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Tottenham Hotspur have turned their attentions elsewhere following the news that Bayern Munich will appoint Julian Nagelsmann as their next manager.

What’s the word?

According to the Telegraph, Ajax boss Erik ten Hag is set to rise up Daniel Levy’s list of targets to replace Jose Mourinho this summer.

The Portuguese was sacked last week and the 33-year-old Leipzig manager quickly emerged as a key candidate and top target for the Spurs hierarchy, though it has now been confirmed that he will replace Hansi Flick at the Champions League holders.

It is now claimed that ten Hag will enter the final year of his current contract at the end of this season, so any compensation fee shouldn’t be out of Spurs’ budget.

Dream successor

Following the drab and dismal football on offer under Mourinho, targeting someone like Ten Hag would present a new approach from Levy, who is said to want an ‘attack-minded’ coach as his next appointment.

Of course, the ideal candidate needs to be much more than that too as Spurs sunk to defeat in the Carabao Cup final on Sunday, meaning their 13-year wait for a trophy continues on.

This is where the Ajax maestro can buck the trend and bring an exciting brand of football back to N17.

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His expansive and flexible 4-3-3 system is not only similar to that of Mauricio Pochettino but has also drawn major comparisons to Pep Guardiola, who the 51-year-old worked under at Bayern Munich, when in charge of their ‘B’ team.

Ten Hag has racked up an impressive 73% win rate since taking the helm in Amsterdam in 2017 and that’s hardly a surprise given his ‘born winner mentality.

According to Ajax’s official website, the boss often speaks about dwelling on a loss for no more than 24 hours and similarly the same goes for a win, as it’s merely the next game up and his only inspiration is the quest for silverware, in which he has won four trophies so far.

As football.london’s Alasdair Gold recently explained, Ten Hag “ticks a lot of boxes” as he’s “very good at developing young players” and has his side playing “with real style.”

When comparing him to the likes of Gareth Southgate and Roberto Martinez, who are also mentioned in the Telegraph’s report, then the Ajax gem is surely the dream heir to the vacant throne in north London.

A serial winner, with a bold and thrilling style of football, Levy must now put his weight behind a push to clinch ten Hag.

AND in other news, Spurs dealt devastating Julian Nagelsmann hammer blow

The Athletic’s Aston Villa correspondent Gregg Evans has described a new deal for right-back Matty Cash as ‘great news’.

The Lowdown: Five-year contract for Cash

The 24-year-old has been a regular at Villa Park after arriving from Nottingham Forest in 2020, making 60 appearances in all competitions.

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Now a full Poland international, he has been heavily linked with a move to Atletico Madrid in recent months.

However, he appears to have put to bed any speculation over his future by signing a new five-year contract in the Midlands, as confirmed by the club on their official website.

The Latest: Evans reacts to Cash’s new contract

Evans took to Twitter on Monday evening to react to the news of the full-back’s fresh deal, about which he reported for The Athletic.

He labelled it as ‘great news’ and added that Cash’s target for Villa now will be to start registering more goals and assists.

The Verdict: Huge news for Villa

This just goes to show that Villa are capable of keeping hold of their best players and are willing to back Steven Gerrard ahead of his first full season in charge.

Cash – who has been the squad’s third-best performer this season according to WhoScored – is the only senior right-back that Gerrard has available at this moment in time, so it would have been a big loss if he departed for Atletico in the summer.

You’d expect that won’t be the case after penning a new deal at Villa, though, and youngster Kaine Kesler-Hayden, who is currently on loan at MK Dons, could serve as backup next season, with the right-back position now looking much more secure for the Villans.

In other news: Newcastle now keen on signing another Villa player as advanced update emerges

Wolverhampton Wanderers are interested in a deal to bring Donny van de Beek to Molineux in the January transfer window.

What’s the talk?

That’s according to a report by Birmingham World, who claim that, despite Manchester United recently sacking Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and replacing him with Ralf Rangnick, the new manager is also not convinced by the ability of the central midfielder, and is looking to bring a new player into the position this winter.

As a result, it would appear as if the Netherlands international will be available to either loan or buy this January, with Wolves previously believed to be one of the clubs thought to be keeping a very close eye on the situation of the 24-year-old ahead of a potential swoop.

Forget Sanches

While it is true that, since his £35m move to Manchester United in the summer of 2020, Van de Beek has not hit anywhere near the heights of his time at Ajax, the midfielder nevertheless proved during his time in the Netherlands that he would make a fantastic addition to Bruno Lage’s options in the middle of the park for the second half of the season.

Indeed, over his 23 Eredivisie appearances during his final campaign at Ajax, the £26m-rated man scored eight goals, registered five assists and created six big chances for his teammates, as well as taking an average of 1.9 shots and making 1.8 key passes per game.

