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Crystal Palace have joined Newcastle United in the race to sign Atletico Madrid right-back Kieran Trippier, 90min report.

The Lowdown: Trippier’s situation

Trippier, labelled as ‘outstanding’ by Gareth Southgate, made the move to Spain from Tottenham back in 2019 in a deal worth just shy of £20m.

Since then, he’s made 83 appearances under Diego Simeone, helping Atletico win La Liga last season.

He’s out of contract at the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium in 18 months’ time and wanted a return to the Premier League in the summer, and it seems as if he won’t be short of options in 2022.

The Latest: Palace name-checked

90min shared a story on Wednesday afternoon, suggesting Newcastle are set to offer the 31-year-old a club-record contract.

They then go on to add that Trippier is still keen on a Premier League return, with Palace, Aston Villa, Everton and Manchester United ready to make a move, should Atletico be open to selling the England international.

The Verdict: Freedman would need to smash club-record

90min suggest that Atletico would demand a fee in excess of £39m from Newcastle for Trippier. Should Palace be the ones to make their move, you’d expect there would be no change to that fee, meaning Dougie Freedman would need to smash Palace’s club-record in order to bring Trippier to Selhurst Park.

Patrick Vieira currently has three right-backs to choose from, with Joel Ward a regular and winning the club’s Player of the Month award for October.

On that basis, if Palace are willing to go big in January, then perhaps they should look at bolstering other areas of the pitch, with just one left-back and no right midfielders at the club. [Transfermarkt]

In other news: ‘I will flip’ – Many Palace fans react as ‘class’ transfer news emerges. 

Liverpool are in need of a Gini Wijnaldum replacement and there is one midfielder who arrived with a lot of hype and expectations at Old Trafford. However, Donny van de Beek fell way short last season and despite this, former Liverpool star Paul Stewart can’t see the Red Devils letting one of their players go to Anfield.

Van de Beek was very impressive during Ajax’s famous Champions League run in the 2018/19 season and he was one of a few players who didn’t leave in the immediate aftermath, but despite spending another season in the Eredivisie it doesn’t appear to have helped his career.

The Dutch international was handed just four Premier League starts all season, something which would have been unimaginable when he joined for £35 million last season, and Ajax legend Sjaak Swart has claimed that Van de Beek would be wonderful for Liverpool, who are on the hunt for Wijnaldum’s successor.

Jurgen Klopp will have an extensive list of midfielders he would like to sign this summer and although Van de Beek has undoubted quality, it would be unlikely to see him turn up at Anfield, according to Stewart who spoke exclusively to Football FanCast:

“They may not want to sell him to one of their biggest rivals in Liverpool because if he turned out to be a big success then it would be a kick in the teeth for them.”

Liverpool are not the only side linked with a move for the midfielder as Arsenal have reportedly made contact about the possibility of signing the 24-year old, this comes after their pursuit of Martin Odegaard appeared to stop before it had even begun.

Van de Beek’s frustrating season was summed up and brought to an end when he picked up an injury when with the Netherlands and that ended up ruling him out of the European Championships.

Marcus Rashford is an injury doubt for Manchester United ahead of their Premier League clash with Leeds United this weekend.

The Whites are back in action on Sunday afternoon, welcoming their Mancunian rivals to Elland Road in what has the potential to be an entertaining contest.

Leeds have taken four points off Manchester City and Liverpool in their last two matches and they should be confident heading into the game.

[freshpress-quiz id=“351040″]

Rashford a doubt for Leeds-Man United clash

While Marcelo Bielsa will have to make do without attacking duo Raphinha and Rodrigo, their opponents could also be missing a key man.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has confirmed that Rashford hasn’t trained all week, and while he will return on Saturday, it gives him little time to prove his fitness.

Transfer Tavern take

Rashford being out would undoubtedly act as a boost for Leeds, considering the 23-year-old goal’s threat, invariably from the left-hand side. He has scored 10 goals and registered eight assists in the league so far this season, highlighting his pedigree in the attacking third.

Indeed, he has been hailed as a “role model” by none other than England team-mate Phil Foden, who himself is having a season to remember.

Luke Ayling will be a relieved a man if Rashford doesn’t play, although there is the potential of Paul Pogba playing out on the left instead, giving the Leeds right-back a different kind of challenge.

