All posts by z3u9t.icu

West Ham’s controversial decision to offload Grady Diangana last summer is looking better and better as every week passes.

After a successful loan spell at promotion-winning West Brom during the 2019/20 campaign, many at the London Stadium expected the 23-year-old winger to contend for a place in David Moyes’ first team.

But the Iron’s ownership group, GSB, had other ideas as the temptation of £18m was far too much to refuse.

This decision was met with fury from fans as well as their skipper, Mark Noble.

Supporters were seen protesting following a defeat to Newcastle United earlier in the season whilst the veteran midfielder tweeted he was “gutted, angry and sad.”

Fast-forward to now and it seems as if David Sullivan and co played an absolute blinder, especially in getting so much for him.

Now valued at just €15m (£13m), Diangana has struggled to have much of an impact in the Premier League, where the Baggies are facing an instant return to the Championship.

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The 5 foot 11 dynamo has only played 16 times this term, scoring just once but it’s evident that he’s just not favoured by former Hammers boss Sam Allardyce as he’s played just 63 minutes of league action since the turn of the year, failing to contribute a goal or an assist since September, via Transfermarkt.

At this point, you could say West Ham were lucky to get as much as they did for him. In the second flight, he bagged eight goals and registered seven assists, with many plaudits coming his way.

Sky Sports’ EFL podcast ran an episode highlighting ‘future stars’ in the division, in which Diangana featured alongside the likes of Joe Rodon, who has gone onto feature in Spurs’ first-team, and Bryan Mbeumo of Brentford.

The 23-year-old was described as an “explosive” attacker and one that is a “total nightmare” to defend against but we’ve just not seen that lucrative form translate into the big time.

Diangana may well go onto thrive in the Championship again next season, with relegation at the Hawthorns all but confirmed, but the Irons will not rue his sale whatsoever.

He is yet to deliver and GSB have laughed their way to the bank.

AND in other news, Moyes must seal £18m West Ham swoop for 6 ft 4 “diamond” who’s silenced Ings & Cavani…

When Jordan Pickford pulls on the England jersey he becomes arguably one of the best goalkeepers in world football, as the undisputed number one, but the same can’t be said when he pulls on his Everton shirt week in, week out.

Pickford has steered England to a semi-final of a World Cup and the final of Euro 2020, with his most famous work being his world-class performance in the penalty shoot against Colombia in 2018.

With so many notable clean sheets and famous saves for his international side, it’s a wonder why he shows inconsistency in his Everton performances.

No goalkeeper in the Premier League has made more errors leading to goals since he joined Everton in 2017, with 11 errors to his name for Everton alone, and 15 including his time at Sunderland. For England, though, the ‘keeper has zero.

There are many reasons why Jordan Pickford could be picking up errors for his club side, including a lack of confidence in his defensive line ahead of him.

Everton are well known for their constant rearrangement of their centre back pairings with nine different options selected. Meanwhile, Seamus Coleman and Mason Holgate are the only defenders to have been with Pickford at Everton since he joined four seasons ago.

For the Three Lions, the 27-year-old is much more likely to feel comfortable in his role as a sweeper-keeper as he is surrounded by ball-playing defenders who command the ball with more confidence.

There is nothing but praise from voices in football when it comes to Pickford’s international performances, and the debate surrounding the keeper always comes back to his incredible form for England.

Ex-England international, Theo Walcott, praised the £22.5m rated keeper for his mentality, telling talkSPORT;

“It’s all about clean sheets in tournament football.

“I’ve been really pleased with Jordan and he had a lot of people on his back about being too involved in the game.

“When you’ve got a goalkeeper behind you like that, it helps.

“Jordan has always been a resilient young man and dealt with pressures and I’m sure now he’s grown his hair a little bit more he’s probably not hearing as much.”

If Rafa Benitez can develop and establish a much more consistent and reliable defensive style to emulate that of the England set-up, he could extract much more from Pickford as their Premier League campaign continues and consequently, save their dodgy run of form.

In other news: Benitez must unleash Richarlison against Man City

As per Football Insider, Tottenham Hotspur managing director Fabio Paratici has made an exciting transfer plea to club chiefs involving Juventus star Matthijs de Ligt.

The Lowdown: Conte eyes Serie A upgrades…

As widely reported, Conte may turn his attention to Serie A as he seeks to bolster his Tottenham options and transform his new side back into a force.

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It has been two-and-a-half years since Mauricio Pochettino guided the Lilywhites to a Champions League final against Liverpool, and the new manager is tasked with returning Spurs to those lofty heights.

According to Calciomercato, the Italian top flight could be a fruitful transfer pool for Conte and Tottenham, and one of the stars they’ve been tipped to target is Juventus defender De Ligt.

The Netherlands international is one of many players currently on Conte’s radar (Calciomercato.it), with Football Insider now bringing an exciting update involving Paratici.

