Everton manager Ronald Koeman has established a reputation as a manager who likes the blend young talent with experience, But the Dutchman looks like he may have to choose between them when securing a new stopper over the summer transfer window.

The Toffees have been linked with both Sunderland’s Jordan Pickford – with The Sun reporting the Black Cats have rejected an £8m bid – and Manchester City’s out-of-favour Joe Hart.

Neither of Everton’s keepers established themselves as a clear first-choice last season, with Maarten Stekelenburg and Joel Robles sharing the role with 19 league starts each.

With Stekelenburg now 34 and the Liverpool Echo reporting that Robles’ future is in doubt, Koeman will have made finding a new stopper one of his top priorities as he looks to crack the top six.

So which goalkeeper should the Dutchman buy?

Despite being in a Sunderland side that suffered relegation and finished last with a whimper, Pickford drew plaudits with his performances and has established himself as one of the best young goalkeepers in the country.

The 23-year-old produced a number of fine performances behind a hapless Sunderland defence and managed an impressive 135 saves, second only to Tom Heaton’s 141 for Burnley. The youngster earned his first call-up to the England squad last October. His reputation has only increased since then although there is the caveat of Sunderland reportedly holding out for £30m.

Should Koeman not wish to part with that much cash, there may well be a fully-fledged international available for a cheaper price.

Joe Hart has been made surplus to requirements at Manchester City and would reportedly command a fee of £20m – as per the Daily Mail.

Pep Guardiola has made it clear he doesn’t rate Hart’s ball skills and shipped him out on loan to Torino last season. The 30-year-old hasn’t pulled up any trees in Italy and was named in Goal.com’s ‘Serie A Worst Team of the Season’ after an error-prone campaign.

On paper, Pickford seems the much more desirable option when you look at the statistics and the fact he is seven years younger than Hart.

It is worth considering, however, that the Sunderland man’s impressive save count may have been inflated slightly by playing for a side that was regularly dominated and faced a number of shots (46%) outside the box. Of the 104 saves Joe Hart made, that figure stands at just 33% – suggesting the majority of shots he faced were more difficult.

The former-Shrewsbury keeper also has experience of winning the Premier League, having been between the sticks in both of City’s successes in 2011/12 and 2013/14.

Despite that, there is no doubting that Hart’s reputation has been hurt more than hindered by being away, while Pickford has the form and potential to not only challenge for but steal Hart’s England jersey on a permanent basis.

If money is no object – and it really shouldn’t be for a side with billionaire owners – then there really is only one choice when you factor everything in.

Luckily for Koeman, it’s one that favours youth as well.

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According to reports in the Daily Mirror, Newcastle United are ready to battle Premier League rivals Bournemouth in the race to bring Hamburg midfielder Lewis Holtby back to England.

What’s the word, then?

Well, despite struggling to make an impression during two years with Tottenham Hotspur earlier in his career, Holtby is available for £5m this summer according to the Daily Mirror, and both the Magpies and the Cherries are ready to swoop for the 26-year-old.

Toon boss Rafa Benitez is keen to strengthen his squad before the start of next season in the hope that his side can avoid being involved in another Premier League relegation battle having gone down just over a year ago, and he will be looking to add players to his team that have experience of playing in the English top flight.

How did Holtby do last season?

The attacking midfielder scored one goal and provided a further six assists in 30 appearances in all competitions for Hamburg, as the Bundesliga outfit narrowly avoided finishing in the relegation play-off spot – they ended the campaign just a point above Wolfsburg.

While he did well from an attacking point of view, it was perhaps Holtby’s defensive contribution for his team that was most effective in his outings in the German top flight last term.

The 26-year-old won 63 tackles, as well as making 65 interceptions and 34 clearances.

Why is he available for just £5m?

That’s a good question.

Despite being a regular for Hamburg last term, Holtby’s contract with the Bundesliga outfit is due to run out next summer and according to ESPC FC, they are willing to listen to offers for him now rather than risk losing him for nothing next year.

The fact that he could be purchased for just £5m will certainly have caught the attention of Benitez as he looks to further strengthen his squad.

Would Holtby be a good signing for Newcastle?

He certainly would be.

Last season, the likes of Mohamed Diame and Ayoze Perez played in the role behind Dwight Gayle in a 4-4-1-1 system, but it remains to be seen if Benitez will stick what that formation in the Premier League.

