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This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…

As quoted by The Evening Standard, former Manchester United star Michael Carrick has suggested the club’s promising youngsters should learn from the side’s history.

What did he say?

After revealing at the end of the previous campaign that he could envisage some of the side’s talented academy prospects get their “chances next year”, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has handed the likes of Mason Greenwood and Brandon Williams some opportunities this season.

The duo have been arguably the highlights of those who have made the step-up from academy level, playing 13 and seven games respectively for the senior side. And now, Carrick has given his advice to those players looking to make a significant break-through into the first-team.

He said: “It’s part of the history and traditions of this club. It lives on. It’s kind of the perfect position at the moment for the group that we’ve got. It’s to understand what it takes, the ups and downs that life, not just football, can bring that you’ve got to overcome. To be able to get to the top and stay at the top are different things. The sacrifices you’ve got to make.

“There is a responsibility that comes with playing for this club that probably doesn’t come with other clubs. It’s got that special nature about it. I was fully aware of it and I’m sure the boys now are. Keep playing like that with a smile on your faces and that represents the club the best way you can.”

Role model

When Carrick gives you a piece of advice, you’d do well to sit up and take notice. Whilst the likes of Greenwood and Williams must be on cloud nine after forcing their way into the first-team set-up, they have by no means made it.

Footballing history is littered with extremely talented young players who have simply fallen by the wayside because of numerous reasons that may not even necessarily be to do with what they do on the pitch. Think Ravel Morrison for example – a man who Rio Ferdinand revealed Sir Alex Ferguson had described as the “best kid you’ll ever see”, but has now turned into a bit of a journeyman, playing for nine different senior sides.

If United’s prospects can simply knuckle down and try to make the most of the opportunities they are given by Solskjaer over the coming weeks and months, then they stand a much better chance of consolidating their long-term futures at Old Trafford.

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…

Speaking to The Athletic, former director of football at Everton, Steve Walsh, has revealed he urged Jose Mourinho not sign Romelu Lukaku for Manchester United.

What did he say?

The Belgium international had enjoyed a fine career at Goodison Park with Everton, scoring 87 goals and providing a further 29 assists in 166 games across all competitions. His form led to him sealing a £75m move to United in the summer of 2017, but has now made his departure from the club just two years after joining.

Walsh has now revealed that he explicitly warned Mourinho over the dangers of the then United boss making a move for the centre-forward, and also criticised the signing of Paul Pogba too.

He said: “When Jose signed Romelu Lukaku from Everton, I remember saying to him, ‘You have to be careful with Lukaku. He is a big baby, you know’. He said he could handle him. I don’t think he really got Lukaku on-side mentally, which you have to do.

“That is the case with him and Paul Pogba. They aren’t my type of players. They are more about themselves than the team. I wouldn’t have touched them. Because they are good players doesn’t mean you are going to get a good team out of it.”

Not the right fit

As United have been witness to over the past few months, the transfer sagas surrounding both Lukaku and Pogba certainly shine a light on the kind of personalities that they originally signed. The former went on a podcast with NBA star Josh Hart to slam his old club this summer, while the latter has expressed multiple times that he would be open to leaving Old Trafford too.

The Red Devils to their credit have seemingly begun a rebuild that doesn’t appear to focus on their high-profile stars as much, with the departure of Lukaku in particular showing that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is keen to take a new direction. If they can end the Pogba drama too, then they really can move forward and forget about looking back at the past.

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Transfer Focus series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent transfer news…

West Bromwich Albion have been handed a major boost in their pursuit of striker Dwight Gayle as according to Chronicle Live reporter Mark Douglas, Newcastle United will listen to offers in January.

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What’s the word?

The Baggies are keen on bringing their former loan ace back to the Hawthorns this January, per the Telegraph, after the 29-year-old scored 24 goals in 40 league games last campaign.

Slaven Bilic’s chances of signing him have now been improved as an exit from the north-east seems rather likely if the Magpies are indeed willing to listen to offers for him.

Douglas claims that even though it will not be publicly advertised, Gayle is effectively on the trading block.

The striker has been limited to just four minutes of Premier League action this campaign, which at first was down to injury, but he has now been named on the bench in five straight matchday squads.

January boost

It is no secret that West Brom’s striking department has been faltering this season, even despite them ranking as the second-highest scorers in the division.

Charlie Austin has only managed to score once in 11 appearances, Kenneth Zohore’s two goals have come from the spot, and Hal Robson-Kanu just can’t score when given the opportunity to start a game with all three of his strikes coming as a substitute.