These returns saw the £120k-per-week 24-year-old who smarterscout’s ‘similar player’ search likened to Thomas Muller earn a seasonal SofaScore match rating of 7.32, ranking him as the joint 12th-best player in the top-flight of Dutch football back in 2019/20.

As such, while Wolves have also been linked with a move for Renato Sanches this January, when considering the fact that Van de Beek now has a decent amount of experience in English football under his belt, should a move be available for the player who Solskjaer claimed can “unlock close defences,” it would appear highly advisable for Jeff Shi to forget all about the Portuguese midfielder and instead concentrate his efforts on getting a deal for Van de Beek over the line.

In other news: Luke Hatfield drops teasing transfer update that will surely leave Wolves fans furious

After a disheartening 2020/21 season which saw Sheffield Wednesday relegated from the Championship, Darren Moore’s side have had a mixed start to their League One campaign.

With nine games played prior to today’s clash against Oxford United, the Owls have won four, drawn three and lost two, with their latest match seeing them beat Wigan Athletic 2-1 at the DW Stadium.

Looking ahead to the game against Oxford, Owls manager Darren Moore revealed in his latest press conference that Sam Hutchinson and Lewis Gibson have both trained ahead of today’s clash but that George Byers will not be available. With this in mind, here’s how we feel the Owls will set up against Oxford, with two changes from the team in midweek.

Will Wednesday pick up another win this weekend?

In goal, Bailey Peacock-Farrell has been a regular for Wednesday so far this season and should continue there to face Oxford.

The defence could see full-backs Marvin Johnson and Liam Palmer retain their places in the team after the midweek victory, with the duo making a total number of seven tackles and five interceptions between them against Wigan, proving themselves to be useful defensive outlets for Wednesday.

There could be some change in the centre-back position, though, with Hutchinson taking Cheyenne Dunkley’s place at centre-back alongside Dominic Iorfa, who also impressed in midweek, earning himself an overall match rating of 7.1/10 (as per SofaScore).

This could then lead to Barry Bannan coming back into the squad after being an unused substitute against Wigan.

Elsewhere, the other change we think Moore should consider for the Oxford match would be to take Jaden Brown out of the team after failing to make an impact against Wigan from the left-midfield position, taking 27 touches and losing possession on 12 occasions, ultimately earning a rather lacklustre overall match rating of 5.8/10, making him Wednesday’s lowest-rated player on the day according to SofaScore.

In his place, we feel Moore should give Olamide Shodipo, who replaced Brown in midweek, a chance from the start to see if he can do a better job than the 22-year-old did against Wigan.

On the other side, Moore should stick with Dennis Adeniran on the right to see if he can have some sort of attacking threat, even though his two league goals this season have come from when he’s played in the centre of midfield.

Finally, Wednesday should continue with Lee Gregory and Callum Paterson, who scored against Wigan, as their two strikers to hopefully fire the club to another three points.

In other news: Sheff Wed handed big injury boost ahead of Oxford clash, fans will be delighted – opinion

Southampton travel to Goodison Park on Monday evening hoping to end a run of form that has seen them pick up just one point out of a possible 24 in the Premier League.

Injury issues have taken their toll on Ralph Hasenhuttl’s squad, with Kyle Walker-Peters, Ibrahima Diallo and Oriol Romeu all spending time on the sidelines recently.

In the absence of Walker-Peters, the Austrian manager has deployed the likes of James Ward-Prowse and Jan Bednarek out of position at right-back – which has proved to be a poor decision for two reasons.

First of all, neither one of Bednarek and Ward-Prowse possess the pace of Walker-Peters and were therefore not as willing to make forward runs up the pitch, which have been a staple of Southampton’s style of play since his arrival from Tottenham Hotspur.

Secondly, playing these players out of position limits their influence on the game, with the Saints having missed Bednarek’s commanding nature alongside Jannik Vestergaard in central defence, whilst on the occasion where Ward-Prowse was at full-back, they missed his attacking threat in the middle.

Therefore, if Hasenhuttl wants to see his side improve at Goodison Park and stop the rot, he should consider unleashing 20-year-old Kayne Ramsay at full-back.

The 20-year-old is a natural right-back and has made just three senior appearances for the South Coast club, whilst also making five appearances for Shrewsbury Town on loan in League One last season.

Ramsay is unfortunate in that his one appearance for Southampton this season came in the 9-0 defeat against Manchester United, which was a horrible game for all Saints players to be involved in, so Hasenhuttl shouldn’t judge him too harshly for his performance on that day as Saints were playing with ten men for almost the entirety of the encounter.

In fact, the right-back actually made five tackles at Old Trafford, which is comfortably more than any other Saints player has averaged so far this season.

