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Aston Villa could make a “huge statement” by making a move for PSG star Georginio Wijnaldum amid recent reports linking them with the midfielder.

What’s the story?

According to 90min, Steven Gerrard’s side are among a number of Premier League clubs to whom the Netherlands international has been offered, and it’s been suggested that Villa have not yet dismissed the idea.

And now, in response to those suggestions, The Express and Star’s Luke Hatfield has thrown his backing behind a potential Villa move for the Dutchman.

He said: “That would be a huge statement signing, for sure. Obviously, it hasn’t really worked for him at PSG since leaving Liverpool but he’s someone who has got boundless quality and energy in midfield.”

Gerrard’s pull

One of the big things and advantages that Gerrard’s arrival as manager brought to the table, was his so-called pull. As a Liverpool icon and recognisable figure around the world, the new Villa boss would surely have that extra bit of persuasion when it came to convincing potential transfer targets compared to his predecessor Dean Smith.

And in Wijnaldum, someone who’s lifted the Premier League and Champions League with Liverpool before making the switch to European giants PSG, Gerrard could really show off his credentials by luring him to Villa Park.

The Dutchman played 217 times in the Premier League, scoring 27 goals and providing 16 assists, and came up with some big contributions in the big games – you only have to look at his two goals against Barcelona in Liverpool’s Champions League semi-final comeback in 2019 to see that.

Former Liverpool ace Ryan Babel has previously raved about the £27m-rated Wijnaldum, saying: “I have no words for Gini’s performances and quality. He’s an incredible person. His energy is incredible, he has lungs for days. You can tell when he has the confidence, he’s really unbeatable and very hard to play against.”

At 31, Wijnaldum is hardly going to be the future of Villa, but if the club are looking for someone to potentially hit the ground running and really give them a shot in the arm for the second-half of the season, then he certainly fits that bill to a tee with both his quality and Premier League experience.

Meanwhile, Aston Villa have made this man their top target for January…

Lots of Wolves fans were left bemoaning some injury news before their game away at Brighton and Hove Albion in the Premier League on Wednesday night.

As per Birmingham Live, Rayan Ait-Nouri was injured in the warm up in the build-up to the match, and thus had to be replaced by Fernando Marcal in the starting eleven at short notice.

Of course, it did not matter too much in the end, as Bruno Lage’s team clinched a 1-0 win courtesy of a goal from Romain Saiss.

However, some members of the Molineux faithful are now fearing that Ait-Nouri has picked up a serious injury ahead of the busy Christmas period.

The left wing-back has certainly been one of he Midlands club’s standout players so far this season, averaging more tackles (3.9) and crosses (1.2) than any of his teammates in the Premier League (WhoScored), and so losing him for a length period of time would cause concern.

Meanwhile, Marcal was heavily criticised for the performance he delivered in the Frenchman’s place.

Wolves fans bemoan injury news

These WWFC supporters bemoaned the injury news on Twitter, with one even going as far as to claim that they were ‘crying’ after it, while another called it a ‘worry’:

“NOOOOOOO”

Credit: @senorlage

“Go away”

Credit: @_tomwwfc

“Bed bed bed”

Credit: @wwfcglover

“This will end in tears”

Credit: @yeahiroy

“Crying nice one”

Credit: @matthewashaw_

“That’s a worry”

Credit: @shewolf1877

In other news, find out whose display against Brighton was slammed here!

Tottenham Hotspur could form a formidable defensive duo after being linked with a transfer move for Monaco ace Benoit Badiashile.

What’s the story?

According to Italian outlet CalcioMercato, Spurs are ‘on the trail’ of the highly-rated 20-year-old ahead of a potential offer over the coming months.

New Spurs manager Antonio Conte is renowned for building multiple successful teams on solid centre-back partnerships, and the addition of Badiashile may allow him to do the same in north London.

Imagine him and Cristiano Romero

After rising through the ranks at boyhood club Monaco, Badiashile has firmly established himself as one of Ligue 1’s most promising young talents.

The France Under-21 international played a pivotal part for Niko Kovac’s charges last term as they battled their way to a third-place finish, qualifying for the Champions League as a result.

As per WhoScored, Badiashile averaged 1.7 interceptions per league game in 2020/21 after making 35 appearances, a whopping 2.8 clearances and 0.3 blocks.

Those statistics placed him in the top three for each metric when compared to his teammates, highlighting his influence over proceedings for the principality club.

Badiashile’s outstanding displays have caught the eye of several impressed onlookers, including Monaco Vice President Oleg Petrov, who labelled the £34m-rated gem a “great talent” before lauding his technical ability.

