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Aston Villa haven’t been at their best in recent times as they continue to struggle with consistency, which has had a negative affect on their pursuit of a play-off place. 

The Villains may already have one eye on the summer transfer window after hearing recent news of Chelsea’s transfer ban, as their hopes of signing Tammy Abraham on loan again in the summer have taken a huge hit as the Blues may not want to offload any of their players due to not being able to sign anyone for two transfer windows.

So, with Abraham possibly staying at Stamford Bridge next season, perhaps Aston Villa should renew their interest in Charlie Austin, who was linked (as per Sky Sports, via Express) with a move to Villa Park last month.

Indeed, the Englishman has previous experience from playing in the Championship from his time at Burnley and Queens Park Rangers, and he even won the play-offs with QPR back in 2014. He managed to produce a whopping 47 goals in 89 appearances during his time at Loftus Road and 44 goals in 90 appearances at Turf Moor.

Sadly, he’s struggled to enjoy regular minutes in the current campaign at Southampton but he has the ability to unlock almost any defence on his day, and he’s very similar to Tammy Abraham in many ways as he loves to use his power and strength, as well as holding the ball up and using his deadly finishing ability.

What do you think Aston Villa fans?

Fresh from a thumping 5-0 win over Morecambe on Tuesday, Sunderland welcome Plymouth Argyle to the Stadium of Light on Saturday afternoon looking to extend their unbeaten run in League One to six matches.

The Black Cats are just two points off of the League One automatic promotion places in fourth, albeit that Wigan have a game in hand, and a victory over Argyle could see Lee Johnson’s side climb into the top two.

On the chalkboard

Just a matter of days on since the thrashing of Morecambe, Johnson will be craving a performance of similar magnitude today against a side one place below and two points behind the Black Cats. Argyle will also be under new management in Steven Schumacher after Ryan Lowe departed for Preston North End in the week.

The Wearside club have an array of youngsters amongst their ranks this season, but one who has particularly stood out of late is Nathan Broadhead.

The striker netted a brace against the Shrimps on Tuesday having scored his first league goal for the club two weeks ago away at Cambridge United. As well as the goals against Morecambe, the Everton loanee scored with 67% of his shots, as well as completing 75% of his passes and making 41 touches. Simply put, he was excellent.

It’s no secret that the start of the campaign didn’t go to plan for the 23-year-old, who has been limited to just ten league appearances so far this season. Five of those have come in the last five games, highlighting his rising value within Johnson’s squad.

The Black Cats manager labelled the Welshman “flexible”, as well as stating that “he’s a really good finisher”.

Despite being a centre-forward, Broadhead was deployed on the left-hand side of a front three in a 3-4-3 formation on Tuesday, which could be the 23-year-old’s pathway into a regular starting spot.

Ross Stewart is currently the club’s top scorer with 11 goals in 20 league appearances this term, suggesting that the flexibility highlighted by Johnson will be a crucial trait if the Everton loanee is to put together a run of games.

We published a piece on this site in recent days staking the case for Leon Dajaku to also start against Argyle, yet the biggest threat from the left flank could come from Broadhead.

With a hectic run of fixtures coming up for the Black Cats which will be crucial for their promotion push, the 23-year-old could be a crucial asset and should be relied upon to build on his recent goalscoring form.

In other news – Big relief: Sunderland handed major injury boost which will surely have Johnson buzzing

Sunderland’s previous League One outing saw them comfortably beat Morecambe 5-0 thanks to goals from Ross Stewart, Nathan Broadhead, Alex Pritchard and Leon Dajaku, making it the second league game of the season where they’ve managed to put five goals past their opponents with the first being their 5-0 victory over Cheltenham Town back in September.

With the January transfer window on the horizon, Sunderland have the opportunity to add even more firepower to their squad after a recent report from The Northern Echo claimed that Lee Johnson is “considering recalling Jack Diamond and Josh Hawkes from their respective loan spells in order to increase his options in the second half of the season.”

Taking into account how many injuries Sunderland have at the moment, particularly in the defensive areas, Johnson could have the mindset of overpowering their opponents in an attacking sense, in the same way they did with Morecambe, to make up for their defensive weaknesses, which could make it a smart move to have the likes of Diamond and Hawkes at his disposal again.

In 12 League Two appearances for Tranmere Rovers, Hawkes has managed to score one goal and provide two assists whilst playing in a number of different midfield and attacking positions.

For Diamond, he has racked up five goals and four assists in 17 appearances for Harrogate Town across League Two and the FA Cup.