In other news, Leeds have suffered a double injury blow ahead of the Man United game. Read more here.

An exciting Newcastle United claim has emerged regarding their plans for the upcoming transfer window…

What’s the talk?

Sky Sports reporter Keith Downie has hinted that PIF will be looking to spend more than £50m in the market this summer, whilst not going overboard with their dealings.

He told GIVEMESPORT: “I think their plan is to run it like a business and I think their plan will be to keep costs as low as they can.

“I very much doubt they will manage to keep it to £50million, but I do think what they’ll try and do is bring money in, in terms of player sales as well.”

Supporters will be delighted

Newcastle supporters will surely be delighted with this claim.

Last summer, the only senior addition to the squad was the signing of Joe Willock from Arsenal for a reported £25m. He joined on a permanent basis after spending the second half of the 2020/21 campaign on loan and was the only player brought in by Mike Ashley to bolster Steve Bruce’s squad.

The lack of investment in the team came back to bite the Sports Direct supremo as the Toon became just the fourth team in Premier League history to not win any of their first 14 matches in a top-flight season.

In the last 14 games in the top flight, however, Newcastle have picked up 31 points and are third in the form table behind Manchester City and Liverpool.

The difference between these two stretches of games? The appointment of Eddie Howe and the January transfer window. PIF came in to take over the club from Ashley and invested in the squad by bringing in Kieran Trippier, Dan Burn, Matt Targett, Bruno Guimaraes and Chris Wood in the winter market.

Their work in January gave Howe the ammunition he needed to fire Newcastle to safety and that is exactly what he has done, with the Magpies currently sitting 14 points clear of the bottom three. This suggests that the signings earlier this year gave the club a massive lift, and that is set to save them from relegation.

Therefore, supporters will be excited by the prospect of PIF dropping more than £50m on further signings, as it means that Howe will be backed again and given what he needs to take the Toon to the next level. He will not be hung out to dry like Bruce was by Ashley, which is why fans will be delighted with the owners’ plans.

They will also be buzzing with the claim that PIF still want to run the club like a business and are not going to risk the financial future of Newcastle. The consortium are not looking for instant success which could lead to irreversible financial damage further down the line, and this measured, thought-out approach will surely go down well with the fanbase as it shows ambition and clarity over what the owners want to do.

AND in other news, Journalist reveals two names on Newcastle’s transfer “list”, Eddie Howe will be excited…

After being ruled out for the past few weeks through injury, Jack Grealish is closing on a return to first team action with Aston Villa, and it’s come at the perfect time just before their Premier League clash against Tottenham.

The England international hasn’t played for Dean Smith’s side since missing the game against Leicester back in mid-February, and in his absence, Villa just haven’t been the same.

Grealish has been the team’s main source of creativity, registering 12 assists in the Premier League alone. That’s not to mention the six goals he’s scored in the competition as well.

Without him in the side, Villa have struggled badly for both performances and results, with just three goals in their past five games in the Premier League – that run has seen them pick up just five points out of a possible 15.

Speaking to BBC 5 Live Sport, former Villa player Kieran Richardson raved about Grealish and what he brings to the table, saying: “He’s a phenomenal talent. When I was there playing he was coming through and you could see from the get-go he was a top, top player.

“The way he can just ghost past players, he’s so strong, he rides challenges. Even if you knock him down he’ll get back up and keep going, he won’t shy away from anything. He’s very confident on the ball, he’ll take the ball whenever he can. He’s a top player and the way he’s built as well, he’s massive, his legs are absolutely massive. Even when I first saw him I was like ‘This guy’s a unit’.”

With The Athletic’s Gregg Evans claiming that Villa will make a late call on the midfielder, Smith must surely unleash the 1.8m-tall (5 foot 10) star on Spurs tonight.

As well as his ability, Grealish’s return could provide a much-needed lift to the rest of his teammates and get them firing too.

Meanwhile, Villa are making a big mistake over signing this midfielder…

An update has emerged regarding Manchester City’s pursuit of Almeria striker Umar Sadiq.

What’s the talk?

According to Spanish outlet AS, the Premier League champions are readying an opening bid for the Nigerian this month. City are ready to swoop for the former Rangers forward and are planning to send him on loan to Ligue 1 side Troyes if they are able to land him before considering him for the first team in 2022.

