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Tottenham Hotspur could yet move for a centre-back on deadline day…

What’s the word?

The north London outfit are closing in on the double swoop for Juventus duo Rodrigo Bentancur and Dejan Kulusevski but it appears they may not be done just yet with hours left to go in the window.

That’s according to reliable Daily Express journalist Ryan Taylor, who delivered an exciting claim to GIVEMESPORT today. He said:

“At centre-back, I believe – effectively – we could see a rabbit out of the hat. But that could hinge on outgoings.”

Much-needed addition

Spurs manager Antonio Conte is adding some solid depth to his Spurs squad in the aforementioned signings  – the Uruguay international adds a better option in the engine room with club-record flop Tanguy Ndombele on his way out, whilst the Swede offers a hugely versatile presence in the attack.

However, that isn’t enough if he’s to truly get the north London outfit back in the top four. The Italian head coach has already worked his magic, losing only one league game since his arrival in November, so just imagine what he could do with a couple more additions.

It’s thought that he requested signings in three priority positions, whilst there has always been suggestions of a desire to bolster his backline, where the likes of Davinson Sanchez and Japhet Tanganga have struggled to look the part in recent months.

Spurs have been linked to a number of options in the role, including Conte’s ex-Inter beast Stefan de Vrij, Milan’s arch-rival captain Alessio Romagnoli and sensationally, Juventus star Matthijs de Ligt, who sporting director Fabio Paratici has signed before.

[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!”]

All three would be outstanding additions to Spurs’ squad but time is running out if they are to secure any one of them, if not any other central defender.

If the Lilywhites can land Conte a new colossus late on in the January transfer window, then both he and the fanbase will surely be absolutely buzzing.

AND in other news, Spurs eye club-record swoop BEFORE deadline, it’s Conte’s dream signing…

Crystal Palace will be without midfielder James McArthur for a further six weeks, according to The Athletic’s Matt Woosnam.

Scans revealed that the 34-year-old had suffered a torn hamstring in the victory over Wolves at the beginning of this month, and having sat out the 3-3 draw with Burnley last weekend, he could now miss Palace’s next nine Premier League matches.

If the timeline is accurate, he could be in line to return for the Eagles’ trip to their arch-rivals Brighton on 14 January.

How big a blow is McArthur’s absence?

Prior to the injury, McArthur had started every Premier League game under new Eagles boss Patrick Vieira.

If you go by WhoScored’s rankings, he’d been Palace’s third-best player behind Conor Gallagher and Christian Benteke. The Scotsman was averaging 2.4 accurate long balls (fourth in the club’s ranks), 2.3 tackles (third) and 1.2 interceptions (fourth) per 90 minutes, highlighting his importance to the team and how big a loss he will be during a busy period of the season.

Woosnam revealed the news on his personal Twitter profile, and here’s what these Palace supporters had to say, with one describing it as a “devastating” blow to the team.

Crystal Palace lament McArthur injury

“Jimmy Mac will be a huge miss as we don’t have another player with his engine that can cover so much ground”

Credit: @cpfc_jw19

“6 weeks! Oh dear we are really going to miss him”

Credit: @StephenRodin1

“We better start scoring even more then. Cos we’ll be shipping em in now!”

Credit: @ic_lewis

“Devastating news, he has been our rock”

Credit: @rickyj555

“Absolutely gutted, why is it always us”

Credit: @joe_cpfc_01

“Didn’t need this on a Tuesday morning”

Credit: @CPFCMax9

In other news, a journalist weighs in on Palace’s links with this Premier League forward.

Michael Salisbury will be the man in the middle when Crystal Palace host Aston Villa on Saturday afternoon, and a number of Palace fans have been reacting to the news on social media.

Salisbury is yet to take charge of a top-flight fixture, so the clash at Selhurst Park will be his first, with the former teacher only starting to officiate in the EFL during the 2016/17 season.

He has shown 30 cards in just eight games in all competitions during the current campaign, five of which have been red cards.

