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Wolves shouldn’t consider making a move for Tottenham midfielder Dele Alli in the January transfer window, according to journalist Luke Hatfield.

The Lowdown: Alli linked with Spurs exit

The 25-year-old’s stock has fallen rapidly in recent years, going from one of England’s World Cup stars in 2018 to an outcast at Spurs.

Alli could leave the north London club in January in order to earn more playing time, considering that he has only started six Premier League games this season, and none since the end of September.

While Wolves haven’t officially been linked with a move for the midfielder, Paul Merson recently said on Sky Sports (via Molineux News) that the Old Gold should consider him as a prospective signing.

The Latest: Hatfield plays down interest

Alas, Hatfield has been quick to play down this potential transfer. Speaking to Give Me Sport, the journalist had no doubt that Alli would jump at the chance to join Wanderers but doubted that it would work out well for the Black Country outfit

He said: “It wouldn’t work if you’re Wolves. I could understand it from the player’s perspective because he’d want to go to a club where they’re not worried about relegation.”

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The Verdict: Not worth the risk

It is sad to see what has happened to Alli’s career, given the potential he had as a teenager, but the fire in him appears to have gone out, despite being hailed as a ‘machine’ by Rio Ferdinand.

While the 25-year-old’s natural talent is undeniable – he once scored 18 goals in a Premier League season in north London – he simply isn’t worth the risk for Wolves, with far too many ineffective performances thrown in for Tottenham under the likes of Jose Mourinho and Nuno Espirito Santo.

Alli has only scored three league goals since the beginning of last season, which sums up his struggles considering that he is an attack-minded player, and he hasn’t completed 90 minutes in a league outing since September. When you also factor in criticism of his application at times, it’s easy to see why Hatfield has his reservations about the Spurs playmaker succeeding at Molineux.

In other news, some Wolves fans are buzzing over an injury update. Read more here.

Everton have had a hectic January transfer window, making three signings early in the month and sacking their manager, Rafa Benitez, soon after, with all the attention firmly on the appointment of the next manager, Moshiri could be lining up a last-minute bid that could add a fourth new player to the squad.

What’s the word?

According to TEAMtalk, Everton are one of the three Premier League clubs interested in signing Armando Broja, who is currently on loan at Southampton from Chelsea.

The Toffees reportedly join Leeds United and Wolverhampton Wanderers in the race to sign the 20-year-old striker, with just four days left to go in the January transfer window.

The report claims that Southampton are keen to keep Broja with them at St Mary’s, but with many Premier League clubs now showing interest in the youngster, it could be a challenge for them to hold onto him.

Lukaku 2.0

Everton are no strangers to attracting young Chelsea talent, with the potential signing of Broja similar to the £28m club-record signing at the time of Romelu Lukaku back in 2014, when the Belgian goal machine was just 21 years old.

Lukaku was a huge success at Everton, scoring 87 goals and bagging 29 assists in just 166 appearances for the club, with a goal involvement every 120 minutes for the Toffees, so the club could be onto their next Chelsea swoop to potentially emulate the success of their former striker.

The £8.1m-rated monster who was hailed “dangerous” by his current manager Ralph Hasenhuttl, has been making his mark on the Southampton team with 21 appearances and seven goals, five of those have been scored in the Premier League.

However, goals aren’t the only attribute that Broja has been excelling in, according to One Versus One the youngster has been using his 6 foot2 stature to impose himself on opponents, making 170 aerial challenges this season so far, and ranking 8th in the Premier League for completing aerial duels, proving that he is not afraid to get stuck into the game away from just scoring goals.

There has been real upset and aggravation amongst fans with a protest staged last night at Goodison Park, so bringing in young players with bags of potential could be a move for Moshiri that could potentially settle the current outrage.

That’s especially if Broja could come in and make an instant impact in changing the fate of the Toffees nightmare season, and helping the side climb back into a safe position in the Premier League table.

In other news: David Ornstein drops major Everton manager update

Peterborough United Director of Football Barry Fry insists Jose Mourinho was always going to be sacked by Tottenham Hotspur because of his style of football, telling Football FanCast that it was “only a matter of time”.

Spurs fired the Portuguese last week and replaced him temporarily with Ryan Mason, who will manage the team until the end of the season.

Spurs were seventh when Mourinho was sacked and had won one game in six, while also tumbling out of the Europa League as a result of a humiliating 3-0 defeat to Dinamo Zagreb.

Mason was subsequently in charge for the Carabao Cup final, though Spurs lost 1-0 to Manchester City at Wembley.

Mourinho oversaw a terrible run of form and he also sidelined a number of players, including Dele Alli, Harry Winks, and Gareth Bale.

Fry thinks that the former Manchester United boss has been too negative in both of his most recent jobs, in north London and at Old Trafford, and he was left unsurprised that chairman Daniel Levy took the decision to sack him.

