All posts by z3u9t.icu

Manchester City fans want to sign Dusan Vlahovic after it was revealed the Fiorentina striker’s contract talks with the Serie A club have collapsed.

The Citizens have so far had a relatively good start to the campaign – they are just two points behind Premier League leaders Chelsea after a momentous win over the Blues last weekend (Sky Sports).

However, results such as the 0-0 draw with Southampton indicate the Citizens are struggling to convert chances without a reliable centre-forward after failing to capture Harry Kane during the summer.

They were also linked with Vlahovic during the transfer window, but he ended up staying in Italy. As per Fabrizio Romano, the Serbia international’s contract talks have now fallen apart.

His current contract is set to run out in 2023, meaning Fiorentina could be open to selling him the next year rather than lose him for free the following term.

The news was shared on Twitter by @City_Xtra, and it attracted plenty of attention from the supporters. They took to the social media platform to share their thoughts.

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

“January and we’ll win the Champions League.”

Credit: @jofer_ms

“Get him in!!”

Credit: @MCFCYoungboy

“January”

Credit: @shaunyb3000

“Get him in jan”

Credit: @_KawaiiKayky

“Yes. Sign him.”

Credit: @WayneJa01355301

“Sign him in January!”

Credit: @King_Kevin100

In other news, Man City fans have been reacting to this transfer news.

Sunderland have kicked off their season in style with back-to-back wins in the 2021/22 campaign, beating both Wigan and Port Vale.

The Black Cats beat the Latics 2-1 on the opening day of the League One season, before progressing through to the second round of the Carabao Cup by defeating Port Vale by the same score.

They now travel away to face an MK Dons side who recently lost their manager Russell Martin to Swansea and have conceded eight goals in their first two matches – five to Bournemouth in a 5-0 Carabao Cup loss and three to Bolton in a draw in their first league outing.

On the Chalkboard

Despite Sunderland’s strong start to the season, Lee Johnson has a major issue within his side. Young central midfielder Dan Neil has been deployed as a left-back and struggled against Wigan last weekend whilst playing out of position.

Neil received a tame WhoScored rating of 6.40 as he failed to win a single tackle and only made one clearance in the 90 minutes. He also completed 62% of his passes – the third-lowest in the team – and did not create any chances going forward from the back.

This suggests that the experiment of playing him at full-back has not been successful for Johnson, which means that a natural defender should take his place in the team against MK Dons. Prior to this week, Sunderland did not have a natural full-back option to slot in, but they have since announced the signing of Dennis Cirkin on a permanent deal from Premier League side Tottenham.

Johnson hailed the 19-year-old as a top talent upon his arrival at the club. He told Sunderland’s official website: “To get a player of Dennis’ quality at 19 speaks wonders in terms of what we’re trying to do because he is a top talent and he’s very highly regarded within the game.

“We have been really happy with the signings we have made so far and we will bank this one, but we will continue our work quietly and efficiently to try and get a couple more over the line.”

This shows that Johnson rates the defender highly and that is why he should be thrown straight in at the deep end against MK Dons. Whilst there is not much evidence to prove that he will be a quality option immediately, as he has not made his debut in senior football as of yet, it is worth the gamble as Neil has shown that he is not up to the task of playing out of position.

Therefore, Johnson may not have any other choice but to risk it and hand Cirkin his debut on Saturday. Hopefully, the exciting young full-back will be able to repay the faith shown in him by the club and demonstrate why he is so highly-rated, as it would give the former Bristol City coach a specialist left-back option instead of having to put square pegs in round holes.

AND in other news, Alan Nixon drops claim on £13k-p/w Sunderland “leader”, Lee Johnson will be relieved…

Giorgos Giakoumakis’ latest injury setback may only strengthen Ange Postecoglou’s desire to bring in Daizen Maeda in January, The Celtic Way’s Tony Haggerty writes.

The lowdown

Summer signing Giakoumakis missed Saturday’s Scottish League Cup semifinal against St Johnstone after struggling with a knee issue during the international break.

The Greek international has been limited to just two league starts since joining from VVV-Venlo.

And Celtic have begun looking for alternative forward options, with Yokohama F Marinos striker Maeda on their radar.

The £990,000-rated 24-year-old has banged in 21 goals in 38 appearances this season (via Transfermarkt).

The latest

Giakoumakis’ knee problem will, Haggerty reckons, ‘set alarm bells ringing with Ange and the supporters’.

In his opinion, it makes Postecoglou all the more likely to request the signing of Maeda in the mid-season market.

It would be ‘no surprise’ to see him join the Celtic ranks at the turn of the year, generating ‘stiff competition’ for places.

The verdict

Celtic are aware of what Giakoumakis is capable of. They brought him in off the back of a 26-goal, Golden-Boot winning campaign in the Netherlands.

