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Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba has been linked with a move to Real Madrid as the 28-year-old nears the end of his current contract with the club.

What’s the story?

The World Cup winner has been attracting the attention of a host of top European clubs for several months after refusing to put pen to paper on fresh terms at United.

And now, according to Spanish outlet AS (via Manchester Evening News), La Liga giants Madrid are eager to sign Pogba and will try to sign him on a free transfer next year.

He will be available to sign on a pre-contract agreement over the winter window which is good news for Los Blancos who want to secure his signature as soon as possible.

Solskjaer will be worried

Ligue 1 outfit Paris Saint-Germain were heavily linked with a move for Pogba in the previous window before their shock move for Lionel Messi meant his arrival was no longer a financial possibility.

Since then, United are believed to have offered their academy graduate a new contract worth close to £400,000 per week, and although he’s open to re-signing, Pogba’s taking his time over what is a huge decision at this stage in his career.

However, United’s chiefs are set to face a battle to keep the France international on their books after Madrid reportedly rekindled their interest in the box-to-box dynamo over the international break.

Pogba’s impressive displays for Les Blues during their Nations League triumph were just the latest in what’s been an impressive 2021 for the engine room operator, with club teammate Bruno Fernandes lauding him after his magnificent tally of four assists against Leed United on the opening day of the season.

“I’m pretty sure Paul could do five or six (assists) in one game! Paul is a quality player; we all trust him, we all know his qualities,” Fernandes told MUTV after the emphatic victory.

“The point is making those performances and to help the team do better and I’m pretty sure Paul is here to do that.”

Therefore, United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is likely to be very worried about this latest revelation, and the Norwegian tactician will be hoping one of his star players remains at Old Trafford for many years to come. After all, it would be a hammer blow to lose a player as good as the France star.

And, in other news…”They expect” – Romano delivers big Man Utd update, Red Devils fans may be concerned 

Lee Bowyer has seen his Birmingham City side get off to something of a mixed start to their 2021/22 Championship campaign, with the Blues winning one, drawing one and losing one of their opening three fixtures of the season.

Indeed, after a highly impressive 1-0 away victory at Sheffield United in their league opener and a solid 0-0 draw with Stoke City, things appeared to be looking on the up at Birmingham.

However, Bowyer’s side were brought back down to earth with a bump by AFC Bournemouth on Wednesday evening, as Scott Parker’s side rather comfortably secured a 2-0 win at St. Andrew’s, with the Cherries enjoying 65% of possession, creating two big chances and completing 272 more passes than their hosts.

And, while defeat to a Bournemouth side who will more than likely be there or thereabouts regarding promotion come the end of the season is no reason for Bowyer to panic, there were nevertheless a couple of players who particularly disappointed in the fixture, one of whom was Jeremie Bela.

Indeed, over his 90 minutes on the pitch, the £2.25m-rated left-winger completed just two of his eight attempted crosses, managed no shots on target, made a grand total of nine passes and completed just one of his five dribbles.

The 28-year-old also gave away possession of the ball on 18 separate occasions, won just four of his 12 duels, conceded two fouls and touched the ball 40 times – an amount fewer than Matija Sarkic’s number of touches between the Birmingham sticks.

These returns saw the £15k-per-week forward earn a disappointing SofaScore match rating of 6.4, ranking him as Bowyer’s second-worst player to feature in the match, with only Gary Gardner receiving a lower rating than Bela.

As such, with Birmingham undoubtedly hoping they can get back to winning ways in their clash with Luton Town this weekend, if Bowyer’s side are to have any chance of doing so, the Angola international will certainly have to up his level of performance against the Hatters.

In other news: “Outstanding” £5k-p/w gem drops transfer hint which will leave Birmingham fans gutted

Aston Villa and Manchester United are just two of the sides who are willing to make a January move for Atletico Madrid right-back Kieran Trippier, 90min report.

The Lowdown: Previous Trippier links

This isn’t the first time that Trippier, who Gareth Southgate described as a ‘warrior’, has been linked with a move to Villa Park.

Reports last year claimed that Villa wanted to sign the full-back to the Midlands, either on loan or in a permanent transfer. As we know, that never materialised, with Trippier still at the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium, where he has made 83 appearances under Diego Simeone.

However, links of a move to Bodymoor Heath have re-surfaced, with owners NSWE promising Steven Gerrard a huge transfer kitty for January.

The Latest: 90min’s report

90min shared an update regarding Trippier’s future on Wednesday afternoon.

