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Barcelona are no longer interested in Tottenham star Tanguy Ndombele. 

According to Sky Sports, as per Ricky Sacks, Barcelona’s interest in Ndombele has now cooled after they signed Miralem Pjanic from Juventus.

Ndombele, who is the club’s record signing, has a strained relationship with Jose Mourinho, and the pair are currently embroiled in a public spat, via Football Insider. According to The Athletic, they just don’t understand each other, as the Frenchman has reacted angrily to Mourinho’s offer to train together.

Daniel Levy has made it abundantly clear the French international will not be sold in the summer and has personally reached out to his representatives to try and resolve the situation.

Mourinho has developed a habit for losing control of a dressing room on multiple occasions and Ndombele appears to be following a similar path to Manchester United maverick midfielder Paul Pogba.

Both sides are too stubborn for their own good and Levy has turned peacemaker in an attempt to find a peaceful resolution.

Barca’s decision is a massive transfer boost for Tottenham, as it is hard to imagine anyone else will be able to afford the £46m-valued ace under the current circumstances, but it is bad news for Mourinho.

The 23-year-old, who has been compared to Chelsea star N’Golo Kante, has struggled for consistency this season, and has now picked up an injury.

To add insult to injury, he has only played 64 minutes of football since the Premier League restart, and has finished four of the past games on the bench as an unused substitute.

Nevertheless, Levy is adamant Ndombele is not up for sale, despite Mourinho’s obvious misgivings. Whether or not this ongoing saga will be resolved before the start of next season remains to be seen, but if the club opts to persist with Ndombele, can they also persist with Mourinho as well or will one have to go?

Tottenham fans, do you think Mourinho should give Tanguy Ndombele another chance? Let us know down below!

Sunderland face competition from Swindon Town in the race to sign Jerry Yates after it was confirmed they would be making an official offer in the next 24 hours.

With the League One season now officially over, Black Cats boss Phil Parkinson will be preparing for a third successive campaign in England’s third tier, having failed to gain a play-off place.

Transfer rumours are coming in thick and fast ahead of the summer transfer window and a link to former Swindon Town loanee Yates emerged.

The 23-year-old striker scored 13 goals in 31 games on loan with the Robins in League Two before returning to parent club Rotherham.

With Sunderland interested, Yates’ former club Swindon have now confirmed that they will be making an offer in the next 48 hours but that they know of another club who have already submitted a transfer bid.

“Rotherham have received a bid from another club,” Robins’ boss Richie Wellens told BBC Radio Wiltshire as quoted by Sunderland Echo.“We will put a bid in over the next couple of days but the only problem is that it won’t be as much as the other club has offered.”Yates was expected to leave Rotherham due to his contract expiry in June but Rotherham opted to activate the option to extend by a further year, thus allowing to sell him on for a price.

Sunderland need to find some goal scoring options ahead of next year and Yates showed at the County Ground last season that he knows where the back of the net is.

With just one year left on his Millers contract and a Transfermarkt value of £90,000, he would surely be well worth a punt from the Black Cats, especially given he is still only 23-years-old.

If they aren’t the club Wellens suggested had already made a bid, they should definitely look to make an offer sooner rather than later, otherwise they will miss out on a potential bargain.

Do you think Sunderland should make an offer for Yates? Let us know in the comments section below…

Name: Pau Torres

Club: Villarreal

Date of Birth: 16 January 1997

Position: Centre-back

PAU TORRES – HIS CAREER SO FAR

Pau Torres is currently one of the most marketable and sought-after centre-backs in La Liga. Villarreal’s 23-year-old defender has been a mainstay in Javier Calleja’s 2019/20 campaign that saw the Yellow Submarine clinch a European spot to compete in Europa League next season. Of course, Calleja still got fired and will now be replaced by the former Arsenal man, Unai Emery.