The Latest: Paratici makes exciting plea…

As per their sources, Tottenham’s transfer chief has told fellow club officials that a ‘deal can be done’ to sign De Ligt from Juventus.

Indeed, the 22-year-old centre-back is ‘on the radar’ of Paratici as he aims to seriously strengthen Conte’s defensive options. As such, Spurs have now ‘set their sights’ on De Ligt ahead of the January transfer window.

The Verdict: Get it done…

Of Tottenham’s defensive targets, which includes Inter Milan mainstay Stefan de Vrij, it is clear that De Ligt stands out as the most ambitious signing of them all.

Spurs would need to smash their transfer record to sign the player going by his £63m valuation according to Transfermarkt, nearly £10m more than the fee they paid to sign Tanguy Ndombele (BBC).

It would signal a real statement of intent by Paratici and the north London club, as evident by the notion that De Ligt ‘can’t be stopped’, according to the player’s representative Mino Raiola.

Likened to an ‘oil tanker’ by his agent, the £200,000-per-week star averaged an impressive 92.5% passing accuracy out from the back over 25 Serie A starts last season – a higher rate than any Spurs player managed (WhoScored).

This sums up his class and composure at such a young age, but if Paratici really does believe that a deal can be done, he may need to pull out all the stops.

In other news: Tottenham tell rising star he is free to leave as they green light surprise exit from N17, find out more here.

Newcastle failed to build on any momentum a 1-0 win over Burnley gave them as they were hammered 4-0 by Leicester on Sunday.

The Magpies were torn to shreds by the Foxes in the second half as they conceded three goals from the 56th minute onwards, having gone 1-0 down in the first-half after Jamaal Lascelles was adjudged to have fouled James Maddison in the box.

Eddie Howe’s team are 19th in the Premier League table after 16 games and have only won one match all campaign, whilst they have also conceded the most goals (34) in the division.

Axe him

One player who struggled against Leicester was central defender Fabian Schar, who has had a difficult season at St. James’ Park.

He failed to make a single block, interception or tackle in the 90 minutes, whilst losing two of his three duels on the ground. The centre-back only completed 67% of his attempted passes and lost possession of the ball a whopping 24 times in total.

This came after he struggled badly in the win over Burnley. As per SofaScore, he lost 11 of his 13 duels and only completed 42% of his attempted passes. He also gave the ball away 20 times and made one block, whilst failing to make a tackle or interception.

Over the course of the season so far, he has lost the ball 110 times in seven Premier League appearances, whilst averaging just 1.7 tackles and interceptions per game. He has found a teammate with an abysmal 66% of his passes overall, showing that he has been dreadful with the ball at his feet this season with his failure to find the right colour shirt with his passing.

Magpies boss Eddie Howe recently admitted that he has been a fan of Schar from afar and claimed that he is a ‘fantastic’ player.

He said: “I have been an admirer of Fabian from afar for a long, long time. I think he’s a fantastic footballer.

“He has also shown his defensive resilience and mentality to not want to concede.”

This suggests that he believes there is a good player in there and axing him from the team for a few matches could benefit him. It could give him time to get back to 100% and be ready to come back into the XI and start showing why Howe thinks he is a ‘fantastic’ defender.

In the 2018/19 campaign, Schar averaged a SofaScore rating of 7.14 and made 5.3 tackles and interceptions per game at centre-back for the Magpies. This level of form may be what Howe is referring to with his comments, but his form this season is a far cry from this and that is why he should be brutally axed from the team, for now.

AND in other news, Forget Joelinton: NUFC must seal record-breaking swoop for “world-class” £42.7m beast…

In the end, it turned out to be yet another miserable trip to the capital for Leeds United on Monday night.

Marcelo Bielsa’s side extended their wretched run of results in London with a dismal 2-0 defeat to West Ham in the Premier League, with the Whites now having lost 13 of their last 14 visits to the city.

Goals from Jesse Lingard and Craig Dawson were enough to consign them to a defeat, and while there were a number of poor performers on the night, Mateusz Klich’s shocker really stood out among the rest.

The Poland international’s form in recent weeks surely warranted him being dropped from the starting line-up against the Hammers, but once again, Bielsa chose to place his loyalty and faith in his midfielder.

And boy, was he made to regret that. Klich looked well off the pace in the opening 45 minutes of the contest, winning just one of his seven duels in total, losing 86% – the worst percentage of any Leeds player on the pitch.

There was none of the energy and dynamism on display that we see when Klich is at his absolute best, with the 30-year-old looking a shadow of his former self.

He made just the one tackle and recorded no interceptions, blocks or clearances whatsoever, while he wasn’t even a presence going forward either, with no shots on goal and no dribbles attempted.

The Leeds boss seemed to finally lose patience with him, and ended up hooking him at half-time, with Gjanni Alioski coming on in his place at the break.

