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Manchester City fans have been reacting to the news that the Citizens are set to make a late move for Bayern Munich defender David Alaba.

Alaba has been one of the best defenders of the 21st century. He has made 419 appearances for Bayern throughout his career to date (Transfermarkt), helping the Bavarians win nine Bundesliga titles as well as two Champions League trophies, while he has also been named the Austrian Footballer of the Year on no less than seven occasions.

However, he will be playing for another club next season after confirming he will leave Bayern (Goal.com). A number of clubs have been linked with a move for the £49.5m-valued 28-year-old (Transfermarkt), including Real Madrid (The Guardian), but The Daily Star is now reporting the Citizens are to make a last effort to sign him. The Austrian is said to be looking for a salary of £400,000 a week.

The news was shared on Twitter by @City_Chief, and the fans took to the social media platform to share their thoughts.

Let’s see what the fans had to say about the Alaba news below

“Am not sure we need this guy at City he is 28yrs now soon hitting 30 that’s why he wants a club with money so that he can pile up some money for himself, trust me he will not be committed in playing for City, he is just looking for money bcos soon he is hitting 30”

Credit: @Rex05633603

“Almost half a million pounds a week. That’s a crime. Sometimes I want to stop watching football just for this reason.”

Credit: @faitcher82

“that salary is absurd……would wreck the whole teams salary structure…..”

Credit: @CaliBearcat

“We need to be careful with our wage bill , if haaland or messi on the cards too”

Credit: @cst1894

“400k a week..I’d say sign him because his free transfer anyway..his valued at 45M plus.. this will compensate his wages anyway if city were to sign him on a 3 to 4 year contract.”

Credit: @phillip23193875

“Wouldn’t mind having him plus Zinny and Mendy would learn a lot from him”

Credit: @Ortega04187965

In other news, Man City fans have been reacting to this £128m transfer claim.

Mike Ashley should sanction a summer swoop for Newcastle United to sign Norwich City playmaker Todd Cantwell and acquire a second Allan Saint-Maximin type.

What’s the word?

According to Football League World, the Magpies are monitoring Cantwell’s situation at Carrow Road as they are keen to bring the 23-year-old to St. James’ Park at the end of the season.

Cantwell will enter the final year of his £16,000-per-week contract in June, and is expected to be one of the more sought-after players should the England U21 international not agree on a new deal with the Canaries.

Cantwell’s future in Norfolk is likely to hinge heavily on Daniel Farke leading Norwich to an automatic return to the Premier League, with the midfielder anticipated to prioritise a top-flight future after his promising 2019/20 campaign.

Newcastle remaining a Premier League side will also be a factor in the Tyneside outfit making a move for Cantwell, as well, with his services unlikely to be explored should Steve Bruce fail to maintain the Toon’s current status.

Tottenham Hotspur are also noted to hold an interest in Cantwell, who Leeds United had sought to sign ahead of the current season but refused to up their £15m offer to meet Norwich’s alleged £20m valuation.

It remains to be seen how highly Norwich will value their academy product in the next off-season, and what impact promotion will have on Cantwell’s future, with Farke’s side currently 10 points clear at the top of the Championship table.

Cantwell has started 19 of his 22 second-tier outings this term, scoring four goals and providing four assists while deployed as a left-midfielder for 90% of his outings to date.

Should Newcastle sign Cantwell?

There is still a lot of uncertainty surrounding Cantwell’s future as Norwich look set to secure an immediate return to the Premier League, with Farke’s men on a seven-game winning run to put distance between themselves and promotion rivals Watford, Swansea City and Brentford.

Newcastle are well and truly in the Premier League relegation dogfight, too, with Bruce’s side just a point above 18th-place Fulham and the drop zone, albeit with a game in hand, having won just two of their last 16 top-flight fixtures.

But should United limp through their final 11 games and stay in the Premier League for another year, Ashley should sanction a move for Cantwell, even though funds are expected to be small.

Doing so could see Ashley bring a second Saint-Maximin type to St. James’ Park, for Cantwell is showing in the second-tier the quick-footed and fast-thinking style that the Magpies star displays week in, week-out in black and white.

Working in small pockets of space to good effect was exactly what Saint-Maximin thrived at against Wolverhampton Wanderers last month, having produced a great piece of skill to take on three players and set up Joe Willock before later sustaining a groin injury.

Cantwell – who Darren Huckerby once lauded for always being “the most gifted” player in any side he played for – also found it within himself to bounce back from a complex 2020, having taken responsibility for Norwich’s relegation to go on and lead their promotion push.

If the chance to sign Cantwell is there for Newcastle this summer, Ashley must dig deep into his pocket and present the funds United need to strike a deal for a young, hungry, English talent like this.

AND in other news, Newcastle United eye £2m titan who “makes the people he’s playing with better”…

According to reports, Tottenham are interested in signing former Arsenal star Aaron Ramsey.

