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TalkSport pundit Tony Cascarino has claimed that Harry Kane would not join Chelsea in a summer transfer amid speculation over the player’s future.

What’s the latest on Harry Kane to Chelsea?

After a week in which Tottenham Hotspur were knocked out of the FA Cup before then losing in the Premier League, the club’s English striker may feel as though he’s had enough of life in north London.

After all, his contract is set to expire in 2024 and without a trophy in his cabinet to speak of, Kane could be on the move this summer amid past links to the likes of Manchester United and Bayern Munich.

Of course, seeing as Todd Boehly spent well over £250m in the winter, perhaps the player could end up at Chelsea. This matter was spoken about on TalkSport recently.

However, Cascarino insisted that the Spurs player wouldn’t be up for a move, saying (2:50): “I don’t think he’d go to Chelsea. I just think that’s a move that he thinks he can’t do.”

He then agreed when his co-host Shebahn Aherne added: “It would be total villain vibes, wouldn’t it?

Would Kane ever join the Blues?

There has been some talk that Chelsea should try and sign the Spurs ace. Indeed, as quoted by The Express in January, former player Glenn Johnson suggested that the Blues could do with Kane.

He said: “Who needs him most right now? Probably Chelsea.”

Seeing as Graham Potter’s men have struggled for goals all season – with just 24 goals in 25 league games this term (the fewest in the top half of the table) – it’s not hard to see why Kane is being touted as a possible saviour.

After all, he became Tottenham’s all-time record scorer, surpassing Jimmy Greaves, when he netted his 267th goal for the club recently against Manchester City.

Still, because of his attachment to Spurs, it would be a huge betrayal if he joined bitter London rivals Chelsea and so it’s probably safe to say this deal won’t be happening barring a dramatic twist in the near future.

Leeds United captain Luke Ayling was “visibly frustrated” with caretaker manager Michael Skubala’s decision to substitute Patrick Bamford in the Manchester United clash.

The Latest: Derby day

The Whites were well worth the draw they held onto against United in the midweek Premier League clash at Old Trafford, despite it potentially feeling like a loss given they were 2-0 up just after half-time.

After losing manager Jesse Marsch last week, the Whites are enjoying a new manager bounce with the Red Devils feeling the brunt of their energy and determination to put their form right against their old rivals.

The Latest: Bamford subbed

With the score at 0-0 and Leeds enjoying their afternoon more than a frustrated Man United with them having double the amount of shots as Erik ten Hag’s side on the hour mark (via Sky Sports).

Despite being in the ascendancy, caretaker boss Skubala opted to replace misfiring striker Bamford for new signing Georginio Rutter in the hope of forcing the breakthrough, but to the disappointment of the Whites captain, which Beren Cross picked up on, he tweeted:

“Ayling visibly frustrated Bamford’s coming off. Tries some words of consolation was he goes of. Rutter on. Leeds well on top, winning duels all over the field. #lufc”

The Verdict: Change of luck?

Bamford’s form in front of goal or at all on the pitch is proving more and more frustrating by the week with the 29-year-old netting just one league goal all season.

In his 58 minutes on the pitch, Bamford produced one shot on target and an effort blocked in his hunt to double his league tally, but instead his one big chance missed (via Sofascore) won’t do his confidence any good, with him sixth in the top-flight for big chances missed this season (Premier League).

His replacement Rutter, became the club’s record transfer in the January window following his £35.5m move from Hoffenheim amid Bamford’s struggles, he entered the field for only his fourth appearance for the Whites with Skubala hoping he has more luck than the Englishman in front of goal.

Gabriel Agbonlahor has slammed Newcastle United ace Anthony Gordon for the way he forced his move to the club.

The Lowdown: Gordon caused a scene

It’s safe to say that Gordon didn’t leave Everton in the best of ways, having not turned up to training for several days in a row as he sought to push through his move to high-flying Newcastle.

