All posts by rastrear-estafeta.com

Tottenham Hotspur can secure a place in Europe next season with a win over Aston Villa this evening.

Ryan Mason’s side will seal at least a seventh-place finish with three points in North London but he has plenty to ponder in terms of team selection following their win over Wolves on Sunday.

There are questions over Gareth Bale’s fitness, whilst Ben Davies is unlikely to play for the club again this season, though the 29-year-old interim could welcome back Serge Aurier after he was a surprise absence at the weekend.

Japhet Tanganga deputised in his absence and did his chances of keeping his place no harm but there is reason to brutally axe him from the starting XI tonight.

Villa may have only won two of their last 12 matches but they will be buoyed by the return of skipper Jack Grealish after a lengthy spell on the sidelines – he’s a massive part of Dean Smith’s squad and is certainly their biggest threat.

Last season, he was amongst the Premier League’s most creative players. In fact, only Kevin De Bruyne (136) created more chances than Grealish (91). And that was on top of providing eight goals and six assists.

Despite missing the bulk of their games since late February, the 25-year-old playmaker is still on track to better those returns as he sits on six goals and ten assists, whilst averaging a whopping 3.2 key passes per game, which is an increase of 0.7 from last term, via WhoScored.

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He’s third overall for chances created (76) once again – four more than Spurs’ best creative outlet, Heung-min Son.

Tanganga has shone whenever he’s featured for Spurs since his debut last year, even impressing Jurgen Klopp on debut. “

“I didn’t know about him and it was a surprise. Our matchday analyst told me about him. He played well,” he told reporters, via football.london. “It was nice when the crowd cheered his name. It was his first Premier League game? Very impressive.”

Whilst former Spurs stars Gary Mabbutt and Darren Bent have also waxed lyrical about him. The former calling him an “excellent player” in an exclusive interview with Football FanCast, and the latter dubbing him “very, very exciting” to Football Insider.

However, given Grealish’s undoubted ability, the young 22-year-old gem could face his toughest test yet, so it may be wise for Mason to make the ruthless call and go for more experience, with Aurier back in training.

The £7.2m-rated England U21 international has to be an unfortunate casualty tonight, otherwise, the Spurs caretaker risks him getting torn apart by one of the Premier League’s best wide playmakers.

AND in other news, Spurs can forget about keeping Kane if Levy hires “exceptional” 48 y/o lauded by Pep…

Newcastle United are reportedly among seven clubs in the Premier League now eyeing up a transfer move for Dusan Vlahovic.

The Lowdown: Back of the queue…

It seems like every man and his dog wants to sign the 21-year-old, and the St James’ Park outfit are no exception.

Corriere Fiorentino reported earlier this week (via Sport Witness) that they joined the race to sign the Serbia international, although it will not be easy for them to meet Fiorentina’s demands.

Nonetheless, more clubs seem to be entering the hunt for his signature as the January transfer window draws closer.

The Latest: Premier League interest

As per 90min, Newcastle are one of seven English top-flight clubs now eyeing Vlahovic, with the others being Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal and Everton, while Juventus are also credited with an interest.

The player’s agents were in England earlier this month to engage in talks with Premier League sides, as their client is likely to be available for around £70m.

A well-placed source told the news outlet that some scouts think he could be a ‘better option’ than Borussia Dortmund superstar Erling Haaland, as he is ‘that good’ and ‘really at the top of his game’.

Vlahovic is under contract until 2023 but has rejected an offer to extend it, so Fiorentina now want to cash in and duly maximise the transfer fee they would receive by selling him.

The Verdict: Impossible?

With the sheer amount of competition for his services, coupled with the fact that the Magpies currently find themselves in a relegation scrap, it seems almost impossible that they would be able to attract Vlahovic, even with their new mega-rich owners.

Lauded as an ‘incredible’ striker by Serie A expert Conor Clancy back in June, Vlahovic has scored no fewer than 12 goals in just 14 matches in total across all competitions so far this season, also pitching in with three assists (Transfermarkt).

