A number of Liverpool fans have been calling for Marko Grujic to leave the Reds permanently this summer, following reported interest from Porto.
Jurgen Klopp acquired the services of the midfielder back in January 2016, interestingly making him his first-ever signing at Anfield.
Grujic has had a frustrating time of things at Liverpool, however, making just 16 appearances to date and scoring one solitary goal.
[freshpress-quiz id=“350790”]
The 25-year-old Serb has found himself way down the midfield pecking order, leading to loan moves to Red Star Belgrade, Cardiff City, Hertha Berlin and now Porto.
According to Record [via Sport Witness], the Portuguese giants want to sign Grujic permanently this summer, following an impressive spell there.
It is believed that Porto will try to sign the 10-time capped Serbia international for less than the €23million Liverpool wanted for him last season.
Liverpool fans call for Grujic to leave
It is a report that has gone down well with some Liverpool supporters, with a selection taking to Twitter to provide their thoughts on the matter, hoping to see their side make a quick buck off a youngster who seemingly isn’t going to break into the first team…
“Never really been given a chance for us, if we can get a good fee for him it makes sense to let him go”
Credit: @EESX1LFC
“Time for Michael Edwards to work his magic”
Credit: @velvet_thunder1
“Enter Mr. Edwards to work his magic”
Credit: @Yardie742
“Sell sell sell”
Credit: @Eric61342617
“Anything over £15million I’d take”
Credit: @TemnoLFC
“Yes please”
Credit: @ektelfc_petter
In other news, some Liverpool fans are unhappy with claims regarding two Reds players next season. Read more here.
Many Aston Villa fans have been left stunned at the decision by Gareth Southgate not to pick Ezri Konsa for England for the upcoming 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
As per a tweet from the Three Lions, Conor Coady, Eric Dier, Harry Maguire and John Stones have all been picked as options ahead of him in the centre of the defence, as well as his club teammate Tyrone Mings.
Ollie Watkins has also been picked by Southgate for his first senior international call-up, but several members of the AVFC faithful were still left to question why Konsa was not selected with them for the three qualifying games against San Marino, Albania and Poland coming up.
It could have been the perfect opportunity for the 23-year-old to show what he can do ahead of the Euros in the summer, but now it looks more unlikely that he will make that squad given his recent omission.
Aston Villa fan reaction to Konsa omission
These Villa supporters fumed after hearing of Konsa’s omission on Twitter, with one fan saying that they were ‘shocked’ while another branding it as ‘scary’:
“Insane how Konsa didn’t make it but Dier did”
Credit: @ComboedOW
“I hope Konsa chooses Portugal now. Ridiculous he’s not included.”
Credit: @JAnnetts_
“Fully deserved for Watkins – struggling to understand how Dier gets in ahead of Ezri Konsa though! #utv”
Credit: @LeeGibson6
“Well done Ollie, but where’s Konsa?”
Credit: @marls74
“Konsa isn’t that’s shocking. Scary how this man picks his squads”
Credit: @andylynch80
“Shocked to not see Konsa but congratulations Ollie and Tyrone”
Credit: @avfcfanxoxo
In other news, find out what transfer update on one Villa star has left fans talking here!
Speaking exclusively to The Transfer Tavern, former England international and football pundit Steve Howey has explained how Tottenham Hotspur star Harry Kane could leave north London at the end of this season.
Kane has arguably been one of Spurs’ shining lights this season, alongside the likes of Son Heung-min and Tanguy Ndombele, with the Englishman proving pivotal over these last few campaigns for Tottenham.
Howey claims Kane could be ‘prised away’ from Spurs
The 27-year-old has also been tipped to potentially break Alan Shearer’s Premier League goalscoring record (The Athletic), and Howey believes that he could be ‘prised away’ from Spurs at the end of this season if Jose Mourinho’s side continues on this run of form.
“I wouldn’t be massively surprised if he was prised away at the end of the season if Tottenham struggle,” explained the former Newcastle United and Manchester City defender.
“It must be frustrating for him. He knows he’s at the top of his game and it just depends on what he wants out of his playing career.
