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West Ham’s Carlton Cole says he is determined to challenge newly acquired target man Andy Carroll as the main striker at the club, according to The Sun.

The 28-year-old was dropped to the bench in West Ham’s 3-0 victory over Fulham recently, making way for Carroll to deputise for the Hammers. Despite this, Cole will have the opportunity to assert himself as the main striker at the club when West Ham travel to Norwich in Saturday’s early kick-off after Carroll limped off on debut, picking up a hamstring injury which had initially ruled the target man out for six weeks – although he may return more quickly than anticipated.

Cole sees competition for places at the Hammers both good for himself personally and the club, “Every year, you have to have people challenging for places because it is healthy for the club.” The former England international Cole was an integral part of West Ham’s promotion back to the Premier League last season, and admits he is pleased to see Carroll arrive at the Boleyn Ground, “It’s better to always be on your toes and I welcome a challenge like Andy. He is one of the best target men around in the Premier League and it’s just going to reinvigorate me to be a better player.”

Cole also says he is delighted by the return of Yossi Benayoun at the club, who has joined on loan from Chelsea, “I played for a season with him before he went off to Liverpool but he was really influential around the players and the team.”

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Leeds United once again fell to a heavy defeat, this time at Anfield as Jurgen Klopp’s men put six past the Whites on Wednesday night.

Marcelo Bielsa’s side were three goals down at the break, with the Reds not needing to get out of second gear to deal with Leeds ahead of their Carabao Cup final showdown with Chelsea on Sunday.

There were some pretty underwhelming performances from those in white, and The Transfer Tavern have used statistical experts SofaScore to analyse who Leeds’ three worst players (to have played at least 45 minutes) were on the night.

In total, these players lost the ball a whopping 36 times, were second best in 10 of their aerial and ground duels and averaged a 5.5/10 rating between them.

Stuart Dallas – 5.2/10

First up is Dallas, who started at right-back and ended the night in midfield. The ever-present figure lost the ball 15 times and conceded a penalty early on after handling the ball in the box.

He also lost six of his nine duels, was dribbled past twice and made two fouls, leaving him with a 5.2/10 rating.

Luke Ayling – 5.7/10

Next is Ayling, who turned out at centre-back with Diego Llorente absent from the squad.

Captaining the team in Liam Cooper’s continued absence, the 30-year-old – like the Northern Irishman – also conceded a penalty in the first half. The defender lost possession 11 times, lost three duels and was unsuccessful in five of his eight attempted long balls, giving him a 5.7/10 rating.

Pascal Struijk – 5.8/10

Struijk completes the list of Leeds’ three worst performers at Anfield, ending with a 5.8/10 rating.

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He lost one of his ground duels, gave the ball away 10 times and failed to make an interception all night. Struijk was also unsuccessful in five of his attempted long balls.

In other news: ‘Exciting’ Leeds attacker now set for March return after months out as reporter relays news

Allan Saint-Maximin is set to return to the Newcastle United squad for their game against Brighton and Hove Albion this weekend, according to Dominic Scurr. 

The lowdown

Saint-Maximin has missed the last two matches for Eddie Howe’s side with a minor injury.

Data from WhoScored shows that he leads the Magpies’ Premier League squad for assists (three), successful dribbles per game (4.6) and free kicks won per game, while only Callum Wilson has scored more goals (six versus five).

Newcastle have managed to cope fairly well in his absence, though, picking up four points from the two matches against West Ham United (1-1) and Brentford (2-0).

The latest

Shields Gazette journalist Scurr tweeted on Tuesday morning that Saint-Maximin ‘is back at NUFC’ after a prolonged rehabilitation period in his homeland France.

He then added the all-important update fans have been hoping for – ‘he is set to be back in contention’ for the clash with The Seagulls.

The verdict

Remarkably, given Saint-Maximin’s aforementioned numbers, there’s a debate to be had over whether he should come straight back into the starting line-up.

