All posts by z3u9t.icu

Liverpool have enjoyed a rather successful start to their season with Jurgen Klopp’s side currently unbeaten across the Premier League, Champions League and Carabao Cup.

However, there is one player that has not been a massive part of Liverpool’s season so far that could be on their way out of the Merseyside club in the near future.

What’s the news?

It has recently been reported by The Mirror that Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain could be looking for a way out of Liverpool to get more game time elsewhere and save his career.

Liverpool signed Oxlade-Chamberlain back in the 2017 summer transfer window from fellow Premier League side Arsenal for a fee of £35m.

Since then, the 28-year-old, who is currently valued at £16.2m according to Transfermarkt, has made 109 appearances for the Reds across all competitions in which he has managed to score 14 goals and provide 12 assists in the process.

So far this season, the Englishman, who is currently earning a weekly wage of £120k-per-week according to Spotrac, has made just five appearances across all competitions for Jurgen Klopp’s side, starting just two of them.

Time to move on

Taking into account how Oxlade-Chamberlain, who has been labelled as “outstanding” by Klopp in the past, has been very unlucky with his injury issues during his time with the Merseyside club, this is undoubtedly a factor that must be acknowledged regarding his lack of games since his arrival.

That being said, we feel that if Oxlade-Chamberlain thinks it would be a better option for him and his career to leave Liverpool and join a club where he would be playing regularly, then the Reds should definitely consider letting him go.

They must do so if they get a financial offer they deem suitable for the player either in the upcoming January transfer window or the next summer window. After all, they cannot continue to pay someone who has missed so much football.

The attacking midfielder has missed 72 matches during his Liverpool career, sitting on the treatment table for a period of 493 days. It’s been a sad few years for Oxlade-Chamberlain but unfortunately, now is the time for Klopp to wield the axe on his time in Merseyside.

Whether or not any club would be willing to take a gamble on a player like that only time will tell, but we feel it would be in Liverpool’s best interests to get his salary off their wage bill.

In other news: 100% ground duels lost: Klopp surely worried about “exceptional” Liverpool gem on loan – opinion

Tottenham Hotspur could advance into the final four of the Carabao Cup with a win over West Ham United as the two Premier League sides go to battle in tonight’s quarter-final clash in north London this evening.

This competition could now represent Antonio Conte’s best chance at securing silverware for the trophy-barren Lilywhites, having been eliminated from the Europa Conference League this week after being forced to forfeit their postponed final group game against Stade Rennes.

At the weekend, Spurs held ten-man Liverpool to a 2-2 draw at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, so they will be buoyed by plenty of confidence heading into kick-off tonight.

The Hammers meanwhile have suffered a dip in form amid a mounting defensive injury crisis and that is something that the Italian head coach must make the most of.

As such, he should look to Lucas Moura, who took a place on the bench on Sunday, with the likes of Dele Alli and Tanguy Ndombele being preferred.

David Moyes is without two key central defenders in Angelo Ogbonna and Kurt Zouma, whilst Vladimir Coufal is suspended, with doubts lingering over full-back duo Aaron Cresswell and Ben Johnson.

Unleashing a player with the pace and dynamism of Moura could be absolutely devastating to an already weak-looking backline.

Last year, Lilywhites teammate Eric Dier dubbed the £22.5m-rated Brazilian a “nightmare” to train against. “There’s no one worse to train against than Lucas Moura. He’s a nightmare. He’s so fast, so sharp,” Dier told the Premier League’s official YouTube channel.

Despite his omission at the weekend, Moura ranks as Spurs’ second-best performer in the top-flight this term, having managed an average WhoScored rating of 7.12, a feat only bettered by midfield mainstay Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.

Furthermore, only central defender Davinson Sanchez (2.7 duels) is winning more in the air than the 5 foot 8 dynamo (2.6), though it is his squad-leading 2.8 dribbles per game that could pose a threat to the Irons – Heung-min Son is next best, managing half that figure, which is quite telling.

Moura is also averaging 1.4 shots and 1.2 key passes per league outing, so he could certainly cause plenty of damage later this evening, should Conte bring him back into the starting fold.

Moyes and co must be absolutely fearful of the Brazilian if he is named in the XI at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium tonight.

AND in other news, Talks planned: Spurs source drops major January transfer update, fans will be buzzing…

Speaking to GiveMeSport, journalist Michael Bridge of Sky Sports has been praising the recruitment of Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou. 

