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It could be argued that Liverpool haven’t produced a world-class talent from their academy since current skipper Steven Gerrard over a decade ago; this subsequently led to a transforming of the academy system under former manager Rafa Benitez that is only starting to bear fruit – with this in mind, should Brendan Rodgers focus on blooding more youth into the first-team next season?

On Twitter last week, somewhat bizarrely, there was a buzz among many Liverpool supporters that Daniel Pacheco had returned to the club after a loan spell in Spain with Rayo Vallecano. Pacheco is 21 years of age now, if he was going to break through, he would have done it by now and the concerns about his slight build are obviously still being ignored.

The myth that he is good enough for the first-team and has been cruelly overlooked by a succession of managers comes merely from the fact that Liverpool purchased him from Barcelona and after all, everyone that Barcelona produces must be a world-class talent in the making. As a club, Liverpool’s conveyor belt of young talent has long since dried up, with Pacheco talked up more simply because of the reputation of his former club rather than anything special about the player himself, but there is a definite Catalan influence on the youth-team set-up now and one that needs to be taken advantage of.

In Pep Segura and Rodolfo Borrell, both of which have been tipped to have big parts to play as part of Rodgers’ inner council that consults on everything from transfers to style of play, they have two key figures at the club which have helped train the side’s reserves and academy over the past few years. Kenny Dalglish as Aacademy Director under Benitez helped implement a system which was supposed to see every side at all levels play in a similar style much like La Masia academy at Barcelona, with players able to slot seamlessly into the side the further they progressed up the ladder within the club.

While Pacheco has obviously missed the boat and his time has now passed, the club still have a wealth of talent that has up until this point, been confined to reserve-team football at best. Dalglish upon taking charge during his interim spell, when he knew he had nothing to lose, granted first-team opportunities to the likes of Jack Robinson, Jonjo Shelvey and Jon Flanagan, but they were by and large in short supply last term as he attempted to bed in an array of expensively-assembled talent at their expense in the pursuit of a top four finish.

It’s precisely these sorts of targets which restrict the opportunities granted to youngsters and Rodgers is thought to have been brought in with a long-term project and without any specific targets in mind, which should allow him more time to develop his side and integrate youth-team players more.

Perhaps more than at any other club, Liverpool fans like to see a representation of the future out on the pitch, whether they are local born and bred or not. The fanbase when results are not going well are always fixated on the youth and reserve teams, castigating the current manager in the process for not giving this or that player a chance. Nevertheless, there is sufficient talent currently within the ranks to allow Rodgers some time to experiment.

In Raheem Sterling, Connor Coady, Andre Wisdom and Suso to name but four, they have some real potential that could be gradually blooded into the first-team side. Dalglish’s reluctance to use them last season frustrated many, but with a new manager now at the helm and less of an emphasis on top four football (although the longer the club stay out of the Champions League, the more it will hurt them financially), there is a very real chance of progression.

Rodgers is known to have a preference for a 4-3-3 formation and with little in the way of pace at the club at the moment, this could be a breakthrough season for one of Sterling or Suso, who have both demonstrated some frightening ability at the admittedly limited level of reserve-team football.

Former reserve-team coach John McMahon had this to say about Suso: “He needs to know about the discipline and work that’s required in a team, like tracking back, tackling and staying with runners.” While Suso himself admits he struggled initially with the transition: “The game here requires you to run a lot more. For that reason it is more difficult. “I need to improve my intensity and my defending.”

It would be a shame that if the very creativity that he is being lauded for is then drilled out of him in the pursuit of a more rounded and disciplined player – the first-team already has plenty of those, but it requires more craft rather than graft. Rodgers is known to be a fan of possession-based football and someone like Suso could be what he’s after, in the short-term at least, with the club’s transfer budget unlikely to set pulses racing this summer. Sterling remains an interesting option as an impact substitution and both could have a part to play in the coming campaign.

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Which young player would you like to see given more first-team opportunities at Liverpool next season?

You can follow me on Twitter @JamesMcManus1

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As the dust settles on yet another tumultuous day on Tyneside there is only one topic that can be discussed.

The bubble has finally burst on Joey Barton’s supposed love affair with Newcastle United. much like his mate Kevin Nolan’s did just  last month.

