All posts by z3u9t.icu

West Ham United will need to pay a big fee to land Ross Barkley this summer if reports are to be believed…

What’s the word?

That’s according to the Express & Star, who claimed the Chelsea midfielder is valued at £30m following a loan spell at Aston Villa this season. It’s thought that the west London outfit will look to shift him permanently this summer, and the Irons have been linked with him in recent months.

The Telegraph’s John Percy mooted the London Stadium as a ‘realistic option’ for the 27-year-old next season, with David Moyes understood to still be a big fan of the player to whom he gave a debut in August 2011 aged just 17.

Risky business

Midfield is just one of several areas that the Scotsman will need to bolster ahead of a Europa League campaign next season, but you would have to imagine that the England international is merely an alternative choice to loan sensation Jesse Lingard as they both play the same role.

The Hammers hope to secure a permanent deal for the Manchester United outcast this summer, although doubts still remain over their chances of making that happen after the Daily Mail suggested that they could struggle to afford his wage demands.

In terms of viable alternatives, Barkley just isn’t the answer, and that’s before factoring in his extortionate asking price.

[snack-amp-story url= “https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/read-latest-west-ham-news-irons-transfer-gossip-rumours-more-moyes-striker-gsb” title= “Read the latest West Ham news, transfer rumours, gossip and more!”]

The former Everton star has been on a steady decline in recent years and his time on loan to top-flight rivals Villa has been a microcosm of his woes.

As per Transfermarkt, the attacking midfielder looked to be back to his best when registering three direct goal contributions in his opening five matches for the Midlands side but, in the 21 games after that, he delivered just one further goal. Injuries have played their part, too, and that should further put Moyes off splashing £30m on him.

Speaking about Barkley’s poor performances and struggles, The Athletic’s Gregg Evans delivered a damning verdict to their 1874 podcast, where he said [via This Is Futbol]: “He doesn’t do enough for me now. I’ve seen enough of Ross Barkley now to realise that he’s becoming a bit of a liability for Villa. He’s not helping out enough as he should, really.”

By comparison, Lingard joined the east London club in January and registered a whopping nine goals and five assists in only 16 appearances, via Transfermarkt. The 28-year-old is a similar age and plays in a similar position to Barkley, yet is evidently so much clearer ahead in terms of ability and consistency.

Moyes may well think he could be the right man to get the best back out of the £18m-rated Chelsea flop, especially considering he once claimed that the Toffees graduate would become an “outstanding player” who “every club will want” when speaking to The Telegraph in 2011, but that ship has certainly sailed now.

Considering the £30m asking price and his £100,000-per-week wages, the Hammers boss must steer clear of his former star, otherwise he risks playing with a potential catastrophe at the London Stadium.

AND in other news, Irons dealt hammer transfer BLOW over 22-goal target who’s been dubbed “unstoppable”…

Aston Villa journalist Ashley Preece spotted manager Steven Gerrard turning away in ‘disgust’ after a Leon Bailey mistake against Leicester City. 

The lowdown

Gerrard named Bailey in his Premier League starting line-up for just the second time in 2022 ahead of the clash with the Foxes.

He played the full 90 minutes against Wolves at the start of the month, but aside from that he’d been limited to six substitute appearances since returning from a thigh injury.

The £28.8million, £85,000-per-week summer signing from Bayer Leverkusen slotted in alongside Philippe Coutinho and behind Ollie Watkins in the 4-3-2-1 formation.

[web_stories_embed url=”https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/web-stories/aston-villa-latest-developments/” title=”Aston Villa latest developments!” poster=”” width=”360″ height=”600″ align=”none”]

The latest

Preece noted shortly before half time at The King Power Stadium that Gerrard was left fuming after Bailey conceded a ‘daft’ free-kick 25 yards from the Villa goal.

It was ‘so sloppy’ from the Jamaican, he remarked, leading to the manager’s ‘disgust’.

Meanwhile, The Athletic’s Gregg Evans tweeted that Bailey was ‘really struggling’ in the first 45 minutes.

The verdict

The 24-year-old was unable to make any real impact in the first half against Brendan Rodgers’ side.

He finished the period with a meagre tally of 14 touches and four passes, having only attempted eight overall (via SofaScore).

Bailey won only one of the three ground duels he contested, and so it was no surprise to see Gerrard’s frustration mount.

Indeed, Preece also spotted the 41-year-old going ‘on at Bailey’ as he gathered his team near the touchline during a break in play.