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The trio have combined for just six of their 29 league goals this season, which is the same number as winger Matty Phillips alone, and if you then add Matheus Pereira and Grady Diangana into the equation, the midfield three have contributed to 82% of their league goals, per WhoScored.

Therefore, it is fair to suggest that a striker would be much welcome at the Hawthorns in January.

The Baggies have a two-point cushion at the top of the Championship table but that could have been far greater had the likes of Austin and Zohore justified their combined £12m pricetag.

Sunderland were in a difficult position going into the 2018/19 season. It was the dawn of their first season in the third-tier since 1987/88 having suffered back-to-back relegations, and everything at the club was new.

Stewart Donald had just taken over from Ellis Short and appointed Jack Ross, who had the unenviable task of overhauling much of the squad that had finished bottom of the 2017/18 Championship table.

In fact, there are no survivors from that team in the current squad, if you exclude youth players like Lynden Gooch and Denver Hume. The Black Cats brought in 12 senior players in the summer of 2018, and they have had varying success in the north-east.

Charlie Wyke was signed by Ross to complement Josh Maja after impressing for Bradford. In fact, such was his form for the Bantams that many Sunderland fans were gushing over his arrival.

Unfortunately for the striker he was unable to hit the ground running due to injury and by Christmas of 2018, he had made just three appearances for the club.

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He went on to score just four league goals in 24 games last year, but despite coming into 2019/20 raring to go he has also had a limited impact in front of goal.

A return of five goals in 27 league games this campaign has led to several calls from fans for the striker to be dropped, and he could be facing an uncertain future with his contract up at the end of the season.

For away day veterans only: Can you name all of these defunct stadiums?

He has therefore failed to live up to the billing of supporters who thought he could be the difference in achieving promotion for Sunderland.

Elsewhere, Sunderland fans have been engaged in a debate about who deserves to win their Player of the Year award…

According to The Evening Standard, Tottenham target Geoffrey Kondogbia could be available for around €30m (£26.3m) this summer.

What’s the word?

The Valencia midfielder has been linked with a move to the north London side in recent weeks, with Sky Sports reporting back in March that the club’s chief scout, Steve Hitchen, is a “long-term admirer” of the Frenchman.

Now, The Evening Standard claim that Kondogbia could leave for considerably less than originally expected, especially if Valencia fail to qualify for the Champions League next season (the Spanish side currently lie in seventh in the La Liga table).

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The report adds that Valencia will listen to offers for any of their players, and that with them keen to make a profit on the €25m (£21.9m) they paid to sign Kondogbia from Inter, the midfielder could depart for around €30m.

Perfect chance

Kondogbia’s name has been linked with a move for Spurs for a number of seasons now, but the big stumbling block has been the midfielder’s substantial release clause, claimed to be around the €80m (£70.2m) mark.

But with the current situation surrounding the world impacting football too, Daniel Levy could have a perfect opportunity to sign a long-term target for the club at a fraction of the price it would have cost to bring him a couple of summers ago.

The 6 foot 2 ace is a midfield powerhouse who offers something completely different to the current crop of players who feature in the engine room at Spurs. Capable of being the enforcer in front of the back four (he averages 2.4 tackles and 2.2 interceptions per game in La Liga this season), he can also drive forward with surging runs (he has a career average of 1.4 dribbles per match).

Remind Spurs fans of anyone? Mousa Dembele of course was similar in the way he could go through the gears with his skill and power, and Kondogbia’s height and physicality can ensure that the Lilywhites finally get the heir to his throne, over a year after the Belgian’s departure.

Meanwhile, Spurs fans reminisce about this former star’s time in north London.

Leeds United fans have probably never heard or Ouasim Bouy – or at least won’t believe he’s still under contract at Elland Road.

He was one of the first signings of the Andrea Radrizzani era in 2017 but has never made a senior appearance for the club, and to this day, is still dining out on his contract, which is believed to be a “respectable first-team salary”. That’s a lot of money from the chairman’s pocket gone to waste in nearly three years.

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In the summer, Marcelo Bielsa sent him away from Thorp Arch as he clearly wasn’t going to be part of his plans and having not been able to secure a loan for him, he’s been without a club and not been playing.

This week, he posted a cryptic video and message to

/B_kpMJUFEa9/” data-lasso->Instagram that suggested he was preparing for something…

When the Championship season resumes, Buoy certainly won’t be involved so it leaves question marks over what he’s training for.