But that ability will count for little without availability, and this week’s setback is by no means the first for Giakoumakis.

The worry now, if this transfer materialises, is that he slips to third in the pecking order behind Kyogo Furuhashi and Maeda, meaning he might struggle to get the run of games he needs to build up sharpness.

In other news, the Hoops are still keen on this EFL target. 

Antonio Conte clinched his first Premier League win in charge of Tottenham Hotspur as his side narrowly defeated Leeds United on Sunday evening.

Spurs were perhaps a little fortunate to walk away with all three points, having been largely dominated by the visitors in the first half and still, they did manage more of the ball and recorded more attempts at goal, too.

The victory sees the north Londoners leapfrog Manchester United, who sacked Ole Gunnar Solskjaer earlier in the day, into seventh place and firmly back into the conversation for European qualification.

Rare second-half goals from midfield enforcer Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and left wing-back Sergio Reguilon sealed the come-from-behind win.

A passionate Conte was absolutely delighted at the full-time whistle, celebrating with all four sections of the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, as well as every member of the squad.

However, when he has time to reflect and watch back, he may be less than impressed by the performance of Emerson Royal at right wing-back as he struggled for large parts of the encounter.

The Brazilian, signed from Barcelona for £25m in the summer, was skinned and nutmegged by Jack Harrison for Leeds’ opener right before half-time as the former Man City dynamo was given acres of space and time to find Dan James at the back post.

[snack-amp-story url = “https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/spurs-latest-news-updates-transfers-antonio-conte-thfc” title=”Read the latest Spurs news, transfer updates and much, much more!”]

Press Association Sport journalist Jonathan Veal soon tweeted that “Harrison made a mug of Emerson” during that moment and truth be told, that was the story of his game.

Despite registering a whopping seven tackles, three more than any other player, the 22-year-old won just 50% of his 14 duels, both in the air and on the ground, and also lost possession 12 times from 53 touches – once every 4.4 times he had the ball, as per SofaScore.

Emerson received a yellow card for his troubles, too, which only goes to show how big a nightmare he had up against Marcelo Bielsa’s left flank.

Elsewhere, he struggled to contribute in the final third, providing just one accurate cross from four attempts (25%), no key passes or shots, and overall, managed just 19 passes – he usually manages around 32 per game this term.

The Evening Standard were pretty scathing in their review of his performance, claiming that he was ‘skinned by Jack Harrison for Leeds’ goal and failed to make a significant impact in the final third.’

All in all, the £22.5m-rated lightweight endured a tough, tough evening despite the encouraging result.

AND in other news, Fabrizio Romano drops huge Dele Alli claim at Spurs…

Neco Williams has set out his ambition to get ‘good game time’ under his belt at Liverpool this season.

Speaking on the club’s live broadcast after their 1-0 friendly win over Mainz, the right-back said he wants to be ‘pushing’ Trent Alexander-Arnold and Joe Gomez for a starting role.

Williams was limited to just three Premier League starts last season, making a further three appearances off the bench (via WhoScored).

Will Williams stay at Liverpool?

Goal journalist Neil Jones reported in June that Williams may be open to leaving the club in pursuit of more opportunities.

Liverpool are apparently willing to sell him if an interested club, like Southampton, Burnley or Leeds United, meet their £10million asking price.

Williams was called up to the Wales squad for the summer’s European Championships but a miscued clearance in the Round of 16 defeat to Denmark gifted the eventual semifinalists a second goal.

Fan feed Anfield Watch relayed his comments, and here’s what supporters made of them.

These Liverpool fans doubt Williams will realise ambitions

“You aren’t getting anywhere near Trent’s spot mate”

Credit: @lfcalexx6

“Hopefully we’ll get him sold…”

Credit: @ektelfc_petter

“That’s the right attitude but…”

Credit: @mwmeyerson

“I feel bad for him but it’s never gonna happen”

Credit: @patrickmlfc

““Get good game time” – Is this guy being serious?”

Credit: @lfcibou

“Who’s going to tell him?”

Credit: @Emmyylfc

“Was Neco drunk when he gave this interview?”

Credit: @Rayted_Are

In other news, fans were buzzing after this transfer update. 

David Wagner will not become the new West Bromwich Albion manager this summer.

What’s the talk?

That’s according to a report by The Athletic, who claim that The Hawthorns club look set to miss out on the 49-year-old coach, who now appears to be taking over at Swiss side Young Boys.

The former Huddersfield Town and Schalke manager had emerged as the surprise front runner to become Sam Allardyce’s successor at West Brom, after Guochuan Lai blocked the club’s move to appoint Chris Wilder, with the Chinese owner also ruling out a number of other targets due to his lack of willingness to pay a compensation fee.

