All posts by z3u9t.icu

Carlo Ancelotti’s departure came very swiftly and was a huge shock to many people but fringe players at Goodison Park, such as Alex Iwobi, will be very happy to see that back of the Italian manager, according to Dean Windass.

Iwobi was signed for a huge and surprising £35 million fee from Arsenal in 2019 despite having a record of 15 goals in 149 appearances for the Gunners and despite having a fresh start at Goodison Park, the Nigerian international’s fate has been the same at Everton with just four goals in 65 appearances.

Several first-team players such as Cenk Tosun, Iwobi and Tom Davies will be eager to prove themselves to whoever their new manager will be, with many reports suggesting that it could be Nuno Espirito Santo or Paulo Fonseca.

When a new manager comes in everyone is back to square one, there are no favourites or guaranteed starters which is something that could help Iwobi kickstart his Everton career, according to Windass when he spoke exclusively to Football FanCast:

“Iwobi struggled having arrived with a massive price tag of about £35 million and obviously it didn’t work out for him under Ancelotti.

“‘He’ll be delighted he’s gone, I think because that’s what players are like and I’ve been there and worn the T-shirt when managers have gone who didn’t really fancy you.”

There were high expectations at Everton ahead of last season with Ancelotti at the helm and having brought in what appeared to be great signings with the likes of James Rodriguez, Allan and Ben Godfrey but they ended up finishing in a very poor 10th.

Whoever is appointed Everton’s next manager must be backed financially but in the right way and not waste money on players as they have done in the past but they must also be given time to deliver a long term project as no manager since David Moyes left has been able to do so.

West Ham United have another new striker on their shortlist ahead of the summer…

What’s the word?

According to Eurosport, the Irons are tracking Atalanta forward Duvan Zapata ahead of the upcoming window as they fear Tammy Abraham could be out of reach financially.

It’s claimed that David Moyes will have around £35m to spend on a new forward but that is still short of Chelsea’s £40m valuation, and that’s on top of his desired £140k-per-week wages.

Zapata provides an interesting alternative and sits alongside Brentford talisman Ivan Toney and Sparta Prague’s Adam Hlozek on Hammers’ priority list.

Sign him up

If Abraham is too expensive, then Moyes should absolutely target the Serie A goal machine instead. It’s no secret that his squad needs another forward and at the very last that’s one extra frontman.

GSB never replaced Sebastian Haller after sanctioning his exit during the January transfer window after just 18 months at the London Stadium, meaning the Scottish manager was left with an injury-prone Michail Antonio as his only senior option.

The 30-year-old powerhouse has proven to be a prolific marksman in Italy throughout his career and this season he has been in fine form, providing 18 goals and 12 assists in all competitions, via Transfermarkt.

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That has taken his overall tally for Atalanta to a whopping 65 strikes in only 126 appearances, which is around a goal every other game.

His physical attributes make for the most appeal as at 6 foot 2, he has the stature to cause many Premier League defences nightmares, and that is something that his former teammate, Papu Gomez, alluded to last season.

Speaking on Instagram (via Goal), he claimed:

“Zapata’s shorts look like underwear, he is so big. Sometimes I don’t even want to get close to him in a match because he’s a beast and it hurts. When he is feeling good he’s like a train – you throw the ball forward and ‘ciao!'”

Furthermore, ex-Colombia boss Jose Pekerman praised Zapata after his international debut and suggested that they “need him with his power.” He has since gone onto land 16 caps for his national side.

It remains to be seen how much of that £35m would be eaten up by a move for the Atalanta sensation but given CIES value him at €30m (£26m), he should certainly come a lot cheaper than Abraham, who is yet to deliver as consistently as Zapata.

Moyes will also finally get another option up front, ending the nightmare of the last few months.

AND in other news, Huge blow: Moyes handed injury setback, Irons star “may not play again this season”…

West Ham are reportedly edging closer to announcing David Moyes’ new contract…

What’s the word?

