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Rangers chase new a ‘keeper as the club reportedly plan transfer for icon Jurgen Klinsmann’s son, Jonathan.

According to SunSport, Steven Gerrard is apparently in the market for a new back-up keeper to Allan McGregor as both Wes Foderingham and Jak Alnwick are leaving this summer.

The future is most certainly bright at Ibrox if Rangers manage to pull off the swoop for USA under-20s capped Jonathan Klinsmann, who currently represents Hertha Berlin’s B-team over in Germany.

Standing at 6ft 4in the big stopper is out of contract this summer and is said to be frustrated with the first-team opportunities (or lack of) handed to him at the Bundesliga club, which has opened the door for Rangers to do their thing in the market and recruit him for Gerrard’s ever-expanding youthful squad.

In January, World Cup-winning dad Jurgen made a classic parent move and claimed his son has the ability to a first-choice keeper (classic in a way we guess).

He said: “Jonathan has the class to be a No 1 in the Bundesliga or second division next season.

“But the club also has to have the courage to give a young goalkeeper this chance, just as Everton did with their England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford.

“Jonathan has become a man in 18 months under Petry. He is getting closer to Rune Hastein and Thomas Kraft, who are in front of him.”

While we would argue that it would be more of the same for Klinsmann if he joins Rangers, as current stopper McGregor would be hard to budge, we also acknowledge that it would be a fantastic piece of business on the club’s behalf to give the poorly disciplined Scot something to think about.

The veteran goalkeeper missed Rangers’ Old Firm victory the other day due to a suspension he picked up the previous week for kicking out at Hibernian’s Marc McNulty last weekend. As if the club don’t already have enough on their plate at the other end of the pitch with Alfredo Morelos.

Though the experienced head between the posts has been a great signing, there’s no doubting the fact he’s got away with a lot this season and is prone to lashing out. That just cannot keep happening.

Like Foderingham, if Klinsmann waits for his opportunity (which will inevitably arrive) he would almost certainly give Gerrard something to think about.

Rangers fans, would you like to see a young ‘keeper challenging McGregor for starting spot? Just how frustrating has it been seeing two key players constantly in trouble? Let us know in the comments below!

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Jesse Lingard has been called up to Gareth Southgate’s Nations League squad despite having a poor season for Manchester United.

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This prompted Angel Gomes – a player who is clearly influenced by Lingard and by the way he broke into the Manchester United side under Louis Van Gaal – to respond.

Gomes will be aspiring to be like Lingard and force himself into Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s plans next season.

Lingard is in the England side to face the Netherlands on the 6th of June, but in truth has had a bad season for the Red Devils and is probably only included because Ruben Loftus-Cheek suffered a horrendous injury in Boston last-week.

If he is given the chance to play, though, this could be the 26-year-old’s opportunity to end his season in a positive way and look to build some momentum for what is likely to be a make-or-break season for the Warrington-born-man.

He will be turning 27 in December, a peak year for an outfield player, but this season was a poor one – he only scored five goals and registered four assists in 36 appearances.

In the previous campaign he scored 13 and registered seven assists in 48 appearances.

He will have to improve on this season or he could find his time at Old Trafford brought to an abrupt halt.

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According to The Chronicle, Aston Villa could pursue a move for Newcastle’s Isaac Hayden if they get promoted.

What’s the word?

Since moving from Arsenal to the Magpies, Hayden has established himself as a fine Premier League midfielder.

This season in particular he’s been very impressive, becoming one of the mainstays in Rafa Benitez’s team.

However, per The Chronicle, he could now be on the move with Aston Villa considering an approach for the player should they get back into the top-flight.

The report states that Newcastle are likely to demand a fee of around £15m for the midfield man but there is set to be fierce competition for his signature.

Also interested are West Ham whilst Brighton also have a long term admiration for the player.

Hayden can bring extra physicality

Villa have a number of midfielders who are all extremely composed on the ball so Hayden would fit straight into the team in that regard.

