All posts by n8rngtd.top

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…

Leeds United have had a great start to their first Premier League campaign in 16 years.

The Whites have lost just one of their first four games despite facing off against two of the best teams in the league in the shape of Manchester City and Liverpool.

Marcelo Bielsa will be hoping that he can keep the momentum rolling after the international break, and in order to do that he has to pick the right team against Wolves.

Wolves won’t be an easy team to overcome and their task has been made that much harder by an injury crisis at centre-back.

Liam Cooper and Diego Llorente have both picked up injuries on international duty, so Leeds will have to operate with a makeshift centre-back pairing for this one.

We’ve had a go at predicting how Leeds will line-up against Wolves.

The first place to look is centre-back after Cooper and Llorente’s injuries.

This is a position that Leeds have already been in this season with Cooper being unavailable on the opening day of the season and Llorente not having signed by that point, and on that occasion, Bielsa looked towards Pascal Struijk to fill the gap.

We expect the Argentine to do the same again here, but whether or not this proves to be a good idea remains to be seen as Leeds conceded four the last time Struijk and Robin Koch played together.

Away from that change, the defensive spots remain largely the same, Illan Meslier, Luke Ayling and Stuart Dallas retain their spots in goal and at full-back.

The midfield has just one change as Jack Harrison comes back after being ineligible to face his parent club a fortnight ago, while there is no space for £17m man Raphinha as of yet due to Bielsa preferring to give his new signings a bedding-in period.

Up front, Patrick Bamford starts once again, with Rodrigo’s goal against Man City not enough to earn him a place back in the XI just yet.

Aston Villa return to Premier League action later this evening and they’ll be looking to continue their fantastic start to the new campaign with three points at Craven Cottage.

Dean Smith’s side are unbeaten from their first three matches in all competitions, Last week, they defeated Sheffield United and now they head to London to face top-flight newcomers and old foes Fulham.

Whilst in mid-week, a fringe XI thrashed Bristol City 3-0 in the EFL Cup to advance into the round of 16, so will the Villa boss make any changes today?

Here’s what we are predicting…

Smith could name almost an entirely new starting XI with only one player keeping their place from Thursday evening.

Between the sticks, summer signing Emi Martinez returns over Jed Steer whilst a usual back four of Matt Targett, Tyrone Mings, Ezri Konsa and Matty Cash is also named.

£15m enforcer Douglas Luiz also starts at the expense of Marvelous Nakamba in defensive midfield although this time, the Brazilian sits behind John McGinn and skipper Jack Grealish, who perhaps surprisingly moves into the hole having played left-wing for the majority of the past 12 months or so.

The one name to remain could be the debutant from Ashton Gate, Bertrand Traore. The £19m summer arrival scored an outstanding goal and got some much-needed match fitness, he’s surely in line to start.

It means Trezeguet takes up a spot on the other wing with Ollie Watkins playing through the middle in the attack.

Therefore, there are no places for Conor Hourihane, Anwar El Ghazi, Keinan Davis or Henri Lansbury, who are all likely to settle for the bench.

AND in other news, Villans have to break club-record fee again to sign “incredible” transfer target…

The Tottenham faithful were unlucky last season and missed out on a Champions League spot, but did qualify for Europa League football for next season.

The next campaign will be Jose Mourinho’s first full season since joining the club in November last year, and will likely be making a few signings during the transfer window to make the squad his own.

In an interview with Sky Sports back in May – Mourinho stated that he didn’t feel Tottenham were going to have a very big transfer budget this window due to the impact of COVID-19, stating that himself and Tottenham would be sensible, balanced, and won’t be spending rivers of money – which is understandable given the current financial situation.

Despite this omission, the club will still likely make some signings to try and bolster their squad – with the Lillywhites already adding Pierre-Emile Højbjerg and Joe Hart to the squad, but who else could the club realistically sign this summer?

Min-jae Kim

The 23-year-old defender has been in fine form for Chinese Super League club Beijing Sinobo Guoan – and has been linked with a move to Tottenham as a replacement for Jan Vertonghen, with a £15 million transfer after having two bids rejected by the Chinese club. Kim has been dubbed as the ‘South Koren Van Dijk’ – and has even been nicknamed “monster” due to his stature and aggressive style of play and physical strength.

