All posts by z3u9t.icu

Dean Windass has urged Tammy Abraham to push for a move to West Ham United instead of seeking a return to Aston Villa.

Abraham looks destined to leave Chelsea after falling out of favour since the appointment of Thomas Tuchel as head coach in January.

Reports suggest Villa are lining up a £40million bid for the England international striker and a move would allow Abraham to return to familiar surroundings.

Abraham played a key role, scoring 26 goals in 40 appearances, as Dean Smith’s side returned to the Premier League via the Championship play-offs in 2019.

However, Ollie Watkins’ impressive form during his first season at Villa Park has left ex-Hull City striker Windass questioning whether Abraham would be Smith’s first choice striker if a move was sanctioned.

Windass feels Abraham, 23, would fit in perfectly at West Ham, where he would feature in the UEFA Europa League in the upcoming season following their sixth place finish in the Premier League.

Speaking exclusively to Football FanCast, Windass said: “It would make sense going to Aston Villa because he was on loan there as a young player.

“I just think he would be a better fit for West Ham. If he goes to Villa, they’ve got Ollie Watkins. Is he going to play? He would be asking whether they would change the system so there is two up top.

“The new Chelsea manager doesn’t fancy him and he’s not in his plans. But why would he want to go to Villa if he might not be playing week in, week out?

“If he goes to West Ham, he would probably be playing week in, week out. It would be a better fit for Moyes than Dean Smith.”

Many Southampton fans were delighted with the performance of Jan Bednarek as Poland managed to hold Spain to a 1-1 draw at Euro 2020.

Bednarek was selected as part of Poland’s 26-man squad for the European Championships. Their campaign did not start well as they were defeated 2-1 by Slovakia, meaning they needed a result against Spain to maintain their hopes of progressing to the next round.

Fortunately, they picked up a draw against a Spain side who, while not the all-conquering team of 10-12 years ago, can still be a dangerous proposition. The £22.5m-valued Bednarek (Transfermarkt) was a rock at the heart of the Polish defence, winning five of his seven duels while also completing three interceptions and four tackles as his side thwarted the attacks of La Roja (Sofascore).

These Saints fans were delighted with their defender’s imperious display and they took to social media platform Twitter to share their thoughts on the 25-year-old.

Let’s see what these fans had to say about Bednarek

“Bednarek has largely been the best player on the pitch for Poland. would love him to carry these kind of performances into the Prem”

Credit: @SaintsBlueropa

“Bednarek has had a world class game”

Credit: @jackfurze16

“Jan Bednarek was absolute class tonight, showing his form from the first half of the season. Showing what he can do tonight”

Credit: @JoshSFC13578

“Bednarek was absolutely class”

Credit: @sfcewan

“Bednarek played very well. Interesting to hear that he’s been using a Polish psychologist. IIRC you found a quote from him to the Polish press saying that mentally he was knackered.”

Credit: @MatthewStiles2

“A really impressive performance from Jan Bednarek tonight!  Our centre-back won 100% of his tackles vs. Spain & 4/5 of his ground duels. Jan also made the most clearances and tackles in the first half. A solid performance to help keep Poland’s dreams alive”

Credit: @TheSaintCentre

In other news, Southampton want to sign this man in the summer.

Rangers’ hopes of signing Ryan Gauld this summer have taken a blow after it was revealed that SC Farense have triggered an extension to his contract, meaning that Steven Gerrard will no longer be able to bring him to Ibrox on a free transfer.

The former Dundee United man has been linked with a move to Rangers in recent weeks and it had seemed as if he would be available on a free transfer, as his contract was set to expire in the summer.

However, Portuguese news outlet O Jogo have now revealed that Farense have taken up their option of extending his contract by another year and will only let him go for €4m (£3.5m) this summer.

It is no surprise that the Lions of Faro are keen to receive a fee for the 25-year-old, although they will perhaps be resigned to seeing him leave following their relegation from the Portuguese top flight, especially with a number of Premier League and Championship clubs also reportedly showing an interest.

