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Aston Villa are reportedly interested in signing Fulham defender Tosin Adarabioyo, according to Completesports.com.

The Lowdown: Romano’s transfer claim

Adarabioyo made the move to Craven Cottage last October for just under £1.5m. He made 34 appearances in all competitions under Scott Parker but couldn’t help the Cottagers prevent an immediate return to the second tier.

Reliable transfer expert Fabrizio Romano shared some news on the centre-back earlier this week. He suggested Adarabioyo could leave the club this summer and has a £10m buy-out clause in his current contract.

The Latest: Villa aren’t the only side keen

Completesports.com shared a transfer update on the defender on Wednesday evening.

They suggested that Villa, along with Newcastle United, Norwich City, Southampton and West Ham United are all interested in the player who Pep Guardiola described as an ‘exceptional person’ earlier this year.

The Verdict: A smart option?

Bringing in Adarabioyo for £10m could be a shrewd piece of business by sporting director Johan Lange.

It seems as if Villa are looking to offload Bjorn Engels this summer, and should they succeed in doing so, would be left with three senior centre-backs.

One injury to Ezri Konsa, Tyrone Mings or Kortney Hause may leave Dean Smith sweating, so bringing in a new centre-back could be handy.

Adarabioyo has a full season of Premier League experience under his belt, and at the age of 23, you’d expect he can still improve even further into a solid top-flight defender.

In other news: Villa linked with move for Chelsea teenager, fans react, find out more here. 

Manchester United appear to be leading the likes of Tottenham in the race to sign Benfica forward Darwin Nunez.

The Lowdown: Man Utd interest in Nunez

Described as an ‘absolute beast’ earlier this month during a podcast discussing his display against Liverpool, the Uruguayan appears to be a man in demand this summer following his starring campaign in Portugal.

The 22-year-old has scored a whopping 33 goals in 39 games, impressing as a centre-forward, second striker and left winger.

The Uruguay international was linked with a big-money move to Manchester last week, and a fresh update has now emerged in their pursuit of a possible club-record deal.

The Latest: United leading the way for Nunez

Sport Witness relayed an update from Spanish outlet AS regarding Nunez on Tuesday. They claimed that 22-year-old could link up with super-agent Jorge Mendes, who is set to meet with ‘several English clubs’ regarding the Benfica forward.

United are thought to be ‘in the lead’ following an ‘express request’ from new manager Erik ten Hag.

The Verdict: Huge

Cristiano Ronaldo looks likely to be the only senior centre-forward available to Ten Hag when he arrives, with Edinson Cavani set to depart Old Trafford over the coming months.

Therefore, bringing in an exciting young attacker who has been prolific this season in numerous positions seems to be a smart move going forward.

Benfica want €130m for Nunez, which equates to around £109m and would make him the most expensive United signing of all time ahead of Paul Pogba, but it could prove to be the perfect one for Ten Hag in what the Red Devils are hoping will be a new era for the club.

In other news: Ten Hag now wants Man Utd chiefs to sign ‘superstar’ attacker for free

Leicester City’s top four chances took a setback on Friday night with a humiliating 4-2 defeat at the hands of Newcastle United.

The Magpies surged into a four-goal lead at the King Power Stadium as Joe Willock and Paul Dummett found the net before Callum Wilson bagged a second-half brace.

Goals from Marc Albrighton and Kelechi Iheanacho in the closing stages gave a somewhat better complexion to the scoreline but it was too little too late for Brendan Rodgers’ men, who fell to an embarrassing reverse.

One man who struggled specifically throughout the game was the usually inspirational midfielder Youri Tielemans. Deployed alongside Wilfred Ndidi, the Belgian appeared to be overwhelmed by a ravenous Newcastle midfield who were aiming to seal their Premier League survival.

According to SofaScore, the former Monaco man lost possession on 16 occasions throughout the game as the hosts wasted so many opportunities to probe the visitors. Only Marc Albrighton was more careless in possession for the Foxes.

Whilst the £120,000-per-week midfielder contributed three key passes throughout the game according to WhoScored– the joint-most in the Leicester team – he was continually frustrating in an attacking sense.

[snack-amp-story url= “https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/latest-leicester-city-news%2c-transfer-rumours-and-more-abraham-demrial-maddison-rodgers-mckennie” title=”Latest Leicester City news, transfer rumours and more…”]

Of the ten crosses he attempted throughout the 90 minutes, he only completed three. He also attempted three shots but failed to trouble Martin Dubravka in the Newcastle goal, with none of his efforts finding the target.

