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Sunderland boss Phil Parkinson has confirmed that Max Power will be the new team captain for the 2020/2021 season.

After last season’s disappointment which saw the Black Cats finish eighth in League One and fail to secure either a promotion or play-off place, Parkinson has been busy preparing his side for a third stint in England’s third tier.

Six new signings have arrived at the Stadium of Light with Danny Graham being the biggest name to sign on the dotted line for the Wearsiders.

With the pressure firmly on Parkinson’s shoulders, a decision has now been made on Power being the new team captain.

Aside from confirming Power’s captaincy, it has also been confirmed that Grant Leadbitter and Bailey Wright be Club Captain and Vice-Captain, respectively.

Former Wigan Athletic midfielder Power has made 85 appearances for the Black Cats, netting seven goals and gaining 4 assists.

Speaking about the announcement on captains, Parkinson said: “Grant has returned to the group for pre-season and has been a massive plus for us. He has come back to the club in excellent condition and trained well, and he has also really helped the younger players within the group. He has the club at heart and is desperate to have an impact on the pitch, which I’m sure he will, and he will be an invaluable asset for us throughout the season.

“We are fortunate to have a squad of players with an abundance of leadership qualities, and Max and Bailey epitomise that. They both lead by example and like Grant, they will be key to establishing a culture within the dressing room that will drive the club forward throughout the season.”

Sunderland will face Bristol Rovers this coming Saturday (12/9) as the League One season kicks off.

This seems like a good decision as Power has the experience and will likely be a key player for Sunderland next season.

With Power, Leadbitter and Wright all leading the club for the new season, Parkinson can feel assured that he has the right men by his side.

Do you think Power is the right choice to be Sunderland captain? Let us know in the comments section below….

According to The Athletic journalist Phil Hay, Leeds could confirm the signing of Wigan starlet Joe Gelhardt imminently.

What did he say?

The 18-year-old has enjoyed somewhat of a breakthrough campaign with the Latics, making 19 appearances for the senior side across all competitions.

Now, Hay has revealed that there don’t seem to be any hitches that could prevent a move from happening, and even suggested that things could all be signed off by Monday.

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He said: “This transfer is a long way down the line. There are no issues with his medical or personal terms and Leeds are happy to meet the price set by Wigan’s administrators. It comes down to whether Gelhardt wants to join and sources close to him have told The Athletic that the move should go through on Monday. A box ticked, just about.”

Victor Orta securing the future

At just 18, Gelhardt is hardly likely to come in and replace Patrick Bamford as Leeds’ starting striker for the new Premier League season.

There’s every chance that the starlet may find himself with the academy teams to begin with at Elland Road, before potentially featuring in match-day squads and making substitute appearances later down the line.

Gelhardt didn’t complete the full 90 minutes for Wigan last season, and Marcelo Bielsa surely won’t be dropping him into the deep end soon after joining a new side.

But in securing his signing before rival clubs start circling, Victor Orta has ensured Leeds have snapped up a young talent who could turn into a first-team star of the future.

The wait is finally over and later on this week, the Champions League will finally make its grand return. It has been a long five months without the most prestigious club competition on the planet but alas, we made it.

This Friday, Manchester City will welcome Real Madrid at the Etihad Stadium to open the proceedings and Juventus and Lyon will face each other at the same time over in Italy. The Citizens are still very much the favourite in this tie, having dispatched Los Blancos 2-1 at the Santiago Bernabeu in the first leg.

The day after, Frank Lampard’s Chelsea will have a mountain to climb in order to somehow overturn Bayern’s 3-0 victory and will have to do it on enemy territory. But when exactly is the Champions League final and where will it be held?

UEFA have now officially confirmed the final will be staged at the Estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica on 23 August, with all the games, from the round of 16 and all the way to the final, being played at 21:00 CET, which is 8 pm UK time.

Who are the favourites for the Champions League?

Initially, and especially after such a dominant domestic campaign, not many would be willing to bet against Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool. However, the Reds are already out after Atletico Madrid had shocked them both home and away to progress past the reigning champions.

Without Liverpool, the stage is now primed for Manchester City to take over. Guardiola has set his gaze on that trophy, the only crown to have eluded him for years across his managerial stints apart from the golden Barcelona team, and one the Citizens crave the most.

However, we shouldn’t look past Bayern Munich that easily since the Bavarians have been one of the most dominant forces throughout last season and have looked like one of the best teams on the planet for a while now.

But, there is an added caveat in there somewhere – their season had ended much sooner than their rivals’. Will match fitness have a big role to play in their chase of European glory?

Alex Bruce has backed Jose Mourinho to bench Steven Bergwijn and Erik Lamela when Tottenham face Sheffield United at Bramall Lane.

Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, the former Hull City playerfeels that Mourinho won’t want to make any changes to the team that defeated West Ham 2-0 at home last week. Lamela and Bergwijn both featured in the 1-1 draw with Manchester United but dropped to the bench as Dele Alli and Lucas Moura took their places in the London derby.