“He’ll want to score goals and he’ll want to break Alan Shearer’s record but he would surely want to win things as well.
“Unless Tottenham change and Mourinho is allowed to bring in more top-quality players, I think it’s going to be another season
where they look good, but don’t actually do anything.”
Transfer Tavern take
Whether or not Kane does opt to depart remains to be seen, but he has been touted with a move away to the likes of Man City very recently (talkSPORT).
He could want to have an end to his career laden with silverware and Tottenham may well face losing him if they cannot provide that competitiveness to compete for major honours.
In other news: Spurs star return is ‘not even close’ according to Mourinho, find out more here.
Former Scotland international Alan Hutton believes that Eddie Howe is the “better choice” that Celtic can choose from over Rafael Benitez.
Howe over Benitez?
Neil Lennon recently resigned from his position as the club’s manager in what was his second stint in charge at Parkhead – following a desperately disappointing 2020/21 campaign.
John Kennedy has taken charge of the Hoops for the remainder of the campaign, with the green half of Glasgow 18 points behind their arch-rivals Rangers in the standings.
Several names have been linked with taking Lennon’s place, including both Howe and Benitez – as well as Frank Lampard who was recently dismissed by Chelsea.
But Hutton believes that the former Bournemouth boss would be Celtic’s best option, despite the amount of success that Benitez has had over the years.
“What do you do? Do you go for experience? The likes of (Rafa) Benitez and people like that are getting bandied about, I don’t see that happening,” he told Football Insider.
“I think what looks more of a better choice to me is the likes of Eddie Howe. He’s a standout to me because he’s young, used to having to build teams with not huge amounts of money.
“He’s been very successful in his career already. I think you need that kind of hungry manager that loves what he’s doing, loves to build. He fits that bill for me.
“Someone like that could be a good appointment. It’s whether they could entice him up to do a job in Scotland or not.
“It’s a huge decision and it’s one that I’m sure they’re not taking lightly.”
Transfer Tavern Verdict
This is quite an eye-opening statement for Hutton to make. We believe Celtic should consider all of the options available to them right now – not just one man in particular.
The fact that Benitez has managed and triumphed at some of the biggest clubs in world football though should not be overlooked. Let’s not forget, the Hoops simply have to regain the Scottish Premiership title at the first time of asking – second place is last place in Glasgow.
Of course, the pressure would be on almost immediately if the results didn’t go their way, but we still think that Benitez would bring a stronger hand than Howe.
In other news, Celtic contact “fantastic” manager as news from Hoops source emerges.
West Brom could well have a star of the future waiting in the wings right now.
Callum Morton broke onto the scene last season, clinching promotion from League Two with Northampton Town, and he’s continued his impressive form in another loan spell, this time with Michael Appleton’s Lincoln City.
The young Baggies prospect models his game on two players, one of which has deep ties to the Hawthorns. He told BirminghamLive: “I base my game on the likes of Jamie Vardy and Shane Long.”
If he can become half the player of Vardy, or another Long in the Midlands, then Albion are going to be onto a major winner.
In his first month at Northampton, the 21-year-old striker bagged five goals in seven appearances to clinch the fourth tier’s ‘Player of the Month’ award. He then went onto fire the Cobblers into the playoff final by scoring a crucial brace.
Morton would go onto score at Wembley too, sealing promotion to League One.
That season, the West Brom prodigy notched the best conversion rate of anyone in the division, scoring a total of eight goals from 24 shots (33%), whilst he also led the lead for prolificacy, as 83% of his goals scored were on target, as per FBRef (via Scouted Football).
He has since gone on to impress under the former Baggies U23 boss. At the weekend, he fired home a crucial equaliser in the League One promotion race to help the Imps deny their rivals, Sunderland, at the Stadium of Light.
Morton was graded a 7.5/10 by the local press, who claimed he “didn’t see much of the ball at times but made lots of good runs and show great strength and footwork for his goal.” Further going back to those Vardy and Long comparisons.
