Rangers confirmed on Friday afternoon that attacker Josh Windass has signed a one-year contract extension at the club, prolonging his stay in Glasgow to the summer of 2021.
The versatile 24-year-old has been in fantastic form for the Light Blues this season, scoring 12 goals and providing 8 assists in 30 appearances.
That attacking contribution has ensured he’s become a trusted member of Graeme Murty’s first team and with the room to improve further, it’s again a positive bit of business by Rangers, after also extending the contract of James Tavernier earlier in the week.
Having made a number of signings in January, it now appears the decision makers at Ibrox are intent on securing their established talents to the best years of their career.
Supporters are absolutely delighted and while Windass’ performances have frustrated some this season, most fans are in agreement that the new contract is great news.
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Looking to move to a more “upscale” club, Brahimi is believed to be agitating for a transfer away from Granada this summer. The 24 year old is rumoured to be interesting Roberto Martinez and Mauricio Pochettino at Everton and Tottenham respectively. One of Algeria’s brightest attacking talents, the midfielder is expected to start tonight against Germany as the Africans’ look to avenge “the Shame of Gijon” in 1982.
After spending much of his career with Rennes, Brahimi spent the 2012/13 campaign on loan with Granada before making the move permanent last summer. The Spanish side cleverly inserted a release clause believed to be around £12 million, a fee which any interested club will likely have to meet to secure the Algerian’s services.
Predominantly selected as a left winger, the 24 year old is also capable on the opposite flank, cutting in to operate on his preferred left foot. In La Liga last season, the midfielder completed 164 dribbles, the most of any player in the division. The impressive total saw the winger record an average of 4.7 dribbles per match, a figure surprisingly surpassing the likes of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
As the second striker off of Islam Slimani, Brahimi delivered an outstanding performance in Algeria’s recent 4-2 victory over South Korea. The 24 year old linked up with Sofiane Feghouli to good effect on a number of occasions and helped himself to a goal. The winger also delivered the cross for Slimani’s crucial equaliser in the draw against Russia, a result which secured Algeria’s qualification at the expense of Fabio Capello’s side.
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However, Brahimi certainly needs to improve upon his end product if he is to successfully make the grade at his next club. Despite these dribbles, the Algerian only ended the season with three goals and four assists in La Liga, figures that certainly should be higher. Considering the 24 year old’s ability to ghost past players, Brahimi really needs to be recording a greater offensive contribution.
Undoubtedly a gifted individual, £12 million could be a gamble on a midfielder that certainly has a few rough edges. Considering Tottenham’s wealth of options in that area of the field, a transfer to Everton would appear to make more sense at this stage. If Martinez reckons he can coax out an improved output from Brahimi, £12 million for the Algerian could just be a gamble worth taking.
Reading manager Brian McDermott believes his side’s loss to Arsenal in the Capital One Cup on Tuesday can only make them stronger.
Reading were 4-0 up against the Gunners before eventually losing 7-5 after extra-time in what has been labelled as one the greatest comebacks in the competition’s history.
But McDermott, whose Reading team currently sit third from bottom in the Premier League after failing to win any of their opening eight fixtures of the season, feels his side will learn from it and subsequently become stronger.
He told Sky Sports: “Everyone was in shock in the dressing room afterwards. We were really disappointed with the outcome.
“Things went against us in the game but we were 4-0 up and we understand we needed to finish the job off.
“We didn’t manage to do that but we’ll learn from it and get stronger.”
McDermott also recognises that his team need to improve defensively in order for them to start winning games and climbing up the table.
“The hardest thing in this league is to score goals and we are scoring goals. The easiest thing is to defend the goal and as a group we need to do that better,” he added.
“Individual errors have cost us and every time we have made an error this season it has cost us with a goal. So we need to cut the errors out and, once we do that, we will win games.”
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Reading travel to fellow strugglers QPR, who are also looking for their first league win of the season, on Sunday afternoon.
According to reports in the Daily Echo, Southampton and Ajax are in talks over a deal for midfielder Dusan Tadic, which is worth €17.1m (around £15m) according to Dutch media outlet De Telegraaf.
What’s the word, then?
Soccer Football – Premier League – Southampton v AFC Bournemouth – St Mary’s Stadium, Southampton, Britain – April 28, 2018 Southampton’s Dusan Tadic celebrates at the end of the match REUTERS/David Klein EDITORIAL USE ONLY. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or “live” services. Online in-match use limited to 75 images, no video emulation. No use in betting, games or single club/league/player publications. Please contact your account representa
Well, the Daily Echo says that Dutch media had reported that a move for the Serbia international was imminent, which has shocked Saints fans on Twitter, however they say that talks are ongoing and that a transfer is still some way from being concluded.