What’s the story?

The Wales international left the Premier League to join Serie A giants Juventus, and though he’s shown flashes of brilliance with the Bianconeri, has struggled to really nail down a place in the starting eleven – he’s completed the full 90 minutes just twice in the league.

Now, Italian publication TuttoJuve claim that both Jose Mourinho’s Spurs, and fellow Premier League side Wolves, are keen on luring the 30-year-old back to English football, and reveal that the Serie A champions “could be willing to sell him to earn a figure of €10-15m (£8.7-£13.1m)”.

Mourinho’s next Lampard

While things haven’t quite panned out at Juventus, there’s no questioning that Ramsey’s style of play is something Spurs could desperately do with.

Mourinho sorely lacks a real box-to-box presence with that goal-scorer’s instinct in his squad, with only Tanguy Ndombele even coming close to matching that with his tally of six goals this season in all competitions.

But in Ramsey, the Spurs boss could find the closest thing to a Frank Lampard. The Chelsea icon’s performances under Mourinho is well-known, with the ex-Blues boss bagging 70 goals and providing a further 61 assists in just 215 games.

Described as an “outstanding technician”, Ramsey would offer that same knack of getting into the box at the right times and scoring those poacher-type goals. In fact, Lampard himself wrote in a column for The Evening Standard: “It will probably come as no surprise to people that I like Ramsey. Like me, he makes late runs in the penalty area and he showed that with aplomb for the second goal at AC Milan last week.”

That sentiment was echoed by Ramsey’s former boss at Arsenal, Arsene Wenger, who said: “He is a Frank Lampard type. He is (about) getting in the box and he has a huge capacity to run. Physically, he has a combination of stamina, power and his capacity to repeat high intensity is certainly the best in the league.”

In his time at Spurs’ north London rivals, the Welshman scored an impressive 65 goals, including big strikes in big games, not least two match-winning finishes in FA Cup finals.

While it may not be the most popular move, Daniel Levy could find an absolute gem in the £18m-rated Ramsey, and deliver Mourinho his next Lampard at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Meanwhile, this Spurs star showed he could be Mourinho’s game-changer…

Leeds United have been linked with central defender Nicolas N’Koulou as they head into the summer transfer window. The Whites are browsing for new defensive personnel to stack up their options after injury woes have left them short this season.

For a large chunk of the 2020/21 campaign, Marcelo Bielsa has been without summer recruits Robin Koch and Diego Llorente due to their respective fitness problems. This has forced the boss to deploy Luke Ayling at centre-back and whilst he has been reliable in an unfamiliar role, Bielsa cannot rely on him for the inevitable. It’s paramount that Leeds assert their dominance once again on the transfer market and make sure that they are fully prepared for another exciting season in the Premier League.

Calciomercato reports that N’Koulou is on Bielsa’s radar, having already worked with him in Marseille (via TEAMtalk). Currently at Torino, the defender is close to running down his current contract and will become a free agent in the summer, nulling his £6.3million valuation. Despite racking up a total of 128 appearances for his current club, he has somewhat struggled for game time this season, being demoted to the bench for 11 Serie A fixtures, as per Transfermarkt.

Should Leeds sign Nicolas N’Koulou?

With Bielsa already clued up on N’Koulou’s attitude and style of play, he is an ideal scoop for Leeds. With 72 caps for his native Cameroon as well, he is a typical veteran of the game both domestically and internationally.

Looking closer at his stats, WhoScored shows that the 30-year-old has averaged more interceptions and clearances than both Liam Cooper and Koch this season, as well as giving away the least amount of fouls per game. He averages the same amount of blocks as Koch and N’Koulou also boasts a higher passing accuracy out of the three.

For Andrea Radrizzani, it should be an easy decision when looking at a proven international who has already worked with Bielsa and won’t cost him a penny come the summer. The Whites need to add depth to their squad and it should be easy work to entice a free agent to the Premier League to play for a very exciting club that could push for Europa League football.

In other news, Leeds must prepare to sign replacement for exit-linked Struijk…

According to The Daily Mail, Southampton could move to sign free agent Ahmed Musa as West Bromwich Albion struggle to get a deal over the line.

Saints eye Musa

It seemed the 28-year-old was on the verge of completing a move to The Hawthorns – he was said to have even had a medical (Football Insider) – but it now seems the Midlands outfit do not have the funds to get the deal done.

As the Baggies flounder, Ralph Hasenhuttl and co are said to be interested in signing the Nigeria international just a number of days after bringing in Liverpool’s Takumi Minamino on loan.

Interesting option

With Danny Ings and Che Adams to rely on up front, you would think that Hasenhuttl would be happy with his forward options. However, the arrival of Minamino indicates that the Austrian wants to improve things in the final third, and Musa could be an astute bargain signing.