That was his second goal since returning from a serious and long-term injury – the young gem is certainly getting picking up where he left off.
Despite never featuring for the senior side, Morton’s work ethic was duly noted by Slaven Bilic during his time in charge. And after offering the emerging starlet a new contract, the Croatian waxed lyrical to the Express & Star:
“I spoke with him a lot of times, he wasn’t training with the group, but I had a lot of chats with him. I didn’t know him as a player but to see that character – he has got something special. He is made of steel.”
Now under contract for another three-and-a-half years, Morton could well emerge as their future in the striking position. You can forget Rayhaan Tulloch, Owen Windsor and Jamie Soule for now, it’s the 21-year-old who looks best equipped for a shot in the big time.
AND in other news, Better than Grant: Dowling made big West Brom error over £12.6m-rated “special player”…
Tottenham Hotspur could be set to benefit from their special relationship with Real Madrid this January transfer window, according to reports…
What’s the word?
SemferrSport claim that Spurs are among the teams eyeing a move for Spanish right-back Alvaro Odriozola as he’s no longer in the plans of Zinedine Zidane.
It is thought that he is likely to leave either this month or during the summer with Dortmund, PSG and AC Milan also keen on his signature.
Daniel Levy secured a sensational return for Gareth Bale, as well as the arrival of left-back Sergio Reguilon from the La Liga giants in the summer, so could he strike a third time?
Trippier successor, finally
On the face of it, a new right-back is the last of priorities for Jose Mourinho.
However, he is clearly yet to settle on either Serge Aurier, who was at Spurs before he arrived and Matt Doherty, who he signed from Wolves for £15m only five months ago.
Last season, Mourinho admitted that he was afraid of the Ivorian’s defending, so it was no surprise when he bolstered the position at the first opportunity, but the pair of his current options have split game time thus far.
Aurier has started 13 of his 14 appearances in all competitions, whilst Doherty played 17 times too. Perhaps a move for Odriozola settles the debate instantly for the 57-year-old?
It could be argued that Spurs are yet to truly replace Kieran Trippier, who swapped north London for the red side of Madrid in July 2019.
In short, Mourinho has not fully trusted Aurier, he’s sold Kyle Walker-Peters and he hasn’t considered starting new signing Doherty in every game, so this pattern begins to hint towards why a fresh option in the role is needed.
Odriozola cost Madrid around €35m (£30m) two years ago but after a lack of game-time last term, he was sent to Champions League winners Bayern Munich on loan, where he won the aforementioned competition as well as the Bundesliga.
Throughout the course of his career, he has proven to be a valuable attacking outlet, averaging 1.3 key passes, one dribble and 0.9 crosses per game, via WhoScored.
When compared to the current Spurs squad, those numbers would rank him third behind Harry Kane and Heung-min Son for key passes and ahead of all of Spurs’ full-backs for dribbles per game in the Premier League this season too.
During his final campaign at Spurs, Trippier averaged an impressive 1.8 key passes per game, so both Aurier and Doherty have a lot more to do to match that total, whereas Odriozola is only a fraction behind having barely featured for Madrid recently.
That hasn’t stopped the four-time Spanish international from impressing Los Galacticos legend Michel Salgado, who dubbed him “spectacular” and one of the “two best right full-backs in Spain.”
Odriozola has also been lauded for his pace by Sociedad president Jokin Aperribay, who once said: “He’ll be one of the quickest players in La Liga.”
The rarely-seen speed demon has all the characteristics that’ll please Mourinho, in very much a similar nature to Reguilon, and given everything said above, Daniel Levy would be a wise man to sanction a swoop for the Madrid ace this window.
If the opportunity arises, Spurs should strike. They could finally find a long-term solution at right-back.
AND in other news, £27m-rated beast who won ONLY 35% of his duels badly let Mourinho down last night…
Dean Smith must unleash Ross Barkley against Wolverhampton Wanderers a week on Saturday amid reports Aston Villa could welcome the Chelsea loanee back from injury.
Barkley missed the Villans’ 2-1 defeat at West Ham United on Monday night after sustaining a hamstring strain inside the opening minute of last month’s loss at home to Brighton and Hove Albion.