Last season Kim averaged 1.3 tackles, 1.3 interceptions, and 3.2 clearances per game, as well as winning 1.8 aerial duels per game – and would be a great addition to Mourinho’s squad, with fellow countryman Heung-min Son already at the club.

Mehmet Zeki Çelik

The Turkish right-back has been linked with a move to the North London club over recent weeks, with reports even suggesting that the club are looking to sell Serge Aurier and Juan Foyth to raise the funds for the 23-year-old – with the sale of Kyle Walker-Peters to Southampton also leaving a void in the options for a right-back.

After 23 league appearances, Zeki Çelik has averaged 2.3 tackles, 1.1 interceptions, and 1.4 clearances per game, as well as registering 2 assists. It has been reported that the player would cost between €20-25 million, meaning that the sales of the aforementioned plays would be helpful to raise those much-needed funds.

Ivan Perisic

After reports emerged at the end of July that Tottenham had opened talks with Inter Milan over the transfer of Tanguy Ndombélé, attention instantly turned to the availability of Ivan Perisic.

The Croatian winger is said to be admired by Mourinho, with the manager even trying to sign him during his time at Manchester United. Perisic has been on loan at Bayern Munich this season, and has 4 goals and 3 assists to his name in the league – but it is his form in the Champions League that has impressed the most.

The winger has 3 goals and 3 assists in 8 games – and has helped steer the club to the semi-finals of the competition. At 31-years-old, Perisic would bring a great amount of experience and quality for the young players in Spurs’ side.

David Brooks

Bournemouth’s relegation has meant that many of their best players will likely leave the club this summer – and Spurs have reportedly said they ‘admire’ the player, and Daniel Levy is ready to offer the south coast club £10 million for the Welsh midfielder.

Brooks had an injury stinted season this year, but the season before last showed the talent and potential he has – with 7 goals and 5 assists from midfield. The player would be a great fit for Tottenham, bringing some needed youth and ambition into the side, but Bournemouth won’t be wanting to lose the youngster any time soon.

Timothy Castagne

Another option at right-back, the 24-year-old joined Italian side Atalanta in 2017 and has gone on to help the club reach astronomical heights for the small city of Bergamo.

Atalanta finished third last season in Serie A, and at one point were contending for the Scudetto – the club also reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League in the club’s first time in the competition. Castagne is a versatile player as well, having played in four different positions for the club this season.

The player himself reportedly stated he wouldn’t be able to turn down a move to Spurs, with Atalanta valuing the player at around £18 million.

A reported date has been set for the English Football League’s potential salary cap as per comments made by Portsmouth chief executive officer Mark Catlin.

Pompey missed out on promotion from League One to the Championship via the play-offs this term, being beaten by Oxford United in the semi-finals.

That disappointment is now expected to see boss Kenny Jackett make wholesale changes during the summer transfer window and look to bolster his squad.

However, the potential of a salary cap of £2.5m per season could restrict many moves and Catlin has now revealed a date that EFL clubs are set to vote on the matter.

Catlin told Portsmouth News: “I don’t think there is a certainty that the salary cap will go through.

“There seems to be an ever-growing number of clubs which may vote against it, but I think a lot of those may look at it and, given the financial situation, see it as the best of a bad job.

“It doesn’t tick everyone’s boxes, but, on the whole, it means clubs’ costs are going to be brought down.

“Unfortunately for us, they are going to be brought down to a level which is far too low for Pompey and too high for other clubs.
“I have been speaking to quite a few of the Championship clubs ahead knowing the relegation spaces, so they are up to speed with the situation and must now come to their own decisions.

“Obviously the three relegated Championship clubs all have their own internal issues at the moment financially, so we’ll have to see how they do this.

“I am pretty certain the vote will take place on August 6, so we will find out soon.”
Portsmouth are yet to sign anyone for the 2020/21 season, despite allowing the likes of Christian Burgess and Brandon Haunstrup leave.

