All posts by rastrear-estafeta.com

A number of Liverpool supporters are pleased after James Pearce’s claim that Nat Phillips could leave the Reds in the summer transfer window.

Jurgen Klopp had a nightmare in the centre-back department last season, having to make do without a host of key names.

Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez and Joel Matip all missed the vast majority of the campaign, while new signings Ozan Kabak and Ben Davies also picked up knocks.

[freshpress-quiz id=“359326”]

It meant Phillips had to be drafted into the starting lineup regularly, with the 24-year-old performing well, considering his lack of experience.

The Englishman made 15 Premier League starts in total, helping Liverpool finish third in the table, which seemed unthinkable at one point.

Phillips could leave Anfield this summer, however, with The Athletic‘s Pearce claiming the Reds are open to the idea of selling him, should an offer of £15million arrive.

[web_stories_embed url=”https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/web-stories/the-latest-liverpool-transfer-news-7/” title=”The latest Liverpool transfer news!” poster=”” width=”360″ height=”600″ align=“none”]

Liverpool fans react to Phillips claim

These Liverpool fans took to Twitter to react positively to the news – while Phillips deserves huge credit for his role last season, receiving an 8-figure fee for a likely fifth choice centre-back would be a ‘great deal’ in the eyes of these fans.

“GET INNNNN”

Credit: @Callxm_

“@BurnleyOfficial please”

Credit: @syafyerms

“If they offer DOUBLE DIGITS, take that and moveeee!!!”

Credit: @APLFC_

“Gerrrin”

Credit: @perchal

“I’d be happy with £15million for him, 12 months ago we were trying to offload him for £7million”

Credit: @Corballyred

“£15million would be a great deal”

Credit: @hitmanharj

In other news, Liverpool have been linked with a move for a Euro 2020 star this summer. Find out who it is here.

Wolves manager Bruno Lage has revealed the latest on injured defender Willy Boly’s status, with the Ivory Coast international having made just one appearance under the Portuguese this season.

What’s the latest?

Boly endured an injury-stricken 2021, playing just 11 games in all competitions across the calendar year and is yet to appear in the Premier League this season, having made just one appearance in the EFL Cup.

The 30-year-old most recently made the squad for Wolves’ 1-0 win at Brighton in mid-December, although another setback has ruled the defender out of action for the Golden Boys as well as for his native Ivory Coast at the African Cup of Nations.

Speaking to the media about Boly’s situation, Lage said: “He has some muscular problems and sometimes doesn’t feel comfortable with it. That’s why sometimes he is ready to play, then he starts training and feels a little pain.

“It’s important when you are in that position you feel ready and confident.

“This situation is not good for Boly, it’s not good for me and it’s not good for the club,” the 45-year-old added. “Every time he comes, he goes. He needs time to work, to prepare himself, because he was important in the past and can help the team to be better.

“He has a contract with us, and he’s a top player, and he stayed with us instead of going to the national team – it means something. He preferred to stay with us and recover. This is a good signal.”

Wolves fans will be gutted

The Ivorian is certainly a popular figure amongst the Molineux faithful, having played a major part in getting the West Midlands club back to the Premier League in the 2017/18 campaign, in which he made 36 Championship appearances.

Moreover, the 30-year-old was vital in Wolves’ first campaign back in the top-flight as he missed just two of their 38 league matches.

However, it now appears as though there is little room for the centre-back in the starting line up, that is with everyone available.

The regular trio of Conor Coady, Max Kilman and Romain Saiss has been a revelation this campaign, with Wolves the Premier League’s second-best defenders behind league leaders Manchester City, having conceded just 15 goals in 20 matches.

Boly will have to find a solution to his reoccurring issues, if not, it may prove to be the end of his tenure in the West Midlands. Considering his popularity among the fanbase, this is an eventuality that would leave the Molineux faithful gutted.

In other news – £33k-p/w Wolves gem, who created two big chances, stars in victory over Southampton

Newcastle United defender Emil Krafth was an unsung hero for manager Eddie Howe in their win over Leicester City in the Premier League.

The Magpies’ fine run of form under the Englishman continued as they took another big leap towards safety with a 2-1 victory over the Foxes, courtesy of a last-gasp winner from winter signing Bruno Guimaraes, who bagged a brace on the day.

He cancelled out Ademola Lookman’s 19th-minute opener on the half-hour mark before heading home a bounced ball from Joe Willock in stoppage time late in the second half at St James’ Park.

The Brazilian powerhouse will take much of the plaudits but it really was a team effort from Howe’s men, with the Swedish defender arguably standing out amongst his peers.

He was an absolute colossus defensively and tried to contribute going forward from the right-back role, too.

