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Newcastle United have around a week left to complete any of their remaining business in the summer transfer window.

The Magpies have brought in Matt Targett, Sven Botman, and Nick Pope so far, whilst they are also closing in on the signing of Alexander Isak from Real Sociedad.

Eddie Howe has been at St. James’ Park for less than a year but he is quickly reshaping the squad to suit how he wants the Toon to perform in the Premier League.

Club captain Jamaal Lascelles revealed earlier this year that the aggressive, high-pressing, style of play is because of Howe’s coaching and the way he wants the team to train and play.

The former Cherries boss wants his side to press the opposition and get up in their faces to create counter-attacking opportunities for players with pace – like Allan Saint-Maximin – to make the most of.

Dan Ashworth could now land the manager a dream signing for his Newcastle team by snapping up Conor Gallagher from Chelsea.

The Magpies are one of the clubs, alongside Crystal Palace and West Ham, interested in signing him on a permanent deal.

He is reportedly valued at £35m and his attributes and age could make him the perfect addition to the club’s midfield options.

Mike Stavrou, back in April, noted that the England international is “relentless” in his pressing, whilst former Sheffield United attacker Mark Duffy described him as a “pressing machine” whilst backing him to be a fantastic signing for Liverpool – who reached the Champions League final last term.

This is backed up by his statistics in the Premier League as he averaged a whopping 24.72 pressures per 90 over the last 365 days – placing him in the 93rd percentile among players in his position in Europe’s top five leagues.

Along with being perfectly suited to the manager’s style of play, Gallagher has also shown that he has the quality on the ball to punish teams in the top-flight. Last season, he chipped in with eight goals and three assists whilst on loan at Crystal Palace and this shows that he can provide end product after winning possession back.

At the age of 22, he would also come in as a player Howe can work with over the course of a number of years. The head coach can help him to develop and hone his skills with the aim of ensuring that he fulfils his potential and becomes a great player for the Toon.

Therefore, the Chelsea dynamo would be a dream signing for the manager as he is a talented, Premier League-proven, prospect, who would slot straight into the way he wants the team to play.

Barcelona are keen on signing West Ham United forward Pablo Fornals this summer, according to reports from Spain. 

The lowdown: Fornals at West Ham

Signed from La Liga outfit Villarreal for £24m in 2019, the Spain international has become an integral part of David Moyes’ plans at the London Stadium, starting 24 or more Premier League matches in all three full seasons for the Irons.

The 26-year-old has directly contributed to 34 goals in 135 outings for the Hammers and played a regular role in the journey to the Europa League semi-finals last season.

After Barcelona failed in their quest to lure Bernando Silva to Camp Nou from Manchester City, the Catalan giants could now be set to turn their attention towards an east London favourite…

The latest: Fornals on Barcelona’s radar

As per Spanish sources, Barcelona are believed to view the six-cap attacker as a ‘plan B’ to Silva.

It’s claimed that Fornals could be available for a fee in the region of €30m-€35m (£25.5m-£30m) despite being under contract at the London Stadium until 2024.

The report also states that the Spaniard – who was described by Tony Gale as a ‘workaholic’ with ‘phenomenal’ fitness levels – is a ‘more than valid option’ for Barcelona.

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The verdict: No chance

Albeit those in situ at West Ham have gone some way to ensuring that the strength in depth within Moyes’ ranks is sufficient to cover any major losses, allowing a player as integral as Fornals to leave so late in the transfer window is a non-starter.

Still seemingly heading towards the capture of Lucas Paqueta and with irons in the fire for Hans Vanaken and Atilla Szalai, more incomings remain imminently possible before the September 1 deadline passes.

So far this season, the £19.8m-valued man has scored once in five appearances across all competitions, starting all four Premier League games and posting the squad’s highest WhoScored rating in the embryonic stages of the campaign, illustrating his importance to the club.

As such, whilst a gargantuan offer could ultimately sway any decision, at present it seems unlikely that GSB would sanction an exit for Fornals.

Arsenal are preparing an improved offer for Aston Villa midfielder Douglas Luiz, according to David Ornstein of The Athletic.