It was something of a shock, then, to see him emerge for the second half. The manager might well have considered a change at the interval.

In other news, Villa are now in advanced talks over this signing.

Charlton Athletic bolstered their promotion hopes with an emphatic victory over Plymouth Argyle earlier this week, with the three points moving the side up into the playoff zone.

It also stretched their unbeaten run to ten games, which could prove to be a game-changer when the post-season swings around as they are proving to be undefeatable right now.

And Nigel Adkins deserves plenty of credit as he has continued that run of form despite taking over from Lee Bowyer last month.

On Tuesday night, he made a bold call to axe – or rest – one of his star performers, Ryan Inniss and evidently, it paid dividends as they kept a clean sheet on their way to a storming 6-0 victory.

Having signed in the summer, the 25-year-old has endured a campaign blighted by injury and after missing 27 straight league games, including Adkins’ first match in charge against AFC Wimbledon.

But he stepped in to keep a clean sheet against Doncaster Rovers, looked just as solid against promotion rivals Sunderland and Ipswich struggled to score past him, too.

Therefore to drop him in midweek was certainly a major call to make with him rounding back into form himself.

Speaking after clinching the 6 foot 5 titan in the summer, Bowyer waxed lyrical about his ability to the club’s official website, he said:

“It has been difficult as there are not many right-footed centre-halves out there but we have managed to get a very good one. Ryan is a winner, it is important when you have players like that at the back, and he’s a leader, an organiser and in that centre-half position that is what we were looking for.”

As per WhoScored ratings, the 25-year-old colossus (7.33) is only second to Jayden Stockley (7.48) and is also proving to be a huge aerial threat in this side, again ranking behind the target man striker (9.8) for aerial duels won (6.8) this term.

In his place, Adkins opted for Norwich City loanee Akin Famewo and he delivered alongside skipper Jason Pearce.

The 22-year-old gem was graded amongst the Addicks’ star performers with a 7.6 rating, better than the rest of the backline and only bettered by the goalscoring Stockley.

Famewo was a commanding presence, recording a game-high three blocks, putting his body on the line to deny Argyle a goal despite his side romping to an easy victory.

Whilst the young defender also put in four clearances and two interceptions, on top of winning 100% of his battles in the air, as per SofaScore.

The decision to rest Inniss for Famewo certainly turned out to be a blinding call from Adkins, and that’ll be good to know should the former Palace graduate pick up another injury or if further rotation is needed.

AND in other news, Addicks outcast fired Nigel Adkins a timely reminder this week…

The Birmingham Mail’s Ashley Preece has dropped a new Aston Villa transfer update which will leave fans excited.

What’s the story?

Dean Smith’s side have enjoyed an impressive start to the transfer window thus far, securing the signings of Emi Buendia and Ashley Young in a bid to reinforce a squad which only narrowly finished outside the top ten of the Premier League last season.

In a Q&A for the Birmingham Mail, Preece said: “Can’t wait for Walsall now, looking forward to that one. As for incomings, I’m trying so hard to get some clarity over Julian Alvarez but there’s nothing concrete. It’s all quiet at the minute; agents not picking up and there’s nothing new to report. Training grounds in UK and Europe starting to be busy again which’ll help. I’m expecting 2-3 more additions, though.”

He then added: “A GK, CB and a CAM are most-desired. Nothing close, sadly. Expecting it to pick up next week.”

Fans will be buzzing

Having already tied up deals for Buendia and Young, Villa are well-placed to get the rest of their summer business done in time for the start of the new Premier League season – Smith’s side get their campaign underway with a visit to newly-promoted Watford.

Given how they were involved in the fight for a surprise European place until the final few weeks of the season when Jack Grealish was notably missing through injury, Villa only really need a few key additions to potentially take that next step, rather than a real squad overhaul.

Preece’s claim that a new goalkeeper, a new centre-back and a new number 10 are the “most-desired” targets suggests that Villa are happy with their first team options and are just looking for extra competition – the Midlands club already boast the likes of Emi Martinez, Ezri Konsa, Tyrone Mings, Buendia and Grealish for those respective positions, after all.

Reinforcing the squad and ensuring that if players get injured or perhaps lose form, Smith has the options to change things around and still maintain a high level of quality, will be key to bridging that gap to the top seven.

It’s exactly why fans will likely be buzzing with Preece’s update on where things stand with Villa at the moment in the transfer market.

