All posts by rastrear-estafeta.com

[ad_pod ]

Liverpool’s 0-0 draw with Bayern Munich on Tuesday may have downplayed the importance of Virgil van Dijk – the Dutchman was suspended for the clash – as Fabinho and Joel Matip stepped into defence capably and dealt with Robert Lewandowski well, but the former Southampton man is keen to etch his name in history at Anfield Stadium in the years to come.

Speaking to respected pundit Guillem Balague, van Dijk said that he is keen to be remembered as a legend of Liverpool and achieve amazing things with the historic club. Indeed, if he continues to have seasons as impressive as the one he is currently enjoying, the big centre-half has every chance of a mention in discussion of Reds greats.

Winning the Premier League or Champions League wouldn’t hurt, either, although Bayern Munich threw somewhat of a spanner in the works on Tuesday night as they held the Merseysiders to a 0-0 draw.

Does Newcastle’s infamous title collapse of 1996 mirror what is happening at Liverpool right now? The Magpie Channel discuss in the video below…

Having arrived at Liverpool in January 2018 after handing in a transfer request at Southampton, the 27-year-old has established himself as one of Europe’s top defenders and, if his aspirations are anything to go by, he could become the pride of Anfield Stadium in years to come.

Not all Liverpool fans were confident he would reach that status at the club, though, while others think he is already there. You can check out the best of the reaction on Twitter below…

Sam Johnstone should not play for West Brom again this season in order to prepare for his inevitable exit, according to reliable journalist Steve Madeley.

The Lowdown: Johnstone set to leave WBA?

The 29-year-old stayed put at the Baggies last summer despite their relegation to the Championship and he has continued to be a key figure in 2021/22, making 36 league appearances.

There does seem to be a potential inevitability about Johnstone moving on, though, with Albion’s promotion hopes effectively over for this season and his contract expiring in June.

The goalkeeper has been strongly linked with a move away in recent months, having been hailed as a ‘wonderful’ player by Micah Richards in the past and winning the WBA Supporters’ Player of the Year award in 2021.

The Latest: Madeley makes big Johnstone claim

Taking to Twitter on Monday as he shared a corresponding article from The Athletic, Madeley claimed that Johnstone should not play for the rest of the season, allowing West Brom to transition and prepare for life without him next term. He claimed:

“Sam Johnstone’s status as a successful Albion player is secure but he should not play again this season – there is no point.”

The Verdict: There’s sense to it

With the Baggies completely out of the promotion picture and with little to play for in the remaining weeks, Madeley’s suggestion does make sense in many ways.

It would give Bruce an opportunity to use others in the role, with those of a West Brom persuasion knowing what Johnstone can offer and also realising that he is coming to the end of his time at the Hawthorns.

In truth, the hope is that a high-quality replacement comes in, given the 29-year-old’s aforementioned influence, but giving David Button a chance to prove himself over the next few weeks shouldn’t do any harm for the time being.

In other news, West Brom reportedly face competition for one player. Find out who it is here.

According to a report from the Daily Mail, Tottenham Hotspur are interested in signing Bayer Leverkusen striker Patrik Schick, but face competition from Arsenal. 

The lowdown: Rise to prominence

Having made the grade at senior level at Sparta Prague, Schick moved to Italy and enjoyed successful spells at Sampdoria and AS Roma before arriving in Germany.

[web_stories_embed url=”https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/web-stories/tottenham-latest-news-copy/” title=”Tottenham latest developments!” poster=”” width=”360″ height=”600″ align=”none”]

Now a regular feature for both club and country as a fully-fledged Czech Republic international, the 26-year-old looks to be ready for the next step in a promising career, having bagged 20 Bundesliga goals in as many appearances this season – even more than Harry Kane has managed in the Premier League.