Shields Gazette reporter Dominic Scurr waxed lyrical about Krafth’s input in his post-match ratings column, where he graded the 27-year-old an eight out of ten – the same as Guimaraes, and wrote:

‘Had a couple of shaky moments but more than made up for them with some crucial blocks and challenges to keep Leicester at bay. His best performance of the season. Booked.’

Indeed, no Magpies player had more touches than the former Amiens man as he registered 61 touches, some eight more than the next best, Joelinton (53).

Meanwhile, further back, Krafth registered a whopping seven tackles, which was more than anyone else on the pitch in the northeast, and he also recorded three interceptions, one clearance and he won 80% of his battles, as per SofaScore.

The £57k-per-week ace also drew further praise from other journalists following the match – Newcastle World reporter Liam Kennedy dubbed him “immense”, whilst ChronicleLive’s Mark Carruthers claimed he had a “really solid game” up against “two tricky opponents.”

On the above evidence, the Sweden international was certainly one of the unsung heroes for Howe against the Foxes. He, and the Magpies faithful, can be proud of that display, that’s for sure.

AND in other news, Bid made: PIF in negotiations for £83m “diamond”, he’d be a huge coup for Newcastle…

As per Calciomercato, there has been a development in the chase for a long-time Tottenham Hotspur target as the Lilywhites continue to eye a move Norwich City defender Max Aarons.

The Lowdown: Spurs eye Max Aarons move…

The 21-year-old has been on Tottenham’s radar for quite some time now and links can be traced back all the way to the beginning of Jose Mourinho’s tenure in charge in N17.

[web_stories_embed url=”https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/web-stories/spurs-latest-updates-5/” title=”Spurs latest updates!” poster=”” width=”360″ height=”600″ align=”none”]

Indeed, Football Insider claimed back in April 2020 that Spurs and Mourinho were primed for talks to sign Aarons as they made the youngster their top defensive target.

Spurs maintained that interest through to 2021, with Sky Sports revealing that transfer chief Fabio Paratici had renewed their interest amid their summer search for a right-back.

Now, despite the signing of Emerson Royal in that position, it appears that they haven’t quite abandoned their chase for the Canaries player.

The Latest: Spurs in pole…

As per Calciomercato, it appears that Tottenham are in pole position to sign Aarons, with Antonio Conte’s side apparently having the ‘greatest chance’ of signing him above the likes of Roma, Borussia Dortmund and Everton.

Norwich value the young ace at around €22m (£18.7m), almost half of what they were demanding for his services earlier this year when Bayern Munich came knocking. As per Sky Sports, the Canaries slapped a £35m price tag on Aarons’ head earlier this year, but it now appears that they are willing to let him go for a much lesser amount.

However, that still doesn’t mean they are willing to part ways easily, with Norwich apparently rejecting Roma’s proposal to sign him on loan with an obligation to buy.

The Verdict: Needed addition?

Given the presence of Emerson, along with versatile defensive youngster Japhet Tanganga and Matt Doherty, we believe that Tottenham have bigger priorities than the right-back position.

For instance, the Lilywhites would be better placed prioritising a swoop for a senior centre-forward alternative to Harry Kane, with Fiorentina star Dusan Vlahovic apparently on the agenda.

A top-class centre-half to come in as an option to partner the in-form Eric Dier or Cristian Romero (when he returns from injury) wouldn’t go amiss either, especially either one of Matthijs de Ligt or Stefan de Vrij, who are both said to be targets (Football Insider).

Tottenham’s need to spend money wisely cannot be overstated, especially given that they recently announced an £80.2m pre-tax loss for the last financial year, taking their overall club debt to £706m (The Guardian).

Despite Aarons being lauded as the ‘the perfect right-back’ by pundit Gabriel Agbonlahor (Football Insider), his signing is simply a luxury given other pressing positions.

Indeed, Paratici needs to weigh up more important targets with the transfer kitty he is granted by Spurs chairman Daniel Levy.

In other news: Talks ongoing: Spurs in contact to sign ‘incredible’ £29.9m man, club open to temporary move…find out more here.

Leeds United striker Patrick Bamford is expected to be fit for the final two Premier League fixtures, according to The Yorkshire Evening Post.

The Lowdown: Injury woes

Bamford has missed large parts of the 2021/22 season with a number of different injuries.

[web_stories_embed url=”https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/web-stories/latest-leeds-united-updates/” title=”Latest Leeds United updates!” poster=”https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/cropped-2022-04-02T155252Z_391313781_UP1EI421841M9_RTRMADP_3_SOCCER-ENGLAND-LEE-SOU-REPORT.jpg” width=”360″ height=”600″ align=”none”]

The latest issue came against Wolves last month in what was his second start following a three-month layoff. Bamford ruptured his plantar fascia after stretching for a through ball at Molineux and has been ruled out for six weeks.

