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Leicester City have been linked with a move for Lazio midfielder Luis Alberto as manager Brendan Rodgers looks to add further reinforcements to his first-team squad.

What’s the story?

According to Spanish outlet Fichajes (as relayed by the Leicester Mercury), the Foxes are interested in securing the highly-rated 29-year-old’s services as they plan for life without James Maddison and Youri Tielemans.

The report states that Alberto would arrive at the King Power Stadium as a replacement for either Maddison or Tielemans should one of Leicester’s prized assets depart next summer, allowing the Midlands outfit to continue their recent progress.

With four years remaining on his current contract at the Stadio Olimpico, though, the Spaniard would command a sizeable transfer fee, meaning director of football Jon Rudkin would have to use all of his negotiating skills to agree a satisfactory deal.

Leicester City fans will be buzzing

Alberto rose through the ranks at boyhood club Sevilla before spending a season on loan with Barcelona B and then moving to Liverpool in 2013.

His arrival on Merseyside was warmly welcomed by current Leicester boss Rodgers, who was in charge of the Anfield outfit at the time, and the now 48-year-old likened him to Brazilian playmaker Philippe Coutinho.

“He’s another Coutinho-type,” Rodgers told talkSPORT (as relayed by Goal). “We brought in young Philippe Coutinho in January when he was 20, but he had good experience and, more importantly, fit the profile of what we’re trying to do here and what we’re trying to build.

“Young Luis is exactly the same – a talented, very highly rated young player when he was at Sevilla but obviously spent last season at Barcelona B.”

The two players had extremely contrasting spells during their time at Liverpool, however. While Coutinho went on to establish himself as one of the Premier League’s star performers, Alberto made just 12 appearances for the Reds, failing to score a single goal.

Loan spells at Malaga and Deportivo de la Coruna saw mixed success, earning a move to Lazio in August 2016.

Since arriving in Italian football, Alberto has showcased the potential that convinced Rodgers to sign him in the first place, bagging 36 goals and providing a further 51 assists in 182 appearances for the capital club, winning the Italian Cup along the way.

Whether Rudkin makes a formal offer for the £40.5m-rated forward remains to be seen, but the Leicester supporters will surely be buzzing at the latest revelation as Alberto’s return to English shores would be a significant coup for the Midlands outfit.

And, in other news…Bought for £30m, now worth £16.2m: Rudkin has endured transfer nightmare over LCFC dud 

Sheffield United are closing in on a deal to bring Robin Olsen to Bramall Lane.

What’s the talk?

That’s according to a claim made by Fabrizio Romano, with the journalist revealing on Twitter that Slavisa Jokanovic’s side are nearing a deal for the AS Roma goalkeeper, who is expected to join the Championship side on a season-long loan as Aaron Ramsdale’s replacement.

In his tweet, Romano said: “Robin Olsen is close to [joining] Sheffield United from AS Roma, here-we-go soon. He’s expected to be Ramsdale’s replacement, deal agreed on [a] one-season loan.”

Fans will be buzzing

While the loss of Ramsdale will have come as a major blow to everyone involved with Sheffield United, if Jokanovic manages to secure the signing of Olsen prior to Tuesday evening’s transfer deadline, it would undoubtedly soften the hit of losing the English stopper.

Indeed, the 31-year-old Swede impressed over his seven Premier League appearances while on loan at Everton last season, with the £2.7m-rated ‘keeper keeping two clean sheets, conceding an average of just 1.3 goals and making three saves per game.

These metrics saw the man who Alexander Isak dubbed an “incredible” player earn an average SofaScore match rating of 6.87, ranking him as the Toffees’ 12th-best player in the top flight of English football.

As such, considering that Olsen’s level of performance would more than likely improve upon dropping down a division – on paper, at least – the signing of the Sweden international would be quite a coup for the Blades.