While he had a disappointing spell with Leicester City, Musa has 88 career goals to his name (Transfermarkt) and has netted four times across two World Cups. Capable of playing on either wing as well as centre-forward, he would provide Southampton with some versatility that could be welcome as they look to kick on again after defeats to Manchester United and Newcastle.

Should the deal to take Musa to West Brom fall apart completely, the Saints should be waiting to pick up the pieces.

In other news, Southampton fans slammed this man against Newcastle.

Many Liverpool fans heaped praise on summer signing Thiago Alcantara and his performance against the club’s arch-rivals Manchester United.

The 29-year-old made his first start at Anfield this season in what has been a frustrating campaign for the Spaniard since his £20m move from Bayern Munich in September.

After contracting coronavirus at the end of that month, Thiago picked up a knee injury following a hard challenge from Richarlison during the Reds’ 2-2 draw against Everton.

Because of this, he has seen very little action – but the cameos he has made have received widespread praise from far and wide, and this evening’s performance against the Red Devils was no different.

Unsurprisingly, his quick thinking, sharp movement and his eye of a needle passing excited the supporters and made their feelings clear towards him on social media.

Fans drool over Thiago

“Thiago is just different class.”

Credit: @DanielRoachLFC

“Man like Thiago”

Credit: @mv_jenkins

“Thiago is world-class. The problem is he’s playing as a no 6 and is marked constantly. Need him in the advances midfield positions.”

Credit: @Strictly_Scouse

“Thiago is making mincemeat of United here, different gravy”

Credit: @macjp1991

“Thiago is wonderful to watch. Make it look so easy”

Credit: @BradleyPearce96

“Thiago is a baller #LFC walking through that midfield as he likes…”

Credit: @Goranh75

In other news, Liverpool eyeing up Serie A skipper as possible Gini Wijnaldum replacement.

Ross Wilson must sanction a January loan move for Glasgow Rangers midfielder Jamie Barjonas as he has found his chances limited under Steven Gerrard this season.

The 21-year-old made his first-team debut in a Scottish Premiership clash with Partick Thistle in 2017, but has struggled for minutes since and Wilson should consider sending him out on loan.

Barjonas burst onto the scene under Pedro Caixinha and made nine Premiership appearances across the 2016/17 and 2017/18 campaigns, with his final appearance as a substitute in the 2-0 win over Motherwell at Ibrox in 2017.

However, he’s barely been seen since then, as he first left on loan for Bury and Raith Rovers, before penning a new deal with his boyhood club back in 2019 and joining the Jags on a short-term loan until the campaign was cut short by the pandemic.

He was heavily linked with the Ibrox exit amid interest from Oldham Athletic but Rangers refused to sell him in the summer.

Gers legend Peter Lovenkrands was effusive in his praise for Barjonas, describing him as a “fantastic” talent.

However, since then, he has found his chances hard to come by, as he is yet to feature for the first-team across all competitions so far this season.

Considering the form of Steven Davis, this isn’t all that surprising, whilst the arrival of new summer recruit Bongani Zungu from French Ligue 2 side Amiens on an initial loan deal with the option to buy meant that it was unlikely that Barjonas was going to be a first-team regular starter for Gerrard’s side.

While that’s not to say that Barjonas isn’t a good player – in fact far from it, as we think the club could be onto a winner with the former Scotland U19 international who scored two goals and supplied three assists during his time with Rovers –  he just needs to ensure that his progress isn’t stifled too much by being left out of the matchday squads.

When you consider the fact that he made 19 appearances across all competitions for the Rovers, it’s hard to imagine that there will be a shortage of interest in the young central midfielder, who was once praised by Gerrard for his impressive performance in the pre-season friendly over Nice.

A loan spell could be just what the doctor ordered for Barjonas to regain his confidence and work his way back into the Ibrox boss’ good books.

AND in other news, Exclusive: Pundit drops big claim about Alfredo Morelos’ future at Glasgow Rangers…

Glasgow Rangers have been given a major boost in the race to sign John Lundstram with Sheffield United reportedly willing to listen to offers.

What’s the story?

Reports in recent times revealed that the one-time England U20 international was a key target for Rangers in the summer as Steven Gerrard sought to bolster his midfield to try and stop Celtic from winning ten in a row.

It was claimed that after initially wanting to stay at Bramall Lane, Lundstram rejected a new contract extension, having entered the final year of his current deal.

According to Yorkshire Live, the Blades will admit defeat with the wantaway £7m-rated midfielder if a suitable bid arrives in January, although Chris Wilder confirmed they have not received any offers for him or indeed anyone else so far, saying:

“Nothing in any of the players who are in our 25-man squad, nothing at all.”

Rangers must swoop for Lundstram

With Crystal Palace and Brighton having to wait until the summer at the very earliest, Rangers may very well have a free shot at trying to tempt the 26-year-old to Ibrox in the upcoming winter transfer window.