Sources confirmed to the site that the £77,000-a-week full-back remains keen on a return to the Premier League, with Newcastle set to offer the England international a club-record contract.

A move to St James’ Park would cost in excess of £39m, with Villa, Crystal Palace, Everton and Manchester United also willing to move, should the La Liga side be willing to sell.

The Verdict: Club-record deal?

With Newcastle needing to pay over £39m for Trippier, you’d expect Villa would be in the same boat, meaning the defender could become Villa’s most-expensive signing of all time.

It would be a lot of money to bolster an area of the pitch that is nailed down by Matty Cash at this moment in time, so perhaps Villa should instead look at adding a defensive midfielder, a position Gerrard wants to add to in the New Year.

Adding Trippier’s quality would be a shrewd move, but for a fee over £40m, the club could be wise to use those funds elsewhere for now.

In other news: ‘Surely not?’ – Lots of Villa fans erupt at NSWE’s plans. 

Celtic have been dealt a late injury blow ahead of their upcoming Scottish Premiership clash.

What’s the latest?

According to a recent report by The Herald, Celtic centre-back Carl Starfelt will be unavailable for selection against Hearts this evening, as the defender does not look to have recovered from a hamstring injury that has seen him miss the Bhoys’ last six fixtures – despite the defender being pictured in training at Lennoxtown on Wednesday.

Postecoglou will be fuming

With the fixture against third-placed Hearts tonight being an extremely important one for Celtic, with a win reducing the gap between the Hoops and the current Premiership leaders to just four points ahead of the busy Christmas schedule, the news that Starfelt will not be available for selection is sure to have left Ange Postecoglou fuming.

Indeed, the Sweden international has highly impressed over his 11 league appearances so far this season, helping his side keep five clean sheets, as well as making an average of 1.5 interceptions, 1.1 tackles and winning 6.3 duels per game.

These returns have seen the £2.7m-rated man average a SofaScore match rating of 7.23, ranking him as the Bhoys’ joint fifth-best performer in the top flight of Scottish football – of the players who still remain in Postecoglou’s first-team squad.

What makes his time on the sidelines even more problematic is that since his time out, the Hoops are yet to keep a clean sheet in Premiership action, conceding to both Dundee FC and Aberdeen.

As such, the continued absence of the centre-back will undoubtedly come as a major blow to the 56-year-old manager and his side, who will be desperate to secure all three points against Hearts in order to keep pace in the Premiership title race.

In other news: Postecoglou axes £14k-p/w “terrible flop” in 2 changes: Predicted Celtic XI v Hearts

A number of Manchester City fans are far from happy after it was revealed that Phil Foden is set to miss the first month of the new season with an injury picked up at Euro 2020.

The Citizens will kick off their Premier League campaign on Sunday against Tottenham. Pep Guardiola’s side did not get their new season off to their best start against Leicester City in the Community Shield as they lost 1-0 courtesy of a Kelechi Iheanacho penalty, so the boss will be hoping for better starting from next weekend.

The £72m-valued Foden (Transfermarkt) did not feature in that match, having missed England’s Euro 2020 final defeat to Italy through injury. As per The Telegraph, the 21-year-old is set to miss the first month of the new campaign.

While the Premier League champions have brought in Jack Grealish (mancity.com), they will be disappointed to lose Foden for such a spell. The youngster excelled last season, with 16 goals and 10 assists in all competitions – only Ilkay Gundogan exceeded his goal tally among Guardiola’s squad.

The news was shared on Twitter by @City_Xtra and it attracted plenty of attention from supporters. These fans took to the social media platform to share their thoughts on Foden’s continued absence.

Let’s see what these fans had to say about the Foden injury news

“Edozie it is then”

Credit: @MCFC_GS11

“That’s Tottenham, Arsenal, Leicester, Chelsea and Liverpool”

Credit: @GrealishProp_

“Annoying but least we are giving him time not rushing him back”

Credit: @Billy_Bennison

“Fuming”

Credit: @MangenaMisho

“Pain”

Credit: @Taguero_10

“Great, so misses about 3-4 games, luckily we got Grealish”

Credit: @dylanjackkwest

In other news, some Man City fans fumed over this pre-season incident.

Speaking in a Q&A for football.london, Tottenham Hotspur correspondent Alasdair Gold has made an encouraging transfer claim.

The Lowdown: Sell-to-buy…

It is set to be a strange summer at Tottenham, with the club needing to offload players before properly finalising player moves in this window.

Of all the names linked with a summer exit from Spurs, only Juan Foyth has managed to complete a permanent move away so far and help to bolster Tottenham’s transfer kitty.