The lowdown: Shrewd spender

Since being appointed at Celtic Park in June 2021, the 56-year-old has set about scouting world football for high-quality options to bolster the Hoops’ squad.

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Signings such as Liel Abada from Maccabi Petah Tikva, Carl Starfelt from Rubin Kazan and Kyogo Furuhashi from Japanese outfit Vissel Kobe all arrived as relative unknowns before becoming almost instant successes in Glasgow.

As the Bhoys stand on the brink of winning the Scottish Premiership title, much of the credit is being placed at the door of Postecoglou…

The latest: Bridge hails transfer nous

Speaking to GiveMeSport, Bridge, who works for Sky Sports, has lauded the Greek-Australian’s impact in the market.

“You’ve got to give credit to Celtic and their manager Ange Postecoglou. He’s just come in and steamrollered it. If you look at Rangers in the table, they’re not actually doing that bad, they’ve not lost a lot. They’ve just drawn too many games, and they’ve lost to Celtic a couple of times.

“Celtic have brought in this manager from Japan, people scoffed at it. Let’s not forget, that’s where Wenger came from. He’s bought four Japanese players who’ve absolutely ripped the league to shreds. He’s bought other good players as well.”

The verdict: Unequivocal success

It’s hard to argue with Bridge’s view as the Hoops march on towards a potential league and cup double in Postecoglou’s first season at Parkhead.

Having walked into a squad devoid of confidence, the former Australian national team coach has galvanised those existing players whilst also unearthing a host of diamonds in the transfer market.

Kyogo, Abada and Starfelt have all settled into life at Celtic seamlessly, whilst the likes of loan arrivals Jota and Cameron Carter-Vickers have been nothing short of a revelation this season.

January signings Daizen Maeda, Matt O’Riley and Reo Hatate have all made bright beginnings in their own Bhoys careers too and it would appear inevitable that Postecoglou would be back once again in the upcoming summer market.

In other news, former Celtic striker Chris Sutton has been left fuming. Read more here.

Rangers have not been shy when it comes to signing players from other clubs’ youth ranks, either on loan deals or a permanent basus.

However, as tends to be the case with almost all clubs, not all transfers end up being particularly successful, either for the club, the player or both.

One example of Rangers taking a punt on a young player which didn’t end up being worthwhile for any parties involved is their 2019 deal for winger Brandon Barker.

Brought in from Manchester City’s U23 side that year in a deal worth a reported £300k, the Englishman made just 13 appearances across all competitions in his debut season at Ibrox, scoring just one goal and providing no assists for his team-mates.

The 2020/21 season saw the 25-year-old make another 13 appearances across all competitions, this time doubling his goal record from the previous year with two scored this time around, once again with no assists, before joining Oxford United on loan in the winter transfer window.

After scoring three goals and providing four assists in 19 League One games, the former Man City youth prospect returned to Ibrox. However, he had just one more outing in a Rangers shirt before being released by the club in January, ending his spell with the Gers with just three goals in 27 appearances.

Once dubbed an “unbelievable” player by former Ibrox team-mate Andy Halliday, Barker now finds himself with English Championship side Reading – who picked him up as a free agent in February – where he has since played just 13 minutes across two matches.

Rangers may not have needed to break the bank from a financial point of view in order to sign him, but with the benefit of hindsight, it now seems like they ended up pretty much wasting the £8.5k-per-week wages that he was earning during his stint at Ibrox.

Taking all this into account, it’s safe to say that Mark Allen had a nightmare by bringing Barker to Ibrox, as he clearly couldn’t hit the ground running or kick up any momentum during his spell in Glasgow.

In other news – Wilson nightmare: Rangers dropped the ball on 23-year-old gem who “looks beyond his years”

A major update has emerged on Newcastle United’s pursuit of Burnley central defender James Tarkowski…

What’s the talk?

Telegraph reporter Luke Edwards has claimed that the defender is keen on a switch to the club, but there is still a stumbling block in the club’s path.

He Tweeted: “I wouldn’t get Trippier printed on the back of any #nufc shirts just yet but this looks like a goodbye to me. As for Tarkowski, he’a not exactly playing his best games for Burnley at the moment. I’m told he also wants to come to #nufc but Burnley very reluctant to sell.”

