All posts by z3u9t.icu

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Reported Tottenham Hotspur target Adrien Rabiot would prefer to join Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool, Paris United have revealed.

What’s the word?

Spurs are reportedly upping their efforts to sign Rabiot in the January window, as Paris Saint-Germain face the prospect of losing the Frenchman for free in the summer when his contract expires.

Liverpool have also been mooted as potential suitors, but find themselves behind Barcelona in the running for Rabiot, having allegedly reached an agreement with the six-cap midfielder already.

But the latest word is that Spurs have made an offer to sign him this month. Paris United are suggesting that Tottenham’s good relationship with PSG is increasing the likelihood of negotiations going favourably, too.

However, the Lilywhites’ offer of a €5million (£4.3m) signing bonus and a €7.5million (£6.4m) per year wage may not be enough, as Rabiot would prefer to join Liverpool.

Are the media letting Jurgen Klopp off lightly for his lack of silverware? The Pl>ymaker FC squad have their say in the video below…

What’s he said?

Rabiot has not been directly quoted by Paris United, but the PSG-focused site are suggesting that the French midfielder ideally wants to play for Liverpool if he were to move to the Premier League.

That alone does not mean much, as players often sign for teams other than who they once supported or envisaged themselves playing for, but it will help the Reds’ position if Klopp informs the board he wishes to pursue Rabiot with a serious offer.s

Do Liverpool need him?

Liverpool aren’t exactly short on midfielders. Jordan Henderson may underwhelm but Gini Wijnaldum and James Milner have both been fantastic this season, while Naby Keita, Fabinho and Xherdan Shaqiri all joined the club during the summer. Then there’s Adam Lallana and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who was proving incredibly effective in Klopp’s system before his serious injury last April.

Rather than bringing in yet another midfield option, Klopp should be focusing on getting the best out of Keita – who has struggled to make his mark since a summer switch from RB Leipzig – and reintegrating Oxlade-Chamberlain back into the side.

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According to a recent report from the Daily Mail, Richarlison is one of a handful of names on Chelsea’s radar with Eden Hazard’s future in doubt.

What’s the word?

The report claims that Chelsea are bracing themselves for Hazard, valued at £135 million per Transfermarkt, to leave in the summer and they are beginning to turn their attention to a handful of players, including Everton’s Brazilian boy wonder.

Richarlison has been ‘followed closely’ by Chelsea, who are also considering a move for Lorenzo Insigne.

Chelsea apparently considered buying him before he decided to join Watford in the summer of 2017, and they have continued to monitor his progress throughout his time in English football.

Richarlison departure would be a dagger to Marco Silva’s ambitions

This is exactly the type of story which will fill Everton fans and Silva with dread. Richarlison has been hot and cold at times this season but his star quality is obvious.

At just 21-year-of-age dips in form and erratic moments are par for the course, and the overriding feeling is that Richarlison could blossom into a Goodison Park legend in the years to come.

With Everton already lacking strength in depth in forward positions, it’s incredibly unlikely that Silva and the rest of the club’s hierarchy will be open to the possibility of selling up.

The saving grace is that Silva and Richarlison seem to have established a positive working relationship during their respective spells at both Watford and Everton, and that could ultimately convince him to snub advances from Chelsea if they eventually come calling for his signature.

Southampton attacker Jake Hesketh is currently playing his football with League Two outfit Milton Keynes Dons, having joined the club in January.

Hesketh spent the first half of this season on loan with Burton Albion in League One, scoring three times in 23 appearances for the club.

Now with MK Dons, the 22-year-old struck a wonder goal in his loan team’s 3-2 home defeat to Swindon Town at the weekend.

Pl>ymaker FC’s Matchday with Max caught up with Jamaica’s women’s team. See what happened when he met the history makers in the video below…

Southampton’s official Twitter account posted the video of Hesketh’s goal on Monday, which brought a reaction from the Premier League club’s fans.

It would be fair to say that a number of the Southampton supporters are not too pleased that Hesketh is currently playing his football in League Two.

Hesketh has only played four first-team games for the Saints and it is difficult to imagine that he has much of a long-term future with the Premier League club.

The midfielder has shown good form for both Burton and MK Dons this term though, and will still be hopeful of forging a career at St Mary’s.

A selection of the Twitter reaction from the Southampton supporters can be seen below:

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Crystal Palace progressed to the quarter finals of the FA Cup with their 2-0 win over League One Doncaster on Sunday, with goals from Jeffrey Schlupp and Max Meyer enough to see the Selhurst Park outfit through to the next stage of the domestic competition.

The performances of the aforementioned duo give Roy Hodgson a bit of a headache going forward and he may have to make some huge sacrifices if he is to accommodate all of his best options.

On the chalkboard

Meyer, who joined from Schalke in the summer on a free – surely to much fanfare – has been unable to earn an extended run in the starting XI and has made just 10 Premier League starts, with many of his opportunities coming in the cup competitions.