The other players linked with departures, including potentially Harry Winks, Serge Aurier, Erik Lamela and Moussa Sissoko (football.london), are all still on Spurs’ books.

The Latest: Gold drops encouraging transfer claim…

Speaking in a football.london Q&A, Gold has now explained what Spurs will definitely do if they manage to sell a particular player.

[web_stories_embed url=”https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/web-stories/spurs-latest-updates-2/” title=”Spurs latest updates!” poster=”” width=”360″ height=”600″ align=”none”]

Indeed, the journalist says that Tottenham will move for a new right-back if wantaway ace Aurier can secure a departure this summer.

“It’s quite simple with Aurier,” Gold says.

“He wants to go, Spurs would be happy for him to go, but they need a reasonable bid (not as high as the 20m euros reported in France last week).

“Tottenham will move for a new right-back if he does head out of the exit door.

“Tottenham like Aarons and they need some homegrown signings but it’s all on Paratici now.”

The Verdict: Encouraging…

Tottenham have long been linked with a new right-back, with reports of interest in Max Aarons dating as far back as last summer.

Spurs were also tracking Turkey international defender Zeki Celik last year and those links have re-emerged over 2021 as well. 

If the Lilywhites are going to initiate a major summer overhaul, supporters may be encouraged by this claim that Spurs will move to immediately replace Aurier if the Ivorian can seal his exit.

In other news: ‘Crazy’ – Fabrizio Romano shares manager update with ‘new name’ now contacted, find out more here.

Southampton go in search of their first victory of the 2021/22 Premier League campaign as they host West Ham at St Mary’s this afternoon.

The Saints have picked up two points from their opening three league outings, losing to Everton and drawing with Manchester United and Newcastle.

Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side did thrash Newport County 8-0 in the Carabao Cup in between their two Premier League draws, but they are yet to taste a top-flight win to earn them three points since the campaign started.

Will Hasenhuttl make any changes to his side against West Ham? Here is our predicted XI for the match…

We are predicting that the Austrian will make three changes to his starting XI from the draw at St James’ Park, with Romain Perraud, Jan Bednarek and Nathan Redmond coming into the team.

Starting off in the heart of the defence, we are predicting Bednarek to come into the team in place of Jack Stephens after six goals conceded in three league matches. Hasenhuttl needs to do something to address the leaky backline and starting the Poland international could help. We have published an article explaining our reasoning behind this proposed switch, with the 25-year-old’s performances last season suggesting that he could have a bigger impact than Stephens.

The second change we are predicting is Perraud for Kyle Walker-Peters. The former Spurs defender had a solid game at left-back against Newcastle, but we believe that the balance of having a left-footed player at left-back will be more effective for Southampton against West Ham. It allows the build-up play to progress faster down that side, instead of Walker-Peters needing to cut back onto his right foot when he receives the ball as he is a right-back by trade.

Our final change to the XI is Redmond in for Moussa Djenepo on the left. The Mali international endured a torrid afternoon against the Magpies as he recorded a SofaScore rating of 6.1, missing a ‘big chance’ and losing seven of his 10 duels on the pitch.

He lost possession nine times from 37 touches and was tackled in three of his five dribble attempts. This shows that he had a poor performance and deserves to drop out of the side, with the £16.2m-rated Redmond coming in to have a chance to show what he can do. The wing wizard came on for Djenepo at Newcastle and created a ‘big chance’ in just 32 minutes on the pitch, offering a glimpse of the threat he can provide.

We are predicting that the rest of the team will remain the same from the draw with Steve Bruce’s side a fortnight ago.

AND in other news, “Now close”: Ralph makes claim on 21y/o maestro that’ll leave Southampton fans buzzing…

Perform well in the famous green and white Hoops of Celtic and it’s likely that another club will come calling to prise you away from Parkhead.

Supporters at Paradise will be all too familiar with that eventuality, especially this summer.

The Premier League was once again the destination for some of Celtic’s best players with Odsonne Edouard and Kristoffer Ajer heading for Crystal Palace and Brentford, respectively.

Enigmatic Scottish attacker Ryan Christie also travelled south of the border as he joined Bournemouth.

More often than not, it’s been Southampton who have dialled the phone. Whether it be Virgil van Dijk, Stuart Armstrong or Fraser Forster, many have forged successful careers in England.

However, one who didn’t enjoy quite as much triumph in England was Victor Wanyama. He went from being a brute of a player with Celtic and Southampton to falling off the wagon somewhat at Tottenham.

Sadly, he’s now remembered more for a tweet about spaghetti, than he is his performances.