Furthermore, with Jokanovic desperately requiring a boost to kickstart Sheffield United’s Championship campaign – as the 53-year-old has seen his side pick up just two points over their opening five league fixtures of the season, leaving them languishing in 23rd place in the table – the last-minute signing of a player who boasts the quality and experience of Olsen could well prove to be the spark the Blades manager has been craving.

In other news: Witcoop drops SUFC transfer claim on “exciting” £2.6k-p/w ace, fans will be buzzing

Tottenham Hotspur are blessed with a very promising academy set-up.Oliver Skipp and Japhet Tanganga are the latest names to breakthrough into the first team, joining the two Harry’s – Winks and Kane – as recent success stories at the Hotspur Way base.One of the key criteria that chairman Daniel Levy was reportedly looking for in his next manager post-Jose Mourinho was centred around the development of the club’s emerging youth talents, and so far, Nuno Santo has ticked those boxes.But who could be next in line, in the near future?The Portuguese boss is pretty stacked in the wide department but you can forget about Jack Clarke and Ryan Sessegnon for the time being, neither are products of the Spurs system.Instead, it may well be J’Neil Bennett who emerges as the Lilywhites’ next Andros Townsend.The 19-year-old gem has been sent to League One outfit Crewe Alexandra on loan and has already made an instant impact, scoring an absolute scorcher.

Bennett made his senior bow earlier in the season, coming off the bench for a nine-minute cameo in Spurs’ first leg of their UEFA Europa Conference League qualifying clash with Pacos de Ferreira.

But he’s a player that has been touted to have a big future in north London, having been a constant source of goals in the youth set-up. Across all levels, he has bagged 22 goals and 13 assists, as per Transfermarkt.

Speaking about his deadline day loan move, football.london reporter Alasdair Gold waxed lyrical about the young winger. “Great move for J’Neil Bennett until January. The 19-year-old has got plenty of talent,” he tweeted. “Really looking forward to seeing what he can do with first team football.”

The ever-reliable journalist has also dubbed Bennett as a “livewire” in the past, as if his record in front of goal wasn’t enough to be excited about.

If this loan spell away from N17 proves to be a success, then we could well see the promising teenager accelerated into the senior side this time next year.

Spurs surely have a future star on their hands in Bennett.

AND in other news, Forget Dier: Spurs could find Romero’s dream partner in swoop for £45m-rated “monster”…

Former Premier League star Steve Howey insists that Daniel Levy will not allow Harry Kane to leave Tottenham Hotspur for anything less than £140m and claims that the striker has no power in the situation.

Kane has yet to report for pre-season training at Spurs, despite being scheduled to arrive on Monday.

It appears that he is attempting to force through a move to Manchester City, with the Premier League champions interested in signing the England captain.

Kane has reportedly asked to leave the club and City are attempting to take advantage, with the club potentially set to sign both the Spurs star and Jack Grealish, with the Aston Villa star closing in on a £100m move to the Etihad Stadium.

Howey, though, insists that Spurs supremo Levy will not bend to Kane’s will and insists that he will ensure the forward stays if City fail to meet his asking price.

Speaking exclusively to The Transfer Tavern, he said: “I don’t think Daniel Levy will take anything less than £140 million or £150 million. I know we’ve seen the interview with Harry Kane and he went ‘well, it’s up to me’ and all this kind of thing. It isn’t.

“You’ve got a contract at that club and Daniel Levy, we all know how ruthless of a businessman that he is. He gets the best deal he possibly can for Tottenham, he always has.

“If he doesn’t get the money, he doesn’t go. If a club doesn’t meet what he wants, he doesn’t go.”

As the never-ending saga surrounding Tottenham Hotspur and their chase for defender Takehiro Tomiyasu continues, local Italian news outlet Corriere di Bologna (via Sport Witness) have brought an interesting update.

The Lowdown: Spurs in Tomiyasu hunt..,

You can trace Tottenham’s talks to sign the Japan international as far back as early July with Sky Sports confirming that an offer of around £12.9m (€15m), plus an extra £2.6m (€3m) in add-ons, had been rejected by Bologna.