Despite his price tag, which would likely make him the third-most-expensive signing of the Gerrard era at Rangers behind Ryan Kent and Kemar Roofe, his performances in recent seasons certainly suggest that this would be a deal worth doing for Ross Wilson this summer.

[snack-amp-story url=”https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/read-the-latest-rangers-transfer-rumours-and-news” title=”Read the latest Rangers transfer rumours and news!”]

Farenese’s former manager Sergio Vieira was full of praise for Gauld last season, saying: “He has given us fantastic individual quality, played most of every 90 minutes and has been crucial in contributing with assists and goals.

“He’s a great player, technically very developed and, with the ball at his feet, capable of realising actions that only the best players do.”

Gauld contributed an impressive nine goals and seven assists in 33 league appearances this season and has averaged a solid 7.19 rating from WhoScored, which certainly suggests that he could be a stellar addition to Gerrard’s side ahead of their return to the Champions League next season.

[freshpress-quiz id=“593776″]

Therefore, despite this setback, Wilson should definitely act quickly if he wants to bring Gauld to Ibrox this summer.

In other news… Gerrard dealt Rangers blow with “very dangerous” 32-goal beast, time is running out

Celtic have agreed a compensation fee with Yokohama F Marinos for their manager Ange Postecoglou.

What’s the story?

The Premiership giants have applied for an exemption with UEFA for the 55-year-old tactician to be allowed to take a job in Europe. Postecoglou doesn’t currently hold the required UEFA Pro Licence, but it’s possible to apply for a “recognition of competence procedure” to bypass the issue.

According to Sky Sports, the Hoops are confident that the former Australia national team manager’s extensive career at club and international level will see him granted an exemption and have reportedly agreed a compensation fee with the Japanese club to pave the way for his move to Parkhead.

“Mr Postecoglou does not currently hold the UEFA Pro Licence,” said a UEFA spokesperson.

“A recognition of competence procedure has been initiated. The process could take several weeks. We don’t have any further information to provide at this stage.”

Fans will be buzzing

Celtic have been without a permanent manager since Neil Lennon resigned back in February following a horrendous run of form. The Glasgow side were hoping to win a record-breaking 10th league title in a row last season, but an awful campaign saw them finish 25 points behind fierce rivals Rangers.

Several first team stars are expected to depart Parkhead over the coming months, with the likes of Odsonne Edouard, Ryan Christie and Kristoffer Ajer approaching the final 12 months of their current contracts and linked with moves away, meaning a major squad rebuild could be needed over the summer.

It’s a daunting task for Postecoglou, although his 25 years of managerial experience should stand him in good stead.

The proposed appointment of the 55-year-old came as somewhat of a shock after many household names were originally linked with succeeding Lennon, including Rafael Benitez, Roy Keane and Roberto Martinez.

Eddie Howe came closest to filling the vacant hot seat before talks collapsed, and although Postecoglou’s arrival may not please some supporters, many will surely be happy to see a new manager finally installed as Celtic aim to wrestle back their Premiership crown.

In other news…Get rid: Celtic must ruthlessly axe “unacceptable” £20k-p/w flop, he’s not good enough 

Aston Villa and West Ham have both made contact over a potential deal for Young Boys defender Mohamed Camara.

And, as to be expected, a number of Aston Villa fans have been reacting to the links on social media.

According to Sports Witness, Villa and the Hammers have asked for information regarding the 23-year-old centre-back.

No formal offers have been made, however, the Swiss side would allow the Guinea international to leave this summer, should a convincing offer come in.

Villa recently confirmed they have reached an agreement with Royal Antwerp for Bjorn Engels, with the centre-back now set to depart Villa Park.

Camara could well replace Engels, with the former making 39 appearances in all competitions last season.

Villa fans react

@villareport shared the news of Villa’s interest in Camara on Twitter on Thursday afternoon.

This is what these Villa supporters had to say in reply, with many not knowing much about Camara.

“Big spenders fc at it again. First team squad is gonna be 100 man deep”Credit: @J7_BVN”idk who that is but i’m all for it”Credit: @DanAV___”If this happens, we’ll have Trezeguet AND Pique. Massive club”Credit: @VillansOpinions”Yess”Credit: @avfcmds”This link now looks a lot more believable”Credit: @stephenoleary89″Anyone know him?”Credit: @avfctom_

In other news: Many AVFC fans buzz as inside NSWE info emerges, find out more here. 

