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Celtic are interested in a deal to bring Ayodeji Sotona to Parkhead in the January transfer window.

What’s the talk?

That’s according to a report by The Telegraph, who claim that Celtic, alongside Premier League giants Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea, are keeping a very close eye on the situation of the OGC Nice winger ahead of a potential swoop in the winter market.

The report goes on to state that a number of European sides are also monitoring the 19-year-old, although it is not clear exactly how much the Ligue 1 side would demand in order to part with the former Republic of Ireland U16 international next month.

Bye-bye Johnston

While Sotona is yet to make a single appearance in professional football, there is nevertheless a considerable amount of hype surrounding the youngster, something that likely stems from his impressive performances during his time in the Manchester United youth setup.

Indeed, over his 15 U18 Premier League appearances for the Red Devils back in 2019/20, the £270k-rated teenager scored four goals and registered two assists, as well as netting one further goal over his four outings in the FA Youth Cup that season.

However, aside from his obvious ability in front of goal, there is one characteristic of Sotona that makes him truly stand out from the crowd – his rather extraordinary turn of pace.

Indeed, during sprint tests at the Aon Training Complex, the youngster, who was just 17 at the time, registered a top speed of a whopping 22.9mph – beating the likes of Diogo Dalot (22.6mph), Romelu Lukaku (22.5mph), Tahith Chong (22.3mph), Marcus Rashford (22.1mph) and Daniel James (22mph).

As such, with a clear eye for goal and pace to burn, it is easy to see why Ange Postecoglou is keen on landing the teenager this winter, particularly considering the struggles of one of the 56-year-old’s current options on the left-wing – Mikey Johnston.

Indeed, having struggled with injuries since first breaking into Celtic’s senior team, the £7.9k-per-week 22-year-old has failed to ever really cement a starting spot in the Bhoys side, while his returns so far this season – no goals or assists over 10 Premiership fixtures – have once again been disappointing.

So, should Postecoglou manage to get a deal over the line for Sotona this January, it could well be the final nail in the coffin for the Celtic career of the player who Willie Miller recently dubbed “pathetic.”

In other news: Forget Forrest: Ange must unleash 19 y/o Celtic gem who’s been “bright” at Lennoxtown

Aston Villa winger Trezeguet could still leave the club over the coming weeks and has interest from Turkey, according to Birmingham Live.

The Lowdown: Trezeguet’s injury-hit season

Trezeguet, who Gregg Evans felt was the ‘scapegoat’ early in his Villa career, has made just one appearance all season.

The Egyptian has missed the majority of the campaign with a knee problem, with Steven Gerrard describing the 27-year-old as a ‘unique situation’ last month.

He’s currently away with his country at the Africa Cup of Nations, where Egypt are in the final against Senegal, and it seems as if his time in the Midlands could be up this month.

The Latest: Interest from Turkey

According to Birmingham Live, Trezeguet may still depart the club this winter and has interest from Turkey, with their transfer window not closing until Tuesday.

He has been included in Gerrard’s revised Premier League squad list for the second half of the season but now has two days to seal a move to Turkey.

The Verdict: Time to go?

Should Trezeguet leave, Gerrard would be left with four wingers, two on either side, which should be more than enough for the remainder of the season. Ollie Watkins has also turned out on the wing under Gerrard, so a move away for Trezeguet could be best for all parties involved.

Johan Lange will have to be quick, though, especially as sides in the Super Lig have until Tuesday to finalise their winter business.

Villa forked out £9m for Trezeguet back in 2019 and he is still valued at that figure, so you’d expect Villa may be looking at recouping the majority of that in any permanent transfer.

In other news: Villa and Lange now set to sign another young gem for Gerrard; personal terms agreed. 

Daniel Levy could repeat something he’s done before as Tottenham Hotspur’s managerial hunt takes a new twist…

What’s the word?

According to the Sunday Mirror (2nd May 2021, page 69), current interim boss Ryan Mason is under consideration for the vacant Spurs role on a permanent basis.

It’s thought that the 29-year-old, who was appointed on a temporary basis to replace Jose Mourinho until the end of the season, is now a genuine contender as there’s a growing belief that giving him the job would appease the fanbase.

They also claim that Daniel Levy and the Spurs hierarchy haven’t given up hope of convincing Leicester City boss Brendan Rodgers, whilst Roberto Martinez and Nuno Santo also feature on his shortlist.

Shades of Jol

This would certainly be a bold and interesting move, but we shouldn’t be surprised if it does come to fruition as it has happened before in N17.

Martin Jol was never supposed to become manager of Spurs, it – kind of just fell on his lap.