The lowdown

The Gunners made an opening bid of £20million for Luiz, but it fell short of Villa’s asking price (via Jason Burt).

The 24-year-old is into the final year of his contract at Villa Park, and so Mikel Arteta’s side know they can sign him on a free transfer next summer if he doesn’t pen a new deal.

Arsenal have already strengthened in the midfield of the park this summer with a £31.5million deal for Fabio Vieira, but it seems they’re not completely satisfied yet.

Two of their current options – Mohamed Elneny and Thomas Partey – are both struggling with injuries.

The latest

Ornstein took to Twitter to share the update on Luiz, who’s ‘believed to be keen’ to join Arsenal.

He says the Gunners are determined to land the Brazilian before the end of the window, even as Villa stand firm.

“Arsenal going back in with 2nd offer for Aston Villa midfielder Douglas Luiz,” he said.

“Opening #AFC approach for Brazil international unsuccessful but they aren’t giving up. #AVFC insist 24yo will not be leaving. Player believed to be keen on move.”

As for the timescale, Sky Sports News suggest that it will reach Steven Gerrard’s side ‘in the next few moments’.

The verdict

Luiz may do all he can to push for a move before 23.00.

Fabrizio Romano even reports that he has agreed personal terms with the North London outfit, suggesting a contract is ready to be signed if the clubs shake hands on a fee.

Right now, though, that looks like a pretty remote prospect, with Miguel Delaney of The Independent reporting that Villa have slapped a £40million price tag on Luiz’s head – double Arsenal’s original offer.

The gap in valuations may prove to be prohibitive, but things can change quickly on Deadline Day.

When Arsenal spent £6m on a relatively unknown Brazilian forward by the name of Gabriel Martinelli back in July of 2019, many supporters at The Emirates must have been wondering why Raul Sanllehi had committed such an amount on the signing of a largely inexperienced – albeit promising – player.

However, while it is undeniable that Gunners supporters and Sanllehi did not exactly see eye to eye for the majority of his spell as the club’s head of football, it must be said that the 56-year-old very much hit the jackpot when bringing the winger to north London a little over three years ago.

Indeed, after taking two seasons to find his feet in England, the 21-year-old well and truly exploded over his 29 Premier League appearances last time out, scoring six goals, registering six assists and creating five big chances for his teammates, in addition to taking an average of 1.8 shots, making 1.2 key passes and completing 1.6 dribbles per game.

These returns saw the £90k-per-week talent average an extremely impressive SofaScore match rating of 6.93, ranking him as Mikel Arteta’s eighth-best performer in the top flight of English football in 2021/22.

However, over his seven league fixtures so far this season, the winger has taken his game to a new level, having already bagged three goals and created three big chances for his side, as well as taking an average of 3.0 shots – 1.3 of which have hit the target – made 2.3 key passes – the most of any Arsenal player – and completed 2.3 dribbles – the second-most in Arteta’s squad – per game.

These metrics have seen the Brazil international average a simply sensational SofaScore match rating of 7.30, not only ranking him as the Gunners’ third-best performer in the league but also as the joint 24th-best player in the Premier League as a whole – with the youngster playing a key role in Arsenal’s current top-of-the-table standing.

As such, while Martinelli’s returns on the pitch alone are enough to justify Sanllehi’s £6m move for the attacker back in 2019, the fact that the player who Jurgen Klopp dubbed the “talent of the century”, “unbelievable” and a “proper threat” now boasts a market valuation of £63m – an extraordinary 950% increase on his initial cost – well and truly proves how the former Arsenal head of football hit the jackpot on the Brazilian.

Newcastle United smashed their club transfer record in the summer to snap up Alexander Isak from Real Sociedad for a reported fee of £59m.

Dan Ashworth swooped to snap him up from the La Liga outfit last month to bolster Eddie Howe’s attack and he has rewarded them with two goals in three Premier League matches so far.

Things could have worked out differently for the club, though, as they heavily pursued another number nine to improve the team prior to signing the Swedish international.

