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Leeds United are reportedly still interested in signing Torino centre-back Nicolas Nkoulou this summer, with talks becoming more ‘intense’.

Marcelo Bielsa could be on the lookout for new addition in the next transfer window as he aims to bolster his squad and establish the Whites as a solid Premier League outfit again.

One area where Leeds appear to be relatively well-stocked is at centre-back, but that hasn’t stopped one rumour from doing the rounds.

Bielsa has been linked with bringing Nkoulou to Elland Road in the past and it is now claimed that they are still eyeing up the 72-cap Cameroon international.

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Leeds still keen on Nkoulou move

According to Calciomercato [via Leeds All Over], talks over a move for the 30-year-old have become ‘increasingly intense’, with his contract at Torino expiring at the end of the season.

Nkoulou has been at the Serie A club since 2017 and may believe that a fresh challenge is required.

Transfer Tavern take

As mentioned, there is no great need to sign a centre-back this summer, although Nkoulou’s vast experience could prove to be a shrewd addition. Also, his 88.7% passing success rate is better than any of Leeds’ senior centre-backs, while nobody at Elland Road can match his average of 2.4 interceptions per game – Liam Cooper comes closest at 2.3.

Bringing him in for free may not affect the club’s transfer budget, either, which is another reason why taking a punt on him could be worth it.

It feels like a win-win scenario, with Leeds already possessing strong options in that area should Bielsa opt against a move for Nkoulou.

In other news, Leeds have received a boost in their quest to sign a world-famous star this summer. Find out who it is here.

In a recent interview with Football FanCast, Peterborough United director Barry Fry has claimed that Southampton should demand a huge fee in the summer if Manchester City try and sign Danny Ings.

The 28-year-old is yet to sign a new deal with the South Coast club, with his current contract set to expire at the end of next season, and the likes of Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur have been linked with him ahead of the summer.

The England international has been superb for the Saints since joining from Liverpool on a £20 million deal in 2019, hitting 22 goals in the Premier League last season.

Here’s what Fry had to say about the former Burnley man when speaking exclusively to FFC:

“Well, I think because it’s Manchester City, Southampton will ask for £100 million, but they won’t get nowhere near that!

“Southampton have done amazingly in the transfer market when they’ve sold some of their young players, but Ings isn’t young.

“He’s an established player. And, unfortunately, he’s had a few injuries. He’s a great player, he scores great goals, and he works his socks off, no doubt about that. He could contribute to every team in the Premier League.”

“However, Southampton could ask for more than what Man City is willing to pay. And I hope that doesn’t happen because he has been a great servant to Southampton. And I think if he’s got a year left, then obviously if he doesn’t sign another contract he can walk out in a year’s time on a free transfer, but that’s a waste of a year.

“It’s a waste of money that Southampton can get, and invest in other players. For what Danny Ings has done for Southampton, he should have the opportunity to move to a top club. They shouldn’t stand in his way. But at the same time, Man City have got to pay a proper transfer fee.”

Whilst Southampton would be fortunate to get anything close £100 million for Ings, Fry is right in that the South Coast club should not be bullied into selling the 28-year-old cheaply this summer.

After all, Ings is a proven goalscorer, homegrown and arguably at the peak of his career, having overcome the injury issues that ruined his time at Liverpool.

He is incredibly important in Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side and therefore if Ings does have his heart set on a move to a top-four club this summer, vice-chairman Martin Semmens must ensure that the fee they receive for him represents his quality and is enough for them to bring in an adequate replacement.

And, in other news… Shades of Schneiderlin: Saints could repeat transfer masterclass with 19 y/o gem

According to transfer reports, Leeds remain interested in signing Sampdoria defender Omar Colley this summer.

What’s the story?

Reports in recent weeks have suggested that the 1.91m-tall (6 foot 3) defender is of interest to Marcelo Bielsa’s side ahead of the upcoming summer transfer window, and it now appears that a deal is very much there to be done.

