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Some Glasgow Rangers fans have been left reacting to a post from the club’s official Twitter page.

As many as 12 Light Blues are playing for their respective national teams over the course of the next few days during the international break.

They are: Jon McLaughlin, Nathan Patterson, Steven Davis, Glen Kamara, Fashion Jr, Ianis Hagi, Kemar Roofe, Juninho Bacuna, Calvin Bassey, Leon Balogun, Joe Aribo and Borna Barisic.

Of course, it is always an honour for any player to represent their country, but some Bears supporters are understandably worried that they may pick up an injury or have to go into self-isolation upon their return, and thus would not be able to return back to club football.

Nonetheless, Steven Gerrard will no doubt be hoping that his squad comes back to Ibrox unscathed.

Rangers fans on international news

These Gers gave their reactions as the news was shared in a club post on Twitter:

“No Morelos to Colombia is encouraging”

Credit: @auldco

“Good luck to each and everyone of you. Take care and come back injury free.”

Credit: @ElsieMcCready5

“Hopefully all return back Covid free.”

Credit: @chunkylover25

“Bring them home”

Credit: @Coplandbear1872

“Come back unscathed please team”

Credit: @lennyrfc

“Will they need to isolate on return?”

Credit: @R55Loyal

In other news, find out what Gerrard claim has Gers raging here!

The Athletic’s Phil Hay has confirmed a major Leeds United boost over Raphinha ahead of their Premier League clash against Liverpool later today.

What’s the story?

Marcelo Bielsa’s side appeared to be heading into the game against the Reds on Sunday afternoon without one of their talismans, with the Brazilian FA and FIFA looking to impose sanctions on those Premier League clubs who opted against sending their players out for international duty.

The likes of Raphinha, and Alisson, Fabinho and Roberto Firmino for Liverpool, were all in danger of missing today’s game, but Hay has confirmed that everything has now been cleared for the South Americans to play this weekend.

On Saturday morning, he tweeted: “Raphinha’s available for tomorrow’s game. Everyone placated and approval for him to play against Liverpool came through just before before midnight yesterday. #lufc”

Fans will be buzzing

Make no mistake about it, having Raphinha cleared to play against Jurgen Klopp’s side is a massive boost for Bielsa and Leeds’ chances of beating the Merseysiders.

Sky Sports pundit Paul Merson has previously lauded the bargain that Leeds got in Raphinha, declaring: “He’s full of energy, he’s got a (good) work ethic as well where he works for the team, he just does everything right.

“I’m a big fan of his and the recruitment there to find that player, because for £17m, there will be people now scratching their head going ‘why didn’t we get him?'”

It was quite the debut campaign at Elland Road for the former Rennes man, becoming a real game-changer for Bielsa’s side in their first campaign back in the top-flight.

He ranked fourth for goals and first for his assists among his teammates in 2020/21, and his willingness to take players on and try and make things happen for his side was reflected by him averaging the most dribbles of any Leeds player with 1.9 per game.

That sort of attacking impact is exactly why Leeds fans will be absolutely buzzing at the news that Raphinha has been cleared to play against Liverpool today.

Meanwhile, Adam Pope has dropped a Leeds United transfer update…

Leeds United will be able to ‘demand top dollar’ for Kalvin Phillips if they’re successful in tying him down to a new contract, according to Sky Sports pundit Kevin Phillips. 

The lowdown

Football Insider reported last week that Leeds have opened preliminary talks with the midfielder over a new long-term contract. The player is reportedly keen to commit to the club by penning an extension.

He still has three years left on the contract he signed at the beginning of Leeds’ successful promotion campaign in 2019/20 (via Transfermarkt).

The £36m-rated star was recently named England’s Player of the Year for 2021 after starring in his country’s run to the final of the European Championship, beating Raheem Sterling and Mason Mount to the fan-voted award (via Reuters).