While that did indeed work for the young winger, who got ‘goosebumps’ when taking in his first game as a Newcastle player in midweek, it certainly hasn’t gone down well within the media – particularly pundits on TalkSport.

Martin Keown and Agbonlahor have now both dug out Gordon live on air about the way he acted during his final few days as an Everton player, although considering he ended up getting his big-money move, it’s unlikely he will care much about what people think.

The Latest: Agbonlahor unimpressed with Gordon’s actions

Agbonlahor didn’t hold back in his criticism of Gordon live on TalkSport, claiming he wouldn’t have done that to his boyhood club when he was a young player at Aston Villa.

He said: “I didn’t like it one bit. I feel that he’s been at Everton since he was 11, similar to me being at Aston Villa when I was 11.

“When I was 21, it wouldn’t be in my dreams to force through a move.

“I understand players want to move and better themselves, and win trophies, and go to clubs that are doing better – leave that to your agent to do behind the scenes.

“Turn up to training. Everton have made you what you are through the youth setup, given you your debut – you’ve become who you are because of Everton.

“When the going’s getting tough, don’t not turn up to training. I know you’ve not been playing under Lampard recently, it can be frustrating, and maybe the move is good for Everton and good for Anthony Gordon.

“But to not turn up for training for your club, to me, was unforgivable.”

The Verdict: Gordon just got to focus on Newcastle

The speedy winger now just has to crack on and get down to business with his new teammates, as he could well be in line for a start on Saturday night against West Ham following Bruno Guimaraes’ red card against Southampton.

While Gordon may wish he didn’t need to skip training at Everton to get his transfer to Tyneside, if he believes that was the only way to get it done, people now have to accept his decisions and actions.

It’s safe to say that Gordon won’t likely receive a warm reception when he returns to Goodison Park with Newcastle, but he must park all of that and any other external noise to the side and focus on improving his game, as he’ll know there are no guarantees that he will be a starter anytime soon for the Magpies given the form they’ve been in this season.

Everything appears to be going right for Manchester United at present amid their rampant run of post-World Cup form, although one point of concern for Erik ten Hag will be the injury absence of compatriot Donny van de Beek, with the Netherlands international having been forced off in the win over Bournemouth at the start of the month.

The United manager has subsequently revealed that the playmaker will be out of action for the remainder of the season due to that knee issue, yet another setback in what has been an underwhelming two-and-a-half-year stay at Old Trafford for the 25-year-old.

Although the former Ajax gem will not leave too great of a hole in the team having only started twice in the Premier League this season, it will still come as a blow to be without him as an attacking midfield option, particularly with little depth beyond Bruno Fernandes in that role.

Should Ten Hag need to rotate the Portugal maestro amid what will be a hectic schedule over the coming months in league and cup competitions, there are few standout candidates to take his place in the team, with the likes of Juan Mata and Jesse Lingard having departed over the summer.

One possible solution to help fill the void left by Van de Beek’s injury could well be that of 19-year-old sensation Zidane Iqbal, with the Iraq international still waiting for his chance to feature in a competitive match this season for the Old Trafford outfit.

Despite making his senior bow alongside friend and youth colleague Charlie Savage against Young Boys in December 2021, the teenager has yet to build upon that debut, despite being named in several matchday squads this season.

That has led to talk that the 19-year-old could leave on loan this month, although it could be wise to reconsider amid Van de Beek’s injury blow, particularly with Iqbal having shown flashes of his undoubted potential in recent times.

The 5 foot 11 ace had impressed during the club’s pre-season tour last summer, having especially caught the eye in the 4-0 thrashing over Liverpool in Bangkok, at one stage producing a delightful turn to evade Fabinho in the middle of the park.

The two-cap starlet was then lauded for his display in the subsequent friendly triumph over Melbourne Victory, with Sky Sports reporter Melissa Reddy having stated of his talents: “Zidane Iqbal has heaps of technical quality, skill and intelligence – importantly with the personality to match it. He demands the ball, moves, scans, never hides and is not scared of making a mistake in trying to execute what he feels is the right decision.”