If he does, Holtby would certainly fit into the starting line-up deeper than the striker, but his defensive contribution last term also show that he could be utilised in the centre of the midfield four as well.

According to Sky Sports, West Ham will launch a third bid for Stoke City forward Marko Arnautovic ‘when the time is right’ having already seen two bids rejected by Mark Hughes’ side – the second and most lucrative believed to be worth around £20million.

Since arriving in the Premier League, Arnautovic has established himself as one of the top attacking threats outside the division’s top six, bagging an impressive 17 goals over the last two seasons despite the Potters producing inconsistent form.

The Hammers are certainly in need of firepower too, following injury-stricken campaigns from Andy Carroll and Diafra Sakho, but the 62-cap Austrian international certainly comes with his limits and at the age of 28 he doesn’t offer the Irons much longevity either.

So, Hammers supporters, anticipating an agreement with Stoke may still be some way off, what’s the most your club should spend on the 6 foot 3 forward? Let us know by voting below…

The modern technology that offers us internet access, smart phones and the ability to connect with other people on social media from practically anywhere in the world should bring us all closer together, but there is always the underlying, paradoxical feeling that it actually pushes people further apart.

Organic gatherings are traded for Whatsapp groups, local kick-about have been swapped for online FIFA battles and birthday cards are dying out in favour of posts on Facebook walls.

Perhaps that depends on the kind of person you are; whether you’re an introvert who uses such mediums to lazily limit face-to-face interaction, or an extravert who looks to find new friends and new adventures that would have previously been beyond the imagination.

Yet, if there is one area where social media and the availability of the internet has unquestionably had a pejorative effect on connecting people, it’s in the world of football. Despite now being a handful of typed keys and a few clicks of a mouse away from each other, footballers and the fan bases that once created them appear further polarised than ever before.

No doubt, that’s as much to do with the life footballers now lead as it is the technology of 2017. The sheer money of the game has put footballers in almost a socio-economic sub-class of their own, living in a bubble of mansions and million-pound salaries that bear minimal, if any, resemblance to the experiences of the common man. A drastic change from football once being the sport of the working classes.

But it’s the willingness in which footballers retreat to their bubble that should concern us most. Not because it shows a lack of respect for the modern day fan, but because we’re often the ones pushing them back into it. Darron Gibson’s drunken outburst earlier this week, secretly filmed at a tellingly lopsided angle by a Sunderland fan, provides the perfect example.

Of course, Gibson’s comments have created embarrassment, not least because they came with a healthy dose drunken slur and a series of according expletives. If the Ireland international had made those disparaging remarks about his team-mates fully sober following one of Sunderland’s many abject performances last season, we’d probably all be praising him for his honesty, rather than the alcohol-fuelled manner in which he eventually expressed it.

And yet, after a 5-0 defeat to Celtic, whether drunk or not, Gibson gave an honest answer to concerned fans about what’s going wrong at a club that’s rotten the core. That should have been left as a heated conversation between footballer and supporter, the kind that were once commonplace outside of every football ground in the country post-match. It shouldn’t have been posted online and turned into a PR disaster because one fan decided to film it on the sly. That’s a betrayal of the trust Gibson drunkenly offered those infuriated supporters wanting answers.

It also highlights how we’ve forgotten footballers are human beings too, who need time to unwind and relieve the pressure – in fact, they probably need that more than most of us – and if anything, a week before the start of the season is arguably the most acceptable time to get a little sloshed; barring the odd international break or an unfortunate injury, Gibson’s schedule will be chock-a-block with 46 Championship fixtures, around two a week, until next May.

This is by no means the first incident of this kind. Back in November, a worse-for-wear Wayne Rooney was draped across the back pages after being snapped at a wedding during an international break whilst suffering an injury – surely a time when England’s all-time record goalscorer should be given the licence to relax. After The Sun picked up the images, he was later made to apologise to Gareth Southgate.

The common theme in both episodes, aside from alcohol, is an invasion of privacy and a betrayal of trust seemingly sourced from a desire to broadcast an interaction with a footballer to the rest of the world, regardless of the consequences for them. The other side of the argument, of course, is that we live in a free society where we can rightly question the actions of public figures, and that footballers earn so much we have every right to criticise them.

But what’s incredibly concerning is that these stories don’t start with the press. They may be picked up by them, but they all begin as a video or a picture usually posted on social media. In fact, the press know building the kind of long-standing relationships with footballers that eventually produce the huge, truly important scoops means avoiding breaking such scandalous, short-termist and sensationalist stories themselves.