But one thing is unlikely to change and that’s Torres’ big role in the gala XI, if Villarreal manage to retain him for next season, that is. But throughout his young career, the 23-year-old has mostly been faithful to the Yellow Submarine and has been a great servant to their badge since his early years. The local boy has been a part of the Villarreal youth setup ever since he was a kid and one of the club’s best prospects to break through the barrier and make it with the seniors.

His debut for the B squad arrived back in 2016 when he started a match that would eventually end in a 0-1 defeat at home to UE Cornella. A couple of months later, Torres scored his first goal for the squad despite being a centre-back by trade. And this time, Villarreal would get at least a point for their troubles in a 2-2 draw with CF Badalona. But that year wasn’t quite finished with the youngster yet.

On 20 December, he was called up by the first-team for a Copa del Rey clash and he even made his debut right there and then, coming on as a late substitute as his team registered a 1-1 draw with CD Toledo. With that appearance, he became the first local boy to debut for the club in 13 years long years, breaking quite an impressive record on the way.

Still, that was the first step towards what would become a stellar journey for the youngster. A year later, he got his La Liga debut against Sevilla but Villarreal would suffer a 2-3 defeat at the hands of the Andalusian squad. However, ten days later, Torres made his bow in Europa League, starting and finishing the clash against Maccabi Tel Aviv.

The 2018/19 season was then spent on loan at Malaga but he would return to Villarreal for the following campaign, cementing his place as one of the most important cogs in the Yellow Submarine’s jigsaw. Now, despite being only 23 years of age, Torres is undoubtedly one of the brightest players at the club.

TRANSFER LATEST

According to some latest transfer news, Torres is on the radar of some big European clubs. And apparently, Manchester United are one of them as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer looks to further improve his defensive line and find a partner for his centre-back star, Harry Maguire.

However, if the transfer news are to be believed, Villarreal will not part with Torres that easily and since he has four years left on his contract and is also being courted by many other teams, it will be interesting to see how the Red Devils go about striking this deal.

In some other Villarreal transfer news, it was said that the buyers will definitely have to trigger the player’s release clause because the Yellow Submarine is still very much reluctant to part with their academy product.

PLAYER PROFILE

Torres is very much a modern centre-back in making. The young defender is calm and composed when engaging his markers and is very good in registering successful defensive actions overall. But his best qualities can also be seen when he’s actually in possession of the ball. Torres is a ball-playing centre-back, meaning that he somewhat strays away from that traditional prototype defender.

His excellent passing range and the ability to progress play into the advanced zones of the pitch is something clubs like Barcelona and Real Madrid value quite highly, hence their reported interest in the 23-year-old. And seeing how he’s both a great defender and also a great facilitator, it’s just a matter of time before big teams start knocking on Villarreal’s door far more often.

Tottenham Hotspur have reportedly signed Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg from Southampton this summer.

That’s according to talkSPORT, as relayed by Ricky Sacks (via @LastWordOnSpurs), who claim that Tottenham have completed a deal for the former Saints captain. The 25-year-old ex-Bayern Munich midfielder has signed a five-year deal, as per talkSPORT.

Recent reports revealed that Spurs initially fell short of Southampton’s £25m valuation for the 33-cap Denmark international, but he has now passed a medical with flying colours to become Jose Mourinho’s first signing of the summer transfer window.

It is understood that Hojbjerg has moved to north London for an initial transfer fee worth £15m, which could rise to more than £20m with performance-related bonuses. Mourinho wants to strengthen the midfield during his first summer window in charge of Spurs as he wants to challenge for Champions League football next season.

Hojbjerg scored five goals in more than 100 appearances for Southampton in all competitions after arriving from the Bundesliga in 2016 and he began the 2019/20 campaign as club captain at St Mary’s.

However, he was removed from the captaincy by Saints boss Ralph Hasenhuttl after he made it clear that he had no intention of signing a new deal at St Mary’s.

Meanwhile, Kyle Walker-Peters is poised to head permanently in the opposite direction, amid interest from Premier League rivals Fulham.