The latest

Speaking to Football Insider, Kevin Phillips said that Leeds were aware of the dangers of letting contracts run down, having seen other clubs land themselves in weak negotiating positions.

However, he also warned that suitors may to try capitalise on the Whites’ struggles if their poor results continue. Marcelo Bielsa’s team find themselves 17th in the early Premier League table, having failed to win any of their first five matches.

The former Sunderland striker said: “Leeds have probably learned from other clubs who have let their players run their contracts down do the final 12 months. We have seen it a lot at Arsenal. I’m sure they are one of the clubs who have learned from that.

“Phillips is an unbelievable player. He is still relatively young so get him on a long-term contract.

“That way, even if a big club comes knocking in the summer they can demand top dollar for him. They will be able to ask for more because he will have four, five years left on his contract.

“I expect him to have another great season and if Leeds continue to struggle I’m certain a few clubs will try and test their resolve with a bid.”

The verdict

If Leeds can get Kalvin Phillips to sign a contract which runs until he’s roughly 30, it would be a massive boost for the club.

Not only would it inflate his price tag, perhaps taking it close to Jack Grealish territory, it would also indicate that the midfielder is more than happy to stay at Elland Road.

He may feel that he can achieve his goals under Marcelo Bielsa, who looks capable of taking Leeds to European football on last season’s evidence even if the current campaign has gotten off to a slow start.

In other news, Danny Mills has expressed his concern after Leeds were dealt this injury blow. 

The Nuno Santo era at Tottenham Hotspur got off to the most perfect start as they began the new Premier League season with a bang.

Spurs defeated defending champions Manchester City in North London to hand the Portuguese head coach his first win in his first competitive game in charge.

The visitors’ boss Pep Guardiola started £100m summer signing Jack Grealish but left some big names like Kevin De Bruyne, Kyle Walker and John Stones on the bench.

It was Heung-min Son who stepped up in the absence of Harry Kane to fire Spurs to the victory in the 55th minute. A long ball over the top found a rampaging Steven Bergwijn, who ran from deep before feeding the South Korean attacker.

He ran on through, Ake backed off, Dias caused havoc and Son angled the ball past Ederson from the edge of the area – a neat, rapid counter-attack.

The 29-year-old, who committed to the club for the long-term during the off-season, will reap plenty of plaudits, as will young Hotspur Way youth product Japhet Tanganga who kept £150m-worth of talent in Grealish and Raheem Sterling at bay throughout his time on the pitch.

He would go onto earn Sky Sports commentator Gary Neville’s ‘Man of the Match’ award.

However, there was another name who deserves just as much credit as the aforementioned Spurs duo as he was largely an unsung hero throughout the shock victory.

[snack-amp-story url= “https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/spurs-latest-team-news-transfer-rumours-gossip-more” title= “Read the latest Spurs news, transfer rumours, gossip and much more!”]

Lucas Moura, who has been linked with an exit from the club throughout the summer transfer window, was electric on the right flank and proved to be a constant thorn in Guardiola’s side.

Aside from Son, the Brazilian winger garnered the highest rating of any Spurs attacker by SofaScore (7.0), which was more than Dele Alli (6.2) and Steven Bergwijn (6.7).

Not only did he contribute in the final third, where he completed five of his eight dribbling attempts, recorded three shots in total, and provided a squad-high three key passes but he also managed to do an industrious job defensively, too.

Also per SofaScore, the £18m-rated dynamo chipped in with a further three clearances, one interception and one tackle. He also won a whopping 14 duels in total, giving Benjamin Mendy a horrible afternoon at left-back as the Frenchman was graded a shocking 6.5 and that is rather generous for his overall display.

It’s no wonder that Moura has been described as a “nightmare” to play against by teammate and centre-back Eric Dier.

The Evening Standard’s Dan Kilpatrick handed the former PSG star an eight out of ten and lauded him for a “menacing display of direct running”, whilst Alasdair Gold at football.london handed him a slightly better rating of nine and claimed:  He was a constant thorn in the side of City and it was his clever touch to Bergwijn that started the move for Son’s 55th minute goal’ before adding: ‘He was one of Spurs’ best players on the day.’