Luckily, the 28-year-old didn’t need surgery on the problem, and it looks as if he will be available next month.

The Latest: May 15 return

The Yorkshire Evening Post shared a story on Monday afternoon, looking at the Whites’ injury list in full.

When it came to Bamford, they claimed he is expected to be back in time for the final home game of the season against Brighton on May 15 and the trip to Brentford a week later.

The Verdict: Boost

Jesse Marsch will be hoping that Leeds are safe by the time they take on Brighton and Brentford, however, knowing that he’ll be able to call upon Bamford is a huge boost.

Leeds have had a 16-day mini-break between the win over Watford and trip to Crystal Palace, time which will hopefully prove handy as they look to pull clear of the bottom three.

Relegation rivals Everton and Burnley both play twice before Leeds travel to Selhurst Park, so they’ll have a better understanding of if Bamford may be needed later in the season over the next six days.

In other news: Leeds and Orta want ‘extraordinary’ ace in Bosman move; same agent as Bamford. 

Some Liverpool supporters are hugely excited after a fresh report claimed the Reds are showing strong interest in RB Salzburg forward Karim Adeyemi.

Jurgen Klopp’s men are in incredible form at the moment, winning 5-0 at Manchester United on Sunday, not to mention beating Atletico Madrid away and thumping Watford at Vicarage Road, too.

Mohamed Salah is in the form of his life, but fellow attackers Sadio Mane, Diogo Jota and Roberto Firmino are all producing impressive performances, too.

[freshpress-quiz id=“375258″]

That being said, there will be the need for another top-class attacker to be signed at some point, with Salah and Mane both 29 and Firmino recently turning 30.

According to LAOLA1 [via LFC Transfer Room on Twitter], Liverpool are seriously interested in snapping up the prodigious 19-year-old Adeyemi, who has scored 10 goals in 11 Austrian Football Bundesliga appearances for Salzburg this season.

[web_stories_embed url=”https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/web-stories/latest-liverpool-transfer-news-9/” title=”Latest Liverpool transfer news!” poster=”” width=”360″ height=”600″ align=“none”]

Liverpool fans love Adeyemi latest

These Reds fans took to Twitter to react positively to the rumour, with one supporter haling the potential signing as ‘great’.

“YESSSSS”

Credit: @jayleje

“January please @LFC”

Credit: @MritalkApple123

“Yemi-Bobby-Jota in January then”

Credit: @ItsEronG

“He could be the next Mo! We really must get him signed up now so he can learn from the Egyptian King”

Credit: @JFKh2K

“Please. Especially with Mo and Mane at AFCON in January. Front-three of him, Jota and Bobby would be great”

Credit: @NanaMshengu2

“Don’t do this, don’t give me hope”

Credit: @JoshuaTreharne2

In other news, James Pearce says there is pressure on FSG for one key reason. Read more here.

Rangers will look to extend their lead at the top of the Premiership as they travel to face St Mirren on Sunday.

Heading into the weekend, the Gers sat at the summit of the table on 20 points, whilst tomorrow’s opponent’s were seventh and have only lost two of their opening nine matches.

Steven Gerrard’s team come into the game off the back of a 2-0 win over Danish side Brondby in the Europa League on Thursday night, so will he make any changes to the starting XI? We believe that one player he should bring into the fold is central midfielder Scott Arfield.

The experienced Scottish-born Canadian impressed during his cameo off the bench on Thursday, recording a SofaScore rating of 7.00 in 12 minutes. As per SofaScore, he won both of his duels, made one tackle and one interception, and provided one key pass as well as hitting the post with a good effort on goal.

It is time to forget about Steven Davis starting against St Mirren and Gerrard to unleash Arfield in midfield for the Gers. We published an article explaining why the 36-year-old should be axed from the starting XI after his disappointing performance against Brondby.

Arfield is a proven performer for Rangers and could come in to give the Northern Irishman a rest. Last season, the 32-year-old averaged a SofaScore rating of 6.85 in 28 games as he chipped in with four goals and five assists in the Premiership

During the campaign, Gerrard lauded the midfielder for what he offers in and out of position in the middle of the park, which hints at what he could bring to the side this weekend against St Mirren.

The Gers boss said: “Scott epitomises what we want. Out of possession he shows grit, he shows fight, he’s there for you and in possession, he’s always available. He stands up to be counted at important times, so we’re extremely happy with Scott at the moment.”

This highlights why Gerrard must unleash the £16k-per-week beast on Sunday to show what he can do with a first league start of the season. It would allow an underperforming Davis to have a rest and focus on getting back to his best in training, whilst also throwing a bone to Arfield to see if he can stake a claim for a regular starting berth for the Gers.