Tanguy Ndombele has largely failed to live up to expectations that his £55m club-record fee warranted. The 23-year-old still has time on his side but Hojbjerg’s arrival has cast doubts over his future. Harry Winks is also in line for a shock exit from his boyhood club.

The Danish midfielder is exactly the type of player Mourinho has been missing. He is an enforcer who is more than capable of marshalling the midfield, with strong levels of concentration and a player who prides himself in recovering possession of the ball. Like Sergio Busquets before him at Barcelona, Hojbjerg has the ability to become the lynchpin in the supply chain for Harry Kane and Son Heung-min.

Tottenham fans, do you think Hojbjerg will prove to be a good signing for Spurs? Let us know your views in the comments below!

Crystal Palace have signed Nathan Ferguson on a free transfer, but they are looking to add some more defenders to the squad and a recent report suggests that they are keen on Jamal Lewis.

According to Football Insider and as tweeted by Palace Xtra, Norwich City are holding out for a fee of around £20m for the 22 year-old, in whom Palace are now interested. Premier League champions Liverpool were in the frame for him but did not fancy paying that much for the Canaries left-back.

This does not seem like the most sensible move for the Eagles to make as they currently have Patrick van Aanholt as their starting left-back, as well as Tyrick Mitchell as cover.

Van Aanholt has been good in both defence and attack as he has managed 1.5 successful tackles, 1.6 interceptions and 1.1 key passes a game, per WhoScored. He has also contributed three goals and two assists, the joint-third and joint-second highest tallies among Roy Hodgson’s squad for those respective metrics in 2019/20.

Therefore, to spend £20m on a player who might not even start seems like a waste of money, especially when the south London side have only spent £17.51m in the last four transfer windows over the previous two years, per Transfermarkt.

Here is what these Palace fans said following the reported interest in Lewis:

Palace fans, should the Eagles seriously consider signing Lewis? Let us know what you think by commenting below!

The absolute perfect start for Everton and Carlo Ancelotti to the new Premier League season.

The Toffees followed up their superb 1-0 win over Tottenham last weekend, with a comprehensive 5-2 victory over West Brom on Saturday afternoon, with Dominic Calvert-Lewin wreaking havoc with a hat-trick.

But whilst the striker has started the new campaign like a house on fire with four goals in the opening two league games, there was one man who arguably outshone him against West Brom: James Rodriguez.

How big of an Everton fan are you? Can you spot Mikel Arteta from Graham Stuart? This quiz will test your knowledge, try it if you’re brave enough…



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The Colombia international had an impressive Premier League debut against Spurs, but really showcased why he could be one of the signings of the season with a virtuouso performance on Saturday.

He scored his first goal in an Everton shirt with a trademark strike from outside the box, arrowing a left-footed effort into the bottom corner and past Sam Johnstone.

But aside from getting on the score-sheet, Rodriguez gave the Toffees that little bit extra in the final third, adding a much-needed cutting edge to their attacks.

Numerous times he looked to play more incisive passes into the likes of Calvert-Lewin and Richarlison, and it was his lofted ball over the top that found the latter in the build-up to Everton’s fourth.

As per Sofascore, he had 73 touches over the course of the game, providing an impressive three key passes – a total only bettered by Lucas Digne.

And because of his willingness to take risks and try things, it was no surprise that Rodriguez actually lost possession 19 times. But crucially for Everton, there is a much more positive trade-off.

Whilst not all of Rodriguez’s passes or flicks may come off, he has the kind of creativity to unlock defences and make a key difference in games.

Even though Calvert-Lewin may take all the headlines for his hat-trick, it was Rodriguez who was the real hero for Ancelotti on Saturday.

Aston Villa striker Mbwana Samatta is set to be the subject of a loan offer from Turkish side Fenerbahce, according to a report from A Spor.

Villa boss Dean Smith saw the likes of Keinan Davis, Wesley and Samatta struggle for consistent form last season and the latter is now being linked with a move away from the club.