The Daily Echo report that negotiations are likely to be finalised in the end with the 29-year-old wanting a return to the Netherlands following four years in England with Saints, and while the fee of around £15m has been mooted, the south coast outfit are likely to try and get as much as they can for the Serbia international seeing as he still has two years left on his contract at St Mary’s.
Southampton’s club-record offer for James Maddison earlier this week suggested that Mark Hughes is anticipating the exit of Tadic and is looking for a central attacking midfielder to replace him.
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How did Tadic do during the 2017/18 campaign?
It was a tough campaign for Southampton and the Serbian, who scored six goals and provided a further three assists in 36 Premier League appearances as Saints narrowly avoided dropping into the Championship following four successive top-eight finishes.
Three of those six goals came in the final six top flight fixtures as he stepped up when his club needed him to, and while he has 24 goals and 35 assists in 162 games for the south coast outfit, he hasn’t been as effective in general over the course of the previous two seasons as he was in his first two years at St Mary’s.
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Are Southampton right to sell him?
In a word, no.
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While Tadic wasn’t at his best last season, he is still the club’s most creative player and one of their biggest goal threats on the pitch, and to let him go for around £15m considering they only just nearly suffered relegation would surely be a huge mistake.
Vice-chairman Les Reed has made some poor calls in recent years by giving former boss Mauricio Pellegrino more time than he should have as well as splashing out a club-record fee for Guido Carrillo during the January transfer window, but selling a key player in Tadic when they could go all out to keep him would be his worst error in years.
It feels like James Ward-Prowse has been around for many more years than he actually has been because of how long he has been in and around the Southampton first team and with his involvement for England at youth level, but he only turned 23 years of age back in November.
While Saints have been renowned for bringing youngsters likes Theo Walcott, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Luke Shaw and Calum Chambers through from their academy and into the side in recent years, before they have moved on to pastures new, the same can’t be said of Ward-Prowse who has failed to attract interest from the bigger clubs in the Premier League.
The midfielder has made 195 appearances in all competitions for the south coast outfit since making his debut as a 16-year-old in a League Cup tie against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park in October 2011, but he has failed to fully unlock the potential he looks to have at his fingertips.
He has never put in the consistent performances for his team that would firstly see him be a regular fixture in the starting XI, and subsequently catch the attentions of the top six sides in the Premier League to perhaps give him an opportunity to leave St Mary’s like so many of his old teammates have in the past.
One of the main issues for Ward-Prowse has been that all of the managers he has played under – Nigel Adkins, Mauricio Pochettino, Ronald Koeman, Claude Puel and now Mauricio Pellegrino – have failed to integrate him into the club;s preferred 4-2-3-1 formation, as they have struggled to find a position for him where he can really shine.
The 23-year-old ideally prefers to play in a central midfield role – as he often did when he captained the England U21 side previously – but that has often not been possible for Southampton in the Premier League because of the presence of the likes of Morgan Schneiderlin, Victor Wanyama, Oriol Romeu and club captain Steven Davis in the team over the years.
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Ward-Prowse has also been trialled in the No 10 role behind the striker – like in the 2-0 defeat against Watford at St Mary’s earlier in the campaign – and it was a failed experiment with the midfielder not having the creative eye or turn of pace that is probably required to be a success there.
The Portsmouth-born star is known for his decent delivery and his set-piece ability though, and in that respect he has often been deployed on the right side of the 4-2-3-1 system by Puel and then Pellegrino this season, with four goals and four assists in 30 Premier League appearances under the Frenchman last term earning him his first call-up to Gareth Southgate’s full England squad in March 2017, as he picked up his first cap as a substitute against Germany.
Like many of his teammates on the south coast, the 23-year-old lost form towards the end of the 2016/17 campaign – he failed to score or assist in his final seven top flight outings of the season – and he only started three of their opening 12 Premier League games under current boss Pellegrino this term, ending the match as an unused substitute in three of those.
It looked as though it was going to be another disappointing campaign for Ward-Prowse, but things finally started to go his way in December and into 2018, with a tireless and selfless performance out wide helping Saints pick up a much-needed goalless draw against Manchester United at Old Trafford on December 30.
The midfielder then scored the winning goal in his side’s 1-0 win against Fulham in the third round of the FA Cup at Craven Cottage, before he followed that up with a brace in the 2-2 draw at Watford a week later.
The 23-year-old had always been known for his danger from set-pieces, but now he was making a real impact in the final third too with not one of those three goals coming from direct free-kicks.
