All posts by rastrear-estafeta.com

According to journalist Paolo Paganini (via Football.london), Tottenham have made an offer for Euro 2020 winner Lorenzo Insigne.

The Lowdown: Spurs prepare for new campaign

Nuno Espirito Santo has been installed as Spurs’ new manager, and the 2021/22 campaign is now fast approaching.

However, the Lilywhites are yet to make a single new signing this summer, with the board’s main priority appearing to be holding on to Harry Kane (via The Guardian).

The Latest: Spurs make Insigne bid

As per Pagnini, Tottenham have tabled an offer for £43.2m-valued Italy international Insigne (Transfermarkt). He told Radio Kiss Kiss (via Football.london):

“The most important offers [for Insigne] have come from abroad, especially from Tottenham. After the Euros, Lorenzo has many new admirers.”

The Verdict: True talent

If Nuno is able to add Insigne to his squad, he would be signing a player with true star quality. The forward played a starring role for Italy at the European Championship this summer, his two goals including a solo stunner against Belgium, while he has managed 158 senior goals for club and country combined (Transfermarkt).

With 397 appearances under his belt for Napoli, the late, great Diego Maradona was a strong admirer, even suggesting that Insigne should take the iconic number 10 shirt at the club (via Tribal Football). At 30 years of age, he is not one for the long-term, but his ability right now should be enough to convince Levy to make a real move for him.

In other news, Tottenham have entered the race for this Ligue 1 ace.

An update has emerged on Sunderland and their pursuit of free agent centre-forward Jermain Defoe…

What’s the talk?

According to INews, the Black Cats have made contact with the player and are one of a number of EFL clubs attempting to sign him.

The report claims that he wants to continue playing until the end of the 2021/22 campaign and is seriously considering a deal to join Sunderland.

SOL rocking

Lee Johnson could get the Stadium of Light rocking with a deal to re-sign the attacker. Not only does he have a successful history with the club but he is also a recognised name in English football and has enjoyed a brilliant career for club and country.

This means that he would almost be a marquee signing in the sense of the fanfare that would come with it, irrespective of his age. In 93 games for Sunderland between 2014 and 2017, he plundered an impressive 37 goals and four assists, which is why fans would surely be over the moon to see him back as they were able to enjoy his immense goalscoring talents previously.

The English predator has scored 200 club career goals to date and found the back of the net 20 times for England at international level. This means that the Mackems could be bringing in a player who has 220 strikes to his name, with the majority coming at the top level for club and country.

Rangers sporting director Ross Wilson once dubbed him “wonderful” and his record in Scotland suggests that he still has something to offer on the pitch at the age of 39. He managed 32 goals and ten assists in 74 games for the Gers, showing that he still has what it takes to be a regular goalscorer.

Therefore, he could bolster Johnson’s squad and score a few goals in League One to help the club with their promotion push back to the Championship. Fans would surely be buzzing to see him back in red and white after his previous spell with the club and the stands will be rocking if he comes in and has an impact on the season, as his statistics suggest that he will be able to do.

He was also part of the coaching set-up at Ibrox before Giovanni van Bronckhorst came in and brought in his own staff. This means that he could come in and play his part on the pitch before potentially retiring and taking up a coaching role at the club moving forward.

AND in other news, Alan Nixon drops Sunderland transfer claim that will leave fans gutted…

Steve Bruce must axe goalkeeper Sam Johnstone for the remainder of the season in order to prepare for life without him after the summer.

The former Premier League champion has had a “successful” career at the Baggies in the words of reporter Steve Madeley, but it looks like it could be about to come to an end with his contract set to expire in the summer.

When speaking to the Athletic, manager Steve Bruce said “the likelihood is that Sam is going to leave.”

The shot-stopper is poised to join a club in the Premier League in the hopes of gaining a place in the England squad at this winter’s World Cup in Qatar.

West Brom will now be looking at replacements for Johnstone but their campaign as good as done, they should consider axing the ‘keeper from their starting line-up now to best prepare for life without him.

His record this season is pretty good having kept 15 clean sheets overall in the Championship which is just three short of the league’s best which is held by central defender John Egan.

The 29-year old still has some of his best years left and has played over 15,000 minutes for West Brom. His overall record is impressive with 45 clean sheets in 167 appearances.

He has even been described as the “best English goalkeeper” by Jason Cundy.

So why drop him? Well, the Baggies have little to play for this season, their slim hopes of achieving a play-off spot were virtually ended with a 1-0 defeat to rivals Birmingham City the other week.