Having been one of Leicester’s most pivotal players in an attacking sense this season, it was certainly a dramatic drop-off for Tielemans.

Elsewhere, whilst not his primary assignment, the Belgian barely contributed in a defensive sense, either. He did not complete a single tackle, interception, clearance or block throughout the game. The 24-year-old also did not win an aerial duel.

Whilst Leicester’s defence must shoulder much of the responsibility for a woeful performance against Newcastle, Tielemans was also marked largely absent as Leicester’s Champions League hopes took what could potentially be a devastating hit.

AND in more news, find out which other Leicester star was woeful against the Magpies…

Rangers could lose ‘a lot of experience’ this summer, with Allan McGregor, Connor Goldson and Steven Davis all poised to leave. 

That’s according to Jordan Campbell, the club’s correspondent for The Athletic.

The lowdown

As it stands, the trio will all be out of contract come 31 May. McGregor and Davis have both had two spells at Ibrox and now boast 421 and 333 appearances respectively for the club.

They’re also heavily decorated – the former has won 12 trophies at Ibrox in addition to the Player of the Year award in 2020/21, while the latter has won seven (and been named POTY twice).

Goldson, meanwhile, joined from Brighton and Hove Albion in 2018 and has featured 198 times.

The Englishman was a huge part of the squad that ended Celtic’s run of nine consecutive titles last season.

The latest

Campbell writes that McGregor, Goldson and Davis are ‘set to leave at the end of their contracts’.

He does, however, adopt a more optimistic tone on Leon Balogun and Scott Arfield, whose deals are both up at the end of the season too.

The hope is that securing extensions for those two ‘would offer some continuity’.

The verdict

McGregor, aged 40, and Davis, 37, are very much veterans. That’s reflected in their sub-£1million Transfermarkt valuations of £450,000 and £900,000.

Even if they were to stay, you’d imagine they’d only be signing a short-term extension, with retirement on the horizon.

But £7.2million-rated Goldson is yet to turn 30, and is seemingly on his way out during his prime years. Indeed, he’s attracting interest from the likes of West Ham United in the English Premier League.

He may not have claim to legendary status like the other two, but you could argue his departure will hurt the most.

In other news, Fabrizio Romano has some information for Rangers fans.

Midlands journalist Luke Hatfield insists that West Bromwich Albion are most likely to spend the money received from selling Matheus Pereira on a striker this summer.

The Baggies have seen the Brazilian move to Al Hilal in Saudi Arabia, although the fee has remained undisclosed.

Hatfield claims that the Championship club did want to receive £25m, although he doubts such a figure was met by Al Hilal.

Nevertheless, he expects the club to chase a new centre-forward before the end of the transfer window as the club plot an immediate return to the Premier League after their relegation last term.

West Brom currently have three options up front, in Callum Robinson, Kenneth Zohore, and Karlan Grant, and Hatfield has revealed that the Baggies have identified a new striker as a key potential acquisition.

He said: “I’m still unsure of the actual fee but I don’t think it’ll be at the level of the £25 million that they would have wanted for Pereira.

“Ultimately, if he’s making the noises that he is, rocking the boat a little bit, maybe Albion considered, ‘maybe we should get rid of him and get the money we can and then we can reinvest that in a striker’, which is a position they really want to fill.”

West Brom have already kicked off their Championship season, drawing 2-2 with AFC Bournemouth on Friday evening.

Wolves’ plans for this summer were thrown into disarray last week when Nuno Santo announced he’d be leaving Molineux behind.

It was a surprising reveal but it comes at a time where the club are at a crossroads.

They aren’t quite good enough to challenge the big boys in the Premier League but they’re a lot better than those sides heading for relegation.

The issue for Nuno, it seemed, was that he wasn’t going to be backed in the transfer window this summer.

After a rift with Jeff Shi, he took his leave and will now leave the club permanently after their clash with Manchester United last Sunday.

Who becomes the next head coach remains to be seen. Jorge Mendes clients Bruno Lage and Paulo Fonseca have been linked but so has Sabri Lamouchi.

The 49-year-old had an incredibly mixed spell with Nottingham Forest and after receiving the sack back in October, he now coaches Al-Duhail in Qatar.

Lamouchi initially had a phenomenal impact at Forest. In 2018/19, Martin O’Neill finished in 9th place but the Frenchman improved on that and guided them to 7th, just two goals away from a place in the play-offs.

It was a season that earned calls for him to be named the Championship Manager of the Season.

