All posts by n8rngtd.top

For Wolves, it looks as though spending any money this window will be incredibly tough. Considering they are in dire need of improving their forward line, that isn’t news that supporters will want to hear.

What’s the word?

Reports early this week suggested that Wolves had been told to forget about signing the likes of Divock Origi and Olivier Giroud because of a lack of finances.

Despite that, there are still rumours swirling around about possible incomings. One player reportedly on their radar is Montpellier striker Andy Delort.

According to Le Buteur (via Sport Witness), Wolves have made a serious offer for the striker and want to sign him at ‘any price.’

Unfortunately, they are facing competition from Newcastle for his signature. It’s claimed that the Magpies have made him a priority this month.

Ideal for Wolves

Delort has come a long way in his football career and is the definition of a late bloomer. The Algerian has risen through the ranks of both English and French football and was coincidentally wanted by Kenny Jackett when he was at Wolves back in 2014.

The forward was at Tours in Ligue 2 at the time and before a move to Wigan materialised, Jackett said the following: “We put a bid in for Andy Delort but we haven’t been able to close that deal. Nothing has been agreed. But we did put a considerable bid in. I don’t know where it is but no deal has been done.”

It’s probably quite fortunate that happened because Delort ended up scoring a tally of zero goals during his time in the north of England.

However, since then, he has become a fearsome striker, one to be reckoned with at the top level. For Montpellier this season, the 29-year-old has netted eight goals – more than anyone in the Wolves side – and also has more assists than anyone at Molineux – six.

With that kind of record, he’d be a valuable asset for Nuno Santo to have. That being said, the £27k-per-week forward isn’t all about scoring goals.

Like the injured Raul Jimenez, he is adept in physical situations and has won a colossal 4.5 aerial duels per game. For context, that’s more than even Willy Boly has amassed (3.2) at the heart of Wolves’ defence.

Considering that, he’d be an important player in both penalty boxes. Jackett may have failed to sign Delort seven years ago but Wolves cannot afford to make the same mistak, especially with Jimenez out injured with a fractured skull.

With their man striker still absent, Wolves desperately need someone who can firstly score goals, and secondly, offer similar qualities to the Mexican. Delort, therefore, is their man. If Jeff Shi can find the finances to fund the deal, they must complete this move as soon as possible.

AND in other news, Worse than Silva: Wolves “liability” who lost possession 13x will have Nuno fuming…

Liverpool have reportedly been offered West Ham centre-back Winston Reid ahead of transfer deadline day, but signing him would be a big mistake by the Reds.

What’s the word?

According to the Daily Star, West Ham have offered the Reds the chance to sign Reid before the transfer window shuts, as an alternative to Issa Diop – who has also been linked with a move to Anfield in recent days.

Liverpool already look set to bring Preston North End’s Ben Davies to Merseyside, but according to the print version of the Monday edition of The Times they could look to bring in another defender too on deadline day.

The 32-year-old would offer Jurgen Klopp some experience in his backline, something which he currently lacks, and is reportedly readily available, having recently featured for the Hammers’ U23 side.

Would he be a good signing?

Reid’s best days are unfortunately behind him. The New Zealand international was regarded one of the best defenders outside the top six a few years ago but now hasn’t appeared in the top-flight since the 2017/18 season.

Injury issues have proved to be a real problem for the 6 ft 3 centre-back, with his most recent knee injury ruling him out for as many as 53 games between 2017 and 2019.

In fact, he appears to be even more injury-prone than Liverpool’s Joel Matip, who has spent a significant amount of time on the sidelines in recent seasons, but his longest lay-off was for 20 games in the 2019/20 season.

The experienced defender spent last season on loan with Sporting Kansas City in the MLS, where he would make 12 appearances in all competitions, which will have helped to build his fitness back up, but it is hardly of the same standard of the Premier League.

Therefore, it would be a baffling decision to bring in Reid, who has managed just one appearance in the Premier League 2 this season, as the last thing Klopp needs in his squad is a defender who is likely to spend more time on the sidelines than he will on the pitch – so sporting director Michael Edwards must steer well clear of him in the next couple of days, no matter how desperate Liverpool get.

And, in other news… LFC handed big transfer blow as reported bid for “natural leader” CB rejected

When you assess Aston Villa’s season, it’s difficult to pick a gaping hole in their squad.
As a result, spending in the January transfer window could be a rather limited affair for Dean Smith and Johan Lange.

What’s the word?

