All posts by rastrear-estafeta.com

With Valerien Ismael’s West Bromwich Albion side having bounced back from their first defeat of the Championship season with a 1-0 win in their last outing, the Frenchman will have undoubtedly been hoping for yet another positive result from the trip to Swansea City on Wednesday evening in order to keep the Baggies’ hopes of a top-two finish moving in the right direction.

However, despite taking an incredibly early lead through Karlan Grant’s first-minute strike, Albion failed to capitalise on their first-half dominance, with second-half goals from Joel Piroe and Jamie Paterson turning the game on its head, and seeing Swansea take all three points at the Liberty Stadium with a 2-1 win.

As is to be expected after such a result, a number of the West Brom players did not enjoy the finest game of their respective careers, with eight of the Baggies starting XI – including the likes of Darnell Furlong, Kyle Bartley and Semi Ajayi – receiving a SofaScore match rating of 6.9 or below.

However, rather than any of the initial lineup, it will undoubtedly be second-half substitute Jordan Hugill who most disappointed with his display against the Swans, as the centre-forward was once again abject upon his introduction to the game.

Completed four passes

Since his arrival at The Hawthorns on a season-long loan deal this summer, it is clear for all to see that the Norwich City striker has not been in the best form of his life in a West Brom shirt, having failed to score a single goal, provide an assist or create a big chance over his eight Championship appearances prior to the Swansea game.

These are statistics that did not change on Wednesday evening, with the 29-year-old failing to even have a shot – either on or off-target – over his 34 minutes on the pitch, let alone find the back of the net.

Furthermore, the £1.8m-rated man also had just nine touches of the ball, completed a mere four passes, failed with his one attempted dribble and lost 75% of his duels against Russell Martin’s side.

These returns saw the £36k-per-week forward receive a predictably disappointing SofaScore match rating of just 6.5, ranking him as the Baggies’ joint third-worst performer on the night.

As such, with the player who Daniel Farke dubbed a “leader” still yet to have any real impact on West Brom’s season, Ismael’s patience with the striker must surely be starting to run out – as the 29-year-old once again failed the 46-year-old against Swansea.

In other news: Forget Hugill: Ismael could save WBA millions by placing trust in 20 y/o “star boy”

Leeds United correspondent Beren Cross has relayed claims suggesting Charlie Cresswell and Jamie Shackleton look set to return following the current international break.

The Lowdown: Forshaw back training

The Whites were last in action against Newcastle United, where they were without eight first-team players.

Forshaw was one of those after limping off against West Ham the week before, but he has returned to training at Thorp Arch during the current break, according to Phil Hay.

Meanwhile, the club also shared pictures of Kalvin Phillips and Liam Cooper on the training pitch

And it seems as if Marcelo Bielsa could have two more injury boosts ahead of the trip to Aston Villa next week.

The Latest: Cross’ comments

Cross ran a Q&A on LeedsLive on Tuesday evening to discuss a range of Elland Road topics with supporters.

He was asked by one fan for an update on the injury front, to which he said:

“On the injuries: Forshaw has recently said he is very hopeful of making it back for the Villa match, while Bielsa has previously said Cresswell and Shackleton would return on the other side of the international break. Bamford remains something of a mystery after Bielsa’s doubtful comments on the striker being back for the Villa game. Phillips and Cooper are slated for March returns, though there are high hopes the former could be back sooner than that.”

The Verdict: Good news

Bielsa already has a small squad and has been hit hard with the club’s injury woes this season, so Cresswell and Shackleton returning can only be seen as positive news.

Cresswell has made five senior appearances this season whereas the versatile Shackleton has turned out on 13 occasions, with both missing the last four league games.

They may not be regulars from the off under Bielsa, however, the two returns will certainly strengthen the bench, which has featured 15-year-old Archie Gray in recent months, showing just how short of senior options the manager has been.

In other news: Phil Hay and Graham Smyth buzzing at free transfer news. 

Rangers earned a huge three points on Sunday afternoon as they edged out their Old Firm rivals with a 1-0 win at Ibrox.

The Gers were without manager Steven Gerrard, as well as first-team players James Tavernier, Allan McGregor, Jon McLaughlin, Nathan Patterson, Calvin Bassey and Scott Wright for the visit of the Hoops after positive cases of the current viral outbreak at the club.

However, the Teddy Bears were able to grind out the win at Ibrox, with Filip Helander’s second-half header enough to separate the two sides, although Ange Postecoglou’s side missed a number of clear-cut chances.