However, they are of course still important and Jack Stephens netted the equaliser from when he guided Ward-Prowse’s delivery into the net against Brighton and Hove Albion, while the pair also combined in Southampton’s latest 3-2 win against West Bromwich Albion at the Hawthorns last weekend, when Stephens head home his teammate’s corner.
The midfielder then went one better when Wesley Hoedt and Mario Lemina intervened as Sofiane Boufal looked to take a free-kick away from him, and the Englishman duly curled low into the corner past Ben Foster for what proved to be the winning goal.
Soccer Football – Premier League – West Bromwich Albion vs Southampton – The Hawthorns, West Bromwich, Britain – February 3, 2018 Southampton’s James Ward-Prowse celebrates scoring their third goal Action Images via Reuters/Peter Cziborra EDITORIAL USE ONLY. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or “live” services. Online in-match use limited to 75 images, no video emulation. No use in betting, games or single club/league/player publications. Plea
Ward-Prowse is currently undroppable and that is something that hasn’t been said very often during his Southampton career.
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He is consistently making an impact from open play – as well as from set-pieces – which Saints fans haven’t seen before, and he is proving to be an influential figure on the pitch because of his work rate as the south coast outfit look to avoid being involved in a relegation battle in the coming weeks and months.
One thing is for sure, with England lacking options and quality in midfield areas in general, if the 23-year-old maintains his current form then he will force himself back into the England squad prior to the World Cup this summer, and perhaps even book himself on the flight to Russia.
Is it better to be in the Premiership dissatisfied or the Championship satisfied? That’s the problem currently confronting West Ham fans.
They’ve appealed to the devil in Allardyce and gained all the glory that comes with success.
Now they’ve got the money, the fame, their games on Sky Sports, and the benefit of Alan Shearer’s analysis on Match of the Day. They’ve got away trips to Old Trafford, to Anfield and to St. James’ Park, the London derbies against Arsenal, Chelsea and Totteham. They’ve got a new ground in the Olympic Park. They’ve even got Andy Carroll.
But are they happy? Not one bit.
When Sam Allardyce took over West Ham, they had just been relegated to the Championship. Their financial situation was dire and they needed an immediate return to the Premier League to stem the blood flow. A season out of the Premier League was a bad. Two would be a disaster.
Allardyce met the expectations of a return to the promised land in his first season. In his second, he exceeded expectations. More than simple survival, Allardyce achieved mid-table mediocrity.
Standards set, it was always going to be hard for Allardyce the third time round. The West Ham fans had got a taste for safety. And it tasted boring. With their peril long forgotten, the fans wanted excitement. Is that so much to ask? I mean, what’s wrong with a little fun?
But excitement is not Allardyce’s thing. It’s never been Allardyce’s thing. The Hammers fans were willing to accept this when the future of the club was at stake, but now their prospects appear safe, they want to taste the danger again.
Anything would be better than this. Anything that would end the monotony.
And they may just get what they wished for. It looks increasingly unlikely that Sam Allardyce will not be the manager of West Ham next season after the heckling that followed victory over Hull.
And there are few managers available who would represent as safe a pair of hands as Allardyce. West Ham fans may insist that they’d accept relegation to the Championship if it meant that could go back to playing the ‘West Ham way’. But the desperation to hold onto such vague ideal seems ludicrous in modern football.
Remember ‘boring, boring Arsenal’? Remember when Liverpool’s philosophy was pass and move, and then about keeping it tight, and now about pass and move again? Remember when Stoke’s whole game plan seemed to be about taking long throw-ins, and then they stopped taking long throw-ins, and now score the least amount of headed goals in the Premier League?
Remember when Manchester United were good?
Things change in football.
When West Ham appointed Allardyce, they were in danger and needed stability. Now they’ve got stability, they’re bored, and want danger again.
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But this isn’t something that is idiosyncratic to West Ham, or West Ham fans, or the fans of clubs whose ‘ethos’ is to play attractive football. It’s part of the very nature of the football fan. To support a football team is to exist in a permanent state of dissatisfaction, punctured only by brief moments of ecstasy.
The West Ham supporter’s need for safety has been satisfied, but only to be replaced by a new need for entertainment. Unfortunately for the West Ham fans, their insatiability may just take them back to the Championship.
When back in the Championship, most would again trade their ideals for glory.
Eric Black has thrown his weight behind rumours suggesting Harry Redknapp is favourite to take over at Blackburn, according to the Daily Mail.
Black was placed in temporary charge last month following Steve Kean’s dismissal, and celebrated his first win in five attempts against Sheffield Wednesday at Ewood Park on Wednesday night.
