All posts by rastrear-estafeta.com

Southampton have a big chance to secure their second Premier League win of the season at the weekend with a home clash against Burnley next up for Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side following on from their 1-0 win over Leeds United last week.

With eight league games played, the Saints have won one, drawn four and lost three, leaving them 15th in the table with seven points on the board.

Sean Dyche’s Clarets side head into the weekend clash at St Mary’s still looking for their first league win of the season, making it an important match for both teams.

Salisu should start v Burnley

One player who was involved in the victory over Leeds that we feel should be in the Saints’ starting XI to face Burnley is Mohammed Salisu, who has been described as “nasty” by Hasenhuttl in recent weeks in terms of competing in duels against opponents on the pitch.

The 22-year-old played the full 90 minutes against the Whites and made three tackles, three interceptions and two clearances, blocked one shot and won eight out of his 12 duels, ultimately earning himself an impressive overall match rating of 7.4/10 from SofaScore.

In addition to this, the £23k-per-week defender (according to Spotrac) has averaged 2.1 tackles and 3.5 clearances per game so far this season, showing how useful a defensive unit he has been for the Saints. Those figures indicate why he should be in the starting XI to face Burnley, as he could potentially bully their forward players with his no-nonsense nature.

Since joining the Saints in August 2020 from Real Valladolid for a reported fee of £10.8m, Salisu has made only 24 appearances for the club across all competitions.

Looking ahead to the Burnley match, though, we think he should definitely be in the starting XI and probably beyond that, particularly while fellow centre-back Jack Stephens is out recovering from the knee injury that he picked up during Southampton’s 0-0 draw against Manchester City last month.

In other news: Southampton could already have their next Gareth Bale in “quality” 17 y/o starlet

As per The Daily Mirror, Tottenham want to re-sign former youth product Noni Madueke, but will need to pay £40m to do so.

The Lowdown: Spurs ramp up plans

There is just a week left of the transfer window as the 20 clubs in the Premier League aim to put the finishing touches to their squads for the campaign.

So far, Spurs have made three new signings in Pierluigi Gollini (tottenhamhotspur.com), Bryan Gil and Cristian Romero, and there could well be more new arrivals to come before Deadline Day if recent reports are to be believed.

The Latest: Spurs eye Madueke

As per this latest report, Spurs are one of ten clubs interested in signing Madueke, who they let go as a youngster, from PSV.

The Dutch outfit, though, are said to be looking for £40m to part ways with one of their star talents.

The Verdict: Right a wrong

In July 2018, Spurs let Madueke make the move to the Netherlands on a free transfer while under the management of Mauricio Pochettino.

Since then, the 19-year-old has developed into a very promising talent. Last term, he managed eight goals and eight assists in 32 matches in all competitions, and he has already found the back of the net six times in eight appearances this season (Transfermarkt).

Former PSV star Gerald Vanenburg even compared Madueke to Paris Saint-Germain star and France World Cup winner Kylian Mbappe – high praise indeed.

£40m is a lot of money for a player they previously let go, but this represents an opportunity for Daniel Levy to right a wrong and land one of the most exciting young attackers in Europe for Nuno Espirito Santo.

In other news, Tottenham are interested in signing this Champions League winner.

Wolverhampton Wanderers loanee Morgan Gibbs-White has been lavished with praise for his performances away from Molineux.

What’s been said?

In recent comments cited by YorkshireLive, Sheffield United centre-forward David McGoldrick stated his belief that the 21-year-old is a player who has the world at his feet, after the midfielder inspired his side to a 3-2 win over Cardiff City on Saturday.

Speaking about the ability of the England U21 international, the striker said: “There was a bit of brilliance from Gibbo for the first goal and he got two assists. He’s a great player, he got in positions for us and that helps us. He’s got the world at his feet, a great kid and great player with all the ability in the world but he needs to play games.

“He’s doing that here. He’s expressing himself and has the licence to be a free spirit. We want him to go and create things. He’s going to lose the ball sometimes, but all good players do that. As long as it’s in the right positions and as long as he keeps scoring goals like that, I don’t mind what else he does.”

The report went on to state that, with Wolves having an option to recall the youngster in January – something the Premier League side did when he was on loan with Swansea City last season – there are increasing concerns at Bramall Lane that they could lose Gibbs-White in the January transfer window.

Gibbs-White could transform Wolves

While things at Molineux are undeniably on the up under the leadership of Bruno Lage, with the west Midlands side winning five, drawing three and losing just two of their last ten Premier League fixtures, the club’s lack of goals will undoubtedly be something that is troubling the 45-year-old manager.

