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Journalist Dean Jones has claimed that Wolves won’t be able to keep hold of Ruben Neves at the end of the season as the player won’t renew his contract.

What’s the word?

Over the weekend, the club took a potentially huge step towards Premier League survival as they blew Liverpool out of the water with a 3-0 win at home.

Of course, it’s just three points, but a win like that will give the fans and players great confidence that things are heading in the right direction under new boss Julen Lopetegui.

However, while Wolves may progress well between now and the end of the summer, a dark cloud hangs over the club due to the fact that key player Neves could leave in the summer when his contract will enter its final year.

Indeed, while speaking about it all on Chasing Green Arrows, Jones damningly claimed that Neves is unlikely to hang around even despite the team’s improvement under Lopetegui.

He said: “It’ll be interesting to see whether they can, now beyond this season, then actually build on this moment because there’ll be so much interest in players like Ruben Neves and it seems unlikely he will stay any longer.”

Time to say goodbye

Apart from new signing Craig Dawson (who has played just one game), no Wolves player has performed better than Neves in the Premier League this season.

That is according to WhoScored, who have the midfielder as the highest-ranked member of Lopetegui’s squad with an average player rating of 7.03 spread across 2o games.

With that in mind, it’s easy to see why his exit could be a real setback for Wolves and with his contract set to expire in June 2024, it really does look as though he could leave.

Newcastle United have been linked in the past with journalist Craig Hope suggesting that he’s on the club’s list and they’re “keeping very, very close tabs on” the 25-year-old.

And so, if Wolves don’t want to lose Neves for free, and they can’t convince him to stay, he may well have to be sold in the summer.

Insider ExWHUemployee has revealed that defender Angelo Ogbonna wants to end his career with West Ham United and is hopeful of getting a contract extension.

What’s the word?

It’s not as if the Hammers don’t have a few decent options at centre-back within the club right now. After all, Kurt Zouma, Nayef Aguerd and Thilo Kehrer have all been signed in relatively recent times.

And at 34 years of age, these deals may suggest the club are planning for a future without Ogbonna. What’s more, his contract is up in the summer and so it remains unclear if he’ll be offered a new deal.

Despite that, the Italian has still been used fairly regularly by David Moyes over the past few weeks in the Premier League and so it suggests that the manager still rates him.

While talking about the player on an update for The West Ham Way Patreon page, Ex revealed the talks are yet to take place but a new deal seems to be on the card.

He explained: “Nayef Aguerd has been the one grabbing all the attention since his return to the side, but alongside him, Angelo Ogbonna has also done a great job at steadying the ship.”He has recently made it very clear that he wishes to finish his career at West Ham and is hoping the club will offer him another one-year extension to his contract which expires [at] the end of his campaign.”At the moment, it’s believed that no new contract discussions have taken place with the player, or any other of those who are out of contract at the end of the season but the club have certainly been impressed with Ogbonna since he returned and a new deal seems likely at this stage.” Plenty to offer still

With Kurt Zouma injured of late, the need to use Ogbonna has been prevalent with the centre-back playing in the last four consecutive league games against Chelsea, Newcastle United, Everton and Wolves.

Moyes seems to have a fair amount of faith in the defender beyond these recent displays too. Indeed, last season when his contract was set to expire, the manager handed Ogbonna an extension even though he’d recently suffered an ACL injury.

A classy gesture such as that goes a long way to explaining why the Italian would be happy to end his career at West Ham. He joined back in 2015 from Juventus and has gone on to play over 200 times in claret and blue – which is more than any other team he has featured for across the span of his career.

Southampton will inevitably lose midfielder James Ward-Prowse if they get relegated to the Championship, according to journalist Pete O’Rourke.

The Lowdown: Saints struggling

The Saints have struggled considerably in the Premier League this season, currently sitting bottom of the table, three points from safety, with former manager Nathan Jones getting the sack after a 2-1 home defeat to Wolverhampton Wanderers.

However, Southampton looked a much-improved side at the weekend, emerging as shock 1-0 winners at Stamford Bridge under the helm of interim manager Ruben Selles, and there is now increased confidence that they will be able to survive.

The Latest: Ward-Prowse’s future in doubt

While Selles’ reign got off to a perfect start against Chelsea, the interim boss still has a lot of work to do if he is going to be able to preserve the Saints’ Premier League status.

To make things worse, should they be relegated to the second tier, O’Rourke believes that a whole host of players are set to leave the club, telling GiveMeSport:

“Southampton fans won’t want to hear it, but I think if they do go down it’s going to be pretty inevitable that Ward-Prowse could be among several players that leave St. Mary’s.”

