All posts by rastrear-estafeta.com

Everton could struggle to recoup much of their initial outlay on Gylfi Sigurdsson but looking at a younger replacement remains sensible, Kevin Phillips has told Football Insider.

It follows a report from the website that Everton will listen to offers for the Icelandic international this summer. The outlet claimed that the 31-year-old will be available for a ‘fraction’ of the £45m sum paid to recruit the attacking midfielder from Swansea City in 2016.

Sigurdsson’s strong 2020/21 campaign

Sigurdsson has been in decent form this season, scoring six goals and assisting a further nine in all competitions. He has well surpassed his meagre tally of six goal contributions from last season.

Carlo Ancelotti has utilised his versatility, deploying him as a deeper-lying central midfielder and even a centre-forward on occasion.

Sigurdsson has just over a year remaining on his £100,000-a-week contract and is valued by the CIES Football Observatory at somewhere between £6m and £8.5m.

Phillips issues Sigurdsson transfer verdict

Whilst such a sale would represent a huge loss for Everton, former Premier League Golden Boot winner Phillips says that now might be the ideal time to refresh the squad with a new number 10.

“They aren’t going to get anywhere near what they paid for him, that’s for sure,” he said.

“Maybe that’s a sign of Everton thinking ‘he’s a 31-year-old who’s had a good a season’ but will they get that again next season?

“His value is only going down. Maybe it’s time to cash in and bring someone in who’s younger, who they’ll get more years out of.”

Intriguingly, Phillips also suggested that Sigurdsson may dig in and look to see out his contract if Champions League football was on offer at Goodison Park next season. The Toffees are currently five points behind fourth-placed Chelsea but crucially have a game in hand.

“It’ll be interesting to see how that one plays out,” the 47-year-old said. “If Everton were to finish in the top four, would Sigurdsson really want to leave?”

Transfer Tavern verdict

Sigurdsson has demonstrated this season, after a disappointing 2019/20 campaign, that he can be a valuable member of the Everton squad.

If you’re only going to receive seven figures in a sale, then it probably makes sense to keep him around as a versatile rotation option for one more year.

Finishing in the European places would boost the Blues’ spending power regardless. They shouldn’t necessarily be in a sell-to-buy position.

In other news, could this midfielder become an Everton player in the next transfer window?

Tottenham Hotspur U23 captain TJ Eyoma is enjoying quite the season for League One front runners Lincoln City.

The 21-year-old signed a new three-year contract in the summer before rejoining the Imps on loan for the entire campaign, and his contributions have helped steer Michael Appleton’s men to top spot, where they not only hold a three-point lead but also have a game in hand.

And the Spurs starlet has played a crucial part of that, starting 24 of their 26 league outings, which ranks him fourth for minutes played this term as per WhoScored.

Given Jose Mourinho’s defensive problems right now, might Eyoma have a clear shot at entering the senior fold this summer?

After featuring in Spurs’ pre-season tour in summer 2018 in games against AC Milan and Girona, he would later be handed his senior debut by Mauricio Pochettino in the FA Cup that season.

Although he’s yet to pick up another first-team appearance, it’s clear to see that he has a bright future ahead, especially considering he was part of that England U17 World Cup-winning squad, alongside the likes of Phil Foden, Emile Smith Rowe and Jadon Sancho, who have all become integral players at their respective clubs.

Spurs’ faith in Eyoma has been shown by the three-year extension handed to him in the summer, and if he keeps it up with the Imps, he will be well worth a look.

If things go to plan, Mourinho could unearth Tottenham’s next Jan Vertonghen, who early in his Premier League career was equally adept at playing full-back and centrally – just like Eyoma.

The young U23 gem has primarily been deployed as a right-back under Appleton, but for the Spurs youth set-up, he’s played at centre-back 44 times as per Transfermarkt.

Eyoma appears to be better suited to the middle too as he’s not afraid to put in the hard graft off the ball having averaged 1.9 tackles per 90 minutes at a completion rate of 84% as well as managing 1.2 interceptions per 90, via WhoScored.

Speaking about his loan star earlier this season, Appleton said: “He’s got great athleticism,” before adding: “He’ll only get better. He’s a pretty quiet character around the place, but he’s one I feel is reliable. He can play a number of positions, and he just comes in and gets on with his job.”

These are all valuable minutes that someone like Japhet Tanganga isn’t getting, so come the summer, Eyoma should be given a shot under Mourinho.

The “very strong and aggressive athlete” could be a valuable and cheap asset for Spurs in the long run. They do need that ‘transformative’ central defender, but in Eyoma, Levy could save millions.

AND in other news, £27m-rated Spurs star endures rare nightmare in FA Cup defeat

Steve Madeley has revealed that questions have been raised at West Bromwich Albion over Sam Allardyce’s suitability to lead the team in the Championship.

