All posts by n8rngtd.top

Aston Villa have been handed a major injury boost over Ollie Watkins ahead of their Premier League clash against Chelsea later today.

What’s the story?

The England international had been out of action for Villa for the opening two Premier League games before coming on as a substitute late on in the draw against Brentford last time out.

Dean Smith’s side travel to Stamford Bridge to take on the reigning Champions League holders on Saturday, and via a tweet from the club’s official social media channels, Smith said: “We should be welcoming Ollie Watkins back. We’ve also got Leon Bailey back to full fitness now. Bertrand Traore has trained the last couple of days as well. John McGinn and Jacob Ramsey have recovered from their Covid-19 situations too.”

Villa fans will be buzzing

Make no mistake about it, while Danny Ings got his Villa career off to a decent start with a goal on his debut, missing Watkins for those opening couple of games would’ve come as a massive blow to Smith.

The striker led Villa’s charge up the table last term, bagging 16 goals in all competitions (including 14 in the Premier League alone) and netting in home and away fixtures against both Liverpool and Arsenal. Such were his impressive performances in his debut campaign in the top flight that reports even suggested that the Merseyside club were interested in signing him in the summer transfer window.

Indeed, former Villa striker Gabby Agbonlahor has even touted Watkins with winning the Premier League’s Golden Boot award, saying: “I think people might look at that statement and say ‘no chance’, but you look at last season, his first season in the Premier League, Watkins was scoring goals galore, he wasn’t even taking penalties and still got into double figures.

“I think if he is to win the Golden Boot he’d need to be on penalties, so we need to get El Ghazi off of them. But, he’s an outstanding striker, he’s got his England caps and he’s getting better and better with each game he plays in the Premier League.”

Dubbed a “machine” by Chris Deacon, programme editor at Watkins’ previous club Brentford, the £34m-rated star’s return is sure to have fans buzzing.

Meanwhile, Aston Villa had a transfer masterclass with this ace…

Liverpool had a transfer window to forget over the summer, but their fortunes could have been very different had the club’s hierarchy followed up their interest in Watford winger Ismaila Sarr.

What’s the story?

The Reds were heavily linked with a move for the highly-rated 23-year-old as Jurgen Klopp aimed to bolster his threadbare forward line, yet no formal offer materialised.

And now, Goal’s Liverpool correspondent Neil Jones has revealed that the Anfield outfit failed to pursue Sarr in the recently concluded window, despite there being substantial interest.

With Xherdan Shaqiri departing, only Takumi Minamino and Divock Origi remain as underwhelming backup options, leaving Klopp seriously short of sufficient strength in depth.

Liverpool fans will be gutted

Liverpool were first linked with the £19.8m-rated gem 12 months ago after an impressive maiden Premier League campaign with the Hornets.

Sarr botched up five goals and laid on a further six assists for his teammates in 28 appearances during the 2019/20 campaign, earning praise from the likes of Gary Neville, who labelled him “special” following a scintillating performance against West Ham United.

The Sky Sports pundit further praised the Senegal international’s pace, intelligence and decision making, highlighting the youngster’s potential.

“He’s a big, big talent, honestly he really is,” the former Manchester United full-back said.

On what makes Sarr so good, Neville continued: ‘I always think, particularly as a wide player, what would I have not wanted to have played against? The first thing is pace.

“And then you’ve got to think about, can he use his pace? Well, yes, he can, because he makes really good quality runs: the spin in behind, straight, but also the run inside in between full-back and centre-back – which I always think is the most difficult to mark.”

The former Rennes ace couldn’t prevent Watford from suffering relegation to the Championship in 2019/20 but did play a pivotal part in their instant return to the top-flight last term.

In 40 outings for the Vicarage Road outfit, Sarr bagged 13 goals and provided 10 assists as Xisco Munoz’s charges earned an automatic promotion spot, showcasing his top-class potential.

Therefore, a large section of Liverpool fans will surely be gutted that director of football Michael Edwards didn’t make a concerted effort to bring the Senegalese to Anfield, providing Klopp with the squad he needs to challenge on multiple fronts this season.

And, in other news…FSG let Klopp down by failing to sign £30m “conductor”, Liverpool fans will be gutted 

Former Premier League striker Nigel Jemson believes that Virgil van Dijk is one of the best players in the world and to have him back fit is massive for Liverpool.

Van Dijk signed for Liverpool from Southampton in January 2018 for a fee of £75m. The 30-year-old has been brilliant for Liverpool defensively ever since, providing real leadership in the back four, and has also chipped in with 13 goals and six assists during his time at Anfield.

In his first full season with the Reds, Van Dijk helped the them lift the Champions League trophy, beating Tottenham in the final, and also ran Manchester City right to the wire for the Premier League title, missing out by just one point.

