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Manchester United forward Jesse Lingard appears to be edging ever close to the Old Trafford exit door after being linked with moves to both Barcelona and AC Milan.

What’s the story?

The 28-year-old has entered the final years of his current contract with the Red Devils and has reportedly rejected the offer of fresh terms amid concerns over his limited playing time.

And now, according to ESPN reporter Rob Dawson, two European football heavyweights have joined the race for his signature.

Dawson’s report states that: “Barcelona and Milan are among a host of clubs monitoring the situation, and Lingard is open to moving to either Spain or Italy as he plots the next step in his career.

“The opportunity to sign an experienced England international on a free transfer during a time when finances have been restricted because of the coronavirus pandemic has made Lingard an attractive prospect for a number of Europe’s top clubs.”

Solskjaer may be concerned

News that Lingard appears to be attracting interest from huge clubs abroad will surely leave United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer feeling concerned.

The England international struggled following the Three Lions’ run to the World Cup semi-final back in 2018, but a short-term loan move to West Ham United back in January revitalised the versatile attacker’s career.

In just 16 Premier League appearances for the Hammers, Lingard scored nine goals and provided a further five assists for his teammates, playing a pivotal part as David Moyes’ charges finished in an incredible sixth position.

His outstanding performances saw Solskjaer reward him with another opportunity to impress at his boyhood club this season, deciding to sell Dan James to make room for Cristiano Ronaldo instead.

However, Lingard has found opportunities to impress extremely hard to come by in the opening weeks of the campaign, starting just one game and playing only 136 minutes of first-team football throughout 2021/22.

Despite his limited game time, the United academy graduate has still scored two goals and laid on an assist, adding further cause for frustration as he’s forced to watch on from the sidelines.

With Paul Pogba and Juan Mata also out of contract over the summer and Donny van de Beek’s future far from certain, the prospect of losing Lingard as well may be a daunting one for Solskjaer, and the Norwegian tactician could regret the creative talent’s departure.

And, in other news…Andy Mitten reveals promising Man Utd update, fans should be excited 

Nottingham Forest are currently without first choice left-back Max Lowe, who is out until the end of April with a groin injury, leaving 32-year-old midfielder Jack Colback to fill in at that spot as they seek a spot in the Championship play-off places.

However, if the East Midlands club acted on their interest five years ago in James Justin, they would have not only have had a 19-year-old Premier League potential defender on their hands back then, they would have had a more than adequate replacement for Lowe right now too.

According to The Sun back in 2017, Forest tabled a £1m bid for the then-Luton Town star, with former manager Mark Warburton of the belief that he was ready for Championship football.

However, that move failed to materialise, and Justin remained with the Hatters for another two seasons, helping them to extraordinary back-to-back promotions, leaving them with Championship football when he joined Leicester City in 2019 for a fee worth around £6m.

Establishing himself in his first season as one of the league’s biggest bargains that season, he ranked among full-backs in the Premier League across his debut campaign in the top flight in the top 4% for successful pressure percentage per 90 (36.5%), top 9% for successful dribble percentage per 90 (76.5%) and top 7% for ball recoveries per 90 (11.12).

Now aged 24 with a market valuation of £15.3m, a whopping 1430% more than the £1m fee Forest offered, the defender has become a versatile option for the Premier League side. He is able to fill in at both left-back and right-back when required, as well as possessing the intelligence and ability to play as a defensive midfielder.

Once described by Journalist Liam Canning as “class” and “first rate”, the Foxes full-back has begun to re-establish himself as a key man within Brendan Rodgers’ squad, having just returned from a cruciate ligament rupture injury, which kept him out of action for 331 days.

It’s clear that Forest made a monumental mistake not to sign Justin from Luton when he was a bargain pick-up for the club, and even if he couldn’t have helped the club towards promotion, he would have had an excellent re-sell rate that the Championship side have missed out on.

In other news: Cooper can finally axe Forest “bulldog” by signing “very impressive” £135k-rated gem

Crystal Palace remain in the market for further acquisitions this summer and have been linked with a move for Celtic midfielder Callum McGregor.

What’s the story?

According to French outlet Homme du Match, the Eagles are preparing a £7m offer for the technically gifted 28-year-old, just weeks after he was named club captain of the Glasgow giants following Scott Brown’s departure.

McGregor’s current contract still have three years left to run, meaning new Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou will not be forced to part ways with his prized asset.

Parish must swoop

The Scotland international has established himself as one of the top players in his homeland after rising through Celtic’s ranks, bagging 54 goals and providing 64 assists in 332 appearances for the Hoops.

In that time, McGregor has become of the most decorated stars in the club’s history, winning six Scottish Premiership titles, three Scottish Cups and five League Cups, securing his place in Celtic’s illustrious history in the process.