Allardyce future questioned

As it stands, the Baggies look as though they will playing in the second tier next term. With just 10 games left to play, they are eight points adrift from safety (Sky Sports).

Writing for The Athletic, Madeley has revealed there have been “privately raised questions” at The Hawthorns as some people are not sure whether Allardyce can do the job required in the Championship.

Backwards

Allardyce does have a track record of getting promoted to the top tier – he achieved the feat with both Bolton Wanderers and West Ham United. However, both of those successes came a considerable while ago – they now seem to be nothing but a distant memory.

The Championship has changed in recent times. Leeds United have played fantastic football this term after earning promotion last year, while Scott Parker’s Fulham have given themselves a shot at survival thanks to an attractive style. With all due respect to Allardyce, his pragmatic philosophy is somewhat outdated, and at 66 he is unlikely to change now. There are likely better options for the Baggies to pursue if they want to return to the elite as quickly as possible.

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

In an exclusive interview with Football FanCast, former footballer and current pundit Carlton Palmer has spoken about young Norwich City right-back Max Aarons.

The 21-year-old defender was a regular in Daniel Farke’s side last season but was unable to help them stave off relegation to the Championship; making 36 appearances and averaging a 6.55 rating.

His last spell in the second division saw him win the Championship young player of the year award and he has started this season in impressive form, averaging a 6.83 rating for his performances, with the Canaries once again top of the league.

Palmer seems to think that the England U21 international is destined for a move to a top-four club and tipped him to be a Manchester City player in the future.

Asked whether he thought Aarons would be a good signing for Manchester United in January, Palmer told FFC exclusively:

“I don’t think they’ll let him go in January, I think he’s their key to getting back to the Premier League. I think if they get back in the Premier League, I think they’ll find it hard to keep hold of him because I think the offers will come in. It wouldn’t surprise me if the likes of Man City went after him.

“The way he plays, he looks like a Man City player and I think he could fit into their style of system quite easily. He’s a talented young player, I would think he’s on all the top clubs’ radar.”

Certainly, Aarons has been attracting interest from United in recent weeks according to The Sun, so the Citizens would have to see off competition from their rivals if they wanted to bring the 21-year-old to the Etihad in the near future.

Whilst both Joao Cancelo and Kyle Walker have been in impressive form at times this season, the latter is now 30-years-old and as he gets older you wonder how much of his explosive pace, which is so important to his game, he will be able to maintain, so perhaps Aarons could come in as his long-term replacement.

As Palmer suggests though, the £18 million-rated man would not come cheap and will no doubt be keen to help the Canaries earn promotion back to the top-flight, so the Citizens may have to wait until the summer until making a potential move.

AND, in other news, 108 touches: MCFC beast is proving he can replace City’s ageing £150k-p/w titan…

Spurs suffered their first defeat of the year on Thursday night, and one of Jose Mourinho’s most-trusted generals was the catalyst for their downfall.

Defending champions Liverpool ran away with a 3-1 victory at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to bolster their title defence, while it leaves the north Londoners with plenty to do before they can truly be considered a contender.

It was a trio of errors that proved to be Spurs’ Achilles’ heel, all of which started with Eric Dier’s ghastly judgement for Roberto Firmino’s opener.

The £22.5m-rated star is above and beyond Mourinho’s first-choice centre-back having started 18 of their 19 league outings, seven more than Toby Alderweireld, 12 more than Davinson Sanchez and 15 more than Joe Rodon, as per WhoScored.

As one of the regular starters, he should be a reliable figure in the heart of defence – that’s why he’s continually selected, right?

Well, his lapse in concentration to allow the Brazilian to ghost in and tap home right before half time to really set the tone for the rest of the game.

As Dan Kilpatrick wrote in his post-match ratings column for the Evening Standard: “It was another example of a big error undermining his performance,” which echoed the thoughts of football.london reporter Alasdair Gold, who claimed Dier “makes some decisions that undo a lot” of his good work.

[snack-amp-story url=”https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/read-the-latest-spurs-news-and-rumours” title=”Read the latest Spurs news, transfer rumours, injury latest and more!”]

Interestingly, both journalists graded Matt Doherty’s display as worse than the Englishman, but that’s a tad unfair. First of all, the 29-year-old was playing out of position at left wing-back and secondly, he had only just returned from injury.

The right-footed defender had missed their FA Cup win on Monday and their victory over Sheffield United in the league, so cut him some slack.

As mentioned above, Dier needed to do a lot better, especially considering his involvement in the match. He recorded the second-highest number of touches (91) but in doing so, delivered very little in return.

Indeed, the 43-cap England international lost possession 11 times as he was awfully careless in the passing game, also recording 11 missed passes and six missed long balls, via SofaScore.