Indeed he was and that’s why Moura was one of Nuno’s massively unsung heroes on the day.

AND in other news, Bye-bye Sissoko: Spurs eye major midfield upgrade…

Liverpool have been dealt an injury blow ahead of their upcoming Premier League clash at Anfield on Saturday.

What’s the latest?

In recent comments cited by the Liverpool website, Jurgen Klopp revealed that James Milner looks set to miss the visit of Chelsea this weekend, as the midfielder has not recovered from the injury which ruled him out of the victory over Burnley last weekend.

Speaking about the current state of his squad, Klopp said: “Millie will not be ready – I think that’s it pretty much.

“All the rest trained and looked good and sharp – we should better be because, obviously, Chelsea is a tough one as well. That’s already kind of like the Champions League, just in the Premier League!”

Klopp will be gutted

While Milner is no longer a bonafide starter in the Liverpool team, having been picked in the starting XI just 20 times over the club’s 2019/20 and 2020/21 league campaigns, the absence of the 35-year-old on Saturday will nevertheless leave Klopp gutted, as the midfielder’s versatility and experience would have been invaluable in a fixture against a side as impressive as Chelsea.

Indeed, having been deployed at left-back, right-back, defensive midfield, left-midfield, central midfield and right-midfield during his time at Anfield, Milner is the archetypal utility man who can be deployed to nullify a particularly dangerous opposition player – of which Chelsea have many.

Furthermore, Milner is a player whom Klopp often brings on to see a game out having taken the lead – something that clearly works, considering the £2.7m-rated man’s average of 2.12 points per game since his move to Liverpool back in 2015.

However, the German coach will have to make do without the England international against Thomas Tuchel’s side on Saturday, a game in which at least one of Liverpool’s or Chelsea’s 100% record so far in the Premier League will have to give.

In other news: Klopp can scare Chelsea by unleashing “extraordinary” £27m-rated Liverpool dynamo

Dean Smith will not want to let midfielder Marvelous Nakamba go this summer, Aston Villa journalist Luke Hatfield has told Football FanCast.

Last month, the MailOnline reported that both Everton and Crystal Palace are interested in signing Nakamba before the transfer window closes.

The 27-year-old, who joined Villa from Club Brugge back in 2019, was not one of the first names on Smith’s teamsheet last season.

In total, he made just 13 appearances in the Premier League, spending a lot of the campaign on the bench.

Despite that, Hatfield expects the Villa boss to keep hold of the Zimbabwe international.

“I think Dean Smith is happy with having Nakamba there as an option,” the Express & Star reporter said.

“I don’t think he’d want to see him go at all. It might leave them a bit light in that department.”

All in all, Smith does look pleased with his midfield options. While Villa have targeted Southampton’s James Ward-Prowse, attack has been the former Brentford manager’s priority.

He has signed Ward-Prowse’s ex-Southampton team-mate Danny Ings, Leon Bailey and Emiliano Buendia to improve the Villans’ forward line.

Anything can, of course, still happen before the transfer window slams shut, but it looks like Nakamba will be remaining at Villa Park.

Reading have recently been linked with a move for Derby County youngster Louie Sibley, according to a recent report from The Reading Chronicle. 

What’s the story?

Sibley has found regular game time hard to come by in Wayne Rooney’s side in recent months, which will be frustrating for the youngster, who impressed after breaking through to the senior squad.

The 19-year-old was restricted to ten league starts last term, as the Rams narrowly avoided relegation into League One on the final day of the 2020/21 season.

Reading’s financial situation has been well-documented, with the club previously being under a transfer embargo after breaching FFP regulations in recent years.

However, they’ve been given the green light to add to their squad, with Watford’s Tom Dele-Bashiru and former Nottingham Forest full-back Yuri Ribeiro being linked with moves to the club recently.