As Spurs continue to be linked with attacking players, from Paulo Dybala to Lautaro Martinez, Schick is the latest named indexed with a move to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

The latest: No deal

As per the report from the Daily Mail, Tottenham are one of ‘several’ clubs to be interested in the 6 foot 2 frontman.

It’s claimed that Schick is on the ‘radar’ of both sides in north London as well as at Manchester City, Everton and West Ham.

However, there could be an immediate stumbling block as the report also states that the CEO at the Bundesliga club, Fernando Carro, has ‘insisted’ the towering forward is not for sale.

The verdict: Reinforcements needed

Having recently been touted with a move for Darwin Nunez before the latest links to the 33-cap Czech ace, it’s evident that Spurs’ boss, Antonio Conte, is desperate to add a striker to his ranks.

And , albeit seemingly an unlikely move at this juncture, adding a player of the £36million valued star’s calibre to the squad would be a bonafide option to strengthen the striker department.

Hailed as a ‘very special’ player by Czech Republic Under 19 manager David Holoubek and having netted 90 career goals for club and country, Schick would undoubtedly be a target for top clubs and a worthy option to support and perhaps eventually succeed Kane.

In other news: Journalist drops huge update pursuit of Serie A star! Find out more here.

A big Rangers transfer claim has emerged over experienced gem Aaron Ramsey’s future in Glasgow…

What’s the talk?

Transfer insider Dean Jones has revealed that there is a possibility that the Wales international remains at Ibrox for another season.

The midfielder is currently on loan at the Scottish giants and it remains to be seen whether or not the club will be able to strike another deal for him, but Jones has claimed that there is a chance they can get it done if the stars align.

He told GIVEMESPORT: “What I’m hearing is that Diallo is not staying beyond this season – but Ramsey could. It depends what Juventus let happen in terms of how it opens up, but there is some hope he could be with them next season.”

Gio van Bronckhorst will be excited

This claim from the reporter will surely leave the Gers head coach excited as Ramsey has the potential to be a major signing for the club if they can bring him in this summer.

The Welshman’s quality should not be in question but there are doubts over his fitness as he has struggled with injuries since joining on loan from Juventus in January. He came off against Celtic with a hamstring injury on Sunday and it remains to be seen how long he is now set to be out for.

However, he has scored two goals in five Premiership appearances and provided one assist in three Scottish Cup games for the Gers. He has shown flashes of the brilliance he has provided in the final third throughout his career at the top level and that is why the head coach will be excited by the prospect of working with him for another year.

Ramsey produced 65 goals and 65 assists during his time with Arsenal and managed 12 goals and assists in 70 matches for Juventus. This shows that he has the ability to make a big impact in front of goal on a regular basis from the middle of the park.

On the flip side, however, the Dutch boss will surely be happy to see the back of Amad Diallo. The winger’s loan has flopped badly as he has played in one Premiership match since the 20th of February and has started twice in the league since joining from Manchester United.

It has not worked out for the 19-year-old and he has not shown enough to suggest that it is worth Ross Wilson’s time to attempt to bring him back for another season.

AND in other news, Forget Arfield: “Superb” £24k-p/w Rangers machine was “out of this world” today…

Newcastle United made it six home wins on the bounce in the Premier League as the Magpies beat a Crystal Palace side fresh from Wembley heartbreak 1-0 at St.James’ Park.

Miguel Almiron’s first-half strike was enough to separate the two sides on Wednesday evening, despite the visitors having the majority of possession with 63.7%.

With the Paraguayan’s first goal of the season enough for victory, the Toon Army will be delighted with their team. However, the performance of striker Chris Wood was certainly quiet with the New Zealand international undoubtedly capable of better displays.

According to SofaScore, the 30-year-old made just 34 touches all evening with the forward playing the full 90 minutes. Moreover, Wood lost possession on 15 occasions, at an average of once every 2.3 touches.

Threat in the final third from the striker was non-existent with the Kiwi finishing the match with zero shots and one attempted dribble that didn’t come off, despite his side having 13 efforts all game, four of which on target.