Back in the summer of 2004, the Dutchman was appointed as Jacques Santini’s assistant manager but the Frenchman soon resigned after just 13 matches in charge and Jol was confirmed as their next head coach.

Mason’s playing career was tragically cut short and having come through the academy system at Hotspur Way, the North London outfit offered him a chance at forging a coaching career.

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He first joined in 2018 before being appointed U19 academy coach in 2019, and then head of player development U17 to U23 in August 2020. It does speak volumes that Levy has trusted him with such a huge role, though there is clearly some natural progression going on.

Under his tenure so far, Spurs have won two out of two Premier League games and lost the Carabao Cup final, so it’s not the worst start imaginable, especially given the latter occasion was only his second-ever match in senior management.

Ex-Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino once backed Mason to have a big future in management. He told the club’s official website back in 2018 (via the Metro):

“He will be great in football and he’s going to be a manager or whatever he wants to do because he’s such a clever person. He’s got a football brain. He’s had success in football as a player and he’s going to succeed in everything that he wants to do in the future.”

High praise indeed and merely a little insight into why Levy could be truly considering him full-time. Mason, unlike many candidates, at least knows what the football club means, too.

Whether it’s the right move or not remains to be seen but you wouldn’t call Jol’s time a complete disaster, so perhaps Spurs could feel see shades of the Dutchman back at the club by hiring a former member of the coaching staff straight into the hotseat.

AND in other news, Forget Bale: Spurs beast who had 111 touches was an unsung hero in Sheff Utd whitewash…

Sunderland have a chance to tighten their grip on a play-off position as they face Rotherham at the Stadium of Light tonight.

The Black Cats are fourth in the League One table and one point ahead of Sheffield Wednesday in seventh, with one match left to play after this game on Wearside.

Alex Neil’s men won 5-1 last time out against Cambridge and will surely be looking to bring that positive momentum into this meeting with Paul Warne’s visitors.

How many changes will Neil make to his side for this clash? Here is our predicted XI…

We are predicting that he will make three alterations to the team from Saturday, with Alex Pritchard, Callum Doyle and Dan Neil all coming in.

Starting off in defence, Doyle may come back in at centre-back to replace the injured Carl Winchester. The Northern Ireland international suffered a groin injury against Cambridge and it remains to be seen when he will be able to return for the Black Cats.

However, the on-loan Manchester City defender has started 32 League One matches this season and made 2.9 tackles and interceptions per game. This shows that he is a player who Neil can rely upon as he has been a regular starter for the majority of the campaign.

In midfield, the head coach might bring in young Dan Neil to replace Luke O’Nien. Against Cambridge, the ex-Wycombe man – who former Black Cats manager Jack Ross once dubbed “awkward to get past” – was underwhelming as he missed a ‘big chance’ and recorded a SofaScore rating of 6.6 – the lowest of all the outfield players outside of the injured Winchester.

This may open the door for Neil to come into the team. The academy product has produced three goals and seven assists from midfield this season and has the potential to be a match-winner for Sunderland tonight.

Finally, we are predicting that Pritchard will start. Mark Cooper once dubbed him an “immense” player and that is exactly what the 28-year-old has been for the Black Cats. The maestro has averaged a sublime SofaScore rating of 7.10 in League One this season, chipping in with four goals and seven assists, and that is why he should return to the XI. 

AND in other news, Double blow as Sunderland hit with a huge setback ahead of final two games

Some Leicester City fans have been left to fume at some details that have emerged of their FA Cup semi-final game against Southampton.

As per the official website of the King Power faithful, the match will be played on Sunday 18th April at 6:30pm and will be shown live from Wembley Stadium on BT Sport.

This has caused some anger among Foxes supporters given that some of them do not have access to the TV channel and so would much rather have had it on one like the BBC.

It has also caused a stir that the fixture will be played on a Sunday evening, with most LCFC fans having to work the next day and so may not have much time to celebrate reaching the final of the competition should they beat Ralph Hasenhuttl’s team.

Leicester fan reaction to FA Cup news

These Leicester fans fumed upon learning of the news on Twitter, with one even going as far as to claim that it was a ‘joke’:

“What weapon has decided this?”

Credit: @Olliehorton_93

“Absolute joke. 6.30pm on a Sunday is no time for a football match to KO.”

Credit: @Greg_Gibson

“Evening kick off you absolute weapons!!! Get your coats on lads!!”