Glen Kamara has been an integral part of Gerrard’s side so far this season, having made twelve appearances in the Premiership, but Ross Wilson could really do with finding another midfield dynamo to ease the burden on his shoulders.

And Lundstram is a player who can do precisely just that, as he is fully capable of providing competition and cover for the likes of Steven Davis and Bongani Zungu.

Lundstram is almost the polar opposite to the South Africa international, as he offers far more of a threat going forwards. Last season, Lundstram played 34 games in the Premier League, scored five goals and supplied three assists, whilst he averaged 1.3 shots, 1.4 tackles, and 1.3 clearances per game, via WhoScored.

By comparison, Zungu failed to register a single goal or record a single assist in Ligue 1 for Amiens last season, as per WhoScored.

Teammate Billy Sharp called Lundstram “a real menace” earlier this year, via The Star.

Primarily a defensive midfielder, he can also operate in a more central role, and this kind of versatility would be an added bonus for the Ibrox boss.

Having Kamara and Lundstram in the same team and playing in the engine room could give the likes of Alfredo Morelos, Jermain Defoe, Cedric Itten and Kemar Roofe further ammunition and allow them to add to their incredible goal-scoring record – 47 goals in total in the Premiership so far this season.

If Wilson can get a deal over the line in January, he could prove pivotal to their chances of regaining the title for the first time since the 2010-11 season.

AND in other news, Ross Wilson must cut his losses and sell Glasgow Rangers striker Alfredo Morelos in January…

Speaking to the Shields Gazette, Newcastle Consortium Supporters Ltd’s Keith Patterson has dropped a huge takeover claim surrounding Tottenham and Daniel Levy as his own club’s saga continues – going on to say that Spurs ‘approached investors’ over a potential £3.5 billion total buy-out. 

As the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund (PIF) takeover saga at St. James’ Park saga wages on, with the Premier League in hot water as Patterson and Gordon Stein take them to court for what could be a breach of anti-competition law, a Tottenham claim has now been thrown into the mix.

Indeed, speaking to the Shields Gazette, Patterson stated that Spurs were attempting to finalise a takeover last year as they approached Saudi investors over a £3.5 billion total purchase.

Levy and an alleged takeover

Chairman Daniel Levy, who has since invested heavily in his team over the summer after years of debatably under-cutting, apparently attempted to approach interested parties over a massive deal to take over Tottenham.

Patterson, speaking of his side’s takeover desires, accused Spurs as being one of the clubs who caused a deal to stall alongside Man City and Liverpool.

“Tottenham Hotspur, in a negotiation which broke down in March 2019, approached investors in the region we are talking about – two months before the Newcastle deal was ironed out – to buy the football club for £2.5billion, with a further £1billion in add ons.

“The deal was taken to the investors in Saudi Arabia, by a dealmaker named as Eldridge Investments, and rejected – the whole deal totals £3.5billion.

“Spurs came so close to pulling off a deal but then stood in the way of another? We will find out more with disclosure.”

Transfer Tavern take

While this revelation could intrigue Spurs fans, Levy and his key investments over the summer could attract praise – especially as Tottenham currently sit top of the pile.

It’s hard to argue against Levy proving his worth to the fans in the summer, but it will certainly be interesting to see if these rumours pop up again now they are out in the open. Was this his master plan all along?

In other news: Levy has plotted his next transfer move, find out more here. 

After suffering defeat at the hands of Leicester City last time out, Marcelo Bielsa will be looking at what went wrong and whether it’s something that can be rectified ahead of their clash against Crystal Palace.

The Eagles are currently level on points with the Yorkshire outfit, who have pulled off some impressive results so far this season. A win over their closest opponents will be a tough ask but it will establish them in the league if they can get the job done.

Football FanCast has predicted how Bielsa will line up this afternoon…

The Argentinian made some questionable changes to his squad after half-time against the Foxes. After a poor first 45, Bielsa hauled Jamie Shackleton off the pitch and replaced him with Ian Poveda, who is naturally a right winger. Having both him and Helder Costa on the pitch was a head-scratcher for fans, but could be an avenue the manager wants to explore a bit more.

For this reason, Poveda could get the nod ahead of the struggling Shackleton and he might be partnered up with Mateusz Klich, who usually plays a more defensive role. This leaves no room for Pablo Hernandez, who also struggled against Leicester.

With injuries galore, Robin Koch could be forced to use his versatility to fill the absent No.6 role. With this in mind, £675,000-valued youngster Pascal Struijk could earn his third senior start of the season. He last featured against Aston Villa in Leeds’ impressive 3-0 win, so Bielsa will be hoping that he can pull off another strong defensive performance today.

In other news, in an exclusive interview with FFC, Chris Kirkland believes Leeds should’ve signed a Championship keeper this summer…