Palace will put their unbeaten home record under Patrick Vieira on the line against Steven Gerrard’s side, with the Eagles recently having issues with a relatively new Premier League referee this season in Darren England.

He took charge of Palace’s 1-1 draw with Newcastle last month and ruled out Christian Bentke’s late header following a foul in the build-up.

Palace fans react

Reliable Villa reporter Ashley Preece shared the news regarding Salisbury’s appointment on Twitter on Wednesday morning.

Here is what these Palace fans had to say in reply to the update, with one labelling it as ‘awful news’ and a few comparing it to when England was in charge against Newcastle.

“Oh man I can’t wait for a repeat of the Newcastle fiasco. They love using mid table clubs as guinea pigs”

Credit: @Phillyconcarne

“Given we have previous with Villa, this is a terrible appointment.”

Credit: @MarcWilliams22

“Awful news, the making his debut for our game against Newcastle was shocking. Not even biased, just a poor referee”

Credit: @GeorgeHilder1

“This is gonna be so bad… another don that doesn’t know what he’s doing officiating our game”

Credit: @AlfieVincent13

“Oh joy! Hope he’s better than the last rookie to rock up at Selhurst. Surely he can’t be worse than that Darren England fella against Newcastle! ”

Credit: @red_blue_review

“We all know that one teacher who can’t handle his class so goes around handing out detentions”

Credit: @Dave_Winbod

In other news: Palace in talks with £9m worth of talent after Vieira gives the ‘green light’

An update has emerged on Glasgow giants Rangers’ interest in bringing John Souttar to Ibrox next month…

What’s the talk?

According to the Daily Record, Giovanni van Bronckhorst has taken over from where Steven Gerrard left off and may yet make a move for the defender in January.

However, the report does claim that English Championship side Blackburn Rovers have opened pre-contract talks with the 25-year-old, whose deal is up at the end of the season.

Ibrox could be rocking

Van Bronckhorst must ensure that Rangers can get a deal over the line for Souttar in January, as he could get Ibrox rocking by bringing him to the Scottish champions.

He is a proven Premiership performer who also has time on his side and he could be a phenomenal addition to the Gers’ squad. Supporters would surely love to see him playing for the Light Blues in the second half of the campaign and for many more seasons to come, and the announcement of his name on his debut could get fans excited if he does arrive at Ibrox to bolster the squad.

This season, he has averaged a sublime SofaScore rating of 7.43 for Hearts across 18 starts. He has made 4.4 clearances per game and won a whopping 71% of his duels overall, showing that he has been consistently brilliant in his defending.

Former Hearts boss Craig Levein previously lauded the Scot, saying: “I’ve known him since he was 12 years old and he’s just got better and better. When he came here from Dundee Utd, we just needed to give him time. He’s grown into the player that I hoped he would be and for me he’s the best centre back in Scotland.

“Just for the fact that he can do wonderful things. His passing of the ball Saturday was fantastic, but he is also now capable physically of competing with any centre forward. His pace is very, very good and he’s strong, focused and aggressive.”

Along with his statistics from 2021/22, this shows why Souttar could be a fantastic player for Rangers, whilst he still has room to grow and improve at the age of 25. He could be the club’s first-choice centre-back for years to come and signing him in January could be a masterclass by Van Bronckhorst.

However, it will take some effort now to avoid losing out to Blackburn in the transfer race as they have already entered talks, which means that Ross Wilson and the Dutchman must get to work immediately to give themselves a chance of landing the Hearts defender.

AND in other news, GvB can finally axe the new “Alex Rae” from Rangers by signing £4m “conductor” in Jan…

David Moyes must seal a deal with Manchester United to retain Jesse Lingard after West Ham made the former England international a transfer priority for the summer window.

What’s the word?

According to Claret & Hugh, the Irons boss has decided to make Lingard and the addition of at least one striker his top concerns, as he begins putting plans in place for the off-season.

West Ham will be expected to hit the market looking to turn Lingard’s loan permanent after the Red Devils refused to sanction a £15m clause being inserted in his temporary move.