Known for playing with relentless speed on the counter-attack, his brand of football is similar to how Nuno operated at Wolves. The Old Gold enjoyed playing in this manner against some of the bigger sides in the division, sitting back and then hitting their defence with a ruthless breakaway.

[snack-amp-story url= “https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/read-the-latest-wolves-transfer-rumours-and-news-soumare-dias-dembele-marques-nuno-santo” title=”Read the latest Wolves transfer rumours and news!”]

There are further similarities between the two but unfortunately, they’re ones that don’t bode well.

After collapsing spectacularly towards the end of 2019/20, Nottingham Forest failed to win any of their last ten games with Lamouchi at the helm. That included their opening four matches of the current season as he was given the boot with Forrest sitting 22nd.

Lamouchi became stubborn and like Nuno, lacked a plan B and an extra cutting edge to inspire Forest.

Talking about their abject form last year, Danny Gabbidon said on Sky Sports (via Nottingham Post): “I’m looking at what they do when they have the ball, I can’t see what they’re trying to do.

“They move the ball too slowly, there’s not enough runners in behind, for me too many players wanting to come to the ball. I just can’t see the game plan when they’re in possession of the football.”

Forest had a bad habit of starting games slowly and then when they went behind, lacked the nous and system to be able to turn their fortunes around.

They scored just six goals during his final ten games in the dugout, a record that doesn’t bode well for a Wolves team hoping to be more attacking and assertive.

Nuno revealed at the beginning of the season that his team were going to try and be more dominant and attacking but that simply didn’t pay off. They ultimately ended the campaign in 13th; the worst finish they’ve had since being promoted.

Whether you’re happy to see the Portuguese depart or not, he should not be replaced by Lamouchi.

Shi would only be condemning Wolves to more mediocrity by hiring him. The Molineux outfit need someone more attacking and flexible tactically; not someone without a plan B.

AND in other news, Fosun can revive Wolves by hiring “brave” 48 y/o Mendes client who wowed Guardiola…

Leeds United boss Marcelo Bielsa has made a ruthless call on academy starlet Robbie Gotts, and it’s one that may leave fans gutted.

What’s the story?

The 21-year-old spent the last season on loan at Lincoln and Salford respectively, and his contract at Elland Road comes to an end next summer.

And now, Football Insider have delivered a major update on the situation, revealing that Gotts is the latest young player who’s been told he’s free to leave the club after reports suggested that a few players, such as Niall Huggins, were also told the same previously.

It said: “A Leeds source has now told Football Insider that Gotts will become their latest young player to seek pastures news amid an overhaul of their set-up.

“United do not regard the versatile midfielder, who can also play at right-back, as capable of forcing his way into Marcelo Bielsa’s team amid increasingly strong competition. That will be a bitter blow for Gotts, who has been on Leeds’ books since the age of seven.”

Leeds fans will be gutted

The 21-year-old appeared to be one of the real bright prospects coming through the clubs academy sides, with Bielsa himself previously raving about the midfielder, saying: “He’s a number eight. A midfielder, not defensive, a number eight. I have never seen a player with such a dynamic. A player with skills.”

After a short spell at Lincoln earlier in the campaign, Gotts made the switch to Salford in the January transfer window – a side one division lower than the Imps, but crucially a team where he’s getting regular first-team football.

After playing just 370 minutes worth of football for Lincoln in the league, he managed more than triple that amount with Salford in League Two – he’s also showed his developing attacking instincts, notching three goals and one assist in his time there.

And it’s fair to say he’s already made a very good impression with those involved at Salford, with manager Richie Wellens telling The Evening Express: “On the press he is excellent, a typical (Marcelo) Bielsa player. His passing is good, he’s scored two in three for us and could have had more. He is a really good, infectious lad who the group has taken to straight away.

“We are going to improve him for free, that’s why Leeds have loaned him to us. We think he has a real chance to go all the way.”With the success he had on loan and the praise he’s given him before as well, it’s a ruthless call from Bielsa to let him go, especially without really checking him out once more during pre-season to see first-hand the kind of improvements he will no doubt have made in his time away.Given how Leeds fans were so excited and talked up Gotts’ potential as a future first-team player at the club following his move to Lincoln, the latest news that the 21-year-old has been told he can leave is sure to have them gutted.Meanwhile, Leeds are closing in on a major agreement…

Sunderland will take on Arsenal in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals after the draw took place on Saturday.

As to be expected, a number of Black Cats supporters were quick to give their thoughts to the news when it was announced via the club’s social media channels.