“Very good technically, very humble, very fast, gives a lot of comforts when he plays but still very young,” said Petrov.

“For a player of his age, playing all the games as a starter, it is a huge opportunity for him to develop into a player of the highest calibre. He is a very hard worker so we are very happy to have him.”

Under Conte’s tutelage, partnerships between the likes of Leonardo Bonucci and Giorgio Chiellini, David Luiz and Cesar Azpilicueta and Milan Skriniar and Stefan de Vrij have formed the foundations for title-winning campaigns.

And with the talented Cristian Romano already at the Italian tactician’s disposal, Badiashile’s arrival could be the start of the next defensive duo to rise to stardom under the 52-year-old’s control.

And, in other news…Paratici plotting Spurs swoop for “explosive” £31.5m-rated gem, Conte badly needs him 

أكد المدرب الإسباني، بيب جوارديولا، المدير الفني لنادي مانشستر سيتي، أنّ مُستقبله في مانشستر سيتي غير مُقترن بالدولي النرويجي إيرلينج هالاند مهاجم السكاي بلو.

وانفجر هالاند تهديفيًا بشكل جيد مع مانشستر سيتي، وتمكن النرويجي في خمس مباريات فقط أن يسجل 9 أهداف، ليُصبح أول لاعب في تاريخ المسابقة يفعل ذلك، كما أنه يبتعد في ترتيب الهدافين بفارق 4 أهداف عن ميتروفيتش.

وقال جوارديولا: “مشكلة في العمل مع هالاند؟ إنه يبلغ من العمر 22 عامًا، يتعافى جيدًا، عندما يكون 23 عامًا، سيكون الأمر أكثر صعوبة، 22 سنة لا يمثل مُشكلة!”.

وحول المُقارنات بين هالاند وميسي: “أنا معجب بالأشخاص الذين يمكنهم توقع ما سيحدث في المستقبل، ولا يمكنني فعل ذلك”.

وأضاف: قبل شهر كانوا يقولون على هالاند كارثيًا، والآن سوف يكسر كل شيء، لا يمكنني رؤية ما سيحدث، لا أعرف ما سيحدث غدًا، ثم تخيل ماذا سيحدث في غضون عامين”.

وواصل المدرب الإسباني تصريحاته قائلًا: “نحن سعداء بالطريقة التي يستقر بها، ليس فقط إيرلينج، فالطاقم وطاقم العمل في الغرف الخلفية مهمان للغاية في كيفية مساعدتهم على تكييف اللاعبين الجدد والزملاء جيدين حقًا، هذا هو الشيء الأكثر أهمية”.

اقرأ أيضًا.. كلوب يمتدح مهاجم ليفربول ويصرح: صفعت نونيز وتعلم الدرس

وعن جوليان ألفاريز: “المهاجمون الجيدون في مسيرتي يتنافسون على عدد الأهداف التي يسجلونها، نحن أكثر من سعداء أن النادي يمكن أن يشتري هذين اللاعبين الرائعين”.

وأردف: “جوليان ألفاريز في المباراة الماضية سجّل هدفًا بيمينه والآخر باليسار، كلاهما انتهى بشكل مذهلًا، أخلاقيات العمل جيدة حقًا، وربما يلعب في العديد من المباريات مع هالاند”.

وعاد جوارديولا للحديث عن هالاند من جديد، وما إذا كان وجوده سيؤثر على قراره بالبقاء، حيث ينتهي تعاقده في 2023، وقال: “أنا أعمل في مانشستر سيتي، وليس لصالح هالاند، وهو لا يعمل لديّ، إنه لاعب في مانشستر سيتي”.

وتابع: “نحن سعداء بهالاند حقًا، رجل محبوب، ترى شغفه بنفس الطريقة مع كالفين فيليبس، ألفاريز واللاعبين الجُدد، وهذا ما أبحث عنه، لأكون مرتاحًا هُنا لا أعرف ما يحدث في المستقبل، لدي شعور بأنه يمكن أن يتحسن”.

واسترسل: “هالاند يفهم ما نُريد مثل اللاعبين الآخرين لكنها مسألة وقت، أتذكر على سبيل المثال كيفين دي بروين، أو رياض محرز، كانوا بحاجة إلى وقت ليُصبحان أفضل”.

واختتم تصريحاته قائلًا: “غدًا سيكون هُناك تحدٍ آخر، وستأتي لحظات سيئة وقد لا يسجل هدفًا ونخسر، ولكن عليه أن يسترح ونُحلل السبب، لن يتغير العالم إذا لم يسجل أو يفوز، في المباريات التي سجّلنا فيها الكثير من الأهداف كُنا جيدين باستثناء مباراة نيوكاسل، وهذا ما يتعين علينا القيام به”.