Yet again the club  has become shrouded in controversy and discontent by the words of an unsettled player via Twitter. First Jose Enrique decided to have a pop at Mike Ashley and Derek Llambias for their reluctance to spend and now Barton has thrown his two cents into the mix for about the ten thousandth time and again criticised the two blokes above.

Since signing up to Twitter in May Barton simply turned into the anti-hero for Geordie fans and had them hanging off every tweet, every sentence and every word he typed. His comments sparked mass panic.

“If only we as players could tell the fans exactly how it is, without them above fining us lots of money,” Barton said.

“If it wouldn’t effect team morale and cause unrest within the dressing room, am certain Jose’s comments would be the tip of the iceberg….. “And again it would be left to those magnificent fans to pick up the remnants of their once great football club.”The midfielder added: “If I wanted to leave, I’d just come out and say “I want to leave.” Things need addressing as am not prepared to go through a relegation again.”The  comments prompted Ashley and Llambias to do the unthinkable and place Barton on the transfer list with immediate effect. Rumours were that he had been sacked meaning Ashley would have to dig deep into his wallet for a massive payout.  But what i’ve learned over the past four years is that Ashley doesn’t make bad business decisions he just makes really bad footballing ones.

Now to set the record straight I’ve never really taken sides when it comes to debates like this. I’ll never be Ashley’s biggest fan but people seem to forget we were in the monetary mire when he came in and, despite relegation and the whole Keegan fiasco, he has got us back on a sound financial footing.

Barton on the other hand has enjoyed one good season out of the four he’s spent as a Newcastle player. True, last season he was magnificent and was the man that made us tick but that doesn’t give him the right to disrespect his boss or the club. After all they pay him a handsome wage every week just to kick a ball around a grassy field. Like every human being he has opinions but in the media spotlight, have some sense and keep them to yourself.

While I’m at it lets not forget that the club stuck by him whilst he was grappling on the streets of Liverpool, which subsequently ended with him doing a stint at the behest of Her Majesties finest.

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I will admit that the way Ashley and co. have operated in the transfer window has been lacklustre and unambitious. Cabaye, Marveaux and Ba are sound additions but the squad is still threadbare and in need of quality. It’s my opinion that they’re scared to spend over £5 million incase they end up with another Xisco on the books.

Enriques comments which, saw him fined two weeks wages, and now Barton’s have set the cat amongst the pigeons in the St James’ Park boardroom. I will say that the Spaniard got off VERY lightly with his punishment with Barton bearing the brunt of Ashley’s fat filled knuckles (rules for one and not for the other?).

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For me his agenda has always been to get a move away from Newcastle after Nolan left. His words play right into the hands and hearts of the fans. It’s what they want to hear from a player who is opposing the regime they detest so vehemently.

But, I’ll reiterate, it doesn’t give him the right to lambast his boss. Aside from being a footballer Barton is an employee. If he or any footballer hasn’t wised up to that now then it’s about time they did.

In the real world any normal employee would have been sacked on the spot and black marked for the rest of their life. Employers don’t look too kindly on people who display signs of insolence. You might say you can’t compare the two or rationalise football but the positions of employee and employer are exactly the same.

To cut a long story short Barton dug his own grave on Tyneside. Too outspoken for a club like this.  Yes he’s available on a free, with added baggage,but who would take the chance on him now?

With the news that World Cup final referee Howard Webb has reportedly told Blackpool players to go to ground more easily in an attempt to help them win more free kicks and make life easier for referees, it had me wondering; is it right for referees to advocate what is tantamount to ‘simulation’?

Prior to the postponed match against Liverpool at Bloomfield Road Webb spoke to the Blackpool players, including defender Ian Evatt who commented on Webb’s talk;

‘He spoke to me about why I didn’t get a foul against Manchester City when Carlos Tevez caught me in the build-up to one of their goals. He said I was too honest and stayed on my feet. He said if I had gone down it would make the decision easier to give.

Evatt then went on to add;

‘I think that is where we are too naive. Most of us have come through the Championship – a more honest game, so to speak. In the Premier League, if you fall over you tend to get decisions. We are not talking about cheating, but sometimes we have to be less naive and go down under a challenge. We’re not going to make a meal of it, just show there’s a foul. It makes the ref’s decision easier.’