In the 2018/2019 season, Liverpool had the best defence in the Premier League, conceding just 22 goals all season and the following season they again were the best defensively as they let in just 33 goals, but they ran away with the Premier League trophy, finishing on 99 points, 18 points clear of nearest rivals Manchester City.

And Jemson believes that the £49.5m-rated Netherlands international is one of the best players in the world, exclusively telling Football FanCast: “I mean, obviously Virgil van Dijk’s back, absolute Rolls Royce of the Premier League, if he’s not the best player in the world, he’s certainly the best centre-half in Europe and to have him back is massive, you know, I can’t tell you how much we missed him last year.”

Van Dijk missed the majority of last season after suffering a serious knee injury, but returned to starting XI for the Reds’ opening day Premier League match this season away, thrashing Norwich City 3-0, before following that up with a routine 2-0 home victory over Burnley.

Manchester City will be looking to bounce back from their defeat against Tottenham Hotspur last weekend as they take on Norwich City at the Etihad Stadium in the first home game of the 2021/22 Premier League season.

Pep Guardiola’s side were far from their best in north London last weekend and were deserved losers after Heung-min Son’s goal was enough to separate the two sides, but today they have a great opportunity to earn their first three points of the new season as they face the newly-promoted Canaries.

After missing a number of players last weekend due to injury and a lack of pre-season, the extra week of training suggests that the likes of John Stones and Kyle Walker could return after their extended break, whilst Ilkay Gundogan and Kevin De Bruyne could be fit enough to feature despite injury concerns earlier in the week.

Here’s how Football FanCast expects Guardiola to line up his side against Daniel Farke’s side, with three changes from the team which started against Spurs last time out…

Ederson will be looking to pick up where he left off last season, when he won the Golden Glove, with a clean sheet against the Canaries today.

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

The first of two changes in defence sees Oleksandr Zinchenko comes in for Benjamin Mendy at left-back, with the £18m-rated Frenchman emphasising why he shouldn’t be a regular starter this season with a shocking display at Spurs last weekend.

Stones also makes his return at centre-back, replacing Nathan Ake to resume his formidable partnership with Ruben Dias at the heart of the City defence.

There’s one change in midfield as Rodri comes in for Fernandinho, who struggled against Spurs, and the Spaniard is joined by Jack Grealish and Gundogan, as it would perhaps be unwise to risk De Bruyne from the start.

[freshpress-quiz id=“577936”]

Although they failed to score against Tottenham, Guardiola sticks with a front three of Raheem Sterling, Riyad Mahrez and Ferran Torres against the Canaries in the hope that they can build some confidence with goals against Farke’s side.

In other news… Manchester City handed huge boost over “world-class” beast, Txiki must act

Nottingham Forest midfielder Joao Carvalho certainly made a positive impact on his return to the City Ground, as he netted a brace against Bradford City on Wednesday evening.

What’s the story?

Carvalho has found regular game time hard to come by with Nottingham Forest in recent seasons, having signed permanently for the Reds back in 2018.

The midfielder has made 67 appearances in total for the Championship side, and has chipped in with six goals and nine assists in his time with the club to date.

He spent last year’s campaign on loan with Spanish side Almeria, and made 36 appearances in total for them, as they finished fourth in the Segunda Division.

Carvalho marked his return to Nottingham Forest with a positive performance in their EFL Cup clash against Bradford City on Wednesday evening, as he netted both of the Reds’ goals in a 2-1 win over the League Two side at the City Ground, as they progressed to the next stage of the competition.

‘Superb’

The 24-year-old has shown glimpses of his quality with the Reds so far, but for one reason or another, he’s been frozen out of the first-team in recent seasons.

The Portuguese-born midfielder has been a fan favourite at the City Ground, and you only have to look at the reaction on social media to his brace against Bradford City to see how highly the club’s supporters rate Carvalho.

Carvalho has shown that he can perform to a high standard in the Championship, having scored four goals and been on hand to provide eight assists in 40 appearances for the Reds during the 2018/19 season.

Nottingham Forest were crying out for a player that could provide the creative spark for Chris Hughton’s side last season, as they endured a frustrating league campaign last term, as they finished 17th in the second-tier standings.

Ryan Yates shoould be sweating over their place in the starting XI moving forwards, especially if Carvalho is to remain at the City Ground beyond the summer transfer window.

He’s shown his quality in tr recent win over Bradford, and he couldn’t have timed it more perfectly to stake a serious claim for a place in their starting XI moving forwards into their Championship matches.

Speaking in an interview on EFL on Quest (quotes sourced from Nottinghamshire Live) after his performance against Middlesbrough in a 3-0 win for Forest back in 2019, Stephen Warnock issued high-praise for Carvalho, and labelled him as ‘superb’, before claiming that he was the difference in their win over Boro.