The Athletic then stated that Spurs were closing in on a move and finalising terms on a deal amounting to around £15 million plus add-ons.

Once the Olympic games commenced, however, the move appeared to collapse with little to no movement until Alasdair Gold shared information from the player’s side – with the journalist saying sources were ‘confident’ a move could happen (football.london).

Just two weeks remain of the transfer window and there is still no sign of Tomiyasu to Spurs nearing completion, but Corriere di Bologna may have just offered an interesting update at the very least.

The Latest: Tomiyasu green lights move to England as Spurs push…

As per the regional Italian news outlet, Fabio Paratici’s defensive target has ‘already given the OK to the transfer to England’.

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While Tomiyasu green lights a switch to the Premier League, both Tottenham and Leicester City ‘keep pushing’ to sign the 22-year-old with ‘new contacts’ recently taking place.

As well as this, ‘economic proposals’ made by the interested clubs edge towards Bologna’s ‘minimum requirements’ for a sale agreement this summer.

The versatile ace appears to be a man in demand as both the Foxes and Tottenham lead the chase for his signature.

The Verdict: Please, just get it done…

Over a month and a half since Tottenham first lodged their bid for the player, this move seemed like it would be a fairly straightforward one at first, leaving us to wonder how it has dragged on this long.

That being said, Tomiyasu would still be an astute option to strengthen Nuno Espirito Santo’s options in defence and could solve two glaring problems for the Portuguese.

He can deputise as both a right-back and natural centre-half, potentially coming as an alternative to impressive youngster Japhet Tanganga who doesn’t exactly have a spotless injury record (Transfermarkt).

Still young, the defender also comes with plenty of sell-on value.

In other news: Bid pending: Spurs offer now expected to sign ‘incredible’ player after behind the scenes talks, find out more here.

Celtic are interested in Watford goalkeeper Ben Foster, according to Sky Sports.

The Lowdown: Foster’s love for Parkhead

Foster, who has been with Watford since 2018, has less than 12 months left on his Vicarage Road deal.

The 38-year-old, on £33,000-a-week in London, recently shared his love for Parkhead.

He described Celtic Park as ‘the best atmosphere I’ve ever played in my life’, with Foster featuring for Manchester United in a 1-1 draw back in 2008.

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The Latest: Sky Sports claim

Sky Sports, cited by Football Daily, shared an update live on TV on Thursday regarding potential Tottenham outgoings.

They mentioned Celtic’s interest in Joe Hart before saying the Hoops ‘also have an interest’ in Foster.

It appears as if it’ll be one of the other out of Hart and Foster, with Ange Postecoglou already having Vasilis Barkas, Scott Bain, Conor Hazard and Ross Doohan on the books.

The Verdict: Foster or Hart?

Foster and Hart hardly featured for their respective clubs in 2021 but both have over 300 games of Premier League experience under their belt.

Hart is four years Foster’s junior, so perhaps favouring a deal for the Spurs man would be a shrewd option.

It seems as if Celtic don’t want to pay a fee for Hart, though, so Foster could be an alternative target if those negotiations fall through.

Either way, it is clear Postecoglou is desperate for an old head in between the sticks – it has certainly served arch-rivals Rangers well with Allan McGregor.

In other news: ‘Celtic are finally closing in’ – Devlin’s transfer post on ace with ‘excellent final ball’. 

Nottingham Forest are interested in Reading midfielder Josh Laurent, according to journalist Alan Nixon.

What’s the story?

Laurent has just one year remaining on his current contract with Reading, and it remains to be seen as to whether he’ll sign a new deal with the Berkshire-based side at this stage of the summer.

The midfielder had previously been on the books of League One side Shrewsbury Town, and caught the eye with some strong displays in Salop.

Reading signed him in the summer of 2020, and Laurent has gone on to feature regularly for the Royals ever since, whilst striking up an impressive partnership with fellow midfielder Andy Rinomhota.

High-praise from Royals boss

Laurent signed for Reading on a free transfer, so any fee involved over a potential move to Nottingham Forest would be a profit for the Royals ahead of the 2021/22 season.