And, writing in his post-match player ratings for Leeds Live, Beren Cross noted: “Has looked like a passenger for weeks and again was well off it in the capital. Just seemed totally empty and unable to provide any kind of control or presence in the centre. Overrun by Tomas Soucek and Declan Rice.”

If he needed to be dropped before the game, then there simply cannot be any excuses for Bielsa from not reaching that conclusion after watching Klich’s performance on Monday night against the Hammers.

Liverpool goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher is set to return to training next week, having missed a significant chunk of action through injury.

The 22-year-old has enjoyed a breakthrough season at Anfield, making five starts for the Reds and filling in admirably for Alisson when the Brazilian has been unavailable.

Kelleher has looked so assured when given the chance to shine that he has actually ousted Adrian as Liverpool’s second-choice ‘keeper, starting the Champions League clash away to Ajax and keeping a clean sheet.

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Unfortunately, the Republic of Ireland youngster’s season has been disrupted by a stomach muscle issue, meaning he hasn’t featured in a matchday squad for the Reds since the 2-0 win against RB Leipzig in the middle of February.

Kelleher’s return appears to be close, however, with This Is Anfield reporting that he is set to be back in training this weekend, hopefully allowing him to be available for the Republic of Ireland’s World Cup qualifying games against Serbia and Luxembourg later this month.

Liverpool fans delight in Kelleher’s return

Here are some of the best Twitter reactions to the news.

“Best Young keeper ITL is back”

Credit: @KeitaBallonDor

“Yesssss”

Credit: @lfcfamz

“It’s been long enough!”

Credit: @RleEllis

“The Irish number 1>the English number 1”

Credit: @joe_lfc6

“Wow”

Credit: @leonfairhurstt

“Number 7 incoming, we feast, siiuuuuu”

Credit: @DFierste

In other news, some Liverpool fans are worried about two key Reds players at the moment. Read about it here.

Tottenham Hotspur, and by extension their transfer chief Fabio Paratici, have sent a club official to Roma as news emerges on transfer target Nicolo Zaniolo.

The Lowdown: Conte loves him…

Spurs head coach Antonio Conte, according to reports, is a big fan of the playmaker and really wants to see him make a move to the Premier League.

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Indeed, a report by Italian newspaper Corriere dello Sport (via Sport Witness) shared news that the 52-year-old ‘really likes’ Zaniolo and would ‘really like him’ as a part of his Tottenham team.

Links to the 22-year-old have been fairly consistent, going as far back as the Mauricio Pochettino era, with yet another report now surfacing this week.

The Latest: Tottenham official travelling…

La Gazzetta dello Sport, as shared by Sport Witness, claim that a Lilywhites official has been sent to run the rule over Spurs’ long-time target tonight as Roma take on Leicester City in the Europa Conference League.

The Tottenham scout will be watching over his performance as Paratici continue to keep close tabs on Zaniolo.

The Verdict: Make a move?

Calciomercato.it recently reported that Roma value their Italy international at around €70 million (£58m), a heavy price, with Juventus, AC Milan, Sevilla and Atletico Madrid also courting the attacker.

His recovery from a shattering ACL injury, which caused him to miss the whole of 2020/2021, has been quite remarkable as he now begins to find form again.

Ex-Liverpool and Juventus midfielder Moussa Sissoko, recently calling Zaniolo an ‘excellent’ player, is certainly an admirer, with the starlet even earning comparisons to Steven Gerrard in past seasons.

As Paratici sends a club official to keep watch, it will be interesting to see how he fares in the Spurs audition.

In other news: Source: Tottenham edge closer to ‘top signing’, he really wants to join Conte! Find out more here.

When Danny Rose left Leeds United behind in 2007, the scene at Elland Road was vastly different.

Having been relegated to League One, the club entered administration and as a result, Rose was sold to Tottenham in a bid to raise vital funds.

The Yorkshire outfit received a fee of just £1m for his services and with his exit, they lost one of their most promising young players.

Rose had grown up in the Leeds academy and for the Doncaster-born defender, it was a brave career decision to move south to London. Yet, you can’t say his career hasn’t been a fruitful one.

The 30-year-old has won 29 England caps and been to multiple international tournaments and he entered the spotlight when he thumped in a remarkable volley from long range against Arsenal.

However, despite his ability to ripple the net from distance, he had one special quality – speed.

In an article by Goal in 2010, their scout report concluded: “Capable of playing on either flank, Rose is predominantly left-footed and, like fellow Leeds academy graduate Aaron Lennon, has pace to burn.”

But why is this relevant in the present day? Well, Leeds are hoping to sign a left-back who possesses similar qualities at a young age.

That happens to be Liverpool’s Yasser Larouci. According to Football Insider, the door has been opened for Leeds to sign him this month and if they did, they’d find themselves their new Rose.