Manchester United are said to value the attacking midfield at upwards of £20m, despite the fact that he’ll only have one year remaining on his £100,000-per-week contract come the end of June.

Moyes stated last week that he hopes to strike a deal with his former club to retain Lingard after his super start at the London Stadium, penning four goals and two assists in six games.

“We’ve got international players and I’m hoping we can add to that in the coming transfer window,” Moyes said, via quotes by the Daily Mail.

“The job is to try to add to that. But I would hope Jesse sees this as a good place if it’s possible to be done, and if we think that we want to do it at the end of the season.”

Claret and Hugh add that Lingard would likely demand a three-year contract to join West Ham permanently in the summer and that the Irons will ‘move heaven and earth’ despite knowing there will be no long-term re-sale value in the 28-year-old.

Should West Ham sign Lingard?

Lingard has been one of the top performers at West Ham in almost every game he has been involved in since joining the east London outfit in January, and his importance to the show is evident most in that no player has contributed to more goals than he in the same period.

His significant outings in claret and blue have also led to one WhoScored man of the match award, coming against Aston Villa on debut, plus the highest average match rating (7.41/10) among the full Hammers squad for their full-season efforts.

It was no surprise that West Ham produced a languid offence against Manchester United last Sunday while without Lingard due to the forward being ineligible to face his parent club, with Moyes left underwhelmed by the sloppy nature of his side’s attacks.

“It was really poor,” he said, via quotes by football.london. “When we broke in the first half, I thought our play was really, really poor when we were breaking in the first half and that led to our poor… and that led to not having sustained attacks and we could not keep it [the ball] so our play on the break was really poor.”

Lingard would likely have helped to connect the midfield and offence at Old Trafford and contribute to a more impressive attacking display, having averaged the most shots per game from a West Ham player in the Premier League this season with 3.2, per WhoScored.

He also ranks second only to Aaron Cresswell (1.5) for key passes per game (1.2) but unlike the 31-year-old full-back (0.8), only 0.2 of Lingard’s come from set-pieces. The Manchester United loanee further records significantly more total passes per game than his fellow Irons forwards.

Lingard, who Noel Whelan claims is “really shining”, has, on average, made 35.2 total passes a game, more than Pablo Fornals (27.4), Manuel Lanzini (17.9), Jarrod Bowen (17.4), Said Benrahma (16.8) and Michail Antonio (15.9).

West Ham taking that level of output away at the end of the season will surely leave Moyes scratching his head looking for alternative targets who can offer anywhere near the same.

AND in other news, West Ham face a £51.5m asking price to sign a dynamic star who grew up learning from Frank Lampard…

Many fans of West Ham United have been reacting to a post on Twitter in which Hammers centre-forward Michail Antonio reflected on the Irons’ recent draw with Arsenal.

Following the 3-3 draw with Mikel Arteta’s Gunners – a game in which Antonio registered two assists, but also missed two big chances for David Moyes’ side – the 30-year-old took to Twitter, claiming that the result against the Gunners was “hard to take” for him and his team, before suggesting that he will use the international break to work towards “putting it right” with a win in the Hammers’ next Premier League fixture.

In reaction to his comments, numerous fans of West Ham flocked to have their say on the comments, with many offering messages of support for the £70,000-per-week striker. However, some took the opportunity to criticise Antonio for the chances he missed in the game, as well as for his dip in form in recent weeks, with just two goals across his last nine league appearances. One supporter even accused the striker of “sulking”.

So, what exactly did these West Ham United fans have to say in reaction to Michail Anotnio’s post-match comments?

“How about getting your finger out? Your game has dropped recently.”

@td67coyi

“Feels like a loss almost but least we didn’t lose. That could be a vital point for us during the run-in, so keep the faith man and you did a lot of good things yesterday.”

@RockyWhu

“Just make sure you don’t miss another tap in. Love you.”

@conor56747940

“A bootlace away from the winner. Still, a point gained in this unexpected season. Enjoy the rest and come back hungry for more.”

