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The Athletic’s Leeds United journalist Phil Hay has recently talked about Patrick Bamford not getting called up for the England national team.

The 27-year-old hasn’t been called up for the England national team and Luke Ayling has also missed out, although Kalvin Phillips has earned a call-up once again (BBC Sport). Hay has discussed Bamford’s situation and how he’d likely be feeling right now.

Bamford will be ‘extremely disappointed’

Hay recently talked about Bamford’s situation, commenting on one of The Athletic’s Q&A sessions for the England selection.

The journalist made it clear that he did think Bamford’s chance would come this time around and it could’ve happened if Gareth Southgate had looked at him from up close. He also said that this could’ve been now or never for the Leeds forward.

The journalist made it clear that, if getting 13 Premier League goals under Marcelo Bielsa doesn’t get him into the England side, it is tough to see how a chance will come otherwise. Hay also said that playing for England was Bamford’s personal dream and he’ll be ‘extremely disappointed’ about being overlooked this month.

Hay told The Athletic: “From a Leeds United perspective, it would have been a surprise to see Luke Ayling selected, as good as he’s been this season. Southgate is fairly well covered in that position. But I did think this would be Bamford’s time – if only to give Southgate the chance to look at him up close.

“I wrote on here [for the Athletic] a month or so ago that it felt like now or never for Bamford. If 13 PL goals under Bielsa can’t get his foot in the door, it’s quite difficult to see a point where his chance will come. Knowing him, he’ll be extremely disappointed about this. An England cap has become a bit of a personal dream for him.”

Not the end of the world for Bamford

While it would be disappointing to not get called up to the Three Lions squad despite him having scored 13 Premier League goals and getting six assists as well, but the Englishman is still only 27.

He has scored a substantial number of goals under Bielsa at Elland Road since arriving, which suggests that he could keep doing it in the future as well and there’s signs of that from the recent past, too.

While the call-up didn’t come about this time around, perhaps Bamford should stay patient and keep performing at a similar level.

In other news, Leeds have been given a boost in their chase of this Serie A ace – read more here.

Kevin Phillips expects Leeds United to pursue Glasgow Rangers winger Ryan Kent once again this summer.

Phillips expects Leeds pursuit

The English Premier League outfit were heavily interested in Kent last year, with the Gers even turning down a £10m bid from the Whites for Kent (rte.ie).

Speaking to Football Insider, Phillips expects Steven Gerrard to have a big job on his hands to keep the 24-year-old in Scotland. The ex-Sunderland striker said:

“I think there will be a few teams sniffing around a few of the Rangers players.

“It’s just natural. How many times have we seen it over the years? If you go up there and do well then your next move is to the Premier League.

“Ryan Kent, Leeds have obviously been linked with him and made moves for him before. He’s a Scottish champion now so why would Leeds not look at it again?

“He’s certainly a player that a lot of Premier League teams will be looking at. The big job for Stevie G is to convince him to stay and go again.”

Tough ask

Valued at £7.2m by Transfermarkt, Kent has been an ever-present for Rangers so far this season. He has played in all 33 of their Premiership matches and has scored 11 times and provided 13 assists in all competitions (Transfermarkt). He has grown into a player Gerrard can rely upon, and with Champions League football potentially on the cards for the 55-time Scottish champions, Kent may believe his work is not yet done at Ibrox.

However, the Premier League may seem a far more attractive proposition than the Scottish Premiership. At Leeds, Kent would have the chance to work with one of the most renowned managers in the world in Marcelo Bielsa, and he could well receive a far bigger salary to boot. As Phillips says, Gerrard could have his work cut out to hold on to the winger.

In other news, some Rangers fans hammered this man’s performance against Celtic.

Sheffield Wednesday suffered yet another blow in their bid for survival in the Championship on Tuesday night, and several of Darren Moore’s key Owls stars badly let him down at Hillsborough Stadium.

The south Yorkshiremen are heading towards League One at a canter as they looked feeble in front of goal against promotion-chasing Swansea City.