According to ClubDoria46 (via Sport Witness), Sampdoria’s owner Massimo Ferrero is looking for a price between €10m and €15m (£8.6m-£12.9m) in order to sell him.

The report added that, along with Leeds, fellow Premier League sides Fulham and West Ham are also interested in signing the centre-back.

Bielsa will be relieved

Amid an impressive return to the Premier League this season, one of the big problems Bielsa has faced at Elland Road has been Leeds’ difficulty in dealing with set pieces – their tally of 15 conceded is the highest by far of any team in the division.

In signing Colley, Victor Orta would go a long way to addressing that problem, giving the Whites a centre-back who is an absolute monster in the air. This season has seen him win 2.9 aerial duels per game, which would rank him second among Bielsa’s current squad, with only club captain Liam Cooper averaging more with 3.9 per match.

In addition, as per Whoscored, his average of 2.6 interceptions per game would rank him first among all of Leeds’ players, while his 4.2 clearances per match also sees him comfortably above any of Bielsa’s current squad.

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Colley appears to have that ‘safety-first’ mentality which might just give the Leeds manager a completely different option to what he currently has at his disposal.

Rather than having his strengths being able to play out from the back, Colley excels more so within the width of his own penalty area. Just having a player like the Sampdoria ace who relishes the ‘dirty’ side of the game might just help Leeds shore things up more firmly.

Meanwhile, Leeds are facing a transfer battle to sign this midfielder…

A number of Liverpool fans have revealed their frustration with Andy Robertson and Sadio Mane, despite the Reds’ win over RB Leipzig.

The Premier League champions were excellent on Wednesday night, beating Leipzig 2-0 in deserved fashion and making it through to the Champions League quarter-finals.

After a terrible run of form in the league, a response was much-needed from Liverpool and they duly obliged, comprehensively outplaying their opponents.

They had to wait until the final 20 minutes to break the deadlock, but quickfire efforts from Mohamed Salah and Mane sealed a 4-0 win aggregate victory.

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In truth, Mane was again far from his best overall, however, looking a far cry from the world-class player who has been so key for Liverpool in recent years.

Similarly, Robertson looked flat down the left flank, lacking his usual energy and quality on the ball, not to mention his link-up play with Mane.

Liverpool fans fume at Robertson and Mane

Here’s how a selection of Liverpool fans reacted to Robertson and Mane’s performances on Twitter.

“For some reason the telepathic connection between Robertson and Mane has needed Google translate this season”

Credit: @TaintlessRed

“Really been bugging me for ages now so frustrating after the last few years of incredible link up play between them”

Credit: @romdog117

“They both look shattered imo, probably a big reason for it”

Credit: @Naby_Lad_

“Robbo has been terrible today. Poor passing can’t keep the defensive line either. He isn’t helped out by Mane who has been trash”Credit: @W47id”When is Klopp gonna make changes, Mane looks lost Robbo can’t cross”Credit: @dhuks1″Mane and Robbo just not clicking at the moment eh”Credit: @nice2cu2cuniceIn other news, Liverpool fans have been reacting to some brilliant Marko Grujic antics for Porto against Juventus on Tuesday night. Read about them here.

Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer may not have signed any new faces in the January transfer market, but he may be forced to splash the cash to sign one of his top summer targets.

What’s the word?

Max Aarons, Norwich City’s 21-year-old starlet, has emerged as a potential signing for the Red Devils.

However, Solskjaer’s side are set to face stiff competition from Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich, who are also said to be looking to strike a deal in the summer, according to The Daily Mail.

The Canaries defender, who is currently valued at £18m via Transfermarkt, last inked a five-year deal at Carrow Road in 2019 keeping him at his boyhood club until at least 2024.

Woodward must act before it’s too late

But that has done little to stamp out the speculation about his future, with a whole host of clubs said to be interested, with Bayern reportedly stepping up their pursuit of the right-back, who has established himself as an integral part of Daniel Farke’s side as they attempt to return to the Premier League at the first time of asking.