The Verdict: Would be a huge loss

Hailed as ‘superb’ by the media, Ward-Prowse has been sensational for Southampton this season, and starred again in the 1-0 victory at Chelsea, firing home yet another free-kick to go just one behind David Beckham’s Premier League record of 18.

It is not the first time the midfielder has weighed in with a vital goal this season, having struck twice in the 2-1 victory away at relegation-threatened Everton last month, and he is now on six goals in the top flight this term.

While the 28-year-old has been loyal to the Saints for his entire career, it would be understandable if his head was turned this summer, in light of his recent form, with Aston Villa making their interest known in recent days.

As such, being able to keep hold of Ward-Prowse is another reason it is vital that the Saints avoid relegation this season, and fans will be hoping Selles can continue his excellent start away at Leeds United next weekend.

Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy has held ‘exploratory talks’ with QSI over minority investment in Spurs, according to reporter Ben Jacobs.

The Lowdown: Spurs takeover talks…

Earlier this week, some ‘huge’ news broke in regards to a possible Spurs takeover with US-Iranian billionaire Jahm Najafi of MSP Sports Capital plotting a $3.75bn (£1.1bn) Spurs takeover bid.

The magnate is apparently set to make an offer for the Premier League side with tensions currently surrounding sections of the fanbase and current owners ENIC.

Antonio Conte’s side have been seeking off-field investment, also, with Levy and co seeking a naming rights deal for the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

The Latest: Jacobs shares QSI talks…

Sharing his own update on Twitter, CBS journalist Jacobs backs interest from Najafi in Spurs and claims Levy has been also been working on minority investment in the club.

He says Spurs and Levy have held ‘exploratory talks’ with QSI (Qatar Sports Investment) in this regard.

Jacobs explained:

“Najafi’s MSP Sports Capital will finance 70% with other backers involved from the MENA region. Whereas Daniel Levy has been exploring minority investment, including exploratory talks with QSI, Joe Lewis would consider a full sale at the right price, but his valuation is $4.5bn+.”

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The Verdict: Promising?

As Spurs look to keep chase with the English top flight’s wealthiest and most-backed sides, news of Levy’s attempts to secure off-field investment comes as promising.

Tottenham’s latest set of financial results indicate an improvement in profit after their first full season post-COVID with fans returning to stadiums.

Levy and co are now able to utilise their state-of-the-art brand new ground in major benefit to Tottenham’s long term future and this may well attract both minority investors and the likes of Najafi.

On the pitch, Conte’s future is still unresolved and things look fairly uncertain past this season as things stand – but off the field, Spurs are continue to grow their sustainability.

Dean Jones believes Leeds United’s centre-forward situation is ‘ridiculous’ following the January transfer window.

The Lowdown: Rodrigo out

Rodrigo has been Leeds’ main source of goals this season, with the Spaniard scoring 12 times in 22 appearances across all competitions.

However, former manager Jesse Marsch decided to bring the 31-year-old on at Accrington Stanley in the FA Cup when Leeds were winning comfortably, with Rodrigo suffering an ankle injury late on.

He faces a two-month spell on the sidelines, leaving Patrick Bamford and Georginio Rutter as the only senior options.

The Latest: Jones’ comments

GiveMeSport asked Jones about Leeds’ January additions in a story shared following Javi Gracia’s Elland Road appointment. The reporter doesn’t think that the club did enough in the final third after failing to sign an experienced Premier League forward, labelling it as ‘ridiculous’ and ‘too late to fix’.

“In hindsight, no. Even at the time, we knew that they were ideally looking for someone who had a decent goalscoring record in this league, but they didn’t do it. So, there was always a chance they were going to find themselves in a situation where goals were going to be a problem.

“It really is ridiculous that Leeds still find themselves in this situation, where they don’t know what their source of goals is. But it’s a problem that’s too late to fix.”

The Verdict: Rutter a gamble?

Rutter was the man to arrive at Elland Road last month in a club record deal from Hoffenheim. The 20-year-old is still awaiting his first goal for the Whites and is yet to start a Premier League game, failing to make an immediate impact.

There already seems to be some doubt from Yorkshire chiefs regarding the big-money move for the Frenchman, so you could say that Jones is right when he says Leeds should have targeted a proven forward in the Premier League.

The Whites and Gracia will have to make do, though, and hopefully, the new head coach will be able to get Leeds back scoring freely once again after netting just twice in their last five Premier League games.

Sunderland sporting director Kristjaan Speakman endured a frustrating January transfer window as the club lost Ellis Simms – who returned to Everton – and striker Ross Stewart was ruled out for the rest of the season.

Despite losing their two senior options through the middle of the pitch, the Black Cats were only able to bring in one striker as they signed Joe Gelhardt on loan from Leeds.

The 20-year-old has scored once in six Championship starts to date and it remains to be seen whether his presence will be enough to mitigate the losses of Simms and Stewart.