His impressive displays in the centre of the park have earned many plaudits down the years, including former Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers.

“He controls the tempo of the game,” said Rodgers. “He is a boy that takes the ball, so clever in his movements, and we ask him to go into certain area of the pitch to offer support. He has a dream of a touch that allows him to go forward.

“His feet are nice and soft, he doesn’t play backwards so much, and he has a great range of passes, and he has the personality now to play those passes, not just one that is secure to keep the ball, he can break a line with a pass and open up and split up the game for us.

“He has been absolutely exceptional in that role, but I say that everywhere he plays.”

With the departure of James McCarthy and Cheikhou Kouyate beginning the new season at centre-back once again, new Palace boss Patrick Vieira is keen to bolster his engine room options in the remaining weeks of the window.

Therefore, chairman Steve Parish must sanction a move for McGregor, supplying the Frenchman with a quality midfielder capable of controlling games and opening opposition defences up at will.

And, in other news…Crystal Palace suffer transfer blow in pursuit of £7m machine, Vieira will be gutted 

Former Manchester City star Michael Ball insists that the club never made a bid for Cristiano Ronaldo during the summer transfer window.

An amazing sequence of events saw City heavily linked with a potential move to sign the legendary Portugal international from Juventus.

However, not 24 hours later, Manchester United revealed that they had reached an agreement to sign their former star, who could make his second debut for the club this weekend against Newcastle United.

BBC Sport reported at the time that United struck a deal with the Serie A club to pay £12.8m for one of the best footballers of all time, and Ball has now insisted that there was no bid put forward by City.

Prior to United announcing his signing, reports claimed that the Premier League champions explored the option of bringing him to the Etihad Stadium, but ultimately decided against it.

Speaking to The Transfer Tavern, Ball said: “It was a strange one. The social media reports were all looking like it was City.

“I’ve been told City never made a bid for him. They spoke to his agent and wages wouldn’t be a problem but they never actually spoke to Juventus about bringing him to the football club.”

Reliable Aston Villa reporter Ashley Preece has admitted that there is a Plan B for Louie Barry in January.

Barry was one of a number of academy players who were sent out on loan in the summer.

He joined League One side Ipswich Town, however, things haven’t exactly gone to plan for the centre-forward, who is awaiting his first goal under Paul Cook.

The 18-year-old has started just three games in all competitions and hasn’t featured in eight of the Tractor Boys’ 10 third-tier fixtures.

Preece was asked by one Villa fan in a Q&A for Birmingham Live on Wednesday about Barry and if the club were planning on recalling the forward in the winter window.

He revealed that Villa are monitoring Barry closely, with a possible plan to end his Ipswich stay before loaning him to a League Two side in the New Year where he would feature more regularly from the off.

Villa fans react

@villareport shared Preece’s claim regarding Barry on Twitter on Thursday afternoon. This is what these Villa supporters had to say in reply…

“It was an absolutely terrible loan move.”

Credit: @DOUGLASLUlZ

“Knew this would be the case. Not worked out at Ipswich.”

Credit: @AVFCFaithful_

“Jedinak needs to send him to Swindon”

Credit: @MasonUTFV

“Hope so, he’s losing important development minutes on the pitch atm. I say bring him home and loan him to Walsall”

Credit: @MikeKnott10

“Would be sensible. Clearly working well for Kesler Hayden, and even the National League was clearly a good move for Archer last season. If Ipswich don’t want to play ball then there’ll be much better spots for him elsewhere.”

Credit: @rad_nauseam

“Get him to Swindon”

Credit: @ViIlaI_

In other news: ‘When is it gonna end?’ – Many Villa fans react as ‘ridiculous’ news confirmed.

A tenth-placed finish in the league last season was not good enough for Everton, especially under Carlo Ancelotti.

The Italian had been brought in to guide the Toffees to Europe’s top table but their chances of doing so have dramatically decreased since he departed Merseyside.

What’s the word?

Everton now have Rafa Benitez at the helm but they’ve struggled to improve their options ahead of the new campaign this weekend.

They have signed three players for a combined £1.7m and it doesn’t look as though they’ll spend too much more.

That being said, they should make a late dart for Sassuolo winger Jeremie Boga before the window closes.

Valued at just £18m by Transfermarkt, he was linked with a move to Goodison Park earlier this summer.

Speaking exclusively to Football FanCast this week, Forza Italian Football editor Conor Clancy suggested he should have been signed already.

He said: “There’s no competition between Boga and Townsend. Boga is twice the player Townsend is – and then some.”

Must sign him

Like Clancy states, Boga is evidently a better player than one of the players they’ve brought in.

Consequently, Benitez could take his Everton attack to a new level by securing the 24-year-old’s services.

Once of Chelsea, the left winger was described as a “supreme talent” by former Blues coach Michael Beale.