Sibley has three years remaining on his contract with Derby County, but it remains to be seen as to whether any potential agreement with Reading would be a loan or permanent deal at this stage.

‘Complete’

The Derby talent’s future remains ‘up in the air’ at this moment in time, but Reading could be the ideal move for him, as he goes in search of regular game time in senior football.

The Royals need additional strength in depth, as they’ve been reliant on the club’s Under-23s players over pre-season, which is far from ideal heading into the new Championship campaign.

Yakou Meite has been ruled out of action for the foreseeable future, as he recovers from surgery on an ACL injury, so it makes complete sense for Veljko Paunovic to target an attack-minded player this summer.

Sibley will be eager to make a name for himself in senior football as well, and if he can find game time with Reading consistently this term, then he could turn out to be a shrewd signing for the Berkshire-based side.

The 19-year-old netted a hat-trick for the Rams against Millwall back in June 2020, but has since gone on to find minutes hard to come by, which will be frustrating for the youngster.

Speaking after Sibley’s hat-trick against Millwall (quotes sourced from FourFourTwo), Phillip Cocu gave high praise to the young talent, and labelled it as a ‘complete’ game from the Derby youth academy graduate.

“He played a massive game. Not only the way he played, but his total development as a young player is a real positive for us as a club.

“He scored great quality goals, a very complete game in his position. When we don’t have possession he does his job, he works for the team.”

Reading finished seventh in the Championship last term, and will be keen to make a serious push for promotion once again this season.

If Sibley can find some consistency in his performances if he does sign for Reading, then the Royals could strike gold in landing his signature this summer, even if that is to be on a temporary basis.

Reading are set to return to action this weekend, where they’ll be looking to pick up their first win of the 2021/22 season, when they take on Preston North End, in what could potentially be a tricky test for Paunovic’s side.

Many Wolves fans have been left lauding a transfer update involving Ruben Neves.

Speaking on his Twitch channel (via Talking Wolves), Italian football journalist and transfer expert Fabrizio Romano has claimed that it is currently ‘very quiet’ with regards to the future of the Portugal international at the Midlands club, amid interest from both Manchester United and Arsenal.

Neves is the true anchor in midfield at Molineux, having averaged more tackles (2.4), interceptions (1.8), shots (1.9), passes (54.9) and long balls (5.3) per game in the Premier League than both Leander Dendoncker and Joao Moutinho in the 2020/21 season (WhoScored).

Thus, the fact that there does not seem to be any developments on his potential exit will give WWFC supporters hope that he will stay.

Wolves fans on Neves transfer update

These Wanderers lauded the transfer update on Neves as it was shared on Twitter, with one even going as far as to claim that it was ‘encouraging’:

“That’s great news. We need to keep Ruben and build a team around him. The guy is 23! Can you imagine how good he will be when he peaks?”

Credit: @GabyCaizzo

“That sounds encouraging!! Give him a new long-term contract Jeff, the same with Traore & Jimenez. Then sign some quality to play with them. Squad isn’t anywhere near strong enough at the mo.”

Credit: @W4768721431

“Nice”

Credit: @haydenbd_

“GOOD”

Credit: @markperry65

“Good, keep it that way please”

Credit: @_joemorgannnn

“Good it can stay that way”

Credit: @Dan__Vincent

In other news, find out what other transfer update Wanderers have been lauding recently here!

Victor Orta could deliver another Raphinha-esque masterclass for Leeds United by signing West Brom star Matheus Pereira this summer.

What’s the story?

Reports in recent days and weeks have suggested that the Whites are interested in signing the Brazilian this summer, and it’s even been claimed that he could be available for as little as £15m.

And now, speaking exclusively to This is Futbol, David Norris has said: “If you’re scoring goals in a relegated team, when it’s hard enough to create chances, then you’re doing something right – £15m is nothing. We spoke about Leeds and their budget, but £15m for a player that scores goals in a struggling team makes sense.”

