All posts by n8rngtd.top

[ad_pod ]

According to The Sun (May 2, page 56) Sheffield United have been told to cough up £7 million if they want to make the signing of Dean Henderson from Manchester United a permanent one.

Henderson has been incredible for the Blades this season. He has been a key contributor to his team having the best defence in the league, keeping more clean sheets than any other keeper in the Championship.

Price has been set

The Sun has reported that Man United have set a £7 million price tag on the stopper.

With David De Gea’s recent dip in form and rumours of a departure to Real Madrid constantly circulating, Henderson may opt to stay and fight for a spot at Old Trafford as he has proven himself to be a top class goalkeeper in the Championship.

He will most likely choose to return to Bramall Lane though if given the chance, due to the affinity he has with the club and their supporters. The 6 ft 2 stopper has become a fan favourite at the club very quickly due to his excellent performances and his presence on social media.

It didn’t take long for Henderson to fall in love with Sheffield United and it was evident on the pitch. The club’s YouTube channel started a series called ‘Deano cam’ where they captured the eccentric goalie’s passionate celebrations whenever the Blades scored.

Worth every penny

The £7 million price tag isn’t much for a top keeper in this day and age, but it would almost double Sheffield United’s current transfer record.

Chris Wilder may well have to break that record multiple times in the upcoming window if he is to stand a chance at keeping his team up.

There isn’t a better player to splurge the cash on than Henderson though. He is a reliable figure between the posts who has a great relationship with both the team and the fans.

Pl>ymaker FC Exclusive: Jermaine Jenas reveals he often received racist abuse after North London Derbies – Check out the video below…

He’s great at playing the ball out from the back and has incredible reflexes. A goalkeeper can make or break a season for a newly promoted club, and the Blades would be foolish to make anyone other than the 22-year-old their number one next year.

Manchester City should sell Gabriel Jesus in light of recent links with Joao Felix, despite Brazilian’s eagerness to stay.

Manchester City starlet Jesus hasn’t quite hit the dizzying heights that were expected of him when he was in line to replace Sergio Aguero in 2016, but despite not featuring much in the starting line-up this term and recent rumours suggesting that he could be leaving the Etihad this summer, a move out of the club isn’t crossing the players mind, as per Sport Witness.

Sources have apparently revealed the 22-year-old sees no good reason for a transfer away from City now, as he’s happy to compete for a place in the starting line-up in every competition they’re in – which is usually quite a few. And to be fair to the forward, the cup competitions have been very kind to him this year with four goals in the Champions League, three in the FA Cup and five in the EFL Cup.

Despite not being Guardiola’s first choice forward, the honour of which has fallen on the lap of Argentine ace Aguero, Jesus is said to understand the significance of the form his legendary teammate, who has grabbed himself 20 vital Premier League goals this year, as City look on course to defend their title.

Guardiola is said (as per Sky Sports) to be chasing Benfica ace, Joao Felix, this summer, who recently wowed the world with a fantastic hat-trick in the Europa League, and it would make sense to sacrifice at least on City’s current forwards to make space, and we doubt very much that will be Aguero, Raheem Sterling or Leroy Sane.

Of course, it would be disappointing to see Jesus go having never really seen him fulfil his obvious potential, but to maintain peak performance a club must be ruthless – and that is exactly what we expect City to be this summer.

City fans, would you be sad to see Jesus go? Do you think Joao Felix would be worth the sacrifice? Let us know in the comments below!

[ad_pod ]

QPR’s Eberechi Eze is regarded as one of the best young talents the EFL has to offer but, with the Hoops as a whole struggling both on and off the pitch, the starlet has had a difficult campaign. The Nigerian-born star fell out of favour in Steve McClaren’s final few weeks in charge and looked apathetic when he did feature.

With McClaren now gone, though, Eze has a clean slate to work with and Josh Scowen expects the youngster to kick on and make a big difference to the team next season; if the number 10’s sign-off showing for the 2018/19 term is anything to go by, he will be able to put the past behind him and continue to fulfil his potential.

On the chalkboard

Midfielder Scowen, who scored the opener in the win over Sheffield Wednesday at the weekend, reserved praise for his teammate after the match, saying:

“Apart from the penalty he had a good game and I think next year he’ll be a big player for us.”

Eze’s attempt from the spot was saved and the missed opportunity nearly came back to bite the R’s, with Michael Hector tucking away his own penalty just three minutes later, although Matt Smith would save his teammate’s blushes in the dying stages with a stunning volley.

As Scowen says though, the skilful midfielder was a constant threat to the Owls and showed real glimpses of the quality that made him one of the hottest properties in the Championship last season.

Making it look Eze

Playing on the right, the 20-year-old always looked to make things happen, completing a joint-season-high six dribbles as well as taking on five shots – his highest number of attempts in a game since New Year’s Day against Aston Villa.

Who are the best away fans in the Championship? Pl>ymaker FC’s Thogden gives his top 10 in the video below…

Eze’s match rating of 7.7 was also his highest since 24th November, when he was awarded an 8.03 for his two assists against Stoke – an indicator of how miserable the second half of the season has been for the Englishman.