The Magpies reportedly agreed a deal with Stade Reims to sign Hugo Ekitike for a fee in the region of £30m and the move then fell through due to ‘ridiculous’ demands from his agent and the attacker ended up joining Ligue 1 giants Paris Saint-Germain instead.

It may sound harsh, given that he only turned 20 in June, but the Frenchman has been a flop since his move to the capital in the summer.

Ex-PSG man Eric Rabesandratana recently criticised the centre-forward’s mentality, saying:

“I’m not convinced by Hugo Ekitike because he has shown mental weaknesses.“He’s young, but I find that, behaviour wise, he doesn’t correspond at all to what you expect from him as a young person, and especially as a player who should impose him at PSG over the years.“We need players who are focused on football, and I’m not sure that moaning every two seconds, half-bothering to do the exercises, because it bores him and he’d rather play games, is enough.”He went on to say that Ekitike is “more of a kid than a professional” and his lack of action on the pitch suggests that the manager does not believe he is ready for regular minutes.The forward has played five matches in Ligue 1 and failed to produce a goal or assist, with all of his appearances coming as a substitute, and he has not been used at all in the Champions League so far.Ekitike, who had scored 11 goals in 26 matches for Reims last season, has seemingly struggled with the step up to playing for PSG and his mentality may be playing a part in that, as per Rabesandratana’s comments.Therefore, Ashworth dodged a bullet on the Frenchman as these issues, including his accused his lack of focus and professionalism in training, could have been a stumbling block for him under Howe as they have proven to be in Paris so far.Instead, Newcastle brought in Isak and he has enjoyed a superb start to life at St. James’ Park in front of goal. Long may that continue and, hopefully, the Magpies will never regret failing to land Ekitike.

Leeds United have undergone a changing of the guard in the 2022/23 campaign after the sales of Raphinha and Kalvin Phillips led to a number of signings in the summer.

Victor Orta backed Jesse Marsch in the transfer market by signing Brenden Aaronson, Luis Sinisterra, Tyler Adams, Wilfried Gnonto, Marc Roca, Darko Gyabi, Joel Robles, and Rasmus Kristensen.

Jesse Marsch has not needed to rely on some of the tried and trusted from previous years, as the likes of Luke Ayling, Adam Forshaw, Patrick Bamford and Liam Cooper have not been heavily involved.

The Whites skipper is yet to make his first Premier League appearance of the season as he continues to deal with an Achilles injury. However, he did play 45 minutes in the 3-1 win over Barnsley in the League Cup last month.

Cooper has been with Leeds since he joined the club from Chesterfield back in the summer of 2014 for a reported fee in the region of £600k.

Dave Hockaday was in charge of the Whites at the time and his decision to bring the centre-back in was a blinder as the central defender has gone to achieve great success in Yorkshire.

He instantly became a regular in the team in the Championship and he racked up 109 league appearances for the club in his first four seasons.

Marcelo Bielsa arrived in the summer of 2018 and Cooper was a key player for the Argentine manager as he averaged a WhoScored rating of 7.29 across 39 appearances in 2018/19 – the highest rating in the entire squad.

The enforcer caught the eye again in the 2019/20 title-winning campaign as he averaged a score of 7.11 – ranking fourth in the squad as he lifted the trophy as captain.

Goalkeeper Tommy Lee previously claimed that he had a “Ramos-style” to his game in the way that he stepped out from the back with the ball, which is a comparison he also earned from The Athletic’s Jack Collins, who dubbed him “Ramos-esque” due to his importance in defence for the Whites.

His ability to play out from the back allowed him to settle into life in the Premier League following the club’s promotion in 2020. He averaged a WhoScored rating of 7.06 in the top-flight in 2020/21 – the second-best score in the team – and completed 85.6% of his passes, making him a reliable player in possession of the ball.

To date, he has played 247 competitive matches and is valued by Transfermarkt at £6.3m. This means that his value has rocketed by 950% from the initial £600k Leeds paid to sign him from Chesterfield, which illustrates why the club played a blinder by signing him as they have got more than their money’s worth from him on the pitch.