@greg10217

“The goals stopped coming when you said you were going to score 4 against Liverpool. Jinxed it.”

@PessimisticHam1

“Sulking when your teammate scores? Bad mentality.”

@JHHWHUFC

“Well played but the chance you missed gave me a heart attack.”

@JessseLingaard

“Unlucky mate, recharge your batteries – one big push.”

@Mexico20000

In other news: these West Ham fans slammed this club figure with “no ambition” after footage surfaced – find out more here!

This forms part of our Loan Watch series, where The Transfer Tavern analyse how one club’s player is doing on loan based on a recent performance.

The Lowdown: January loan

Ellis Simms was sent out on loan to Hearts by Everton in the January transfer window and has since scored six goals in 16 games across all competitions for the Scottish Premiership outfit (Transfermarkt).

[web_stories_embed url=”https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/web-stories/everton-news-4/” title=”Everton news!” poster=”” width=”360″ height=”600″ align=”none”]

It has been reported that Farhad Moshiri is now plotting a ‘major’ overhaul of the squad in the summer, including potentially selling both Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Richarlison, so the majority owner at Goodison Park will now have to decide what to do with Simms once he comes back from his loan spell in Edinburgh.

The Latest: Simms scores

After coming off of the bench in the 72nd minute, Simms ended up scoring the winner for Hearts just 11 minutes later as they beat Dundee United 3-2 on Sunday afternoon in their first game after the late-season Premiership split.

The striker, who also achieved a 100% pass success rate in his short cameo, made an instant impact, and looks to be blossoming into a fine player at just 21 years of age.

The Verdict: Keep him!

If Calvert-Lewin and Richarlison are sold, and Everton find themselves relegated from the Premier League, Frank Lampard’s team must be looking to keep Simms in the senior squad for next season.

The youngster made his plenty of goals already at youth level, so he has already shown his credentials to play more regularly for the club.

Nonetheless, his performances and goals for Hearts are surely giving Moshiri a headache as he weighs up whether to sell Calvert-Lewin and Richarlison, which in turn would then potentially open up a pathway for Simms.

In other news, find out which Toffees duo were deemed ’embarrassing’ against Liverpool

Steve Bruce will be without Paul Dummett, Ciaran Clark and Federico Fernandez when Newcastle United host Leeds United on Tuesday night.

The Toon are searching for a first win since beating West Bromwich Albion 2-1 at St. James’ Park last month, after losing eight of their last 10 fixtures to be eliminated from the Carabao Cup, FA Cup and be dragged back into the Premier League relegation fight.

Pressure is mounting on Bruce with every game that the Toon’s winless run continues, and that has sparked rumours in The Sun that former AFC Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe is being lined up to replace the under-fire 60-year-old.

So, as Bruce seeks to stop the rot with a side that he admits is low on confidence, here’s a potential line-up the Magpies could field against Marcelo Bielsa’s Whites on Tuesday night…

Goalkeeper Karl Darlow was once again one of the few player who could keep their head held high after Saturday’s sorry 2-0 defeat to Aston Villa, and he faces yet another challenging fixture against Leeds with Bruce’s defensive miseries deepening.

Dummett, Clark and Fernandez were all absent from Saturday’s defeat to Dean Smith’s side and they will still be unavailable against Leeds, per Chronicle Live, while DeAndre Yedlin also continues to be missing due to issues with the right-back’s visa.

Bruce will now have to mull over sticking with the same five-man backline that faced Villa in Jamal Lewis, Fabian Schar, Jamaal Lascelles, Isaac Hayden and Javier Manquillo. Though the Toon boss may be expected to bench Schar, after the Swiss centre-half made a host of errors at Villa Park beyond his sliced clearance that led to Ollie Watkins opening the scoring.

Jonjo Shelvey will be expected to face Bruce’s axe after lacking purpose in the engine room against Villa, with a lethargic and disinterested display indicative of how Newcastle performed as a team in their 10th defeat in 19 Premier League games.