According to The Athletic, the Baggies hierarchy will now have to turn to a left-field choice or convince Lai of returning to a previous candidate, such as Wilder.

Dodged a bullet

While Wagner does have experience in guiding a team from the Championship to the Premier League behind him, the German coach has not exactly had a great deal of success since.

Having taken Huddersfield to the top flight via the second-tier play-offs in the club’s 2016/17 campaign, and subsequently guiding the Terriers to a 16th place finish in their debut season in the Premier League, the 49-year-old left The John Smith’s Stadium by mutual consent after 22 games in 2018/19, having picked up just 11 points.

Wagner was then appointed on a three-year deal at Bundesliga side Schalke, whom he led to a 12th place finish in his first season in charge, winning nine, drawing 12 and losing 13 of his 34 league games that term.

However, after just two fixtures of the club’s 2020/21 campaign, Wagner was sacked, leaving Schalke while on a run of 18 league games without a victory – with his penultimate game in charge of Die Konigsblauen being an 8-0 drubbing by Bayern Munich.

As such, it could easily be argued that West Brom may have dodged something of a bullet by missing out on Wagner, as the 49-year-old may well have brought his form from his time at Schalke to The Hawthorns, rather than his record with Huddersfield.

In other news: West Brom given huge transfer boost over “magnificent” 28 y/o gem that’ll delight fans

Former Premier League star Dean Windass thinks that Jesse Lingard could leave Manchester United in the January transfer window.

The attacking midfielder was heavily linked with a return to West Ham United in the summer window, having spent the second half of last season on loan at the London Stadium.

However, the Hammers were not able to strike a deal with United to bring him into the London Stadium and ultimately signed Nikola Vlasic from CSKA Moscow instead.

Lingard could see his opportunities at United further limited by the sensational signing of Cristiano Ronaldo from Juventus, with the Portugal international likely to hit the ground running given his status as one of the best players of all time.

And Windass thinks that United and Lingard will reassess the situation in the January transfer window.

Thus far this term, the England international has played just four minutes of Premier League football, as he came off the bench in the draw with Southampton.

Windass told Football FanCast: “I think that’s what the discussions will be, ‘let’s wait until January, see what your attitude’s like, if you get in the team then go and prove me wrong, come off the bench’.”

As Celtic gear up for a crucial European qualifying fixture on Thursday evening, they will do so knowing their transfer business has nearly been completed to perfection.The Hoops have made some outstanding improvements in the window with Ange Postecoglou and Dominic McKay bringing in a host of their number one targets.Celtic’s offensive line looks sharp and free-flowing while there are signs that their defence is beginning to get better too.What’s the word?One area that Postecoglou is still unsure of is in attack. Although he’s added Kyogo Furuhashi and Liel Abada to his ranks, he wants to sign another striker.The Bhoys missed out on Thomas Henry as he headed to Italy but they are intent on not losing Giorgos Giakoumakis.He has fielded interest from Celtic for a number of weeks now but he’s got a further suitor in Werder Bremen.However, according to Greek journalist Giannis Chorianopoulos, Celtic have now actually agreed terms in principle with VVV-Venlo to sign the player.That said, they are yet to settle on personal terms with Giakoumakis.Postecoglou delightedIf the Australian manager can secure a deal for the Greece international then it would be the cherry on top of the cake for Celtic this summer.As the window commenced a few months ago it took the board a considerable period of time to back Postecoglou sufficiently.[snack-amp-story url= “https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/postecoglou-hoops-bhoys-jenz-larsson-nisbet” title=”Check out the latest Celtic transfer news!”]He’d been left with the signings of Liam Shaw and Osaze Urhoghide, two players who are still yet to earn first-team debuts.Yet, after the Hoops crashed out of the Champions League to Midtjylland, it became apparent that this Celtic side really wasn’t good enough.Postecoglou called on those upstairs to give him more to work with and thankfully, they’ve listened.Since that defeat to Midtjylland, Joe Hart, James McCarthy and Josip Juranovic have all been signed, while Carl Starfelt has made his debut.However, with more money to spend from the Kristoffer Ajer sale, Giakoumakis looks like a wise addition.The head coach isn’t entrusting Albian Ajeti or Leigh Griffiths and if Furuhashi was to get injured or if Odsonne Edouard finally packed his bags, they’d be incredibly light in offensive areas.Therefore, bringing in someone who scored as many as 29 goals last term would be a superb piece of business. The 26-year-old has been described as “very special” by Dutch reporter Rik Elfrink and would offer a different threat to Furuhashi with his height and bullish nature.Postecoglou will be delighted to get his man if it goes through.AND in other news, Forget Hjelde: Postecoglou has Celtic’s next big star in “fantastic” rarely-seen 18 y/o…

Rangers have been linked with both Zinedine Ferhat and Santiago Moreno recently, but who would be the better addition to Steven Gerrard’s side at Ibrox this summer?