This shows why Johnson reportedly wants the duo back at the Wearside club in January to see if they can continue their good starts to the season back at Sunderland and help the Black Cats win promotion back to the Championship.

If Johnson can guarantee Diamond and Hawkes regular playing time back at Sunderland for the remainder of the season, then Kyril Louis-Dreyfus should definitely bring them back in case his squad are struck down with any more injuries that could be a setback for their promotion hopes.

Providing the duo do return in the winter and are able to have a positive impact on the team and their results moving forward, this would be a massive boost for the fans who would undoubtedly be thrilled, especially if the team manages to secure promotion.

In other news: Johnson could solve major SAFC predicament by unleashing “terrific” 21 y/o sensation – opinion

Now that the 2022 January transfer window has opened and the fact that Southampton have now been taken over by a company backed by Serb media mogul Dragan Solak with Sport Republic buying Gao Jisheng’s 80% stake in the club, this could lead to some potential incoming transfer deals taking place this month at St. Mary’s.

However, one potential outgoing transfer that has been talked about in recent weeks concerns Saints midfielder Oriol Romeu possibly making the move to fellow Premier League club Aston Villa.

With this in mind, it seems as though an encouraging claim has been made regarding this potential deal that Southampton fans will be very relieved to hear.

What’s the latest?

Speaking to GIVEMESPORT, journalist Pete O’Rourke had this to say about the possibility of Southampton letting Romeu leave this month.

He said: “I don’t think Southampton would be too keen to lose somebody like Romeu because the squad is quite thin as it is, so I don’t think Southampton would encourage any offers for Romeu.”

Since joining Southampton back in the 2015 summer transfer window from Chelsea in a deal worth £5m, the Spaniard has gone on to make a total of 231 appearances for the Saints across all competitions, scoring six goals and providing four assists in the process.

With the 30-year-old having made at least 30 Premier League appearances in four of the seven league campaigns he’s had at St. Mary’s, it’s safe to say that he has been a pivotal figure for the team since his arrival, making him a bargain signing for what they paid and what they’ve since got out of him.

In addition to this, with 17 league appearances under his belt so far this season, Romeu has managed to rack up an overall performance rating of 6.82/10, making him Southampton’s fifth-highest rated outfield player according to WhoScored, further highlighting his importance to the team and why a potential exit this month would be catastrophic for Ralph Hasenhuttl.

Now that O’Rourke has claimed that Southampton may not entertain any potential offers they could receive for Romeu this month due to his significance to the team, this should put to bed any concerns the Southampton fans may have about his immediate future at St. Mary’s. Consequently, they should be delighted that he looks set to stay on the south coast.

In other news: Hasenhuttl must unleash Armando Broja

As per The West Ham Way website, reliable club insider ExWHUemployee has shared an update out of Rush Green as talks intensify for Marseille defender Duje Caleta-Car.

The Lowdown: West Ham offer rejected…

Over the final week of this year’s January transfer window, reports have claimed that West Ham made a loan bid to sign the Croatia international but it was swiftly rejected (Scottish Daily Mail via pressreader).

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The Daily Express recently backed this claim, too stating that the Irons and recruitment chief Rob Newman have failed with an opening loan offer.

It is believed that Marseille won’t entertain the notion of a temporary transfer and instead want to sell outright, with talkSPORT stating the price is somewhere around the £20m mark.

According to Ex, though, the Irons are still negotiating a ‘compromise’ as he shares an update.

The Latest: West Ham talks intensify…

According to the insider’s sources, via West Ham Way, ‘talks have intensified’ for Caleta-Car’s signature today as the Hammers chase a ‘loan to buy arrangement’.

It is believed that the Ligue 1 giants are indeed ‘eager’ to strike a permanent deal due to their financial woes.

The Verdict: Pivotal hours…

A centre-half has long been on Moyes’ transfer agenda and he will be hoping that a compromise can indeed be reached with Marseille, especially going by Caleta-Car’s pedigree.

Called an ‘excellent player’ by talkSPORT reporter Alex Crook, the 6 foot 3 powerhouse signing on loan could be a real snip.

According to WhoScored, only Kurt Zouma has averaged more interceptions per 90 in the Europa League this season (3) than Caleta-Car (1.7) when comparing to West Ham’s squad, while the international’s impressive 92.1% pass accuracy in the French top flight indicates he is a tidy player.

Still only 25-years-old, he could also be an asset for years to come if West Ham do opt to trigger a possible permanent move in any loan-to-buy arrangement.

In other news: ExWHUemployee says West Ham want ‘phenomenal’ £45m star, he’s allegedly open to joining…find out more here.