Having come through the system at Arsenal he knows how to look after the ball whilst he also has a keen eye for a pass.

But it’s his physicality and ability in the air that can add something to the Villa midfield that they sorely miss.

In the Premier League this season, Hayden has won on an average 2.2 aerial duels per game. If you compare that to the numbers that some of Villa’s main midfield men have mustered this season they don’t even come close.

From Dean Smith’s regular options in the middle of the park, Glenn Whelan boasts the best aerial duels with just 1.2 won per game. John McGinn is next with 1.0 whilst Jack Grealish is down at a measly 0.8.

With this in mind, the potential signing of the 24-year-old would be game changing.

Of course, it depends on whether the Villans achieve promotion on Bank Holiday Monday, but signing Hayden would certainly be a shrewd move.

The former Arsenal man is proven in the Premier League and barely puts a foot wrong. It would be the ideal start to the window for Smith.

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Former Newcastle midfielder and current BT Sport pundit Robbie Savage believes that Arsenal should have been awarded a penalty in the 18th minute of the Europa League final, as quoted by the Daily Mail.

What’s he said?

A fiercely contested opening period in Baku saw both sides struggle to create clear-cut chances until Alexandre Lacazette found himself running through on goal just past the quarter-hour mark.

Kepa Arrizabalaga rushed off his line to greet the Arsenal striker who appeared to poke the ball before going down under the Chelsea ‘keeper’s diving challenge.

Referee Gianluca Rocchi quickly halted play to check with VAR before allowing the Blues to restart with a goal-kick.

Despite the VAR confirmation of the original no-penalty decision, Savage still felt the referee was incorrect and didn’t hold back during BT Sport’s live commentary.

The former Wales international said: “I thought that was a penalty. I thought Kepa come out, rash, with pace, and if you watch it his head actually catches Lacazette, Lacazette goes over. For me that is a penalty.”

Danger to the game

Savage’s analysis of the potentially decisive moment is not totally wide of the mark, but his words set a very dangerous precedent. He is correct in saying that Kepa rashly emerged from his line and he is also correct that there appears to be a slight touch from the Chelsea man on the Arsenal striker.

According to FIFA’s Laws of the Game, contact in and of itself does not equal a foul, instead, a foul should be awarded when a player “trips or attempts to trip” an opponent.

In full speed, Kepa clearly doesn’t trip or attempt to trip Lacazette. The goalkeeper comes for the ball, makes an attempt to win the ball, and slightly touches the Frenchman who goes down.

In normal speed, the “contact” looks nowhere near enough to award a penalty, but with the use of slow motion, that opinion tends to change. This is where the dangerous precedent comes into play.

The reality is that anywhere else on the pitch and without the benefit of dozens of slowed down replays, Kepa’s innocuous touch wouldn’t have received a second thought.

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In the penalty box, however, every incident is under increased scrutiny with VAR highlighting tiny amounts of contact that seem more serious when zoomed in and slowed down.

Football is at a dangerous crossroads where every minute touch in the box is being seen as a penalty due to the increased scrutinisation of VAR replays. VAR often makes these slight touches seem crucial and Savage was seduced into that trap.

Fortunately, Rocchi remained firm and allowed the game to progress avoiding a dangerous precedent to the rest of the football world that every slight impediment can now be a foul due to VAR’s magnified lens on any use of contact.

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Loads of Sunderland fans have been running the rule over a very dubious transfer rumour, as Barnsley reportedly want Luke O’Nien.

Sunderland had their hearts broken at Wembley for the second time this season last weekend, but the majority of fans are feeling optimistic about the coming campaign.

While it will of course take place in the third tier of English football, the Black Cats have a new owner, a new direction and a renewed sense of unity between players and fans.

One player who has formed a fantastic relationship with the fans due to his tireless work rate on the pitch and excellent fan engagement off it is O’Nien, who joined the club last summer from Wycombe.