It’s been quiet on the transfer front for the Villans since the window opened. Rico Henry has continuously been linked but at long last, we have a potential incoming to report of.
It won’t be a marquee addition but it will be one to provide more competition and inject further youthful exuberance into the first-team picture.
That’s because according to La Lazio Siamo Noi (via Sport Witness) Aston Villa are in the hunt to sign Norwegian starlet Sivert Mannsverk.
The 18-year-old has caught the eye in his homeland and is set to be available for a meagre €2m (£1.7m), but it won’t be a straightforward chase.
It’s reported that Arsenal are in the race for Mannsverk’s signature, while Brighton also have an interest in the talented midfielder.
Bologna and Ajax are keen but it’s Lazio who have already made contact to sign him. He has many willing suitors because of his “personality, talent, and good physique.”

Forget Ramsey

One of the most pleasing aspects of Villa’s season so far has been the emergence of Jacob Ramsey. The 19-year-old made his first Premier League start against Wolves last month and looked immensely comfortable, completing two dribbles and registering two shots.
It was a dynamic performance that typified Ramsey, but his progress to first-team stardom could be halted if Mannsverk is signed.
The teenager is already the captain of his club and has superb leadership skills, producing goals and assists in impressive numbers for his age.
During 2020, he registered five goals and also provided five assists for his teammates. Capable of playing as a defensive midfielder or further forward in attacking phases, he is a versatile individual and that should stand him in good stead if he moves to England.
He could also be assured that Smith would use him. This Villa squad is already particularly young, with the hierarchy prioritising bringing players to the club that they can develop, rather than individuals who are past their best.
It’s a task breaking into this Villa midfield but Mannsverk has a bright future ahead of him. Whether his ceiling is higher than Ramsey’s, however, remains to be seen.

AND in other news, “Dangerous” AVFC dynamo who “continues to shine” is Smith’s unsung hero…

Unlike previous reigns elsewhere, it appears youth may genuinely get a chance under Jose Mourinho at Tottenham Hotspur.

In the Europa League last month, the ‘Special One’ granted 16-year-old striker Dane Scarlett some game time off the bench and as a result, he became Spurs’ youngest-ever player to feature in a competitive fixture.

So, who else might be in line for first-team stardom one day?

Given the dubious future of Serge Aurier in north London – we’ve previously claimed that he’s still worth selling despite an upturn in form, as you can read here – though, he could be in line for a new contract.

Perhaps it’s better off knowing that the club are well-equipped to section that exit as Jubril Okedina continues to impress for the U23s.

Earlier this week, the 20-year-old defender opened the scoring against Chelsea’s academy in a fiery affair in which Wayne Burnett’s side eventually lost 3-2.

The club’s official website describes the versatile sensation as a “strong and technical centre-half” capable of producing strong displays on the right flank.

Whilst fansite SuperHotspur claim: “Okedina’s best defensive attributes include being good in the air, possessing good pace, remaining defensively disciplined and also steady, with him usually making well-timed challenges and rarely making rash decisions.”

This sounds an awful lot like Kyle Walker, who as we’ve seen at Manchester City has the ability to play centrally in a back three, but as this isn’t often the formation that Mourinho turns to, his future may well lie on the right.

In one game against Leicester’s U23 side, Okedina managed to get on the scoresheet and displayed that wing-back ability when overlapping Maurizio Pochettino to really cause havoc to the young Foxes defence.

He should be an instant hit with supporters too as he once confessed to his Instagram page that Harry Kane was the “best striker in the world.”

As a player that has captained the U23 within a year of being promoted to the side, he ought to be given a crack in the senior set-up.

AND in other news, Imagine him & Hojbjerg? Levy must land £25m livewire who POCH once wanted…

Aston Villa have been heavily linked to Odsonne Edouard this season, but they could now be priced out of a January move for the French starlet.

The latest on Edouard

According to The Athletic, although the Premier League side rate Edouard highly, they will not be pursuing him in the January transfer window. This is due to the fact that they believe Celtic will place a large valuation on the forward that will be too much for Villa.

Edouard looks to be a star striker

Celtic manager Neil Lennon was discussing the Frenchman last month, saying: “What we have with Odsonne is an outstanding, talented player.”

He is only 22, but ‘French Eddy’ already has 74 goals and 35 assists in 174 appearances during his career so far (Transfermarkt). This shows that he is very prolific and that he has the potential to be a star striker.

It is understandable to see Villa not make a move in January however. This transfer window in the middle of a season sees many prices inflated as sides are desperate to add quality to save their seasons.