Meanwhile, Villa must unleash this starlet in the Premier League…

Football FanCast’s EFL Spy has exclusively said that signing Eddie Nketiah could fire Queens Park Rangers into the top-six.

An outstanding end to 2020-2021 saw Mark Warburton’s side finish ninth, just nine points behind the play-off places.

However, Rangers badly struggled for goals throughout the campaign, with only Lyndon Dykes reaching double figures in all competitions.

Such were QPR’s goalscoring problems, Charlie Austin’s eight goals from January onwards made him their second top goal-getter.

With that in mind, Nketiah, who’s scored goals in the Premier League and with Leeds in the Championship previously, could add some much-needed firepower to the Rangers frontline.

The 22-year-old made 29 first-team appearances for Arsenal last season, although most of his game-time came in the cup competitions and the Europa League, meaning the youngster would surely benefit from another campaign out on loan in the second-tier.

Nketiah scored three times in 17 Championship appearances on loan at Leeds at the beginning of the 2019-2020 season.

The EFL insider believes a spell in the Championship could benefit him, telling FFC:

“Quality is needed for QPR to push for the playoffs this season, and with a few quid in the bank now you might see them go and get some quality from the Premier League.

“Someone like Arsenal young gun Eddie Nketiah, he could make a serious impact at QPR.”

Speaking exclusively to Football FanCast, former Everton defender Michael Ball believes supporters at his old club would welcome the signing of Gareth Bale.

The Welsh forward is currently on loan at Tottenham from Real Madrid and is set for a return to Spain in the summer. However, with only a year remaining on his contract at the Santiago Bernabeu, his future could be away from the Champions League semi-finalists.

If that does turn out to be the case, according to El Chiringuito (via TEAMtalk), Everton could be his new home, with former manager Carlo Ancelotti keen on a reunion.

For Ball, this is a transfer that he cannot see Toffees supporters being against. On the rumours, he told FFC:

“I think the Everton fans would like to see that happening. I think Carlo would like to see that happening. Carlo wants players to make an impact straight away, he wants players to push for Europe, challenge that top four and start making a bit of a noise.

“Carlo wants instant success; Gareth has obviously got that in abundance. If he comes to the football club, he will raise the levels of the players around him.”

Bale has really come to life of late, recently scoring a brilliant hat-trick against Sheffield United. He is also a player Ancelotti obviously knows well from their time at Real Madrid, so a move to Goodison Park does not sound like the craziest idea.

Speaking exclusively to Football FanCast, former Tottenham defender Graham Roberts does not believe Manchester United need to sign a player like Harry Winks this summer.

Winks is currently being linked with a move to Old Trafford, with Stretty News claiming earlier this month that the 25-year-old midfielder is a target for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

Winks really struggled for game time last season, though his fortunes did improve when Ryan Mason took over following Jose Mourinho’s sacking.

Should Winks be offered no guarantees over minutes by Mourinho’s successor, then he may very well need to consider his future in north London.

Roberts, however, is struggling to see how a move to Manchester United would make any sense. The Spurs legend exclusively told FFC:

“They have [Scott] McTominay, they have Fred. Similar? You know, do they need another one there?

“I would think Man United would be putting all their eggs in a striker or another centre-half, so I think that’s their main agenda.”

As well as McTominay and Fred, United also have Donny van de Beek who can play in that midfield position, and he was barely used by Solskjaer during the 2020/21 campaign.

Winks could easily find himself in a similar position as the United boss continues to opt for the likes of McTominay and Fred.

Does that make the England international a bad player? Of course not, he has his talents, with former manager Mauricio Pochettino once hailing him as “amazing”. But a move to United may not be the best fit for him.

A number of Manchester United fans have been criticising the performance of Diogo Dalot in their 2-1 Champions League win at home to Villarreal on Wednesday night.

Cristiano Ronaldo spared Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s blushes with a last-minute goal after Alex Telles had cancelled out Paco Alcacer’s opener with a well-taken volley from outside the penalty box.

In spite of the win, Dalot endured a torrid time up against Arnaut Danjuma at right-back in place of the suspended Aaron Wan-Bissaka, and Villarreal’s goal came down his flank.

The Portugal international lost out on four of his duels and also failed to block any shots or make any key passes or accurate crosses in the game, losing possession of the ball on 11 different occasions (Sofascore).

Man Utd fans on Dalot’s performance

These United supporters on Twitter blasted the 22-year-old’s performance, with one Red Devils supporter even going as far as to claim that Dalot was a ‘liability’ last night:

“Dalot was never good enough but Trippier was too expensive for what #MUFC wanted to pay.”

