All posts by z3u9t.icu

Many Wolves fans have been left slamming the display of Francisco Trincao in their game at home to Newcastle United in the Premier League.

The Portugal international missed a big chance to score in the first half that would have put the Midlands club 2-0 up after Hwang Hee-chan had given them the lead, but they ended up conceding an equaliser to Jeff Hendrick moments later to make the score 1-1 at half-time.

Other than that opportunity, he struggled to really get into the game, and seemed to be bullied off of the ball a little bit too easily at times, with some members of the Molineux faithful noting his physicality.

Before the match this afternoon, Trincao had only managed one goal and no assists all season (Transfermarkt), and it seems as if he is struggling to adapt to English football.

Wolves fans on Trincao display

These WWFC supporters slammed his performance on Twitter, with one even going as far as to claim that he is ‘awful’:

“Trincao way off the pace Adama on at half-time surely”

Credit: @CaritaMejor

“Trincao horror show”

Credit: @lewis_sharp17

“Trincao is awful.”

Credit: @JBabbacombe

“Trincao just isn’t very good”

Credit: @FourFourTwoPls

“Trincao might not be tough enough for the Premier League.”

Credit: @Ashley19345299

“Get Trincao off the pitch”

Credit: @MichaelKlump44

In other news, find out what Pedro Neto footage has Wanderers buzzing here!

Aston Villa are interested in signing Chelsea teenager Valentino Livramento.

And, as to be expected, the latest transfer link has had a number of Villa supporters talking on social media.

Chelsea’s Goal correspondent Nizaar Kinsella shared the news on Twitter on Wednesday afternoon, claiming Villa are keen on the 18-year-old.

Kinsella also added that Tammy Abraham, who has been linked with a Villa Park return, wants to leave the club this summer.

Livramento, born in London, can play as a right-back and right midfielder. He’s yet to make a senior appearance for the Blues and is out of contract at Stamford Bridge in 12 months time.

The youngster turned out on 26 occasions for Chelsea’s youth side last season, scoring three times and registering 10 assists.

Villa fans react

@villareport shared the links to Livramento on Twitter on Wednesday. These Villa fans were excited by the news, with more than one referencing his ability on Football Manager to make a judgement.

“YES PLEASEEEE”Credit: @JoeAVFC_”this guy on fm is different gravy sign him up”Credit: @rjszn82″class fm player sign him up”Credit: @DanAV___”Excellent, I’ve heard good things about this kid”Credit: @37K37″Just building for the Champions League don’t fret anyone”Credit: @MerseMagic”This lad flies”Credit: @Jamorushton

In other news: Villa set to miss out on Premier League midfielder following Fabrizio Romano’s update, find out more here. 

Many fans of West Ham United have been reacting to a post on Twitter in which Jesse Lingard looked back on the Hammers’ defeat at St James’ Park at the weekend.

Despite bagging his ninth goal in just 10 Premier League appearances since joining West Ham on loan in February, Lingard could ultimately not help the Irons to successfully overturn a 2-0 half-time deficit as Newcastle finished Saturday’s clash as 3-2 winners.

In reaction to the defeat, the 28-year-old took to Twitter, stating his belief that the Hammers showed “great character” in their fightback, as well as claiming that David Moyes’ side were “unlucky not to come away with anything” from the match, before stating that the team will “rest, recover and go again.”

In response, many fans of West Ham flocked to have their say on the matter, with plenty hoping that the knock Lingard picked up in the fixture, which caused the midfielder to be withdrawn in the closing stages, will not keep him out of action for too long.

What exactly did these West Ham fans have to say in reaction to Jesse Lingard’s comments?

“Hope you’re OK Jesse. Bad luck and too many mistakes today. Better luck next week.”

@CraigardH

“How serious is your injury?”

@Sammy_dodgerx

“Please recover quick.”

@ScoutSoucek

“Well said Jesse, hope you are ok.”

@dooler_kevin

“Hope you’re not too injured Jes.”

@shanyloublog

“Bang on. Please be fit for Chelsea.”

@Kenbw1960

“Please be fit.”

@addzy100

In other news: West Ham eye summer swoop for in-demand defender; GSB could land deal for £13m – find out more here!

Everton are interested in signing £27m-rated Atalanta defender Merih Demiral this summer and he could be the perfect replacement for Michael Keane.