It’s clear to see why too. Boga is a nightmare for defenders and is capable of dominating opponents with his incredible dribbling ability.

During the 2020/21 campaign, the Ivorian completed 3.2 dribbles per match, a number that was only bettered by Rodrigo de Paul in the whole of the Italian top-flight.

If we compare that figure to those already at Everton, it’s streets ahead of anyone. Their top dribbler last season was Richarlison who completed 1.8.

To elaborate on his ability with the ball, Boga ranks in the 97th percentile for dribbles completed by players in his position across Europe’s top five leagues.

With the attacker displaying a keen eye for goal in Italy, he has the potential to be devastating in the Premier League too. This is a move that would improve Everton’s offensive line significantly.

AND in other news, Fabrizio Romano delivers worrying Everton transfer update, fans must be fuming…

Having gone through October and November without a win in the Premier League and with only one win from four games in December, it’s safe to say that Everton have not been in the best shape in recent months.

Luckily for the Toffees, the January transfer window is close to opening and could therefore give the Merseyside club the opportunity to potentially strengthen their squad and put them in a good place to put their poor run of form behind them end the season on a high note.

Speaking to Football Insider on what business Everton could do in January, pundit Frank McAvennie had this to say on the matter.

He said: “If Everton are going to stick with Rafa then it needs to be shown. The easiest way to do that is in January, you can give Rafa the players he wants. It’s no good sacking [Marcel] Brands and backing the manager if the form doesn’t turn around and you sack the manager anyway.

“It sounds like Rafa will have the chance to build his own team and that’s what he needs. You can’t judge him, it’s not his team. Let him bring four or five quality players in this January then let’s see where they are. I can see that happening.”

The prospect of Everton signing four or five quality players must be an exciting one for a lot of Toffees fans who will undoubtedly be hoping that Benitez can get 2022 off to a winning start in the same way he started the season off with Everton.

However, as McAvennie mentioned, with Everton saying goodbye to their director of football Marcel Brands earlier this month, it will be interesting to see how the club goes about their business in January and if Brands’ absence will have an impact.

In terms of which areas of the pitch the Toffees could look to strengthen in January, if they are aiming to sign a handful of quality players, they should definitely focus on signing at least one, if not more defensive players given how only Leeds United, Watford, Newcastle United and Norwich City have conceded more goals than they have so far this season.

Furthermore, they may have to replace the likes of Yerry Mina and Lucas Digne who have both been linked with an exit away. Consider Seamus Coleman’s age, too, and the idea of signing a few defenders certainly makes sense.

After all, the Merseyside outfit won’t start picking up more consistent point hauls until their defence gets better.

In other news: James 2.0: Moshiri could spark fury at Everton with swoop for “lazy” £380k-p/w flop – opinion

Tottenham Hotspur have been dealt a blow in their bid to bring Josko Gvardiol to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this summer.

What’s the talk?

That’s according to a report by German media outlet RB Live (via Sport Witness), who claim that, despite The Athletic recently revealing that the RB Leipzig centre-back is the first name on Fabio Paratici’s list of targets ahead of the summer transfer window, the chances of the 20-year-old linking up with Antonio Conte’s side this summer are extremely thin.

[snack-amp-story url= “https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/read-the-latest-spurs-news-transfer-rumours-gossip-martinez-dybala-spence-conte-2” title= “Read the latest Spurs news!”]

The report goes on to state that the Croatia international has himself ruled out a departure from the Red Bull Arena at the end of the current campaign, while it is also claimed that the defender is likely to have a release clause written into his contract that is much higher than the €50m (£42m) figure mentioned as the potential cost of his transfer.

Paratici must act

Considering just how impressive Gvardiol has been following his €16m (£13m) move to RB Leipzig back in the summer of 2020, in addition to Antonio Conte’s well-documented desire to add a top left-sided centre-back to his Spurs side this summer, Paratici simply must do everything in his power to seal the 20-year-old’s signing.

Indeed, over his 27 Bundesliga appearances this season, the £100m-rated Croatian has been imperious in the heart of the Leipzig defence, helping his side keep six clean sheets, as well as making an average of 1.7 interceptions, 1.7 tackles, two clearances and winning 6.1 duels – at a success rate of 58% – per game.

The £21k-per-week centre-back has also contributed in an attacking capacity, scoring two goals, providing two assists and creating four big chances for his teammates, in addition to making an average of 60.1 passes, 3.5 long balls and taking 0.9 shots per fixture.

These returns have seen the player who Ivica Olic dubbed “extraordinary” and claimed “everyone is talking about” average a rather breathtaking SofaScore match rating of 7.12, ranking him as Domenico Tedesco’s joint third-best player in the top flight of German football.

