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Fulham have been dealt a blow to their chances of bringing Siriki Dembele to Craven Cottage this summer.

What’s been said?

That’s according to a claim made by Peterborough United director of football Barry Fry, who revealed in a recent interview with Transfer Tavern that he is unwilling to sell the centre-forward on the cheap in the summer transfer window.

A number of clubs, including Fulham, have been linked with a move for the 24-year-old this summer, with it previously being reported that a bid of £5m should be enough to begin negotiations with the Posh striker.

However, if Fry’s latest comments are anything to go by, this would now appear to be an unrealistic outcome, with the 76-year-old stating:

“He’s a talented boy and just because he’s in his last year, people think we’ll sell. We won’t.

“We’ve got a better chance of retaining our Championship status with Jonson Clarke-Harris and Dembele in our side than not. It’s got to be substantial figures for either of them or we’ll just let Dembele go for nothing in a year.

“If he keeps us up, it’s worth £15million to us. It’s well worth it.”

Silva surely gutted

Considering just how impressive Dembele was for Peterborough last season, the fact that a deal for the forward may not be attainable this summer is sure to have left Silva gutted.

Indeed, over his 42 League One appearances for Darren Ferguson’s side last term, the £2.6k-per-week man scored 11 goals, registered 10 assists and created a whopping 17 big chances for his teammates, as well as taking an average of 1.8 shots and making 1.5 key passes per game.

These returns saw the man Ferguson dubbed an “outstanding” player earn a seasonal Sofascore match rating of 7.06, ranking him as Peterborough’s joint seventh-best player in the third tier of English football.

As such, it would very much appear as if Dembele would have made a fantastic addition to Silva’s attacking arsenal at Craven Cottage this summer, although a deal this summer now seems to be incredibly unlikely.

However, with Fry suggesting that the 24-year-old could leave the Weston Homes Stadium for nothing in 12 months time, perhaps a season in the Championship will actually do the forward wonders in terms of his development, with Fulham potentially being able to land the more experienced hitman for free next summer.

In other news: Fulham dealt a blow as summer exit of backroom figure confirmed, Silva will be gutted

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.

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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.

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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

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”

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.

West Ham United ended their Europa League group stage campaign with defeat as they were beaten 1-0 by Dinamo Zagreb on Thursday night.

Irons boss David Moyes rang the changes at the London Stadium as he opted for a fully-rotated starting XI, in which a mixture of youngsters and fringe players featured.

One of the academy starlets to be handed a start was Manny Longelo, who was deployed at left-back in the absence of the injured Aaron Creswell and Ben Johnson, whilst he was chosen over Arthur Masuaku.

The Scot’s gamble paid off, even if their unbeaten European record came to an unfortunate end.

Ultimately, the Barking-born 20-year-old wasn’t at fault for the Croatian champions’ only goal of the game – a wonderstrike from Mislav Orsic – after an uninterested Andriy Yarmolenko gave the opposition winger time and space to fire a rocket past Alphonse Areola on the other side of the penalty area.

Longelo was actually one of the Hammers’ rare positives from the night as he was frequently involved for the team. Indeed, he registered the second-highest number of touches (87) in the whole game, just as Moyes’ wing-backs often do, so he was clearly adept on the ball and wasn’t fazed by the occasion of making his senior bow.

Only the skipper, central midfielder Mark Noble, had more (93).

He always tried to be productive up and down that left flank, also recording 37 accurate passes, and whilst none of his four crossing attempts found a player in claret and blue, it still suggests that he was trying to create things in the final third. He did compete 100% of his dribbles, by contrast.

Elsewhere, he put in important defensive work, managing two clearances (second-most for West Ham) and two tackles, as well as one interception (second-most), per SofaScore.

The young Hammers sensation left a lasting impression on many observers at the game, including Evening Standard reporter Jack Rosser, who waxed lyrical in his post-match ratings column, where Longelo was graded as Moyes’ joint-best player.

‘Encouraging first start for the 20-year-old full-back. Confident going forward with a number of driving runs down the left. One to keep an eye on,’ he said.

Similarly, The Athletic’s Roshane Thomas believed he “caught the eye” throughout the 90 minutes.

With Cresswell and Johnson likely to still be on the treatment table heading into a busy and hectic festive fixture list, Longelo could well provide Moyes with a solid option in the left-back role going forward.

Even going into the future when the 31-year-old moves on, the youngster has done himself the world of good, potentially handing Moyes a selection dilemma heading into this weekend’s tricky trip to Turf Moor, even despite the midweek defeat.

AND in other news, Newman could end West Ham’s striker nightmare with £10.35m-rated “absolute predator”…

Speaking to Football Insider, a ‘source with knowledge’ of Harry Kane’s situation has dropped a damning three-word claim on just how far he will go to secure a move away from Tottenham Hotspur.

The Lowdown: Kane in training hiatus…

Over the last two days, the superstar striker has failed to report for training in a statement move, with Sky Sports (via Football Daily) believing that he has showcased his frustration at not being allowed to leave this summer.

Fabrizio Romano says that the 28-year-old will return to training ‘later this week’ but his future is still unresolved as Spurs fans can expect discussions (Twitter).

The Latest: Kane source drops three-word claim…

In a possible blow for Spurs, a source with knowledge of Kane’s situation has come out with a three-word claim on just how far the England captain will go to secure an exit away from north London this summer.

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As per Football Insider, it is believed that the forward will do “whatever it takes” to seal his move and has told international colleague Jack Grealish that nothing will stop him leaving by August 31.

Kane also feels he has to ‘pull out all the stops’ if he wishes to potentially join the Aston Villa playmaker at the Etihad Stadium, with the 25-year-old reliably believed to be signing for Manchester City in a sensational £100m move barring any late twists (Fabrizio Romano).

The Verdict: Blow for Spurs?

New Spurs manager Nuno Espirito Santo, who is tasked with picking the club back up after a regretful spell under Jose Mourinho, would surely find life at Spurs unbelievably difficult in his first full season in charge without Kane.

While chairman Daniel Levy arguably holds all the cards as things stand, there have been suggestions that the forward could even lodge an official transfer request to get his wish to leave (The Independent).

This three-word claim that Kane will do ‘whatever it takes’ to secure a move away only backs claims of that nature and it could be a nervy few weeks ahead for Spurs before the transfer window’s closure.

In other news: ‘Excited’, ‘Huge coup’…Sky Sports pundit in awe of announcement at Tottenham, find out more here.