Jeff Hendrick also proved to be a complete dud once again with an anonymous showing, having brought effectively nothing to the side, and he must be dropped to afford the Longstaff brothers, Sean and Matty, a recall after being overlooked in recent weeks.

Bruce may decide to hand Allan Saint-Maximin a first start since November against Leeds after the Frenchman – who has vowed to “give everything” to help spark a turnaround – made his return from a lengthy spell out at Villa Park.

But Newcastle will likely favour being cautious with the 23-year-old to avoid Saint-Maximin burning out like Fernandez, and instead start £42,000-per-week winger Ryan Fraser after he momentarily showed glimpses of posing a threat against the Villans following his introduction from the bench.

Dwight Gayle also entered the action as a late substitute against Villa but will likely continue to wait for his first start of the season in any competition, with Bruce currently favouring a two-man frontline of Callum Wilson and Andy Carroll.

AND in other news, Steve Bruce must axe an £8m-rated total dud holding Newcastle back…

VfL Bochum, who are said to be interested in signing Ianis Hagi from Glasgow Rangers this summer, secured promotion to the Bundesliga on Sunday.

The Lowdown: Bochum want Hagi

The Romania international has been heavily linked with a move away from the Gers over the past few weeks, with Sevilla and Lazio in particular mentioned as potential suitors (via The Glasgow Times).

Sport recently reported that German outfit Bochum were also eager to sign the £5.4m-valued 22-year-old.

The Latest: Bochum secure promotion

Bochum have long since been on the verge of a return to the German top flight and they secured a spot in next season’s Bundesliga thanks to a 3-1 win over Sandhausen on Sunday.

As such, they may have become a more attractive destination for Hagi this summer.

The Verdict: Better chance of playing

Since making the move to Ibrox in January 2020, initially on loan before joining permanently just under a year ago, Hagi has done relatively well under Steven Gerrard. In 58 matches in all competitions, he has 11 goals and 17 assists despite not always being a guaranteed starter (Transfermarkt).

However, there have been rumours with regards to his potential departure, and there could well be more transfer interest in him over the next few months.

While Sevilla and Lazio are both attractive propositions and will be playing European football next term, Hagi will have to complete with plenty of top players at those clubs to feature on a regular basis. At Bochum, however, he could have the chance to become a star player and be the man to whom his teammates look for inspiration. It is certainly not a move to be ruled out.

In other news, some Rangers fans demand this politician’s resignation.

Manchester City will be looking to continue their exceptional winning run when they take on high-flying West Ham in the Premier League in Saturday’s early kick-off.

Pep Guardiola’s side have now won 19 games in a row in all competitions and are comfortable at the top of the Premier League, but will have to be at their best if they want to take three points against David Moyes’ side, who sit fourth after their own strong run of form.

Guardiola made several changes to his side for the trip to Budapest to face Borussia Monchengladbach in midweek and more rotation seems likely, especially with another home game against Wolves to come on Tuesday.

Here’s how Football FanCast expects the Spanish manager to line his side up against the Hammers, with three changes from the starting team that secured a 2-0 win in the Champions League on Wednesday…

Ederson looks set to win the golden glove this season should City’s impressive defensive record continue, so he is likely to continue in goal.

There’s one change in defence, as John Stones comes back in Aymeric Laporte, having been rested against Monchengladbach in midweek, whilst Joao Cancelo and Kyle Walker continue at full-back having excelled there against Marco Rose’s side.

Rodri and Ilkay Gundogan are likely to start in midfield, but they will support Kevin De Bruyne, with the Belgian left on the bench against Monchengladbach as he has only just returned from injury.

He comes in for Bernardo Silva, with Riyad Mahrez starting on the right-wing ahead of the Portuguese international.

Finally, Raheem Sterling moves up front ahead of Gabriel Jesus, who is dropped to the bench despite scoring in midweek, as Guardiola suggested that his side should have scored more in Hungary, with the Brazilian perhaps the guilty party after failing to shoot when through on goal.

AND, in other news… Txiki should hand new deal to £150k-p/w City beast; even if he rarely plays