Going to ground easily is a part of the modern game, but I am not sure a referee should be advocating it to players. It is an unwritten law, and is, in my opinion, ok for players to admit they do it. However, it is not alright for those who adjudicate the game to champion it.

What’s more, the notion that players’ ‘go to ground’ easily because they are, in fact, trying to preserve the status quo and make life easier for referees is laughable. This is either self-delusion or utter rubbish, I am under no illusion that when a player ‘goes to ground easily’ or ‘dives’ they are not doing it for the benefit of officials, they are doing it to gain an advantage for their team, whether fairly or unfairly. Although this reportedly came from a referee, I am of the opinion that ‘going to ground easily’ makes life more difficult for officials rather than less. This is because this means the referees then have to make two decisions instead of one; first they must determine whether it is a foul, and second they must attempt to decipher whether the player is trying to deceive them.

I am all for making life easier for referees, I think they have a difficult job. But this should not be attained through a manipulation of existing rules.

If you liked this and would like to read more, then why not check out my blogs, or follow me on Twitter.

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It is always a sad time when a fantastic footballer’s career comes to an end. In the modern day there are fortunately a number of destinations where a successful player in the twilight of their career can go to earn a last paycheque before they hang up their boots. The MLS, Qatar and United Arab Emirates have perhaps more traditionally served as a less competitive environment where a career can be extended in recent times. David Beckham and Thierry Henry are to players to opt for America while Fabio Cannavaro and most recently Raul have opted for the Middle East. China has also added its name to the list recently but Brazil is now emerging as a new favourite to house some of the great veterans of the game in previously uncharted territory in South America.

The country is experiencing an economic boom and is now one of the top 10 largest economies in the world. This has filtered through to the clubs in the source of sponsorship money from companies experiencing the vast benefits of growth. Such deals have enabled many of the country’s biggest clubs to hold on to their prize assets, like Santos retaining the in-demand Neymar and Ganso, as well as tempting other players who could still cut it in Europe back to their homeland. Another reason for the latter however involves the desire to gain support to participate in the national team, a motive arguably behind Vagner Love and Luis Fabiano’s recent return to Brazil.

If executed correctly, such big name signings can help improve the revenue flowing into the club further. This was the aim when Flamengo added Ronaldinho to their team, completing a deal that would see sports marketing agency Traffic pay 75% of his wages in return for control over his image rights. Of course, that did not work out quite as well as planned and ultimately left the player well out of pocket.

But it is such a collaboration that could see Clarence Seedorf join Rio de Janeiro club Botafogo. With the saga ongoing, according to sports daily Lance!, the club’s kit suppliers Puma had revealed an interest in paying part of the player’s wages which have proven to be a stumbling block. Puma know it will boost shirt sales and thus their revenue and with multi-national corporations recognising the huge market in Brazil we could start to see some of Europe’s great talents head to South America to end their career.

Alessandro Del Piero is the latest player to be linked such a move by Sky Sports Italia after his contract with Juventus ended. Cruzeiro, Corinthians, Botafogo and Flamengo were the teams touted as the six-time Scudetto winner’s potential suitors in Brazil, but River Plate have also been mentioned as well as a host of club’s from Asia and America. Capturing such a presitigious player would be a coup financially, but even more so if they could still contribute to the team, which Del Piero certainly could.

Hosting the World Cup in 2014 only serves to add to the interest surrounding Brazil. Huge levels of investment into infrastructure and stadiums (if completed in time!) will serve to take the clubs to the next level. Indeed they are already thinking more like businesses than previously. Corinthians recently signed Chen Zhizhao on a long term loan with the Timao board admitting that it was largely a marketing move to help boost merchandise sales in Asia.

For a European to ply their trade in South America remains a rare exploit. World Cup winner David Trezeguet is currently playing for River Plate in Argentina’s second tier. In Brazil perhaps the best known European was Serbian Dejan Petkovic who spent time at no fewer than seven different Brazilian clubs before lifting the national championship with Flamengo in 2009.

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The outlook for the Samba nation looks positive both economically and in footballing terms. They possess a hugely competitive championship that will only continue to grow if managed correctly. And so potential transfers of previously world class players like Seedorf and Del Piero could set a precedent for retiring Europeans to test their mettle in South America.