Indeed, Wednesday managed just one shot on target throughout the 90 minutes, with Jordan Rhodes hugely struggling to make any sort of impact on the side, despite being kept in the starting XI – unlike top goalscorer Callum Paterson.

It’s no wonder Moore, who was back in the dugout for the first time since the international break, hooked the 31-year-old talisman off just after the hour mark.

In 64 minutes, Rhodes managed a measly 22 touches, the worst of any starter across both teams – even Owls goalkeeper Keiren Westwood (29). It means he saw the ball just once every three minutes, and when in possession he was careless, weak and hugely wasteful.

The out-of-contract club-record signing made just 50% of his 14 passing attempts, losing possession 11 times, via SofaScore.

[snack-amp-story url=https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/read-the-latest-sheffield-wednesday-news-transfer-rumours-and-recent-gossip” title=”Read this week’s latest Sheffield Wednesday news, latest transfer rumours and more!]

Rhodes struggled to deal with the aerial threat of Ryan Bennett or the strength of Marc Guehi, as he won just one of his five duels (20%), both on the ground and in the air.

This was comfortably the weakest showing from any Owls player on the night, even the error-prone Tom Lees won 87.5% of his battles against the likes of Jamal Lowe and Andre Ayew, which speaks volumes.

The only chance that Rhodes did have, he fluffed it big time. Barry Bannan whipped in an inch-perfect cross to find the Scotsman, unmarked in space, but he could only head over the bar.

No player has scored more goals since Moore’s appointment than Rhodes, but Wednesday were never going to find the net against the Swans with their leading striker in such poor nick.

The Owls can ill afford their star man hitting the back burners at this point in the season, with only five games left to play, the Yorkshiremen remain seven points adrift.

League One could be confirmed as early as next week.

AND in other news, Wednesday dealt devastating injury blow as Owls star likely out for season…

According to a report from Milan Live.it, as also translated and relayed by Sport Witness, West Ham United have always shown interest in AC Milan star Franck Kessie alongside London rivals Arsenal and Tottenham – coming as the Rossoneri reportedly plot a new deal for the Ivory Coast international.

Indeed, as per the Italian outlet, Kessie has attracted fondness from the east Londoners as a player that marries ‘perfectly’ with the Premier League – even despite the brilliant form of both Tomas Soucek and Declan Rice in Kessie’s position.

West Ham interest in Kessie revealed

Alongside West Ham, both Spurs and Arsenal have also displayed their fondness for the 44-cap star – but a deal could be hard to pull off given Milan have ‘no intention’ of letting one of the most important players leave the San Siro.

As well as this, Stefano Pioli’s side could apparently demand €50 million (£42.8 million) for the midfield enforcer who is apparently valued at that sky high price.

Lauded as a ‘devastating’ player by former Italy international Antonio Cassano (Bobo TV via Milan Live), he has also been dubbed ‘sublime’ in the past by former Milan boss Vincenzo Montella (Goal).

Transfer Tavern take

He has absolutely no shortage of plaudits, with this Milan Live report hailing him as Milan’s ‘undisputed leader’ and pillar of the Serie A side.

However, given his lofty valuation and Milan’s stance on a sale, a West Ham deal for Kessie could be difficult despite GSB showing an interest in him for Moyes.

Time will tell whether their fondness for Kessie develops into a potential offer, but the signs suggest it would be a very surprising feat.

In other news: West Ham fans erupted at these links to a ‘perfect’ signing, find out more here.

Many Aston Villa fans are not happy at all with John McGinn’s performance in the Premier League match against Southampton.

The Scotland midfielder, who arrived in the summer of 2018 (Transfermarkt), has been a key player for the squad since joining and a feature in the side since returning from injury.

However, it looked like his performance against the Saints was not what Villa fans have come to expect from him. One fan called him ‘anonymous’, whilst another said he was ‘doing nothing’.

Aston Villa recently announced the arrival of French midfielder Morgan Sanson, who has an abundance of experience in Europe, and he travelled with the squad for the Saints game even though he had only trained for a couple of days.

