All posts by z3u9t.icu

Writing on Twitter, Sport Italia TV journalist Rudy Galetti has claimed that Tottenham Hotspur have ‘asked for information’ in regards to Bayer Leverkusen striker Patrik Schick.

The Lowdown: Spurs eyeing new striker?

Tottenham have been tipped to target new forwards this summer after the Lilywhites opted against taking up the £36 million option to buy Carlos Vinicius after his loan from Benfica.

This means Spurs are severely lacking in the out and out striker department with Harry Kane currently the only star option in that position.

The Latest: Journalist says Spurs have made Schick enquiry…

Writing on Twitter, Italian reporter Galetti has claimed that Spurs have ‘asked for information’ in an enquiry to sign Schick this summer.

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The Czech Republic striker shined at Euro 2020 and scored one of the goals of the tournament, lobbing Scotland keeper David Marshall from the half way line.

Galetti said that managing director Fabio Paratici ‘appreciates’ the Bundesliga star with Spurs’ enquiry coming ‘in recent days’.

However, Bayer Leverkusen value Schick at around €40 million (£34.4m) – which is currently deemed ‘too high’ by Tottenham.

The Verdict: Worth it?

Schick’s exploits at Euro 2020 highlight the ability that he has, with Czech national team boss Jaroslav Silhavy calling him a ‘genius’ after his heroics against Scotland (The Jakarta Post).

However, his goalscoring record at club level isn’t exactly head-turning.

The 25-year-old scored just nine goals in 20 Bundesliga starts over 20/21 and Tottenham should want a player who can score more consistently as their back up option to Kane.

If Spurs could wiggle down his £34.4m asking valuation, you could start making a case for signing Schick, but for now, it is too high a price to pay given the Lilywhites’ financial situation.

In other news: Spurs frontrunners to sign ‘absolutely sensational’ player with Nuno set for final call, find out more here.

Speaking to Football Insider, pundit and BBC regular Noel Whelan has been left wowed by James Tarkowski and says he has ‘no doubt’ the defender would be a success at West Ham United.

The Lowdown: Tarkowski saga returns…

Last year, the Hammers made a series of failed summer bids to try and prise the centre-back away from Turf Moor and down to east London. Indeed, Sky Sports said that GSB even lodged a third £31m offer for the 28-year-old but Burnley refused to budge.

Football Insider have now claimed that the centre-back is ‘very keen’ on a move to the English capital and would fully grasp a move to West Ham with both hands.

The Latest: Whelan reacts…

Reacting to this development, Whelan told Football Insider that Tarkowski would strengthen West Ham no end, calling him ‘aggressive’ and a ‘leader’ at the back.

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“Yeah, absolutely,” the pundit explained when asked if Tarkowski would reinforce David Moyes’ side.

“It’s not the first time they have been interested in him. He’s a very good defender. He’s so experienced and aggressive at the back. One of those leaders every team needs.

“I have no doubt he’ll be a success. Once again Moyes is going British. Most of the players he’s brought in have been British. He’s building a solid foundation at West Ham and he wants Tarkowski to be part of that.

“It’s an ideal signing to make if West Ham want to push on and keep challenging.”

The Verdict: Do it Moyesey…

It is reported that West Ham want to invest in three main areas this summer transfer window. Claret & Hugh believe that the Irons want to seal a permanent deal for Jesse Lingard, sign a new forward and bring in a solid centre-half option.

Tarkowski would certainly be the perfect acquisition for the latter task, and a possible West Ham swoop may be more realistic going by his precarious situation at Burnley and contract length, with just one year remaining on his current deal. With all that in mind, the Irons need to take advantage and get it done.

In other news: ‘Have started negotiations’…Journalist drops exciting West Ham transfer claim, find out more here.

West Brom are edging closer to making their next managerial appointment, according to emerging claims…

What’s the word?

The Mirror’s David Anderson delivered a fresh update on Twitter, in which he suggested that Chris Wilder was the Baggies’ top target and that, barring any late surprises, he will become the next manager of the Midlands club.

He posted: “Barring any late unforeseen hiccups, Chris Wilder will be West Brom’s new manager. Wilder is their No 1 choice and talks are continuing on finalising a deal.”

An encouraging sign

The 53-year-old has been out of work since being sacked by Premier League basement boys Sheffield United back in early March, a decision which was perhaps unfair.

Wilder brought joy to thousands of Blades supporters by delivering their greatest post-war era, which included two promotions in four years, rising from 11th in League One to the Premier League – and very nearly into the Europa League.