The blow was expected to see the 26-year-old miss two fixtures but could sit out just the Irons affair, after Friday’s clash with Newcastle United was postponed amid an outbreak of coronavirus at the Toon’s Darsley Park training facilities.
Smith will gain the short-term benefit of having longer to prepare for next week’s Midlands Derby with Wolves as a result of Friday’s fixture being pushed back, and could receive some welcome news once Barkley undergoes further assessments on his hamstring injury.
According to the Express and Star, there is a chance the Chelsea midfielder will be passed fit to face Nuno Espirito Santo’s high-flying Wolves, who sit two points above the Villans in seventh ahead of visiting Premier League title-holders Liverpool on Sunday night.
Smith is mindful of the risk in rushing Barkley back from injury ahead of Villa’s packed festive schedule, which sees the Birmingham-based outfit play five games in 16 days between December 12’s derby with Wolves and a trip to Chelsea on the 28th.
Villa are hopeful scans over the next week will reveal Barkley has overcome his hamstring strain, allowing the £19.35-rated midfielder to earn his seventh Premier League start in claret and blue.
Barkley had started Villa’s last six top-flight fixtures and provided a hand in two goals (one scored, one assisted), having taken over duties in midfield from Conor Hourihane.
Smith accepts Hourihane was disappointed with being benched and left to play just 15 minutes before replacing Barkley at West Ham on Monday, but his reasoning for switching the Republic of Ireland international out for the Chelsea talent would justify doing so again at Wolves.
“Conversations can be difficult but if you’re just speaking to the players with honesty then you usually find a way through that,” Smith said, via quotes by BirminghamLive. “I wouldn’t say it’s easy but it’s part and parcel of your job.
“We’d played two, won two and Conor had come off in both games. We signed Ross and I felt we needed to go a different way against Liverpool given who we were playing against. I explained that to Conor and, yes, he was disappointed because he had been involved in the first two games, but we felt we’d brought in a real, high-calibre, different type of player.”
Smith will need to go in a different direction against Wolves than he did against West Ham, with Hourihane offering no tackles, interceptions, clearances, aerial duels won, dribbles attempted or key balls at the London Stadium while directing one of his two shots off target, per WhoScored.
Barkley, meanwhile, continues to rank highest among the Villans’ midfielders for his number of successful dribbles (2.18), shots taken (2.0), key passes (3.09) and second-most final third passes (14.55) per 90 minutes in the Premier League, per SofaScore, despite his injury.
AND in other news, Dean Smith must demand more from his “erratic” £75,000-per-week Aston Villa favourite.
Former Premier League referee Mark Halsey has compared a recent potential red card to the one that was shown to Wolves star Joao Moutinho’s a couple of weeks ago.
Nuno Santo’s Wolves side face Manchester United in the Premier League this evening and any potential sending off for Bruno Fernandes against Leicester City would have meant that the Portuguese star wouldn’t have been able to feature in tonight’s match. The midfielder, however, stayed on the pitch against Leicester after scoring and assisting in the 2-2 draw.
Fernandes had already been booked but the former Sporting man evaded a second yellow despite a clear foul on Jonny Evans near the touchline (as per BBC Sport).
Wolves will be ‘disappointed’ with the Fernandes decision
Halsey, talking exclusively with Transfer Tavern about Fernandes and the fact that he wasn’t sent off against Leicester. He compared the situation to that of Moutinho, who was shown a second yellow card against Aston Villa. Halsey believes that Moutinho got sent off for ‘nothing’ against Villa and Wolves fans would be ‘disappointed’ by the fact that Fernandes wasn’t dismissed – especially since both decisions were made by referee Mike Dean.
The former referee said:
“I think Wolves fans will be disappointed because when they go back to Wolves versus Aston Villa a couple of weeks ago, Moutinho got sent off for a second yellow for nothing and that was Mike Dean too. I suppose Wolves fans will have a bit of a grudge against Mike but this is one of those things that is subjective. I think that Mike got [the Fernandes] one right, I wouldn’t want to see a player sent off for a second yellow card like that.”