One man who impressed in the win, especially after some recent poor displays, was Borna Barisic.

The left-back had lost his place to Calvin Bassey after a disappointing start to the season but was the natural option for Gary McAllister in the Nigerian’s absence and he performed excellently.

As per SofaScore, the Croatia international would earn a superb 7.6/10 rating for his performance, which was joint with Helander as the best rating of any Rangers player to feature on Sunday.

The 28-year-old looked dangerous with his crosses throughout the game at Ibrox, producing an incredible haul of ten in the whole game. He set the tone with an early inswinger which found Alfredo Morelos in the box, but the Colombian volleyed over Joe Hart’s goal.

However, the £18k-per-week earner’s ball was spot on in the second half as his corner found the head of Helander, who powered past the former Manchester City man for the only goal of the game.

Barisic also looked good from a defensive perspective, contributing four clearances and two tackles, which is a vast improvement on the 1.7 clearances and 0.9 tackles he averaged in the Premiership last season.

[freshpress-quiz id=“593776”]

Therefore, although he was no doubt watching from home, Gerrard will surely be delighted to see Barisic back to his best. It will be interesting to see who he selects to start at left-back when his side takes on St Johnstone in the first game after the international break.

And, in other news… Gerrard could be set for huge setback with outstanding Rangers youngster

Bruno Lage has had a difficult start to life at Wolverhampton Wanderers with his side winning just twice in all competitions since he took charge.

This was never going to be an overnight fix for the Portuguese but Wolves need to start picking up points and scoring goals sooner rather than later.

They have found the net just once via their own player in the league and they have only picked up three points so far.

However, they have an ideal opportunity to start finding some momentum against a Southampton side who have also endured mixed fortunes.

Wolves played well against Tottenham in the Carabao Cup a few days ago, holding them to a 2-2 draw before losing on penalties.

However, they should take a great deal of confidence from that, especially after their fringe players shone. With that in mind, will any of them make the starting XI on Sunday?

Here’s what we’re predicting…

We are tipping Lage to make seven changes from the team that lost to Spurs a few days ago.

Jose Sa resumes his duty in goal against the Saints after he was displaced by cup ‘keeper John Ruddy against Tottenham.

Yerson Mosquera and Rayan Ait-Nouri have been ruled out with injuries so Conor Coady comes back into the team while Marcal is brought back at left wing-back.

There is an alteration on the right as well where the dynamic Nelson Semedo replaces Ki-Jana Hoever.

Leander Dendoncker scored in midweek but drops out of the team with Joao Moutinho preferred in the middle of the park alongside Ruben Neves.

The most prominent changes come in attack where Raul Jimenez and Adama Traore are brought back ahead of Fabio Silva and Daniel Podence.

The £52k-per-week weapon is the club’s top scorer this term but has only played 47 minutes of league football so is unlikely to start.

That means there is a first Premier League start for Hwang Hee-chan following his loan move from RB Leipzig.

He’s been a vibrant threat for the Old Gold and remains the only player to find the back of the net in league action for them this season.

AND in other news, Bruno Lage could soon replicate one of Nuno’s big Wolves blunders from last season…

After joining West Bromwich Albion in a £6.75m deal back in the summer of 2017, Baggies fans may well have believed Kieran Gibbs would go on to become their club’s first-choice left-back for a fair few seasons.

This proved to be the case initially, with the 32-year-old going on to make 33 Premier League appearances in his debut season at The Hawthorns, helping his side keep seven clean sheets but earning a rather disappointing seasonal SofaScore match rating of 6.78 on the way to Albion’s relegation from the top flight.

The former England international’s level of performance picked up somewhat over his 36 Championship appearances in the following campaign, helping the Baggies keep five clean sheets, scoring four goals and registering four assists, in addition to averaging an improved SofaScore match rating of 6.84 – ranking him as the club’s joint 12th-best performer in the second tier.

However, with West Brom having signed fellow left-back Conor Townsend in the summer of 2018, the younger man clearly started to impress at Palm Training Ground, as he limited Gibbs to just 14 Championship appearances in 2019/20 – over which the £30k-per-week defender once again disappointed, receiving a seasonal SofaScore match rating of 6.76.

Townsend’s usurping of the man who Slaven Bilic once dubbed a “stupid” player came full circle last season, with Gibbs featuring in just ten Premier League fixtures, before being released on a free transfer this summer.

As such, considering the fact that Albion paid a rather hefty fee for the left-back, in addition to him costing the club a whopping £6.24m in wages over his four-year contract at The Hawthorns, the Baggies’ investment in Gibbs looks to have been something of a nightmare for the West Brom board.