As such, it is clear for all to see that Gvardiol would make an excellent addition to Conte’s current options in his Tottenham backline, leading us to believe that Paratici simply must do all he can to land the 20-year-old prodigy this summer – even if it means breaking Tottenham’s current incoming transfer record of £54m.

AND in other news: Conte can finally axe £55m “disaster” as Spurs plot £60m bid for “unbelievable” talent

West Ham have been boosted by the news that Jesse Lingard’s contract talks with Manchester United have broken down and he looks set to leave the club.

The Lowdown: Lingard shines for West Ham

The 28-year-old was simply exceptional on loan for the Hammers last season, standing out as one of their best players despite only joining in January.

Lingard bagged nine goals and four assists in just 16 Premier League appearances, aiding West Ham’s challenge for European football – it almost feels a shame he hasn’t been around to participate in the Europa League group stages with the Irons.

The England international returned to Old Trafford in the summer but he has failed to force his way into Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s plans regularly, not starting a single league game.

He has been strongly linked as a target for the Hammers in the upcoming winter transfer window.

The Latest: Key update emerges

On Thursday, reliable journalist Paul Hirst took to Twitter to confirm that contract talks between Lingard and his current club had ‘collapsed’.

‘Lingard wants to leave, possibly as early as January’, the journalist said, also detailing that several teams outside of the Premier League are interested.

The Verdict: Snap him up, Hammers

Lingard’s desire to leave Manchester is a huge boost for West Ham, should David Moyes shore up his interest in a permanent move for Lingard in the near future.

In truth, his performances last season show that should be the case, with the England starlet slotting in seamlessly at the London Stadium and providing guile and end product in the middle of the park.

If the Hammers managed to sign the Englishman in January, it could be the extra sprinkling of magic needed to secure them a top-four finish – Rio Ferdinand hailing him as ‘amazing’ in the past, and it’s hard to disagree with that judgement given his form in east London last term.

In other news, West Ham are believed to have made an approach for one player. Find out who it is here.

Antonio Conte has already made his transfer demands known at Tottenham Hotspur, according to emerging reports…

What’s the word?

Football Insider claims the 52-year-old boss has asked Fabio Paratici and the Spurs hierarchy to sign his former Inter Milan colossus Stefan de Vrij in January.

It’s thought that the Italian has made the Dutch international a top priority in the upcoming transfer window following early discussions with the Lilywhites sporting director.

The 29-year-old centre-back is under contract until the summer of 2023 and could command a fee in the region of £40m, with the Serie A champions somewhat strapped for cash.

The report also suggests that Conte rates de Vrij even higher than long-time Spurs target Milan Skriniar, who nearly joined the north London outfit last year and again last January.

Defensive upgrade

A move for the Inter defender could help Conte fix one of Tottenham’s longstanding problems in defence.

Aside from the inconsistent and error-prone performances from the likes of Eric Dier and Davinson Sanchez, the Lilywhites have lacked a true leader at the back, perhaps since the departure of Jan Vertonghen.

“To be honest, that’s probably where it didn’t quite work out with Jose [Mourinho], we didn’t quite have enough leadership that we needed at the time,” claimed Harry Kane, via the Evening Standard, in May this year following the departure of the Portuguese.

Similarly, football.london have regularly made note of the lack of leaders within the current squad and a 23-year-old loanee from Atalanta in Cristian Romero doesn’t go to great lengths in fixing that.

Spurs’ goal difference of -7 is the joint-worst of any team outside of the relegation zone and goes to show that they are leaking goals (16) just as much as they are struggling to score them (nine), so a marquee man is needed at the back.

De Vrij, however, is a vastly experienced beast who is very much considered to be a defensive leader, having been capped 54 times by the Netherlands since August 2012 and registered nearly 200 appearances in the Italian top-flight.

The 6 foot 2 centre-back played a huge role in Inter’s triumph last term, helping them to the division’s best defensive record. He averaged an impressive 93.8% passing accuracy across 32 appearances, proving to be an excellent ball-playing defender.

He also averaged two aerial duels won and 1.3 interceptions per outing, via WhoScored, displaying his impressive intelligence and physical attributes.

De Vrij was once dubbed a “monster” by ex-Lazio teammate Mauricio, who told ESPN (via Football Italia): “Stefan is a great defender and deserves to be at a big club. He’s very tall, he’s strong and fast, he runs a lot – he’s a monster!” before later adding: “He’s a calm defender who never gets agitated.”

Transfermarkt currently value the Inter star at £45m, so it would be a considerable investment from Spurs but it’s one that could well be required if they are to change their fortunes at the back.

Conte desperately needs some leadership and there cannot be a better candidate than a player he knows better than most.

AND in other news, Nail in coffin: Conte’s arrival will have “lazy” £27m-rated Spurs star running scared…