The remaining games they have would provide a great chance to give one of their other goalkeepers valuable experience in the league and would provide the coaching staff with a good idea of whether or not they could replace Johnstone.

Alex Palmer is the youngest of the three stoppers the club have available to them and has come through the academy having spent various spells on loan.

One of his most recent loan spells last year at League One outfit Lincoln City saw him make 46 appearances and keep 19 clean sheets in the division.

When you compare his performance last season to Johnstone’s, he has a better save percentage at 72.7 compared to 70.6.

Now would be the perfect opportunity to give him a more regular chance at Championship level and it could pay off for Bruce.

IN other news: West Brom: Grady Diangana struggled in defeat to Stoke City…

Liverpool suffered their first real setback in their chase for the Premier League title after picking up their first league defeat of the season in their recent match against West Ham United that saw Jurgen Klopp’s side lose 3-2 thanks to goals from Kurt Zouma, Pablo Fornals and an own goal from goalkeeper Alisson Becker.

One player that featured in the match that managed to get on the scoresheet to give the Reds some hope of grabbing a positive result off the substitutes bench was striker Divock Origi who replaced Diogo Jota after 76 minutes.

Opportunity knocks

The fact that Jota failed to register a shot on target against David Moyes’ side and the fact that fellow Liverpool striker Roberto Firmino is out for the next few weeks with a hamstring injury,  means it could be a great time for Klopp to give Origi a run in the team from the start rather than bringing him off the bench to get their season back on track after the current international break.

Liverpool signed Origi, who is currently earning a weekly wage of £60k-per-week according to Spotrac, back in the 2014 summer transfer window from French club LOSC Lille in a deal worth a reported fee of £10m before he eventually moved to the Merseyside club in 2015.

[snack-amp-story url = “https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/check-out-the-latest-liverpool-news” title=”Check out the latest Liverpool news!”]

Since then, the 26-year-old, who is currently valued at £10.8m according to Transfermarkt, has made a total of 164 appearances for the Reds across all competitions in which he has managed to score 38 goals and provide 16 assists in the process, showing that he does have a knack for scoring goals in him.

So far this season, the Belgian has managed to score three goals and provide two assists in seven appearances across all competitions but has had very little chance to shine in the Premier League, playing just two minutes of action prior to the West Ham clash.

Origi, who has been described as “unreal” by fellow Reds teammate Caoimhin Kelleher in the past, has also shown that he has the ability to pop up and score at critical moments for Liverpool such as the brace he bagged in their famous 4-0 win over Barcelona back in May 2019 and their last-gasp 1-0 win over Merseyside rivals Everton in December 2018.

Taking all of this into account, if Origi was given the chance to play consistently in the Premier League moving forward and start scoring regularly, we feel that he has the potential to push Liverpool closer to the title with his knack for scoring goals alongside the likes of Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah.

It’s time for Klopp to forget about Jota and the injury-stricken Firmino and unleash his devastating Belgian dynamo instead. It could well solve the severe blow that the Brazilian suffered last week.

In other news: Forget Salah: £67.5m-rated beast making 3.3 key passes P/G has been “fabulous” for LFC – opinion

Gio van Bronckhorst’s Rangers enjoyed a magical night at Ibrox as they made their way through to the Europa League semi-final on Thursday.

The Gers went into the game 1-0 down on aggregate and ended up winning 3-1 on the night, to go through on a 3-2 lead, and thus securing their place in the last four.

James Tavernier made Ibrox bounce in the opening 90 seconds as he latched onto a flick from Joe Aribo to slide the ball into the bottom corner from a tight angle, putting Rangers on the front foot early on.

Kemar Roofe thought he put them 2-0 up a few minutes later before VAR ruled that Borna Barisic used his hand in the build-up. However, the striker then played a pivotal role in Gers’ actual second goal as he won the penalty that Tavernier converted before half time.

Braga were able to take the match to extra time as David Carmo headed the ball in from a corner to make it 2-2 on aggregate.

Rangers reacted brilliantly to this setback as they dominated the last 30 minutes of the tie, with Glen Kamara and Aribo combining on the right to tee up Roofe for a tap-in from six yards out.

Whilst Tavernier will receive acclaim for his two goals and the attackers will get credit for the Gers scoring three goals, Connor Goldson deserves huge praise for his performance as he dominated Ibrox on Thursday.

The towering centre-back was a tank at the back for Van Bronckhorst and played a big role in allowing the Scottish giants to control the match and keep Braga at bay for the most part.

As you can see in the graphic above, Goldson was instrumental for the Gers as he dictated the play from the back and was strong defensively throughout.