Sunderland have not always had the best of luck with signing new centre-forwards over the years and one attacker who ended up being a flop was Fabio Borini, who joined from Liverpool in 2015.

How did Fabio Borini perform at Sunderland?

The Italian forward had already enjoyed a sensational season on loan from Anfield at the Stadium of Light in the 2013/14 campaign. He struck seven times in 32 Premier League appearances and managed three goals in five League Cup outings – including the opening goal of the final in a 3-1 loss to Manchester City.

His impressive form on Wearside led to Liverpool giving him another chance in 2014/15 but the attacker only played 12 times in the league for the Reds with that opening up the door for the Black Cats to bring him back.

In the summer of 2015, then-Sunderland boss Dick Advocaat snapped him up on a permanent deal in a package worth £10m, including £8m up front, in the hope that the dynamo could recapture the form he displayed on loan at the club.

Instead, the striker had a fairly underwhelming campaign in 2015/16, scoring five goals and averaging a Sofascore rating of 6.70 – ranking him 15th in the squad – in 26 outings.

The 5 foot 11 forward followed that up by scoring just twice in 24 Premier League outings – averaging a Sofascore rating of 6.69 – in 2016/17 as the Black Cats were relegated from the top flight.

Sunderland’s relegation to the Championship ultimately resulted in the one-time Italy international leaving to join AC Milan on loan for the 2017/18 campaign.

At the time of his loan exit, journalist Josh Bunting criticised his dismal performances for the Black Cats, Tweeting: “When Borini wants to be good he is but his attitude is all wrong gave up last season, Serie A also suits him much better than the Prem.”

After a year with the Italian giants, in which he scored twice again – this time in 29 league matches –  Borini then signed for Milan on a permanent basis for £5m.

As a result, it’s evident that Advocaat had a shocker by signing the forward in 2015. The Italian flop struggled in both of his two full Premier League seasons with the club before leaving for half of the total package they paid for him, with that a marker of the poor deal they got both from a footballing and a financial perspective.

Everton have been gifted a potential injury boost as Sean Dyche has not ruled out the return of Dominic Calvert-Lewin against Nottingham Forest.

The Lowdown: Hamstring injury

Calvert-Lewin has been ruled out of Everton’s last Premier League with a hamstring injury, with reports that he could even be facing up to six weeks on the sidelines.

However, Dyche gave an update on the striker’s fitness in his pre-game press conference ahead of the match against Forest, and it was certainly more positive news…

The Latest: Could feature

Dyche confirmed to the media that Calvert-Lewin is ‘recovering’ and ‘getting stronger’ ahead of the match, claiming ‘we’ll see’ when asked if he could feature:

“Dyche on Dominic Calvert-Lewin “He’s recovering, getting stronger”. Asked whether he could feature on Sunday: “We’ll see”.”

The Verdict: Big boost

It would certainly be a big boost for the Goodison Park outfit if Calvert-Lewin returns to the squad, having missed the last few fixtures.

He has only scored one league goal so far this season, but offers the team so much more, with no other Toffees player winning more aerial duels per game than him, while he also ranks highly for average shots and dribbles per match (WhoScored).

Nonetheless, Dyche will want to have Calvert-Lewin as another option in what is a crucial fixture near the bottom of the table, and so fingers crossed that he is deemed fit enough to feature.

Former Tottenham Hotspur player and current talkSPORT pundit Jamie O’Hara is thrilled by the news that Daniel Levy is eyeing a move for former manager Mauricio Pochettino.

The Lowdown: Conte on the way out

Sky Sports’ Melissa Reddy dropped a massive update on Tottenham’s future this week, revealing there is “growing belief” Antonio Conte will depart before the end of this season.

The Italian is of course out of contract in the summer, but work has already begun on finding his replacement, with Reddy revealing a whole host of names on the shortlist.

Indeed, Pochettino is seen as the front-runner, with some members of the playing squad “hankering for the brave, progressive style” the Argentine would bring, but Roberto De Zerbi, Luis Enrique, Thomas Tuchel, Marco Silva and Thomas Frank are all in the mix as well.

The Latest: O’Hara reacts

Speaking to GIVEMESPORT, O’Hara only has one man in mind for the job, practically begging Levy to bring Pochettino back:

“You don’t need three candidates. Get Pochettino in. Bring that sexy man back that everyone can see. That’s all we need, so get him in.

“There’s candidates and there are good managers out there – you can say Thomas Tuchel and Thomas Frank – but no.

“Pochettino needs to come back to the football club. He’s got unfinished business. He left when Daniel Levy was being tight and now Daniel Levy has realised he can’t do that anymore.”