While not in the pressurised environment of the Premier League, those outings during the pre-season tour showcased that Iqbal is unlikely to be overawed if he is thrust into the fray any time soon, having shown remarkable maturity and confidence when in possession.

Having just captained the club’s U21 side to victory over the Anfield outfit, it would appear that the sparkling asset – who is said to idolise former Arsenal star Mesut Ozil – is now in need of regular first-team football, be it away from the Theatre of Dreams or as part of Ten Hag’s squad.

The hope would be that Iqbal can take the latter route and use Van de Beek’s absence as a way to truly establish himself in the senior ranks at United.

West Bromwich Albion continued their fine recent form as they earned an impressive 2-0 win over playoff hopefuls Preston North End at the Hawthorns.

A double from Okay Yokuslu sealed the three points for Carlos Corberan’s side, with the Baggies earning yet another clean sheet after being defensively transformed under the Spanish manager.

The result leaves the Midlands outfit just one point outside the playoff positions in the second tier, with concerns over a relegation battle under Steve Bruce now a distant memory thanks to the resurgence under Corberan.

While it was another dominant performance from the Baggies on Thursday, not every player was up to standard at the Hawthorns.

After an assist from the bench against Bristol City last time out, Tom Rogic was handed a start against Ryan Lowe’s side but he struggled to leave much impression on the game.

As per Sofascore, the former Celtic man would earn a disappointing 6.3 rating for his performance, which was comfortably the worst of any West Brom player to feature in the game.

The Australian would manage just 22 touches of the ball in his 55 minutes on the pitch, which was even fewer than goalkeeper Alex Palmer (30), which emphasises just how little he was involved.

He would manage just 13 successful passes, which is only just more than the 12.5 he has averaged in the Championship this season, despite most of his appearances coming from the bench rather than from the start as he did on Thursday.

On the few occasions Rogic did see the ball, he was extremely wasteful with it, as he failed with both of his dribble attempts, while he also failed to contribute a single key pass or shot during his time on the pitch.

To round off a woeful performance, the 30-year-old lost 100% of the duels he was involved in and lost possession on seven occasions, so it was no surprise that Corberan axed him before the hour mark.

While he was once described as a “little Messi” by former Celtic teammate Josip Juranovic, he failed to perform anywhere near the Argentine World Cup winner against Preston, and he will have to do far better if he wants to keep his place ahead of John Swift in the future.

West Ham United are now the ‘favourites’ to sign Everton defender Michael Keane, according to journalist Paul Brown.

The Lowdown: West Ham’s Keane interest

Writing for the Athletic, journalist Roshane Thomas detailed that Keane could be an option on loan for West Ham in January, in light of Craig Dawson’s potential departure, as he aims to move further north to be near his family in Cheshire.

That came after the Hammers registered their interest in bringing the centre-back to the London Stadium back in November, with journalist Dean Jones later claiming that they had ‘considered’ a move for him.

Now, it has transpired that the Hammers are leading the race for his signature…

The Latest: Brown’s update

Speaking to GIVEMESPORT, Brown claimed that Keane has made his mind up about leaving Everton, with West Ham currently the most likely destination:

“I just think everyone knows that because he’s not getting a game really for Everton, that he could be on the market.

“I think Michael Keane’s decided that he’s going to have to move to get more football, so I think he’s going to go somewhere and West Ham, I would say, are favourites at the moment.”

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The Verdict: Get it done?

While the Englishman would admittedly not be the most exciting signing for West Ham fans, he is a proven defender in the top tier, who would be a useful option for David Moyes to have for the remainder of the season.

Last season, journalist David Prentice described the former Burnley man as being ‘immense’, a campaign in which he made more than 30 Premier League appearances for the sixth consecutive season, while he was also ranked by SofaScore as the Toffees’ best defender.