Venky’s are yet to make a decision over who will permanently replace Kean in the Rovers dugout, with Blackpool manager Ian Holloway and Molde’s Ole Gunnar Solskjaer reportedly under consideration.
Redknapp has also emerged as a serious candidate and Black, who urged the clubs owners to make a swift appointment, has expressed his admiration for the ex-Tottenham manager.
“Harry is a top manager, right up there in the top echelons,” he said. “It would be a sensational appointment for Blackburn Rovers.
“Harry has proved it over the years and he’s worked at the highest level – what he sees as a challenge or deems to be a positive is up to him.
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“But he’s certainly an exceptional manager. He’s top, top quality candidate.”
Tottenham fans have been debating a possible swap deal that would send Mousa Dembele to Inter Milan, and the overwhelming majority of fans are on board.
Tottenham are seemingly preparing for life without Mousa Dembele, and it’s looking increasingly unlikely that the Belgian beast will sign a new contract in North London.
Dembele will turn 31 this summer, and with 12 months left on his contract Spurs might be wise to cash in on him, despite his important to the team.
According to a recent report from Corriere dello Sport (via Calciomercato) claimed Inter Milan could offer Ivan Perisic to secure Tottenham’s midfield maestro.
Perisic has previously been mentioned as a target for Spurs, so getting the powerful winger in return for Dembele could be quite the coup.
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The 29 year-old, who is expected to star for Croatia in Russia this summer, grabbed eleven goals and eight assists in 37 Serie A games last season.
Pochettino is desperate for more goalscoring firepower to take some pressure off Harry Kane, and a swap deal for Perisic would certainly help in that regard.
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Fans are getting behind the idea too, as 70 per cent said they would back a swap deal.
According to the Daily Express, Newcastle United are actively working on a deal to sign Atletico Madrid’s experienced French striker, Kevin Gameiro.
It is believed that Mike Ashley has allowed Newcastle to move for the 30-year-old, and the fee could be in the region of £16m.
What’s the story?
Despite Mike Ashley’s established reluctance to spend sizeable fees on transfer targets, it is being reported that the owner has allowed Rafa Benitez to pursue a move for the former Sevilla forward, Kevin Gameiro.
Despite scoring 16 goals and providing seven assists for Atletico last season, the arrival of Diego Costa has rendered the French striker surplus to requirements, and Newcastle are seemingly keen to exploit his availability.
If a move for Gameiro were to materialise, it would force the Magpies to match or even better the club record fee that they paid to sign Michael Owen from Real Madrid in 2005.
What will Gameiro bring?
Throughout the entirety of his professional career, the French striker has displayed his impressive capability to score goals. To date, he has scored 183 goals in 466 games, and he has contributed to 27 goals in 56 games for Atletico Madrid. Accordingly, he almost averages either a goal or an assist every game – a truly impressive return.
Newcastle United have been deprived of goals this season, having only scored 22 goals in 24 league games. The fact that Joselu is the club’s leading scorer in the league, with only four goals, is illustrative of the woes that the Magpies have experienced in front of goal.
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The vastly experienced 30-year-old is highly regarded for his proficient finishing ability and his tendency to play through balls. He provides excellent threat when attacking set-pieces, which will be of exceeding benefit as Rafa Benitez looks to negate his side’s attacking problems. He would be an excellent signing for the Toon.
Manchester United midfielder Juan Mata believes that the club’s mini training break in Dubai could help them to fulfil their ambitions between now and the end of the season.
With the Red Devils out of the FA Cup, they used their weekend off to travel to the Middle East for a mid-season break.
The short getaway has been far from a holiday, with the United squad training hard away from the glare of the English media as they look to get their ailing season back on track.
David Moyes’ men have endured a difficult start to the campaign, with their poor form having effectively ended any hopes of retaining their Premier League crown while leaving them a whopping 11 points adrift of fourth placed Liverpool – who have a superior goal difference.
Mata – recent arrival at Old Trafford – feels that their Dubai training camp has helped him to settle in and will boost the club’s chances of pushing for Champions League qualification:
“The club thought a few days of work far from Manchester would be good for us, in order to recharge our batteries with a view to the final stage of the season,” he is quoted by the Daily Star.
“We fly back to Manchester to get ready for our next game in the Premiership and we hope to start a good run of results.
“These kind of breaks always help to make the group even stronger and to switch off a bit from the different competitions and the tight schedule,” Mata said.
“Personally, these days are good for me to settle even more in the team and share these moments with my team-mates and also, obviously, to train hard and get used to the new working patterns after just three weeks in the club.”