Wood also struggled to link up with his teammates, completing just over half of his passes at 61% with just 14 ending up successful, a tally lower than goalkeeper Martin Dubravka’s 17.

In fairness to the January signing, the striker did hold the ball up well and was a presence up front, despite the lack of attempts on goal, winning half of his duels.

The 30-year-old has found the back of the net on two occasions since his whopping £25m move from relegation rivals Burnley in January.

Although the fee seems highly inflated for what the striker can provide, the Magpies were desperate for a centre-forward at a time when they were facing the abys and took what they could get.

Moreover, the move for Wood weakened a fellow rival in the quest to avoid the drop in Burnley.

However, with PIF looking to take the North East club to the next level, it could certainly be argued that Wood’s status as a Newcastle regular could expire at the end of the season with stronger reinforcements added to Eddie Howe’s squad over the course of the summer.

The Toon Army have already been linked with Benfica hotshot Darwin Nunez, emphasising the ambition that the new owners plan to showcase in their first summer transfer window at the top of Newcastle United.

Therefore, the New Zealand international will need to have a strong final five games of the season to boost his chances of being a regular under Howe next term.

AND in other news: Forget Almiron: NUFC’s “magic man” who won 13 duels was Howe’s real hero last night

Tottenham Hotspur are hoping to sign at least one player before the January transfer window deadline on Monday night, regardless of any outgoings…

What’s the word?

That’s according to Sky Sports reporter Lyall Thomas, who delivered a huge update on Spurs’ current state of play heading into the weekend in an article shared on social media.

“#Tottenham continuing talks for Luis Diaz today – one of a number of targets before deadline. No last minute Adama [Traore] intervention expected. [Dele] Alli struggling for a concrete option to leave that suits everyone. More from me here:” he wrote on Twitter.

In the accompanying column, he reveals that the north London outfit are ‘hoping to make at least one new signing this month’ as they continue in talks with the FC Porto winger, for whom they are willing to pay £46m to sign.

Late drama

Spurs have been left frustrated in their attempts to bolster Antonio Conte’s squad this month, although they have left it very late indeed.

Traore’s U-turn in recent days has left them scrambling for other options as the Wolves winger is set to join his former club Barcelona, whom he left for Aston Villa back in 2015.

[snack-amp-story url = “https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/tottenham-hotspur-thfc-spurs-transfer-rumours-gossip-conte-paratici-levy-updates” title=”Read the latest Spurs news, transfer updates and much, much more!”]

However, it has got tomust be encouraging to learn that Spurs are prepared to pay up for Diaz, who is a hugely exciting talent and one of Europe’s hottest properties, having also been linked to Premier League rivals Liverpool and Manchester United.

The Colombian sensation has delivered 16 goals and six assists in only 28 appearances for the Portuguese giants so far this season, and that includes a few outings in the Champions League.

It’s hard to envisage where Diaz will fit into Conte’s system, with the Italian utilising wing-backs rather than wingers, but he has shown that he’s not afraid to adapt when necessary.

Thomas also suggests that the Porto gem is one of multiple targets heading into the final few days of the window and that the club are hoping to sign at least one name, regardless of whether Alli, Tanguy Ndombele, Giovani Lo Celso, or anyone else for that matter, depart N17.

That must be hugely exciting to hear for Conte, as he desperately needs reinforcements if he’s to even stand a chance at improving Spurs’ fortunes on the pitch in their quest for a top-four finish.

AND in other news, Fabrizio Romano drops major Spurs transfer claim that’ll leave fans buzzing…

West Ham United are set to renew their interest in Fiorentina defender Nikola Milenkovic in the upcoming transfer window. 

The lowdown

The Hammers tried to sign centre-back Milenkovic in 2021, but the move broke down. Journalist Angelo Giorgetti reported that the player himself turned down the transfer.