Speaking exclusively to FFC, Fry said: “He picks fights with players, unnecessarily in my opinion. He plays too negative.

“He might be the best tactician the world’s ever known but Manchester United fans and Tottenham fans do not want to see their teams play the way he plays with them, especially with the attacking players both those teams have got.

“They want to see their team going forward, entertaining, scoring goals, that’s what they’ve been brought up on, that’s what they want, so it was only a matter of time before he left.”

A big Newcastle United update has emerged on Brentford striker Ivan Toney… 

What’s the talk?

According to 90min, the Magpies are one of the teams showing an interest in signing the English centre-forward at the end of the season.

The report claims that it would cost a sizeable fee of around £50m to prise him away from the London club, with Arsenal, Everton and West Ham also keen on him.

Meanwhile, a Football Insider source suggests an asking price of £30m has been slapped on his shoulders with Newcastle keeping tabs.

Imagine him & Allan Saint-Maximin

By signing the Bees frontman this summer, Eddie Howe can seal a dream duo by pairing him with French attacker Saint-Maximin.

Toney has shown, this season, that he can thrive as part of a two-pronged attack as he has built an exciting relationship with Bryan Mbuemo. The Brentford pair have 16 goals and 11 assists in the Premier League between them and this shows that they have been superb together in the top flight.

Since making the jump up from the Championship, the Englishman has taken to the division like a duck to water – earning plenty of plaudits along the way.

Bees boss Thomas Frank has been effusive in his praise of the goal machine. He said:

“Ivan is very intelligent, because he’s reflecting, and he deserves a lot of praise himself for also coming into a well-run club and listening to all the small bits and adding extra layers to his development and performance.

“If you want to be a top player you need to work hard, constantly reflect and want to learn and then of course you need to have that confidence that he’s got so naturally.He’s coming across so fantastically: he’s humble, calm, but with a mindset of a lion.”

His statistics back up the acclaim as he has produced 12 goals and four assists in 27 league starts, averaging a sublime SofaScore rating of 7.33. He has been able to regularly provide quality on the pitch and still has room to improve at the age of 26, which is why he can be a fantastic signing for the Magpies.

Now, imagine him lining up alongside Saint-Maximin in black and white. The French winger has five goals and three assists in the Premier League and has created 1.4 chances per game. This suggests that he can supply Toney with the opportunities he needs to find the back of the net, whilst Toney’s assists suggest he can also put the ex-Nice man into positions to score for himself. Simply mouthwatering.

AND in other news, Howe can unearth his own Ginola in Newcastle’s rarely-seen 19 y/o “bright talent”…

Glasgow Rangers fans have been reacting after The Guardian journalist Ewan Murray shared an update on Slavia Prague’s criminal complaint.

The Czech champions progressed to the Europa League quarter-finals on Thursday after beating the Gers 2-0 at Ibrox. However, the match was marred by an incident of alleged racism, with Rangers midfielder Glen Kamara saying he was racially abused by Ondrej Kudela.

Slavia have moved to deny the allegations, and even said Kamara hit Kudela on the back of the head in the tunnel (slavia.cz). They threatened to lodge a criminal complaint against the 55-time Scottish champions, but Murray has revealed Police Scotland have so far received no word from Slavia. He also mentioned the Czech embassy in London has now got involved.

Murray shared the update on his official Twitter page, and it attracted plenty of attention from the Gers supporters. They took to the social media platform to share their thoughts, with a couple of movie references along the way.

Let’s see what the fans had to say about the update from Murray below

“That mob will be signing Jason Bourne at this rate”

Credit: @ian_barrie

“Seen a couple vids of the lad today and he looks alright, so if there was an “assault” in the tunnel did they set some wrong rules….”

Credit: @monkjohnson82

“Not sure that makes any sense? If they are making a complaint what’s it to do with the Czech embassy?”

Credit: @scott41mcd

“I welcome an open honest investigation.I don’t believe the racist was assaulted.Looking at him when boarding buses, there were no obvious signs of a beating.Albeit mask covered much of his face,but they wud surely have publicised pics of his bruised face etc it it were true.”

Credit: @ElaineBoyle4

“This is totally embarrassing……”

Credit: @joe_black1509

“I want to say Tom Cruise just got in a helicopter”

Credit: @3Michelenstar

In other news, Alan Hutton has suggested this Rangers ace could leave the club this summer.

Arsenal have edged one step closer to signing Ben White…

What’s the word?

According to The Athletic’s ever-reliable David Ornstein, the Gunners are on the verge of reaching an agreement with Brighton for the England centre-back following talks over a potential deal.

It’s thought that the Seagulls want a guaranteed £50m and that the north London outfit are offering an initial £45m with the rest coming in add-ons.