Tottenham midfielder Elliot Thorpe will leave the club in the summer, according to Football Insider.

The Lowdown: Mason knows him well

Thorpe, who can play as a defensive, central or attacking midfielder, is yet to make a senior appearance for Spurs.

He’s been a regular for the club’s Under-23 side this season, though, making 18 appearances, scoring twice.

Interim manager Ryan Mason knows the 20-year-old well, coaching the youth team before his promotion following Jose Mourinho’s sacking.

The Latest: Hoffenheim and Leicester keen

Football Insider, who have been informed by a recruitment source, report that Bundesliga side Hoffenheim have joined Leicester City in the race to sign Thorpe over the coming months.

They claim that the midfielder will leave north London when his contract expires next month with Tottenham set to fail in their bid to agree on a contract extension.

Thorpe was training with the first team when Mourinho was in charge, but it seems as if his days at the club are now numbered.

The Verdict: Not ideal for Spurs

It seems as if the club wanted to keep Thorpe at the club, going off the reported contract extension offer, so the latest news could come as a blow to Spurs officials.

The fact he was called up to first-team training by Mourinho this season may show he has the ability to make it at the top level, and he doesn’t have a shortage of suitors.

Both Hoffenheim and Leicester could be smart destinations for the youngster. Several youngsters have left Premier League sides to gain valuable experience in the Bundesliga, such as Jadon Sancho.

Meanwhile, Brendan Rodgers has given youth a chance at the King Power, so it’ll be interesting to see where Thorpe decides to go.

In other news: Spurs eye Premier League forward as Harry Kane replacement, find out more here. 

A number of Rangers supporters have been hailing commercial and marketing director James Bisgrove after some positive news emerged at Ibrox.

It has been a memorable season for Steven Gerrard’s side, who finally wrestled the Scottish Premiership title away from bitter rivals Celtic.

Rangers have completely bossed the league throughout the 2020/21 campaign, but it isn’t only on the pitch where they are now thriving as a club.

On Wednesday, it was announced that the Gers have joined a number of top European clubs and world-famous brands in being nominated for four awards at the Football Business Awards, which take place in London on July 6th.

Rangers are up for the Sponsorship/Partnership of the Year, Best Brand Activation (non Premier League) and the Best Use of Technology in a Football Club prizes, with the Rangers Charity Foundation also in the running for the Best Covid-19 Community Response award (non Premier League).

Rangers fans laud James Bisgrove

These Rangers fans took to Twitter to react positively to the news, lauding Bisgrove for the work he continues to do at Ibrox, with one supporter even calling the accomplishments ‘unprecendented’.

“James Bisgrove is lifting more trophies than Celtic this season”

Credit: @HeartandHutts

“We will be naming a stand after James Bisgrove – he’s truly been one of the best appointments we’ve made”

Credit: @55ilverFox_55

“Bisgrove RSC”

Credit: @Pena_Cartel

“Well done to all at the mighty Glasgow Rangers so proud of them when you consider where we were. Outstanding”

Credit: @WilliamSpeirs5

“6 trophies in one year. Unprecedented”

Credit: @JudeMcilreavy

“This is top notch! Well in Bisgrove and his team”

Credit: @SpeckyRSC

In other news, Rangers could be set to offload two players – find out who they are here.

Frank McAvennie has exclusively told Football FanCast that any form of European football would mark a successful season for West Ham.

The Hammers only avoided relegation post-lockdown last season, finishing just four points above Bournemouth following a four-match unbeaten run.

But David Moyes’ side have emerged as surprise Champions League contenders this term, and prior to recent defeats to Newcastle and Chelsea, occupied fourth place.

Despite those setbacks, West Ham are just three points behind London rivals Chelsea with four matches remaining, and have a favoured run of fixtures compared to Thomas Tuchel’s men, who still have distractions in both the FA Cup and Champions League.