“Carvalho is a superb player. His individual quality is excellent. He has ability on the ball and a fantastic weight of pass. He was the difference against a poor Middlesbrough team, a very defensive Middlesbrough team.”

Nottingham Forest boss Chris Hughton should drop Yates and hand Carvalho a starting spot in their next match against AFC Bournemouth this weekend, as he’s certainly shown that he’s up for the fight when it comes to a first-team place in Hughton’s plans moving forward this term.

AND in other news, Nottingham Forest confirm some exciting transfer news… 

Many Wolves fans have been left raging as a transfer update emerged from Tim Spiers.

Writing in his latest piece for The Athletic, the reliable journalist has shared that the Midlands club have to sell first before they can buy any more players before the summer window ends.

Romain Saiss, Owen Otasowie, Rafa Mir and Patrick Cutrone are the most likely ones to have to make away in order to raise the funds.

Bruno Lage’s squad does look particularly thin in some areas, especially in central defence given the injuries to Willy Boly and Yerson Mosquera (Transfermarkt), and so the fact that they are relying on selling players first has caused some outrage among the Molineux faithful, who are desperate to see more new faces come in.

Wolves fans on transfer update

These WWFC supporters raged as the transfer news was shared on Twitter, with one Wanderer even going as far as to claim that it is ‘pathetic’:

“Fosun & Jeff pack your bags and get out of our club clearly no ambition and just trying to make a quick buck #wwfc”

Credit: @WolvesBlogger1

“Tell me the club has gone backwards without telling me they’ve gone backwards…”

Credit: @JackShepherd93

“Club’s in tatters. As big as Man City they said.”

Credit: @MoutinhosWave

“Feeling pretty frustrated. It’s been clear for so long that #wwfc need a top quality CB, physical MF and to a certain degree a third striker. Selling Saiss, Cutrone, Mir and Otasowie is a big ask in a short space of time. It’s just all last minute.”

Credit: @paddyday90

“Fosun are becoming a joke. Spend or sell up. Simple.”

Credit: @wwfc2020

“Pathetic, the owners are killing us.”

Credit: @WolfgarRichie

In other news, find out what transfer update has Wanderers fuming here!

Aston Villa were hoping to see striker Keinan Davis score some goals on loan before making a decision on his long-term future at the club, journalist Luke Hatfield has told Football FanCast.

The plan this season was to send Davis out on loan, with The Telegraph’s John Percy previously reporting that Stoke City were hopeful of bringing the 23-year-old to the bet365 Stadium.

However, those plans have been disrupted after Davis picked up an injury that has ruled him out of action for the next two months.

It is a frustrating development for both the club and player, with the former believing this campaign was an opportunity for their centre-forward to really prove himself.

Asked by FFC what Villa’s long-term plans for Davis are, Hatfield of the Express & Star replied:

“I think for them, they’re waiting to be convinced by him in terms of his goalscoring abilities. He’s come up with the odd goal here and there, but we’ve never really seen him go on a run of starts. That’s the issue for him.

“I think they want to be convinced by his performances in regular first-team football, which is why a loan move was so important for him.”

It is certainly a disappointing situation for Davis, who is likely to see very little action at Villa once he recovers from his injury following the surprise arrival of Danny Ings from Southampton.

Midlands journalist Luke Hatfield believes that there remains a possibility of Adama Traore joining Leeds United this summer, though he believes it would be a sideways step to make the move.

Adama has been linked with a potential move to Elland Road in this transfer window.

At the end of July, it was reported that Leeds had actually tabled a bid worth £30m for the player.

The winger, who was a member of Spain’s Euro 2020 squad, endured a disappointing campaign last term.

In total, he made 37 appearances in the Premier League last season, scoring twice and providing three assists.

Hatfield believes that the winger remains an inconsistent presence, even though he has refused to rule out the prospect of him ending up at Elland Road before the transfer deadline.

He said: “He is a top four player on his day but that day probably doesn’t come every day of the week, so to speak, at the moment. It’s very much a matter of consistency with him.

“But it would be a slight sideways step but it’s not one which is completely out of the realms of possibility.”

Lea Schuller made the difference as Germany secured a place at the Olympic women's football tournament in a 2-0 win over the Netherlands on Wednesday.

Article continues below

Article continues below

Article continues below

• Germany secure Olympic qualification
• Beat the Netherlands 2-0 to do so
• Half-time sub Schuller the game-changer

• Getty
  

  TELL ME MORE

  Chances were at a premium in what was far from a classic encounter, but it was Germany who regularly came closest in this Women's Nations League third-place play-off, with the winner to secure a place at the Olympics. Chelsea star Sjoeke Nusken thought she'd given the visitors the lead in Heerenveen midway through the first half, only to see her well-hit effort bounce off the inside of the post and back out, while Alexandra Popp's header would've certainly broken the deadlock just before the break had she directed it anywhere other than right at Daphne van Domselaar.