Completing 90.3% of his passes, of which two were key, Eze was mostly reliable with the ball although he was dispossessed five times. There is clearly work to be done in some areas of his game, but the four-goal ace at last showed that he can be of use to QPR with his final showing of the season and, if he can keep up that kind of performance, he should meet Scowen’s expectations with ease.

[ad_pod ]The long-running battle for ownership of Sheffield United between Kevin McCabe and Prince Abdullah bin Mosaad bin Abdulaziz Al Saud may finally be over after the Saudi Prince has started to look elsewhere.According to reports, the co-owner of the Yorkshire club has now looked towards Italy for his next sporting venture as he seems set to buy Serie A outfit Sampdoria.

Power struggle over

After weeks of court hearings and years of internal battles, it seems that the power struggle at Bramall Lane is finally over.

Al Saud seems to have lost patience with McCabe and took to Twitter to post a dig at the Blades chairman a few months back.

Unlike McCabe, the Saudi royalty has no real ties to Sheffield United, and he may feel like the club isn’t worth the hassle as he can look elsewhere for a football club to own.

He has been involved in other football clubs previously. He was formerly chairman of Al-Hilali in the early 2000s, and he is currently a 50% shareholder at Belgian club KFCO Beerschot.

The future

If the co-owner has truly given up on taking McCabe’s share of the club, then United’s future is still uncertain.

The local businessman has outlined his intentions of selling the club if he is to win his case against Prince Abdullah. It can be inferred the Saudi Arabian believes the courts will settle in the Englishman’s favour as he looks to buy another club.

The Blades are heading into what will likely be the most important transfer window in the club’s history, and the last thing they need after the ongoing ownership dispute is further disruption.

It may take months for McCabe to find a buyer, and during that time it is unlikely that he will want to invest his own money into the club.

Chris Wilder has been vocal about his frustrations with the ownership in the past, but if this circus around Bramall Lane continues the 51-year-old could very well walk away from the club.

Steven Gerrard and company won’t have enjoyed the half an hour journey back from Rugby Park after losing 2-1 to Kilmarnock on Sunday. The loss meant that the Gers have taken just two points out of a possible 12 off of the Ayrshire side this season, although that might have been three from 12 had Borna Barisic not given away a silly penalty late on.

Whilst the game had a dead-rubber feel about it, if anything, it served as a reminder as to why Barisic has been in and out, but mostly out of the side this season. The Croatian full-back only signed at Ibrox last summer after impressing against the Gers for NK Osijek in a Europa League qualifier, but the £1.8 million man, as valued by Transfermarkt, has been woeful for the most part this season.

The 26-year-old is just one of the many reasons why Gerrard has struggled at left-back this season. With both Barisic and Jon Flanagan flopping, Lee Wallace spending most of the season in the solitary confinement he’s seemingly been in since last season’s episode with Graeme Murty and Andy Halliday a midfielder by trade, you can see why these problems have surfaced.

Barisic’s short time in Glasgow hasn’t been memorable at all, and it’s probably best that he bows out like that. The only way that the Ibrox faithful are in danger of having lasting memories of the Croatian is by way of some massive blunder. We’re yet to see anything from the full-back to suggest that he can prove otherwise, and as that’s the case Gerrard should get rid and bring in a more capable defender.

Whether or not Gerrard does go out this summer and targets a left-back is still to be seen, but whilst they continue to limp through with Barisic, Flanagan and Halliday holding down the fort on the left of the back four their title dream will remain just that. Should the issue be addressed next season then hopes will be boosted, but for now, shipping off Barisic is key as the silly season approaches thick and fast.

Rangers fans, have you had enough of Borna Barisic? Comment below!

[ad_pod ]

If Leeds United are to have another crack at getting promoted next season, then they must learn from their mistakes last summer and not take such a top-heavy approach to transfers in the upcoming window.

The Whites splashed the majority of their transfer budget on one player last year, and that move backfired as their signing didn’t hit the heights that were expected of him.

Last year

The Yorkshire club brought in two players for a fee last summer, Barry Douglas and Patrick Bamford.

The left-back cost the Whites around £3 million while Bamford cost £10 million, and if you had to decide who has had the better season, it would be tough.

The former Wolves man has been plagued by injury but has had a string of good performances when he has featured, whereas Bamford underperformed and wasn’t even considered Marcelo Bielsa’s first choice up top as Kemar Roofe often started ahead of him.

This year

12 months on from those signings Victor Orta must admit where he went wrong and change the policy.

Squad depth proved to be a massive problem for the Whites in the final weeks of the season and the playoffs, so they should look to bring in multiple players for a smaller fee rather than splashing out on one luxury player like Bamford and hoping for the best.

With Kalvin Phillips, Pontus Jansson and Kemar Roofe all possibly headed out of Elland Road, the Yorkshire club may have a big job on their hands to replace those three players, but they should allocate their funds evenly between the positions that need filling.

Last season’s signing of Bamford proved that papering over the cracks with one big money signing doesn’t work, especially when certain areas of the squad are incredibly light in terms of depth.

Leeds must sign an adequate number of players, and to do that they mustn’t splash the majority of their budget on one big name.