Considering the threat that Everton pose down the left-hand side through Lucas Digne, deploying a natural right-back such as Ramsay could be the key to Southampton improving their form, as it will also allow Bednarek to move back into the middle to try and shackle the dangerous Dominic Calvert-Lewin.

Therefore, despite Ramsay’s lack of experience and appearances for Southampton, Hasenhuttl should give him a chance to impress before Walker-Peters returns to full fitness.

And, in other news… Forget Jankewitz: Saints may already have their Romeu replacement in 18 y/o academy ace

According to a report by Football Insider, Tottenham Hotspur – and by extension Daniel Levy – are on alert for Chelsea defender Antonio Rudiger if a new deal cannot be agreed to extend the Germany international’s stay at Stamford Bridge, coming after he was heavily linked with a move to north London last summer (Sky Sports).

Rudiger has been in fine form for new Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel since his appointment (as per Football Insider), and with the Blues reportedly set to offer him a bumper contract, that has put Tottenham on alert.

Tottenham on alert for Rudiger

Indeed, if talks for a fresh deal break down, then Spurs are reportedly waiting in the wings to take advantage, with manager Jose Mourinho reportedly desiring a transformative Tottenham signing akin to the likes of Virgil van Dijk and Ruben Dias (Evening Standard).

The £150,000-per-week colossus, standing at a lofty 1.9m, has been called a would-be ‘really smart signing’ for Spurs by pundit Kevin Phillips when Tottenham were linked last summer (Football Insider).

Transfer Tavern take

Phillips also believes the German is a ‘fantastic’ player, evident by his return to form under Tuchel, but it remains to be seen whether these proposed Chelsea contract talks break down and whether Tottenham pounce.

However, Levy is on alert over the situation, with Spurs keeping a watchful eye on developments across London.

In other news: Tottenham are also monitoring this attacker, find out more here.

Newcastle United moved on to 43 points on Saturday as they beat Norwich 3-0 in a Premier League encounter at Carrow Road.

The Magpies are well clear of relegation and are on course to avoid the drop down to the Championship after an impressive resurgence under Eddie Howe.

They can now start to think about what they are going to do in the summer transfer window as attention turns to 2022/23 and their ambitions to compete higher up in the table.

One player the club are reportedly in the running for is Napoli centre-forward Victor Osimhen, who has been thriving in the Serie A this season.

Speaking about a potential transfer, his agent – Andrea D’Amico – said: “If a very important offer arrives, it goes away. But this is true for every player who plays in Italy.”

“At the moment I have no requests from the Premier, but it is early, it is a situation that remains evolving. England remains a top-tier market. When I speak of an important and indispensable offer for Osimhen, I mean offers of 150 million.”

Imagine him & Bruno

If the Magpies can bring the £126m (€150m) attacker to St. James’ Park then he would be able to form an exciting partnership with Bruno Guimaraes.

Osimhen has scored 12 goals in 19 Serie A starts this season and averaged an excellent SofaScore rating of 7.12 for Napoli. The dynamo also scored four goals in five Europa League matches earlier in the campaign and this shows that he has been a reliable scorer, and performer, for the Italian side.

He is finally fulfilling the potential that he showed earlier in his career. Whilst in the Bundesliga with Wolfsburg, his then-manager Andries Jonker outlined his talent, saying: “He has great potential in him. He is ambitious, quick and highly unpredictable, he will be a star in the future if he maintains his focus.”

Guimaraes, meanwhile, has four goals and one assist in 13 games in the Premier League since arriving in England in January. He has averaged a fantastic SofaScore rating of 7.25 as he has been able to hit the ground running in the top-flight under Howe.

The Brazilian has proven that he can make an impact in the division and now you can imagine what his link-up with a striker as clinical as Osimhen would look like. Imagine both of them exchanging passes and running at opposition defences next season; it’s an exciting thought and a dream that PIF can, hopefully, realise in the coming months.

AND in other news, “Newcastle want..”: Journo drops exciting claim on £109m duo, it’ll delight supporters…

Chelsea will look to kickstart 2021 in style when they play host to Manchester City in the Premier League at Stamford Bridge on Sunday afternoon.

After tasting defeat at Arsenal, the Blues bounced back with a hard-fought draw at home to Aston Villa and Frank Lampard’s side will want to get back to winning ways when they take on the Citizens in a crunch clash in the top half of the table.

Lampard has confirmed Reece James has been ruled out due to injury. However, the Blues boss is hopeful Hakim Ziyech will be in contention to start on Sunday after working his way back to fitness.

Here is Football FanCast’s predicted starting line-up for this afternoon’s action, which sees Lampard make four changes to the team that drew with Dean Smith’s side.

Lampard faces some tough decisions as he’ll be desperate to start the year with a bang and will not want to let the disappointment from the defeat to Arsenal fester for any longer.