At 5-foot-7, the maestro is hardly a physical presence or a player you would associate with heading the ball but his nodded effort in the dying minutes of the first half proved decisive. Aside from that, the German constantly looked to make things happen – as he usually does when granted a start – and may have finally done enough to warrant dropping one of the Eagles’ key men.

Meanwhile, Schlupp has continued his impressive run in central-midfield and the powerful run preceding his goal-bound, left-footed drive has become a key feature of his game as Hodgson favours the Ghanaian’s pace and energy in the middle rather than on the wing, where he had previously plied his trade.

Both deserve to start

Both Schlupp and Meyer bring different dimensions to the Palace team and ones that are difficult to expend, so Hodgson may be forced into changing to a more narrow formation in order to maximise the utility of his new-found midfield depth – Luka Milivojevic is always solid, while Cheikhou Kouyate has impressed and James McArthur seems undroppable in Hodgson’s eyes.

Doing so could prove terminal for Andros Townsend, who has been excellent for the Croydon outfit this campaign. Perhaps playing Meyer in the number 10 role behind Wilfried Zaha and Michy Batshuayi is the way forward, with the regular midfield three tucking in behind in a 4-3-1-2.

How much money could you make busking for a week as a freestyle footballer? Find out in the video below…

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Ravel Morrison has recently signed for Swedish club Ostersunds FK, as reported by Sky Sports.

However, in an interview with The Times, the 26-year-old has revealed that Rangers manager Steven Gerrard wanted to bring him to Ibrox Stadium in the recent January transfer window.

What’s the story?

Morrison has claimed that Gerrard was open to having a conversation about bringing him to Glasgow, but ultimately the idea failed to progress.

Watch the video below to see the most insane overhead kick you will see this week…

Speaking to The Times, Morrison said of Gerrard, “he’s a legend in football and he was willing to sit down and have a really good conversation. Certain old-school managers wouldn’t have done that.”

Morrison will now look to get his career back on track in Sweden. However, the notion of him joining the Gers is certainly an intriguing one. 

After a place to settle

Morrison’s career trajectory has not followed the path many predicted for him in his youth. The Manchester-born midfielder began his career at Old Trafford, where he progressed through the Manchester United academy in style. 

In 2014, iconic United defender Rio Ferdinand revealed that Sir Alex Ferguson thought that Morrison as a 14-year-old was “the best player he had seen at that age.”

However, he ultimately failed to make the grade at United and has been something of a nomad ever since, having had spells with West Ham United, QPR, Italian side Lazio and Mexican outfit Atlas, amongst others.

Morrison’s talent has never been in doubt, but he has never been able to settle and maintain his form in any one place for long. At this stage in his career, time is running out for him to make good on his potential. Perhaps, some time in Scotland working under Gerrard would’ve been ideal for the former boy wonder.

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Celtic are waiting on scan results to determine the extent of Callum McGregor’s calf injury.

The midfielder missed his first match of the season through injury as the Hoops beat Motherwell 4-1 on Sunday to restore their eight point advantage at the top of the SPFL table.

With Scott Brown suspended it meant a brand new midfield, with Nir Bitton returning to the side alongside Ewan Henderson who was starting his first ever top team match.

“He’s picked up an injury from the midweek,” Rodgers said, as quoted by The Daily Record, when explaining McGregor’s injury.

“We would’ve taken him off but we were down to 10 men and he didn’t feel it too bad. But then the last few days its stiffened up so we’ll see what the result of the X-ray is on that.”

Rodgers will be hoping to have McGregor available to face Hearts on Wednesday but surely won’t take any chances with a Scottish Cup quarter-final against Hibs following three days later.

McGregor has been a crucial member of Rodgers’ plans this season – his appearance against Valencia was his 54th match for club and country this season.

With Ryan Christie picking up a hamstring knock in the win over Motherwell, Bitton or Henderson could retain their place in the side to face Hearts if McGregor fails to prove his fitness.

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More than 24 hours removed from the north London derby, Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal fans are still arguing.

This is perhaps nothing new but the tone of the argument pivots around one specific event at Wembley.

As Harry Kane rose to challenge for a header, Gunners defenders Shkodran Mustafi and Laurent Koscielny wrestled with the England striker in the penalty area.

Kane hit the deck and referee Anthony Taylor pointed to the spot.

However, the 25-year-old was offside when the ball into the area was played by Christian Eriksen and there has been much debate surrounding the officiating.

The law, per Sky Sports News, states: “If a player in an offside position is moving towards the ball with the intention of playing the ball and is fouled before playing or attempting to play the ball, or challenging an opponent for the ball, the foul is penalised as it has occurred before the offside offence.”

The debate since has circled around whether or not Kane was challenging for the ball at the time he was fouled.

Former referee Dermot Gallagher, per the aforementioned Sky article, claims the decision was wrong because Kane was challenging for the ball by attempting to head it. Spurs fans maintain that, because he had not headed it, he was not yet active and thus the foul comes first.

This is the chicken and the egg argument all over again and it needs to change.

The offside rule right now is a mess. There are too many shades of grey and the referee’s decision, ultimately, hinges on his understanding of the word “challenging”.