This has created more competition in the middle of the pitch, and McGinn will have to step up his performances if he wants to keep his place in the starting eleven.

Dean Smith’s side put in a gutsy away performance at the end of the day, but McGinn was certainly one of the weaker links.

Here is how Villa fans reacted: “John McGinn, running around, doing nothing, just whining on the opposition player.”

Credit: @Kalme70

“What’s McGinn doing? doesn’t look like he’s coming or going!”

Credit: @ChicoPants

“Mcginn and Douglas Luiz struggling here / barkley non existent”

Credit: @RUSSON82

“Barkley and McGinn are anonymous #avfc midfield getting ran by Southampton”

Credit: @Vincentvilla81

“For all their good play Soton didn’t create much. We need to get better control in midfield though. McGinn and Dougie both below par. We always have that quality in final 3rd to get a goal though. #avfc”

Credit: @FoxyN77

“McGinn doesn’t look right to me….”

Credit: @toriihx

In other news, Gregg Evans has highlighted one transfer problem for Aston Villa.

Celtic look ahead to their fixture against Aberdeen this afternoon in their bid to finish their season on a positive. They have slumped their way through this campaign due to their on and off form and Rangers’ unstoppable Premiership streak. They will ultimately lose out to their desired tenth consecutive league title, as their Glasgow neighbours lead them by a mammoth 18 points.

Celtic’s last fixture in the league was against Ross County, which ended in a disappointing 1-0 loss. The defeat stopped their run of five wins, in which they managed to score an impressive 13 goals and conceded just two. However, the squad’s frailties have snuck up on them again and it’s now back to trying to redeem their form once again.

Football FanCast has predicted how interim manager John Kennedy will line up in his first match in charge of the Hoops…

Although Neil Lennon is no longer at the club, it’s unlikely Kennedy will stray far from the Irishman’s usual set up. With just three fixtures left, the Celtic camp will want to hurriedly draw a line in the sand on this season and look ahead to the next.

With Greg Taylor injured, it paves the way for a return to the squad for Diego Laxalt. The AC Milan loanee hasn’t started a match since January, in Celtic’s 0-0 draw against Livingston. But with the new favourite Taylor out of action, this is a good chance for Laxalt to prove himself and push to make his £22,000 per week contract permanent at Parkhead.

In the midfield, the likes of David Turnbull should remain untouched. He has contributed seven goals and five assists in the Premiership, showing off his ability to pull the strings in the engine room. He’ll likely be joined by captain-to-be Callum McGregor and Ryan Christie, with Ismaila Soro replacing Scott Brown in a deeper role.

Odsonne Edouard will be hoping to find the back of the net against Aberdeen after being kept quiet vs Ross County. Kennedy could opt to give Mohamed Elyounoussi another chance to shine after he slipped down the pecking order under Lennon. The two have operated in a striker partnership together before now and it ended with the Southampton man bagging himself a goal against Livingston. This could be a route that is revisited in order to end this turbulent season on somewhat of a high.

In other news, Rafa Benitez has dropped a potential hint amid new Celtic manager link…

Former Premier League striker Dean Windass has exclusively told Football FanCast that he’s been left bamboozled by Chris Wilder’s departure from Sheffield United.

Following almost two days of uncertainty, Wilder was finally relieved of his duties at Bramall Lane on Saturday evening, less than 24 hours before the Blades were thrashed by Leicester City.

Having guided Sheffield United from mid-table in League One to their highest Premier League finish last season, Wilder’s sacking came as a major surprise to the footballing world, despite United sitting rock-bottom of the table and on course to be relegated.

Under-23s manager, Paul Heckingbottom, has been placed in temporary charge for the remainder of the campaign, but Windass believes that Wilder would have been the best man to take Sheffield United back into the topflight.

He exclusively told Football FanCast:

“I don’t see any sense in it if I’m being quite honest with you. I don’t get the logic behind it. Yes Sheffield United will go down even if Jose Mourinho or Alex Ferguson would have got the job, but nothing is going to change. I don’t understand it, unless there has been a massive row. There have been rumours of conflict between him and the hierarchy.