The 24-year-old has made 28 Serie A appearances so far this season and has racked up 33 caps for Serbia.

Valued at £20.7million by Transfermarkt, he has just over a year left to run on his contract with La Viola.

[web_stories_embed url=”https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/web-stories/west-ham-latest-developments-4/” title=”West Ham latest developments!” poster=”” width=”360″ height=”600″ align=”none”]

The latest

Fiorentina News (via Sport Witness) claim that West Ham are expected to make another push for Milenkovic this summer.

They face competition, however, from Serie A giants Fiorentina and AC Milan.

Fiorentina hope to convince Milenkovic to stay with a new contract proposal and qualification for European football. They’re currently in sixth, on track for the Europa Conference League.

The verdict

West Ham may yet to be able to offer Champions League football, the reward for winning the Europa League. They’re due to face Eintracht Frankfurt in the semifinals later this month.

That could make them considerably more attractive to Milenkovic, if indeed he wasn’t particularly keen last summer.

He’s an imposing, 6 foot 4 CB, winning 3.6 aerial duels per 90 minutes (84th percentile in Europe’s top five leagues), but his 90.2% pass completion record suggests he’s also confident in possession (via FBRef).

Milenkovic is also a goal threat when he comes up from the back, having netted 12 times during his Serie A career. According to sports journalist Josh Bunting, he’s shown ‘wonderful’ composure in the opposition box.

If Moyes intends to move on or upgrade one of his current centre-back options – Kurt Zouma, Craig Dawson, Angelo Ogbonna and Issa Diop – then Milenkovic looks a good option.

In other news, West Ham join the race for a midfielder who ‘devoured’ Man Utd.

Aston Villa have seen many players make the move to Villa Park since the Midlands club were promoted back to the Premier League at the end of the 2018/19 season.

However, as tends to be the case with most clubs, not every deal that takes place ends up being a successful one.

One prime example of this happening at Villa over the past few years is with defender Bjorn Engels, who joined the Villans back in July 2019 from Stade Reims in a deal worth a reported fee of £9m.

His debut season at the Midlands club saw the Belgian play in 17 league games and earn himself an underwhelming overall performance rating of 6.61 from WhoScored.

In terms of his defensive output when he was able to get on the pitch, the centre-back only made a combined total of 21 tackles and interceptions, which is lower than the likes of Conor Hourihane and Anwar El Ghazi managed to rack up, as well as making two errors that led to an opponent’s shot at goal, making him a bit of a liability for his side.

The 2020/21 campaign, however, saw the 27-year-old fail to make even one league described as being “condemned to the bench.”

Villa then decided to cut their ties with the defender during the previous summer transfer window by selling him to Royal Antwerp in June, bringing an end to his 100 weeks as a Villan.

Given his severe lack of game time, particularly during his second season with the club, it’s safe to say that this was not a very successful transfer deal for anyone involved in it, especially Wes Edens and Nassef Sawiris who will have lost a combined total of £12.8m from Engels’ transfer fee and weekly wages of £38k-per-week.

Since returning to play in his home country, the defender seems to have found his feet again after a year of no senior action at Villa Park by earning himself an overall performance rating of 7.13 from the 16 league appearances he’s made for Antwerp according to WhoScored, which currently puts him as their highest-rated player.

A classic case of how the Premier League isn’t for everyone.

In other news: Imagine him & Coutinho: Gerrard must now unleash Villa maestro who “can do anything”

Rangers boss Gio van Bronckhorst tasted defeat for the first time in charge of the Ibrox giants on Wednesday night.

The Gers were hammered 3-0 by rivals Celtic at Parkhead to lose their place at the top of the Premiership table, moving one point behind the Hoops.

Reo Hatate scored two goals from outside the box in the first half to put the home side into a two-goal lead, with Allan McGregor caught off guard by both efforts as they crept into the bottom corner.