That epitomises the crux of the issue; it’s not the press footballers have become scared of, but the fans. Scared that saying the wrong thing in a candid moment will soon have them trending on Twitter for all the wrong reasons, scared that something they say or do will be dangerously misinterpreted, scared that doing something which would be considered completely normal in any other walk of life, like getting light-headed in a night club, will become a source of vast criticism.

It’s no wonder most footballers these days enter and leave grounds with their headphones on, trying to ignore the world around them, and always stick to the hymn sheet in any given press conferences. There’s a worrying trend of honesty being punished, if not by the press or their clubs then by the fans.

Whilst you may argue Gibson and Rooney only have themselves to blame, or at least the people around them at the time, it’s the resulting fear these incidents create that pushes footballers away from fans and back into their bubble.

Those Sunderland supporters undoubtedly thought they were helping the club’s cause, but amid an age in which footballers and fans are more polarised than before, it’s another step backwards.

Everton manager Ronald Koeman has got the fans gearing up for this evening’s Premier League match against Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium.

The Dutchman took to social media to give the supporters a brief reminder that his team go into battle tonight for their second Premier League game of the season.

The Merseyside outfit will face a very different test to the one that was presented to them against Stoke City last weekend.

Everton won the game, but only by a slender margin as Wayne Rooney scored the only goal of the meeting.

Koeman has been very busy in the transfer window this summer, recruiting eight new faces, including newest arrival Gylfi Sigurdsson from Swansea City.

However, the team have not gelled completely just yet, and getting a result against Pep Guardiola’s side will prove to be a tough task.

After Koeman posted his latest tweet, the fans responded with plenty of optimism and selections for the manager to ponder.

BT Sport pundit Jermaine Jenas has claimed that Tottenham Hotspur should not use Wembley as an “excuse” if the team perform badly this season.

The North London outfit will be playing all of their Premier League home games at the national stadium while their new ground is being constructed.

Some fans may be feeling a little bit nervous that the team will not have their traditional home comforts, particularly when considering how Mauricio Pochettino’s side performed at Wembley last season.

Due to UEFA’s rules on capacity, Spurs had to stage their European fixtures away from White Hart Lane, and in the four home games played in the Champions League and Europa League, Tottenham won just a single one of them.

Wembley was also an unhappy hunting ground for Tottenham in the FA Cup final when they lost 4-2 to London rivals Chelsea, who they will face in their first home game of the season this weekend.

Jenas, who played for the club between 2005 and 2013, has claimed that if Spurs struggle at Wembley this season, they cannot simply blame the ground for their failures.

The Mirror quotes the midfielder as saying:

“I don’t think they’ve got the room for excuses, I really don’t. They’ve invested so much to be looked at as a certain type of club. Everybody knows they’ve got to play on this pitch, then they move back into the new stadium. What, are we going to say the year after? ‘Oh, we’ve got a new stadium.’ No. It’s an issue, [but] I don’t think it’s an excuse.”

Tottenham finished third and second in the league in the last two seasons.

Manchester City host Liverpool in the Premier League’s headline clash this weekend – a fixture that could have a huge bearing on the final standings come the end of May, with both sides eyeing the English crown or at the very least improvement on where they finished last season.

Liverpool have claimed all three points against the Citizens four times from their last five attempts, the only respite coming in a 1-1 draw at the Etihad Stadium back in March. That will be the venue once again in Saturday’s early kickoff, but will we see the Reds’ dominance in this fixture continue or City begin to reverse the tide?

Here’s how this week’s experts, Ollie from Anfield HQ and Stuart from MCFCWatch, think this one will pan out…

Pep Guardiola looks unlikely to select the same XI in any games this season – how would you line up City on Saturday?

Stuart: The first thing I would do is abandon the two up front idea. Liverpool have a tendency to overrun us in midfield and that’s why we haven’t beaten them in the league since 2014 (but, as a reminder to gloating Scousers, we did beat you in the 2016 League Cup final!). With Walker and Mendy both available, Pep’s 3-5-2 has the wide options it requires, but at the time of writing it is unclear if Vincent Kompany will be fit for the clash. That would mean either a midfielder moving into defence or the unfancied Eliaquim Mangala starting.