[ad_pod ]Charlton Athletic surprisingly – at first glance at least – offered forgotten man Tariqe Fous a new contract following the release of their retained list on Thursday, but South London Press sports editor Richard Cawley has said on Twitter it is still “99 per cent likely he will go”.

What’s the word, then?

Well, with the 23-year-old’s contract up at the end of next month and having barely featured in recent times for the League One play-off winners, many would have assumed that the 23-year-old was on his way this summer.

However, the Addicks have decided to offer the midfielder new terms, which is actually completely expected given that they will now be due compensation should he sign for another club.

Cawley certainly expects that to be the case, having explained the decision by the south London outfit on Twitter.

He wrote: “Fosu deal is effectively to ensure that #cafc get compensation. Still 99 per cent likely he will go.”

Check out what happened when two of Charlton’s best players faced-off in a game of ‘Splat’ in the video below…

A surprise?

Not at all.

Despite clearly being hugely talented and scoring 11 goals and providing a further 10 assists in 65 appearances in all competitions for Charlton, something hasn’t quite been right.

The 23-year-old found first-team minutes hard to come by in 2019 and failed to make the matchday squad at all from the start of April onwards.

That certainly suggested that something was afoot behind the scenes as Fosu’s contract wound down, and Bowyer clearly wasn’t happy with the versatile star given he has gone completely missing.

The Addicks won’t want players that don’t want to be at the club as their tight-knit squad look to make a successful return to the Championship next term, and a parting of ways with the south London side getting some compensation as a result seems like the best result for all parties.

Bellerin has spent a large part of the season injured. He has been at Arsenal so long that this post seems genuine – he truly does want the best for the Arsenal fans.

Ainsley Maitland-Niles is tagged in the post with Bellerin praising him, but in truth he was poor against Chelsea, getting caught out in position for the first goal and giving away a needless penalty.

Going forward, he looked dangerous but had no end product.

Arsenal will reflect on a disappointing season with much work needing to be done in the summer if the Gunners are to really push for the top four next year.

The only thing that could make Arsenal’s season worse is a Tottenham Champions League win on Saturday.

[ad_pod ]

Celtic are lining up a move for Manchester City winger Brandon Barker, according to The Daily Mail.

What’s the story?

Hoops boss Neil Lennon has previously worked with Barker, taking him on loan from the English champions when manager of Hibernian back in 2017.

The paper say he is now looking for a reunion with the player, who is entering the final year of his contract at City and is unlikely to be offered a new deal.

The report states he is earning £16,000-a-week at the Etihad meaning he wouldn’t be the cheapest of signings when fitting into Celtic’s squad, but he is clearly a player Lennon knows and trusts.

With Celtic looking for fresh ideas in attack heading into the new season, is the 22-year-old the right kind of signing?

Keith from C’mon the Hoops throws back to a former Celtic and Ireland star in the video below…

No improvement

Frankly, Barker’s signing doesn’t appear to make much sense when you consider his playing history, both working under Lennon and spending time on loan at other clubs.

He played 30 matches for Hibs in the 2017/18 season, but managed to score just two goals, with his five assists not really catching the eye in terms of output either.

When you consider that Scott Sinclair has scored 60 goals and assisted 34 times in three seasons at the Hoops and has still been criticised by supporters, the notion that Barker can offer the necessary goal contribution is fanciful at best.

He is no improvement on other emerging stars like Mikey Johnston either, who has shown a skill and craft with the ball well beyond what Barker demonstrated at Hibs.

Coming off the back of a difficult season on loan at Preston North End, there’s not much evidence that Barker can be a hit at Celtic Park.

Celtic fans should probably feel a little dismayed that this is the calibre of winger that the club are looking at this summer, whether he is known by Lennon or not.

Signings should only be brought to the club if they can improve on what’s already available or replace players who have just left, otherwise there’s little point.

[ad_pod ]

Tottenham Hotspur have turned down the chance to sign Edin Dzeko from Roma this summer, per Football Insider.

What’s the word?

The report claims that Spurs were offered the opportunity to make a bid for the former Manchester City striker in the summer transfer window.

Dzeko scored 14 goals in all competitions in 2018/19, laying on 11 assists, and his representatives are said to have reached out to Spurs to float the idea of securing his signature.

However, Spurs decided against making a move for the 33-year-old, and he is now set to move to Inter Milan instead.

Roma are said to value the Bosnia & Herzegovina captain at £18m.

The ideal Llorente replacement

It is not known how often Dzeko would have wanted to play in England if he’d moved to Spurs.

But, in terms of profile, he could have been the ideal replacement for Fernando Llorente, another brutish forward with the ability to pop up with important goals.

The Spaniard is preparing to leave north London when his contract expires at the end of this month, and Spurs need a back-up for Harry Kane.

Securing Dzeko for a fee below £20m could have been a smart piece of business. He has a proven Premier League record – he scored 72 goals in 189 appearances for City – and would have been a fine alternative to Kane.

It isn’t clear who chairman Daniel Levy will be acquiring to bolster Mauricio Pochettino’s forward line, but one thing is sure; he has missed a trick by not bringing in Dzeko for such a measly fee.