Bruce believes that the Spurs duo will stay on the bench as Alli and Moura looked lively in Tottenham’s first victory since the Premier League restart.

The pundit told Football Insider’s Russell Edge: “He’s got some good options, hasn’t he? When you can leave two players out and bring two players like that into the team, it gives everyone a boost.

“Competition for places is healthy, I’m sure that’s what Jose wants. I don’t believe you change a winning team so I’d be very, very surprised if he changes it.

“However, Jose will have one eye on the games coming up. To play two games in a week might be difficult for a few, with injuries and what have you. You always try and keep a winning team and I’d be surprised if he doesn’t do that.”

It is difficult to disagree with Bruce here, as it is unlikely that Mourinho will want to mess around with his winning team.

Spurs are currently eighth in the Premier League, a point clear of the Blades, and nine points behind fourth-placed Chelsea. The Lilywhites know that they face an uphill struggle if they are to qualify for the Champions League.

Although he missed the match with Man United due to suspension, Alli is still the club’s third-highest goalscorer this season behind Harry Kane and Son Heung-min, as he has netted nine goals in all competitions so far (BBC).

Meanwhile, Bergwijn has bagged three goals in seven league games, including scoring on his home debut against Manchester City.

Mourinho’s side started well after he opened the scoring against Manchester United, until the Red Devils managed to claw their way back into the game after Eric Dier’s blunder (BBC). However, Bergwijn has only recently recovered from injury and the manager might be reluctant to take any more risks.

While squad rotation is always important, Spurs will know they must pick up as many points as possible, and Mourinho may opt for an unchanged side to build on their momentum.

Tottenham fans, do you think this is how Mourinho will start against Sheffield United? Let us know in the comments below!

The 2004/05 season was a busy one from a Glasgow Rangers perspective in terms of transfers.

The ‘Gers spent £14.2m that campaign, with several new recruits joining the club. The biggest fee was spent on Barry Ferguson, who returned to the Ibrox outfit after spending time in England with the likes of Birmingham and Blackburn, whilst Belgium international Thomas Buffel also joined.

One of the lesser-known players to move to Glasgow at that time was defender Dragan Mladenovic, who made the switch from Red Star Belgrade. The Serbian capital club are one of the two biggest in the country along with city rivals Partizan, and the ‘Gers believed that he was worth the £1.44m they spent on him.

His time at Ibrox proved to be anything but successful. He would make just eight appearances for the ‘Gers in all competitions before moving to Real Sociedad on loan just six months after his arrival in Scotland. The Spanish side chose not to sign permanently and he then returned to Ibrox.

They didn’t want him either, though, and after just one year at the club, he left on a free transfer in 2005, returning to his homeland and his former side Red Star. After just one season and eight matches, the ‘Gers made a 100% loss on the midfielder. Alex McLeish may have won six trophies as the club’s manager but his purchase of Mladenovic was an ill-fated misjudgement.

‘Gers fans, was Mladenovic the worst signing that McLeish made during his time in charge at Ibrox? Let us know what you think below!

In what promises to be one of the longest running transfer sagas of the summer, Timo Werner’s potential move to Liverpool is likely to be front and centre of the headlines.

The Germany international has been linked with a switch to Anfield for a number of weeks and months, with recent reports claiming that Werner is ready to join Jurgen Klopp’s side “if they pay his £52m release clause before it expires on June 15”.

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The striker’s current side, RB Leipzig, return to Bundesliga action this weekend, and ahead of the match, Werner took to Twitter to post a picture of him getting ready for the game.

And eagle-eyed Liverpool fans flooded the replies section to share their thoughts on their rumoured transfer target.

A couple of Liverpool fans picked up on the fact that Werner was wearing a red training top, and insisted that he looked good in the colour.

So it seems Liverpool supporters are very keen on seeing Werner join the Klopp revolution at Anfield.

Whether the Reds need a new centre-forward is certainly up for debate given the success the club have enjoyed over the past couple of seasons, but there’s no doubting some extra firepower wouldn’t go amiss.

And judging by their reactions, he would certainly be a popular signing too.

Many Blades fans have been reacting to Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder’s comments in a wide-ranging interview with Sky Sports. 

Speaking on the flagship Football Show, Wilder spoke to David Jones, Jamie Carragher and Graeme Souness about a whole number of topics, including how he is coping with the nationwide lockdown, his management style, Dean Henderson’s ongoing transfer saga, and so much more.

The former United player has steered his side all the way from the doldrums of League One, right the way through to the top end of the Premier League, and the South Yorkshire outfit are currently seventh in the English top flight, with European football firmly in their sights.

Wilder told the national outlet “we’ve been playing three at the back from League One – we didn’t want to take a wrecking ball to it. We got told it would be a big, scary division going up to the Championship.”