Sunderland are the only team outside of the Premier League left in the competition following a penalty shootout win over Queens Park Rangers in midweek. Lee Johnson admitted after the game that he would like to face either Arsenal or Tottenham in the last eight, and he has got his wish with a trip to the Emirates Stadium.

The quarter-final will be played in the week commencing 20 December, with Sunderland having 10 League One fixtures before then.

Sunderland fans react

Sunderland posted on their official Twitter channel regarding the cup draw with Arsenal on Saturday lunchtime and here is what these fans had to say in reply, with one labelling it as ‘mental’ that the Black Cats were drawn against Mikel Arteta’s side, whose character has been called into question in recent months.

“Here we go!”

Credit: @gavingeorge88

“Finally a draw that might actually earn us some money”

Credit: @DreamingDejaVu

“mental that a League One team will be in the semis for the Carabao”

Credit: @richard_acw

“Fantastic! I was worried we would get a big club”

Credit: @Dale_seaham

“We’ve been waiting for this for so many years, it feels so good … the boy is finally coming home”

Credit: @_EAEGG

“Fantastic. Doesn’t matter if we lose, this season is about promotion but I bet they underestimate us. Anything can happen.”

Credit: @petercarneyH

In other news: Many SAFC fans slam ‘appalling’ ace who lost 75% of his duels vs Rotherham. 

The Transfer Tavern’s EFL spy believes that Charlton should target a move for Brentford youngster David Oyegoke.

Oyegoke joined the Bees from Arsenal earlier this month, but has linked up with the club’s B team, with the first-team now in the Premier League, meaning his opportunities may well be limited.

His only experience of senior men’s football during his time in north London came in an EFL Trophy tie for the Under-23s against Ipswich last August.

Oyegoke, an England youth international, can anywhere across the back-four despite predominantly being a centre-back, which means he would offer an impressive amount of versatility to Nigel Adkins’ squad.

And whilst Charlton only narrowly missed out on finishing in the top-six last term, Adkins’ men had the worst defensive record in the top-nine having shipped 56 goals in League One.

Oyegoke has scored just once at youth team level, but the EFL insider reckons the teenager can be effective at both ends of the pitch.

He exclusively told The Transfer Tavern:

“Charlton probably need to enter the market and potentially look to someone for a London loan.

“Brentford have a former Arsenal player in David Oyegoke, who has the size and presence for a young lad but goes past people for fun and is quick to get back and defend.”

Former Rangers boss Alex McLeish has claimed that there could be a ‘big move in the offing’ for Glen Kamara in the coming months.

The Lowdown: Talks ongoing

The 25-year-old has been at Ibrox since signing from Dundee United in 2019 and has since made 113 appearances for the club, winning the Premiership last season.

The Finland international previously confirmed that talks were ‘ongoing’ over a new contract to see him remain at Ibrox beyond his current contract expiry and the midfielder attracted transfer interest over the summer after impressing for Steven Gerrard’s side last season.

The midfielder, whose current deal lasts until 2023, has started every league game so far this season and he only missed five games last term.

The Latest: McLeish suggests Gers could struggle to keep Kamara

Speaking to Football Insider, McLeish has claimed that getting Kamara on a new deal would be a ‘priority’ for the Gers, who he feels may find it difficult to refuse a lucrative transfer offer for the midfielder.

The former Ibrox manager added: “They have done well to tie one or two others down so I would think he would be a priority.

“If not, it only leaves the speculation that possibly there’s a big move in the offing for him. One, perhaps, that Rangers can’t say no to.

“There’s got to be situations like that will crop in the next year or two for Rangers, while they continue to assess the market themselves.”

The Verdict: Stick or twist

Rangers will have to assess the situation from their point of view, deciding whether they should make a huge profit on the £50,000 they paid for Kamara or secure his services for a few more years.

The midfielder currently earns £6.2k-per-week at Ibrox, but after enduring a successful stint in Scotland, a move elsewhere could be on the cards, especially if prospective suitors offer him a much larger package.

Last season, Kamara completed 91% of his passes and won 4.1 duels per game in an impressive campaign for him. His partnership with Steven Davis in midfield was pivotal to the dominance of the league by Gerrard’s side and the club will surely be hoping to keep him on for more seasons.

As McLeish has said, tying him down to a new deal should be a priority, as otherwise the club may be presented with offers that they can’t refuse.

In other Rangers news, some fans were left unimpressed with one defender’s performance against St Johnstone. Find out more here.