The penalty, of course, was given and Kane scored. Tottenham subsequently earned a 1-1 draw in a game they had been losing.

Were the offside rule to remove the ability to argue such trivialities, perhaps it would not have been given.

A player, at the end of the day, is either offside or he isn’t. If the rule was changed to state that a team cannot be penalised for fouling a player in an offside position, all arguments would be solved.

There is also the idea that there should be clear daylight between the defender and the attacker because the current rule has been reduced to a nitpicking anality.

With the introduction of VAR to the Premier League next season, perhaps these arguments will stop. Or maybe the offside rule will become even more convoluted, as the action is slowed to within an inch of its life.

Changing the rule would be a great first step to removing these debates.

Things just can’t go right for Alexis Sanchez at Manchester United, can they?

The Chilean is the latest victim of their “cursed” number 7 jersey, failing to impress even in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s rejuvenated system. Despite improving nearly everyone else, even the ever-smiling Norwegian’s admitted to being unable to do nothing to improve him.

The Chilean’s latest setback is the knee injury he picked up in United’s thrilling win over Southampton. The fact that the players kept on playing trying to get the equalizer, despite seeing him in pain itself spoke volumes of his reputation. After he was replaced with the sizzling Diogo Dalot, United were able to turn things around and record a crucial home win.

Sanchez now faces another two months out with an injury and will return when United’s other injury problems are solved. By consistently underperforming this season, where he’s scored 2 goals in 27 appearances, Sanchez’s completely lost supporters’ faith.

Nobody will want him selected ahead of either Anthony Martial or Jesse Lingard, with many even preferring Dalot ahead of him. Being plagued with so many injuries recently, it’ll be nearly impossible for him to find back his lethal form which lit up Arsenal all those seasons ago.

By piling on United’s wage bill and causing controversies with his enormous wages, Ed Woodward would want to write him off the club’s expenses. We think Sanchez will probably be allowed to leave in the summer, thus ending a frustrating tenure which was never meant to be.

A premature end to one of United’s biggest wastes of money is surely likely. The curse of the number of 7 strikes again.

Manchester United fans, will you be disappointed by Sanchez’s departure? Join the discussion by commenting below. 

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Martin Dubravka is reportedly attracting interest from Juventus and several Premier League clubs, so should Newcastle cash in on the shot-stopper?

What’s the word?

As reported by Chronicle Live, the Magpies have begun talks with Dubravka over a new contract.

The 30 year-old’s agent has confirmed that Juventus would like to sign him though, as well as multiple teams within England.

“We can confirm that Martin belongs to the Juventus scout department’s list of long-term players,” his agent told Czech news outlet Ruik, as reported by Chronicle Live.

“However, we must mention that it is not only monitored by Pavel Nedved’s Juventus, but there are also Premier League clubs. Our personal tip with my brother is that Martin stays in England.

Pl>ymaker FC Exclusive: Jermaine Jenas reveals why Tyne-Wear is a more intense derby than anything London can offer – check out the video below….

“Our effort, but also Newcastle’s endeavour, is to negotiate a new contract at the end of this season, as Martin came to Newcastle as a virtually unknown Czech league player, but quickly became a major player of the entire team and already has an excellent reputation throughout the English league.”

Blessing in disguise

Judging from his agent’s comments, Dubravka is clearly happy to stay on Tyneside, where he became somewhat of an instant cult hero due to his performances last season.

He hasn’t been anywhere near as solid this campaign though, making silly mistakes at Tottenham and Wolves, both of which cost the Magpies crucial points.

He is an excellent shot-stopper, but it is more than possible that last season’s incredible purple patch was merely the result of confidence and momentum after such a stunning debut against Manchester United.

The Slovakian has now reverted to the mean, and if a giant club like Juventus came in with a ridiculous offer it would surely be very hard to refuse.

Given that experienced stoppers like Ben Foster, Joe Hart and Lukasz Fabianski were all scooped up by other Premier League sides for pennies last summer, it would not be difficult to replace the Slovakian and re-invest his transfer fee in other areas of the squad.

Selling to a rival from within England would be a foolish move, but when or if Juventus come calling, cashing in on the struggling shot-stopper could be a blessing in disguise.

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Manchester United fans have taken to Twitter in disappointed fashion after it was revealed that they would be playing Barcelona in the Champions League quarter-finals.

The Red Devils haven’t faced the reigning Spanish champions competitively since the 2011 final of this competition, in which Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona dispatched Sir Alex Ferguson’s United by three goals to one at Wembley.

Would you rather your club won the Premier League or Champions League? In the video below, Pl>ymaker FC’s Matty believes English clubs have already decided…

Obviously, with the likes of Ousmane Dembele, Luis Suarez and some bloke called Lionel Messi in their ranks, the Catalans are one of the strongest teams left in the competition and will be hard work for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to overcome.

However, if they do manage to progress, a possible semi-final tie against arch-rivals Liverpool awaits if the Reds can beat Porto – if that isn’t motivation, then what is?

It’s safe to say that the United fans on Twitter aren’t happy with the draw, which has been unkind to them to say the least…