Pablo Fornals is the Fekir alternative Liverpool should target in January

The latest reports suggest Liverpool are considering activating the release clause of Hoffenheim star – Kerem Demirbay.

Liverpool could be in the market for a number ten in January with Jurgen Klopp’s midfield desperately lacking creativity in recent weeks. The Reds are yet to replace Philippe Coutinho, and a move for Lyon’s Nabil Fekir is showing no sign of revival. Reports suggest Klopp could turn to Demirbay as the ideal alternative for the Frenchman.

Klopp managed the Germany international during his time and is believed to be a massive fan of the playmaker. Demirbay is managed by the same agency as Sadio Mane and Naby Keita which could boost his chances of a move to Anfield. However, Liverpool should instead focus on luring Villarreal star, Pablo Fornals, to Merseyside.

Valued at £22.5m by Transfermarkt, the 22-year-old has become a key player for the Yellow Submarine after leaving Malaga back in 2015. Fornals enjoyed a sensational season last year, scoring four goals and notching 13 assists in all competitions. The youngster’s creativity is exactly what Liverpool need to get their forwards firing again.

Fornals has the quality to unlock a defence with his wonderful range of passing, averaging 1.5 key passes per game in La Liga this season. He is also extremely versatile and would have no trouble slotting into Klopp’s 4-3-3 system. The German’s gegenpressing philosophy should also not be a problem with Fornals averaging 1.6 tackles per game from attacking midfield this season (WhoScored).

Still young and developing, the Spaniard would only get better under Klopp’s tutelage.

Liverpool fans, thoughts?

West Brom fans on Twitter slate Kyle Bartley after his performance vs Derby

West Brom have had a fantastic start to life back in the Championship this season, but they suffered a humiliating 4-1 defeat at home to Frank Lampard’s Derby on Wednesday evening.

After the game many Baggies fans were fuming with summer signing Kyle Bartley. The 27-year-old centre-back joined from fellow relegated side Swansea for just £4m and has made 15 appearances so far this season in Darren Moore’s back three.

At the Hawthorns on Wednesday, Derby took a two-goal lead after just 15 minutes through Jack Marriott and Tom Lawrence, before Harry Wilson and Scott Malone added to the Rams’ advantage in the second half as West Brom fell apart.

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Striker Jay Rodriguez netted a consolation late on for the home side but the Baggies have now lost two on the bounce in the league and sit in fourth place in the Championship. Among others, Bartley took a lot of criticism for his performance in the loss.

Check out some of the best tweets below.

Leeds must hijack Sheffield United’s potential move for Birmingham man Jota

According to the Birmingham Mail, Sheffield United are keen on signing Birmingham winger Jota amid the Blues’ Financial Fair Play issues. However, if any deal goes get off the ground for the 27-year-old, Leeds must be ready to hijack it to bring Jota to Elland Road.

What’s the story?

Jota, who is valued at £4.05m by Transfermarkt, joined Birmingham in the summer of 2017 from Brentford for a club-record fee of over £6m. Last season, the Spanish winger scored five times and provided five assists in the Championship as the Blues finished in 19th place.

Although these stats hardly set the league alight, during this campaign Jota has already recorded four assists and one goal in just 13 Championship appearances and the Birmingham Mail reports that he remains an integral part of Garry Monk’s plans.

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Of course, the Blues will try desperately to keep one of their most creative players, but they may be forced to sell in January if more comes of the Financial Fair Play regulations that meant Monk was banned from signing players for the majority of the summer.

Leeds circling

With Sheffield United starting the season brilliantly it seems as though the top two spots could be fought out between the Blades, Middlesbrough, West Bromwich Albion and Leeds, but it is the Elland Road outfit who must challenge United if they do target a deal for Jota.

Marcelo Bielsa’s men started the season brilliantly but took a huge step backwards while Pablo Hernandez and Kemar Roofe specifically were out injured. Although both players are now back the Argentine boss still has an extremely small squad and any further injuries could see them miss out on promotion at the end of the campaign.

Jota then would be a fantastic option and could be deployed in any of the three attacking midfield positions behind a single striker. If Leeds are serious about a promotion push this year they will need to invest in January and Birmingham could well be needing the money.

So, Leeds fans, would you welcome a move for Jota or do his numbers from last season put you off? Let us know by voting in the poll below.

Revealed: 65% of Arsenal fans want Shkodran Mustafi dropped for Liverpool game

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Arsenal welcome unbeaten Liverpool to the Emirates Stadium on Saturday afternoon looking to stretch their unbeaten run to fourteen matches in all competitions. However, despite the home advantage, Unai Emery’s side face a tough task in getting a result against the Reds.