Pompey’s whole summer transfer window could be decided by the potential salary cap and that could determine exactly how they will approach the new season.

With little transfer activity happening at the moment at the League One club, players like Burgess and Haunstrup will need to be replaced quickly and efficiently, but as mentioned, the calibre and quality of those potential replacements could be determined by the EFL vote.

It is fair to say that the outcome of the vote could have huge ramifications on Pompey’s 20/21 campaign.

Do you think the salary cap will be introduced? Let us know in the comments section below…

Manchester United are considering a cheaper alternative to Jadon Sancho, according to reports from Italy. 

The Red Devils have been linked to Sancho for a number of months and the winger has reportedly told Borussia Dortmund that he wants to return to England. However, despite reports suggesting that United are the front-runners to sign him, nothing has materialised as of yet.

The board have now apparently turned their attention to AS Roma star Cengiz Under in the event that they cannot sign Sancho in the upcoming window. Italian newspaper Corriere dello Sport, as relayed by Daily Express, claimed that Roma are looking to make a profit this summer.

Under, who has been capped 20 times by Turkey, has scored three goals in 15 appearances in Serie A this season, taking 1.7 shots per game, averaging 1.6 key passes and completing 1.9 dribbles per game on average (via WhoScored).

Corriere dello Sport claimed that United have spoken to former Tottenham director Franco Baldini, who was involved in Chris Smalling’s loan deal and has offered the attacking midfielder to several Premier League clubs.

The Giallorossi are now willing to sell the 22-year-old for around £26.8m, amid interest from Arsenal and Everton. Turkey’s former manager Mircea Lucescu once compared Under to Liverpool superstar and Roma alumnus Mohamed Salah.

Nevertheless, it is worth pointing out he has received a lower WhoScored rating than Sancho for his performances so far.

Failing to sign Sancho would be a bitter blow for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Indeed, the manager has made it clear that the England international is his top transfer priority, while he missed out on signing high-profile target Erling Braut Haaland last year.

Dortmund currently value their ace at a staggering £115m, which has made Ed Woodward reconsider his options. Although the Englishman remains at the top of the board’s agenda, they are now drafting a list of possible replacements if the Bundesliga club refuse to budge.

United fans, do you think Ed Woodward should sign Cengiz Under over Jadon Sancho? Let us know in the comments below!

Alex Bruce has said that Harry Kane should consider his future at Tottenham Hotspur in a bid to win trophies, in an interview with Football Insider.

What did he say?

Kane has been at Spurs since 2004, emerging through their academy and becoming one of the best strikers in the Premier League.

In 278 Premier League appearances for the club, Kane has managed 181 goals and 30 assists, while he has also scored 20 Champions League goals in just 24 appearances.

However, he is yet to win a trophy with the North London club and when asked what the future holds for Kane, Bruce said that it could be time for him to consider leaving the club.

“If I was Harry I’d be looking at it and thinking: ‘Where am I going to win trophies?’ and that’s the biggest question he’s going to have to face,” he told Football Insider.

“He’s not getting any younger, he wants to go and win a couple of things. Tottenham have got the infrastructure in place, with a great manager, great stadium, based in London, a great history. They just need to build a team now to go and compete with the elite clubs in Europe and obviously the likes of Liverpool and Man City.

“That will take time to get to that level. Has Harry Kane got that time to wait? We’ll have to wait and see what happens but if I was Harry, I’d be asking myself where am I going to win trophies because I’m not getting any younger.

“A player like Harry Kane’s ability, it would be a shame if he went through his career without really winning anything.”

Missed opportunity

With the transfer market likely to dramatically impacted by the global economic situation, Kane may have missed his chance to secure a big-money move away from Spurs.

Injuries have become an increasing source of frustration for the striker and it looks as his best goalscoring form is behind him.

Given the money Spurs are likely to demand for his departure, Kane will likely have to wait for any move and it could be a long period of time before it is possible.

This article is part of Football FanCast’s The Chalkboard series, which provides a tactical insight into teams, players, managers, potential signings and more… 

Liverpool will face Brighton at the weekend as they look to maintain their eight-point lead at the top of the Premier League. One battle in particular could decide the final outcome.