Indeed, Wolves’ 12 league goals scored ranks them as the second-worst attack in the top flight, with the club’s current midfielders offering very little in the way of creativity and attacking impetus.

So far this season, Ruben Neves is the only midfielder to have found the back of the net in the league, while Leander Dendoncker’s one assist ranks him as one of Wolves’ most creative options in the middle of the park.

As such, it is plain for all to see that Lage’s side are crying out for a player who can both create and finish chances, something that Gibbs-White is doing on a near-weekly basis at Sheffield United.

Indeed, over his 15 Championship appearances for the Blades, the £8.1m-rated man has scored five goals, registered four assists and created a whopping nine big chances for his teammates, as well as taking an average of 2.7 shots and making 1.8 key passes per game, per SofaScore.

These returns have seen the youngster, who football talent scout Jacek Kulig dubbed a “superb” talent, average a SofaScore match rating of 7.33, ranking the 21-year-old as the fifth-best player overall in the Championship so far this season.

As such, bringing a player whose aforementioned metrics better every single one of the current Wolves’ first-team squad back to Molineux in January would indeed appear to be a very wise move for Lage, as the £19k-per-week midfielder would undoubtedly transform the club’s present levels of attacking efficiency in the middle of the park.

In other news: Tim Spiers drops exciting Wolves transfer update that’ll leave fans elated

Former Premier League Golden Boot winner Kevin Phillips has been reacting to the news that Leeds United midfielder Kalvin Phillips could miss two months through injury, as per Football Insider.

The Lowdown: Phillips’ hamstring injury

The 26-year-old had to be withdrawn against Brentford last weekend through injury, with Marcelo Bielsa unsure at the time in regards to the extent of the problem. The Telegraph provided an update a few days later, suggesting that the England international could miss up to two months out with a hamstring issue.

Leeds officially shared an update on the 26-year-old’s problem on Thursday, claiming that the midfielder has undergone treatment on the issue.

The Latest: Phillips injury is a ‘huge blow’

Phillips, who regularly features as a pundit on Sky Sports, was talking to Football Insider regarding the news on the Leeds midfielder.

This is what he had to say in reply, labelling The Telegraph’s update as a ‘huge blow’ to the player and his club:

“It’s a huge, huge blow.

“It’s been a tough season for Leeds so far. To lose arguably their most talented player at this point in the season will be devastating. He’s the heartbeat of their midfield.

“It’s been a bit of an up and down season for Kalvin so far, there were obviously the rumours of a rift between him and Bielsa which turned out to be false.

“Being out for two months at such a crucial time with these tough games coming up, it’s a massive blow. It could go wrong for Leeds.”

The Verdict: How will Bielsa deal without Phillips?

Phillips has been influential under Bielsa during his time at Elland Road, perfecting the defensive midfield role in a unique system.

He has turned out 107 times as a defensive midfielder during his career, and early indications are that the manager is more than happy to get imaginative when it comes to coping without the England international.

Leeds went with a 4-3-1-2 system in an impressive display against Chelsea at the weekend, with winger Jack Harrison occupying one of the three central midfield roles alongside Adam Forshaw and Jamie Shackleton.

Stuart Dallas, Mateusz Klich and Pascal Struijk are also options for Bielsa in that position in what could be an entertaining festive period as the Whites look to take points off the likes of Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool.

In other news: Sky Sports think this ‘brilliant’ Leeds beast suffered a fresh injury on Saturday

Birmingham City have recently announced that Sam Cosgrove has left the club to sign for League One side Shrewsbury Town on a season-long loan deal.

What’s the story?

The 24-year-old signed for Birmingham back in January 2021, having caught the eye with a number of impressive performances at Aberdeen.

The forward netted 47 goals in 103 appearances for the Scottish outfit, which saw him earn a move to St Andrew’s Stadium on a three-and-a-half-year deal.

Cosgrove has found regular game time hard to come by with Birmingham though, in what has been a frustrating move for him to date, whilst also not being the ideal scenario for the club’s supporters, who would have hoped that he could replicate his strong showings in front of goal from his days in Aberdeen.

He’s since moved to Shrewsbury Town on a season-long loan deal, and will be hoping he can make a good impression away from Birmingham this term.

It’s the ideal move for all parties involved

There were high hopes for Cosgrove when he first signed for Birmingham and you can understand why, with the striker having an impressive record in front of goal whilst with Aberdeen.

However, for one reason or another, he hasn’t hit the heights originally expected of him, with Cosgrove failing to score in 12 appearances for the Blues during the 2020/21 season.