Leeds United and Tottenham Hotspur are in the final race to sign Juventus midfielder Weston McKennie in January, AS report.

The Lowdown: McKennie profiled

McKennie, who actually has the same agent as Whites midfielder Adam Forshaw, can play as a central, defensive or right midfielder.

The 23-year-old has 28 caps for the United States and has made 65 appearances for Juventus – 19 of which have come during the current campaign.

He cost Juventus £18.45m from Schalke following a successful loan spell, but it seems as if he could be on the way out of Turin.

The Sun shared a story on the weekend linking Leeds with a £20m move for McKennie, labelled as a ‘rock’ by Andrea Pirlo, and AS have now weighed in with an update.

The Latest: AS report

AS mentioned The Sun’s report and led with a title suggesting Leeds have joined the final race for the USA international.

The report also name-checks Spurs with an interest and add that Marcelo Bielsa believes McKennie could help turn things around at Elland Road, with the Whites aware of his strained relationship with the Italian giants.

The Verdict: No-brainer

Leeds are in desperate need of midfield reinforcements in January, with Kalvin Phillips and Jamie Shackleton, two of their four midfield options, injured at this moment in time.

So, making a move for McKennie, who is admired by both Bielsa and Antonio Conte, could be a shrewd move both in the short and long term. He’d offer Bielsa a versatile midfield option for the second half of the season and can be viewed as a long-term signing as he is still just 23 years of age.

McKennie also has experience in the Champions League, with owner Andrea Radrizzani keen to bring European football to Elland Road in the next three years. They have to remain in the Premier League this season to have any chance of that, though, and McKennie could well help them do just that.

In other news: ‘Superb’ injured Leeds defender back in training as Bielsa now gets positive Thorp Arch update. 

Southampton currently have a number of players in their squad that have progressed through the club’s youth system such as James Ward-Prowse, Nathan Tella, Theo Walcott, Will Smallbone and Yan Valery among others.

One other current senior Saints star that worked his way through the youth system at the south coast club is defender Jack Stephens, who joined the youth ranks back in 2011 from Plymouth Argyle.

Since making his senior debut for the Saints back in January 2012 in an FA Cup victory over Coventry City, Stephens has gone on to make a total of 139 senior appearances for the club across all competitions, chipping in with six goals and five assists along the way.

The 27-year-old, who is currently valued at £7.2m according to Transfermarkt, played every minute of league action for Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side before unfortunately picking up a serious knee injury in their  0-0 draw against Manchester City, showing just how important he is to the team.

Despite only being 27, Stephens is still Southampton’s oldest current senior centre-back, meaning that the club could well be looking to find a replacement in the next few years.

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With this in mind, the club could already have their ideal next version of Stephens with 19-year-old centre-back Dynel Simeu, someone who could save millions in transfer fees on a potential successor.

Despite only joining the club back in July from fellow Premier League club Chelsea, the teenage defender, who is currently valued at £900k according to Transfermarkt, has appeared in all but one of the Southampton B team games so far this season, playing the full 90 minutes in all of them, showing just how important he is for them.

In addition to this, Simeu, who has previously been described as “one to watch” by journalist Neil Moxley during his time at Chelsea, has shown in recent weeks how much of a goalscoring threat he can be as well as a defensive unit by bagging in each of his two previous league outings.

Moving forward, if Simeu can keep playing regularly for the B team until the end of the season, then there’s every chance that he could start knocking on Hasenhuttl’s door to potentially get some first-team minutes under his belt and integrate himself among the rest of the senior players at St. Mary’s.

Looking even further down the line, Simeu definitely has what it takes to then potentially become a regular figure in the senior squad and potentially save the club plenty in extra transfer fees when they eventually need to look for a replacement for Stephens.

In other news: Ralph must finally unleash “smart” £1.8m-rated dynamo, he could revolutionise Saints – opinion

Sevilla are determined to sign Anthony Martial from Manchester United, Foot Mercato journalist Santi Aouna reports.

Aouna tweeted on Friday morning that Martial ‘remains Sevilla FC’s number choice’ as the January transfer window nears its final week.

Julen Lopetegui has made it his top ‘priority to strengthen his attack’ before trading ceases.

Sevilla are currently 2nd in La Liga, four points adrift of leaders Real Madrid.

But their tally of 32 goals in 21 matches is the lowest of any of the sides in the top four.

What’s Martial’s situation at Old Trafford?

Martial has only managed to find the net once in what’s been an injury-disrupted 2021/22 campaign.

He’s made 268 appearances in all for United since his £36million move from AS Monaco in 2015, scoring 79 goals and assisting 50 more.