Ryan Fraser had what Newcastle World’s Liam Kennedy dubbed his ‘best game’ for the club against Brentford, assisting Joelinton’s opener and creating seven chances overall.

Kennedy says the left wing slot in Howe’s 4-3-3 is Fraser’s ‘correct position’, but says the problem is that’s ‘also where Saint-Maximin plays’.

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Will the manager want to shift Fraser away from that role to accommodate the Frenchman after what he saw at the weekend? Or will a tactical rethink be needed?

In other news, Newcastle are willing to fork out £25m for this signing.

Aston Villa have not been shy when it comes to spending money on bringing players to the club in an effort to improve the team and push them towards achieving the owners’ ambitions of securing European football.

However, one player that the club missed out on signing that the Villans could now be having nightmares over is former loan star Tammy Abraham.

During his loan spell from his former club Chelsea during the 2018/19 season, the striker managed to score 26 goals in 40 appearances, making him a big part of their promotion campaign back to the Premier League.

Having not been able to secure the Englishman on a permanent basis despite being linked with a move for him, Villa eventually turned their attention to Ollie Watkins and Danny Ings, who have cost the club a combined total of £53m and have scored 12 league goals between them this season.

Since his successful loan period at Villa Park, Abraham spent the next two campaigns back at Chelsea where he racked up 30 goals in 79 games across all competitions before making a permanent transfer move to Italian club AS Roma in a deal worth a reported fee of £34m.

During his time in Italy with Jose Mourinho’s team, the 24-year-old, who is currently valued at £34.2m according to Transfermarkt, has scored 20 times in 36 appearances, showing that it didn’t take him long to settle into a club and league outside of England.

In addition to his consistent goals with Roma, the former Chelsea star’s overall performances have shown what a great signing he’s been for the Serie A side, with WhoScored listing him as the club’s second-highest rated player with an overall rating of 7.26, which would also make him Villa’s second-highest rated player this season behind Philippe Coutinho.

Labelled as an “unbelievable” player in the past by former Villa captain Jack Grealish, Abraham could have been a fantastic deal for NSWE to make based on his previous experience of playing at the club as well as his clear knack for scoring goals. Certainly, it would have made the Villans’ 2019/20 season a lot more comfortable in terms of dodging relegation had they signed him permanently after his loan.

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Taking all of this into account, even though they now have Watkins and Ings at their disposal, Steven Gerrard’s side could be in much better shape now had they have secured the Roma striker’s signature when they had the chance.

In other news: Gregg Evans drops behind-the-scenes AVFC claim that’ll leave Villa Park buzzing – opinion

Wolves are still eying up a potential summer move for Shakhtar Donetsk midfielder Pedrinho, although acquiring his signature may not be easy.

The Lowdown: Wolves keen on Pedrinho move

The 23-year-old has scored three goals in eight starts in the Ukrainian Premier League this season, also enjoying an 89.5% pass completion rate in the Champions League, showing his composure at the highest level.

Pedrinho has been linked with a move to Wolves in recent days, as Bruno Lage looks to strengthen his squad during the summer transfer window.

The Brazilian’s Shakhtar deal doesn’t expire until 2025, but with Transfermarkt currently valuing him at £15.3million and FIFA allowing foreign players in Ukraine to rip up their contracts, perhaps a chance will arise for Scott Sellars and Fosun to make a deal.

The Latest: Fresh update emerges

According to Yahoo [via Sport Witness], Sellars and Co are continuing to ‘monitor’ Pedrinho ahead of a potential bid in the coming months, with Brazilian clubs such as Corinthians and Sao Paulo also thought to be interested.

It is however claimed that a transfer could be made more complicated by the current situation in Ukraine.

[freshpress-quiz id=“388797″]

The Verdict: Ideal summer signing

Should the situation ease and a pathway appear for Wolves to sign Pedrinho, it has the potential to be an inspired piece of transfer business this summer.

The youngster possesses creative brilliance that could add another dimension to the Wanderers’ midfield – he has averaged 2.5 dribbles per game in the Champions League this season, with only the loaned out Adama Traore (4.2) averaging more in the Premier League at Wolves.