In his first season in charge, United won the League One title with a whopping 100 points and did so by playing an attractive, free-flowing and attacking brand of football.

His recent experience and proven track record in the Championship makes him a very appealing candidate, especially as that’s where Albion will be playing next season and he’s available for nothing, so it’s no wonder that he’s the club’s top candidate.

An update like this should leave The Hawthorns faithful absolutely buzzing as it appears as if the Baggies are doing their business early so that Wilder has plenty of time to get in and make the changes required to get the team back into the Premier League.

Having won only five matches all season, the supporters need something to shout about and they might soon have it, with Wilder looking increasingly likely to be announced in due course.

His attacking football will be a vast change from what we’ve witnessed under Sam Allardyce, even if results improved somewhat under the 66-year-old. That should only please fans even more.

The Baggies look set to embark on an exciting new era at the club.

AND in other news, Exclusive: Lawrie Sanchez backs West Brom for promotion next season…

Southampton fans have been reacting to reports claiming that Eddie Howe turned down a move to Celtic as he wants to take over the Saints instead.

The previous campaign was a mixed one for the Saints. They started the season well and even reached the F.A Cup semi-finals. However, they ended up losing 1-0 to Leicester at Wembley after a lacklustre display, while they finished in 15th place in the Premier League table. However, it seems the St. Mary’s Stadium outfit will persevere with Ralph Hasenhuttl as boss.

Former Bournemouth boss Howe looked certain to join Celtic, but an agreement fell through (The Telegraph). Now, according to Football Insider, Howe decided against a move to Glasgow as he has his heart set on replacing Hasenhuttl at Southampton instead.

The news was shared on Twitter by @SaintsExtra, and it attracted plenty of attention from the club’s supporters, and they took to the social media platform to share their thoughts.

Let’s see what the fans had to say about the Howe news below

“??????????????????????????????????”

Credit: @Cworth65141519

“We’re gargantuan haha”

Credit: @rxdmond

“There really are some jokers out there”

Credit: @James90044529

“Imagine Howe at Saints, a manager who loves spending big money on unsuccessful player (ibe, solanke, gradel etc) It would not go well”

Credit: @BensBanter

“Hang on. Have I missed something? I thought we had a manager? I’ve only just got out of bed.”

Credit: @isplumm

“rubbish”

Credit: @sfcbilly

In other news, Southampton are interested in this midfielder compared to Steven Gerrard.

West Brom have approached Barnsley boss Valerien Ismael over the vacant manager’s job at the Hawthorns, according to John Percy.

The Lowdown: Manager search goes on

The Baggies were unable to stay in the Premier League last season, suffering relegation back to the Championship, following a forgettable campaign.

Sam Allardyce left his role as manager after the final day and West Brom have been on the lookout for a new boss ever since, with a host of names linked, including Chris Wilder.

The Latest: Percy provides major update

According to the Telegraph’s Percy on Twitter, the Baggies have ‘moved’ for Ismael, with ‘talks ongoing’ and the club prepared to pay Barnsley the seven-figure fee to bring him to the Hawthorns.

“WBA have moved for Valérien Ismaël and want him as their new head coach. Talks ongoing with Barnsley. West Brom are prepared to pay the £2m buyout,” Percy revealed on Friday morning.

The 45-year-old took charge at Oakwell last October, guiding the Tykes into the Championship playoffs at the first attempt.

The Verdict: Ideal candidate?

Ismael looks an exciting potential appointment for West Brom, considering the strides he made in the space of just one year with Barnsley.

The Frenchman has become renowned for playing a rich brand of high-energy, direct football, which could appeal to Baggies supporters.

Ismael looks a bold appointment, should it happen, rather than going for another ageing British manager in the mould of Allardyce.

In other news, West Brom have been linked with a move for a forward this summer. Find out who it is here.  

In one swift tapping of the publish button on Twitter, Nuno Espirito Santo’s stay at Wolves is coming to an end.

The Portuguese manager has been linked with a number of Premier League clubs in the past but his untimely departure on Friday afternoon came as a shock.

Nuno has been the foundation holding everything together at Molineux for the last four years. He has guided them from being a mid-table Championship club to one which achieved a place in the Europa League quarter-finals last season.

The 47-year-old has built an impressive armoury of Portuguese talent and, together with Fosun, they have taken the club to a new level in the modern era. Therefore, to lose him after their final match of the current campaign will be a huge loss.

With the transfer window opening in just a matter of weeks, the Old Gold hierarchy will need to make sure they have a swift replacement installed.