Moutinho had committed a foul on Villa’s young star Jacob Ramsey and that led to his sending off as Santo’s men lost the game 1-0 at home.
Fernandes’ presence could harm Wolves
In the current campaign, Fernandes has picked up the fourth-highest rating in the Premier League – 7.67. He has scored ten goals while picking up six assists as well (as per Whoscored).
This shows the impact that the midfielder has had in the Premier League and his presence could harm Wolves since he wasn’t sent off for his challenge on Evans.
Halsey has previously said that Moutinho didn’t deserve a second yellow against Villa and while Fernandes wasn’t sent off anyway, it is understandable why Wolves fans would feel undone by Dean because of rather inconsistent decision-making from the official meaning that one of United’s best players will be free to play this evening.
In other news, Wolves have been linked with a move for Luka Jovic – read more about it here.
Celtic’s 2020/21 woes continue after they fell victim to St Mirren’s sword this afternoon in the Scottish Premiership. The sixth place Saints put in an incredible performance to topple the reigning league champions and any chance of catching runaway leaders Rangers looks bleaker than ever.
The Hoops have two games in-hand, but their clash against St Mirren was also a chance to gain some momentum on their Glasgow rivals. But to Neil Lennon’s dismay, they couldn’t do enough to come away with a vital three points.
The Saints opened up the scoring after just 18 minutes through Kristian Dennis and despite an Odsonne Edouard equaliser, Celtic were dealt a blow just five minutes after the Frenchman’s strike. Ilkay Durmus put the game to bed before half time and the Bhoys showed little promise of even getting back into the match.
It was a poor performance all round for Celtic, but one man who keeps sticking out as a below par player is loan signing Shane Duffy, whose glaring error it was that led to winning goal on Saturday.
Duffy stats vs St Mirren
The Brighton loanee has hardly painted himself in gold since he joined the Glaswegians. He has been that much of an unreliable option that Celtic are reportedly considering cutting his short-term deal short before the January transfer window closes.
Duffy’s performance attracted criticism from Paul John Dykes on Twitter, who claimed that the centre-back was amongst Kristoffer Ajer, Nir Bitton and Scott Bain as Celtic’s worst performers today. However, he added that he thought Duffy was the “worst culprit” for the Hoops’ humiliating loss to St Mirren.
This isn’t the first time the 29-year-old has disappointed in Scotland. According to Sofascore, averages less than on tackle per match, which is worryingly low compared to Ajer (1.5) and Christopher Jullien (1.2).
For a centre-back looking to find the next step in his career, this statistic isn’t wowing anybody. With his links to Nottingham Forest potentially spelling an early end to his Celtic spell, Peter Lawwell should consider offloading the £6.3million-valued defender who is leeching him of £20,000 per week in wages.
In other news, Lawwell has pulled off smart Celtic business with Ben Davies coup…
Glasgow Rangers head coach Philippe Clement is quickly learning how difficult it is to be a success at Ibrox, with the huge expectations that come along with the job.
The Belgian boss won a trophy early on in his career with Rangers, lifting the League Cup with a win over Aberdeen, but has failed to make his mark in the Scottish Premiership.
His Gers side finished three points adrift of Celtic at the end of the 2023/24 campaign and are currently five points behind their local rivals after just five matches.
Clement is not the first manager to fall short in the Premiership as winning the division is a feat that has not been achieved since Steven Gerrard moved on from Ibrox.
Former Rangers manager Steven Gerrard.
His replacement, Giovanni van Bronckhorst, did enjoy some success in the dugout, though, as the Dutchman won the SFA Cup and reached the final of the Europa League, only to lose on penalties to Eintracht Frankfurt.
Things could have been so different for the former Rangers player and manager if he had landed one of his reported transfer targets during his first season in charge at Ibrox – Xavi Simons.
Rangers' reported interest in Xavi Simons
It was reported ahead of the 2022 January transfer window that van Bronckhorst wanted to bring the attacking midfielder to Glasgow to bolster his midfield.