Despite arriving in January for £9.45m, Samatta’s future with the Claret and Blue side now looks bleak with the Midlands club opting to bring in Ollie Watkins from Brentford.

Watkins netted an impressiveÂ26 goals in the Championship last term for Brentford and the youngster will be expected to start ahead of the aforementioned trio.

To add to Watkins’ arrival, Villa are also now being linked with Lyon striker Bertrand Traore, with a latest report claiming that talks are underway over a £19m transfer.

Reacting to the potential exit for Samatta this summer, fans were pretty split. Some were happy to see the back of the £8.55m-valued man given he has only scored twice in 16 appearances for the club, whilst others were keen to give him another chance having only joined in January…

Do you think Samatta should leave Villa on loan? Let us know in the comments section below…

It’s safe to say it’s been a very enjoyable few weeks if you’re an Aston Villa fan.

Dean Smith’s side kicked off the new Premier League season with a 1-0 win over Sheffield United, eased past their first two ties in the Carabao Cup, and have been doing some major business in the transfer market.

Now, French publication Foot Mercato claim that their work in trying to strengthen their first-team squad is not over yet, with a €17.5m (£16m) offer being made for Nice midfielder Wylan Cyprien.

Spot the fact from the fib: Are these Premier League records true or false?

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The report reveals that Villa are convinced of the 5 foot 11 ace’s potential, and even see him following a similar trajectory to that of Idrissa Gueye – the club’s former midfield ace who now plays for Ligue 1 and European giants Paris Saint-Germain.

Cyprien is a goal-scoring midfielder who has the ability to do most things in the engine room, with his former teammate at Nice, and current Fulham star, Jean Michael Seri, saying: “He is very capable and he knows how to do everything with the ball: dribble, shoot, score. And then, honestly, a 6 who can attack as well as he can defend, I have rarely seen that.

“I saw from the get go what he brings, but the moment at which I said to myself that he is a top player was at the Parc (des Princes – PSG’s stadium). In Paris, he showed that he is a phenomenon. Very few midfielders, at his age, take their responsibilities. He did and had a huge game. He is a great player, he can play anywhere.”

£16m seems like an absolute bargain for a player who can do all that.

Carlo Ancelotti’s ruthless overhaul is right to include Bernard as Everton entertain the idea of sending the Brazilian playmaker to Serie A heavyweights AS Roma on a one-season loan.

What’s the word?

According to The Telegraph (5/10, 16:52), Everton are in talks with Roma over a potential loan deal for Bernard that would see the 29-year-old join the Giallorossi for the 2020/21 season after being deemed surplus to requirements by Ancelotti.

The Italian tactician is utilising every last second of the summer transfer window to clear out the deadwood at Goodison Park, as he sees no role for Bernard to play in his future plans as the Brazilian gets shown the door alongside the Southampton-bound Theo Walcott.

Bernard has played just two Carabao Cup fixtures for the Toffees this term and been left an unused substitute in each of the Merseyside outfit’s Premier League matches whilst they begin the campaign unbeaten across all competitions after seven games.

Ancelotti has previously been full of praise for Bernard, but noted back in August how he struggles to see how the former Shakhtar Donetsk man impacts fixtures that Everton are not dominating.

“He is really good with the ball and he did really well against Crystal Palace where he scored the first goal,” the former Chelsea boss said, via quotes by the Liverpool Echo.

“When the game is in balance, it is more difficult for him to prove his quality. When we have control of the game, for him it is easier for him to prove his quality. Maybe for this reason, I put him [in the team] at home and not away.”

Right to send Bernard to Rome

While Bernard is a fan favourite at Goodison Park and shares a mutual love for the supporters, Ancelotti is completely right to be seeking an option that would send the 29-year-old away from Merseyside before the summer window slams shut.

Beyond not featuring in the Blues’ Premier League efforts so far this season, Bernard had little to no impact on their top-flight performances last term with just one assist and one goal from 16 appearances following Ancelotti’s arrival – last coming in February.