One man they have targeted is former Benfica coach Bruno Lage. Another Portuguese manager, he was touted with a switch to Molineux last month, but a move now appears to be gathering pace.

Transfer guru Fabrizio Romano took to social media in the immediate aftermath of Nuno’s resignation with the following update: “Wolves have contacted former Benfica manager Bruno Lage as ‘main option’ to replace Nuno Espirito Santo who’s leaving the club. Talks ongoing.”

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Lage took over the Lisbon giants in January 2019, losing just 13 of his 76 matches in charge while guiding them to the 2018/19 Primeira Liga title. In the process, he and his team were described as “spectacular” by the reputed World Soccer magazine.

It was under his stewardship that a number of Benfica’s young players came to prominence, with newly-crowned FWA Premier League Player of the Year Ruben Dias thriving under his management.

Another player he helped take to the next level was Joao Felix. The forward bagged 17 goals and produced ten assists in just 29 outings under Lage before moving to Atletico Madrid for a mind-boggling £113m – the fifth-highest transfer fee in world football.

The 44-year-old also developed Florentino Luis, who has been linked with Leeds United, and Ferro, a centre-back now plying his trade at Valencia.

In bringing through all of these players, he showed why he’d be perfect for the current crop at Molineux. Jeff Shi likes a manager who can develop young talent, an area where Nuno was particularly adept.

That being said, with Lage at the helm, Wolves could extract even more from those coming through the academy. Fabio Silva will be able to take great comfort from what the 44-year-old achieved with Felix, another of football’s global wonderkids.

Wolves’ record signing has only netted four times since moving to England but could see his game significantly improved under a new manager. The likes of Vitinha, Morgan Gibbs-White and Christian Marques could also look forward to regular first team minutes if Lage’s work at Benfica is anything to go by.

The Jorge Mendes client may not be well known to an English audience but neither was Nuno before he arrived in the Midlands.

Lage certainly worth a punt from Shi.

AND in other news, Wolves intend to buy “unpredictable” 23-goal Mendes client, he’s an upgrade on Podence…

Financial expert Kieran Maguire has been reacting to Celtic’s significant share price rise in line with talks of an all-British League.

Reports from The Sun on April 22 suggested that both the Hoops and rivals Rangers were wanted as part of a new British division after the fall out of a European Super League, with both clubs thought to be keen on a possible switch.

It didn’t take long for the news to have an effect on the club, with Celtic Plc‘s stock shooting up the same day, as reported by Football Insider.

Maguire, talking to Football Insider, explained it was no coincidence that the club’s share price increased following proposals of a British League, labelling a potential deal as ‘massive’.

He also added that the arrival of new CEO Dominic McKay, who arrived three days earlier, wouldn’t have had an impact on the figures.

“I think it is down to speculation going forward.

“I don’t think the new chief exec’s arrival would have had any impact, as has been suggested.

“Potential additional revenues for the club would be the main driver, I suspect.

“There is a lot of talk about this British league, of course. Whether or not it will actually happen is a different question for another day.

“But it would have a massive impact on Celtic’s finances. That might make the shares potentially look undervalued at their current rate.”

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Transfer Tavern take

Financially, a potential move to an all-British League could have a major positive impact on the Hoops, as Maguire suggests.

You just have to look at the TV money on offer in the Scottish Premiership compared to the Premier League to see that.

Celtic, when participating in the Champions League group stage, used to pocket around £30m a season. Compare that to Huddersfield Town, who netted over £100m in their first season as a Premier League club during the 2017/18 season.

However, even though the financial aspect would more than likely be a major plus, the Hoops may struggle to win silverware and qualify for Europe after competing domestically with the biggest sides in England.

Winning trophies on a regular basis has been a major part of the club’s history, so it’ll be interesting to see what the club would do if plans gathered pace.

In other news: Hoops source shares Eddie Howe update, find out more here. 

Speaking exclusively to The Transfer Tavern, former Premier League midfielder Carlton Palmer believes Manchester City and Harry Kane could be a match made in heaven.

Kane recently expressed his desire to win trophies and reports have suggested that he will look to leave Tottenham if the north London club fail to qualify for the Champions League.

Meanwhile, Manchester City have been doing just that, winning silverware, with a Champions League trophy still to play for at the end of the month.

They may also need to sign a new striker this summer after Sergio Aguero confirmed that this is his last season at the Etihad.