Wasteful.

Firmino, who has struggled in front of the sticks this season, failing to score in the five league games before kickoff, had the better of Dier as he managed to fire off three shots, including the opener.

Doherty can be given a free ride this time around – it’s the 27-year-old colossus who betrayed Mourinho.

Dier is one of the few defensive players the Spurs boss actually trusts, so it says a lot when Alderweireld didn’t start, and they shipped three goals against a side who hadn’t scored in the Premier League since December 27.

AND in other news, Spurs could find their next Danny Rose in £20m “special player”…

Ahead of what could be the most important transfer window of Neil Lennon’s career, a lot of rumours are circling around Celtic. The reigning Premiership champions have been linked to a number of exciting players who could help keep the Irishman in a job.

However, despite now becoming desperate as his role at the club hangs in the balance, Lennon and co can’t afford to sign any old player in order to fill gaps.

According to TEAMtalk, Celtic have been linked to out of favour Manchester United winger Jesse Lingard. The England international is reportedly looking for a move away from Old Trafford in January after struggling for game time this season. He is yet to play a Premier League match this campaign and has been limited to just two appearances in the EFL Cup (via Transfermarkt).

Whilst the attraction of a big international name might be tempting for Nick Hammond, the club must look at the bigger picture and snub their interest in Lingard.

Why Celtic must not sign Lingard

The 27-year-old’s current contract is set to run out next summer and United will not want to take a loss on him. The likelihood is that both the player and club will come to an agreement where he will be allowed to leave in January for a reduced fee in order to entice interested parties in.

But for the Hoops, this isn’t a deal they should be looking to sign off on. Despite his versatility to play on either wing as well as in the attacking midfield role, the man costing the Reds £90,000 per week has numbers that are no better than that of Lennon reject Tom Rogic.

Last season, Lingard tallied just four goals and two assists in 40 appearances across all competitions for Man United. Meanwhile, the Celtic midfielder bagged three goals and five assists in 17 less appearances.

Recruiting a player of a similar age and calibre would be pointless for Celtic who are pushing to better Rangers next season. Lingard is not a player the Hoops should be prioritising – they risk further stagnating their team if they don’t expand their horizons and target more creative players.

In other news, Eddie Howe has been tipped as Neil Lennon’s Celtic successor…

Tottenham Hotspur will be taking the FA Cup seriously despite being handed a favourable tie in their third-round opener as they head to eighth-tier Marine later this evening.

Jose Mourinho has already confirmed that it’ll be his senior squad travelling with the exception of one U18 player, who will make the 20-man unit for the trip.

Although, we’re still expecting there to be vast changes given the number of fixtures the north London outfit have and will play in the coming weeks.

In midweek, Spurs advanced into the Carabao Cup final by defeating Championship outfit Brentford, and they’ll be looking to build on that with a result in Liverpool tonight.

Here’s the lineup we think Mourinho will select for this encounter…

Indeed, we could see an entirely new-look XI at the Rossett Park.

Back-up goalkeeper Joe Hart is likely to start over skipper Hugo Lloris, whilst we could see summer signing Joe Rodon make only his second start for the club since his £11m move from Swansea City.

The 23-year-old may partner Japhet Tanganga, who has only featured in the Europa League this term. It means Eric Dier and Toby Alderweireld are rested.

Ben Davies and Matt Doherty may well replace Sergio Reguilon and Serge Aurier at full-back too.

Mourinho confirmed to reporters that both Jack Clarke and Harvey White are considered part of the first-team, so they could both be granted an opportunity to impress their manager with an outing.

The 19-year-old could sit next to Harry Winks in the middle with the former Leeds winger taking a place on the left flank.

There may even be a recall for Dele Alli, who has become something of a forgotten man at Spurs this season. The 24-year-old has played only 407 minutes in all competitions and did not feature against the Bees on Tuesday.

We could also see Gareth Bale’s return on the right after Mourinho claimed he had requested to feature following a spell on the treatment table. That means there is no place for Steven Bergwijn or Lucas Moura.

It would be a surprise to see Heung-min Son and Harry Kane be involved, so Carlos Vinicius is expected to be handed a rare run-out upfront, whilst Dane Scarlett could be the unnamed U18 gem involved – perhaps he gets to feature from the bench.

AND in other news, Spurs boosted by £18m-rated “cannonball” return in FA Cup third-round clash…

Everton are reportedly fighting Liverpool, as well as many other clubs, to sign Michael Olise, according to TEAMtalk.

As per the news outlet, Chelsea and Manchester City have also been following the Reading star closely in recent weeks, and he’s already been tracked by Arsenal, Leeds United and Wolves too.

Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig, AS Monaco and SSC Napoli have also shown an interest in Olise, who several scouts apparently believe is the best prospect outside of the Premier League.