It’s unsurprising Solskjaer wants to recruit competition for first-choice full-back Aaron Wan-Bissaka, and Aarons – who is two years his junior – fits the profile of a player who can provide both cover and long-term competition for a spot in Solskjaer’s starting XI.

A lively and energetic dribbler, the youngster can play on either wing, and has shown his effectiveness going forwards so far this season with one goal and three assists across all competitions, per Transfermarkt. By comparison, even Wan-Bissaka himself has only managed to supply two assists in the Premier League this season, implying that Aarons can provide a genuine attacking threat.

His manager’s comments ahead of his 100th appearance for Norwich City revealed just how highly he is rated by his club’s hierarchy, which suggests that he won’t come cheap. “Max is outstanding in many topics. I can’t praise him enough for what he has done since his first appearance.

“When you have the clubs interested in him who were interested it is easy to lose the ground under the feet.

“Maybe you think you know everything about football. He is always looking to work harder. Never ill, never injured. If the best clubs in the world are interested then maybe there is not that much more space to improve.”

It’s fair to say that it looks like his future will be an extremely bright one. While it remains to be seen whether he will be plying his trade at Old Trafford next term, whoever ends up acquiring his signature will have landed themselves one to watch for the future.

If Solskjaer is serious about bringing in competition for Wan-Bissaka, Ed Woodward must pull out all the stops to sign Aarons in the summer. It really is as simple as that.

Given Aarons has already had a season of Premier League football under his belt at Norwich last season, he seems like the perfect man to battle Wan-Bissaka for that right-back slot at Old Trafford.

And that in turn could help improve Wan-Bissaka’s performances as he recognises he will have competition for his starting place. Being that he’s young, English and a hugely exciting talent, Aarons ticks all the boxes for United – a report from The Telegraph back in the summer of 2019 revealed a leak email from Woodward about this being the kind of profile of signing that he wants to make with Solskjaer at the helm.

Ultimately, it would be a signing that would surely have Solskjaer buzzing.

AND in other Man Utd news, Bruno Fernandes was Manchester United’s one shining light vs West Brom…

Many Crystal Palace fans are delighted to hear the latest injury update on Wilfried Zaha provided by Roy Hodgson in his press conference before the match against Manchester United.

The Eagles manager said: “It’s quite good news really, he’s [Zaha] returned to training albeit a little bit modified. But he looks really ready to go again. We’ll have to wait for the green light from the medical staff, but it’s looking really positive.”

For the south London side, an injury to Zaha, especially a hamstring one, was awful news and could not have happened to a more influential player. He is their talisman and has managed nine goals and two assists in his 19 Premier League appearances this term.

In some of the games he has missed this season, like the matches against Burnley and Newcastle at Selhurst Park, Palace lacked creativity as they lost both games without scoring a single goal. Therefore, this update is great to hear for all associated with the club and hopefully he can return as soon as possible.

With the club currently 13th, the Ivory Coast international’s returncould be a huge boost for the club and give them an outside chance of finishing in the top ten.

These Palace fans on Twitter were naturally “buzzing” with the update on Zaha:

Here is how fans reacted to the news:

“Wilf’s been modified into RoboWinger. Beware!”

Credit: @antgodwyn

“We move”

Credit: @ReubenPinder

“PRAISE THE LORD”

Credit: @HLTCO

“So, in theory, both Schlupp and Zaha should be fit and firing by the time we play West Brom”

Credit: @TCPalacePod

“MY SWEET LORD”

Credit: @MATTT046

“Buzzing”

Credit: @letstalkpalace

In other news, many Palace fans reacted to these Hodgson comments!

Tottenham Hotspur will be looking to right their midweek wrongs when they return to Premier League action this evening.

Jose Mourinho’s side head to the Midlands to face an Aston Villa side who are just one place behind them in the standings ahead of kickoff.

The north London giants embarrassingly crashed out of the Europa League on Thursday night, so now a desperate push for the top four is required if Spurs are to get back into the Champions League.