What’s the story?

According to journalist Yakup Cinar (via Goodison News) Everton are among several sides who are “interested” in signing the 24-year-old who’s is currently on loan at Atalanta from Juventus.

They have the option to make the move permanent in the summer for £23.5m, but could potentially sell Demiral on for a profit like they did with Cristian Romero. When interviewed by TuttoJuve.com Cinar said that the interest in the player is high.

He’s miles better than Keane

Everton are battling for survival at the moment and are currently in the relegation zone. Whether or not they stay in the Premier League this summer doesn’t change the fact that they need a squad overhaul.

Many of their current players have underperformed massively this season, and one of those is defender Michael Keane, who Demiral could replace if he is brought to Goodison Park.

Keane has featured several times for the Toffees this season and has been a key part of their troubled defence. They have only managed to keep six clean sheets in the league all campaign, and it has led to Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher rightly calling their back four “Championship level”.

Demiral has been described by outlet Goal as a “brick wall” and at 6 foot 2, he is a strong presence in the box. He impressed when facing English side Manchester United in the group stage of the Champions League earlier this season, scoring versus the Red Devils and winning 100% of his duels in a 3-2 defeat, so he has proven himself against Premier League opposition already.

The Turkey international is a force in the air, being ranked in the top 2% when it comes to aerial duals won compared with other centre backs in Europe’s top five leagues over the last year.

When you compare him directly to Keane he’s also better on the ball with a higher pass completion percentage of 87.5% compared to 77.3%. He’s also tackled a higher percentage of dribblers than the Englishman.

If Demiral is available at a decent price in the summer then Frank Lampard should look no further than him to solve their issues at the back. At 24 he can also be a figurehead at the club for years to come.

IN other news: More misery: Alan Myers drops four-word Everton claim that’ll leave supporters fuming…

A report from The Times has explored the extent of financial damage relegation can cause for Newcastle United.

The Magpies find themselves 16th in the Premier League and only a single point ahead of 18th-placed Fulham, who have played a game more. They are also one point ahead of Brighton and find themselves in the middle of a relegation scrap, but failure to avoid the drop could have disastrous financial consequences.

NUFC players don’t have relegation clauses

A report from Martin Hardy in The Times has talked about the finances which can be affected by Newcastle’s potential relegation. It stated that the Magpies could witness ‘devastating’ financial consequences, as the club’s players don’t have relegation clauses in their contracts.

The Tynesiders have previously done that to avoid signings from being deterred from joining and, as a result of this clause, the club would have to take their Premier League wage bill to the Championship. The report added that their wage bill stood at £96.8m in June 2019, but since then they have roped in Joelinton, Callum Wilson, Ryan Fraser and Jamal Lewis.

Clubs use relegation clauses to ensure that they manage the revenue drop in the absence of Premier League money, but the Magpies don’t have that in place.

Relegation could be disastarous for NUFC

While financial issues would likely crop up in case of relegation, it has been stated by journalist Liam Kennedy that dropping out of the Premier League could dramatically reduce chances of a potential takeover for the Magpies.

This clearly shows that they can’t afford to get relegated and could have severely damaging consequences, so Steve Bruce’s side need to turn their form around soon to avoid this unenviable scenario.

In other news, one Newcastle man could be set to return to the first team soon – read more here.

Manchester City fans are far from happy with Pep Guardiola following comments from Ilkay Gundogan which appeared to criticise the Spaniard.

While the Citizens will have been happy to win the Premier League and the League Cup last term, they will have been particularly disappointed to lose the Champions League final to Chelsea in Porto.

For that match, Guardiola made a questionable tactical decision, deciding to start the game without Fernandinho or Rodri for almost the first time during the season (The Daily Mail).

£36m-valued Gundogan (Transfermarkt) was selected in a more defensive midfield position despite generally being a more attacking player. He spoke to German journalist Christian Falk about the move, and it is fair to say that he was not too happy with the choice from Guardiola.

The comments were shared on Twitter by @City_Xtra, and attracted plenty of attention from the City supporters. They took to the social media platform to share their thoughts on what Gundogan said.

Let’s see what the fans had to say about the Gundogan comments below

“Says it all really..”