There are yet to be any offers from other bidders and, with negotiations continuing, it seems that Arsenal are now in pole position to clinch the 23-year-old this summer.

Major coup

This latest development will surely leave the Emirates Stadium faithful absolutely buzzing as it signals their intent heading into the 2021/22 campaign.

Mikel Arteta’s side agonisingly missed out on qualification to any of UEFA’s three competitions for the first time since 1996 so they need to spark a reaction, and that can be done by bolstering the Spaniard’s backline.

He has lost David Luiz, who leaves the club next week following the expiry of his contract, whilst Konstantinos Mavropanos has joined Stuttgart in a £5m deal, so there’s certainly a spot or two available now.

White has enjoyed an impressive breakthrough season in the Premier League, where he rated among Graham Potter’s best-performing central defensive options.

Only Lewis Dunk (89.4%) recorded a better passing accuracy than the former Leeds United loan star (83.2%), via WhoScored, whilst an average of 1.4 tackles, 1.7 interceptions and 1.4 aerial duels won per game shows that he’s more than just a ball-playing defender.

Lauded as a “warrior” and a “special talent”, White could slot right in at Arsenal next season, and he’s also a signing that many supporters have been crying out for.

In reaction to this news, much of the Gunners’ fanbase have been sent into a meltdown. As relayed by football.london, one supporter claimed the club was finally “showing ambition”, whilst another urged Edu and co to make a move for James Maddison next.

It may be a small sample size but the general feeling in north London right now is very good. It’s an exciting time to be an Arsenal fan.

AND in other news, Bye-bye Xhaka: Edu could land Arsenal their next Vieira in £49.5m-rated “huge talent”…

Manchester City have been linked with both Ben White and Pau Torres in recent months, but who would be the better addition to Pep Guardiola’s side at the Etihad Stadium this summer?

Ben White

According to journalist Duncan Castles on the Transfer Window Podcast, City have held preliminary talks with White ahead of a potential summer move following an impressive Premier League debut season which saw him earn a call-up to Gareth Southgate’s England squad for the European Championship.

The 23-year-old centre-back was already on the radar of many top clubs after he played every minute for Leeds United in their Championship title-winning 2019/20 campaign, and he was a mainstay in Graham Potter’s Brighton team last season, making 36 appearances in the top flight.

His performances earned him the glowing praise of Jamie Redknapp, who said: “There’s a centre-back there who is going to go right to the top. He is so comfortable on the ball, you can see why Leeds wanted to keep him.

“He’s destined for an amazing future, that young man, I love him.”

Pau Torres

According to the Daily Express, City are keeping tabs on the Villareal and Spain centre-back, who is also attracting interest from rivals Manchester United after his impressive performances in La Liga in recent seasons.

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Last season saw the 24-year-old make 33 appearances in the Spanish top flight, contributing two goals and two assists, whilst he also helped Unai Emery’s side to win the Europa League.

The Spanish defender is currently valued at £45m by Transfermarkt and certainly wouldn’t come cheap, especially when you consider that he would likely be behind Ruben Dias and John Stones in the pecking order at City considering their superb performances last season.

Who would be better?

Although White would also be very expensive, with Brighton having already reportedly rejected a £40m bid from Arsenal, he has a lot of advantages over Torres in that he is homegrown, younger and has plenty of experience in the Premier League.

He has learned from Marcelo Bielsa and Potter, suggesting that he could comfortably adapt to Guardiola’s playing style at Manchester City, whilst he has also featured as a defensive midfielder at times for Brighton, so his versatility would surely be appreciated by the Spanish manager.

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Therefore, City’s sporting director Txiki Begiristain should forget about signing Torres this summer and instead focus on bringing White to the Etihad.

In other news… Bye-bye Laporte: Txiki should swoop for £40.5m-rated beast likened to Hummels

A new report has emerged and it has exposed a worrying trend of Jose Mourinho’s at Tottenham Hotspur this season.

Spurs have endured an indifferent season. Back in December things were rosy, with the north London outfit sat top of the Premier League but now in April, things have taken a turn for the worst.

They are out of the FA Cup, Europa League and their chances of making the top four appear all but over – the one thing going for them is the upcoming Carabao Cup final, though they’ll face the red-hot league leaders, Manchester City.

A lot of Spurs’ issues have come down to their defensive problems, perhaps a surprise statement considering they hold the fourth-best defensive record in the top-flight but having dropped a whopping 18 points from winning positions, their season could’ve been far, far better.

But now a study conducted by the CIES Football Observatory has highlighted another worry.

As of this month, the Lilywhites are just one of three Premier League teams that have failed to give a single minute of league action to a player aged 21 or younger.

Given their troubles throughout the campaign, it surely can do Spurs no harm if they took a step back and put one eye on the future.