The 6 foot 3 beast will no doubt have bigger suitors than the Magpies over the next coming months, so it is now up to the new owners to show just how much ambition they have for the long-term project at St James’ Park.

In other news, NUFC are also tracking this famous ‘box killer’

Liverpool face another tough task at the weekend with a trip to Old Trafford to take on Manchester United on Sunday afternoon in the Premier League after securing a big 3-2 Champions League victory over Atletico Madrid in midweek.

In the Spanish capital, goals from Naby Keita and a Mohamed Salah double were enough to secure the win in their latest group game despite two goals from Antoine Griezmann, who was later sent off, restoring parity for a while.

Ox was impressive v Atletico

Looking ahead to the weekend’s big match against the Red Devils, one Liverpool figure who played a part in midweek that we feel should be in the starting XI to face United is Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

On Tuesday night, the ex-Arsenal midfielder came on as a substitute in the second half to replace James Milner.

During his time on the pitch, the 28-year-old completed 14 out of the 15 passes he attempted, had one shot on target, completed one accurate long ball attempt, made two successful dribbles, won five out of his six ground duels, and made one interception and three tackles. Those efforts earned him an impressive overall match rating of 7.2/10 according to SofaScore, higher than a significant number of Liverpool players who started the game.

This not only shows how useful a midfield option Oxlade-Chamberlain is for Liverpool but also why he should be in the running to start against United on Sunday ahead of the likes of Keita and Milner, who both failed to impress in midweek.

Oxlade-Chamberlain joined the Merseyside club back in 2017 from fellow Premier League side Arsenal in a deal worth a reported fee of £35m.

Since then, the £120k-per-week midfielder (according to Spotrac), has made 111 appearances for the Reds across all competitions, scoring 14 goals and providing 12 assists in the process.

So far this season, while Oxlade-Chamberlain may have made seven appearances for Jurgen Klopp’s side across all competitions, he has only started twice, making him a bit of an outcast. That is something he has apparently acknowledged, as it was recently reported that he could seek to leave the club in the near future to find regular game-time elsewhere.

However, in our view, we feel that this next match against United would be a great chance for him to show why he should be a regular starter for the Reds rather than just an impact sub.

In other news: Body blow: Liverpool suffer huge setback before Man Utd clash, Klopp will be gutted

Aston Villa and Leeds have both approached West Ham over a possible move for Manuel Lanzini, according to TEAMtalk.

The Lowdown: Gerrard’s huge January kitty

Steven Gerrard looks set to be a busy man in the New Year in what will be his first transfer window as Villa boss.

A new centre-back and a defensive midfielder are reportedly his main priorities, with Marvelous Nakamba suffering a serious knee injury in recent weeks.

He’s been promised a huge transfer kitty by NSWE, and it appears as if attacking midfielder Lanzini is a player of interest to Gerrard and sporting director Johan Lange.

The Latest: Villa’s enquiry

TEAMtalk shared a story on Wednesday evening suggesting both Villa and Leeds made it clear to the Hammers they are keen on the Argentine.

West Ham were open to an exit earlier in the season, but they have rebuffed approaches regarding a January transfer involving Lanzini.

The 28-year-old, labelled as a ‘top player’ by Darren Bent, has made 20 appearances in all competitions this season, with his three league starts coming in the last three fixtures.

The Verdict: Priorities

Gerrard and Lange’s main focus should be on a holding midfielder in January, so their failed approach for Lanzini shouldn’t be viewed as a disaster at this moment in time.

The club have just Douglas Luiz as the only available senior defensive midfield option following Nakamba’s injury. Should they get one in early next month, then perhaps a move for an attacking midfielder could be of use, with Jacob Ramsey the club’s only out and out attacking midfielder.

However, Gerrard has plenty of wide attacking talent on the books who could adapt to a central role, but losing Luiz alongside Nakamba and not bringing in a replacement could be extremely worrying.