The report claims that Almeria want €30m (£25.8m) for Sadiq, who has a €60m (£51.6m) release clause in his contract. It remains to be seen how much the Cityzens are willing to spend on the 24-year-old.

Pep would love him

This is an interesting move by Manchester City and could be viewed in one of two ways. One is the more cynical view that City are purely buying him for trading and profit purposes. For example, the plan could be to loan him to Troyes, hope that he can score 15-20 goals in Ligue 1 and then cash in on him and make a profit because another club in Europe may see his performances and offer Man City more than what they paid for him from Almeria.

City’s owners bought Troyes last year and the club sealed promotion to the top tier by winning Ligue 2 in the 2020/21 campaign. This means that they will be playing top-flight football next season and City could benefit from sending talent to France for them to play regular games at a respectable standard. This means that Troyes would be the ideal club for that situation to play out next term.

The other, more optimistic, view is that City are signing him with the future in mind, and that is the one we think this could be. Sadiq enjoyed a terrific season with Almeria as he was directly involved in 27 league goals in 38 games for the club, whilst also scoring twice in three cup matches.

He provided 20 goals and seven assists for Almeria in the league, which suggests that he is ready to make the step up to Ligue 1 and, potentially, the Premier League. Therefore, another year of development with Troyes in the French top flight could – as the report suggests – prepare him for City’s first team squad.

Txiki Begiristain could be striking gold with this move as the 6ft 2 beast could end up being a player worth chucking into Pep Guardiola’s first team squad. Guardiola could enjoy taking him in and coaching him into becoming a top striker in the Premier League, as he has already shown that he has the raw materials to be a good centre-forward, consistently finding the back of the net in Spain.

The City manager could help him improve and turn him into a player who is able to make an impact in the Premier League, which is why Txiki could strike gold with this potential deal.

AND in other news, Txiki heading for disaster with “complete” £8.5m beast, MCFC fans will be frustrated…

Former Leicester City man Keith Gillespie insists that there is no need to panic over Jamie Vardy’s recent struggles in front of goal in an exclusive interview with Football FanCast.

The forward has scored 12 goals in 26 Premier League games for the Foxes this season but he has scored just once in his last 12 games.

He drew another blank at the weekend against Manchester City, as the Foxes lost 2-0, and his form has been alarming given his history of hitting the back of the net reliably.

In his first 12 games of the season, Vardy scored 10 goals, but Gillespie, who played for the Foxes between 2003 and 2005, insists manager Brendan Rodgers will have no concerns over the 34-year-old.

Indeed, Leicester have three other players who have scored over 10 goals this season, in Harvey Barnes, Kelechi Iheanacho, and James Maddison.

Gillespie told FFC: “Strikers do go through patches when they don’t score and things don’t go right for them. I think there was a period when they relied on Jamie Vardy’s goals so much but now Iheanacho’s weighing in, you had James Maddison before that, you had Harvey Barnes as well, so there wasn’t that reliance on Jamie Vardy week in, week out.

“You know what Brendan Rodgers thinks of Jamie Vardy because we’ve never, ever questioned it and gone ‘he’s only got one goal in 12 games, is he going to play the next game?’ Of course he’s going to play the next game because he’s still important to them.

“He’s an unselfish striker, the work rate that he puts in.”

Vardy has scored 20 goals or more on three occasions in the Premier League, in 2015/16, 2017/18, and 2019/20.

Many Rangers fans have been left to fume as Graham Spiers tweeted about ‘The Rangers problem’.

The Scottish sports journalist tweeted that the Glasgow club have been ‘trashed’ by various forms of media after footage emerged of the celebrations following their title win, calling it an ’embarrassment’.

Thousands of the Ibrox faithful took to the streets to celebrate after they were handed the trophy, with a minority causing trouble, as 20 people were arrested (firstpost.com).

Due to the current situation with the global pandemic, there were certainly some causes for concern, but Spiers has suggested that these acts of over-celebrating and violence in some cases are just a problem for the Gers, as if other Scottish clubs or events in the city have not caused the same kind of reaction.

Unsurprisingly then, his post did not go down well at all with several RFC supporters.