The colossus is dominant in the air, averaging 3.01 aerials won per 90, in the 91st percentile compared to his positional peers, and it would be a shrewd bit of business if Moyes managed to bring him to the club in January.

Tottenham Hotspur are reportedly one of the Premier League clubs that have been monitoring Bayer Leverkusen defender Piero Hincapie. 

The Lowdown: Spurs previous link to Hincapie

The Lilywhites were linked with a move for the centre-back during the previous summer transfer window. In fact, the north London club were reportedly told that they would need to have shelled out a transfer fee of £34m to land him.

Now that Hincapie has played the full 90 minutes of both of Ecuador’s games in the current World Cup, this had led to fresh transfer rumours emerging, linking him with a move to the Premier League.

The Latest: Hincapie eyed by Premier League clubs

According to a recent report from The Daily Mirror, Chelsea have got scouts watching the defender in action at the World Cup.

The report also adds that Spurs and their north London rivals Arsenal have been monitoring the Ecuadorian for as long as the past 18 months.

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The Verdict: A useful signing?

With 13 Bundesliga appearances under his belt for Leverkusen this season, the 20-year-old, who journalist Jose de Jesus Ortiz labelled as “impressive”, has shown how much of an impressive defender he is.

For example, as well as making more blocks (22) than any other player at the club, he also has the third-highest total of clearances (32) and successful tackles (13).

As one of the six outfield Leverkusen players to win the majority of their aerial duels this season, this further showcases how much of a unit he is at the back, despite being fairly young.

Bearing in mind how Antonio Conte’s side have only been able to keep four clean sheets in the league this season, perhaps adding a player like Hincapie to the squad is just what they need to stop conceding goals on such a regular basis.

Moving forward, with two of their London rivals reportedly swirling around the players, Spurs may look to do all they can to get the player to join Conte’s side once the January transfer window opens.

Tottenham Hotspur are interested in a deal to bring Max Aarons to north London in the January transfer window.

What’s the talk?

That’s according to a report by 90min, who claim that Antonio Conte would be willing to sell either Matt Doherty or Emerson Royal this winter, and is considering the Norwich City right-back as a potential candidate to bring into the club.

Further reports have suggested that the Championship side would be willing to part with the 22-year-old in January, as long as they were to receive an offer in the region of £15m.

Imagine him & Spence

While the report also states that Tottenham’s £20m summer signing, Djed Spence, is expected to be loaned out this winter, considering just how impressive the 22-year-old was against Nottingham Forest on Wednesday, it would appear wise for Conte to retain the services of the England U21 international heading into the second half of the campaign.

And, considering just how exciting a prospect Aarons undoubtedly is, the prospect of the full-back linking up with his England U21 teammate at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this winter will certainly be a tantalising one for all involved with the club.

Indeed, according to FBref, the £15.6m-rated talent ranks in the top 20% of full-backs in leagues similar to the level of the Championship for non-penalty goals per 90, as well as the top 10% for passes attempted, the top 26% for passes completed, the top 10% for progressive passes and the top 16% for dribbles completed over the last 365 days.

For comparison, FBref rank Spence in the top 37% of full-backs for non-penalty goals per 90, in addition to the bottom 20% for passes attempted, the bottom 31% for progressive passes, the top 46% for passes completed and the top 2% for dribbles completed over the past 12 months.

Furthermore, with Football Talent Scout Jacek Kulig suggesting that the “attacking” Aarons is a similar type of player to the former Tottenham and current Manchester City right-back Kyle Walker, it is clear to see just how much potential the Canaries starlet possesses.

As such, should Fabio Paratici manage to get a deal over the line for the £22.5k-per-week defender in January, it would appear as if the sporting director could well have formed Tottenham’s right-back pairing for the foreseeable future, with the prospect of Conte having both Aarons and Spence as options on the right undoubtedly being an extremely exciting thought.