Liel Abada then completed the opening 45-minute rout as he snuck in ahead of a sleeping Borna Barisic to prod the ball in from close range, with the Gers unable to pull one back

Forget Barisic

The Croatian left-back had five yards on Abada when the cross came in and failed to switch on as the winger sprinted past him to finish unmarked in the six-yard box. He was then substituted, along with Glen Kamara and Amad Diallo, at half-time as he struggled throughout the entire first half.

Forget Barisic, though, as a player who must have started his last Premiership game under van Bronckhorst this season is centre-forward Kemar Roofe.

Offensively, the Gers nightmare was virtually invisible. As per SofaScore, he failed to register a single shot, on or off target, in the entire match. He was also unsuccessful with his one attempt at dribbling past an opponent and had 35 touches of the ball, fewer than goalkeeper Allan McGregor despite playing the full 90 minutes.

Off the ball, he was a lightweight. As per SofaScore, he lost 70% of his duels (7/10) and completed two tackles, whilst being dribbled past once. This shows that he was far from good enough in his individual battles as he was unable to provide Rangers with the focal point they needed to alleviate pressure when clearing the ball from Celtic’s high press early on.

He has scored six goals in the Premiership this season and only two of them have come from him being in the starting line-up, both of which came from the penalty spot. This means that he has failed to score from open play in his seven starts this term, whilst scoring four in nine appearances off the bench.

Roofe has been far more effective coming on as a substitute and this latest poor performance against the Hoops must have told van Bronckhorst that he should use him exclusively from the bench. With Alfredo Morelos due to return from international duty, the Dutchman will have an alternative option to Cedric Itten to start in place of him – with Roofe then being an impact substitute.

Put it simply; he mustn’t start again this term if the Gers have any desires of winning the Premiership in a few months time.

AND in other news, Decision made: GVB set for Rangers transfer boost after £5.8m bid, fans will be elated…

Speaking live on talkSPORT to Jim White and Simon Jordan, as transcribed by their website, reporter Alex Crook has dropped an update on West Ham’s chase to sign Man United star Jesse Lingard.

The Lowdown: Lingard a top target…

The Red Devils playmaker is also one of manager David Moyes’ top transfer priorities for the January window amid his search for a striker and new defensive signing (The Evening Standard).

[web_stories_embed url=”https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/web-stories/west-ham-latest-updates/” title=”West Ham latest updates!” poster=”” width=”360″ height=”600″ align=”none”]

Out of contract in the summer, Man United could now be forced to sell for a cheap fee this month in order not to lose Lingard for nothing at the end of 2021/2022.

He is also attracting interest from the likes of Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United with the latter club apparently at work behind-the-scenes.

Crook, in a live on air update as West Ham still chase him, has made an encouraging claim.

The Latest: talkSPORT update…

Speaking to talkSPORT, the journalist says Moyes and transfer chief Rob Newman still haven’t given up on signing Lingard this month.

“They’ve not given up hope, I’m told, of prizing Jesse Lingard away from Manchester United,” he explained.

“So West Ham could be one of the busier clubs in the Premier League come the next couple of weeks.”

The Verdict: Get it done…

Reports indicate that United are sceptical over selling to a top four rival like West Ham or Spurs in January with Newcastle currently the favourites, but if even Lingard manages to leave Old Trafford on a free at the end of this season, he may well come as a stellar free agent signing.

The 29-year-old enjoyed a fantastic spell on loan at the London Stadium last year, bagging nine goals and four assists, and it is believed that the player favours a move back down south over St. James’ Park as things stand.

This could boost West Ham’s chances of a free summer deal at least and it would most certainly be an astute bit of business.

Former England international Paul Robinson is certainly in agreement, calling Lingard a would-be ‘massive signing’ for Moyes who could add ‘another dimension’ going forward (Football Insider).

In other news: ExWHUemployee backs reports as West Ham now willing to bid for ‘phenomenal’ man, find out more here.