In other news: ‘Disgrace’ – Lots of Villa fans fume as ‘ridiculous’ pre-Chelsea update emerges. 

Everton have landed a huge boost in the race to sign Lucas Vazquez after the Real Madrid maestro reportedly named Goodison Park as his preferred destination.

What’s the word?

According to a report in Spain, Vazquez has decided that he will leave the Santiago Bernabeu at the end of the season and he has his heart set on a reunion with Carlo Ancelotti and James Rodriguez.

Vazquez is due to be out of contract when his £113,000-per-week terms expire in June and he has not seen the La Liga giants reopen negotiations after he rejected the terms of a new deal.

The Spain international is now set to leave Real, unless there’s an expectational change in circumstances, and he has a wealth of admirers in Everton, Leeds United, AC Milan and Real Betis, while Valencia, Sevilla and SSC Napoli have previously been linked.

Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur and Atletico Madrid are also potential destinations, though Vazquez is now said to be considering a move to Merseyside as he knows what to expect if playing under Ancelotti.

Vazquez never made an appearance for Ancelotti during the Italian’s time in charge of Los Blancos, but the Everton boss apparently values how the £13.5m-rated winger has since developed and grown as a person.

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Should Everton sign Vazquez?

Everton’s alleged intention to bring Vazquez to Merseyside in the off-season to benefit Rodriguez is not new, with Defensa Central claiming at the start of the month that Ancelotti had targeted the Real Madrid forward as part of his plans to keep the Colombian on side.

It was thought that Ancelotti was pushing Everton to sign Vazquez as his arrival would help convince Rodriguez to stay at Goodison Park, as the Colombian had reportedly grown disillusioned by life in the Premier League and was considering a return to Spain.

But the Toffees can benefit from having Vazquez on the pitch, as well, as the soon-to-be free agent can allow Ancelotti to play with either a four or five-man defence after impressing in a right-wing-back role for Real Madrid this season.

Ancelotti has often rotated between naming two and three centre-halves this season, with a 4-3-3 his most-used system for Premier League games with it used on nine occasions so far. He has utilised three centre-back formations five times and two centre-half systems 23 times, per WhoScored.

It was also in a five-at-the-back that Everton hosted Manchester City in the FA Cup quarter-final on Saturday, with Seamus Coleman started at full-back over Mason Holgate.

Ancelotti has favoured Holgate in the role for 12 top-flight fixtures to Coleman on 10 occasions to date, in which they have contributed a respective 2.5 and 2.1 successful tackles, 1.6 and 0.5 interceptions, 0.3 accurate crosses from 1.6 and 1.4 attempts plus 0.3 and 0.5 key passes, per WhoScored.

Vazquez, meanwhile, has made 10 of his 22 La Liga outings this term as a wing-back, in which he has averaged three successful tackles, one interception, 1.4 accurate crosses from 5.8 attempts and 2.1 key passes.

That goes to show the Galacticos talent may not only create more goalscoring chances for the likes of Richarlison and Dominic Calvert-Lewin to fire Everton up the Premier League table, but also take some of the defensive burden away from Ben Godfrey and co. in the centre next season.

So, not only could Vazquez give Rodriguez a morale boost, but he could also give Ancelotti a competent and productive wing-back option without Everton paying Real Madrid a penny.

AND in other news, Everton are monitoring a £17m ace dubbed the next Erling Haaland…

Alan Hutton believes that Jordan Jones has played his last game for Glasgow Rangers despite his impressive form on loan at Sunderland in League One.

Hutton thinks Jones is finished at Ibrox

Jones moved to the Stadium of Light on loan in January and has done well so far for the Black Cats, scoring twice and providing three assists in nine league matches (Transfermarkt).

However, speaking to Football Insider, Hutton does still not believe the 26-year-old has a future at Ibrox. He said of Jones:

“It’s one of those ones where he had opportunities at Rangers. Gerrard put him in and sometimes we would see the best of him but not enough.