Indeed, it would be a difficult argument to make that the former Arsenal defender’s contributions during his time in West Bromwich warranted even half of the club’s total outlay on the defender, let alone the near-£13m he actually cost the Championship side.

In other news: Ismael could save West Brom millions with exciting 20 y/o prodigy with a “big future”

Sky Sports journalist Michael Bridge believes there is still a possibility that Tottenham Hotspur are interested in Bologna defender Takehiro Tomiyasu. 

Tomiyasu has been linked with a move to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this summer with Sky Sports reporting that Bologna had rejected a £12.9m plus an extra £2.6m in add-ons bid from Spurs.

Sky Sports also reported that Tomiyasu is said to prefer a move to north London, after claiming that Wolves had inquired about him and Nikola Milenkovic.

Spurs have already completed the signing of one defender this summer, with Cristian Romero joining the club on loan from Atalanta, but Bridge believes there is still interest in the defender from Spurs telling Transfer Tavern: “Are Spurs still keen on Tomiyasu, I don’t know, is that still going to go ahead? I mean, there is interest there still, but they’ve been negotiating with Bologna for about two months now.”

The 22-year-old can play as both a centre-back and a right-back and featured for Bologna in 33 matches last season, scoring two goals, and he played for Japan at the Olympic Games, where he featured on three occasions.

It was reported by football.london that Tottenham wanted to bring in two centre-backs this summer, but with the August 31 transfer window deadline looming, time is running out fast.

Celtic have reached a basic agreement with Yokohama F. Marinos for attacker Daizen Maeda, according to Yahoo Japan.

The Lowdown: Hatate and Ideguchi moves

The Hoops are looking to make three Japanese signings in the New Year following the success of Kyogo Furuhashi’s £4.86m switch in the summer.

[web_stories_embed url=”https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/web-stories/celtic-updates-20/” title=”Celtic updates!!” poster=”” width=”360″ height=”600″ align=”none”]

Celtic have reportedly already reached agreements for midfielders Reo Hatate and Yosuke Ideguchi earlier this month, and it seems as if they are edging closer regarding a move for Maeda.

The 24-year-old, described as a ‘tireless worker’ by Kieran Devlin, netted 23 times in 2021 and now looks set for a reunion with Ange Postecoglou.

The Latest: Maeda update

According to Yahoo Japan, Celtic have struck a basic agreement with Yokohama F. Marinos for Maeda to sign on loan for the second half of the season.

The Hoops will then be able to make the move permanent for €2m, with Maeda expected to travel to the UK soon.

The Verdict: Final piece of the jigsaw?

Celtic have been working on moves for Hatate, Ideguchi and Maeda for some time now, and it appears as if deals are in place for the trio before the January window has even opened.

New Hoops CEO Michael Nicholson certainly isn’t hanging around, and who knows, should all three moves go through at the beginning of 2022, he could then look at permanent transfers for loanees Jota and Cameron Carter-Vickers.

The pair have impressed in Glasgow, however, the duo could cost over £12m combined (Jota £6.5m, CV £6m), so it’ll be interesting to see how busy Celtic are after proposed moves for the Japanese trio.

In other news Celtic will look to move on ‘horrendous’ ace in January; ‘jittery’ man may also leave – Kieran Devlin. 

Wolves have seen numerous key figures move away from the club over recent years such as Adama Traore, Rui Patricio and Diogo Jota to name a few.

With the upcoming summer transfer window on the horizon, it seems as though the Old Gold could be in danger of seeing another one of their pivotal players pack their bags and wave goodbye to Molineux.

What’s the latest?

According to a recent report from The Sun, proposed Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag will apparently look to make Wolves midfielder Ruben Neves his number one transfer target if he is appointed at Old Trafford.

Neves has been the talk of constant speculation surrounding his future so this update is not a promising one for Wolves.

Fosun disaster

Since joining the Midlands club back in the 2017 summer transfer window from Porto, the midfielder has gone on to make 207 appearances for Wolves across all competitions.

In those appearances, the 25-year-old has found the back of the net 24 times and delivered 12 assists in the process, highlighting how dangerous he can be in front of goal.

Back in October 2018, Wolves journalist Tim Spiers described one particular half-volleyed attempt at goal the former Porto ace had as “cheeky”, an assessment that rather sums up the midfielder’s overall nature.

With four goals and two assists under his belt in this campaign, Neves has also earned himself an overall performance rating of 6.95, making him the second-highest rated Wolves player to start more than four league games according to WhoScored.