Glasgow Rangers continued to pile the pressure on their rivals at the top of the Premiership with a 4-0 win in the Scottish top-flight on Saturday.

Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s team swept St. Mirren aside with ease and remain two points off the top of the table after nine league outings.

Antonio Colak was the star of the show yet again as he found the back of the net twice in that thrashing. He reacted quickly in the box to tap in from close range after a shot hit the post and then brilliantly dribbled past a defender before finding the bottom corner for his second goal.

The Croatian centre-forward is now on 13 goals in 16 matches for Rangers in all competitions since making the move from PAOK in the summer. He has scored ten times and provided two assists in nine Premiership games as he has hit the ground running at Ibrox this season.

Alfredo Morelos was the club’s top goalscorer in the league with 11 strikes last term and this illustrates how impressive Colak’s tally of ten with 29 matches left to play is.

He has been the star of Rangers’ season so far but another player who deserves praise for his performances on the pitch is left-back Borna Barisic.

The defender has been an unsung hero for the Light Blues at the back as he has been in sublime form in the Premiership throughout the campaign so far.

He may not be scoring every week like Colak but he has been putting in consistently strong performances week-in-week-out and has established himself as the first-choice in his position. Ridvan Yilmaz was brought in from Besiktas for a reported fee of €4.5m (£3.9m) and has been unable to push Barisic out of the team.

The Croatian, who former Gers winger Neil McCann previously compared to a “train” in attack, has averaged a SofaScore rating of 7.38 in the Scottish top-flight and has started eight of the club’s nine league matches, playing a part in every single game.

Only Colak (7.62) and captain James Tavernier (7.78) have averaged higher scores than him within the Gers squad, which shows that the 29-year-old has been one of van Bronckhorst’s top performers.

Barisic has been solid at the back for the Light Blues and has caused problems for the opposition when he has bombed forward to support the attack.

Defensively, he has made 2.4 tackles and interceptions per game and won 70% of his ground duels in the Premiership, something that shows he has been able to dominate attackers out of possession.

On the ball, the £18k-per-week full-back, who has had 828 touches in the Premiership, has created 1.8 chances per game – only Tavernier has managed more this season – and created four ‘big chances’ in total.

They are some eye-catching numbers that show Barisic has been incredibly impressive this term. He deserves just as much praise as Colak for his performances.

Newcastle United have now been dealt an injury blow before their trip to Manchester United involving Alexander Isak.

The Lowdown: Back to the bench?

Magpies supporters were given hope with regards to Isak’s fitness this week, with it being reported that he could make the bench at Old Trafford on Sunday afternoon after a thigh injury.

The Sweden international has missed their last two matches in the Premier League, and it looks as though reports of a return this weekend were a little wide of the mark.

The Latest: Not yet

Speaking to the media in his pre-game press conference ahead of the match against the Red Devils, Eddie Howe has confirmed that while Isak is making ‘progress’ in his recovery, he is ‘not available’ to play on Sunday:

“Alexander Isak is making progress but he’s not available for this game. We’ve not picked up any new injuries.”

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The Verdict: Big blow

The fact that Isak has been categorically ruled out of the clash against Erik ten Hag’s side is no doubt a big blow for the St. James’ Park outfit.

With two goals in his previous three games in the league, the club-record new signing from Real Sociedad has adapted to English football quickly, and Howe would have liked to use him in such a huge match against one of the so-called ‘big six’.

A win would take the Tynesiders above their opponents in the table, and potentially as high as fourth spot, and having Isak available would have given them a better chance of taking all three points back to the North East.

Everton host Crystal Palace at Goodison Park this afternoon and Frank Lampard will be hoping that his team can perform in front of their home crowd after suffering three consecutive defeats in the Premier League.

The Toffees are now just one point off the relegation zone, and should they lose they could even fall into the bottom three by the end of play tomorrow night, although a win could push the Merseysiders as high as 12th in the table.

In terms of injuries, there were no new problems reported by the Everton boss, with Yerry Mina, Nathan Patterson, Andros Townsend and Ben Godfrey all remaining unavailable for the clash against the Eagles.