Buzzing

Newcastle fans will surely be buzzing with this claim from Edwards irrespective of the Clarets’ desire to keep him this month.

The news that he is keen to join the Magpies will get the fans excited as it shows that there is an interest from the player and he is out of contract in the summer, which means that he could join on a free if he does not arrive in the next few weeks for a transfer fee.

They will also be delighted as he could be an excellent signing for the side. In the past four full Premier League seasons, he has averaged a WhoScored rating of 7.02 or higher, showing that he has performed to a high standard in the top-flight over a long period of time.

Meanwhile, no Newcastle centre-back has averaged a score higher than 6.42. This suggests that Tarkowski could vastly improve the standard of Eddie Howe’s options in that position.

His teammate Ben Mee previously lauded his professionalism, saying:

“Obviously there was a lot of talk around Tarky. I’ve said to him, ‘I’m glad you’ve stayed.’ He focused really well and he showed that on Saturday.

“He had the attitude of what will be, will be. He never once stepped out of line. You see other players at other clubs, you hear about something and they can go a bit off the rails. He’s stuck to it and trained really well and stuck with the group. He’s fully focused on playing for us.”

This suggests that he is a player who is able to cope with the speculation over his future, which is good news for Newcastle as it means that he could have a seamless transition into playing for the Magpies. He will not allow a big move to get to his head and will be able to come straight in and perform well.

The key question is whether or not he will join now or at the end of the season. Either way, Edwards’ update provides the exciting prospect of him joining the club and fans will be buzzing with it, regardless of when it happens.

AND in other news, Contact made: NUFC can kickstart PIF era with a bang in £20m deal for “phenomenal” gem…

According to respected journalist Alan Nixon on Twitter, Che Adams could be available for just £12 million in the last knockings of the January transfer window. The 22-year-old currently plays his football at Championship outfit Birmingham City and has done so since leaving Sheffield United back in 2016, with his fine goal-scoring exploits seemingly attracting interest from clubs in the Premier League.

And that’s because a recent report from Sky Sports suggests that Burnley have failed with a Deadline Day move for the striker, although Nixon on Twitter suggests that the young Englishman could be available for just £12 million.

And with Manuel Pellegrini’s West Ham reportedly (as per The Sun’s Live Transfer Blog at 10.53am) eyeing up a last-gasp move for Stoke City’s Mame Biram Diouf, the Hammers simply must end their somewhat strange interest in the forward to instead target a late move for 22-year-old Adams.

The Breakdown

Ultimately, Stoke striker Diouf has found first team football hard to come by at the bet365 Stadium this season with only seven Championship appearances to his name so far, in which time the Senegal international has failed to net to underline his difficulties at the Staffordshire-based outfit.

And with no appearances for Nathan Jones’ side since the middle of November, it’s pretty clear that the former Manchester United forward is some way down the pecking order at the Potters, which makes West Ham’s reported (as per The Sun) interest somewhat strange – he can’t get into a Championship team, let alone one in mid-table in the Premier League.

Ultimately, the Hammers are likely looking for strikers that can hit the ground running were they to move to the London Stadium this month, and while Diouf performed solidly last term in the top-flight with six goals for Stoke, his lack of regular football suggests that he simply isn’t the answer – and at the age of 31, he’d hardly be a nod to the long-term either.

Whereas 22-year-old Adams has not only shone and thus out-performed the Potters striker this season, but the Birmingham sensation looks set for an extremely bright future in the game to suggest that £12 million could prove to be an absolute bargain.

The Englishman has enjoyed his best season in front of goal this term since moving to St Andrew’s back in 2016, with the 22-year-old having bagged 15 goals in just 29 appearances for Garry Monk’s side – in fact, only four players have netted more than Adams in the Championship this term.

And this campaign doesn’t appear to be a complete one-off either given the 22-year-old scored seven times in his first season at Birmingham in 2016/17 before adding nine for the Blues last time round – he has been threatening to go on and exceed double figures, which is exactly what he’s done this season.

Clearly then, Adams appears to be improving and very much on the upward curve, which at the age of 22 suggests that he could be destined for big things in the game – big things that could happen at West Ham.

The Hammers are seemingly in the market for a forward on Deadline Day hence their reported interest (as per The Sun) in Stoke’s Diouf, which isn’t overly suprising given strikers Javier Hernandez, Lucas Perez, and Andy Carroll have bagged just 11 times between them in all competitions this term – for what it’s worth, Marko Arnautovic has eight himself.