To further highlight how important he is to the team in the middle of the pitch off the ball, only Joao Moutinho (274) has managed to rack up more recoveries in the league than his Portuguese compatriot (273).

With Bruno Lage saying that it’s a “big loss” for the team to have Neves out of action through injury at this stage of the season, it’s safe to say that it would be a much bigger loss for the team and club as a whole if the midfielder left in the summer.

Taking all of this into account, Fosun will have to do all they can to avoid disaster and convince the £58k-per-week talent to stay where he is and not join the Manchester club if they come calling.

A good step towards doing this could be to see the team finish above the Red Devils in the league table, which, as things stand, isn’t out of the question by the time the campaign draws to an end.

In other news: Lage can axe “toothless” Wolves flop with swoop for “breathtaking” £28.8m-rated star

Aston Villa are seemingly planning a clearout ahead of the upcoming January transfer window.

What’s the talk?

That’s according to a report by Football Insider, who claimed that Steven Gerrard has identified three players within his first-team squad who he would be happy to offload this winter, namely Bertrand Traore, Anwar El Ghazi and Trezeguet.

The report added that the 41-year-old would be happy to lose two of the aforementioned trio, either on loan deals or a permanent basis, as the former Liverpool captain believes that his squad is currently unbalanced.

Finally, it is said that Gerrard would like to strengthen Aston Villa’s spine in January, with the manager targeting a centre-back and central midfielder in the winter window.

Lange must act

With Gerrard currently having a whopping seven options who could realistically start on either wing for Villa, it will perhaps come as no surprise to the club’s fans that the 41-year-old is more than willing to ship at least two of those out in January.

Considering that Traore (£63k-per-week), El Ghazi (£38k-per-week) and Trezeguet (£47k-per-week) are costing the club an eye-watering £148k-per-week in wages, all while the trio have made a grand total of just 12 Premier League appearances so far this season, it is not difficult to understand why Gerrard is eager to move them on this winter.

Furthermore, the sale of any one of those players could also raise a substantial amount of money for the 41-year-old to reinvest in his first-team squad, with Traore currently worth £18m, El Ghazi £11.7m and Trezeguet £9m – totalling £38.7m.

As such, it would indeed appear advisable for Johan Lange to do all he can to offload two, if not all, of this trio in January. Not only are they wasting a considerable chunk of the club’s weekly wage budget in comparison to their overall game-time, their potential sales could also provide Gerrard with the funds to land a number of his own targets this winter – an outcome which would undoubtedly delight the former Rangers boss.

In other news: Bye-bye Mings: NSWE can seal Gerrard’s dream AVFC deal with “exceptional” £75k-p/w gem

Sky Sports News have shared the latest injury update on Tottenham Hotspur full-back Matt Doherty live on air.

The Lowdown: Doherty’s rise to prominence

The 30-year-old has risen to prominence at Spurs in recent weeks, having become a key player in Antonio Conte’s starting XI. The Irishman has recently produced two goals and three assists in  the space of six league matches, which has added to the Lilywhites’ push for a fourth-place finish in the Premier League table.

However, Doherty’s contributions for the current campaign have now seemingly come to an end after the defender sustained a knee injury against Aston Villa on Saturday, forcing Conte into an unwanted substitution in the 21st minute.

[web_stories_embed url=”https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/web-stories/tottenham-latest-news-copy/” title=”Tottenham latest developments!” poster=”” width=”360″ height=”600″ align=”none”]

The Latest: Sky Sports News drop on-air Doherty update

Reporting live on air, Sky Sports News have revealed that Doherty is out for up to 12 weeks following the injury he sustained against Villa, which means that he will now miss the remainder of the Premier League season.

With the on-air clip shared via Twitter, Sky reported: “BREAKING: Tottenham’s Matt Doherty is out for up to 12 weeks.”

The reporter delivering the update referred to it as “bad news for Tottenham”, with the Irishman having “really found form lately”.

The Verdict: Huge blow for Conte

Conte has struggled with finalising his starting options at wing-back this season. However, Doherty has made the step up in recent weeks and has since featured in the starting XI in Tottenham’s last seven Premier League games.

Consequently, this news will come as a huge blow to the Spurs manager, who will now have to rely on Emerson Royal as the only fit right wing-back available for selection for the remainder of the season. It’s a cruel blow for Doherty, too, who was just hitting his stride after a difficult start to life in north London.

In other news: Fabrizio Romano drops Dejan Kulusevski transfer claim