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According to The Birmingham Mail, Aston Villa could be very busy on deadline day as they look to tie up moves for three players in a bid to push for promotion, one of which is Newcastle’s Isaac Hayden – if the midfielder’s performance against Manchester City on Tuesday is anything to go by, he would be some signing and perhaps the Championship’s best this month.

On the chalkboard

The Magpies needed to bounce back after succumbing to a 2-0 defeat at home to Watford in the FA Cup the week before but, given City’s outrageous scoring record this month, it looked unlikely they would get anything out of it.

However, a resolute performance from back to front saw Rafa Benitez’s men emerge the shock 2-1 victors and thus climb to 14th in the standings – with new arrivals potentially imminent, the St James’ Park outfit look in good shape for the rest of the season, despite a tetchy couple of months.

Villa, meanwhile, are four points away from a top-six spot and need reinforcements in both midfield and defence if they are to give themselves their best chance of reaching a second consecutive play-off final – if they can get Hayden on the books before the window slams shut, their hopes will be massively boosted.

Dominant Hayden

Giving freedom to the likes of Jack Grealish, John McGinn and Conor Hourihane to cause havoc must be a priority for Dean Smith at Villa Park and Hayden would offer ample cover for a defence that has struggled to keep the ball out of the net.

Few can attest to shutting down a midfield containing Kevin de Bruyne and David Silva but 23-year-old Hayden can – Cityzens boss Pep Guardiola paid the former Arsenal man and his partner in crime, Sean Longstaff, a huge compliment post-match, saying his title-winning side could not deal with Newcastle’s holding midfielders.

Smith could do with a player of that calibre in his Villa side – Glenn Whelan and Mile Jedinak are the former Brentford boss’ two best options at the base of midfield and both are well into their twilight years – and, if they can get him, the deal would surely be the best from the Championship this January.

Thogden has ranked his top 5 sets of Championship away fans for Pl>ymaker FC. Did your club make the list? Find out in the video above…

Southampton are currently in their 10th consecutive Premier League season after winning promotion from the Championship in 2012 under Nigel Adkins.

During that time, one figure who has played a massive part for the Saints is captain James Ward-Prowse, who has made 333 appearances for the south coast club across all competitions. He has scored 35 goals and provided 42 assists since making his senior debut for Southampton back in October 2011.

Despite making 11 appearances for Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side so far this season and putting pen to paper on a new five-year contract at St Mary’s over the summer, a recent report from The Athletic has suggested that the midfielder has now gone past what they describe as peak age for a central midfielder.

With this in mind, there’s every possibility that the club could be on the lookout for a new player who could be a future long-term replacement for their skipper.

Rather than spend millions on potential transfer fees when that time comes, the Saints could already have their ideal replacement for Ward-Prowse and potential club hero with 16-year-old attacking midfielder Kami Doyle.

As a product of Southampton’s youth system, Doyle has made 12 appearances for their under-18 side, in which he has scored 10 goals and provided one assist, showing that he has a knack for scoring and creating goals from midfield in a similar way to Ward-Prowse over the years.

Even at his young age, Doyle – who has been praised in the past by Saints coach David Horseman for his “quality” on the pitch  – has made 11 appearances for Southampton’s B team, which goes to show how much faith and belief they have in him to be able to line out alongside some of the older players in the youth ranks.

Moving forward, if Doyle can continue to progress with Southampton’s B team and develop his game even further, there’s nothing stopping him from eventually breaking into the first team and potentially becoming the club’s new Ward-Prowse.

In other news – Lost the ball 81 times: Ralph must brutally axe “unbelievable” Saints dud, he’s a liability

Rangers boss Giovanni van Bronckhorst is set to go in search of a third straight victory in charge of the Ibrox giants tonight.

The Gers face Hibernian away from home in the Scottish Premiership with the chance to potentially increase their four-point lead at the top of the table.

He has won his first two matches in charge of the club after taking over from Steven Gerrard, beating Sparta Prague 2-0 and Livingston 3-1.

Passenger

Despite the positive results, one player who has struggled in the Dutchman’s opening games is English winger Ryan Kent.

Van Bronckhorst must brutally axe him from the starting XI after two poor performances out on the left wing for the Gers. He left a lot to be desired against Sparta and Livingston, failing to live up to his own high standards for the club.

Earlier this year, Leon Balogun called him a wizard and explained how difficult he is to defend against. He said:

“Who causes me real problems in training every now and then is Ryan Kent. He’s a wing wizard, my god, he’s a problem.