Yet Stoke’s Diouf simply hasn’t done enough this term to suggest that he could be the man for Pellegrini’s side going forward, yet Birmingham’s Adams certainly appears to be given his form, but also the fact that, at 22, he is only likely to improve.

And for just £12 million, it’s a move the East London outfit simply must make before this evening’s 11pm deadline.

West Ham fans… what do you think? Let us know!

With Bruno Lage’s Wolverhampton Wanderers side heading into Saturday’s Premier League clash in an excellent run of form, the 45-year-old would have undoubtedly been hoping for yet another positive result against a struggling Leeds United side this afternoon.

With Wolves having taken the lead through Hwang Hee-chan’s early first-half strike, a lead that Lage’s side would maintain as the clock ticked over the 90-minute mark, the Portuguese may well have believed that his team had done enough to secure all three points at Elland Road, despite having not put on anywhere near their best display of the season.

However, a surging 93rd-minute run by Leeds’ second half substitute Joe Gelhardt caused late panic in the Wolves penalty area, with Nelson Semedo clumsily bringing down the 19-year-old and gifting Rodrigo the opportunity to level the scores with practically the last kick of the game, which the Spaniard duly did.

Indeed, Semedo’s carelessness in the dying moments of the match summed up the right wing-back’s afternoon rather aptly, as the 27-year-old was something of a liability in the Wolves defence.

Just 8 passes completed

Having made a £28.8m move from Barcelona to Molineux this summer, Semedo’s Wolves career has gotten off to a rather shaky start, with the defender impressing in some fixtures – such as in the 1-0 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur and the 1-0 win over Southampton – while he has looked some way off the pace in others, with this afternoon certainly falling into the latter category.

Indeed, over the course of the 90 minutes, the £25.2m-rated right-back completed a mere eight passes, failed with both of his attempted long balls, conceded one foul and gave away possession on 11 separate occasions.

However, it was undoubtedly the £84k-per-week defender’s carelessness at the death which let his side down the most on Saturday. If the Portugal international had kept a cooler head in the box – something Conor Coady illustrated perfectly a matter of minutes prior to Semedo’s foul, when the club captain simply shepherded Rodrigo away from goal after the forward had broken through – Wolves would have been celebrating yet another three points in the league tonight.

While there were other players in Lage’s side who turned in below-par displays on Saturday, with neither Leander Dendoncker nor Romain Saiss having their best games in a Wolves shirt, it was perhaps the player who journalist Nathan Judah dubbed “frustrating” who should be most disappointed with his performance.

In other news: Wolves’ £6.3m-rated “breath of fresh air” could cause Lage a major problem next season

Everton have made another significant step in the construction of their new Bramley-Moore Dock stadium after the sand infill process was completed.

What’s the story?

The Toffees are set to depart their spiritual home of Goodison Park from the 2024/25 season onwards as the club looks to modernise their stadia in order to keep up with football’s elite.

And their ambitious riverside project has reached another milestone this week, with The Athletic’s Patrick Boyland revealing the latest update.

He tweeted: “Everton confirm that the sand infill process at Bramley-Moore Dock has now been completed. Another milestone for stadium project”.

Everton fans will be excited

News that the construction process is making significant strides and is all going to plan will leave the Everton fans feeling extremely excited.

Fellow Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur opened their magnificent new arena in 2019, allowing them to compete financially with the sport’s heavyweights, something the Toffees will be hoping they can do too in the near future.

And a report in the Liverpool ECHO went into more detail regarding the sand infill process that Boyland highlighted.

“A three-month process to bring in 450,000 cubic metres of sea-dredged sand is now complete with all the water displaced to form a solid bed on which the 52,888 capacity stadium can now be built with the first skeletons of the stands due to go up next year ahead of a scheduled 2024 opening,” it read.

“The dock infill, which forms a key part of the enabling works, has seen a dredger called ‘The Shoalway’ painstakingly make more than 130 round trips over 20 miles out into the Irish Sea to collect sand.”

With the new stadium expected to deliver a $1 billion boost to the city’s economy, and provide up to 15,000 jobs for local people, this latest revelation will delight fans of the club and local residents alike.

This comes in a week where things are beginning to look rosier for the Toffees again.