“We respected that and being in it for two years, it’s an incredible division with some big, historic teams. We’ve kept tweaking and tried to improve as we go along.”

He went on to discuss how he deals with player criticism.

“They know it’s black and white from my point of view. They know where they stand and I don’t hear many complaints. If there are, they know which door to knock on.”

“Dean Henderson wants to be an international goalkeeper, win 50-odd caps, play for Manchester United. He’s going to have to put up with disappointment. That’s how it is. But I talked to Dean afterwards [following a 1-0 defeat against Liverpool]. The players know I’m their biggest supporter and backer.”

Manchester United’s Henderson is enjoying a successful spell on loan in South Yorkshire, helping the Blades get promoted, and mount a surprising surge for European football this year. He continues to impress the crowds at Bramall Lane, playing 27 games in the Premier League, keeping 10 clean sheets and only conceding 22 goals so far (Transfermarkt).

Unsurprisingly, loads of SUFC supporters raved over Wilder’s “brilliant” comments on Twitter, with one fan dubbing the manager an “absolute legend” and another adding he has a “great attitude.”

Take a look at some of the best reactions down below…

Missing football!? There’s still plenty of Blades discussion going on in the Vital Blades Forum! Click here to get involved!

Tottenham Hotspur announced on Tuesday evening that Mauricio Pochettino had been sacked as head coach of the London club.

In a statement, Spurs chairman Daniel Levy said that he was “extremely reluctant” to make the change.

However, Pochettino has now been relieved of his duties and the search for his successor didn’t take long at all, with Jose Mourinho being appointed less than 12 hours later.

Tottenham reached the 2019 Champions League final but there is no getting away from the fact that results have been poor this season.

Indeed, the capital side have only won three of their 12 Premier League matches to sit down in 14th position in the table.

The change has occurred ahead of Saturday’s derby with West Ham United, which has just become an even bigger match than it already was.

And the overriding feeling from the Spurs fans on social media is that their club have got this particular decision badly wrong.

A selection of the Twitter reaction is available to view below:

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Transfer Focus series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent transfer news…

In a rather surprising turn of events, Paris Saint-Germain have taken an interest in Liverpool’s Adam Lallana, as per a report coming exclusively from The Mirror.

What’s the word, then?

The same source explains how Paris Saint-Germain seem to think Edinson Cavani will be moving away from the French capital to join LA Galaxy in the near future and they will need a replacement for him.

The Uruguayan forward is out of contract next summer and with him leaving, there would be a big void up front that would definitely need covering sooner rather than later.

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Lallana, whose contract expires in the summer as well, is one of their options at the moment but the Englishman is also wanted by clubs from China and the MLS, The Mirror reveals.

And looking at the deal as a whole, Paris Saint-Germain should really stay away from the Liverpool outcast.

A drop in quality

Without exaggerating too much, Cavani truly is still one of the best strikers on the planet.

Even though the Uruguayan is on the wrong side of his 30s, his output is still fairly impressive.

This season, PSG’s prolific forward has bagged two goals in six Ligue 1 games – which is slightly less than his usual tally – but we shouldn’t forget we’re talking about a man who managed to score 195 goals and assist further 40 in 287 games for the French giants.

If we crunch the numbers ourselves, that amounts to about 0.67 goals per game.

When we compare Lallana’s output with that of the Uruguayan, the difference is staggering, to say the least.

22 goals in 164 games or 0.13 goals per game is miles behind what Cavani does.

Not to mention it would be replacing a 32-year-old player with a 31-year-old player, which makes little sense to begin with from a long-term point of view.

Lallana is struggling for game time at Liverpool – seeing how he has only tallied 304 minutes in eight games so far – as it is and getting someone else’s outcast for their main striker, who also represents a drop in quality as per the aforementioned stats, shouldn’t be top of PSG’s priority list.

Not to mention that the Englishman’s £7million-a-season salary would put him ahead of the likes of Marco Verratti and Julian Draxler, who earn €7,175,000 (£6.15m) according to Capology, and that’s without taking into account the possibility of a raise were he to join the French club.

When everything is said and done, this is one deal PSG should not be chasing.

Gabriel Martinelli has been named as Arsenal’s player of the month for October, and although the club’s results have been extremely inconsistent as of late, these fans have been stating their appreciation for the forward’s goalscoring contribution so far in 2019/20.

Martinelli has scored seven goals since arriving from Ituano in the summer transfer window, whilst also particularly impressing in the Europa League, scoring three goals in three European appearances.

Yet despite this, the 18-year-old is yet to start a Premier League game in the current campaign. 

Although the last month has been a difficult period for Arsenal, with Unai Emery’s side now sitting in fifth, six points off Champions League qualification, the form of their Brazilian youngster is unquestionably a positive element of an underwhelming campaign so far.

Following the announcement that Martinelli had won the club’s player of the month award, these fans were quick to sing his praises.

Here are some of the best reactions following an official club tweet.