But tonight’s encounter is no mean feat, and Mourinho has plenty to ponder…

On the Chalkboard

Individual defensive mistakes were once again the root cause of much of Spurs’ woes, so the Portuguese boss ought to make some changes to his backline, especially as Villa now have a prolific option in Ollie Watkins.

Mourinho was reportedly interested in signing the 25-year-old as a back-up to Harry Kane during the summer window, but he was always playing a losing game – firstly, no one wants to be a second choice, and secondly, he cost a whopping £33m with add-ons.

But boy, has that transfer paid off for Dean Smith. Watkins has bagged 12 times in all competitions this season, including a hat-trick against Liverpool and a brace against arch-rivals, Arsenal. Clearly, the “lethal” talisman likes to turn up for the big occasion.

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Given the number of issues Spurs have had at the back, it seems like a recipe for disaster if Mourinho were to start both Davinson Sanchez and Eric Dier – the pair were dubbed the worst partnership in the league by ex-Spurs midfielder and talkSPORT pundit Jamie O’Hara.

On the latter, he added: “As a centre-half, he just looks lost around the box. In my opinion, he needs to be dropped.”

And we’re inclined to agree. As we outlined after the Europa League game, the long-serving star badly let down the fanbase. Evening Standard reporter Dan Kilpatrick claimed the 27-year-old endured a ‘wretched’ night, claiming: ‘Defensively all over the shop and passing was poor. Gave away silly fouls.’

Watkins averages 2.8 shots per game and is fouled an average of 1.3 times per outing too, via WhoScored. So based on his midweek display, £85k-per-week Dier has no place to be starting as he’ll get torn apart, especially as he has only managed 0.8 tackles per match, too.

Another key ability of Watkins is his pace and acceleration, something that isn’t on Dier’s side either – speaking to Football Insider this week, pundit Alan Hutton claimed the Spurs centre-back “gets exposed at times with a lack of pace.”

Often lambasted as a “liability” amongst the fanbase, the £26m-rated calamity should be axed from Mourinho’s starting XI tonight. If he starts, he could well be haunted by Watkins all night, and then the pressure will only mount on the likes of Harry Kane and Gareth Bale to deliver.

AND in other news, Levy’s genius: Spurs struck dream deal over £45m-rated gem dubbed “phenomenal” by Gold…

It’s time for Tottenham Hotspur to move Lucas Moura on during this transfer window.

The Brazilian winger was an absolute hero only 18 months ago as his dramatic come-from-behind hat-trick in Amsterdam fired Spurs into their first-ever Champions League final, but ever since then, things have quickly gone downhill for the former PSG star.

It says a lot that his only defining moment this season has been a sublime free-kick against eighth-tier Marine in the FA Cup. On Sunday afternoon, he was snubbed again despite all of Steven Bergwijn’s fitness concerns.

The 28-year-old has now only started four of Spurs’ 18 outings in the Premier League, a rather damning indictment towards Jose Mourinho’s feelings on the wide man, you’d imagine.

It’s easy to see why he’s been snubbed so many times – heck, even in midweek without Bergwijn, the Portuguese boss turned to Moussa Sissoko at right-wing instead.

That’s either blasphemy or simply proves that Moura is no longer up to it in north London.

Moura has scored only one goal in the Premier League since December 2019. By comparison, central defender Toby Alderweireld and even right-back Serge Aurier have both found the triple the number of times in the competition.

In addition, his attacking output has dropped immensely – per WhoScored, we’ve seen a regression in dribbles, a key facet of any winger, from 2.1 per game in 2019/20 to 0.4 per match this campaign.

No wonder Mourinho doesn’t start him anymore.

Maybe it comes as a surprise seeing as Moura’s teammate, Eric Dier, waxed lyrical over him in training to the Premier League’s official YouTube channel less than two months ago, he said:

“There’s no-one worse to train against than Lucas Moura. He’s a nightmare. He’s so fast, so sharp.”

Now valued at just £22.5m by Transfermarkt, it might be time to finally sell him as there’s no point having him around if he can’t start against rock-bottom Sheffield United.