He hadn’t been included in the matchday squad for Lee Bowyer’s side this term, which dropped a sizeable hint that his future could lie elsewhere.

Lee Bowyer already has strong options available to him though, with Scott Hogan and Lukas Jutkiewicz showing that they can perform to a high standard in the Championship, and they’ve got the ideal backups pushing them for their starting places in the team with Chuks Aneke and Jonathan Leko.

Therefore, the writing was pretty much on the wall for Cosgrove, who is valued at £1.35million according to Transfermarkt. He’ll be hoping he can make a positive impact for Shrewsbury, as they look to build on a 17th-place finish in the League One standings last term.

Birmingham City’s supporters are likely to feel as though the club have made the right call in sending Cosgrove out on loan, as he wouldn’t have been featuring for the Blues’ first-team anytime soon, so it makes sense for him to further his development in English football with a temporary move elsewhere this summer.

Adama Traore can be perceived in two ways; exciting and impossible to defender against or, an incredibly frustrating player to watch with a severe lack of end product. No matter which way he is perceived, Wolves legend Steve Bull believes that he would fit in at Chelsea.

There have been reports that Thomas Tuchel could turn to the Wolves star if the club’s attempt to land Inter Milan wing-back Achraf Hakimi are unsuccessful, after the Blues made an audacious £56.1 million bid for the defender.

Traore, described as “unplayable” by by Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp last year, had been utilised in several different positions under former boss Nuno Espirito Santo. They included wing-back, winger and a striker to accompany Raul Jimenez, but it would be the former position that Tuchel would look to deploy the Spaniard in if he brought him to Stamford Bridge.

Tuchel brought a huge amount of success to Chelsea with a top-four finish and the Champions League trophy, and with his first transfer window as manager he would be bringing in a great player if he signed Traore, and Bull could see the Spaniard fitting in as he spoke exclusively to Football FanCast:

“He’s fast and has nimble feet so he’d suit Chelsea and the way they play because he could use all his energy up the pitch and let the midfielders tuck in and cover him.”

Chelsea are spoilt for choice in the final third but the only option they have that can get past a defender with raw pace is Christian Pulisic but his injury record is not great so having a stronger version of Pulisic in Traore would be ideal for Tuchel.

The £43,000-per-week winger would be a massive loss for Bruno Lage before he’s even got his feet under the table as he really can flip a game on its head by himself – you just have to look at the 1-0 victory against Fulham when both sides were very poor but the Spaniard took it upon himself to smash an effort into the top corner.

Leeds United right-back Luke Ayling was filmed riding a scooter on Saturday by his wife on Instagram.

The Lowdown: Ayling limps off

Marcelo Bielsa was forced to deploy Ayling at centre-back alongside captain Liam Cooper on Friday evening against Newcastle.

The Whites drew 1-1 at St James’ Park and added two more players to the injury list, with goalscorer Raphinha and Ayling going off with knocks.

Ayling went down twice before eventually making way for Jamie Shackleton.

The Latest: Instagram post

Ayling’s wife, Poppy, posted a video on her Instagram story on Saturday afternoon, with the Leeds man riding a scooter alongside his daughter.

Poppy captioned the video as a ‘family walk’, so perhaps Ayling’s knock is worse than first feared and the £25,000-a-week defender is being advised not to walk following his injury.

@TalkingShutt took a screenshot of the story and posted the image on Twitter, leading fans to hypothesise that the scooter is to prevent him walking, while one supporter claimed the image ‘isn’t good news’.

[web_stories_embed url=”https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/web-stories/latest-leeds-united-news-16/” title=”Latest Leeds United news!” poster=”” width=”360″ height=”600″ align=”none”]

The Verdict: Not ideal

Bielsa is without Pascal Struijk for two more games due to suspension, while Diego Llorente and Robin Koch have both been sidelined.

So, should Ayling’s injury be worse than first feared, it would be another setback for the Whites at the back.

Hopefully, Ayling decided to ride the scooter by choice and is feeling fine after his knock against Newcastle, however, you could certainly look at it with the same worry that some fans already have.

Only time will tell how serious it is, but it would’ve helped ease fears if Ayling was captured walking freely on social media.

In other news: ‘Be a big boost’ – Paddy Kenny lauds ‘brilliant news’ from Leeds United source. 

Match of the Day pundit Ian Wright has predicted that Francisco Trincao will enjoy a ‘brilliant’ season at Wolves

The lowdown

Wolves signed the 21-year-old on a season-long loan from Barcelona back in July and they will have the option to buy the winger come the end of the campaign (via BBC Sport).