Credit: @bigmacwills

“No wonder he wants out”

Credit: @kafimcfc

“Pep should have learned from the experiments with Lyon, Chelsea in the FA Cup and Premier League, stop experimenting in important games, play the best side, play the players in their rightful positions, it’s not about you and your genius ideas but about winning the match.”

Credit: @fidbee

“So all this squad overhaul may be Pep trying to bring newcomers who would be fooled for his experimental tactics. The existing players are tired of it.”

Credit: @jpcancelo27

“I knew it. Players looked confused on the pitch. Doubt then knew what the hell they were doing. Guess we now know why half the squad are looking for the exits.”

Credit: @_TrueInBlue

“He didn’t overthink in quarters and semi’s we won, he chose a new plan for the finals and we lost  still hurts not because we lost but we literally gave it away.”

Credit: @furqan00055

In other news, Man City fans want to sign this Champions League-winning midfielder.

Former Aston Villa boss Alex McLeish has told the club what to do this summer, regarding a move for Tottenham’s Harry Winks.

What’s the talk?

Former Aston Villa boss Alex McLeish has claimed that Tottenham’s Harry Winks could be a good addition to Dean Smith’s squad this summer. Football Insider have claimed that Winks is available and Spurs would be willing to sell him for £30m, with McLeish backing Newcastle and Villa to look at him.

He said: “Newcastle United, would they not fancy him?

“Aston Villa too. I don’t know if Aston Villa have got enough midfielders. He’s certainly bright enough to play for some of these teams.”

In 2019, former Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino hailed the “amazing” midfielder for his improvement in front of goal in the first team. He told Tottenham’s official website:

“He deserves the praise because the whole action is amazing.

“He recovered the ball like a full-back, we started to build from the back and then he arrived for the cross from GK, which was fantastic – we have to praise him too.

“It’s amazing, amazing, because we were talking in the last few weeks that he had to score and to have more presence in the opposition’s box because he has the quality to do it. I’m so happy.”

Smith needs him

NSWE could strike gold for Aston Villa with a swoop for Winks this summer. Villa lack depth in the central midfield department and Dean Smith needs a player like Winks to come in and fill that hole in the squad.

John McGinn and Douglas Luiz were Smith’s preferred partnership in midfield, with the pair starting 37 and 32 Premier League games respectively. Marvelous Nakamba and Morgan Sanson were Smith’s only other options for those roles and neither of them started ten or more Premier League matches.

This suggests that Winks could come in and apply much-needed pressure on McGinn and Luiz. The Tottenham man could arrive and compete for a place in the starting XI instead of coming in to make up the numbers, as Nakamba and Sanson seemingly did in the 2020/21 campaign with their lack of involvement in the league.

Winks would then help McGinn and Luiz improve by pushing them to work harder to keep their place in the side, creating healthy competition in central midfield within Smith’s squad.

The £30m midfielder is a proven player at Premier League level. He has played over 100 games for Tottenham in the league, with over 150 games in all competitions for the London-based club, and has been capped ten times by England at international level.

He is also at a great age to develop, at 25, and Smith could help coach him into becoming a key player for the club – utilising his experience and potential to turn him into Villa’s midfield metronome for years to come. This is why NSWE could strike gold for Villa with the Englishman this summer.

AND in other news, NSWE could land Aston Villa’s next Paul Merson in “extraordinary” £20k-p/w dynamo…

March was something of a rollercoaster month for Steven Gerrard’s Rangers as they secured their 55th Premiership title before being knocked out of the Europa League against Slavia Prague at Ibrox, although one constant was the impressive performances of Filip Helander.

The Swedish international has been a regular under Gerrard since signing from Bologna in 2019, going on to make 45 appearances for the Light Blues, in which he has contributed five goals and one assist.

The 27-year-old has been a key part of Rangers’ impressive Premiership season, forming an excellent partnership with Connor Goldson in central defence, making 21 appearances in the Scottish top flight and averaging a superb 7.11 WhoScored match rating.

He endured a difficult February which saw him fail to average above a 7/10 WhoScored rating in any of his five appearances, with notably poor performances in the 1-1 draw with Hamilton and the 4-3 win against Royal Antwerp.

However, the £1.8m-rated defender was able to bounce back in March with four excellent displays from his five appearances in all competitions, with the one small blip coming in the Old Firm derby, when he earned a solid if unspectacular 6.6 WhoScored rating after being beaten by Mohamed Elyounoussi for the opening goal.