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With the likes of Leander Dendoncker, Ruben Neves and Joao Moutinho playing deeper-lying midfield roles, Pedrinho could sit in the No.10 position and wreak havoc in front of them, while his age would make him a long-term addition.

In other news, Tim Spiers has made a key claim over one Wolves player’s future. Find out who it is here.

Newcastle United have had a number of successful players come through from their youth team to catch the eye in the first-team over the years.

The likes of Paul Gascoigne, Andy Carroll, Shola Ameobi and Steve Howey are just a few of the many who have made their way through the set-up, but it does not always work out for talented players and they sometimes have to make a name for themselves elsewhere.

One academy player the club had a howler with was goalkeeper Fraser Forster as they sold him at the wrong time in his career.

Howler

He came up through the youth ranks at St. James’ Park and did not make a single appearance for the senior side before he was sold to Celtic in 2012 for a fee of £2.2m in 2012 – via Transfermarkt.

The 6 foot 6 colossus spent three seasons out on loan before putting pen to paper on a permanent deal with the Hoops, playing one campaign with Norwich in League One and two with the Scottish giants – keeping a whopping 61 league clean sheets in that time.

Despite his impressive form for the Canaries and Celtic, Newcastle opted to cash in on him for a relatively small fee and they will surely be looking back on that with regret after watching what he achieved after leaving.

After catching the eye in Scotland, Southampton snapped him up in 2014 and gave him the opportunity to show what he can do in the Premier League.

To date, he has kept 54 clean sheets in 154 matches for the club, including 42 in 127 league outings. In the 2015/16 campaign, he set a Saints record as he went 706 minutes – almost 12 hours – of top-flight football without conceding a single goal.

In that season, Transfermarkt valued Forster at a whopping £13.5m – the pinnacle of his career according to their metrics. He held that value until October 2018 and was worth £9m or more from 2014 to 2019.

During a loan spell back at Celtic from Southampton, back in 2019, former Hoops boss Neil Lennon lauded the shot-stopper at Parkhead, saying:

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“He’s world-class. I have so much faith in him and he just keeps getting better. In his first spell here he put in some unbelievable performances and he’s done it again today.”

His superb statistics for the Hoops and the Saints show that he has consistently delivered in terms of keeping the ball out of his net throughout his career. Forster’s clean sheet record is sublime and his market value over the years reflects his quality, with Lennon believing him to be world-class during his time in Glasgow.

Therefore, Newcastle had a howler with him in 2012. The Magpies sold him for 19.5% of his eventual worth and this shows that they missed out on a major payday because of the timing of their decision to sell him. They will surely look back on the transfer with regret and wonder what could have been…

AND in other news, NUFC plot audacious bid to sign £81m-rated “genius”, he “makes football a pleasure”…

A major Newcastle United transfer claim has been made over their chances to sign Ousmane Dembele…

What’s the talk?

According to AS, sources close to Barcelona have claimed that he is closing in on a transfer to PSG and is ‘guaranteed’ to sign a contract with the French giants this summer.

His deal with the La Liga outfit expires at the end of the current campaign and he is now set to leave for £0, with the Magpies being one of the teams linked with a swoop to snap him up for nothing.

Shocker

PIF are heading for a major shocker over Dembele as missing out on being able to sign him on a free transfer would be a huge blow.

The France international would be a sensational signing for Eddie Howe’s team and the Saudi Arabian consortium must attempt to hijack this move by convincing him to make the switch to the Premier League. He has been in sensational form of late for Xavi’s side and is showing the kind of form that would make him a fan favourite at St. James’ Park.

In La Liga this season, he has averaged an incredible SofaScore rating of 7.62. He has produced a stunning ten direct goal contributions in 12 appearances for the club, scoring once and providing nine assists from the right wing.

His former teammate Lionel Messi previously called him a “phenomenon” and Barcelona club president Joan Laporta once claimed “he is better than Mbappe” – highlighting how highly he is rated by people who have seen him up close in the flesh on a regular basis. 