Credit: @Georginho1987

“6:30pm on a Sunday for a semi-final, Jesus wept #lcfc #FACup”Credit: @MrJoeStratford”Ikr, I can’t watch it now either! We’ll have to rely on Stringer and Piper instead”Credit: @Marco21Cardoni”Why on BT sport not BBC ????”Credit: @normcastleIn other news, find out what news on one Leicester ace has got fans talking here!

Speaking exclusively to Football FanCast, Peterborough Director of Football Barry Fry has slammed West Ham’s Felipe Anderson for a lack of effort.

Much was expected of the Brazilian when he joined in a then club-record fee from Lazio in 2018, but Anderson has often been branded lazy by supporters, and spent last season on loan with Porto.

But Anderson’s fortunes hardly changed in Portugal, making just one league start, part of only 10 appearances and played just six minutes from the middle of February onwards.

Anderson initially made a bright start to English football, scoring some impressive goals in his first campaign at the London Stadium, but the West Ham faithful quickly became frustrated by his lack of work-rate.

Such is Anderson’s recent miseries with the Hammers, Sky Italia believe that he could return to Lazio this summer, with West Ham set to recoup just 25 percent of the £36m they paid for him three years ago.

Fry, meanwhile, has not been impressed by Anderson. He told Football FanCast:

“He’s got talent, there’s no doubt about that, but you need more than talent, you need effort, if you haven’t got the ball you have got to contribute something, and he’s limited.”

Patrick Vieira is on the verge of taking over at Crystal Palace and could have up to £80m to spend this summer, according to The Daily Mail.

And, as to be expected, a number of Eagles fans have been reacting to the news on social media.

It looks set to be third time lucky for Steve Parish and the Palace hierarchy when it comes to finding Roy Hodgson’s successor.

The Eagles came close with Nuno Espirito Santo and Lucien Favre, but it seems as if Vieira will be the man through the door at Selhurst Park.

He’ll have a busy few weeks before the start of the new season, with a significant player rebuild required.

The new Palace manager, according to The Daily Mail, is expected to have as much as £80m to spend on new players in the transfer window.

Palace fans react

Both @cpfc_xtra and @CPFCtransfersHQ shared the news on Twitter on Wednesday.

These Palace supporters were stunned at the claim…

“Can’t believe this. Would’ve thought if Favre was offered a kitty of £80m he’d of taken the job”Credit: @smupp1″My god”Credit: @Kevbartleyy”A what?”Credit: @JoelGray_”Where’d we get 80 million”Credit: @Crypto_Horse28″Huh?”Credit: @cpfc_rozay”Must of mistyped that”Credit: @FiachraFurlong

In other news: Many Palace fans buzz at club’s interest in Borussia Dortmund man, find out more here. 

When Lee Johnson announced last Friday that Bailey Wright had returned to training, the Sunderland manager had a beaming smile on his face.

Little did he know, however, that his Australian stalwart was going to be thrown in at the deep end after their first defeat in 14 matches.

The Mackems have been brilliant in recent months but their 2-1 loss at the hands of Charlton last weekend dealt an almighty blow to their hopes of earning automatic promotion.

Though, those hopes were dealt another potentially catastrophic blow when they lost to Wigan Athletic on Tuesday evening. This was arguably one of the worst performances under Johnson as the Black Cats were made to rue a number of defensive errors.

This was a display that was completely out of character with how their defence have shaped up since February. With Luke O’Nien and Dion Sanderson a centre-back pairing, Sunderland had kept seven clean sheets in 12 games.

That being said, things have fallen by the wayside in the last few weeks; Johnson’s men now haven’t kept a shutout in four matches.

As they fell to a dismal 2-1 defeat on Tuesday, it was their defence who came under scrutiny. Wright was welcomed back into the starting XI after a late injury to Conor McLaughlin which meant that O’Nien had to shuffle across to right back with the Aussie coming in at centre-half.

Unfortunately, both players were left exposed. O’Nien could have done more for both goals as a pair of defensive calamities led to strikes being conceded from two set-pieces.

Wright has usually been so reliable for Sunderland and until his calf injury in February, had only missed one league game.

[snack-amp-story url= “https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/latest-sunderland-transfer-rumours-and-news-grigg-denayer-louis-dreyfus-sanderson-melamed” title=”Latest Sunderland transfer news and views!”]

Though, on this display, he could be missing a few more between now and the end of the season. The defender tried to play long balls forward on a regular basis and that led to him conceding possession of the ball on a whopping 19 occasions.

For context, no Mackems played lost it more. That also led to a measly pass success rate of just 69%. Of those to start the game from an outfield perspective, only Charlie Wyke and Denver Hume registered a worse percentage.

Wright did prevail in eight aerial duels but ultimately, he looked off the pace and unfit. That’s hardly surprising given his lack of action but considering how adept he’s been in the past, he appeared to be a shadow of his former self.