The £14.4m-rated midfielder boasted a greater impact during Marco Silva’s tenure in 2019/20 with two goals and an assist, but his end of term statistics still showed a player who managed just 0.3 shots and 0.9 key balls each top-flight game, per SofaScore.

He also managed just 1.1 successful dribbles per league match, won just 39% of his duels, lost possession 9.3 times and delivered just 0.2 accurate crosses. All the while, Bernard was being paid £120,000-per-week as Everton’s joint-highest earner.

AND in other news, Carlo Ancelotti’s backing has piled on the pressure for a £14.4m-rated Everton man to step up after a rare start.

Sunderland’s sensational piece of summer business to sign Bailey Wright on a free following his release from Bristol City has proven to be an even better deal than first thought, with the defender now being likened to Liverpool star Virgil van Dijk by Black Cats icon Kevin Phillips.

What’s the word?

Wright initially joined Sunderland on a half-season loan in January and made five appearances for the North East giants before the campaign was cut short, only to return this summer and sign a two-year contract following the expiration of his Bristol City deal as CEO Jim Rodwell got a deal over the line.

The Australian has proven an integral aspect of manager Phil Parkinson’s side since, with Wright starting all six of the Black Cats’ League One fixtures and captaining the Stadium of Light natives against Peterborough and Charlton Athletic.

Parkinson has been more than happy with the form seen from Wright, too, noting ahead of this weekend’s clash with Portsmouth how the 28-year-old is offering Sunderland a leader he feared the Black Cats would not be able to sign permanently.

“Bailey was a great signing for us in the summer,” said Parkinson, via quotes by the Northern Echo. “He was a player I’d been speaking to all through lockdown, although we weren’t sure we would be able to get the deal done.

“Credit to the owner of the football club for enabling us to do that, and also to Bailey as well because he was realistic. He can see the potential at Sunderland, and enjoyed his loan time here.

“He’s a very good player. He’s a leader, he’s been a captain at Championship level, and he’s a great influence, on and off the pitch.”

The praise for Wright has kept on coming, too, with Sunderland icon Phillips taken back by what the centre-half has brought to his former home.

“He’s been a great signing,” Phillips told Football Insider. “I don’t know the player, but I just get the feeling that he’s a leader and a voice in the dressing room.

“Sometimes the manager can only say so much and then you want of your senior experience players to pipe up and put a few people in their place and give encouragement and be a leader. He seems like that.

“The stats just show what an important player he is. He’s almost to Sunderland what van Dijk is to Liverpool at the moment with those incredible stats.”

Sunderland’s Van Dijk?

Van Dijk is among the world’s best centre-halves with no better proof than in the Dutchman being named the runner-up to Lionel Messi for the 2019 Ballon d’Or, having already been named the PFA Players’ Player of the Year, Premier League Player of the Season and UEFA Men’s Player of the Year.

For Wright to be compared to a player of that calibre shows what Sunderland were able to acquire this summer, while the leadership that Parkinson and Phillips both laud the Australian for will prove pivotal to any promotion push as the Stadium of Light natives strive to avoid a fourth campaign in the third-tier.

One of the standout aspects of Wright’s game that warrants the comparisons with van Dijk is that the Sunderland ace is yet to be dribbled past in a League One fixture this term, something the Liverpool star has frequently been praised for by using his pace and strength to devastating effect.

Liverpool’s £75million man restricted just eight players into being able to record successful dribbles against him over the last three full Premier League seasons, with no single player able to get the better of the Dutchman on multiple occasions.

Wright has also stood out this term with an average 5.8 duels won a game in the league, plus 5.7 clearances, 1.2 tackles, 0.7 interceptions and 0.8 shots, though missed his best chance to score his first Sunderland goal, per SofaScore.

AND in other news, a selection dilemma must see Phil Parkinson award a 20-year-old talent his Sunderland debut.