“The question on everybody’s lips is can Sheffield United get straight back to the Premier League?

“With Chris Wilder you would have said ‘yes’, I’m not saying no about Paul Heckingbottom or whoever gets the job, but more so with Chris, because the players knew him, he’s a local lad, he loves the club like me with Hull City, so it just doesn’t make any sense.”

And Wilder’s absence was quickly felt following Sheffield United’s 5-0 defeat at Leicester, which was their heaviest since their promotion back to the Premier League, and first time they conceded five in a league match for more than three years.

Fresh from their victory over Celtic in the second Old Firm derby of the season, Glasgow Rangers are back in action on Sunday afternoon, when they take the trip to Pittodrie to take on Aberdeen in the Scottish Premiership.

Steven Gerrard has ruled out Scott Arfield and Ryan Jack while the Rangers manager will be without Kemar Roofe after he was forced off at half-time against their arch-rivals.

This means that Ianis Hagi is likely to start on the right wing, but the Ibrox boss may be better suited by replacing the Romania international with Cedric Itten, and playing Hagi as a No. 10 instead.

Itten, 24, has been in such fine form so far this season – since his arrival last year, he has bagged four goals and two assists in all competitions, albeit the majority of his appearances have come from the bench, via Transfermarkt.

Despite initially being brought in to provide cover and competition for the likes of Alfredo Morelos and Jermain Defoe, the Switzerland international started on the right flank in the 4-0 victory over Falkirk in the Betfred Cup, and picked up his second assist of the season.

Recently described as a “fantastic” beast by Gerrard, the Ibrox boss raved about his performance in the 3-1 win at home to Motherwell, telling Rangers TV: “Ceddy does what he does. He’s a bit of a pest, he’s a bit of a nuisance, he chases lost causes.”

While Hagi has established himself as a first-team regular starter for Gerrard’s Gers this season, he may be better suited to plugging the gap behind the team’s centre-forward against Aberdeen and pulling the strings from the midfield.

Valued at £3m via Transfermarkt, the 22-year-old replaced Roofe at half-time against Celtic and made an impact almost immediately, with Gerrard admitting he was impressed by what he saw from Hagi, but the young Romanian may be forced to take on an even bigger role especially in the absence of the more experienced Arfield.

Meanwhile, despite primarily being a striker Itten has recently shown he is also capable of playing on the right wing, whilst Alfredo Morelos’ return to form in recent weeks has largely starved him of any real opportunities.

However, the fact that the versatile forward can play as a right winger means he should be called into action alongside Morelos on the right flank, whilst there is very little doubt that he would be a better option than the likes of Brandon Barker and Jordan Jones, who have fallen even further down the pecking order after his arrival in the summer.

AND in other news, Glasgow Rangers must swoop for Everton outcast Muhamed Besic…

Tottenham Hotspur risked a mammoth blunder by selling Serge Aurier to Spartak Moscow on the cheap in a Daniel Levy disasterclass this summer.

What’s the word?

While speaking with Sport-Express, via Tribal Football, Spartak Moscow CEO Shamil Gazizov has claimed his Russian Premier League side had agreed a deal with Levy to sign Aurier this summer for £15.5million less than the north London outfit paid Paris Saint-Germain in 2017.

Aurier’s future under Jose Mourinho was enshrined in doubt during the off-season following the arrival of Matt Doherty from Wolves, leading to interest from AC Milan and Bayer Leverkusen in the Ivorian right-back who started 31 of Tottenham’s Premier League games last season.

A move to Italy or Germany failed to materialise, leaving Levy open-minded to a deal with Spartak Moscow that would have seen Spurs net just €8.5m (£7.5m), despite signing Aurier for £23m just three years ago.

Gazizov has now revealed that a move for Aurier to join Domenico Tedesco’s side at the Otkrytie Arena also fell away this summer, as the passing of the 27-year-old’s brother ensured he was not in the right frame of mind to establish himself not only at a new club but also a new country.