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His form in the Spanish top-flight shows that he is starting to live up to the hype around his hype as he has been a consistent creative threat for the Catalan giants. He has created 2.3 chances per game in La Liga and provided his teammates with eight ‘big chances’, despite only starting eight matches.

The forward is also still in the early parts of his career, at the age of 24, and has the potential to continually improve over time. Therefore, PIF are set to miss out on a gem who can make a huge impact in the short term and a player they could potentially sell on for a huge profit in the future, which is why this looks set to be a big shocker from the owners in the summer.

AND in other news, Sold for £30m, now worth £13.5m: Ashley played a blinder for NUFC over £83k-p/w flop…

Celtic were pretty busy during the previous summer transfer window in terms of bringing new Bhoys to Parkhead and moving some out in the other direction under Ange Postecoglou.

With the next summer window on the horizon, it seems as though one Hoops player, in particular, that was involved in last summer’s busy period could be on the move again.

What’s the news?

According to a Celtic source relaying information to Football Insider, defender Osaze Urhoghide is likely to be on the move again during the upcoming summer transfer window.

That’s if a permanent deal to Oostende, where he’s currently on loan, can’t be agreed.

Repeating Lennon’s mistake

Celtic signed the centre-back, who is currently valued at £270k according to Transfermarkt, during the 2021 summer transfer window from English League One side Sheffield Wednesday on a four-year deal after he agreed a pre-contract agreement with the Hoops in March.

Since then, the defender has only made one senior appearance for the Parkhead club, which came during their 3-2 win over Real Betis in the Europa League where he played the full 90 minutes in the right-back position.

During his time in Belgium, the 21-year-old has been using his time and opportunity there to show Postecoglou what he’s capable of by racking up an average of 2.2 interceptions per game, the highest of any other player at the club, as well as 1.8 tackles and two clearances per game.

If the Englishman ends up joining the Belgian side, or even another club, on a permanent basis in the summer, this could potentially end up being a similar sort of mistake for Postecoglou as it was for Neil Lennon to sell Virgil van Dijk to Southampton back in 2015 for a fee of £13m.

He has since gone on to be a superstar with Liverpool having won the Premier League and Champions League.

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Labelled as an “immense” talent by Wednesday manager Darren Moore, Urhoghide certainly has enough time ahead of him to really become a standout first-team figure for the Hoops, if given the chance to do so and gradually become more intrinsic to Postecoglou’s side.

With all of that in mind, if the Hoops do want to move the defender on again in the summer, they should make sure it’s on another loan deal at a club where he’d be getting regular game time and enough of a challenge to show his parent club what he’s made of.

In other news: Daily Record drop big 11-word Celtic claim, unforgivable error could be inbound

Liverpool are plotting a move for Swedish star striker Alexander Isak this summer and he would be a perfect partner to Diogo Jota.

What’s the story?

Manager Jurgen Klopp is said to be willing to break the club’s transfer record in order to land the striker from Real Sociedad for a whopping £77m, according to reports in Spain, via Liverpool.com

The player is highly rated having been linked with a number of moves in recent transfer windows, including Premier League rivals Manchester United and Arsenal.

He could partner Jota perfectly

While Liverpool usually play Jota in the middle of a front three, they have many talents to choose from with Luis Diaz and Roberto Firmino also available.

Isak could also easily slot into that central role and link up with Jota out wide, or Klopp could opt to play a more traditional partnership of just the two of them.

Jota has proven he can excel when working with a strike partner, before he made the move to Anfield the Portuguese striker had an ‘amazing’ partnership at Wolves with Raul Jimenez.

In their final season together they had a combined average of just over three shot-creating actions per 90 minutes played.

Isak is great on the ball and his stats when it comes to goal and shot creation are on par with Jota – both players rank in the 90th percentile in Europe’s top five leagues this season for dribbles that lead to a shot attempt.

On that evidence, it’s clear to see why he’s been described as a “special talent” by ESPN FC.

