision will nevertheless have left Jokanovic livid.

Indeed, with time running out for the 53-year-old to bring in a new first-choice ‘keeper in the summer transfer window, should a top-flight side indeed chose to make a move for the Roma man in the coming days, it would leave the Serbian with very little time to source another player in the position.

Furthermore, Olsen would very much appear to be a fantastic signing for a Championship club to make, as the 31-year-old highly impressed for both Everton and Sweden last season.

Indeed, over his seven Premier League appearances for the Toffees last term, the £2.7m-rated man kept two clean sheets, as well as conceding an average of just 1.3 goals and making three saves per game.

These returns saw the player Alexander Isak dubbed an “incredible” talent earn an average SofaScore match rating of 6.87, ranking him as the Toffees’ 12th-best performer in the league.

This fine form continued while on international duty, with the £14k-per-week shot-stopper conceding just four goals and keeping two clean sheets over his four appearances at Euro 2020 – with these metrics seeing the ‘keeper earn a highly impressive average SofaScore match rating of 7.05.

As such, while losing Ramsalde will have undoubtedly come as a blow for Jokanovic, if the Blades boss were to replace the youngster with Olsen this summer, it would certainly soften the hit – although, whether or not the Roma man ends up in Sheffield appears rather uncertain at present.

In other news: Jokanovic heading for his biggest SUFC transfer mistake to date, fans will be livid

Former Sunderland striker Kevin Phillips believes that Tyler Roberts could leave Leeds United this summer in order to find regular first-team football.

The Lowdown: Limited playing time

The Whites may have enjoyed a memorable season back in the Premier League, securing a ninth-place finish, but Roberts hasn’t been a key presence in Marcelo Bielsa’s side.

The Welsh forward started just 14 of Leeds’ 38 league games, often having to play second fiddle to more important attackers, such as Raphinha and Jack Harrison.

Roberts has been linked with a summer exit from Elland Road as he potentially seeks to move to a club where he will start most weeks.

The Latest: Pundit tips Roberts to leave

Speaking to Football Insider, Phillips admitted that he could see the £4.5m-rated talent moving on to pastures new in the next transfer window. He said of the 22-year-old:

“I want to see young players playing. I’ve said that all along. He’s had some minutes this year but when you’ve had that, you want to be playing first team football.

“Once you’ve had that taste. If you aren’t guaranteed that at your club then you want to go somewhere else.  Naturally, when know you can perform at the Premier League level you want to play every week and develop.

“That’s one we’ll be reading about over summer whether he goes out on loan or whatever. Him going would not be a surprise.”

[web_stories_embed url=”https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/web-stories/latest-leeds-united-news-3/” title=”Latest Leeds United news!” poster=”” width=”360″ height=”600″ align=”none”]

The Verdict: Keep hold of him, Leeds

While Robertson may not be an indispensable figure at Leeds, he is still a valuable squad member, with his former West Brom boss Tony Pulis once describing him as ‘very talented’.

At 22, he is at an age where he is still maturing, and under the tutelage of Bielsa, there is no reason why he can’t become a regular starter for the Whites over time.

That being said, if Roberts is already desperate to be a vital presence elsewhere, it will be hard to begrudge him a summer move, with Leeds receiving a fee for his services rather than risking losing him for free when his contract expires next year.

In other news, one Leeds player has received huge praise from a former Whites favourite. Read more here.

Alasdair Gold has dropped an update on the future of reported Tottenham Hotspur summer transfer target Christian Eriksen.

What’s the talk?

In a recent video posted on YouTube, the football.london journalist revealed that Spurs have been in discussions regarding the possibility of bringing the 30-year-old central midfielder back to north London on a free transfer this summer.

Speaking about Spurs’ interest in the Denmark international, Gold said: “He would fit in there like a glove, in [Antonio] Conte’s 3-5-2, as he did with Inter Milan. He would bring so much to Tottenham.

“I know Spurs have spoken, have had discussions about bringing him in as a free agent – as in amongst themselves. I think there’s going to be a queue of competition for him.

[snack-amp-story url= “https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/read-the-latest-spurs-news-transfer-rumours-gossip-levy-conte-paratici-thfc” title= “Read the latest Spurs news!”]

“I don’t think he left Spurs on the best of terms with the hierarchy at the club. But, he does love the club and he wants to stay in London, from what I understand, with his family.

“And it’s quite funny that Conte, when he just signed for Brentford, was very clear – no subtlety about it whatsoever – that he wanted to bring in Eriksen, maybe this summer.”

Supporters will love Gold’s claim

Considering just how impressive Eriksen has been following his return to the Premier League in January, coupled with the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium faithful’s undying love for the 30-year-old, the news Spurs are considering a move for the midfielder this summer is sure to be a claim that supporters will love.

Indeed, over his seven Premier League appearances for Brentford, the £13.5m-rated maestro has been in breathtaking form for Thomas Frank’s side, scoring one goal, registering two assists and creating three big chances for his teammates, as well as making an average of 2.1 key passes and taking 1.9 shots per game.

These returns have seen the Dane average a quite remarkable SofaScore match rating of 7.49, not only ranking him as the Bees’ best performer in the league but also as the third-best player in the division as a whole – above the likes of Mohamed Salah, Son Heung-min and Mason Mount.

As such, considering his history with both Tottenham and Conte, his undoubted ability with the ball and the fact he will be available to sign on a free, it is clear to see why Spurs would be interested in a deal to bring Eriksen back to the club this summer – as he very much looks to be the type of player the 52-year-old manager is desperately lacking in the middle of the park.

AND in other news: “His people claim..”: Gold drops behind scenes update, Spurs supporters surely buzzing