Zinedine Ferhat

According to French news outlet Foot Mercato, Rangers are interested in signing the 28-year-old winger from Nimes this summer after his impressive performances in Ligue 1.

The Algeria international has contributed six goals and 10 assists in 33 French top-flight appearances this season, which has helped him earn a noteworthy 7.21 average rating from WhoScored.

The winger is currently valued at £7.2m by Transfermarkt but he could well be keen to leave the club this summer following Nimes’ relegation to Ligue 2. His contract is set to expire in 2022, which suggests that the Stade des Costières outfit may be forced to cash in on him this year rather than risk losing him for nothing in 12 months’ time.

Santiago Moreno

According to The Telegraph, Rangers, Leeds United and Southampton are all keen on the Deportivo de Cali winger this summer as he continues to impress with the Liga Dimayor side.

The 21-year-old, whose style of play has been likened to Liverpool’s Sadio Mane, has contributed 10 goals and seven assists in just 49 appearances for the Colombian side in his career thus far and could be tempted into an Ibrox move due to the prospect of Champions League football.

[snack-amp-story url=”https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/read-the-latest-rangers-transfer-rumours-and-news” title=”Read the latest Rangers transfer rumours and news!”]

The Colombian’s contract with Deportivo de Cali is set to run until 2023, which suggests that Rangers may have to pay more than his current market value of £585,000 if they want to sign him this summer.

Who would be the better signing?

Whilst Moreno seems to have a lot of potential, Ferhat has much more experience. Also, he has been playing at a higher standard this season and has been one of the standout performers in Ligue 1 despite Nimes’ relegation.

The Algerian, who has 29 senior goals in his career, also seems to be much more versatile than the Colombian, as he can feature in a number of positions in midfield and attack, which immediately suggests that he could be a good fit at Rangers.

[freshpress-quiz id=“593776″]

Therefore, Ross Wilson should perhaps forget about signing Moreno for now and instead focus on bringing Ferhat to Ibrox this summer, as the latter could prove to be an excellent addition to Gerrard’s side if he can continue his form from this season in the 2021/22 campaign.

In other news… Wilson should seal Rangers swoop for “brilliant” beast who will “only get better”

Leeds United believe they can secure a move for Josko Gvardiol this summer, according to transfer insider Dean Jones…

What’s the word?

Football Insider recently reported on the Whites’ interest in the RB Leipzig centre-back, claiming that they had scouted him for the past two years and it’s believed that director of football Victor Orta has kept a close eye on his progress.

Now valued at around £27m, the Yorkshire giants could well make their move this time around, especially with his former manager – Jesse Marsch – now in the dugout at Elland Road.

[snack-amp-story url=”https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/read-the-latest-leeds-news-transfer-rumours-gossip-marsch-raphinha-dest-philhay” title=”Read the latest Leeds news!”]

And according to the Eurosport journalist, the club very much believe they can compete for his signature. He revealed to GIVEMESPORT:

“I thought at first it was a bit too ambitious, but the more I speak to people, the more I start to realise that Leeds are starting to believe that this is where they should be shopping.

“These are the sorts of players that they believe they can get. So, I’m certainly not going to rule it out.”

Marsch madness

Considering the 20-year-old is estimated to be worth around €120m (£100m) by CIES Football Observatory, landing him for a fifth of the price would certainly be quite the steal.

And the Leipzig colossus would be an absolute coup, too.

It’s no secret that Leeds have struggled defensively this campaign, ranking as the second-leakiest backline in the Premier League, so signing a talent so young and promising would go a long way in fixing that issue in the long run.

As per FBRef, Gvardiol ranks amongst the top 1% for dribbles completed, top 2% for interceptions made and top 4% for progressive passes compared to his positional peers across Europe over the last 365 days.

Meanwhile, as Leipzig’s second-highest performer in the Bundesliga, he’s not only showing he’s tough defensively and adept as a ball-playing option but also one that is remarkably consistent.

Once described as being “built like a tank,” the 6 foot 1 titan has been tipped to become “as good as Virgil” van Dijk one day by Germania Sport assistant editor Izak Ante Sucic when speaking to the BBC.

Given the Whites’ defensive struggles, it is no wonder the recruitment team are targeting an arrival in that role this summer and if they truly believe that they can contend for Gvardiol’s signature, then it would be a no-brainer to sign him.

The 20-year-old, also described as being a “top talent” by scout Jacek Kulig, could be a revolutionary signing for Marsch’s backline and surely something of a dream, having already signed him once before.

AND in other news, Orta scouting mission: Leeds eyeing 6 ft 3 titan who “fits the bill”, Marsch would love him…