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Brazil manager Mano Menezes has acted on his side’s Copa America failure by ringing the changes for the August 10 friendly against Germany.Botafogo goalkeeper Jefferson, defenders Luisao (Benfica) and Adriano Correia (Barcelona) and Shakhtar Donetsk midfielder Jadson have been dropped for the match in Stuttgart.

Elano – who skied his penalty horribly in Brazil’s quarter-final shootout loss to Paraguay – has also been axed, while Sandro is absent through injury.

Real Madrid midfielder Kaka has missed selection once more, with Renato Augusto (Bayer Leverkusen), Dede (Vasco Da Gama), Jonas (Valencia), Fernandinho (Shakhtar Donetsk), Luiz Gustavo (Bayern Munich) and Ralf (Corinthians) brought into the squad. Only Jonas has appeared for his country before.

“We are at a stage where we are looking for reliable players in this phase of transition and those who can help with this. It depends on Kaka’s performances as a player and the form he is in,” Menezes said.

“I was always clear from the beginning regarding the future. There is no need for me to call him up and test him again. I think we have a good mix for a strong team, with ample support in reserve when we need it.”

Full squad: Goalkeepers: Julio Cesar (Inter Milan), Victor (Gremio). Defenders: Andre Santos (Fenerbahce), Daniel Alves (Barcelona), David Luiz (Chelsea), Dede (Vasco de Gama), Lucio (Inter Milan), Maicon (Inter Milan), Thiago Silva (AC Milan). Midfielders: Elias (Atletico Madrid), Fernandinho (Shakhtar Donetsk), Ganso (Santos), Lucas Leiva (Liverpool), Lucas (Sao Paulo), Luis Gustavo (Bayern Munich), Ralf (Corinthians), Ramires (Chelsea), Renato Augusto (Bayer Leverkusen). Strikers: Alexandre Pato (AC Milan), Jonas (Valencia), Fred (Fluminense), Neymar (Santos), Robinho (AC Milan).

It’s a debate that seems to have been rumbling on for sometime, but thankfully the end is now in sight. By the end of the month we should finally be told who will be allowed to take over the running over of the Olympic Stadium in Stratford after the games in 2012. The shortlist of candidates is, well, very short and consists only of bitter rivals Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham.

Both sides have now officially submitted their plans and it is Tottenham’s that has stirred the most controversy. Their idea to move 4.9 miles (as the crow flies), and crucially remove the athletics track, has sparked outrage from all sides, from your average Joe down the pub to the highest echelons of government. The MP for Tottenham, David Lammy, has urged David Cameron to lead a parliamentary debate on the Olympic legacy and back the group ‘We are N17’, a group set up by Spurs fans in protest of the proposed move away from White Hart Lane. Cameron respectively declined.

As with any change of premises, be it moving family home or football stadium, there are a lot of scary looking figures involved. The one that stood out for me as I trawled the internet for stories about this very subject was that Spurs estimate that moving to the Olympic Stadium, as opposed to redeveloping White Hart Lane, will save them roughly £200 million. The word ‘million’ is thrown about a lot in football nowadays. You rarely see a number without the word ‘million’ suffixed, and as such fans have become somewhat immune to the vastness of it, but £200,000,000 is an astounding sum of money and an amount that I can’t even comprehend. Spurs’ redevelopment of the Lane has been given the green light by the powers that be, but the costs involved in the ‘Northumberland Development Project’ have spiralled and problems still persist with the local council and the inadequate transport links. In a nutshell, Tottenham’s plans to tear down much of the Olympic Stadium, remove the track, redevelop Crystal Palace athletics stadium and establish an athletics legacy fund will cost around £250 million, while the White Hart Lane project will cost around £450 million.

In football money doesn’t talk, it runs around shouting and screaming until its throat is sore and bloody. Money is the backbone of everything in the modern game and very little happens without a substantial amount of it changing hands – why else would ITV or Channel 5 be allowed to broadcast live matches? As a result, a pretty convincing argument can be made for Spurs fans to back their Olympic bid on the basis of these monetary findings.