He won nine of his 10 aerial duels and made one block and two tackles to go along with his five clearances, as per SofaScore, and was unlucky for the Braga equaliser as he was blocked off from marking Carmo by his own teammate.

His 162 touches also led the way for Rangers as he had more possession of the ball than any other player on the pitch on the night. This highlights his dominance on the ball, with his defensive statistics showing that he also dominated off it, and Van Bronckhorst will surely be delighted with the centre-back’s display.

Now it is time for Goldson and his teammates to prepare for a clash with Leipzig in the semi-final…

AND in other news, Major blow: Rangers hit with huge injury setback that’ll infuriate supporters…

At the age of 35, Liverpool midfielder James Milner is currently the seventh-oldest current Premier League player, with an astonishing 568 league appearances under his belt in what has been an impressive career in English football.

Taking that into account, and with his current contract at Anfield set to expire next summer, it’s not out of the question that the Merseyside club could be looking to replace the veteran if he ends up leaving then.

Rather than potentially splashing out a significant transfer fee on a new player from another club to replace Milner if he were to leave, we feel that Liverpool could already have their perfect heir for him within their youth squad in James Norris.

The 18-year-old, who is a product of Liverpool’s youth academy, is predominantly a left-back, a position where Milner has made 66 appearances throughout his career. He has also played as a central midfielder, centre-back and left-midfielder on two occasions for England’s under-19 side this season, showing her versatility at such a young age, just as Milner has done throughout his long career.

According to Liverpool’s official website, Norris is an “energetic left-back who can also play in midfield”, has “a great work ethic matched with a sweet left foot” and “loves to get forward and support the attack”.

Throughout his short career so far, he has made 35 appearances for Liverpool’s under-18 side, with five goals and five assists to his name, as well as making 13 appearances for the under-23 side, scoring one goal and providing one assist in the process.

Norris made his senior debut for the Reds during Liverpool’s 5-0 defeat against Aston Villa in the Carabao Cup back in December 2019.

Looking ahead to the future, if he can keep developing within Liverpool’s youth teams for the time being and adapting to different positions as he has been doing, he could well go on to become a very useful figure for Liverpool in their senior squad in the foreseeable future given his versatility, especially if Milner leaves the club when his contract runs out next year.

In other news – Forget Keita: Klopp must unleash £120k-p/w LFC outcast on Sunday, he impressed v Atletico

Leeds United are eyeing a late transfer window move for Orlando City striker Daryl Dike.

What’s the story?

According to reports in previous weeks and months, Marcelo Bielsa’s side were named among the clubs interested in signing the 20-year-old this summer, with the likes of Manchester United and Chelsea also said to have been impressed by his performances on loan at Barnsley last season.

And now, writing on Twitter, TEAMtalk’s editor, James Marshment, revealed: “TEAMtalk has been informed that Leeds are looking at the possibility of signing Daryl Dike on loan from Orlando City before the window closes. USA striker notched 9 in 19 for Barnsley last season. West Brom also keen. Story to follow….”

Fans will be buzzing

Just a few days after Bielsa himself admitted that any new signings could be unlikely before the end of the transfer window, it appears the Whites are still exploring every possible avenue behind the scenes.

The 20-year-old was in fine form after joining Championship outfit Barnsley on loan back in the January transfer window, netting nine goals in just 19 league games.

A player profile done by SBNation noted: “A physical striker, Dike is more than a bruising finisher. His ‘delicate touch’ and high level of technical ability belie his size, enabling a confidence in possession with both passing and dribbling. That said, he scores a lot of goals in a variety of ways. Headed finishes, short-range placement, and long-range bombs, the 6’2” attacker can do it all.”

Given the lack of genuine first-team cover behind Patrick Bamford up front – Rodrigo was deployed in the number nine role in the Carabao Cup second round clash against Crewe – Dike’s arrival, even on a temporary basis, would go a long way to addressing that need.

And with his style of play being so distinctly different to anything Leeds and Bielsa currently have at their disposal, he could give them a different dimension when starting games or even just coming off the bench.

After hearing news that they would be unlikely to make any further moves in the transfer market, this latest update on their pursuit of Dike is sure to have fans delighted.

Meanwhile, Leeds are eyeing this young record-breaker…

Rangers continued their superb run of form under Giovanni van Bronckhorst as they won for the fourth time in five games under the Dutchman.

The Gers beat Hearts 2-0 away from home and have now won all four of their Premiership matches with the 43-year-old at the helm.

Alfredo Morelos scored the opening goal with a composed finish from inside the box after electric wing play from Fashion Sakala down the right to tee him up.