In order to come away with any points against Jurgen Klopp’s side, the Gunners must be solid defensively and can’t afford to make any errors. For that reason, the Spanish coach must make a big call and leave Shkodran Mustafi on the bench.

Despite having cost the Gunners more than £35 million to sign from Valencia in 2016, the 26-year-old German has failed to prove his quality in England and is a constant liability at the back. In Sokratis and Rob Holding, Emery has a far more reliable pair to call upon for this weekend’s match.

Many Arsenal fans agree that Mustafi must be dropped, with 65% of those we asked stating that they don’t want him in the starting XI to face Liverpool. See the full results below.

Leeds must be regretting selling Lewis Cook for just an initial £6m fee in 2016

Former Leeds United midfielder Lewis Cook produced another impressive display for Bournemouth in their 2-1 defeat to Manchester United at the Vitality Stadium on Saturday, and the Whites must be regretting selling him for just an initial £6m fee.

What’s the word, then?

The Cherries signed the highly-rated youngster from the Yorkshire outfit for a fee that could rise to £10m in July 2016, and the 21-year-old has gone from strength to strength for the south coast outfit – establishing himself as a key first-team regular in more recent times having begun the campaign on the substitutes’ bench.

While Eddie Howe’s men fell to defeat against the Red Devils courtesy of Anthony Martial’s injury-time winner, the former Leeds youth graduate once again impressed and played a clever reverse pass in the build up to Callum Wilson’s opener for the hosts.

Cook earned his first senior England call-up back in March, and there will be plenty more to come if he continues his current progress.

Did Leeds undervalue him?

You’d be hard pressed to find many people that believes that they didn’t, although you could argue that transfer fees have become far more heavily inflated since then.

To sell a player of his ability and clear potential for just an initial £6m is obviously a mistake, and the annoying thing for Whites fans is that it wouldn’t have happened – at least not for that low fee – had Andrea Radrizzani been at the helm instead of Massimo Cellino at the time.

It is clear that the technically sound Cook has a huge future ahead of him if he carries on his current path, but the Yorkshire club can do nothing about that right now and they will be hoping that they are playing in the same division as their former hero next season.

Opinion: Shock move for Diop would make Tottenham forget all about Alderweireld

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Tottenham are still waiting to find out if Toby Alderweireld will extend his contract in North London, and they should do their shopping close to home if the Belgian does leave.

What’s the word?

Mauricio Pochettino may just have unearthed another gem with Argentinian centre back Juan Foyth, but he should add to his ranks even further by making a shock move for Issa Diop.

The young Frenchman signed for West Ham this summer, and has far exceeded all expectations.

He is already the most important member of Manuel Pellegrini’s defence, and he could be the perfect replacement if Alderweireld does not renew his contract.

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Just how good is he?

Diop’s rare combination of speed, strength, intelligence and ball-playing ability make him an absolute force to be reckoned with, and a long-term partnership with Davinson Sanchez could make one of the league’s great duos.

Pundits and fans alike have already started putting Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez alongside the Premier League’s greatest centre back pairings, and Sanchez and Diop would certainly give them a run for their money.

Diop is only 21, but has transitioned from Ligue 1 to the fastest league in the world with ease, the mark of a truly exceptional young talent.

He reads the game incredibly well for such a young player, averaging 2.3 tackles, 1.6 interceptions and 1.1 blocks per game.

To put those numbers in perspective, Alderweireld averages 1.2 tackles, one interception and 0.5 blocks in the Premier League this season.

Diop also has the ball-playing ability and composure to play at the very highest level, completing 89 per cent of his passes so far this season.

West Ham fans certainly wouldn’t like it, but a partnership of Diop and Sanchez would strike fear into opposition attacker, and Daniel Levy will simply have to splash the cash Alderweireld does depart.

So, Tottenham fans, do you think Diop would be a good signing? Can you see it happening? Let us know your thoughts by voting in the poll below…

Alassane Plea wouldn’t start but he could be a game-changing signing for Tottenham

Tottenham may be in the market for a new striker in the January transfer window.

Mauricio Pochettino has tried and failed to sign a suitable back up for Harry Kane in recent transfer windows. Spurs have signed both Fernando Llorente and Vincent Janssen to provide competition to the England captain, but neither player has proved to be a viable option. The Argentine would be wise to target a new forward when the window reopens.

Business opens in less than two months, so Pochettino needs to start drawing up a shortlist of potential targets. After not signing a single player during the summer, he should have a large budget available to bolster his ranks.

One man he should be targeting is Borussia Monchengladbach hotshot – Alassane Plea. Valued at £25.2m by Transfermarkt, the Frenchman was chased by clubs all around the globe following a superb season with Nice where he netted over 20 goals in all competitions. It was Borussia Monchengladbach who won the race for his services despite reports suggesting that Tottenham were interested in bringing the forward to north London.