According to Eurosport’s Dean Jones, Moura is one of several players the club will listen to offers for, should the right one come in for him this window.

That’s a good stance to take right now as getting his reported £110k-per-week salary off the wage bill could help fund a new signing – it’s well-known that Mourinho wants a new central defender and quite possibly a box-to-box midfielder too.

He can afford to offload Moura too as Bergwijn is the regular in the role, having started eight of 12 top-flight appearances, and there’s still Gareth Bale, who is yet to hit the ground running since his sensational return in the summer.

It’s simply time for Spurs chairman Daniel Levy to offload the £25m star after three years at the club.

AND in other news, Bye-bye Alli: Spurs can land a new Dembele in £22.5m “outstanding talent…

A lot of Liverpool fans have been speculating over Divock Origi’s future in response to a tweet from The Athletic’s James Pearce, in which he shared comments from Reds manager Jurgen Klopp about the Belgian forward. 

Origi hasn’t played a very prominent role for the Reds of late, with the 25-year-old having made just five appearances for the 2019/20 Premier League champions so far this season.

He didn’t even make Liverpool’s bench for their most recent top-flight game, Sunday’s 4-0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers, and Klopp has now revealed that he wasn’t absent from the squad for that game due to injury, which suggests that the German manager believes other options are simply better than Origi at the moment. 

So, how did these Liverpool fans react to Klopp’s comments on Origi?

A lot of Reds fans have been responding to Pearce’s tweet to speculate over the £14.4m-rated man’s future, calling for the Belgium ace to be sold and discussing the ‘strange’ issue of his lack of playing time. One supporter admitted Origi is forever a ‘legend’ due to his iconic goals against the likes of Everton, Barcelona and Tottenham. 

In other news, Liverpool are allegedly interested in making a move for Paulo Dybala.

Glasgow Rangers may have brought in backup for Borna Barisic in the shape of Calvin Bassey, but they may well have another long-term replacement lined up for a future move to Ibrox if recent reports are to be believed.

What’s the story?

According to The Daily Record, Rangers are interested in signing Croatian left-back Marijan Cabraja from Gorica.

It’s claimed that the 54-time Scottish champions are closely monitoring his situation, with his agent Miroslav Bicanic adding that there is interest from Italy, Poland, Russia and the United States as well as from the Ibrox outfit.

Cabraja said: “It is true that Rangers are following me, contact has been established but it all depends on how the situation with Borna Barisic develops.

“I don’t believe that the Scots will pay as much as Gorica are asking for, but let’s leave that aside now, the only thing that matters to me is how we will play in Split on Sunday.”

Ross Wilson would be wise to secure his services as not only would the former Croatia U21 international be able to provide cover and competition for his fellow countryman and he’d also add an alternative threat in attack

Papac 2.0?

Ibrox has borne witness to some of the best full-backs ever to grace the Scottish game, but that hasn’t always been the case.

For every Arthur Newman, there’s an Agnestis Argyriou, although it looks like the club could land an absolute bargain in the 23-year-old defender.

Standing at 5 foot 9 inches, Cabraja is cut from a similar cloth to former Rangers left-back Sasa Papac, who spent six years with the Govan-based Glaswegian giants.

The Bosnian defensive stalwart, who stands slightly taller at 1.85m tall, was also known for his unflappable style of play, having scored six goals and supplied 14 assists in all competitions for the club, via Transfermarkt.

In 13 appearances in the HNL, the Pula-born left-back has bagged one goal and two assists in total, whilst he has played in every minute of every single game so far this season.

This kind of calm presence and confidence on the ball would be most welcome in Glasgow as the Gers crashed out of the League Cup after Calvin Bassey conceded a sloppy penalty.

To sign a player with Cabraja’s obvious potential, whose market value is estimated at as little as £585,000, to provide injury cover for Barisic, could be a shrewd bit of business.

AND in other news, Glasgow Rangers must cash in on Greg Stewart in January…