Like the Tottenham defender, he’s capable of playing on either flank and crucially, he has plenty of pace. In an assessment from Liverpool journalist James Pearce, he typified the 20-year-old perfectly:

“Larouci has made big strides forward. He’s an interesting one in itself because he’s a player who came in as an attacker, as a real pacey, strong winger with an eye for goal,” he commented.

Coincidentally, Rose started his career as a left midfielder before migrating slightly further back, just as Larouci has.

Rose didn’t manage a competitive league outing for the Whites but it’s hard to suggest they’ve had a quick defender in that position for a while. Gjanni Alioski and Barry Douglas hardly epitomise pace so it would be refreshing for Leeds to find an energetic youngster capable of playing in that position.

If Rose had stayed, he could have been their man for a number of years. As it happens, they are now ready to welcome through a new generation.

Larouci has just two senior Liverpool appearances to his name so could do with more experience but the early signs are certainly promising for the Algerian.

This would be a canny investment from Victor Orta, one that could finally make up for the loss of one of their most talented academy players all those years ago.

AND in other news, Better than Struijk: Orta must seal Leeds swoop for “dominant” £5.4m-rated colossus…

A number of Liverpool fans have been left unhappy after the Reds were linked with a summer move for Leeds United striker Patrick Bamford.

The outgoing Premier League champions have suffered a frustrating season in front of goal, with wasteful finishing costing them in a number of matches. The likes of Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino have been particularly guilty in that respect, although the former did score in Saturday’s 2-0 win at home to Southampton.

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It seems likely that Jurgen Klopp will delve into the transfer market this summer in order to find another attacking player to boost his options in the final third.

According to The Athletic‘s David Ornstein, Liverpool are admirers of Bamford, suggesting that a potential summer transfer bid could be on the cards. The 27-year-old has shone for Leeds this season, scoring 15 goals in the Premier League and pushing to feature for England at Euro 2020.

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Liverpool fans unhappy with Bamford rumour

Despite this, many Liverpool fans don’t want to see Bamford in a Reds shirt next season, claiming that he isn’t good enough.

Some feel that the rumour is a substantial disimprovement from the likes of Kylian Mbappe, while the Leeds striker had previously struggled at Premier League level prior to this season. One Kopite took aim at owners FSG, who are already in the doghouse following the European Super League fiasco.

“From Haaland/Mbappe to Bamford. Wow FSG are pathetic”

Credit: @kingkaz_7

“Is this a joke?”

Credit: @Robertf81884158

“He is so slow”

Credit: @YungKenReds

“No thanks we’re just looking for cheaper alternatives now”

Credit: @jayfoulkes78

“No thank you. Would be a proper Hodgson era signing”

Credit: @IWWROCKS

“Oh God no”

Credit: @brendanjudge

In other news, James Pearce has provided a key update on the future of one Liverpool attacker. Find out who it is here.

Tottenham Hotspur are among the teams keeping tabs on prolific goalscorer Cyle Larin ahead of the summer transfer window.

That’s according to 90min, who claim the Besiktas forward is attracting interest from across Europe as he will soon enter the final 12 months of his current contract.

It appears that the Lilywhites are on the lookout for another striking addition ahead of next season, with doubts over Harry Kane’s future and the on-loan Carlos Vinicius set to return to Benfica.

Larin could be a bargain replacement for the Brazilian, and his versatile ability to play through the middle and out wide, makes him even more appealing heading into what will be a difficult window to negotiate.

The 33-time Canada international has bagged a whopping 23 goals this season, helping steer the Turkish Super Lig outfit to another title, and that has taken his total tally to 84 goals in 191 career appearances, as per Transfermarkt.

His performances in the MLS for Orlando City caught the keen eye of Brazil legend Kaka.

“I think Cyle can go far,” Kaka said at an MLS media day, via Goal.com. “Cyle is a very good player and the third season for us will be great, but I think Cyle can play in a big team in Europe as well.”

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And it’s not the first time that someone has waxed lyrical about the 26-year-old’s sensational attacking ability.

Back in March, Canadian national team coach John Herdman lauded Larin after a hat-trick against Bermuda, he told reporters (via Sporx): “Cyle Larin is a predator. He has this ability, that’s why we recruited him.”

If Spurs want to keep hold of Vinicius, who has enjoyed respectable returns playing a bit-part role behind Kane with ten goals, they will have to fork out an eye-watering £40m which is an extortionate amount for a backup.

But at least with Larin, you’ve got the option to play him out wide, so he should see more game time on the pitch than the Benfica man. The 6 foot 2 beast is also only valued at £8.1m, so you’d imagine that Levy could drive up a bargain with the player in the final year of his contract.

AND in other news, Spurs can solve major issue with 6 ft 3 “complete player”, he won’t cost Levy a penny…