“We agreed with Aurier [and] we agreed with Daniel Levy that the transfer can take place for a certain amount of money,” Gazizov said. “It was about 8.5million euros. There were normal negotiations with the player.

“At a certain stage in his life, there were not very good moments connected with his family. He couldn’t have brought his mom and his family here, he lost his brother and dad [so] he decided to stay in England and not make any sudden moves.”

Levy blunder to Mourinho’s saviour

Levy’s blunderous decision to sanction a cut-price deal for Aurier to leave Tottenham for Spartak Moscow would have already come back to bite the north London side this season, with Mourinho now forced to rely on the 63-cap international when Spurs face Manchester City on Saturday following Doherty testing positive for coronavirus.

It will be the third time this term that Mourinho is forced to start Aurier for a top-flight fixture, having turned to the former PSG man against Manchester United and West Ham last month and seen the £14.4m-rated full-back provide a goal and an assist at Old Trafford.

Aurier’s output in that one fixture was instantly more than Doherty has achieved in any competition this season, with the Republic of Ireland international’s assist in Tottenham’s 1-0 win over West Bromwich Albion prior to the international break his only contribution in 10 games.

Mourinho can expect Aurier to hit the ground running at home to City on Saturday evening, too, as the Ivorian is not one to hide away from the occasion when his back is up against the wall.

“There are things people don’t see because you don’t show yourself enough,” Aurier told France Football earlier in the year. “The first year [under Mauricio Pochettino], the coach did not make me play a lot, but I never went into his office to complain, I never showed a funny face. I wasn’t playing, I was upset, but I did not show it.”

Aurier now has the chance to put any upset at being behind Doherty in Mourinho’s pecking order to one side and be the Portuguese coach’s saviour, potentially proving for once and for all how Levy risked a mammoth blunder by selling him on the cheap this summer.

AND in other news, Jose Mourinho has been tipped for crunch talks with an “amazing” Spurs gem who’s unhappy in north London.

Liverpool have been linked with a move for Sevilla goalkeeper Alfonso Pastor in the past week, and the 20-year-old Spaniard could well prove to be the man to replace Adrian as the Reds’ back-up to Alisson.

According to AS in Spain, both Real Madrid and Liverpool are monitoring the youngster’s contract situation at the La Liga club, as his current deal is set to expire at the end of this season, meaning the Merseyside club could sign him on a free transfer next summer.

Pastor only made his debut for Sevilla this week in the Champions League and whilst it was not a happy occasion for the youngster, as they lost 4-0 against Chelsea, it seems as if he is still attracting interest.

Signing the Spanish youngster next summer could allow Liverpool to move on from Adrian, who has been their back-up since joining on a free transfer in the summer of 2019.

He has gone on to make 23 first-team appearances for the Reds, in which he has conceded a worrying 35 goals, which includes nine in just two appearances so far this season, per Transfermarkt.

It is no surprise therefore that he has come under a lot of criticism during his time at the Merseyside club, with his performance against Atletico Madrid in last season’s Champions League likely to be a real cause of frustration for a lot of Liverpool fans.

The fact that young Caoimhin Kelleher started ahead of Adrian in Liverpool’s 1-0 win against Ajax recently suggests that Jurgen Klopp is already close to axing the 33-year-old but the potential signing of Pastor could well seal his exit.

The German manager was full of praise for the former West Ham shot-stopper after he appeared in Liverpool’s Super Cup win against Chelsea in 2019, saying:

“He put in an incredible performance. Both goalkeepers did but for Adrián it was more surprising as there was no real preparation. I don’t even know when he last played for West Ham, to be honest.

“It’s so nice for him. I don’t think he won a lot in his life so to win this big one is so nice for him. Plus he showed that he is a proper personality in the dressing room. He was even louder than I was at half-time.”

Although Adrian may well be a big member of Liverpool’s dressing room, it seems as if he has made one error too many, and if Michael Edwards can deliver Liverpool Pastor next summer, perhaps his nightmare time with the Reds could come to an end.

And, in other news… Jurgen Klopp set to make huge mistake with £13.5m-rated gem