At full-time, Johnson claimed that he felt “a little bit let down” by the performance of some of his players.

That was certainly the case with Wright. The boss should revert back to a centre-back partnership of O’Nien and Sanderson next time out.

AND in other news, Sunderland graduate saw value rise by £15.5m after leaving, he’s a “manager’s dream” …

A fresh twist has emerged in Tottenham Hotspur’s bid to bring Mauricio Pochettino back to the club…

What’s the word?

As first revealed by The Athletic’s Jack Pitt-Brooke, Spurs have held discussions with their former manager about a potential return to the north London side, and it is also thought that the Argentine would be open to leaving Paris Saint-Germain for his old club.

However, a new claim has surfaced suggesting that the 49-year-old is also a target for another European heavyweight.

According to Goal, La Liga giants Real Madrid have made Pochettino their top choice to replace Zinedine Zidane after it was confirmed that the Frenchman would walk away from his contract 12 months early.

Massimiliano Allegri was an early contender for the Bernabeu job but, with his return to Juventus on the cards, the club’s hierarchy have quickly shifted their attention to the ex-Spurs favourite.

Worrying blow

This is potentially a crushing blow to many Spurs fans’ hopes and dreams as the chances of a reunion with Pochettino could appear to be slim.

Indeed, Pitt-Brooke has since rated their chances of sealing him at “less than 50%” when speaking to ‘The Totally Football Shaw’ podcast earlier this week.

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Furthermore, it is no secret that Pochettino would love to manage Real Madrid, having made some intriguing claims back in 2018 after being approached by the Spanish outfit.

“I don’t know if I’ll ever coach Madrid, but of course it’s my dream,” he said (via The Mirror). “If it’s not the best it’s one of the best clubs in the world. I’m no different, everyone has it on their dream list.”

He has since reinforced his desire to one day talk the helm at Madrid as, following his appointment at PSG, he said: “It was always my objective to one day be able to play for Real Madrid and when you don’t realize a dream, you say, ‘Well, look, one day I’d like to coach Real Madrid – after Espanyol’.”

Pochettino has even had to deny that there is a Madrid release clause within his contract at the Parc des Princes.

If he has to pick between his dream club, who will be competing in the Champions League next season, and a Tottenham team staring at a place in the Conference League, then there is surely only one winner.

All in all, the chances of the Argentine returning to Spurs appear rather slim, and that won’t please many in north London, with numerous fans desperate to see Pochettino back at the club.

AND in other news, Forget Martinez: Levy can seal dream Spurs boss in “exciting” 51 y/o with 74% win rate…

After suffering a disappointing defeat at the hands of Manchester United last week, Newcastle United will be hoping to finally get their Premier League campaign on track when they take on Leeds United on Friday night.

Steve Bruce’s side currently lie 19th in the top-flight after a winless start, tonight facing a Leeds side who are also struggling at the start of this new season and still in search of their first win.

The Magpies boss will surely have some big calls to make after the torrid nature in which they threw away a 1-1 draw into a 4-1 defeat at Old Trafford, and one man who will be sweating on his place is Ciaran Clark.

The Republic of Ireland international was hardly alone in enduring a nightmare afternoon against Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side, but his mistakes last week were costly’ and when you think of the kind high-pressing, high-intensity side that Leeds are, those errors could rear their ugly head once again.

As per Sofascore, he lost both of the duels in which he was involved, made no tackles whatsoever and was dribbled past once as Cristiano Ronaldo and co ran riot in the second half.

What will also be worrying is that he looked shaky on the ball too, conceding possession on seven occasions, the most of any Magpies defender aside from Matt Ritchie, who should be noted played as more of a wing-back. He also found his mark with just one of his four attempted long balls.

Writing for The Shields Gazette and The Chronicle respectively, both Miles Starforth and Lee Ryder were critical of Clark’s second-half performance in particular, giving him a measly five and four in their post-match player ratings.

Given the nature of how Marcelo Bielsa’s side look to press from the front and put players under pressure when on the ball, Clark might just well be a liability once again – as per WhoScored, his 77.8% pass accuracy this season is worse than the likes of Federico Fernandez, Jamaal Lascelles and Isaac Hayden among others.

If Clark plays, then there’s every chance Leeds will look to test both his ability on the ball and his questionable positioning, both of which let him down against Manchester United last week and could cost the Magpies once again.

The £35k-a-week earning ace simply has to be dropped tonight when the Whites come to town.

Meanwhile, Newcastle United are interested in this Championship star, he’s better than Almiron…