“There was this one goal, I think against Hamilton where he just turns the defender inside out, dropping the shoulder, dropping it again, and the guy doesn’t know where he is, so we have a few of them.”

Last season, Kent produced ten goals and nine assists in the Premiership. This shows that he has the quality to be a consistent attacking threat for Rangers, but his recent performances have been well off the mark in comparison to that.

Per SofaScore, he lost 12 of his 17 duels and completed one of five crosses against Livingston. This comes after he lost seven of his 11 duels against Sparta and failed to complete a single ball into the area. He ended both games without a single goal or assist to his name, showing that he is struggling to match his previous heights.

Therefore, the £18k-per-week gem must be brutally axed from the XI by van Bronckhorst against Hibernian. It would be a surprising call from the manager but he may benefit from a game on the bench to take him out of the spotlight and offer him the chance to focus on getting himself back to being 100%.

AND in other news, Gio could unearth Goldson 2.0 in “superb” Rangers teen who is “going to be massive”…

Leeds United could eye a late midfield alternative before Monday’s transfer deadline…

What’s the word?

The Yorkshire giants have been left frustrated in their pursuit of RB Salzburg midfielder Brenden Aaronson so far, having seen a £15m bid for him rejected recently.

And they may well struggle to seal his signature as the Austrian title holders remain in the Champions League, with the 21-year-old a key player for the club.

However, according to the Daily Mail this week, the Whites have held talks with the agent of Marseille midfielder Boubacar Kamara, who could emerge as the ideal alternative to Aaronson.

The Ligue 1 outfit are reportedly prepared to sell him for just £10m, around half of Leeds’ second bid for the Salzburg star.

Forget Aaronson?

Perhaps United chief Victor Orta and his recruitment team should quickly forget about the American international, at least until the summer when he may well be more attainable at their own valuation.

Instead, a move for Kamara could seriously pay off, especially at an absolute bargain price.

The need for a new midfielder has been lingering for quite some time at Elland Road. It’s been four years since they signed someone in the role – that being Adam Forshaw in 2018 – and they have come close, missing out on Conor Gallagher in the summer and seeing a deal for Michael Cuisance fall through a year earlier.

[snack-amp-story url = “https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/latest-leeds-united-lufc-transfer-rumours-gossip-bielsa-orta-radrizzani-elland-road-updates” title=”Read the latest Leeds news, transfer updates and much, much more!”]

Valued at £22.5m by Transfermarkt, the France U21 international has already amassed plenty of experience at an elite level, featuring 135 times across Ligue 1 and UEFA’s top two European competitions.

At just 22, that is certainly impressive.

Since making his debut for Les Olympiens, the young midfield beast has put up some remarkable numbers – as per WhoScored, Kamara has averaged 2.8 long balls, 2.3 tackles and 1.3 interceptions per game across his career thus far.

With Kalvin Phillips on the treatment table at Thorp Arch for the next month or two, it would make sense to target a player in this style, so that should make him an intriguing alternative to Aaronson, who appears to be so out of reach by next Monday’s transfer deadline.

“This kid is a phenomenon,” once claimed former teammate Rolando. “When he started training with us, he was 15 years old. And from day one, I said, no, but this little one is going to be a great player.”

Kamara would be a fantastic addition to Bielsa’s squad and for just £10m, it is surely a no brainer, on the evidence above.

Orta and co must now turn their attention to the 5 foot 10 Marseille powerhouse in the coming days.

AND in other news, Leeds dealt late January blow to midfield “machine” perfect for Bielsa, he’ll be livid…

Merry Christmas, Newcastle fans!

It has been another tough year for most of us, so The Transfer Tavern have decided to spread some festive cheer.

To thank you for reading our content over the past year, or simply as a little pointless reward for finding the energy to watch Bruce-ball for months on end, we have made a quiz on the Magpies’ 2021/22 season so far, and we think only the biggest Toon supporters will get 100 per cent on it.

Think you are up to the challenge? There are ten questions in total for you to answer below, with four options for each, whether you want to test your family’s knowledge around the dinner table, or have a go yourself while you are munching on all of that Christmas chocolate!

Of course, do not forget to share your scores once you have finished, and here’s to a better 2022 for the Toon Army!

Rangers midfielder Scott Arfield has dropped a big claim on his future at Ibrox beyond the end of this season…

What’s the latest?