The big dilemma is whether to start Aguero if Pep does opt for one up top. A goal against Liverpool would make Kun just the fourth player to score in six consecutive home Premier League matches against the same opponent. The problem is, he doesn’t look in form at this time and the lively Gabriel Jesus may be a better pick against Klopp’s high-energy side. Raheem Sterling is suspended, which may not be a bad thing, as City players often underperform against their former sides and Bernardo Silva is an exciting player who can slot into Sterling’s position on the right.

With that in mind I’d go for a 4-1-4-1 of: Ederson, Kyle Walker, Vincent Kompany, Nicolas Otamendi, Benjamin Mendy; Yaya Touré, Kevin De Bruyne, David Silva, Bernardo Silva, Leroy Sané; Gabriel Jesus.

Liverpool’s starting XI looks pretty set after the 4-0 win over Arsenal, but would you make room for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain?

Ollie: Klopp has no reason to change his starting XI and it wouldn’t be fair on those who have performed when the club have needed them most to make way. With Oxlade-Chamberlain, he’s a very useful option off the bench for us and I think we’ll see him deployed in various positions this season.

Pep’s lost to Jurgen Klopp the most times of any manager and City have won just once in their last six meetings with Liverpool, losing four. Should Guardiola remain committed to his attacking mantra or make tactical compromises to avoid another defeat?

Stuart: This is a tough one. My instinct is to say be more cautious, particularly in the first 20 minutes or so when Liverpool can be hard to handle. In his own words, Klopp has an effective way of countering Pep’s style of football. But Guardiola has been given a lot of money to spend on his squad, which is now far younger than it was last season. And given how he insists on implementing his philosophy, I don’t think he will compromise much at all. I don’t think he has to if his team press and defend as a unit, making them capable of combating Liverpool’s high-pressure game.

Liverpool adapted to exploit Arsenal’s weaknesses at Anfield by creating space on the counter, can the same trick work against Man City?

Ollie: Absolutely, Liverpool have found huge amounts of joy against Manchester City in recent years due to their defensive problems and inability to play a high line correctly. Klopp’s frontline is one of the fastest and most potent in the Premier League and any defence won’t look forward to facing it. City have struggled defensively for the past few seasons but with new personnel on board in the likes of Benjamin Mendy and Kyle Walker it remains to be seen whether lessons have been learnt.

What key battle will decide this game?

Stuart: City have often been overwhelmed and outfought in matches against Liverpool. I think we’re better equipped to combat that now, but Klopp’s men are among the very best at these big matches and it will be interesting to see how City deal with their intense pressing. I think the midfield battle will be very important, but with both teams also quite flaky in defence (especially if Kompany doesn’t make it), then it may also be a case of which backline holds up the best.

Jurgen Klopp has a fantastic record against Guardiola – do you think he’s in Pep’s head or is it all about style of play?

Ollie: I don’t think he’s in Pep’s head, both managers are fantastic and have their own methods and styles. At the end of the day it comes down to those 22 players on the pitch and whoever is better organised, both defensively and offensively, will come out on top.

Finally lads, let’s hear your score predictions…

Stuart: Our record against Liverpool isn’t great lately and our home record in big matches also leaves something to be desired. I could be the optimist and predict a City win, but I’ll go for a pulsating 2-2 draw.

Ollie: 3-2 Liverpool.

As reported by The Sun, Manchester City are considering making a move for Tottenham Hotspur key man Toby Alderweireld next summer.

What’s the story?

With the ageing Vincent Kompany picking up another injury on international duty recently, thoughts have again been re-ignited about who could be the Belgian’s long-term replacement at the Etihad. Kompany has struggled with injuries in recent seasons, making just 11 Premier League appearances last term.

The man Pep Guardiola is eyeing as that potential replacement is Kompany’s Belgium international team-mate Toby Alderweireld.

That’s according to The Sun, who say Manchester City are looking to capitalise on any contract dispute over the coming 12 months to make a massive move for him next summer.

The paper report the defender is rated at around £60m, but in today’s inflated market that would be considered as good business for the Manchester club, given Alderweireld’s quality.

Will Tottenham lose him?

With The Sun also reporting Alderweireld has not yet signed a new deal at the club, which he’s looking for, there’s always the chance that the player could become unsettled if he feels he is not being paid the right amount relative to his contribution for Spurs.

However, his current deal at the London side does not run out until 2020, so Spurs are still very much in control of the situation.

Fans will be hoping to see the defender commit himself to the club and rightly so. The Belgian has been absolutely integral to Mauricio Pochettino’s side since joining from Atletico Madrid in 2015.