AND in other news, Gerrard could unearth McGregor 2.0 in Rangers gem who has shown “excellent progress”…

Evening Standard journalist Jack Rosser has told The Transfer Tavern that Jesse Lingard is adamant that he wants to remain at Manchester United – making a late move to West ham extremely unlikely.

Following his outstanding loan spell in the second half of last season, David Moyes has been desperate to bring Lingard back to the London Stadium on a permanent basis this summer.

However, Lingard, who made his first Premier League appearance for United for 12 months against Southampton last weekend, wants to fight for his place under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

Despite only being introduced for the final few minutes at St Mary’s, Lingard was called up for the England squad for next month’s World Cup qualifiers by Gareth Southgate, which would appear a blow to West Ham’s chances of signing him.

Rosser didn’t completely rule out one last-ditch attempt from West Ham to try and re-sign Lingard, but told The Transfer Tavern that his love for his boyhood club United has dampened the Hammers’ chances:

“I think he wants to keep Manchester United – he’s adamant he wants to stay there. Him being in the England squad won’t help West Ham.

“If you can get in the England squad from playing 10 minutes against Southampton, then I think he’ll be fairly confident he can stay at United.

“You wonder whether that you could change over the weekend, but he’s been at the club a long time and loves the club.”

Wolverhampton Wanderers head into Wednesday evening’s Premier League fixture in something of a slump of form, having won one of their last five league outings – scoring just one goal in this period.

Indeed, goalscoring has been something of a problem for the 45-year-old’s team so far this season, with only bottom of the league Norwich City having found the back of the net fewer times than Wolves’ 14 goals scored.

As such, with what is sure to be a challenging fixture away to Brighton & Hove Albion up next, it would be wise for Lage to finally unleash one of the club’s most promising up and coming talents at the American Express Community Stadium – in the shape of 19-year-old midfielder Luke Cundle.

Lage must unleash Cundle

Considering the fact that, over Ruben Neves’, Joao Moutinho’s and Leander Dendoncker’s 33 collective Premier League appearances this season, the trio have scored just one goal and registered one assist, it is evident that Wolves are lacking a truly creative outlet in the middle of the park – something which is undoubtedly a huge factor in the club’s woes in front of goal.

And, with Cundle highly impressing for James Collins’ U23 side, the young central midfielder could well be exactly what Bruno Lage’s first team side is missing at present.

Indeed, over his 43 appearances for Wolves’ U23s, the £180k-rated man has scored four goals and registered nine assists, in addition to being made the youth side’s captain.

Furthermore, Collins is clearly of the belief that the teenager has the ability to make a real difference in the middle of the park for Wolves’ first team, stating after the midfielder’s goal in a 2-1 win over Birmingham City U23s last month: “He’s got an outstanding brain and drives the game, he runs the game and dictates it which is a great skill.

“He’s intelligent, makes good decisions, can attack and defend and when you first see him, you wonder whether he could be a Premier League player because he’s slight and small.

“But once you’ve worked with him for a bit you can see how much of a good player he is. I’m delighted for him to get his goal because his performance deserved that. I thought everyone did well, but he was a real stand-out.”

As such, it would indeed appear highly advisable for Lage to unleash the player who he himself dubbed “amazing” – as well as suggesting that “he understands everything” – against Brighton this evening, as the youngster could well prove to be the solution to Wolves’ issues in front of goal.

In other news: Tim Spiers drops 8-word Wolves injury update that will leave Bruno Lage buzzing

La Liga expert Euan McTear has rubbished claims Everton striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin is wanted by Spanish giants Real Madrid.

Everton are heading into a new era this campaign, with Rafa Benitez now at the helm after Carlo Ancelotti quit in favour of a return to the Bernabeu.

Reports quickly suggested Ancelotti could return to Goodison Park to sign England international Calvert-Lewin in a £50million deal.

The speculation came after Calvert-Lewin shone under the Italian’s guidance on Merseyside, with the striker scoring 21 goals in 39 appearances last term.

Calvert-Lewin’s impressive form in front of goal resulted in him being selected in Gareth Southgate’s England squad for Euro 2020, where he made two substitute appearances.

Everton are keen to hold onto Calvert-Lewin ahead of getting the new Premier League season underway by welcoming Southampton to Goodison Park.

McTear is adamant Toffees fans should not be fearing the 24-year-old is set to depart for Real Madrid.

He told The Transfer Tavern: “I think it’s English paper talk. There’s been no original reporting on the Spain side about that one.

“I find it really difficult because Calvert-Lewin would cost £50million or £60million. That’s pretty much the fee Real Madrid paid for Luka Jovic just a couple of years ago and that hasn’t really worked out, so if Real Madrid are to sign another striker it would be a top shelf striker.

“I think they’re going to wait for one of the very best if they are to sign someone else.”