On the chalkboard

It has been a wonderful start to the campaign for the Reds. In their first 13 games, they have picked up maximum points from 12 of them, with the other one being a draw. They have not always been at their best, but they have been relentless in their pursuit of glory. After a disappointing 1-1 draw with Napoli in midweek – they had 71% possession but couldn’t score more than once – they will be hoping to bounce back against the Seagulls.

[ad_pod ]

Brighton, meanwhile, have had a mixed term up until now. They have won four, drawn three and lost six, with them picking up varying results. They have beaten the likes of Tottenham and Everton, for example, but have also lost to the Southampton and Aston Villa. It will be interesting to see which team turns up on Saturday.

As such, this has the potential to be a fascinating game, and one duel in the middle of the park could have a telling impact.

Untitled

It wasn’t just the result that will have disappointed Jurgen Klopp on Wednesday in the Champions League. Fabinho, who has been one of the Anfield outfit’s best players so far this campaign – he was called the best defensive midfielder in the world in September by Gary Neville (Sky Sports via Metro) – was forced off after just 19 minutes after picking up an ankle injury, and is out until 2020.

Check out footballers’ biggest fashion disasters in the video below…

So far this campaign, the Brazil international has started 11 of 13 league games in that position. In the two matches he was not included in the starting XI, Georginio Wijnaldum and Adam Lallana played in that deep-lying midfield position instead. With Wijnaldum not having missed a game so far this campaign, and the Reds easily dispatching Arsenal with him in the team, there is every chance he could be starting there again against Graham Potter and Co.

It is important that he keeps up with the 28-year-old’s ability on the ball. Fabinho has averaged 60.4 passes so far this campaign, the most in the midfield and the sixth-most in the team. With 1.1 key passes per match too, he is also the most creative in the centre of the park. Wijnaldum, meanwhile, has averaged 42.4 and 0.2 respectively. Both of those would need to go up drastically.

Opposite him for Brighton, Davy Propper will be looking to take advantage of Liverpool’s misfortune. As part of a ball-playing team – only six sides have a higher average possession than their 53.4% – he is the key element in the midfield. With the fourth-most passes in the team, and the most in the middle, the Seagulls will be looking to get him into play as much as possible.

His 1.1 key passes are the third-most amongst his teammates, whilst only Steven Alzate has more than his two dribbles per match. Wijnaldum, who has averaged 1.2 tackles, 0.6 interceptions and had been dribbled past 0.5 times, will need to be at the top of his game to stop the Netherlands international from driving forward and finding danger men such as Leandro Trossard, Pascal Gross and Neal Maupay.

Should £45m-valued Wijnaldum – as per Transfermarkt – be able to do that, his job will then be to look forward creatively and pick out the likes of Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah. But with 2.6 tackles per match and 1.2 interceptions, Propper has the ability to thwart the 29-year-old. This really will be a contest that could shape the whole 90 minutes.

In other news, Paul Robinson says one Liverpool man is “struggling” at Anfield.

Loads of Sheffield United supporters reacted to a tweet from the club’s official Twitter account sharing a clip of John Fleck’s son demonstrating an unbelievable first touch. 

Due to the ongoing pandemic, many football clubs have resorted to keeping their fans entertained with an array of hilarious clips and iconic montages, and the Blades posted a video of the midfielder’s child practising his skills in the back garden.

After arriving at Bramall Lane from Coventry City on a free transfer in July 2016, Fleck has helped Chris Wilder’s side spring from the lower regions of League One all the way to the upper echelons of the Premier League, scoring 5 goals and providing 2 assists in 25 appearances in the English top fight this season. The 28-year-old has won 2 caps for the Scottish national team so far and he is currently valued at £5.85m via Transfermarkt.

Unsurprisingly, loads of SUFC fans replied to the club’s post, with many urging the board to “sign him up” and offer him a contract, with one fan pleading with Prince Abdullah bin Musa’ad to “sign him up.”

Take a look at the rest of the reactions down below…

Missing football!? There’s still plenty of Blades discussion going on in the Vital Blades Forum! Click here to get involved!