At 28 years of age he is coming into his prime as a defender and if Spurs are to lift any major silverware over the next couple of years, you’d expect him to be a hugely important figure.

Spurs must retain all of their top talent if they’re turn a promising side into one that wins silverware and should resist all advances from Manchester City should they come about next summer.

Everton boss Ronald Koeman has claimed that Oumar Niasse can become a key player for the Toffees after scoring his first two Premier League goals for the club.

Niasse joined Everton from Lokomotiv Moscow in February 2016, but failed to score in seven appearances for the Merseyside club in the second half of the 2015-16 campaign.

The 27-year-old then did not play a single minute of first-team football for Everton last season, finishing the campaign on loan at Hull City.

It is understood that Koeman wanted to sell the forward during the summer, but Niasse stayed at the club, and the striker scored his first Everton goal in the EFL Cup against Sunderland on Wednesday night.

The Senegal international then came off the bench to score twice against Bournemouth in the Premier League on Saturday – helping Everton come from 1-0 down to triumph.

Koeman has insisted that Niasse has the potential to become a key player for the Toffees, despite the Dutchman seemingly writing him off last season.

Koeman told Everton’s official website:

“The boy has the kind of qualities that, when we are struggling, he can add aggression and direct play, which cause a lot of problems.

“For the first goal, he won the ball in midfield, made the one-two and it was a great goal. Nobody can stop him at the moment! He did well and all credit must go to him. He can play a big part for us.”

Niasse, who is valued at £8.1m by transfermarkt.co.uk, scored four Premier League goals for Hull in the second half of last season.

According to reports in The Telegraph, Chelsea manager Antonio Conte is already looking to replace striker Michy Batshuayi during the January transfer window following the 2-1 defeat against bottom-of-the-table Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on Saturday.

The Eagles came into the clash against the Blues having failed to pick up a point or score a goal in the Premier League this term, but they walked away 2-1 winners thanks to an own goal from Cesar Azpilicueta and a Wilfried Zaha strike.

Batshuayi, who according to The Telegraph came close to leaving the club on loan during the summer, was handed a rare start – just his third in the top flight for the west London outfit following his move from Marseille in 2016 – but he failed to make an impression in the absence of the injured Alvaro Morata and was replaced by Pedro in the 57th minute.

Meanwhile, Southampton have made a stuttering start to the campaign and they are once again struggling in front of goal despite Manolo Gabbiadini’s brace against Newcastle United on Sunday, with three of their seven Premier League goals this season coming from the penalty spot.

Here are three reasons Saints should look to sign Batshuayi in January…

Goals

While they did score twice against Newcastle on Saturday, Southampton have still failed to score in 10 of their last 16 Premier League matches – and nine of their last 11 in all competitions at St Mary’s – and manager Mauricio Pellegrino will surely be looking to strengthen his frontline in the New Year.

If Batshuayi is available then he is surely one of the players the south coast outfit will consider, as he has shown he can be prolific despite his struggle to get a regular spot in the Chelsea starting XI.

While the Belgian is yet to score in the English top flight this term, he has scored five goals in nine appearances – including what could prove to be a crucial winner away at Atletico Madrid in the Champions League – while he also netted nine goals in 28 first team outings last season despite the fact the majority of those came from the substitutes’ bench.

Point to prove

Batshuayi looked particularly frustrated – either with himself, Antonio Conte or maybe both – when he was substituted before the hour-mark against Crystal Palace on Sunday, and if he does leave Chelsea in the New Year he will certainly have a point to prove.

If the 24-year-old is sent out on loan by the Premier League holders then he will know that he needs to prove to Conte that he does have a future at Stamford Bridge, and that mentality and determination to find the net and develop as a Premier League striker would surely be hugely beneficial for Southampton, in what is already looking like it is going to be a tough season for the south coast outfit.

Loan deal

A lot of clubs will already suspect that Southampton will be looking to strengthen their attacking options in the New Year having looked largely toothless so far this term, and those teams could choose to up their prices in what is already a volatile month for transfer fees during the middle of the season.

In that respect a loan move for Batshuayi – who Chelsea would probably still rather send out on a temporary basis rather than a permanent one despite his struggles – could prove to be beneficial for the south coast outfit.

They certainly wouldn’t have to shell out big money to sign a striker from abroad – even though it did work with Manolo Gabbiadini earlier this year.

Do you agree, Saints fans? Let us know below.