The Gers gem has admitted that his representatives will be speaking to the club over a new contract in Glasgow, with his current deal due to expire next summer.

He told Sky Sports:

“When you’re on the pitch you’re not thinking about contracts, you’re not thinking about money, you’re not thinking about security, you’re thinking about winning the game for the football club.

“It’s easy for me to think about that and harder for me to think about other things; if you ask my wife she’ll probably say a different thing.

“(It becomes clearer) when they talk to me. I’ve got representatives that will be speaking to the club.

“I haven’t done so at this minute in time but as I say, I’m all about football and they can talk about contracts at different times.”

Delighted

Rangers fans will surely be delighted by this news as Arfield has shown some promising signs since Gio van Bronckhorst’s arrival at the club.

This update may not have come at the best time after his frustrating performance against Hearts on Sunday, but the nature of his displays in recent weeks have been encouraging. His movement off the ball has been crucial to the Gers and how the Dutchman wants to play and he has played a key role in recent wins.

The £16k-per-week midfielder has played in all six of the 43-year-old’s games in charge at Rangers in the Premiership and Europa League, with the club picking up five wins and one draw in that time as he scored once.

It may not come across in his match statistics, but his runs in behind are crucial. He has a knack for knowing when to make the right run into a channel to either drag a defender out of the way or run onto a pass himself.

The former is how he can make a big impact without touching the ball as he can take players out of the game to afford more space for the likes of Ryan Kent and Alfredo Morelos to do their damage in.

This is why fans will surely be delighted by Arfield’s comments about his representatives speaking to the club over the possibility of a new deal. He would be a useful option for van Bronckhorst to call upon with his intelligent movement and work rate off the ball, whilst he has also chipped in with two goals this season.

AND in other news, GVB could save Rangers millions with “lovely” £3.1k-p/w colossus who has “everything”…

Dean Smith is poised to be announced as the new Norwich manager in the next few days, with his second in command looking likely to be former Aston Villa assistant manager, Craig Shakespeare.

Shakespeare is predicted to be announced as the assistant manager at Carrow Road alongside Smith, with the duo working together at Aston Villa to secure an 11th place finish in the Premier League last season.

Both Smith and Shakespeare were sacked last week after five losses on the bounce in charge of the Villa side. Speaking in a statement, Smith shared his thoughts after the dismissal from his boyhood club;

“My belief was that we would continue our progression this season. I understand the football industry and, of course, I respect the owners’ decision, but I felt that with important players soon returning to full fitness we would achieve a top-half finish.”Steven Gerrard has since been appointed as the 50-year-old’s successor at Aston Villa.Shakespeare has an impressive CV, his most notable achievement would undoubtedly be the role he played in the Premier League winning team of Leicester City in 2013, which then saw the assistant manager promoted to head coach for 8 months. It’s that spell, coupled with his expertise of keeping Villa in the division last term, that explains why he could help save Norwich this term too.Speaking on his time as head coach at Leicester in 2017, Shakespeare talked about dealing with the media; “That was the thing I found most difficult. I had always been a guy who was behind the scenes, low profile, and liked it that way. The media — the intensity of it, the amount of time it takes up — really took me by surprise. I’ll do what I have to do, media-wise, but I also like the idea of getting on with my job and letting the big managers be to the fore.”Getting on with the job, as the coach says, will be vitally important when he arrives in Norfolk, but he can live up to the praise of Jamie Carragher, he could be game-changing upon his entrance to Carrow Road, particularly from a defensive point of view.The former Liverpool defender previously sung the praises of the 58-year-old coach, however, giving him ‘top marks’ after joining Aston Villa last season, the pundit said;

“Craig Shakespeare has also come in so it’s been top marks from a coaching setup and, also, when you bring players in and get the signings right. So, going from the worst (defensive record) in Europe to the best in Europe, I think that’s what we’ve been seeing.”The Aston Villa coaching alumni have a challenge on their hands when it comes to the project at Norwich City and it won’t be easy to prevent relegation. The Canaries have just one win from eleven and currently sit at the bottom of the Premier League table with only five points from a potential 33, five points adrift from safety.That said, Shakespeare and Smith certainly have the credentials, experience and resources in hungry young players like Todd Cantwell and Billy Gilmour at Norwich, to give the relegation battle a good shot and if appointed, will host Southampton at Carrow Road this weekend.In other news: ‘World class’ Billy Gilmour can save Norwich from relegation…