The young gem’s contract with French giants Paris Saint-Germain was due to expire at the end of the season and Rangers were ‘leading’ the race to secure his services in January.
He was free to sign a pre-contract deal with a foreign team at the turn of the year and it was claimed that the Gers head coach wanted to build his team around the PSG youngster.
Unfortunately, Rangers were unable to strike a deal for him during the January transfer window and the midfielder ran down his contract with the Ligue 1 side before signing for PSV on a free transfer in the summer of 2022.
The Dutch giants were seemingly able to convince the youngster that they were the best place for his future, rather than Ibrox, and landed his services.
This meant that van Bronckhorst and the sporting director at the time – Ross Wilson – had to dip back into the market to find an alternative to Simons ahead of the second half of the 2021/22 campaign.
Rangers were eventually able to land another attacking midfielder before the end of the January transfer window, as they snapped up Juventus flop Aaron Ramsey on loan.
Aaron Ramsey's Rangers struggles
The Scottish giants swooped to land the Wales international on loan until the end of the 2021/22 campaign and it was reported that they splashed out a fee of £2m to secure his services for just five months.
That was a sizeable fee to pay for a short-term loan but they were bringing in a player with over 400 appearances for Arsenal and Juventus combined.
Despite his vast experience at the top level in Europe, Ramsey endured a frustrating spell at Ibrox and only managed two goals and two assists in 13 appearances in his five months at the club.
Of the nine Europa League matches Rangers played during his time in Glasgow, the Welsh flop played 86 minutes across three outings and was an unused substitute in four games.
Ramsey did have a huge say in how the season ended for the Gers in that competition, however, as the midfielder came on with two minutes to go in the final against Frankfurt and was the only player to miss a penalty in the shoot-out, which lost the final for van Bronckhorst.
Appearances
7
Goals
2
Assists
1
Big chances created
0
Tackles + interceptions per game
0.8
As you can see in the table above, the experienced dud did not provide exceptional performances in the Premiership in his limited time on the pitch, with a decent but unspectacular return of two goals in seven games.
Former Scotland forward Frank McAvennie claimed, after the Europa League final, that Ramsey was the latest “big name” that “couldn’t hack it” at one of the Glasgow clubs, which is backed up by the midfielder’s struggles during his time at Ibrox.
Meanwhile, the player van Bronckhorst wanted to sign before Ramsey arrived – Simons – has gone from strength to strength since that season.
Xavi Simons' current market value
As per Transfermarkt, the attacking midfielder’s current market value stands at around €80m (£67m) and that is a significant jump from the €1.5m (£1.2m) he was valued at in December 2021, around the time of the link to Rangers.
Simons produced a staggering 22 goals and 12 assists in 48 matches during his only season with PSV in the Netherlands, before PSG activated a buy-back clause as part of the compensation for losing him on a free the previous summer.
The French giants have subsequently sent him out on loan to German outfit RB Leipzig in the last two seasons, and the 21-year-old magician has thrived in the Bundesliga.
Simons, who has been capped 22 times by the Netherlands, has racked up 11 goals and 16 assists in 47 appearances in all competitions for Leipzig to date.
Appearances
32
Goals
8
Big chances created
14
Assists
11
Key passes per game
2.5
As you can see in the table above, the Dutch starlet provided a huge threat as both a scorer and a creator of goals for Leipzig in the Bundesliga last season.
Meanwhile, no Rangers player managed more than ten assists and no midfielder in the squad provided more than 1.7 key passes per game in the Premiership last term, which highlights how impressive Simons’ return in a major European league was in the 2023/24 campaign.
Ramsey’s huge struggles during his expensive loan spell at Ibrox and the Dutch wizard’s incredible rise, in performance and value, since Rangers wanted him suggests that Wilson may look back on that window with regret, as van Bronckhorst’s Rangers story could have ended differently had he landed his main target.
The £300k Rangers signing who was sold for more than Bajrami is worth
The Light Blues played a blinder by developing and selling this midfield wizard.