During his stay in Scotland, he was nothing short of outstanding after being signed by Neil Lennon all the way back in 2011.

He scored a famous goal against Barcelona in the Champions League when they remarkably beat one of the best sides we’ve seen in European football.

The Kenyan wasn’t just about that moment, however. His tough-tackling nature saw him nominated for the PFA Young Player of the Year award in 2012/13.

A £12.5m move to the Saints followed and then he earned a richly deserved switch to Tottenham. He was described as “fantastic” during his time in north London by Christian Eriksen but ultimately the midfielder struggled to become a key cog in the wheel.

He had to overcome a plethora of knee problems and in four years, played on average 24.5 matches per season. For a club that are regulars in Europe as well, it’s not the most outstanding number.

Now aged 30, Wanyama should still be in the prime of his career, especially as a defensive midfielder.

Instead, he’s playing in MLS for Montreal Impact and his market value has plummeted since leaving Scottish football behind. The Kenya international is now valued at a measly £5.8m via Transfermarkt after moving to Canada on a free transfer.

With that in mind, it would appear that Celtic sold him at exactly the right time.

AND in other news, Celtic could find another Van Hooijdonk by signing colossal 10-goal monster…

Graham Potter is an option for Everton in their search for a new manager, according to The Athletic.

The Blues are still searching to secure a replacement for Carlo Ancelotti, who left to return to Real Madrid last week.

They held talks with former Wolverhampton Wanderers boss Nuno Espirito Santo over the vacancy, but with ‘doubters’ in the club hierarchy, they haven’t moved to appoint the Portuguese tactician

Instead, Nuno looks set to take over at Crystal Palace.

What’s the latest on Graham Potter’s chances?

Majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri, chairman Bill Kenwright and director of football Marcel Brands have refused to ‘disregard’ Potter.

And the report states that Brands ‘particularly rates’ the Englishman, who has previously managed Ostersunds in Sweden and Swansea City in the Championship.

However, the trio have yet to reach a consensus, and as such there is no clear frontrunner at this stage.

Fan feed The Toffee Blues relayed the claims, and here’s how fans reacted, with one supporter claiming Potter is the ‘perfect’ man for the job.

Everton fans split on links to Graham Potter

“Pep says he’s the best English manager around. He plays front foot football, trusts young dynamic players. He speaks really well (got fed up of listening to Silva and Koeman). And he’s young, hungry and on his way to the top. What’s not to like?”

Credit: @StinkOfFun

“Think he will do a great job!”

Credit: @steainsey

“He had Brighton playing good football tbf to him. A lot better than what Carlo had us playing.”

Credit: @JayRicho60

“Well this will split a lot of people…”

Credit: @BrainyBrands

“Yesss”

Credit: @ifanjones77

“Perfect fit”

Credit: @thacktonhemlock

“This guy’s stats makes Chris Hughton look good”

Credit: @tomdean93

“Omg… No thanks”

Credit: @blunozebri

“He finished 16th last season no thanks”

Credit: @jay_smith1

In other news, Everton have been urged to give this former manager another opportunity.

Norwich have joined Nottingham Forest in the race to sign Aston Villa striker Keinan Davis, Football Insider report.

The Lowdown: Davis at Forest

The 24-year-old left Villa Park to join Forest on loan at the beginning of the year and hasn’t looked back.

Davis, who has scored just six goals in 86 appearances for Villa, has starred in 2022, already netting five times in 13 games at the City Ground.

He has also provided three assists for the Reds, helping them into the Championship playoffs. Unfortunately though, Davis has now been ruled out for the rest of the season due to a hamstring problem.

The Latest: Source shares update

Football Insider shared an update regarding Davis’ future on Monday lunchtime after being informed by a recruitment source.

They claim that Norwich, managed by former Villa boss Dean Smith, are now ready to rival Forest for Davis’ services. A loan or a permanent exit are both options, with Villa expected to be open to offers for the forward over the coming months.

The Verdict: Right decision?

A £4m figure was included in the recent report, with Davis under contract for a further two years. He has shown at Forest that he can become a regular goal scorer, however, things have never really worked out for him in the Midlands under both Smith and Gerrard.

The current Villa boss was thought to be a big fan of Davis when he arrived at Villa Park from Rangers, but he never featured under Gerrard and now looks set to move on.

On that basis, a permanent exit could be best for all involved over the coming months, so it could be one to keep a close eye on.

In other news: Gregg Evans: AVFC chiefs very excited over midfielder now set to sign at Villa Park