Plea has hit the ground running after moving to Germany, scoring 11 goals in his first 12 appearances for his new side – he is showing Tottenham exactly what they missed out on in the summer. His performance have not gone unnoticed with the 25-year-old receiving his first call-up to the senior national team. Plea is also comfortable on the left wing which would make him an extremely useful for Pochettino to have at his disposal.

It would take a considerable sum of money to convince Monchengladbach to sell their prized asset but landing Plea would finally give Pochettino the back up forward he has been crying out for.

Tottenham fans, thoughts?

HYS: Is it time for West Ham United to offload Reece Oxford for good?

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So much hype surrounded Reece Oxford when he made his West Ham United debut in 2015 at the tender age of 16.

The Edmonton-born ace is versatile in that he can play in defence or in the middle of the park.

In order to improve his development, Oxford was sent on loan to Reading in 2017, but he only made five appearances.

West Ham continued to send the now 19-year-old on loan spells, as he had two stints at Borussia Monchengladbach.

However, after returning to the London Stadium in the summer, he struggled to win a place in Manuel Pellegrini’s team.

Oxford has faded into the background, but it seems that Monchengladbach remain interested in the youngster moving to Germany.

Check out the video below to see how Brazil fans reacted to being asked how Cristiano Ronaldo would peform for them in a hilarious prank by Playmaker FC…

According to Sky Sports News, the Bundesliga outfit are considering making a move for the West Ham youngster in January.

It is believed that they want to sign Oxford, who made seven league appearances for the club, on a permanent deal.

Given how his career at the London Stadium has stalled, should the Hammers let him go, or does he still have the potential to succeed at the club?

Let us know by voting below.

Everton should fight off PSG’s interest in Idrissa Gueye

Everton should make it clear to Paris Saint-Germain that they are not interested in selling Idrissa Gueye any time soon after it was reported that the French champions are planning a move for the midfielder to replace Adrien Rabiot.

According to Paris United, via the Sun, PSG are considering the upcoming January transfer window as the best time to search for Rabiot’s replacement after he verbally agreed to move to Barcelona at the end of the season. The void that would be left by Rabiot means that PSG would have big boots to fill if they were to find a similar midfielder with Arsenal’s Aaron Ramsey also on their radar.

But the Toffees can’t really afford to lose Gueye, especially not in January, after the promising start that he made under new manager Marco Silva. The Senegal international has possibly been playing his best football yet since signing for the Merseyside club in 2016 from Aston Villa.

Gueye also extended his contract in February this year which is supposed to keep him at Goodison Park until 2022.

PSG, however, are expected to offer big sums of money if they go through with the plan of making Gueye an offer to move to Paris, but that shouldn’t tempt the 29-year-old into signing.

Silva should make it clear to Gueye that he is a big part of his plans to get Everton back in the Europa League and will continue to have a vital role to play if the team was to finish on a high at the end of the season.

Everton are currently ninth in the Premier League but have had some good results in recent matches, most notably keeping Maurizio Sarri’s Chelsea to 0-0 draw at Stamford Bridge last weekend.

Gueye seems to have found the right partner in the midfield in Andre Gomes, who has been a major positive for Silva since making his debut. The combination of Gueye and Gomez behind Bernard, Gylfi Sigurdsson and Theo Walcott also looks to be working as they offer the attackers much more freedom to press forward, while they remain defensive in the midfield.

Breaking this formation would only cause problems for Silva.

Ancelotti talks down Anfield atmosphere, Liverpool fans react

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Loads of Liverpool fans have been reacting to some comments from Carlo Ancelotti, as the Napoli boss bashed the magic of Anfield ahead of the huge Champions League decider.

Liverpool will have to beat Napoli either 1-0 or by at least two goals when the Italian outfit come to Anfield in two weeks, but Ancelotti doesn’t seem too fazed.

“We must go to Anfield with courage and play our game,” he said.

“Now let’s think about the Serie A game at Atalanta on Monday, which will be more difficult than Liverpool.”

The Reds have progressed from similar positions several times over the years, most notably thanks to Steven Gerrard’s late strike against Olympiakos in 2004, when they went on to win the competition.

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Ancelotti is not the first manager to play down the Anfield atmosphere either, as both Hoffenheim manager Julian Nagelsmann and former Villarreal boss Marcelino have talked down trips to Anfield only to lose convincingly on the night.

Jurgen Klopp’s side will certainly need the lift after the dour performance in Paris, and fans suspect Ancelotti has just cursed his team in the same way Nagelsmann and Marcelino did.

You can find some of the best Twitter reactions down below…

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