يُذكر أنّ مانشستر سيتي يواجه نظيره أستون فيلا، مساء غدًا السبت على ملعب “فيلا بارك”؛ وتنطلق المباراة في تمام الساعة السادسة والنصف مساءً بتوقيت القاهرة، ضمن فعاليات الجولة السادسة من الدوري الإنجليزي الممتاز.

West Ham United return to Premier League action this afternoon and they could break into the top-six with a result against local rivals Tottenham Hotspur.

David Moyes’ men continued their fine form this season with another victory in the Europa League, defeating Genk 3-0 to maintain a 100% record in midweek, whilst they defeated Everton last weekend.

The Scotsman is left with some interesting decisions to make in terms of team selection, so what sort of XI could we see in east London today?

Here’s what we are predicting…

There could be as many as six changes from Thursday night.

Moyes has two absentees in the injured Vladimir Coufal, who is not expected to be available today, and loan midfielder Alex Kral, who is still isolating after a positive test.

It means he has a big call to make at right-back and it could see him stick with impressive 21-year-old Ben Johnson, instead of Ryan Fredericks.

He’ll be joined in defence by Aaron Cresswell, who also keeps his place from the Genk victory, along with Kurt Zouma and Angelo Ogbonna. They replace Craig Dawson and Issa Diop.

They’ll sit in front of no.1 Lukasz Fabianski, with PSG loanee Alphonse Areola seemingly the designated cup ‘keeper, for now.

In midfield, it’s likely that we see the same pairing of Declan Rice and Tomas Soucek, whilst the 58-year-old has seemingly settled on a balanced front four in recent matches.

Thursday’s goalscorer Jarrod Bowen remains but instead of playing up front, he’ll be back on the wing on the opposite flank to Said Benrahma, with Pablo Fornals sitting in the middle.

That’s because talismanic forward Michail Antonio, who has recently been dubbed a “complete monster” and an “absolute revelation” by journalist Paul Brown, is set to return having not been involved in midweek whatsoever.

The 31-year-old’s game time does need to be managed and that could pay dividends here today as he looks to add to his six goals and four assists, certainly well worth his reported £70k-per-week wages.

AND in other news, Moyes could unearth West Ham’s next Joe Cole in 19 y/o gem “similar to Jack Grealish”…

Celtic have been tipped to make a move for David Marshall in the January transfer window.

What’s the talk?

In recent comments made on The Go Radio Football Show, Barry Ferguson stated his belief that Ange Postecoglou should take a closer look at the Derby County goalkeeper this winter, as the crisis-hit Rams would be more than happy to get the 36-year-old off of their books.

After being asked whether he’d fit in at Celtic, Ferguson said: “Must be worrying for big Marshy, obviously out the picture at Derby. I don’t know why – is it a contract situation? I find that strange because he was number one at Derby. Obviously, [he’s been] brilliant for Scotland. It must be financial.

“He’s still a top keeper, big Marsh. I don’t think he’s going to cost anything. Derby would let him go on a free. He’s too good to be sitting about doing nothing. He needs to play and he needs to get back into the Scotland squad.”

Postecoglou must move

With the recent news that Celtic’s current backup shot-stopper Vasilios Barkas looks set to depart Parkhead in the January transfer window, Postecoglou could well be in need of a new option in the position for the second half of the season.

And, while it is true that Marshall appears to be out of the picture at Derby, with Wayne Rooney yet to hand the 36-year-old a single appearance this term, the Scotland international is nevertheless a goalkeeper who still has much to offer in his career.

Indeed, over his 33 Championship appearances for the Rams last season, the £225k-rated man kept nine clean sheets, as well as making an impressive average of 2.3 saves per game.

These returns saw the player who Malky Mackay dubbed an “immense” ‘keeper average a SofaScore match rating of 6.79, ranking the veteran as Derby’s 11th-best performer in the second tier of English football – an extremely impressive feat considering the Rams only secured survival on the final day of the season.

As such, despite being well into the twilight of his footballing career, the £8.4k-per-week Marshall would nevertheless appear to make a fantastic backup to Joe Hart between the Celtic sticks, meaning it would indeed look to be an extremely wise move for Postecoglou to sanction a swoop for the shot-stopper this winter, particularly if he wouldn’t cost the Bhoys a penny.