“Obviously the Covid issues, hampered by injuries, I’m not going to say I’m on the fence. I believe the time’s passed. He’s went down, he’s moved on, he’s playing well at a decent level and scoring goals.

“I just feel his time that Rangers, he’s had enough opportunities, it’s not quite worked out. The player has to think of himself as well, he obviously wasn’t happy when he was there.”

Difficult

On Wearside, Jones has shown he has plenty of talent, but it is hard to disagree with Hutton. Jones did break into the Gers’ starting line-up towards the start of this season, even scoring in a 5-1 win over Motherwell, but he betrayed the trust of both his teammates and Steven Gerrard when he broke virus regulations to attend a house gathering along with George Edmundson. That led to a seven-game ban (BBC), preventing him from playing on a regular basis for the 55-time Scottish champions.

In 19 matches for Rangers since making the move from Kilmarnock, that goal against Motherwell is the only time he has hit the back of the net. Quite frankly, that is not good enough, especially when he has Ryan Kent to contend with on the left wing. It seems only a matter of time before Jones leaves Ibrox on a permanent basis, as Hutton has predicted.

In other news, many Rangers fans hammered this man’s performance against Celtic.

Jamie Carragher warned Liverpool’s Sadio Mane about his behaviour during the first half of Sunday’s Merseyside Derby at Anfield. 

The lowdown

Tensions boiled over late in the first half after Everton midfielder Abdoulaye Doucoure fouled opposite number Fabinho.

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A ‘mini brawl’ ensued, in the words of one Sky Sports journalist, as players from both sides rushed to the scene.

Amidst the melee, Mane could be seen arguing with Allan and ‘pushing him in the face’.

Referee Stuart Atwell issued a yellow card to the Senegalese attacker, his seventh booking of the season in all competitions.

The latest

As he viewed the replay of the incident, Carragher slammed the forward.

“That’s just stupid from Mane,” the Sky Sports commentator said [17:17].

The verdict

You can understand why Carragher was frustrated with the £100,000-per-week man.

Indeed, he was arguably fortunate to avoid a red card following the incident, which would have made his team’s task far more difficult.

The laws of the game dictate that a player who deliberately strikes an opponent in the face with a hand or arm has committed violent conduct, unless the force is ‘negligible’.

That’s certainly up for debate, but you could argue that a player of Mane’s experience – this was his 258th Premier League match – shouldn’t be getting himself involved in such altercations, particularly when so much is at it stake for the title-chasing Reds.

In other news, this Liverpool superstar has been backed to sign a new deal. 

Spurs midfielder Gedson Fernandes has been linked with a move to Serie A club Torino recently and considering his lack of game time with the North London club, Daniel Levy should allow him to go back to Benfica so he can then move on to Italy.

The Portuguese youngster was brought in on loan from the Liga NOS side in January of last year but has managed just 14 appearances in all competitions.

The 22-year-old has failed to make a single appearance in the Premier League this season and was also left out of Jose Mourinho’s Europa League squad, so it seems clear that the former Real Madrid boss does not feel that the midfielder is of a high enough quality to be a regular in his team.

Whilst he did feature in the FA Cup win against Marine recently, Torino’s reported interest represents an excellent opportunity for Spurs to cut short his disappointing loan spell, and send him back to Benfica, which could also open up an opportunity for another loan player to be brought in.

The 22-year-old is reportedly earning £55k-per-week whilst on loan with Spurs and given that he has been with the North London club for 53 weeks now, Daniel Levy and the Tottenham board have shelled out nearly £3 million in wages for his services.

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You could certainly suggest this money has gone down the drain, considering his most memorable moment in a Tottenham shirt to date was perhaps his awful penalty in the FA Cup defeat against Norwich City last season.

Fernandes would feature in just 63 minutes of Premier League action last season and now that Spurs have added Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg in midfield, as well as Tanguy Ndombele establishing himself as a regular in Mourinho’s side, it seems extremely unlikely that he will feature in the top-flight any time soon.