Although Marcel Brands has left, Everton secured their first win since September against Arsenal on Monday and now appear to be making significant strides in improving themselves both from a football club and business standpoint.

Farhad Moshiri is carrying out a careful review of the behind the scenes structure and that, coupled with a first win in months, the transfer window being on the horizon and a new stadium to boot suddenly makes this a more exciting time to support the Goodison outfit.

And, in other news…Forget Coleman: Rafa must seal EFC move for £25m “warrior” with “outstanding quality” 

Over recent years, Aston Villa have not been shy when it comes to spending money on new players to help strengthen their squad.

They signed the trio of Danny Ings, Leon Bailey and Emi Buendia in the previous summer transfer window for a combined total of £89.84m according to Transfermarkt, and followed that by splashing £25m on Lucas Digne this month.

With that in mind, there’s no doubt that the Midlands club is capable of paying vast sums of cash in the transfer market when they think they need to.

Looking ahead to the remainder of this current window or even towards the summer window, one figure that Villa could look to bring in that would certainly add an extra attacking dynamic to Steven Gerrard’s team is Bayer Leverkusen’s 18-year-old attacking-midfielder Florian Wirtz, who Villa have been linked with in the past.

Despite his young age, the teenager, who is currently valued at a whopping £63m by Transfermarkt, has made 70 senior appearances for Leverkusen across all competitions, managing to score 17 goals and provide 20 assists along the way, highlighting the attacking talents he has.

Labelled as the “total package” by Germany head coach Hansi Flick in terms of his ability on the pitch, Wirtz has managed to rack up five goals and nine assists in 17 Bundesliga appearances this season.

Furthermore, he’s earned an overall performance rating of 7.41/10, making him Leverkusen’s second-highest rated player according to WhoScored, which would also comfortably make him Villa’s highest-rated player by the same metric.

With previous reports claiming that Villa’s current teenage attacking-midfielder Carney Chukwuemeka will not be signing a new deal at the Midlands club due to his lack of game time, his potential exit from Villa Park could pave the way for the club to launch a move for Wirtz to see if he would have a better chance of competing for a place in Gerrard’s side than Chukwuemeka.

Given the goals and assists he’s managed to deliver for Leverkusen so far in his short career, it wouldn’t be too difficult to see Wirtz getting regular playing time if he can have a similar sort of attacking impact in the Midlands.

In other news: Sky Sports drop fresh Aston Villa transfer update, Lange could be making a big mistake – opinion

Arsenal made a miserable return to Premier League action last night after losing 3-0 away against Crystal Palace following the latest international break.

Goals from Jean-Philippe Mateta and Jordan Ayew in the first half gave the Gunners a tough task in the second period of the game at Selhurst Park.

However, a penalty from Wilfried Zaha sealed all three points for Patrick Vieira’s side and put the nail in the coffin for the visitors on this occasion.

In terms of the individual performances for Arsenal, one figure that stood out for all the wrong reasons was midfielder Thomas Partey.

With 56 touches of the ball in total, the Ghanaian ended up giving the ball away for his side on 14 occasions, once every four touches.

From a defensive perspective, off the ball, the 28-year-old, who has been slammed for his “stupid” decision-making in the past, gave his side next to nothing, which is reflective of the scoreline.

The midfielder ended up failing to make even one tackle, block, interception or clearance, in addition to getting dribbled past twice and giving three fouls away, picking up a yellow card for his troubles, making him a real liability in the middle of the pitch on this occasion.

The former Atletico Madrid figure also managed to lose 78% of his duels, showing how easy it was for the Palace midfielders and attackers to play against him.

This display ultimately earned Partey a disheartening overall match rating of 5.9 from SofaScore, making him the joint-lowest rated player for Mikel Arteta’s side, lower than defender Nuno Tavares who was hooked at halftime after an abysmal showing himself.

Football.London also picked up on Partey’s poor performance by saying that he was “hideously loose in possession.”

To make things worse for the midfielder on a personal level, he was forced off the pitch with an injury after 75 minutes, as just moments before he allowed the Palace offence to stroll past him before Martin Odegaard gave away a penalty.

Taking all of this into account, it was definitely a night to forget for Arsenal and their midfield man and despite his poor showing, everyone at the north London club will be hoping that his injury is not a serious one.

In other news: Arteta must ruthlessly axe “shocking” £18m-rated AFC liability, he’s “not world-class”