However, there has been some good news in terms of recovery progress. Patterson could be back as early as next week following an ankle injury, with Lampard saying of the Scottish defender in his press conference on Friday afternoon: “He’s progressing, he’s training with us and will be fit hopefully for next week.”

The 44-year-old also gave a timeframe on Ben Godfrey’s potential return date, stating: “I think it might be tough for Ben to be back before the World Cup, because of the injury and because of how quickly that time is coming – November 12 we break up. We’ll look at the best plan around that.”

With all that considered, here is how Football Fancast predicts Everton will line up against Crystal Palace today…

We predict that there will be three changes to the team which lost to Newcastle United earlier this week, with Lampard sticking to his 4-3-3 formation.

The first change we expect is for the Everton manager to make a slight tweak to his back four as he includes Ruben Vinagre in a Premier League starting line-up for the first time since coming to the club and drops Vitaliy Mykolenko to the bench in an otherwise unchanged defensive line, with James Tarkowski, Conor Coady and Seamus Coleman keeping their places in the team.

The second change we expect to see is James Garner coming into midfield to replace Idrissa Gueye alongside Amadou Onana and Alex Iwobi, freshening up the central roles slightly to offer a deeper attacking threat and possibly injecting more creativity from the former Manchester United midfielder.

The third and final change we expect to see is Anthony Gordon losing his place in the team following a number of reckless performances which have seen the winger become more of a hindrance than a help, picking up the most yellow cards in the Premier League with six bookings in just 780 minutes of action.

We predict that Dwight McNeil will reprise his role on the right flank in place of Gordon, lining up alongside Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Demarai Gray to complete the front three.

The £20m winger – who was dubbed a “real talent” by his former Burnley boss Sean Dyche – found the net against Southampton and has been a reliable performer in the wide forward role. He has created two big chances this season, making two tackles and completing 1.2 dribbles per game, along with winning 53% of his duels across 11 appearances.

There is a great opportunity to freshen up the starting team with the depth that Lampard has, so he should utilise the fullness of the squad that he has at his disposal to give Everton the boost they need to take all three points against Palace today.

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has been criticised for a claim he made after the Premier League champions suffered defeat at Liverpool.

The Lowdown: Sky Blues first loss…

The Sky Blues have started their title defence brightly, having still scored more goals than any other top flight side whilst conceding the joint-fewest (premierleague.com).

Spearheaded by the sensational form of marquee summer signing Erling Haaland, City are still in solid shape to potentially overcome rivals Arsenal and retain a third-successive domestic crown.

However, the Eastlands outfit were dealt a slight dampener to their recent form with a first defeat of the season at Anfield on Sunday.

Mohamed Salah’s late winner brought an end to City’s unbeaten 2022/2023 but Guardiola will argue they were rather unlucky over the 90 minutes.

Phil Foden’s opening goal, for instance, was ruled out through VAR as Haaland was adjudged to have tugged Fabinho’s shirt in the build up.

Speaking post-match after the incident, Guardiola hinted the decision may not have gone City’s way due to where they were playing, stating ‘this is Anfield’.

The Latest: Hackett sends Guardiola message…

In response to the interview message, ex-FIFA official Keith Hackett has claimed Guardiola needs a ‘wrap across the knuckles’ for his comment.

He explained to Football Insider:

“He can’t say that.

“I think that’s something that means he needs a letter from the FA because he needs a wrap across the knuckles.

“He’s actually questioning the integrity of the referee and you are not allowed to do that.

“This nonsense that you don’t get decisions at Anfield is a nonsense. It’s a myth that shouldn’t be added to, it’s one that should be rebutted.”

The Verdict: In the moment…

We believe Guardiola’s statement can be chalked off as a heat of the moment comment.

The sour taste of a loss away to Liverpool will have still been lingering and the former Barcelona manager endured an evening to forget.

In the dugout, Guardiola also allegedly had coins thrown at him whilst watching his City side fail to overcome their fierce rivals.

Indeed, the Blues will want to put the result behind them quickly and return to winning ways.