Finishing in fifth or sixth would guarantee a place in the group stages of the Europa League, whilst seventh is currently good enough for UEFA’s new Europa Conference League.

“At the start of the season, if someone told me they’d be fighting for Europe, I’d have taken it – you’d probably have got locked up if you said West Ham would be fighting for Europe,” McAvennie told Football FanCast.

He added: “But unfortunately, they’ve missed Declan Rice and missed Antonio. I would love West Ham to have another striker – Antonio is going to be stop-start next season. They’ve got to get a striker in.

“But I think for this year, even if they don’t get Champions League, what a great season it’s been. Get top-six and get into Europe, but I really hope they crown it off and get into that European spot.”

In a shocking turn of events last week, Nuno Espirito Santo announced that he would be leaving Wolves this summer and that will have got people talking at Tottenham, according to former Premier League midfielder, Steve Howey.

Spurs are still on the hunt for their next manager and after being linked as a potential candidate for the job last month, Nuno’s decision to leave Wolves unexpectedly will have set off alarm bells in many people’s heads, with him quickly becoming the favourite to succeed Jose Mourinho.

Nuno spent four seasons at Molineux, winning the Championship in his first season before guiding the club to back-to-back seventh-place finishes in the Premier League as well as a Europa League campaign last season.

After Nuno unexpectedly announced his departure from Wolves just over 48 hours before the club’s final game of the Premier League season, many people could be talking about him going to Tottenham, according to Howey who spoke exclusively to Football FanCast:

“He’s proved that he’s a very good manager and the noises you hear out the camp are that he is well-liked amongst the team and he’s one of these managers that players can get on board with. 

“It is a strange one because a lot of the time it’s been linking Brendan Rodgers or possibly Scott Parker with the job but with him leaving Wolves then, of course, a lot of tongues will be wagging.”

There were reports at the back end of last week that Tottenham will be looking to appoint their new manager in the next 10 days as they look to give their new boss as much time to prepare and plan for next season.

Whoever they do appoint will have a battle on their hands to keep star striker Harry Kane as well as guiding the club into the new formed Europa Conference League.

With The Athletic revealing that Leicester City want a striker in the summer, the King Power Stadium hierarchy will hope that they can avoid another transfer clanger.

The Foxes have poured money down the drain on strikers in recent years with the likes of Islam Slimani (13 goals in 47 games), Ahmed Musa (five goals in 33 games) and Andrej Kramaric (four goals in 20 games) all arriving for record fees, whilst Kelechi Iheanacho has only just started to justify his lofty price tag with a series of fantastic performances.

Nevertheless, the club have also avoided some huge mistakes, particularly with strikers they failed to bring to the East-Midlands.

It was reported in 2016 that Leicester were close to a deal for 26-cap Italian international Eder of Sampdoria in the hope that he could bolster the club’s attack ahead of their eventual Premier League title success.

A move never came to fruition, though, with the then £13.5m-rated striker instead switching to Inter Milan. At the time it looked as though Leicester had missed out on a gem, with Eder having found the net 12 times in just 19 Serie A appearances for Sampdoria.

[snack-amp-story url=”https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/latest-leicester-city-news%2c-transfer-rumours-and-more-mcgregor-iheanacho-soyuncu-dewsbury-hall-rodgers” title=” Latest Leicester City news, transfer rumours and more… “]

Since then though, the 34-year-old has scored just 14 goals in Europe, eventually departing Milan after just two-and-a-half years to join Chinese Super League outfit Jiangsu Suning.

Whilst Eder did manage to somewhat recover his goalscoring touch in Asia, netting 31 times over three seasons and winning a league title, his stint at the club was brought to an abrupt end as they ceased operations, eventually releasing the striker on a free transfer.

Now rated at just £720,000 by Transfermarkt and plying his trade with Brazilian outfit Sao Paulo, Eder might reflect on what could have been had he joined Leicester. He would, in all likelihood, now own a Premier League winner’s medal.

Meanwhile, the Foxes will be thankful they did not manage to sign the striker in the end and will hope that they can secure a much better deal in their latest search for a forward.

AND in more news, a striker that must be under consideration is FC Porto’s Moussa Marega…