  Then Germany made a change at the break that paid dividends. Those came almost immediately, too, but for the offside flag to deny half-time sub Lea Schuller a quick goal. The Bayern Munich striker made Germany much more dangerous going forward as they peppered Van Domselaar's goal, both her and Nusken bringing the best out of the Aston Villa shot-stopper. However, she had no chance with Klara Buhl's emphatic finish just past the hour and Lena Oberdorf deserves a lot of credit for the way she kept the ball alive in the box, too.

  Lineth Beerensteyn constantly looked like the Netherlands' best bet at getting on the scoresheet with her quick runs in behind but the most notable look at goal she got was just before Germany's opener, a driving run ending with a shot that was easy for Merle Frohms to hold. Instead, Schuller made sure of the result with a deserved goal 12 minutes from time, Van Domselaar only able to watch as her header nestled in the corner to seal third-place in the Nations League for Germany and, with it, a spot at the Olympic women's football tournament this summer.

Advertisement

• DID YOU KNOW?

  This was always going to be a difficult ask for the Netherlands. The Dutch lost a key player in January when Jill Roord suffered a devastating ACL injury while with her club, Manchester City, and two more were absent on Wednesday after the Arsenal duo of Vivianne Miedema and Victoria Pelova returned to London for reasons that are thus far unspecified.

  The 2017 European champions have made impressive progress under Andries Jonker but qualifying for this summer's Olympics just proved to be too much of an ask at this moment.

• Getty
  

  THE MVP

  Who else but Schuller? Germany lacked a focal point until her introduction, with Popp so often dropping deep to defend and then needing to get all the way back up the pitch to be there for the attack. Schuller's presence meant that there was always someone keeping the Dutch defence busy, though, and she was lively in her play, too, as Germany created chances aplenty to win the game.

ENJOYED THIS STORY?

Add GOAL.com as a preferred source on Google to see more of our reporting

• Getty
  

  THE BIG LOSER

  Van Domselaar deserved a clean sheet for her performance on Wednesday, really. The Aston Villa star made some truly fantastic saves, most notably to deny Nusken just after the break and then, a few minutes later, to get a glove on the ball as Schuller raced into the box. But with the Netherlands struggling to get out and unable to stifle Germany's second half performance, it was inevitable that she was beaten.

Fabrizio Romano has delivered an update on Leeds’ pursuit of Noa Lang… 

What’s the talk?

Speaking on his Twitch account on Monday evening [12/07/21], as transcribed by MOT Leeds News, Italian journalist Fabrizio Romano provided an update on Leeds’ interest in the Club Brugge forward.

Romano has revealed that the Whites are in talks with Lang’s agent over a potential deal, although no official bid has been sent to the Belgian champions as of yet. The journalist said: “He’s a target, they are talking with his agents but there is no deal agreed or any officials bids yet with Club Brugge.”

Bielsa will be buzzing

Marcelo Bielsa must be buzzing with this news as it shows that a deal is progressing for the £19.8m-rated magician this summer. Leeds’ director of football Victor Orta may not have submitted a concrete offer as of yet, but reports that he is in talks with the player’s representatives suggests that the interest from Yorkshire is real and that they are planning to firm it up in the coming weeks.

Lang enjoyed a phenomenal 2020/21 campaign with Brugge in Belgium. The Dutchman produced 16 goals and seven assists in 26 league starts, whilst also scoring once in the Champions League for his club. He averaged an excellent WhoScored rating of 7.31, showing that he was consistently brilliant despite his young age. No Leeds player achieved a higher score than that in the Premier League, with Raphinha’s 7.22 the closest anybody came from Bielsa’ squad.

His current teammate Cyriel Dessers recently lauded the forward as a graceful footballer and said that he is not surprised by the interest in him, gushing: “He is absolutely ready for the Premier League. He was fantastic last season. Then it is logical that there is a next step.  I would love to see him in the Champions League with Club Brugge, but he has shown that he is one of the best footballers in Belgium.

“He is a graceful footballer, but he also works very hard. I often sat on the bench, so I could keep an eye on him there. But the way he works, I didn’t know he had that in him. He has really taken a step. The interest does not come out of nowhere. I know how Leeds work.”

The winger, who has also been described as a “phenomenon” in Belgium, could be an excellent signing for Leeds and a player with whom Bielsa would love to work. At 22, he still has plenty of development left in him, and the Argentine could enjoy coaching him on the training pitch and helping him to replicate for Leeds the kind of numbers he has been managing in Brugge.

AND in other news, Leeds must act quickly to land “fantastic” £39k-p/w gem, he’s an upgrade on Harrison…