That’s according to The Athletic’s Roshane Thomas, who delivered a fresh claim on a recent episode of the ‘U Irons’ podcast.

Speaking about the 58-year-old’s current situation, he said:

“David was asked about this last week at his press conference, and he said he’s hopeful something will be announced this week.

“I’m hearing that something should be announced, it should be this week, to be fair, and we’re hearing it could potentially be a three-year deal for David Moyes.

“I spoke to Kevin Nolan last Friday, he was saying [it was] in the final stages of negotiations for the contract, so everything’s pretty much all but confirmed really, so that’s great news for the club, great news for the fans.”

Exciting times ahead

Moyes has completely transformed the Irons’ fortunes in the past 12 months or so.

Having steered them to safety with one game to go during the 2019/20 campaign, he has now guided them to the Europa League.

And he’s done so contending with regular injury problems, as well as a lack of backing in the transfer market.

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For instance, the club’s hierarchy sanctioned the exit of club-record signing Sebastian Haller in January but failed to replace him, leaving Moyes with only an injury-prone Michail Antonio up top.

GSB also gave up on him during his first stint, so this is the least he deserves and it’ll merely continue an exciting era at the London Stadium.

Thomas has got his information from about as good an insider source as you could find, Moyes’ first-team coach Kevin Nolan, so something must be on the horizon at Rush Green soon.

This latest development signals a sign of encouragement that the club are moving in the right direction with some much-needed long-term stability, and that, as The Athletic reporter describes, is “great news for the fans.”

It could even give the East Londoners a huge boost heading into a pivotal transfer window. It’s a fantastic move from GSB.

AND in other news, Soucek 2.0: Moyes can deliver West Ham another bargain in £14m gem who “can do it all”…

Former Aston Villa midfielder Lee Hendrie has told Football FanCast in an exclusive interview that he can understand why the likes of Brendan Rodgers and Julian Nagelsmann have no interest in joining Tottenham.

Spurs chairman Daniel Levy has started his search for a new manager after dismissing Jose Mourinho, and that search had reportedly taken him to Rodgers and Nagelsmann.

However, the former has made it clear that he wants to stay at Leicester City, while the latter has agreed to join Bayern Munich this summer.

Undoubtedly disappointing developments for Levy, but Hendrie can fully understand why managers are choosing to snub Spurs in the north London club’s quest to replace Mourinho.

Speaking exclusively to FFC about the matter, the retired Premier League footballer said:

“The likes of Brendan Rodgers and Nagelsmann, why on earth would you want to leave a football club for one that’s not playing Champions League football? That’s the big question.

“Why would that [Tottenham] attract someone, unless you’re going to have that fact that we’re keeping Harry Kane, we’re going to build, we’re going to bring more players in, better players, and we’re going to be a better football club.”

There could be life in this saga yet, though, with the MailOnline reporting that Levy and Tottenham have not yet given up on luring Rodgers away from the King Power.

As we reach the conclusion of a season that the vast majority of Sheffield Wednesday fans would probably rather forget, Darren Moore’s side know that nothing but a win on Saturday will give them a chance of surviving the drop.

Having picked up an impressive 14 points from their last nine Championship fixtures, the Owls have given themselves a glimmer of hope on the final day of the season. A win against Derby County, coupled with Rotherham United failing to beat Cardiff City, would be enough to miraculously ensure that Wednesday retain their Championship status.

As such, considering the magnitude of the fixture, will Moore decide to make any changes to his starting XI from the 0-0 draw with Nottingham Forest last time out? Here’s our predicted XI, along with the latest team and injury news…

Despite receiving the welcome boost of having two injured players in contention for a return to the matchday squad, we predict that Darren Moore will make just one change to the team which started against Forest, along with a slight tweak in formation.