The Verdict: Slow your roll…

Reddy reports in her update for Sky that Tottenham chiefs will not be ruled by emotion, and we believe that is certainly the right mindset for the hierarchy to hold.

Yes, Pochettino has been called a “genius” by his old Spurs players and drawn praise from greats such as Pep Guardiola, but the other candidates are certainly no pushovers.

Frank’s Brentford lost their first Premier League game since October this weekend, Enrique has won multiple league titles with Barcelona and De Zerbi’s Brighton have the fourth-highest expected goals in the top flight this season, behind only Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool.

The Lilywhites chiefs absolutely have to get this appointment right with rumours swirling of possible investments and takeovers, and there’s no guarantee things would go differently the second time around under Pochettino.

Arsene Wenger didn’t make masses of mistakes at Arsenal, especially during his first decade in charge of the club. Yet, after the breakup of the squad that won the Premier League title in 2003/2004, going unbeaten throughout the season, things started to go awry for the Gunners.

The Frenchman’s business in the transfer market became increasingly poor and it led to the North Londoners going on a nine-year trophy drought, before winning the FA Cup in 2014.

The likes of Lucas Perez, Rob Holding, and Sead Kolasinac weren’t exactly the players to spark a revival and drained the club financially while offering little on the pitch.

One of his worst signings however was Shkodran Mustafi, who rinsed the club throughout his five-year spell in London.

How much did Shkodran Mustafi cost Arsenal?

The German defender joined the club in a £35m deal from Valencia back in the summer of 2016 and aged just 24 at the time, he was expected to be part of the Arsenal backline for the foreseeable future.

Here was a World Cup winner (winning with Germany in 2014) and a player who had featured 30 times in La Liga the season before arriving at the Emirates, £35m sounded like it could prove to be a bargain.

Despite playing over 150 times for the Gunners, he wasn’t exactly spectacular, with a wide catalogue of errors plaguing his spell in London.

He cost his side on no fewer than six occasions during the 2018/2019 campaign, with his worst display saved for a tie against Crystal Palace, where he failed to deal with a harmless ball over the top that allowed Wilfried Zaha to score, before being booked for diving and the 3-2 defeat cost Arsenal a top four spot.

He left in February 2021, with his contract being ripped up and it was hardly a surprise to read Charles Watts, Arsenal correspondent for Goal, describe the centre-back as a “horrendous signing”.

The defender rinsed the club for millions during his 230-week stay. Combining his £35m transfer fee with the £88k-per-week wages he earned during his time at The Emirates (£20.2m over four and a half years) the flop cost the club an astronomical total of £55.2m, which could have, potentially, been spent on alternative players.

It wasn’t one of Wenger’s finest moves and perhaps summarised his final few years at the Emirates as the German ended up being a woeful addition to the squad.

HLTCO podcaster Dan Cook was left far from impressed by Eberechi Eze’s performance during Crystal Palace’s derby defeat on Wednesday evening.

The Lowdown: Palace’s slump continues

After a bright start to the game against Brighton on Wednesday, which saw Crystal Palace squander two glorious chances via Odsonne Edouard and Michael Olise, they ultimately tasted defeat once again in the Premier League.

It was an all too familiar feeling for Palace and Patrick Vieira as they once again failed to pick up three points – something they’ve been unable to do throughout 2023 – but it could’ve been very different had the Palace boss not been pretty much forced into a half-time switch.

Vieira seemingly had no choice but to hook Cheick Doucoure after he somehow avoided picking up a second yellow card in the first half, which allowed Eze the chance to impact the game and get the Eagles a positive result, although he was far from being at a level of which to do so.

The Latest: Eze struggled to make an impact

Cook ripped into Eze on the HLTCO podcast after his shocking 45-minute cameo, which saw him fail to register a single shot in the second half (as per Sofascore).

He said: “Ebere Eze’s overall performance in the second half left a lot to be desired. He seemed ponderous in possession, he seemed loose with his touch and he didn’t really – for my money – look after the ball at all well, and it really did hamper us.”

The Verdict: Vieira needs to get more out of Eze

After bursting onto the Premier League stage back in 2020, it has been a rather steady decline for Eze, with a long-term injury likely playing a big part in that. However, he needs to step up his game to avoid having a relegation on his CV.

It wasn’t too long ago that Eze was being linked with a move to mega-rich Newcastle United – which shows the talent he possesses – so it’s now up to Vieira to unlock that talent once again, as Palace desperately need inspiration in the final third.

Palace haven’t scored a goal in any of their last four matches and have also failed to find the back of the net more than once in a game since December when they beat Bournemouth 2-0, so Vieira certainly needs to be getting the most out of his flair players such as Eze, Olise and Wilfried Zaha. Otherwise, it could be a bleak end to the season.