According to a rather dubious looking report from Barnsley FC Rumours on Twitter, the Tykes are set to agree a £750,000 fee to sign O’Nien.

Black Cats fans have unsurprisingly found humour in the report, as that is a rather small transfer fee for one of their best players.

Take a look at some of the best Twitter reactions down below…

There is no doubt that some Chelsea supporters will be glad to see Maurizio Sarri leave the club this summer.

The Italian, who is expected to succeed Massimiliano Allegri as Juventus manager (Sky Sports), has failed to get all of the Stamford Bridge faithful to buy into his idea of football despite the fact that it has guided the Blues to the Europa League and third place in the Premier League. Well, that and Eden Hazard.

The Belgian, in what looked to be his last season at the west London club, was in incredible form and really carried his team at times.

Nevertheless, Sarri still deserves some credit for what Chelsea were able to achieve in the recently concluded season and looked to have them on the right path going into the next campaign.

Against Arsenal in the Europa League final, the Blues were brilliant, finally showing what can only be described as Sarri-ball.

“I am starting to feel like this Chelsea team is mine,” were the words of Sarri after the triumph in Baku (Daily Express).

Considering that, losing Sarri now would be disastrous for Chelsea. Likely to lose the foundation the 60-year-old started to build and the ideas he brought, it will be back to square one for the Blues, putting them another season behind Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City and Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool.

In Chelsea’s defence, it does seem like Sarri is pushing for an exit rather than being forced out. But with the club not exactly fighting to keep hold of their man in the dugout and clearly open to his departure, once again, they have essentially hit the reset button.

Chelsea fans, do you view Sarri’s expected departure as a blow? Let us know in the comment section below!

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He may be leaving when his contract expires at the end of the month, but Danny Welbeck still remains amongst the most popular figures in Arsenal’s dressing room.

With the campaign now over, many of the Gunners stars are on their holiday travels, and via a picture posted on Instagram, France international Alexandre Lacazette is one of those enjoying their time away from the pitch.

The 28-year-old’s snap shows the striker sipping on a refreshing drink, with the location of the post tagged as ‘far away from you’.

The picture drew a response from many of Lacazette’s footballing friends, but it was Welbeck’s response that really caught the imagination, noting the fact that the Frenchman seems to be particularly over-awed by his drink in the snap.

The former Manchester United man has been out of action for Unai Emery’s side since before the start of the new year after suffering a serious ankle injury, and though he closed in on a return towards the end of the season, failed to make his comeback.

Lacazette’s long-term future at Arsenal is also seemingly under threat, with reports in recent weeks suggesting that Spanish giants Barcelona could be contemplating a move for the star. Whether Lacazette leaves the Emirates this summer is very much up to debate.

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Rangers are interested in signing Anderlecht defender James Lawrence this summer, according to The Daily Record.

What’s the story?

With Joe Worrall heading back to parent club Nottingham Forest at the end of last season and Gareth McAuley’s contract coming to an end, Steven Gerrard is on the hunt for defenders that can help power his team towards competing for major trophies next term.

One player he is looking at, say The Daily Record, is Anderlecht centre-back Lawrence.

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The paper reckon that it will take £3m to land the Welsh international, but that Gerrard is a big admirer of the player and is weighing up making the move.

Worth that kind of cash?

The reported £3m is a lot of money for Rangers to invest in a single player, especially when two first-choice players are currently available in the position.

Nikola Katic’s progress was hampered last season by the loan move for Worrall, but fans have been impressed by the Croatian when he has played, often forming a solid partnership with Connor Goldson.

Gerrard’s priority should be on a more realistic and pragmatic signing to support Katic as back-up, rather than invest so heavily in a defender who would be expecting to feature more often than not.

The Croatian has shown he is good enough and deserves having the confidence of the manager to get much more playing time next term.

A move for Lawrence seems like a strange use of the limited resources available to the recruitment team at Ibrox this summer and this is one player they should pass on, especially coming off the back of a poor season with Belgian giants Anderlecht.