In other news: Signed for peanuts, sold for £13m: Celtic struck gold on “outstanding” 30 y/o monster

قال محمد أبو جبل حارس مرمى فريق الكرة الأول بنادي الزمالك، إنه يملك خيارات كثيرة من بين الأندية المصرية بعد انتهاء عقده مع القلعة البيضاء بنهاية الموسم الجاري.

وأضاف في تصريحات تلفزيونية بفضائية “المحور” عبر برنامج “ريمونتادا”: “لم أتواصل مع أمير مرتضى ومرتضى منصور للعودة للزمالك، أو أفتح كلام مع أحد نهائيًا، لا أعرف لماذا أنال هجومًا كبيرًا من رموز كبيرو في الإعلام بهذه الطريقة”.

وكشف الحارس الدولي سبب رحيله: “عندم أكون في الـ6 شهور الأخيرة في فترة عقدي وأتحدث مع المسوؤلين في النادي بشأن التجديد، فيبلغني بأنني لست ضمن أولويات النادي، فماذا أفعل”.

واستكمل: “وهذا في الوقت الذي يجددون خلاله عقود لاعبين أخرين، وكان لدي عروض كثيرة جدًا قبل بطولة إفريقيا وبعدها”.

طالع | مرتضى منصور: أراهن بكل تاريخي على إلغاء حكم حبسي.. وقبول اعتذار أبو جبل في يد فيريرا

وواصل: “أريد أن أقول لجماهير الزمالك، إن الأبيض لم يقصر معي في أي شيء، وأنا كذلك، ولكن جمهور الزمالك الغاضب مني يجب أن يفهم أن هناك نقاط كثيرة تحدث بشكل خارج عن الإرادة”.

واستطرد: “يوجد نقاط كثيرة تحتاج إلى ثلاثة أيام لكي أتحدث عنها وأوضح من خلالها ما حدث، من بينها جزئية التجديد والعامل النفسي”.

وتابع: “حسين لبيب لم يعرض على نفس المقابل المادي الذي كان سيحصل عليه أحمد سيد زيزو”.

وأردف: “أشكر مرتضى منصور، لأنه إذا كان متواجدًا في النادي لكنت جددت تعاقدي، ساعدني كثيرًا، كما وعدني بالتجديد بعد نهائي دوري أبطال إفريقيا امام الأهلي”.

وأكد: “علاقتي جيدة جدًا بفيريرا ويعتبرني إبنه وأقول له يا بابا، وعلاقتي جيدة جدًا بمحمد عواد ولا يوجد أي أزمة مع أي حارس مرمى في الدوري المصري”.

واستأنف: “لعبت في الزمالك 6 سنوات، لم أشكو النادي بسبب الأموال، ولم يسمع لي أحدًا صوت، نادي الزمالك بيتي ولا أنتظر أن يقول لي أحد عود للزمالك”.

وأشار: “جمهور الزمالك على رأسي، وعندما اقول ما حدث معي في أخر 6 شهور بتعاقدي، وأوضح كل الأمور، سيعذرني الجمهور والنقاذ”.

وأتم: “أزمتي مع نادي النصر السعودي مستمرة وهي حاليًا في الاتحاد الدولي لكرة القدم، وأصبحت رسميًا لاعب حر، كما حدث تواصل معي الجهاز الفني لمنتخب مصر”.

Alasdair Gold has been left criticising the display of Matt Doherty, grading him the worst Tottenham Hotspur player on the night as the Lilywhites cruised to victory in the UEFA Europa Conference League.

The Lowdown: Much-needed win

It was a much-needed win for Spurs and Nuno Espirito Santo after the very disappointing 3-1 loss away at Arsenal in the North London derby on Sunday afternoon.

They dispatched of NS Mura comfortably in the end, with Harry Kane bagging himself a hat-trick after coming on from the bench.

The Latest: Gold not impressed by Doherty

While there were some decent performances among the Lilywhites, Doherty came under some criticism from Gold.

Writing in his latest piece for football.london, the journalist claimed that the former Wolves man ‘struggled’ with his attacking endeavours down the flank and also with his passing at times, giving him a mere 5/10 overall rating, the lowest out of any THFC player.

The Verdict: Disappointing

Doherty has not really kicked on since signing from the Midlands, and the game gave him the perfect chance against lesser opposition to stake his claim in the first team.

The right-back lost out on four of his duels, and only managed to make one out of three accurate crosses in the match, while he also lost possession of the ball on no fewer than on 11 separate occasions, the fourth-most out of any of his teammates (Sofascore), worrying signs considering the level of opposition.

He needs to do much better if he is going to stand any chance of displacing Emerson Royal or Japhet Tanganga in Nuno’s preferred starting eleven.

In other news, find out which Tottenham player has been shredded recently here!