Following a fine performance from the bench last time out, having five shots at goal, making one key pass and winning four of his six aerial duels over just 34 minutes on the pitch, we predict that Jordan Rhodes will come back into the starting XI. That is at the expense of Andre Green, whom the 31-year-old replaced in the second half against Forest, with the youngster failing to record a shot and completing only five passes.

This means that the striker Moore dubbed a “wonderful talent” will partner Josh Windass up front in a switch to a 3-4-1-2 formation.

Meanwhile, both Chey Dunkley and Massimo Luongo could make the squad after returning from injury, but with Jamie Smith claiming that he does not want to rush them back into the starting XI, we expect both players to be named among the substitutes this afternoon.

In other news: Encouraging update emerges on “excellent” Owls ace, Moore and fans will be buzzing – opinion

Sheffield Wednesday moved to within six points of Championship survival on Easter Monday as they resurrected from Friday’s disappointment to rock Cardiff City for five goals.

In the absence of manager Darren Moore, the Owls got off to a dream start when centre-back Julian Borner headed home just three minutes after kick-off, and then the goals started to flow in. Callum Paterson and Adam Reach added two more before the break, and then the 27-year-old wing-back completed a brace with Jordan Rhodes also getting on the scoresheet.

Reach may well take most of the plaudits, having dominated that left flank to the point of him almost securing SofaScore’s highest-rated player accolade, being graded at 8.4.

However, another man arguably stole the show in south Yorkshire – Barry Bannan.

The diminutive 5 foot 6 maestro was at his playmaking best, pulling the strings from the engine room. His commanding influence on this game was shown by the fact that he recorded the most touches (86) of any player on the pitch. In fact, it was 11 more than the next best, Reach and Borner (75 each).

Bannan delivered 83% of his 66 passing attempts – again amongst the Owls’ best performers – and three of these passes were key chances, one of which resulted in an assist – the cross for the big German to head home. He also played a major role in the third and fourth finishes as he dictated the play.

Often the main driving force of energy from the middle, the Scottish wizard managed to pull off four successful dribbles into the Bluebirds’ final third, via SofaScore.

For context, every other player on the pitch combined for just three dribbles (none from Cardiff), so that emphasises just how impressive he was.

The Sky Sports commentary team were left in awe at his display too, Andy Hinchcliffe said (via YorkshireLive): “Every Wednesday player has been a nine out of ten, Paterson and Tom Lees deserve a special mention, but Bannan is the star of the show. He has been absolutely everywhere, one of the best individual performances I have seen in the Championship this season. Pure class.”

Bannan also managed as many shots as Rhodes (two) and even contributed defensively, managing a tackle, an interception and a block.

The £1.8m-rated genius, who earns a reported £27,000 per week, was simply in cruise control at Hillsborough on Monday evening.

Bannan was a key part in all aspects of Wednesday’s win and, as Hinchcliffe suggested, he was the real star of the show despite not getting his name on the scoresheet.

AND in other news, Exclusive: Carlton Palmer adamant Chansiri is to blame for Sheffield Wednesday circus

Southampton fans are far from happy with comments from Nathan Redmond ahead of their F.A Cup semi-final this weekend.

The Saints will travel to Wembley on Sunday to play Leicester City for a place in the final. Despite losing 3-0 to West Bromwich Albion on Monday, the St. Mary’s Stadium outfit will at least be happy to be playing a side who themselves are struggling for form in the Foxes – they have lost their last two games (lcfc.co.uk).

Redmond was speaking ahead of the clash, and he was discussing the contrast with Southampton’s last semi-final appearance in 2018. On that occasion, they were beaten 2-0 by Chelsea, and the £16.2m-valued 27-year-old (Transfermarkt) said that at the time there was no aspiration for success amongst the Saints players, although now they are in a far better position to prevail.

These comments were shared on Twitter by @SaintsExtra, and it is fair to say the fans were disappointed. They took to the social media platform to share their thoughts.