Credit: @JohnMozMolloy

“Telles passed the test. Dalot needs to improve massively.”

Credit: @ant4177

“A superb win to overshadowed many errors. Dalot was extremely poor throughout. Midfield lacking ball providers. A simple crossing might lead to a goal but we didn’t do that till end of the game. Sancho not at his best. Greenwood should do better. Again late substitution.”

Credit: @RRajen81

“Dalot is one of the worst defenders I’ve ever seen. Don’t know why we kept him this summer. Rather give Laird a chance.”

Credit: @BallRaffles

“Dalot was so poor today. Watching his defending the goal. If he went down he would have blocked that cross”

Credit: @StanChurchill

“Great excitement, drama and a win in the end but why did it take 60 minutes for United to start playing with any urgency and attacking verve? I’ve got nothing personal against Dalot but he is an absolute defensive liability”

Credit: @philgoldsmith

In other news, Dalot wasn’t the only player to come in for criticism from some Man Utd fans last night

With just five goals scored in their opening seven Premier League games of the season, Southampton have not been particularly potent in front of goal so far this term.

Their previous league match saw Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side lose 3-1 to Chelsea before the current international break, leaving the club 17th in the table with just four points on the board.

When the international break ends, the Saints will welcome fellow league strugglers Leeds United to St Mary’s for their latest attempt at getting their first league win of the season.

One player who has yet to make his first league start of the season for Southampton and who we feel should start against the Whites is Armando Broja.

On the chalkboard

Southampton signed Broja in August on a loan deal from fellow Premier League side Chelsea until the end of the season.

So far this term, the 20-year-old striker – who is currently valued at £2.7m by Transfermarkt – has only made four appearances for the Saints in the league, coming off the bench on each occasion. However, he netted twice when they thumped Newport County 8-0 in the Carabao Cup in August, illustrating that he can pounce in the penalty area when he is given a chance to show his worth.

Looking ahead to the Leeds game, only Newcastle United and Norwich City (16) have conceded more goals than Marcelo Bielsa’s side (14). Therefore, we feel that this could be the best opportunity to give Broja his first league start of the season to see if he can have a goalscoring impact rather than bringing him off the bench again.

Additionally, taking into account how Che Adams has failed to score in all competitions despite appearing in all but two of Southampton’s seven league games so far this season, this could potentially persuade Hasenhuttl to drop the 25-year-old and give Broja his chance to shine.

If the Albanian does end up starting against Leeds and makes a positive impact on the game which directly leads to Southampton securing their first win of the season, we feel that he should keep his place in the side to try and prove that he can find the net on a regular basis.

If he can do as such, he could well prove to be a very significant player for the Saints before he returns to Chelsea at the end of the season.

In other news: Hasenhuttl could solve big Southampton issue with £12m “special talent”, fans would love it

Amanda Staveley has dropped some promising insight into what her plans are if the proposed takeover of Newcastle United ends up going through.

The Lowdown: Staveley interviews

Staveley, who is part of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) consortium looking to buy the club, has given a number of public interviews ahead of the Magpies’ arbitration hearing against the Premier League later this month.

The businesswoman and head of PCP Capital Partners spoke to Sky Sports referencing a letter that she wrote urging both the UK government and football regulators to ensure that the arbitration process is made public. She also admitted in an interview with ITV journalist Chris Conway that she remains ‘committed’ to the deal between the consortium and Mike Ashley.

The Latest: Staveley plans

Speaking to Tyne Tees (via The Chronicle), Staveley outlined what her and the consortium’s plans are for the St James’ Park club should they be successful in their takeover bid.

She said: “What I do know is we are going to invest heavily into, not only players but the Academy, the grounds, the infrastructure and the surrounding areas.”

The Verdict: Promising

Reports that the consortium is set to invest in many aspects of the club, as well as the players, is certainly a promising sign for the future ahead.

A takeover is not just about being able to buy better players in order to improve the squad; it is also about growing the club by investing in other aspects and climbing up the footballing ladder.

If the consortium is successful in the upcoming arbitration case, then the takeover process could be accelerated, and they can duly start to think about how and whether they want to invest.

Staveley’s plans for the Tyneside club if the takeover goes through should be music to the ears of the Toon Army ahead of the 2021/22 season.

In other news, NUFC are in a Premier League race to sign this defender