With summer signing Ollie Watkins off to a great start for Villa, scoring six goals and picking up one assist in eleven Premier League games (Transfermarkt), the club are not desperate for another top forward. Therefore they can reassess the possible signing of Edouard at the end of the season.

In other Villa news, fans have been piling praise on one star at the club following his latest comments. Have a read who it is here!

Tottenham Hotspur continued their impressive run of form with a last-gasp 1-0 victory over West Brom on Sunday afternoon.

And Jose Mourinho’s team selection provided some clues into the future of one Spurs outcast.

The Special One opted for what appears to be his first-choice centre-back pairing, Eric Dier and Toby Alderweireld, once again but named young summer arrival Joe Rodon on the bench as their back-up instead of Davinson Sanchez.

In fact, the 24-year-old – who was signed by Mauricio Pochettino for £42m in 2017 – was left out of a Premier League matchday squad for the third successive game.

Sanchez has featured just four times in the top-flight and has been axed since the dramatic 3-3 draw to West Ham United, a game in which the north Londoners should’ve won.

It was expected that Mourinho altered his backline having played their last few matches with the same duo, though evidently, he’s had enough with the error-prone Sanchez.

In the past, the Colombian has been lambasted as a “liability” with some supporters calling him a “clown” too.

Former Spurs boss Tim Sherwood has even dubbed Sanchez a “mistake waiting to happen” – something even Mourinho know all too well having instructed his Manchester United side to target him whilst at Ajax during their Europa League triumph in 2017.

Now valued at just £40.5m by Transfermarkt, it appears that the Pochettino favourite is quickly running out of time to salvage his career in N17.

It’s not like he has impressed whenever he’s featured this term either, averaging just 1.8 tackles and one foul per game, across both domestic and European competitions, via WhoScored.

The departure of long-serving central defender Jan Vertonghen should have opened the door for Sanchez to finally kick on and cement his name down as that first choice option but that hasn’t been the case.

A 23-year-old with no top-flight experience, a midfielder-turned-defender and an ageing star who’s the wrong side of 30 are all ahead of him in the pecking order.

That snub on Sunday could be the final nail in the coffin for his future.

AND in other news, Forget Kane: £85k-p/w monster was Spurs’ true match-winner vs WBA…

Jordan Pickford proved his doubters wrong against Burnley on Saturday with an immense display to help Everton take a point from Turf Moor.

The England international has missed just one Premier League fixture since joining the Goodison Park natives from boyhood side Sunderland in 2017 in a deal that could reach £30million, coming in last month’s 2-1 loss at Newcastle United.

Carlo Ancelotti explained ahead of taking to the field at St. James’ Park that he had merely opted to rest Pickford, despite the 26-year-old facing increasing criticism from all angles after his challenge on Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk during the Merseyside Derby.

A host of players and pundits threw the book at Pickford for his collision with Van Dijk, which Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl suggested should have seen the shot-stopper shown a straight red card.

“I think yes. I also had a discussion about this. It was a horrible tackle, to be honest,” he said, via quotes by Goal. “We have more often the situation now that the game goes on, although it is offside, and then some duels happen that don’t have to happen normally, this is an issue.

“You cannot go like this into a duel. This is an absolutely disastrous tackle, to be honest. I think sure, it can be a red card in the end. When you only see the tackle, [it] was horrible.”

England boss Gareth Southgate later came out in support of Pickford, stating that he will remain the Three Lions’ first-choice ‘keeper, while Neville Southall went as far as suggesting there is a “concerted effort” to force him out of the national team.

“I think there’s been a concerted effort by the press to get him out the England team and I think it always happens when you become an England player,” Southall told the Gary Newborn Sports Show.

“There’s nobody better to play for England than Jordan Pickford. He’s had a couple of dodgy times, but I can’t think of a goalkeeper in the world who hasn’t. He’s come through it and he’s doing okay.”

Pickford was at the top of his game on Saturday to thwart Burnley in their efforts to move out of the Premier League relegation places, providing a display that more than proved his doubters wrong.

The £100,000-per-week ‘keeper could do little to deny Robbie Brady from opening the scoring in the third minute when the midfielder used Michael Keane to shield his strike, but he stood firm from there on out to stop Sean Dyche’s side doubling their advantage.

Pickford again came up trumps in the second period with a vital stop to deny Chris Wood another go-ahead goal for Burnley, as the Clarets piled on the pressure following Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s late first-half equaliser.