Let’s see what the fans had to say about the comments from Redmond below

“Appreciate his honesty but what a disgrace. In a semi final and no aspiration to succeed?!!”

Credit: @saintdansmith

“Behave”

Credit: @BuildABonfire

“This is throwing it on the line. Saying how up for it everyone is and how good the atmosphere is after a 3-0 spanking by a poor team means if we don’t turn up then we have some very big questions to answer.”

Credit: @Andrew_Stokes_

“He knows people actually watched the West Brom match right!?”

Credit: @JamesBrooksAP

“Imagine saying that out loud in any other job? Let alone a well paid one.”

Credit: @papaschmoo

“how can he say this after the wba game”

Credit: @jahgsvlayso

In other news, Southampton fans slammed this man against West Brom.

Life has arguably never been busier for Dermot Desmond at Celtic. The club’s majority shareholder is frantically trying to right the wrongs of this season and he’s even appeared in front of the media.

At the top of Desmond’s agenda is finding a new manager. Neil Lennon left his role around three weeks ago but we are still no closer to discovering his successor.

The 70-year-old admitted this week that a process was in place but they wouldn’t reveal what sort of boss they were looking for.

The businessman has also been busy revamping the club’s hierarchy. Celtic are set to welcome Dominic McKay as the new CEO this summer when Peter Lawwell retires.

He could also be followed out the door by not only a number of the playing staff, but also Nick Hammond, the man in charge of the Hoops’ recruitment.

That’s because a brand new director of football role has been opened up by Celtic. It has been a meticulous process to find one but according to Football Insider, a deal to bring Manchester City’s Fergal Harkin to Paradise is 90% done.

Indeed, he could be unveiled in the not too distant future if you believe the words of Hoops podcaster Paul John Dykes. Speaking this week, he said: “Fergal Harkin seems to be a shoo-in. He seems to be the guy that’s in as director of football. And we would expect a director of football to be announced first.”

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Dykes added: “So, we’ve got the new CEO; we know that he’s going to be in place – Dominic McKay. I would expect pretty soon the announcement that Fergal Harkin is going to be the director of football.”

This should be music to the ears of Desmond, a man that’s had plenty on his plate. Only this week he was questioned over his status at the club.

A quick-fire answer was provided; he wouldn’t be selling his shares. That response should have been obvious considering the empire he’s currently building at Parkhead.

With a new director of football through the door, it will give the hierarchy at Celtic a greater opportunity to focus on finding their new manager. It could even lead to Harkin himself having a large say in who walks through the door.

After a season where the Bhoys relinquished their grasp on the SPFL, having more eyes on proceedings is certainly no bad idea.

To get one appointment finally sorted will come as a big relief to Desmond.

AND in other news, Celtic star could leave after worrying phone calls emerge, Desmond must be scared…

Carlo Ancelotti will be anxiously awaiting the return of Ben Godfrey from international duty after the Everton defender failed a late fitness test.

That’s according to the Liverpool Echo, who note that Godfrey and Tom Davies were both unable to represent England’s Under 21s against Croatia on Wednesday.

The Young Lions medical team carried out late checks to see if either of the Toffees duo could feature in the Euro 2021 win, which dumped Aidy Boothroyd’s side out of the competition at the Group Stage.

Godfrey had played the full 90 minutes as England faced Portugal on Sunday to earn his ninth U21s cap, but required treatment during the 2-0 loss.

The 23-year-old centre-back had featured for the full fixture as England were beaten 1-0 by Switzerland last Thursday, too.

Only Tottenham Hotspur’s Oliver Skipp and Swansea City’s Marc Guehi also played all 180 available minutes among England’s outfield options over the defeats to Switzerland and Portugal.

Davies had started each loss but was withdrawn early in the second half against Switzerland and approaching the final quarter of an hour against Portugal, when earning his 23rd Young Lions cap.