Arsenal head into tonight’s Carabao Cup meeting with Brighton & Hove Albion in an excellent run of domestic form.

Indeed, Mikel Arteta’s side are unbeaten in seven consecutive matches on English soil.

However, with squad rotation being necessary in order to give the Gunners the best possible chance of success in both the Premier League and Europa League this season, the Spaniard may well look to give a number of his lesser-seen first-teamers and most exciting youth prospects a run out against the Seagulls this evening.

So, how many changes will the 40-year-old make to the side that lined up in the 1-0 win over Chelsea last weekend?

Here’s how we at Football FanCast think Arteta’s starting XI could look against Brighton, as well as the latest team and injury news…

With Arteta revealing in his pre-match press conference that Takehiro Tomiyasu will remain sidelined for tonight’s fixture after picking up a knock in the 1-0 win over FC Zurich earlier this month, coupled with the Spaniard looking likely to rotate his team, we predict that the 40-year-old will make ten changes to his starting XI from the Chelsea win.

Only Gabriel Magalhães keeps his starting spot in the back five, with Matt Turner replacing Aaron Ramsdale between the sticks, Kieran Tierney coming in for Oleksandr Zinchenko at left-back, Rob Holding taking William Saliba’s spot in the middle and Cédric Soares replacing Ben White at right-back.

There are also wholesale changes in the midfield three, with the 19-year-old “wizard” – in the words of Emanuel Rosu – Catalin Cirjan potentially being handed his first-team debut in place of Granit Xhaka. He has appeared on the bench already this term and is now primed to be given his first senior minutes.

Other central changes see Mohamed Elneny given his second start since injury in place of Thomas Partey and Fábio Vieira come in for Martin Ødegaard.

Once again, there are three fresh faces in the attacking trio, with Arteta unleashing Arsenal’s “secret weapon” – in the words of Graham Ruthven – Reiss Nelson alongside Eddie Nketiah and 19-year-old Marquinhos on the left flank, up top and right flank respectively.

Nottingham Forest are currently rock bottom in the Premier League table and despite showing glimpses of what the team can be capable of in their performances against West Ham United and Liverpool it hasn’t been the dream start that Steve Cooper would have wanted.

The Tricky Trees spent £150m on transfers in the summer to build a super squad consisting of 22 brand-new players mixed with young talent and top-flight experience but it seems that signing an army of new talent hasn’t paid off.

The newly-promoted side have picked up just nine points out of a possible 39 so far and have scored the second-lowest amount of goals (8) in the entire Premier League with both clearly contributing to Forest’s inability to climb out of the bottom three.

As a result, Cooper must improve the attacking threat if the club are going to have any chance of retaining their top-flight status at the end of the season and finally ditching Jesse Lingard could be the key to improving.

The former Manchester United attacker was signed on a free transfer in the summer and is currently the highest-paid player at the club, collecting a mammoth £200k-per-week. However, his uninspiring performance and poor work ethic can’t continue to be ignored by the Forest boss.

The 29-year-old – who Dom Gourlay claimed doesn’t “break sweat”  in his displays – has failed to register a single goal or assist and has not created any big chances so far, as well as losing 66% of his duels combined and failing to complete 67% of his dribbles too over his 11 league appearances.

In fact, his most recent performance against Arsenal in the humiliating 5-0 defeat against Arsenal should be the final nail in the coffin for Cooper and is solid proof as to why the manager must search for other players who can offer more in the final third and to the team in general.

Before being hooked in the 56th minute, Lingard made just five accurate passes out of a mere nine attempted, took only 15 touches of the ball and failed in 100% of his dribble attempts, further displaying his obvious disinterest and poor attitude to working hard even against a side that was going to be a difficult challenge for the team.

With that being said, it is without a doubt that Cooper must finally ditch Lingard, whether that is by deploying another player in the role or searching for a more hard-working forward in the January transfer window. Either way, the manager cannot continue to keep blind faith in Lingard.