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Leicester’s defence may or may not have a different look to it next term.

The club have been linked with a £12m switch for full-back James Justin but speculation surrounding Harry Maguire’s future fails to go away.

Brendan Rodgers is hoping to keep his squad intact this summer but it’s been reported that should any club meet the Foxes’ valuation of £85m for Maguire they could let him go.

Two different types of swap deals could be on the cards according to The Sun who first claimed Eric Bailly and Marcos Rojo could move the opposite way in a transfer involving Maguire.

They then also suggested that Andreas Pereira could be used in a deal.

However, if the England international does depart, Leicester must think twice about using Filip Benkovic as his direct replacement.

On the chalkboard

The Croatian central defender, who is rated at £9.9m per Transfermarkt, spent his first season in British football by playing for Celtic on loan after initially signing for Leicester last summer.

As a result, the 21-year-old is set to return to the Foxes and reunite with Rodgers.

The Northern Irishman was able to get the best out of the Croatian in Scotland as the towering 6 ft 3 defender impressed considerably.

But despite that, it was an injury-hit spell that saw him miss 12 games and 49 days of action from January to March.

The problem was with his ankle and that same issue has now resurfaced on international duty with Croatia U21s according to Leicestershire Live.

In the report it makes reference to the fact Benkovic is injury prone, citing the issues he picked up in his native country for Dinamo Zagreb before arriving in the Midlands.

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In an interview with Sporske Novosti, the centre-back commented on his injury record and time at Celtic, saying: “That’s me, a magnet for trouble. Before the injury, everything was super, I was just too happy.”

The fact that Benkovic appears to be a magnet for injuries is hugely concerning and as a result, placing their complete faith in him next season would be foolish.

Leicester must ensure that if Maguire does leave for pastures new that a replacement from elsewhere is brought in.

There’s no guarantee that any player will stay fit over the course of a season but there is certainly a reason to be worried about Benkovic’s fitness following a reoccurrence of his previous problem this week.

Clearly, reaching the Champions League final is not enough for Tottenham.

Indeed it looks as if the new direction Mauricio Pochettino had been talking about via Sky Sports News is actually being followed, amid strong links to Jack Clarke (Sky Sports News), Tanguy Ndombele (Sky Sports News) and Giovani Lo Celso (BBC Sport).

Certainly pleasant reading for the hordes of transfer-deprived Tottenham fans but, while they are undeniably in need of recruitment, they also have a number of prospects that have bundles of potential. Exciting stuff.

A pertinent example of this comes in the form of Argentinian centre-back Juan Foyth, who could be destined for a big campaign.

The Tottenham man was made to watch from the sidelines as Argentina started their Copa America campaign in poor form. However, Foyth was given a starting role in their high-pressure final group game against Qatar, a game his country won despite not looking overly convincing.

Still learning, Foyth showed himself to be a versatile member of the squad, proving capable both in the centre and at the right of the defence. As per Transfermarkt, he made 14 appearances centrally, as well as three on the right-hand side and, largely, versatility is a quality Pochettino has favoured since arriving at Tottenham, regularly utilising the likes of Mousa Sissoko, Eric Dier and Heung-min Son in a variety of positions.

Obviously, 23-year-old Davinson Sanchez was brought to Tottenham in a stunning £42 million deal as reported by the Guardian from Ajax, who is usually recognised as significantly ahead of the Argentinian in the pecking order. Indeed, he still remains ahead, but by how much is debatable.

Where the Colombian struggled during a season impacted by injury (missing 12 games), Foyth took his opportunities well. Impressively, he finished the season with a pass completion rate of 85.2% in the league, 90% in the Champions League and 97.5% in Argentina’s recent win (per WhoScored).

Noted for his ability to play out from the back – if given the time – could truly blossom into a top-level Premier League player.

Tottenham fans, what did you make of Foyth last season? Should he be ahead of Sanchez in the pecking order? Will he ever be good enough to start? Comment below.