At only 22-years old he still has a lot of time to develop, and with Jota 25 years of age, they could forge a long-lasting partnership that could naturally succeed the Reds’ pairing of Salah and Mane.

Currently playing his trade in La Liga for Real Sociedad Isak moved to Spain from Borussia Dortmund in 2019 for £13.5m.

However, Liverpool need to be willing to pay much more than that to land him. His contract doesn’t run out until the summer of 2026 so Sociedad have the bargaining power here.

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His goal scoring form has been good at all of his clubs and so far he’s scored 41 times in 122 appearances for the Spanish club.

Isak also stands at 6 foot 4 which means he would be a threat in the air as well, something which Liverpool currently lack in their attacking line.

All three of Jota, Mane and Salah are no taller than 5 foot 8 so he’d certainly provide a different but exciting new dimension to the forward areas.

IN other news: Another blow: Liverpool suffer huge injury setback, Klopp surely gutted – opinion…

Liverpool have now held talks over a move for a £80m star, who Jurgen Klopp has previously described as “world-class”.

Reds eyeing new forward amid Salah uncertainty

Mohamed Salah hasn’t been frozen out by Arne Slot, despite his outspoken comments about the manager, with the Egyptian assisting Hugo Ekitike’s second goal in the 2-0 victory against Brighton & Hove Albion earlier this month.

However, the forward’s long-term future at Anfield remains up in the air, having reportedly offered himself to three Champions League clubs earlier this month, after falling down the pecking order.

Speaking on The Overlap, Gary Neville insisted the 33-year-old won’t sit around and play second fiddle to players he believes he’s better than, saying: “Salah will not sit down and watch Gakpo play football, these players don’t sit and watch players that are inferior.”

As such, the former Chelsea man, who has been ranked as the greatest Egyptian player of all time, could move on if he isn’t restored to the starting XI after AFCON, which means the Reds may need to start thinking about bringing in a new forward.

According to a report from TEAMtalk, Liverpool have now held talks over a move for Real Madrid star Vinicius Jr, with intermediaries informing them the Brazilian would now be interested in a move to the Premier League.

Vinicius is yet to put pen to paper on a new contract with the Spanish side, but Florentino Perez remains hesitant to sanction a departure, and a move is unlikely in the January transfer window, as per a TEAMtalk source, who said: “Vini and Rodrygo are huge players for this club, and Florentino Perez does not want either to leave.

“Both are different situations, Vini’s is about his contract and Rodrygo about his squad role – but as we get to January, the expectation is that both will be staying.”

Vinicius Jr could be statement signing for Liverpool

With it recently being revealed Madrid could demand £80m for the Brazil international, a deal could be on the expensive side, but it could be worth paying a fee in that ballpark, given that he has established himself as one of the world’s best wingers.

Subscribe to the newsletter for Liverpool transfer depth Get in-depth transfer coverage, subscribe to the newsletter for detailed analysis of Liverpool’s transfer moves, rumours like a potential Vinicius Jr signing, and broader transfer-market context across top clubs. Subscribe Subscribe to the newsletter for Liverpool transfer depth Get in-depth transfer coverage, subscribe to the newsletter for detailed analysis of Liverpool’s transfer moves, rumours like a potential Vinicius Jr signing, and broader transfer-market context across top clubs.

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Klopp has also personally lauded the Madrid star in the past, describing him as “world-class”, and he has been prolific throughout his time with the La Liga heavyweights, amassing 111 goals and 91 assists in 346 outings.

The 25-year-old would not be a like-for-like replacement for Salah, given that he most commonly plays on the left-wing, but the opportunity to sign a forward of his calibre is simply too good to turn down.

Related He's as good as Van Dijk: Liverpool make £66m Guehi upgrade a key target

Liverpool have now made this £66m star a top target heading into 2026, who could be an upgrade on going after Marc Guehi.

Posts ByKelan Sarson

As such, if Real Madrid are unable to agree a new contract with Vinicius Jr, Liverpool should make a move in the summer transfer window.