Another Raphinha masterclass from Orta

Having a sealed a deal for Raphinha for just £17m last year, it’s safe to say Orta played an absolute blinder for Leeds.

And in Pereira, Orta could do exactly that the same.

Hailed as a “genius” who “who has a technical ability that I have never seen before” by former Nurnberg coach Nate Weiss, Pereira enjoyed a superb campaign in the Premier League last season, netting 11 goals and provided a further six assists as he tried to rescue his Baggies side from relegation.

Former Leeds man Noel Whelan has already talked up the prospect of Pereira joining the likes of Raphinha at Elland Road previously, saying: “It is a mouth-watering prospect. We missed out on certain players last season, and this is a player that excites everybody. I would definitely take him all day long.

“He’s a fantastic player, he’s great on the ball, he can turn people inside out. Pereira’s another option we can use right across that front three and maybe in a number 10 role as well. He’s the right age and he’s the sort of player we should be looking at. Imagine, if you put him alongside Raphinha, Rodrigo, Harrison etc, that’s pretty formidable.”

In fact, Pereira’s average of two shots and 1.8 key passes per game in the Premier League last season was only a touch lower than Raphinha (2.2 and 2.1), while he was actually fouled significantly more times than his Brazilian counterpart (1.6 to one).

And, after a particularly fine performance earlier this year in the Premier League against Aston Villa, former England ace Jermain Jenas said of the 25-year-old: “He’s just silky. When he’s on it, he’s just got that lovely left-foot, (tucked) his penalty away, the delivery into the box for set-pieces was brilliant, and he wanted to showcase his skills.”

Given the relatively cheap price the Whites could get him for, Orta could deliver another transfer masterclass with Pereira just like he did with Raphinha last summer.

Meanwhile, Leeds have been handed a major Marcelo Bielsa boost…

An update has emerged on Newcastle goalkeeper Freddie Woodman, regarding Leeds’ interest in his services.

What’s the talk?

According to the Yorkshire Evening Post, Newcastle goalkeeper Freddie Woodman is one of the names on Leeds’ list of targets to replace Kiko Casilla, who returned to Spain earlier this week with Elche.

Victor Orta wants to bring in a back up to Illan Meslier as quickly as possible and Woodman is being looked at as a possible arrival.

Fans would love him

Leeds fans would love to have Woodman at Elland Road as he is a young, hungry, goalkeeper who could come in and provide Meslier with real competition for his place.

The Newcastle stopper has shown his class at Championship level in recent seasons whilst on loan at Swansea and he could be eager to make his mark in the Premier League.

In two seasons on loan in the second tier with the Swans, Woodman became a clean sheet king as he racked up 32 shutouts in 88 appearances – conceding 88 goals.

This highlights his consistency and reliability at the Championship level, suggesting that he has the potential to be a solid back-up option to Leeds’ French starlet. Meslier having a goalkeeper who can seriously challenge him for his place could also motivate him to up his own game.

Both players would be fighting it out to land the number one jersey and this could lead to them both working harder in training to make sure they are 100% ready to take their chance when it comes.

Former Kilmarnock boss Lee Clarke heaped praise on the talented shot-stopper. He lauded him as “outstanding” and highlighted his communication and distribution as key strengths in his game.

He told The Athletic:

“I knew he was an outstanding young keeper and had all the attributes. The tough thing was I had an experienced goalkeeper in Jamie MacDonald in the team — that was causing one or two issues in terms of what I wanted to do.

“But I knew I was bringing a talented goalkeeper in. Freddie’s communication, his shot-stopping and his distribution skills are second to none. He’s an unbelievable professional and works extremely hard at his game.”

The £5.5k-per-week beast could, therefore, be a smart addition to Marcelo Bielsa’s squad and improve the goalkeeping department, Orta should look to get a deal done.

AND in other news, Imagine him and Bamford: Leeds can land dream gem who has “something special” for £30m…