He has started all four Premier League matches so far under Bruno Lage, helping his compatriot to record a first win of the season at Watford on Saturday.

Trincao has averaged 3.3 dribbles per game up to now, ranking him joint-third in the Premier League alongside Dwight McNeil (via WhoScored). The 21-year-old opened his goalscoring account for Wolves in a 4-0 League Cup rout of Nottingham Forest last month.

The latest

Wright has expressed his excitement about Trincao and also stated that the Portugal ace has ‘a beautiful left foot’.

“The chances they are creating, you can see it’s starting to gel,” the Premier League Hall of Fame nominee said during Saturday night’s BBC broadcast of Match of the Day, via Birmingham Live.

He added: “We know what [Adama] Traore can do, and Trincao, he’s got a beautiful left foot – I think he’s going to be brilliant this season.”

The verdict

It’s not just the dribbling statistic which stands out for Trincao. As per WhoScored, he is also averaging 2.5 shots, 1.3 key passes and, as an indication of his work rate, 1.8 tackles per match.

In fact, his WhoScored rating of 7.1 across the first four fixtures of the season puts him second in the Wolves rankings for players who’ve started at least one game in the current campaign.

It’s very early days, but the signs are promising, and Wright’s lofty praise seems justified.

In other news, many Wolves fans flocked to this footage from the weekend.

Fabrizio Romano has dropped a major update on Marcelo Bielsa and his future at Leeds United.

What’s the story?

The Whites enjoyed a superb first season back in the Premier League and finished in the top ten, picking up a couple of impressive scalps along the way.

It has been a theme at Elland Road for Bielsa to not put pen to paper on a long-term deal, and instead take it season by season, so the inevitable questions about whether he has managed his last campaign at Leeds understandably crops up.

However, Romano has revealed via his official Twitter account that “Bielsa is expected to sign his new contract with Leeds soon”.

Fans will be buzzing

There’s no questioning the kind of affinity Leeds fans have for Bielsa, with the Argentine a firm favourite in Yorkshire for the way he has embraced the city and restored the club to its Premier League status.

Just recently, Bielsa endeared himself even further into the hearts of many supporters by turning up to a local under-11s training session, while also wearing some Leeds shorts and a top to go with it.

The future of the 65-year-old is something from which Leeds fans will have been desperate to hear some good news, and Romano’s latest update that he is “expected to sign” soon should have them absolutely buzzing.

[snack-amp-story url=”https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/leeds-united-marcelo-bielsa-transfer-gossip-rumours-news-elland-road-rodrigo-de-paul” title=”Read the latest Leeds transfer rumours and news!”]

When news emerged back in May that Bielsa was on course to land himself a new deal, several fans took to Twitter to make it clear just how delighted they were, and so the news that a contract could “soon” be coming is especially pleasing.

Meanwhile, Marcelo Bielsa could sign his dream player in this potential EUROs star…

Rangers will face Premier League outfit Tottenham Hotspur in a pre-season friendly at Ibrox this summer.

The lowdown

Rangers will likely be preparing for Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s first full season at the helm. In addition to drawing up transfers, they’ll also have to arrange friendlies to help the squad build fitness for competitive fixtures.

If Rangers finish second in the Scottish Premiership and fail to win the Europa League, then they’re likely to enter the second round of Champions League qualifiers, scheduled for the second half of July.

Meanwhile, the start of the SPFL season is pencilled in for the weekend of 30/31 July.

[web_stories_embed url=”https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/web-stories/rangers-news-3/” title=”Rangers news!” poster=”” width=”360″ height=”600″ align=”none”]

The latest

Football London’s Alasdair Gold writes that Rangers held talks with Spurs this week over a potential summer meeting at Ibrox.

The Lilywhites are due to jet off to South Korea for two matches, and wanted to line up a game in Glasgow on their return.

And those efforts have been a success, with the ‘excited’ Spurs officially confirming the fixture for Saturday July 23.

The verdict: Exciting indeed

This can only be good news. Rangers’ players get the chance to test themselves against elite opposition, and the added intensity should be of benefit to Van Bronckhorst’s side.

Last summer, when they faced Spurs’ North London rivals Arsenal, they could only welcome 2,000 spectators amid coronavirus restrictions, but this year, there’s no reason why they can’t get close to a full house and generate considerable funds too.

And the club hierarchy will be looking for alternative revenue sources this pre-season after backing out a friendly against Celtic in Australia following a backlash from fans.

In other news, read this journalist’s concerning Alfredo Morelos claim.