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Tottenham are in the midst of their most important era in modern memory. After years (and years!) of waiting, the lilywhites have finally broken away from the shackles of mid-table obscurity and that feeling of perpetual disappointment, to breaking in to football’s elite. The footballing world shouldn’t underplay what a great achievement it is for Spurs to progress as group winners into the knockout-stages of the Champions League, let’s not forget that just over two years ago they were bottom of the Premier League with two points from…how many games Harry? So when the team needs the maximum amount of investment possible in order to keep challenging at the top end of the league, saving £200 million could prove to be vital. A quick look at ‘them lot down the road’ will show what the wider costs that building a new stadium can entail. With all things considered, The Emirates Stadium is thought to have cost the Gunners around £470 million and it is generally accepted that this massive investment has significantly limited the transfer funds available to Arsene Wenger since 2004. It is undeniable that Arsenal needed a new stadium in order to become more financial competitive on a global scale and that Arsene Wenger has done fantastically well on the budget that he has had to work with, but imagine the talent that they could have attracted if Wenger had had more funds at his disposal. Arsenal didn’t have much of a choice, but Tottenham do. I’d hate to see Tottenham fall back behind the likes of Manchester City and Chelsea et al. because they don’t have the financial clout to compete for the best players.

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Leaving White Hart Lane will be a shame, but changing stadiums doesn’t have to be the time of mourning that many seem to be preparing themselves for. Ask Southampton, Leicester and Manchester City fans if they’d fancy a return to the days of The Dell, Filbert Street or Maine Road and they’d tell you that they’ve settled into their new stadiums quite nicely thank you. The long and distinguished history of White Hart Lane is one to be immensely proud of, but football moves on and unless Tottenham move with it they are in danger of moving backwards as quickly as they bounded forward.

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Dnipro wide-man Yevhen Konoplyanka has been attracting the interest of clubs in England with Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal trailing the 22-year-old according to Talk Sport.

Konoplyanka is set to represent co-hosts Ukraine in the forthcoming European Championships and is expected to play a large part in their campaign. A string of solid performances in the tournament could well see his value raised and competition for his signature from elsewhere increase.

The winger possesses terrific pace and has improved rapidly since his league debut at the age of 17. According to the report he aspires to play in one of Europe’s top leagues but the excellent financial position of Dnipro will mean that he will not come cheap.

Historically Ukrainian players have struggled for success in the Premier League with Sergiy Rebrov, Andriy Shevchenko and Anriy Voronin all struggling to make an impact during their spells in England.

Konoplyanka however is of a different mould and his willingness to run at players and whilst also offering versatility will prove an attractive proposition for the trio.

Sir Alex Ferguson will be eager to add depth in the wide areas with Nani performing inconsistently last season and Arsene Wenger will also look to improve the quality of his attacking options. Chelsea could make an offer as they continue the summer overhaul of their squad with the likes of Marko Marin and Eden Hazard already set to make their mark at Stamford Bridge next season.

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Southampton star Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has pleaded with the clubs chairman to let him leave and fulfil his dream of playing in the Premier League, according to the Mirror.

The Saints wonder kid has attracted interest from the top flight ever since making his debut in March 2010 with Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City on his tail.

Ten goals, two assists and a place in the League One Team of the Year did nothing to dampen that interest as he played a big part in Southampton’s promotion to the Championship.

But it’s being reported that chairman Nicola Cortese is not prepared to lose his £12 million rated winger.

He is refusing to acknowledge any interest in the 17-year-old despite Oxlade-Chamberlain being keen to leave and follow the same path as former St Mary’s favourite Theo Walcott.

He told the Mirror: “Southampton, and especially the fans, have been brilliant to me ever since I broke into the first team.

“It has been fantastic helping them to get promoted. But now I feel I’m ready to play in the Premier League.”

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But it seems his dreams may be put on hold as Cortese refuses to do business with any interested parties.

It’s a far cry from January when then Saints supremo held talks with Manchester United and Arsenal only to scupper any deal with his crazy demands, which reportedly included a 50% sell-on clause and the player back on loan for the second half of last season.

It may have been a long wait for him, but this season 22 year-old flying winger Sidney Sam, a German of Nigerian descent, has finally made his breakthrough in the German top flight after his transfer to the Bay Arena from Hamburg in the summer. After being farmed out on loan to Kaiserslautern for the latter two of his three seasons at Hamburg, the Werkself saw fit to part with 2 million Euros for his services, and he has not let them down, scoring 9 goals and laying on 5 assists in 22 appearances in all competitions this season, which has led his new side to 2nd in the Bundesliga and the knockout stage of the Europa League.