The France U18 international has just over 18 months left on his current contract at the Madejski Stadium and the EFL Championship club are aware of the mounting interest.

Olise is ‘massively talented’

Indeed, there is no doubt that Olise is ‘massively talented’, given that he has already broken into the first-team set-up at the Royals at the tender age of 18.

In the 2020/21 term so far in the Championship, the attacking midfield player has won 5.2 of his duels per game, and has also averaged 1.4 successful dribbles and 1.2 key passes per match (Sofascore).

He is clearly an influential player, given also that he has contributed two goals and three assists in those appearances (Sofascore).

Should Everton sign Olise?

Indeed, given the calibre of teams that are reportedly interested in signing Olise, perhaps the Goodison Park faithful should look to move quickly and secure his services ahead of their rivals.

At just 18 years of age, the midfielder will surely only get better, and so the January transfer window may well be the right time for Carlo Ancelotti’s side to swoop in.

In other news, find out which global star the Toffees have been linked with here!

Liverpool suffered a surprise 2-0 defeat to Atalanta in the Champions League on Wednesday night to bring an end to their perfect start to the 2020/21 European campaign.

The Reds had won all three of their opening games in Group D, including a 5-0 win against the Serie A side away from home.

However, Gian Piero Gasperini’s side were clearly out for revenge on Wednesday night and produced a superb display to take all three points, after goals from Josep Ilicic and Robin Gosens.

One man’s performance that will have concerned Jurgen Klopp was that of Neco Williams, with the Welsh international struggling throughout the game.

As per SofaScore, the 19-year-old picked up a 6.5 rating for his display, with only Sadio Mane, Divock Origi and Konstantinos Tsimikas rated lower of the Liverpool players who started the game.

The right-back lost possession a remarkable 27 times during the game, which was the most of any Reds player on the pitch.

Williams has established himself as a trusted member of Klopp’s side in recent seasons, having made 16 appearances (ahead of Wednesday’s game) for the first-team now, in which he has contributed no goals and two assists (per Transfermarkt).

Considering Trent Alexander-Arnold is currently sidelined through injury, Williams is likely to have a lot more game time in the coming weeks, but he will need to improve on this performance if he wants to keep his spot in the starting 11.

The Welshman saw a lot of the ball against the Italian side but was unable to have much impact going forward, as none of his three crosses on the evening found their mark, whilst only two of his 11 attempted long balls found a Liverpool shirt.

54 of Williams’ 70 attempted passes found their target, resulting in a pass accuracy rate of 74%, suggesting that his passing could have been a lot better on the night too.

The right-back wasn’t too bad defensively, however, as he won five out of nine of his ground duels, whilst he also made five interceptions during the 90 minutes.

Alexander-Arnold was full of praise for the academy talent earlier this year, saying:

“Neco is an amazing talent, he is someone who we all look to as being someone who can play for the club for a long amount of time and will have a bright future no matter what.”

“I think he is on the right path, for sure. Mentally, he’s ahead of people his age, he’s getting the right experience in training; playing against the best players in the world can only improve you.” (per Liverpool FC)

However, he did little to repay the England international’s faith in him on Wednesday night and it will perhaps not be a surprise if Klopp opts to start James Milner at right-back in the Reds’ next game, after his impressive performance in the win against Leicester City last weekend.

According to Football Insider, Aston Villa rejected multiple loan bids for starlet Jacob Ramsey on deadline day.

What’s the word?

The 19-year-old has made four first-team appearances this season, including coming on as a substitute in the Premier League against Fulham.

But with there being significant competition for places in the central positions in midfield, there may have been questions about whether Ramsey would be better off getting consistent game-time elsewhere.

However, Football Insider have revealed that Dean Smith’s side put a block on him leaving amid several Championship clubs’ bid to take him on a season-long loan, with the same outlet later claiming that the Villa boss had told the teenager that he will have a key first-team role this campaign.

Huge call by Dean Smith

When it comes to young talents, the biggest call a manager will have to make is whether their development is best served by slowly embedding them into the first-team, or sending them out on loan to get regular game-time.

In Villa’s case with Ramsey, Smith may have just made a shrewd call. The club are flying high near the summit of the Premier League table, and all the positivity that comes with it will rub off on players, both old and young.

In the likes of Jack Grealish and Ross Barkley, Ramsey has a couple of England internationals who can play a leading role in his development both on and off the pitch, and help him realise his full potential.

Football Insider suggested that Smith sees the starlet as a special talent, and if he can continue to get some minutes in the Premier League over the next few weeks and months, then he will be all the better for it.

Villa have already seen what trusting in a homegrown talent can do in Grealish. Now is the time to do the same with Ramsey.

And in other news, this Aston Villa star could wreak havoc amid Leicester’s injury crisis.