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Ancelotti will now be very concerned over the prospect of being without Godfrey and Davies when Everton host Crystal Palace at Goodison Park on Monday, looking to end a three-game losing streak across all competitions.

The Toffees have only won one of their last five games at home thanks to a 1-0 result over Southampton on March 1, while losing to Fulham, Burnley and Manchester City twice.

Ancelotti goes into the Eagles clash without star summer signing Abdoulaye Doucoure after the £20m former Watford midfielder was ruled out likely for the remainder of the season with a fractured foot.

Fabian Delph has also been sidelined of late and while Jean-Philippe Gbamin has returned to training, it remains to be seen if the 25-year-old will be called on to play his first game since August 2019.

Losing Godfrey will come as a huge blow to the Toffees in defence, having started nine of the Merseyside outfit’s last 10 fixtures in the heart of the backline – including eight of the last nine Premier League matches prior to the international break.

Everton have kept three clean sheets in the 11 top-flight matches that Ancelotti has fielded Godfrey in a centre-back role this season, which came in a three-game run against Liverpool, Southampton and West Bromwich Albion.

To now be without the former Norwich City enforcer will be particularly problematic for Ancelotti, who is said to consider the Toffees’ £20m summer signing as the best of his central defensive options.

Ancelotti will be expected to call on Michael Keane, Mason Holgate or Yerry Mina to protect Jordan Pickford’s goal against Crystal Palace, should Godfrey fail another fitness test.

AND in other news, Everton are tracking a £17m striker with “a wealth of talent”…

Dele Alli has forced himself back into contention at Tottenham Hotspur in recent weeks and, if his impressive form under Jose Mourinho continues, then Giovani Lo Celso could well struggle to get back into the side when he returns from injury.

The England international made just his second league start of the season in Thursday’s 1-0 win against Fulham and played a key part in the only goal of the game, as his effort was diverted into the net by Tosin Adarabioyo.

The former MK Dons man was also superb in the recent 4-0 win against Wolfsberger and looked back to his best as he was involved throughout the game, whilst he also scored a superb overhead kick to open the scoring.

It had looked as if the 24-year-old’s time with Spurs could be coming to an end in the winter transfer window as PSG were heavily linked with a loan move for the attacking midfielder after he was regularly omitted from Mourinho’s matchday squads earlier in the season.

However, Spurs captain Hugo Lloris has suggested recently that Alli has “switched on” following his failed loan move away during the winter transfer window, and he has clearly impressed Mourinho with his performances in training and in the Europa League, slowly but surely starting to feature more regularly in the Premier League.

If his form continues, then it could prove to be bad news for Lo Celso, who is edging closer to a return after missing the last two months with a hamstring injury.

Injury problems have meant that the Argentine international has never really enjoyed a run of games in this Spurs side; and having joined in January last season after an initial loan spell, you could argue that he has become something of an outsider in his time with the club.

Whilst squad depth is no bad thing for Mourinho, he already has the likes of Alli, Lucas Moura, Erik Lamela and Tanguy Ndombele as options in the attacking midfield position, so it is difficult to see where the former Real Betis man fits in.

The 24-year-old has been limited to just four starts and seven substitute appearances in the Premier League so far this season, in which he has contributed one goal and one assist, averaging a less than impressive 6.56 WhoScored average match rating.

Last season saw the £31.5m-rated midfielder establish himself as a regular under Mourinho but he struggled to contribute in an attacking sense, managing no goals and just two assists in 28 appearances in the top flight.

Therefore, if Alli can rediscover his goalscoring touch, then you wonder where Lo Celso will fit in, especially with both Ndombele and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg having become mainstays with the Lilywhites this season.

Considering that Atletico Madrid have been linked with a move for him recently, if he cannot force his way into Mourinho’s plans when he returns, then perhaps we will see him depart the north London club in the near future.

And, in other news…  8 passes all game: £18m-rated Spurs gem was anonymous; Jose will be worried