By comparison, Wolves have given an astounding 16.2% of all their minutes to U21 players, even Man City are up there in fifth and they occupy the top spot, so clearly it can pay dividends to have just a little bit of faith in your up-and-coming prospects.

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Of course, we have seen Mourinho hand out such opportunities, but these have come in dead rubber encounters, such as the second-leg against Wolfsberger AC in the Europa League, where Spurs were already in possession of a three-goal advantage.

The likes of Alfie Devine, Dane Scarlett, and Oliver Skipp are hugely talented and impressive youngsters, who are all more than worthy of playing some minutes at the very top level.

After Brexit, and with Spurs’ likely upcoming homegrown registration battle next season, Mourinho must do more to map out a better plan for the club’s current crop of youngsters.

This will leave Daniel Levy teeming with frustration too, as he’s less likely to make a substantial profit on these players if they are not being exposed to senior football.

Young prospects like Scarlett have cost the club nothing to develop but if he lives up to his true potential, then Levy could easily make a substantial sale on him in the future – though, not if Mourinho keeps up this concerning trend.

He has a history of it too, letting the likes of Kevin De Bruyne and Mohamed Salah slip his grasp at Chelsea, so again, the Spurs chairman ought to be feeling a little anxious over this latest report.

AND in other news, £18m-rated “role model” wants Spurs move, Levy must now strike…

Plenty of Crystal Palace fans have been reacting to an update regarding former Chelsea boss Frank Lampard.

The Eagles are on the search for a new manager after it was announced that Roy Hodgson will leave the club at the end of the season.

Lampard, who left Stamford Bridge in January, was thought to be closing in on a Selhurst Park switch, however, according to Football Insider, that has now changed.

They claim that the 42-year-old has now pulled out of the race to take over and doesn’t want to be considered for the vacant post going forward.

The report adds that Lampard views the position as a huge rebuilding job and fears they will get sucked into a relegation battle next season, leaving Palace surprised.

Palace fans react

@CPFCtransfersHQ shared the news on Twitter on Thursday afternoon regarding Lampard’s stance on the role.

This is what some Palace supporters had to say in reply…

“If this is actually true…thank god…would have been a shocking appointment!!”Credit: @stevepcoffey”No Eze that’s why”Credit: @rayraybanks86″No way”Credit: @MATTT046″What a relief, he would probably have gotten us relegated, with a whole lot of debt.”Credit: @michael03407099″Lol good”Credit: @Mark_CPFC”If true, I can’t say I’m gutted”Credit: @danofthesouth_

In other news: Many CPFC fans react as source claims Parish and Freedman are torn, find out more here. 

Celtic returned to winning ways on Saturday afternoon as the Hoops bounced back from an Old Firm derby defeat before the international break.

Ange Postecoglou’s side were without star striker Kyogo Furuhashi who will miss the next seven games through injury but that didn’t seem to matter as Albian Ajeti found form.

On the chalkboard

Celtic also happened to be without two of their key players from years gone by in Odsonne Edouard and Ryan Christie.

Both players sealed moves away from Paradise on transfer deadline day as Edouard joined Crystal Palace and Christie headed to Bournemouth.

The former began Palace’s game with Spurs on Saturday on the bench but appeared late on and scored twice on a sensational debut.

However, it could actually be the latter who Celtic end up missing more. Christie was in sublime form at the start of the season, creating more key passes a match (4) than anybody else in the Bhoys side.

His early season performances were in stark contrast to the type of displays that we saw from the Scot last term when he scored only once in his last 11 Premiership outings.

The solution

One way Celtic could go about replacing the Scotland international is by signing Jed Wallace.

Reports from Football League World suggested this week that the Hoops were one of a number of sides interested in signing the £6.3m-rated player.

Wallace is currently contracted to Millwall but is out of contract next summer and thus, could be signed on a pre-contract agreement once January rolls around.

Also interested in the attacking midfielder are Rangers, West Brom, West Ham, Newcastle and Crystal Palace.

By fending off the competition to sign him, Celtic could discover their brand new Christie.

Described as a “top player” by Lions boss Gary Rowett, the 27-year-old is capable of scoring and creating goals in abundance.

He has already scored three goals and assisted two strikes in seven outings in the second-tier of English football this term. That adds to the 18 goal involvements he registered throughout the 2020/21 season.

A closer look at the tools they both possess also displays a host of similarities. Last season, Christie registered 2.8 shots, 2.1 key passes and 1.2 dribbles per game.

In comparison, Wallace had 2.2 shots, 2.2 key passes and 1.2 dribbles a match.

With that in mind, Celtic could find their direct replacement by luring him to Glasgow next year. On a free transfer, this would be the perfect acquisition for Postecoglou to make.

AND in other news, Forget Ajeti: Celtic gem who took 126 touches vs Ross County was their true hero…