The 26-year-old joined the club on a free transfer from Juventus and was once touted as the biggest European talent born post-1993 – yes, really.

Bouy could well see out his contract with another year still to run. That would be the definition of stealing a living.

AND in other news, Phil Hay issues fresh update on Championship season…

Tottenham Hotspur have posted an exclusive look behind-the-scenes as the NHS has taken over the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium during the ongoing pandemic.Â

Spurs offered the venue as a centre of operations for medical staff and the £1bn venue became the first Premier League ground to be used as a testing site earlier this month (The Sun).

The North Middlesex University Hospital is now in its third week at the famous arena and the club shared an insight into how the facilities have been repurposed for clinical use.

Head coach Jose Mourinho has been helping out in the front-line in the fight against COVID-19, volunteering to harvest fruit and vegetables from the training ground, and delivering it to the stadium, where the fresh produce is then redistributed amongst the local community most in need.

Understandably, many Lilywhites are buzzing over the club’s “quality” tweet, with one fan describing the effort as “first class,” and another adding it is “fantastic” to see.

Scroll through some of the best reactions down below…

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Celtic fans have been discussing their former left-back, Emilio Izaguirre, on social media after the club’s official Twitter account wished him a happy 34th birthday.

The Honduras international departed Glasgow for his home country in the summer after eight seasons at Celtic Park.

Over the course of his Bhoys career, Izaguirre racked up 271 appearances, scoring five goals as well as providing 48 assists, via Transfermarkt.

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During his debut season, he clinched the SPFA, SFWA and the SPFL Player of the Year award before winning seven titles.

His game time quickly diminished following the emergence of Kieran Tierney at the club so he moved to Saudi Arabia, joining Al-Fayha, but he soon returned to the Scottish giants after cutting his time short in the country.

He is clearly adored by much of the Hoops faithful with many lauding him on Twitter.

Here’s how they have been reacting to his birthday…

AND in other news, Celtic fans drool over Scott Brown footage…

The winger was all smiles as he trained with his team-mates at the City Football Academy yesterday, with his social media post also displaying a happy David Silva as Pep Guardiola’s side continue preparations for the resumption of the Premier League in just over two weeks’ time.

Sane has yet to feature in the 2019/20 league season after he ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament in last August’s Community Shield but, with 10 months passing since that hammer blow, he is back in training and looks like a man eagerly awaiting to get back on the pitch for the English champions.

As shown by goal tallies of 16 and 14 in the previous two seasons, the 24-year-old has often been a very influential presence in attack for Manchester City when he has been available, so his return to fitness ought to be a significant boost for Guardiola ahead of the league’s resumption.

Plenty of the club’s supporters also made their feelings known in the replies to Sane’s Instagram post as they begged for the winger to stay at the Etihad Stadium – there were also many replies from Bayern Munich fans hoping that he will return to Germany.

If he can get back to the form that he showed in Manchester City’s last two title-winning seasons, he could have many more fans yearning for him to snub Bayern’s advances.

Man City fans, were you pleased to see Sane looking so content on the training ground? Are you confident that he will stay at the Etihad? Give us your thoughts in the comments section below!

Garry Monk has admitted he will beÂdisappointed to see Morgan Fox leave at the end of the month.Â

After a successful outing to Ashton Gate, the Sheffield Wednesday boss has reflected on losing one of the side’s key players. The Owls were victorious against Bristol City, returning to Hillsborough with a 2-1 win under their belts. Of course, the team and fans alike are happy to come away with a victory, but Monk has other things on his mind.

Speaking to Yorkshire Live, the 41-year-old said: “I have loved working with him [Fox]. I am hugely disappointed that he is not staying here. It is sad to lose him. I will be trying to persuade him on the bus journey home to extend at least!”

The left-back is amongst 14 senior players whose contracts are expiring at Wednesday. Whilst some opted to extend their deals until the end of the season, the ex-Charlton man did not and will now depart (BBC Sport), meaning his substitute appearance against the Robins looks to be his last in blue and white.

Following their win in Bristol, the Owls have moved up the table and now sit in 13th place on 52 points. Wednesdayites just want to live in the moment and have responded to Monk’s comments on Fox, with one tweeting ‘Don’t spoil a good day Garry’.

Read more replies from the Hillsborough faithful here:

Will you be sad to see Morgan Fox leave the club, Owls fans? Have your say in the comments below…