Reading’s financial restrictions have been well-documented in recent seasons, with Veljko Paunovic recently revealing that some key players could still follow Omar Richards and Michael Olise out of the exit door at the Select Car Leasing Stadium before the summer transfer window reaches a conclusion.

Forest could potentially be fighting a losing battle in their efforts to re-sign James Garner on loan for the new league campaign, with the Manchester United midfielder catching the eye with a number of strong displays in his loan spell at the City Ground last term.

Garner had an average Whoscored rating of 6.98, which puts him top of the list when it comes to Nottingham Forest’s best performers during the 2020/21 season, which certainly makes for good reading for a player that only spent the second-half of the season with Chris Hughton’s side.

Garner had a pass success rate of 80.9%, whilst also averaging two tackles and 1.7 interceptions per game during last year’s campaign.

Laurent, who earns wages of £3,100 per-week, according to Salary Sport. has made a similar impact with Reading in his brief spell with the club to date, with the midfielder having an average Whoscored rating of 6.88 from last year’s campaign, as Reading finished seventh in the Championship table.

The midfielder plays a similar role to that of what Garner did with Forest, with the midfielder displaying his defensive side of the game, as well as showing that he’s comfortable in possession.

Laurent averaged two tackles per game, whilst also chipping in with an average of 1.4 interceptions for the Royals last term. The former Shrewsbury midfielder also had a pass success rate of 83.6% for Reading last term, and that’ll be a statistic that makes for strong reading for Nottingham Forest, as they target a move for the 26-year-old.

Reading boss Veljko Paunovic has previously praised Laurent for a ‘fantastic’ season whilst with the club last term, in an interview with the club’s official website. 

“He’s had a fantastic season, I’m very happy for him and proud of his achievements. He’s worked hard and I think he has benefitted from the huge amount of personality he has.”

Forest’s supporters should be buzzing over this potential deal, as Laurent has certainly shown that he can perform to a high standard in the Championship, and he could prove to be the ideal alternative to Garner this summer.

Celtic are plotting a second bid for Aaron Hickey in an attempt to bring the left-back to Parkhead this summer.

What’s the talk?

That’s according to a report by The Scottish Sun, who claim that, following Bologna FC 1909’s rejection of the Bhoys’ £3.5m offer for the 19-year-old, Ange Postecoglou’s is plotting a second bid for the Scotland U21 international.

The report goes on to state that Sinisa Mihajlovic would like to keep hold of the defender this summer, while AFC Fiorentina also reported to be keeping an eye on the situation of Hickey.

However, despite the Bologna manager’s reluctance, a report by Il Resto del Carlino (via 67 Hail Hail) claimed that the Serie A side would likely be tempted into parting with the player should they receive an offer of around €8m (£7m).

Ange would love him

With it being claimed that Postecoglou is looking to purchase players in the summer transfer window who can operate in a number of positions, Hickey would very much appear to be a player the Greek manager would love.

Indeed, the £4.5m-rated youngster is an extremely versatile defender, having played at left, centre and right-back over his short professional footballing career thus far, as well as on the left and right-hand side of midfield.

The former Heart of Midlothian man also turned in impressive defensive metrics over his 11 Serie A appearances for Bologna last season, helping his side keep one clean sheet, as well as making an average of 1.4 interceptions, 1.1 tackles, 1.1 clearances and winning 3.5 duels per game.

As such, it is evident why Postecoglou is so eager to get a deal done for the man Austin MacPhee once compared to Sergio Busquets, as the 19-year-old seems to possess a considerable amount of potential, as well as already being a very solid option in defence.

However, with Mihajlovic so far holding firm on his position regarding Hickey, whether or not Celtic can get a deal over the line for the left-back this summer is very much up in the air at present.

It’s exactly why Dominic McKay should return with a second offer for the starlet this summer.