[snack-amp-story url=”https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/latest-rangers-transfer-rumours-and-news” title=”Read this week’s latest Rangers news, transfer rumours and more!”]

His other performances were superb, though, as he earned above a 7/10 rating for his performances against Livingston, St Mirren and Slavia Prague, when he scored an important equaliser before inexplicably being dropped for the return leg, which led to Rangers’ first defeat in more than a year on home soil.

Helander was able to continue his impressive club form with Sweden recently, helping Janne Andersson’s side to a clean sheet in their 1-0 win against Georgia earlier this week, once again earning above a 7/10 rating from WhoScored, so it is perhaps no surprise to see him being linked with both Leicester City and Aston Villa recently.

During the 418 minutes Helander played in March, he conceded just two goals, which emphasises how important he has been at the back for Gerrard’s side this season, with their phenomenal defensive record one of the key factors behind their league title triumph.

[freshpress-quiz id=“588789″]

Gerrard dubbed the Swedish international a “leader” in 2019, and this month has certainly emphasised his qualities at the back for both club and country, which will surely delight his manager.

in other news… Wilson should stand firm with in-demand Rangers wonderkid who “offers something different” this summer

Speaking exclusively to Football FanCast, former West Ham striker Frank McAvennie has praised David Moyes’ transfer policy of signing players from the Championship.

Having seen big money signings like Felipe Anderson and Sebastien Haller – both signed by Manuel Pellegrini – fail to live up to expectations, the Hammers boss has recently been shopping in the second tier.

His first signing back at the London Stadium was Jarred Bowen from Hull, who’s scored eight goals and laid on five assists in 34 Premier League appearances, following his arrival last January.

Meanwhile, Craig Dawson and Said Benrahma have come in from Watford and Brentford respectively, whilst Czech Republic duo Tomas Soucek and Vladimir Coufal have both flourished since joining from Slavia Prague.

Then there’s January signing, Jesse Lingard, who’s been in tremendous form, but McAvennie lauded Moyes’ work in the Championship in particular.

He told Football FanCast:

“The best thing that is happening now is that David Moyes is buying the players. I’m not saying the chairman doesn’t do the deal, but David Moyes identifies the players that he wants, and he’s got a good eye for a player.

“I think there’s a lot of wonderful players in the Championship.

“There’s a lot of players doing great in the Championship that you would look at and go ‘he wouldn’t do it in the Premier League,’ but David has done well picking out the ones he has, and I can’t see him changing that.”

The Athletic’s Phil Hay has dropped a late Leeds United injury blow ahead of the club’s Premier League game against Everton on Saturday afternoon.

Marcelo Bielsa’s side were soundly beaten by Manchester United last time out and will no doubt be hoping to get their campaign back on track immediately with their first game at Elland Road this season.

However, they will have to do so once again without the services of Spain international Diego Llorente. In a pre-match discussion hosted by The Athletic on Saturday morning, Hay delivered some worrying news on the centre-back ahead of the clash today.

He said: “Llorente won’t play today – he hasn’t fully recovered from his muscle strain. Bielsa said on Thursday he expects him to be back next week.”

The journalist added: “Llorente has suddenly become a very big player for Leeds. I thought he was the best of the centre-backs last season once he got going and him missing didn’t help at Old Trafford.”

Llorente emerged as a cornerstone of Leeds’ defence in the final few weeks of last season, starting 13 of the last 14 games in the Premier League and coming up with some big performances, not least netting a late equaliser against Liverpool.

As per WhoScored, he averaged an impressive match rating of 6.90, marking him out as the Whites’ second-best centre-back after Liam Cooper, who was also the only player at the club to win more headers per game than Llorente’s 2.2.

As Hay himself says, the Spaniard emerged as a key player for Leeds despite his early troubles with injury in his debut campaign at Elland Road, and last week the Whites saw firsthand the kind of impact his absence can have.

Bielsa is likely to rely on a partnership of Cooper and Pascal Struijk once again, despite seeing them carved open numerous times at Old Trafford.

Hay’s late update is sure to worry Leeds fans ahead of the game against Everton at Elland Road this afternoon.

Meanwhile, Bielsa must start this Leeds star today…