He would end the game with two saves, two punches, a high claim and three clearances beside his name, per SofaScore, under the alert eye of Southgate as the England boss watched on from the stands.

If Southgate was half as impressed with Pickford as former Three Lions forward Rodney Marsh was, the doubt over who England’s number one is was over.

Taking to Twitter, Marsh noted: “I’m always harsh on goalkeepers, but Pickford makes a terrific crucial save just before HT to avoid going two down. [He was] off his line like lightning. Well played young man.”

If Pickford can continue to keep his game at that level, his doubters will struggle to find a stick to beat him with again.

AND in other news, “If I’m the chairman…” – Exclusive: Pundit drops huge Everton January transfer window claim.

Aston Villa may have missed a trick by failing to land reported summer transfer target, Eberechi Eze.

What was the story?

Reports from The Guardian back in late July suggested that Dean Smith’s side were interested in signing the attacker from Championship side QPR, but that the club would face significant competition for his signature from fellow Premier League teams.

In the end, Eze completed a switch to Crystal Palace for a fee in the region of £20m, with Villa signing their own wide player in Lyon’s Bertrand Traore. Whilst the former has yet to score for his new team, there’s a real case to be made that Smith should have landed the man from Loftus Road.

Shades of Sterling

With 14 goals and eight assists in just 46 Championship games last season, Eze was a shining light for a QPR team that didn’t even make the play-offs.

The England U21 international possesses a lot of the best characteristics a winger should have, with Sky Sports’ Lewis Jones claiming that he “is a devastating ball-carrier, possessing a glide with the ball that only a unique talent can boast.”

And that dribbling is what QPR’s former manager, Marc Bircham, has previously raved about, saying: “He goes past players easier than Raheem Sterling did. Sterling would beat players with pace or do a trick or a chop – it’s all dynamic movements, but Ebere Eze just glides past players.”

With Traore, Villa have someone who previously played in the Premier League with Chelsea and didn’t make the grade. In Eze, they would have signed a rising talent with real experience of English football, and the potential to develop into a fearsome star at Villa Park.

In terms of the first Premier League game of the season, things couldn’t have gone much better for Newcastle United on Saturday night.

The Magpies secured a superb 2-0 win against West Ham away from home, with debutantes Callum Wilson and Jeff Hendrick getting themselves on the score-sheet.

But whilst the duo will rightly take home some of the post-match plaudits, another new boy was equally brilliant: Jamal Lewis.

Think you’re a big Magpies fan? Can you name these former players by looking at their careers? Go on, give it a go…

World Class score: 95% | Expert score: 80% | Veteran score: 65% | Intermediate score: 45% | Amateur score: 30% | Try Again: 5%

The left-back, who joined from relegated Norwich recently, put in a fantastic display, showing exactly why he could be a real star for both now and the future.

As per Sofascore, the 22-year-old provided a team-high three key passes, delivered four crosses into the box, and finished the game with 52 touches – the third-most of any Newcastle player.

And after seeing his debut, Magpies fans flooded to Twitter to hail the young man.

A couple of Newcastle fans seemed excited at the prospect of Lewis developing a fine partnership with Allan Saint-Maximin down the left-hand side.

To think that instead of Danny Rose, Newcastle have ended up signing Jamal Lewis seems like a stroke of genius.

Lewis has got plenty of time to grow even further, and the fact he picked up a season’s worth of Premier League experience with Norwich means he should be able to hit the ground running at St James’ Park, just like he did on Saturday.

The Magpies have got themselves an absolute gem.

Glasgow Rangers have had a positive start to the new Premiership campaign.

The Gers currently sit top of the table after winning three and drawing one of their first four matches. So far, they are yet to even concede a goal, and have impressed in 3-0 victories over both St. Johnstone and St. Mirren, whilst they are currently six points clear of their fierce city rivals Celtic.

However, the goalless draw against Livingston on Sunday was their first real hiccup of the campaign, and it seemed they missed Joe Aribo’s creativity in the middle of the park – it is no surprise that the one game he missed in the league was the one match they have so far failed to win.

A photo shared on Twitter of the Nigeria international by the club’s official account has given the Gers fans the opportunity to wax lyrical about the 24-year-old. Indeed, he is already averaging three key passes, 2.3 dribbles and two shots per game in the league this term.

Many took to Twitter to share their thoughts, one even described him as the “guy Messi wants to be”, perhaps tongue in cheek given his strong start to the season. You can see some of the best comments from the social media platform below.

Let us know what you think!