Rangers fans on Spiers’ post

These Rangers fans flocked to the post on Twitter to voice their fume:

“”The Rangers problem”. My word. I suppose for people like yourself, Graham, it’s easier to blame a club who turned you down rather than society as a whole. Much easier to point the finger, eh?”

Credit: @crmpicco

“You’re part of the problem”

Credit: @blupac82

“And here lies the reason you are not welcome at Ibrox mate.”

Credit: @torrygillick

“Hater”

Credit: @Magtruss

“Go away please”

Credit: @GayleAtkinson11

“Is it just a “Rangers problem” Graham?”

Credit: @BryanSpark2

In other news, find out what Helen Martin article gas left Gers livid here!

Following their promotion to the Premier League after a highly impressive Championship-winning season, Daniel Farke must axe returning Norwich City centre-back Timm Klose this summer.

With FC Basel recently confirming that they would not be taking up the option to purchase the 33-year-old following his loan spell at the club, Klose looks set to return to Carrow Road ahead of the 2021/22 campaign.

That the Swiss club are not taking up their option to buy the £450,000-rated defender may come as something of a surprise for Stuart Webber and Norwich, as the Switzerland international had been in rather fine form for the Super League runners-up this term.

Over his 28 appearances for Patrick Rahmen’s team this season, Klose helped his side to keep six clean sheets, as well as averaging 1.5 interceptions, 0.9 tackles and 6.1 clearances per game, culminating in an average SofaScore match rating of 7.03 – ranking him as the club’s eighth-best performer in the Swiss top flight.

However, these displays should not tempt Daniel Farke into welcoming the £20,000-per-week defender back into his squad ahead of their Premier League campaign, as his level of performance in the top flight for Norwich last season was simply not of the standard required to survive in the league.

Indeed, over his seven league appearances in the club’s Premier League jaunt in 2019/20, Klose failed to help Norwich keep a single clean sheet, while also making an average of one interception, 1.1 tackles and 3.6 clearances per game, in addition to averaging a SofaScore match rating of a mere 6.59.

As such, with the centre-back now being two years older, and likely slower and less fit, it would be an very unlikely scenario that Klose will be any better suited to Premier League football this time around, with it being a fair assumption to make that Farke – who previously claimed that the defender makes a number of “costly” errors for the club – will not utilise the 33-year-old all that often.

With the former Wolfsburg man still picking up a hefty wage at Carrow Road, it would seem highly advisable for Webber to do all he can to move Klose on this summer – something which would also free up a chunk of the club’s wage bill to possibly be spent on a potential new signing.

In other news: Ornstein drops colossal Norwich City transfer claim which will surely leave fans gutted – opinion

Preston North End feared that Celtic may have made a late swoop for midfielder Ali McCann on deadline day, according to The Sun (05.09.21, pg. 62), as cited by The 72.

The Lowdown: McCann on the move

Celtic were extremely busy in the final hours of the transfer window, bringing in Cameron Carter-Vickers from Tottenham with minutes remaining prior to the deadline along with sealing a late move for Georgios Giakoumakis.

McCann was also on the move, completing a switch from St Johnstone to English Championship side Preston with just five seconds to spare before the transfer deadline. The Hoops were linked with a move for him late in the window, but a £3m asking price appeared to put them off.

The 21-year-old actually cost just £1.2m, and it seems as if the Hoops may have tried their luck with a late swoop.

The Latest: Preston’s fear

According to The Sun (05.09.21, pg. 62), as cited by The 72, Preston were fearing a late hijack from the Hoops in the hunt for McCann.

Celtic had an extra hour until the Scottish window slammed shut, and if the Deepdale club didn’t get a deal over the line, they were worried that the Hoops could have acted after the English deadline.

The Verdict: Missed a trick

Transferred for just £1.2m, Celtic may live to regret not making their move for McCann this summer.

They have enjoyed success in bringing a young Scottish midfielder to Celtic Park from a fellow Scottish side in David Turnbull from Motherwell, so McCann could have been the next one to follow suit.

Dominic McKay brought in James McCarthy over the summer, while Liam Shaw penned pre-contract terms earlier in the year, but Celtic could be short in the middle following the departures of Scott Brown, Olivier Ntcham and Ryan Christie.

Hopefully it isn’t a repeat of the John McGinn saga back in 2018.

In other news: ‘Seriously?’ – Lots of Celtic fans react to Ryan Christie’s social media post