The Frenchman has recently been at the centre of a dispute with interim manager Ralf Rangnick.

Rangnick claimed that Martial had refused to play against Aston Villa, prompting him to take to Instagram and issue a firm denial (via Manchester Evening News).

Fan feed Utd Report relayed Aouna’s claims, and here’s what supporters made of them.

These Man United fans desperate for Martial move to go through

“Just let it happen”

Credit: @amonmrk

“Great, best for all parties, United make this happen”

Credit: @S1234567_617

“Get it done so Martial can have a title charge.”

Credit: @Prometheus12122

“Please”

Credit: @YoungKingFavou2

“This is gonna be good”

Credit: @isa__42

“If we actually get shut of Martial and Lingard AND WOODWARD this month, and Pogba in the summer, things are definitely getting better”

Credit: @joggy21

In other news, fans react to reported interest in this defender.

Liverpool are ‘convinced’ that they should make a move for Benfica striker Darwin Nunez following his performance against them in the Champions League.

The Lowdown: Nunez impresses against Reds

The Reds picked up an impressive 3-1 win away to the Portuguese giants on Tuesday evening, as they made themselves strong favourites to reach the semi-finals.

Despite Liverpool’s dominance, Nunez looked a constant threat for Benfica and he pounced on an error from Ibrahima Konate to make it 2-1 on the night. The Uruguayan forward won four aerial duels and completed two key passes and four dribbles to go with his goal (Whoscored).

A big-money exit could be on the cards for the 22-year-old this summer and it looks as though Jurgen Klopp is now eyeing up a move for him.

The Latest: Transfer claim emerges

According to Record [via Sport Witness], Nunez impressed ‘those in charge and even players’ at Liverpool after his impact against them at the Estadio da Luz.

The Reds are ‘convinced’ about his ability and it is claimed that Mohamed Salah lauded the Uruguayan in a conversation with Benfica midfielder Adel Taarabt.

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The Verdict: Does Klopp need him?

While Nunez looks like a player of immense promise – Jorge Jesus has said he could become the ‘best in the world’ one day – Liverpool don’t need him currently.

They have a plethora of attacking options and the likes of Sadio Mane, Diogo Jota and Roberto Firmino can all excel in his preferred central role.

Should Nunez stay put at Benfica for another year, he could be a perfect signing at the end of next season, however, at which point one of Mane or Firmino will likely be moving on, with their contracts expiring at that point.

In other news, a triple Liverpool transfer claim has emerged. Read more here.

Aston Villa have seen many players come and go to and from the club over recent years under the ownership of Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens.

While the Villans have not been shy when it comes to spending big amounts of money to bring new players to the Midlands on permanent deals, they have also seen some figures join on temporary loan spells such as Philippe Coutinho, Robin Olsen and Ross Barkley to name some of their more recent ones.

One player that Villa secured on loan that they will definitely be glad they didn’t end up signing on a permanent basis was midfielder Danny Drinkwater.

Signed during the 2020 January transfer window on loan from fellow Premier League side Chelsea, the Englishman ended up making just four appearances in the Premier League throughout the remainder of the 2019/20 season.

His performances in those four appearances failed to show anyone why Villa chose to add him to their ranks, with WhoScored giving him a disappointing and quite frankly woeful overall rating of 5.74. making him the lowest-rated player to start at least one league game for the Villans throughout the entire campaign.

Taking this into account, and the fact that he was involved in a training ground clash that saw him headbutt former Villa winger Jota, it’s easy to see why the club didn’t end up signing the 32-year-old on a permanent deal.

Having described his own spell with Chelsea as a “shambles,” it’s safe to say that this description could also be used when talking about his time at Villa Park as well.

Since leaving the Midlands club, the former Leicester City star had a spell in Turkey on loan with Kasimpasa after joining them in the 2021 January transfer window where he made 11 league appearances.

After that, the midfielder found himself away from Chelsea, who have been paying him a weekly wage of £120k-per-week since 2019 according to Salary Sport, on loan again, this time back in England with Championship club Reading.

Having racked up 26 appearances there so far this season, Drinkwater has finally found himself getting some regular game time, something that he hasn’t really had since his final year at Leicester where he made 29 league appearances throughout the 2016/17 campaign.

Taking all of this into account, it has to be said that Villa and NSWE dodged an almighty bullet by not signing the Englishman on a permanent deal and were probably wrong in bringing him to the club at all.

In other news: £12.8m down the drain: AVFC’s “condemned” £38k-p/w liability rinsed NSWE for 100 weeks