Taking all of that into account, Palmer feels Kane to Manchester City ticks all the boxes. On the £108m-rated Spurs striker, the retired England international told TT:

“I was thinking the other day would Pep Guardiola go for him at Man City, you know, to replace the likes of Aguero?

“Now, they could afford him, they can afford to pay his wages and whatever. [He’ll] create loads of chances and if Harry Kane’s fit [and] he goes to Man City, you’re guaranteed 35 goals there.”

The Independent reported last month that Kane would be keen on a move to either of the Manchester clubs, so perhaps a transfer to the Champions League finalists could be viable this summer.

There is, of course, also a lot of talk about Borussia Dortmund’s Erling Haaland. Sky Sports pundit Paul Merson, however, feels Kane is the superior forward.

Valerien Ismael managed to transform Barnsley from relegation candidates into promotion hopefuls and that earned him at least one vote for manager of the year, according to former Derby County manager, Paul Jewell.

West Brom finished the Premier League season 19th and 13 points from safety and as they prepare for life in the Championship they will be on the hunt for a new manager with Sam Allardyce confirming he will not be remaining at the Hawthorns.

They have been linked with several managers including Chris Wilder, who parted ways with Sheffield United earlier this season, and Ismael has also been tipped for the job after impressing at Oakwell.

Ismael’s impressive style of football and ability to squeeze everything out of his squad has proved what the Barnsley manager can do when given a chance, and Jewell expanded on this as he spoke exclusively to The Transfer Tavern:

“They possibly could go for him and I voted for him as my manager of the year because I think he’s done an unbelievable job. Especially when you look at the resources he has had at Barnsley, the man has done a terrific job.

“There are a lot of people who only look at the Premier League but there are a lot of managers out there who have done brilliant jobs and are just desperate for a chance.”

Ismael has also been touted as a potential candidate for the vacant Crystal Palace job with Roy Hodgson leaving Selhurst Park after four years and the Barnsley manager knows Palace well having spent a year with the club as a player.

It appears that Wilder could be the front runner to be appointed as the Baggies’ next manager and there may be few better candidates than the former Blades manager who guided them to back-to-back promotions from League One and into the Premier League.

Tottenham Hotspur’s season has very much repeated the same story.

The north London outfit have led 21 of their 30 league outings so far this term but have dropped a whopping 15 points from those winning positions.

Had they picked up those points, then Spurs would be sitting pretty in second place, four points ahead of today’s opposition, Manchester United.

For the most part, Jose Mourinho has absolutely rued individual errors and defensive mistakes, and that’s ultimately something he can ill afford at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this afternoon.

On the Chalkboard

Indeed, despite having the third-best defensive record in the Premier League, their blunders at the back have been the defining theme of 2020/21.

It was only in October that Spurs thrashed Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men 6-1 and two months later, they were sat top of the league.

Mourinho watched Davinson Sanchez make the latest in a long list of mistakes at Newcastle United last weekend.

Spurs looked to be heading for three points until five minutes from time when the Colombian clattered into his centre-back partner Joe Rodon, which allowed Joe Willock to ghost into the box and score an easy equaliser.

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Following the match, former Ireland captain-turned-pundit Kenny Cunningham blasted the £31.5m-rated star on the OTB Football podcast. He said:

“When he’s not at his best, when he’s having one of those looser moments, then he’s a real liability to his team. And that was the case today. Had an awful first half, to be honest with you.”

Whilst the 24-year-old colossus started the 6-1 win, he was not part of the Spurs side that skyrocketed to top spot, as in the subsequent game, West Ham launched a stunning three-goal comeback to earn a point.

Sanchez was then axed from the starting XI in ten of their next 11 games.

He’s since worked his way back into the lineup, starting nine successive outings, but now it’s time to drop him once again after the latest error.

In February, ex-Spurs midfielder Jamie O’Hara implored the club to sell him as he’s part of one of the worst centre-back partnerships in the division, whilst Mourinho himself has even noted that Sanchez was the “weak link” when at Ajax.

United’s frontline of Marcus Rashford and Edinson Cavani and Bruno Fernandes is one to be feared – the trio have scored 55% of their league goals this term, and all three have either scored or assisted 52 of their 58 strikes, as per WhoScored.

Having someone who is prone to calamity is a recipe for disaster, so Sanchez really ought to be named on the bench today. When you have Eric Dier and Toby Alderweireld waiting in the wings, there’s really no need to risk starting someone who has held Spurs back all season.

It’s not a coincidence that Mourinho enjoyed his best run in the league without him.

AND in other news, Daniel Levy played a blinder over 31 y/o’s exit…