Measuring in at 1.74m (5ft 9ins), 70kg (11st), Sam has been likened by some observers in Germany to the Dutch winger Arjen Robben of Bayern Munich, due to his explosive pace and dribbling style and possibly due to his frequent deployment on the right-wing, cutting inside on his favoured left foot to unleash his fierce shots, which have lead to some spectacular long-range goals. He will probably be likened to a young Ryan Giggs and Gareth Bale too, due to his ability to dribble with the ball at top speed, but due to his shorter height, he is less of a threat in the air than the Welsh duo. Sam himself considers his current footballing idol to be Cristiano Ronaldo, and you can see the influence in the way Sam shoots and gets into goal-scoring situations coming in from both flanks or even being deployed as a striker.

Time will tell whether Sam can continue his fine form in the long-run, but by scoring some eye-catching goals and fitting in well in an expansive attacking style line-up, he has managed to hold down a regular place in Jupp Heynckes’ starting eleven, and he may well make the step-up from the Germany Under 21 side into Jogi Loew’s full national team before long, despite Nigerian counterpart Samson Siasia still harbouring fading hopes of convincing him to pledge his international future to the Super Eagles. The Germans have tended to win these tug-of-war battles lately, and with their trophy-laden history, it isn’t hard to see why.

If one game announced the arrival of Sidney Sam, it was his brace in the 3-1 home win against former loan club Kaiserslautern this season on 8 November 2010. His first was a low drive into the corner from the edge of the box. His second was reminiscent of a famous goal against Leverkusen. With the ball dropping steeply out of the air, Sam unleashed a 30 yard left-footed volley into the top right corner, much like Zinedine Zidane’s famous effort from the Champions League final of 2002 in Glasgow for Real Madrid. Obviously, Zidane’s strike wins as it was his weaker foot and a much bigger occasion but Sam still probably caused many a fan to drop their bratwurst in amazement. On December 11, he proved a point by scoring in a 4-2 away win at former club Hamburg.

Born 31 January 1988 in the northern German town of Kiel, and his first major club was Holstein Kiel from 2002-2004 after starting out at TuS Mettenhof and then Holstein’s rivals Kilia Kiel. In July 2004, he signed for Hamburg, who would be his parent club for six years, but his match time was limited mainly to their second team in the 2006-2008 period. His top flight debut for Hamburg came as a substitute on 20 December 2007, but he only made three more appearances at the club, scoring no goals before his long loan spell at Kaiserslautern and the permanent transfer to Leverkusen. He has represented Germany at Under 19, Under 20 and Under 21 level.

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Sam is currently rated at around 5 million Euros, but with a contract until 2015, it would probably take a fee much higher than that to tempt Leverkusen to sell their prodigious young talent. He looks like he could probably play in any of the top leagues in Europe outside of Germany, but at this moment in time he is better off staying at the Bay Arena and playing week in week out to further aid his development, rather than sit on the bench elsewhere with 2 or more players above him in the pecking order for his position. As long as he continues to deliver consistently good performances, then you can be sure that scouts will be flocking to see him in action in both greater number and frequency, and we could have yet another reason to keep an eye on the Bundesliga, which continues to produce some quality footballers.

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Wigan attacker Victor Moses has rejected a new contract to keep him at the DW Stadium, and is ready to move to a bigger club in the summer according to Sky Sports.

The Nigeria international has been a standout performer for the Latics this season, and is one of the main reasons for Roberto Martinez’s men avoiding relegation.

The African forward is highly-rated and Wigan are eager to keep him for at least another season, but Moses has his eye on a move to one of the Premier League big boys.

Moses’ agent Tony Finnigan has declared that the player is ready for a step up, and wants to leave Wigan once the transfer window reopens.

“I think what Wigan have done is tremendous and shows it was the right place for him to go after Palace. But now I think Victor is ready for the next step,” the representative stated.

“He still has lots of improving to do in terms of scoring goals more regularly. But I think that would come if he was surrounded by better players. That’s what he wants and is why he won’t be extending his contract. I can’t see Victor changing his mind.”

The news is sure to alert the likes of Tottenham and Liverpool, who are both interested in the £10 million-valued attacker.

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By Gareth McKnight

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