In other news: Celtic dealt blow as “creative” 11 G/A gem has “decided” on move, Ange will be gutted

Football.London’s Sam Inkersole reckons that Crystal Palace talisman Wilfried Zaha has missed his chance to get a big move away from Selhurst Park.

Zaha was strongly linked to both Arsenal and Everton two years ago following a transfer request.

However, the 28-year-old, whose previous big move ended in disaster when he joined Manchester United in 2013, has remained in south London despite increased pressure over his Palace future.

He’s continued to perform excellently for the Eagles, even with the increased speculation, and scored a career-best 11 Premier League goals last season to help Palace finish 14th.

However, soon after Goal reported that both Everton and Tottenham are interested in signing the Ivorian for around £40m, Zaha expressed his desire to leave once again.

But Zaha turns 29 in November, which will have seen his value has decreased significantly, meaning Palace will be even more reluctant to cash-in on their star man given they won’t come close to receiving a fee that has been mentioned in the past.

And when speaking to The Transfer Tavern, Inkersole all but ruled it out:

“He’s been trying for so long to get out, Palace have overvalued him, and clubs have been put off. He was very close to Arsenal, and they signed Pepe.

“If it were going to happen it would have happened in the last couple of years. I don’t think he’s going to get that move to Arsenal or Spurs – his time for a big move is passed.”

The door may have opened for Tottenham Hotspur to make their move for Manuel Locatelli this summer…

What’s the word?

Earlier this month, the North London outfit became the latest team to be linked with the Sassuolo midfielder alongside Mauricio Pochettino’s Paris Saint-Germain as well as Premier League rivals Manchester City and Chelsea, as per Gazzetta dello Sport.

It’s thought that it’ll cost €40m (£36m) to secure the 23-year-old, who is currently starring for Italy at Euro 2020, and that Spurs’ new sporting director Fabio Paratici is familiar with the potential dynamics of any deal, having been at Juventus for 11 years.

Now, it seems like his former club are holding back on their attempts to secure him ahead of the aforementioned sides.

Italian journalist Gianluca Di Marzio claims that Locatelli is still a priority in Turin but the club’s hierarchy have postponed talks with Sassuolo next week, thus giving Spurs an opening if they truly wish to sign him.

It’s said that the Neroverdi aren’t impressed with Juventus’ offers so far, too.

Paratici must strike

If Paratici and the rest of the Lilywhites boardroom are watching Euro 2020 right now, then they’ll know that Locatelli has emerged as one of the stars of the tournament so far.

The £36m-rated dynamo has featured in three of Italy’s four matches so far and particularly shone by scoring a brace during their group A clash with quarter-finalists Switzerland, who have just dumped favourites France out of the competition.

Locatelli has merely continued his fine form from his domestic campaign, where he rated out as Sassuolo’s second-best player (7.08), as per WhoScored figures.

It’s evident that the 6 foot 1 midfielder is a box-to-box animal as he also averaged a whopping 2.4 tackles and 1.5 interceptions on top of four goals, two assists, 1.2 shots and 1.1 key passes per game, via WhoScored.

That’s an ideal mix of being defensively sound and very intelligent too.

Locatelli has previously been lauded as “a real dominator in midfield” and a “maestro”, and that should come as no surprise going on the above evidence.

Eurosport Italy journalist Carlofillipo Vardelli has deemed him “the complete midfielder,” adding: “He knows how to start attacks, with two touches, he knows how to carry the ball, he is quick in distribution and he is flexible. Locatelli knows how to play both in a two-man midfield and in a three-man midfield.”

Spurs may not have their next manager in place yet, with the search rumbling into a third month but a threat from midfield at either end of the pitch is something they have lacked for quite some time.

The Italy sensation would clearly be a stellar addition to the current Spurs squad and with Juventus delaying talks, there won’t be a better time for Paratici and co to make their move.

He has the potential to be their most exciting signing since Heung-min Son, especially if his Euro 2020 showing is anything to go by.

AND in other news, Fresh twist emerges in Spurs’ manager search, it’ll surely leave fans buzzing…