Joe Aribo then doubled the lead after he latched onto a sublime pass from Connor Goldson before clinically dispatching a shot into the far corner, with the Gers holding out for the 2-0 win in the end.

Whilst Morelos and Aribo may get the credit for their part in sealing the three points, one player who also deserves immense credit is central defender Calvin Bassey – who impressed at centre-back.

Defensively, he was almost faultless. As per SofaScore, he won 100% (2/2) of his duels on the pitch, whilst making four clearances, two blocks, two interceptions and two tackles. This shows how strong he was defending his own goal, as he was able to make numerous key contributions at the back to keep Hearts at bay.

One criticism of his performance could be that he came close to scoring an own goal in the second half. He was caught in a difficult position at the front post from a cross and deflected the ball up onto his own crossbar and was fortunate that it bounced down the right side of the line from his perspective.

On the ball, he was reliable. As per Sofascore, he completed 100% of his passes as he found a teammate with all 40 of his attempts. He was successful with all three of his long passes and had 51 touches of the ball overall. This shows that he has quality in his distribution to go along with his excellent defending.

Therefore, he was the unsung hero for Rangers as he effectively and efficiently went about his business at centre-back and helped the side keep a clean sheet along with the three points. The £6.4k-per-week beast has been in fine form and van Bronckhorst will surely be hoping he can continue to put in performances like this at the back.

AND in other news, Bye-bye Kent: GvB must seal Rangers deal for £9.3k-p/w gem who “creates opportunities”…

Wolves youngster Ryan Giles can become a key figure at Molineux after his loan spell at Cardiff City ends, according to journalist Luke Hatfield.

The Lowdown: Giles out on loan

The 21-year-old joined the Bluebirds on the temporary basis back in the summer, in order to enjoy some invaluable playing time in the Championship.

Giles has registered a hugely impressive nine assists in just 16 league starts this season, having been hailed as ‘fantastic’ by teammate Marlon Pack.

The young midfielder will return to Wolves at the end of the season, at which point Bruno Lage could make him a key part of his plans.

The Latest: Hatfield tips youngster to shine

Someone who expects that to be the case is Hatfield, who told Give Me Sport that he sees a bright future for him at Wanderers:

“I’m sure they’ll have one eye on him. He fits in really well with the formation they play and he is a really exciting young player.”

[freshpress-quiz id=“375704”]

The Verdict: One for the future

It is always exciting to see young homegrown players given an opportunity, so the hope is that Giles can force his way into Lage’s plans.

To have registered nine assists in such short time this season speaks volumes about the Englishman’s qualities as a footballer, especially with the Championship such a taxing league for young players to make their mark in.

With Joao Moutinho now 35 years of age, a gap in Wolves’ midfield could open up next season and Giles may be the man to come in and fill the void, having averaged 2.8 key passes per game in the league in 2021/22 to date.

In other news, some Wolves fans have erupted over a piece of transfer news. Read more here.

Celtic could look to sign Tottenham defender Cameron Carter-Vickers on loan with an option to buy, according to The Daily Record.

The Lowdown: Carter-Vickers profiled

Carter-Vickers has been linked with a move to Parkhead for some time now.

The 23-year-old, primarily a centre-back who can also play at right-back, has less than 12 months remaining on his Spurs contract. He’s had six separate loan spells away from Tottenham, one of which was with Luton Town, where then-team-mate Sonny Bradley described Carter-Vickers’ as ‘fantastic’.

The USA international has made just four appearances for Tottenham, and it seems as if he could be on the move yet again.

The Latest: Loan to buy?

The Daily Record’s live transfer blog on Monday (22:43) shared some interesting news on Celtic’s interest in Carter-Vickers.

They suggested that Carter-Vickers would want to leave on a permanent basis, if he does indeed depart north London this summer.

However, Celtic are thought to be exploring a loan with a possibility to buy for £5m, with The Daily Record believing that is a ‘live option’.

The Verdict: Could be Celtic’s biggest signing of the summer

It appears as if the Hoops are looking at a potential loan with an option to make it permanent next year.

However, should Celtic decide to sign Carter-Vickers this summer on a permanent basis instead, he seems likely to be the club’s most expensive addition of the window due to Spurs’ £5m valuation, surpassing a £4.86m deal for Kyogo Furuhashi.

It appears as if a deal for the American should be one to keep a close eye on, especially as Celtic are short of senior centre-back options following Kristoffer Ajer’s exit and Christopher Jullien’s injury and hence could look to push through a deal relatively quickly.

In other news: Wednesday medical – ‘Excellent’ Celtic ace now set to leave after recent development.