Therefore, Spurs should certainly consider ending his loan spell early, as whilst he may not be currently good enough for Mourinho’s side, the £12.15 million-rated midfielder deserves the chance to play regular football elsewhere, something he could perhaps achieve with Torino in Italy, and such a move could get him off the wage bill tooo

And, in other news… Spurs will massively rue not signing £36.5m beast tipped to become the “best in Europe”

Celtic will terminate Olivier Ntcham’s contract ahead of the summer window, according to Football Insider.

The Lowdown: Ntcham’s struggles

Ntcham made the move to Ligue 1 side Marseille during the winter window. The central midfielder initially joined on loan with the option of making a deal permanent for around £4.5m in the summer.

He’s made just six appearances back in France and hasn’t done enough to convince Marseille to splash the cash on his full-time services.

That’s left the Hoops in a tricky position, and it seems as if they have now taken a huge decision on the player’s future.

The Latest: Celtic source shares update

A Celtic source informed Football Insider that the Hoops have no plans to welcome the midfielder back to Parkhead.

Ntcham has been told that he will be a free agent as of next month, just over four months on from the club wanting £7m for his services.

The 25-year-old made 147 appearances in green and white, scoring 24 goals and registering 13 assists.

The Verdict: McKay seems to have exploited a loophole

With no first-team manager or director of football in place, new CEO Dominic McKay may have been at the heart of this decision.

Ntcham signed a four-year deal back in 2018, however, it seems as if Celtic and McKay have exploited a loophole in that contract.

Football Insider claim that the Hoops always had the option to terminate the last year on his deal and aren’t required to pay his wages.

Ntcham is thought to be on around £15,000-a-week at Parkhead, so although the club won’t be receiving a fee for his services, at least they’ll be getting a player who earns more than the likes of Kris Ajer, Ismaila Soro and Vasilis Barkas off the books.

In other news: Odsonne Edouard sell-on clause revealed, find out more here. 

Everton’s inconsistent campaign came to an end in a simply disastrous fashion on Sunday afternoon.

The Toffees needed to win in order to give themselves a chance of qualifying for Europe but against the champions on Sergio Aguero’s Etihad farewell, there was only going to be one outcome.

The Manchester City legend scored twice from the bench as the Citizens wrapped up a stunning and dominating 5-0 win.

It was an embarrassing way for Carlo Ancelotti’s side to end the season and as a result, they will need to get the supporters back on their side swiftly.

One way they could do that is by securing the services of a player who lit up the Premier League’s final day; Gareth Bale.

The Welshman scored twice on his final appearance for Tottenham as Spurs secured continental football after beating Leicester 4-2.

This feels like a farfetched deal to complete but it’s one that’s been touted in the Spanish media with Ancelotti a strong admirer of Bale.

The duo linked up together when they were at Madrid, where the attacker racked up 39 goals and 31 assists under his stewardship.

Everton’s current manager clearly loves him, describing the veteran as one of Real’s most “dangerous” players when he was in the Spanish capital.

His wages of £250k-per-week might be hard to overcome but it’s a deal that’s also been given the green light by Marcus Bent, a man who has sources close to Goodison Park.

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Speaking exclusively to Football FanCast this weekend, he said: “I think that would be his [Bale] kind of club. I think he’d be the headline player, which he needs to be for his confidence and he would play week in week out alongside some great players.

“As I’ve spoken about before, Everton is a family club, they would take him in and give him the love that he needs.”

The Welshman struggled to hit the ground running when he returned to north London on loan this season but found electrifying form in the New Year. He eventually ended the campaign with 16 goals from just 34 outings.

A ruthless flying winger, Everton could well and truly start their window with a bang by signing the Wales international.

He knows the Premier League, has scored more goals than any other Toffees player besides Dominic Calvert-Lewin this season and they have a manager who knows how to get the best from him.

If the Merseyside outfit are serious about getting into the Champions League, this is precisely the type of acquisition they need to be making.

AND in other news, Worse than Holgate: £32k-p/w Everton dud who lost 80% duels will have Ancelotti fuming…