It’s hard to tell exactly where the changes will be made, but what’s certain is he’ll likely bring first-team regular starters Thiago Silva and Kurt Zouma back into the fold after Andreas Christensen and Antonio Rudiger were noticeably poor at the back.

Despite the fact he has failed to keep a clean sheet in his past two appearances, new summer recruit Edouard Mendy will keep his place in goal at the Bridge behind a back four of Ben Chilwell, Cesar Azpilicueta, Silva and Zouma.

Lampard will probably deploy a midfield three consisting of Mason Mount, Jorginho and N’Golo Kante.

Maybe Ziyech could come back in, but Callum Hudson-Odoi has been in such fine form in recent weeks, we’ve given the Blues academy graduate our backing, with the ever-reliable Christian Pulisic keeping his place on the left wing.

Upfront, things get a little more interesting, as Tammy Abraham is likely to lead the line, which means there is no room for Olivier Giroud despite the Frenchman getting on the scoresheet against Villa. Both Giroud and Timo Werner will have to settle for a spot on the bench, such is the strength in Lampard’s squad.

Lots of Everton fans have been left to fume as Fabrizio Romano has dropped a transfer update on their pursuit of Max Aarons.

As per a tweet from the Italian football journalist and transfer guru which emerged on Wednesday afternoon, new clubs are joining the race to sign the Norwich City star, and the Goodison Park faithful are now looking at other players.

This has not been met very well by several supporters of the Merseyside club, given how excited some of they were over Romano’s last and much more optimistic update involving them and Aarons.

Carlo Ancelotti’s team are in desperate need of cover at right-back, especially given the fact that Seamus Coleman is now 32 years of age, and Aarons, being just 21 and off the back of a promotion-winning season with the Canaries, could well be an ideal fit, providing that a suitable fee can be agreed between the two clubs.

Everton fans on Aarons transfer update

These Toffees supporters fumed after Romano shared his transfer update on Twitter:

“That’s such a weak mentality, give up on your next right back for the next 10 years because other teams want him pathetic. He’s obviously very good. Make it happen @Everton”

Credit: @S34nR

“Nooooooo we want Maxxxx”Credit: @LouisMeliaEFC”Should have left this one in the drafts Fab x”Credit: @MainManMina”If we don’t get Aarons I’ll be annoyed we’ve been linked with since last summer”Credit: @jay_smith1″Centre-back is the least of our problems, looks like Aarons is off now as well.. typical.”Credit: @KaneEFCH”Are you having a laugh?”Credit: @lewissefcIn other news, find out what transfer update has left Blues gushing here!

Former Leeds United striker Noel Whelan has said that it would be a ‘disaster’ if the club sold Raphinha this summer following an excellent first season at Elland Road.

The Lowdown: Raphinha shine for Leeds

The Brazilian joined the Whites from Rennes back in October and has been a key man, scoring six goals and registering seven assists in the Premier League.

Raphinha’s performances have caught the eye of the some of the country’s leading clubs, however, with Liverpool and Manchester City both linked with signing him.

The Latest: Whelan fearful of Raphinha exit

Speaking to Football Insider, Whelan admits that he is worried about Raphinha exiting Elland Road at a point when Leeds are trying to narrow the gap with those at the top of the league. He said:

“In my opinion, there’s no deal to be done. We’re trying to catch up to Man City and build a team that’s going to compete. We’ve shown that we can do that against them this season with Raphinha in the side.

“If we’re really going to be considering selling one of our best assets, where does it leave us as a club? After one season having Raphinha on the books, I’m hoping that’s not what we are right now. We’re certainly trying to build something special at the club.

“We’re playing the right way and we’re going to add more quality in the summertime. So, if we’re going to sell players like that, I’m not sure where it’s going to leave the fans. They’re going to want to pay money to see players like that at Elland Road and they’ll be angry if not.

“Next season, fingers crossed, we’re having fans in there. He’s one of our star assets so we’ve got to be strong enough to fend off the big guns in Europe and in England. If we sell him, it’s a disaster for the club.”

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The Verdict: Must be kept on

Under no circumstances should Raphinha be allowed to leave Leeds this summer, considering his importance to the team. Marcelo Bielsa needs to make his squad even stronger in the next transfer window, bringing in new faces in but also keeping hold of those who are invaluable to him.

Raphinha is certainly one of those, providing a huge threat from the right-hand side, whether he’s dribbling past opponents – his average of 1.9 dribbles per game is the highest of any Leeds player in the league this season – producing defence splitting-passes or finding the net himself.

Making better teams stronger, especially those with which you’re competing, and weakening your own side makes no sense whatsoever, even if a huge bid comes in for the winger. Whelan is right – Leeds cannot afford to cash in on the 24-year-old.

In other news, Leeds are reportedly battling some heavyweight clubs for the signing of a winger this summer. Find out who it is here.