All posts by z3u9t.icu

Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool outfit may have another Ibrahima Konate in their academy ranks.

The Reds have had a plethora of talent emerge over the last few seasons, with Billy Koumetio looking as though he could be one of the next big prospects.

The 19-year-old has been a regular feature for the Liverpool U23s, starting 88% of their Premier League 2 games this season.

Koumetio, like Konate, progressed through the youth system in their native country France, though the former made the switch to England at U19 level to continue his development before playing senior football.

On the topic of senior football, Koumetio was given the chance to feature for the first team, lining up as a left centre-back in a partnership with Joe Gomez against Leicester City in the EFL Cup back in November.

Ironically, Koumetio was substituted at half-time for Ibrahima Konate, with the switch taking place purely for tactical reasons.

It is easy to see why Klopp backed the youngster against a strong Leicester City side, who were narrowly defeated 8-7 on penalties, after pushing the Anfield side all the way in what was an entertaining 3-3 draw.

Though, it was the £450k-rated starlet’s performance against Atletico Madrid in a U19 UEFA Youth League game that had U23 manager Marc Bridge-Wilkinson waxing lyrical over his talent.

Speaking to the Liverpool Echo after the Reds’ 2-0 victory over Fernando Torres’ side, the youth manager said:

“I thought Billy was outstanding. He was shown a yellow card midway through the first half and that was always going to be tricky, but I thought he dealt with it and played a really mature game.”

On the then-18-year-old’s potential, Bridge-Wilkinson added: “He’s doing really well. We know the potential he has got and he really showcased that against Atletico.”

The former Lyon youth prospect has also received plaudits from Klopp himself – when the German was asked about his side’s injury situation last year, he told Sky Sports:

“The injury situation we’ve had has been… pfffff. But it has helped them get more minutes. Rhys Williams? From the moment he trained with us, I could see he was a proper talent. Billy Koumetio? Incredible…”

With Koumetio sharing a similar height, position, nationality and playing style, it is clear to see that Liverpool could have another Konate-type figure within their ranks – something that will surely excite the Liverpool faithful who may well be seeing more of the starlet next season.

AND in other news: Fabrizio Romano reveals big transfer development, it’s great news for Liverpool

Manchester United are stuck in limbo right now when it comes to their managerial saga.

It’s quite apparent that interim head coach Ralf Rangnick will be leaving his post in the summer and moving upstairs, but who will replace him at Old Trafford is anyone’s guess.

What’s the word?

Mauricio Pochettino is still believed to be among the favourites for the job but the man everyone appears to be talking about right now is Erik ten Hag.

The current Ajax boss has reportedly been interviewed by the club but now their pursuit of the Dutchman seems to be going up a notch.

That’s according to Sky Sports who claim that groundwork is being done in order to smooth over an announcement should everything be negotiated sufficiently.

A report on Wednesday reads: “Sources close to Ten Hag and the Dutch club have suggested that dialogue has taken place over the financial element as well as how to handle a possible announcement – should the process progress that way – in terms of timing and presentation, given Ajax are in a tight title race.”

Great news for Man UnitedAlthough this doesn’t officially confirm whether ten Hag is on his way to the Theatre of Dreams, it does hint that the Ajax manager is considerably high up on their list of managerial targets.If they are already discussing the intricate details as listed above then it can only bode well for their pursuit of the 52-year-old.But why is it good news that they’re targeting him? Well, he’s one of the brightest coaches in the game right now, completing some quite wonderful achievements over the last few years.Possessing a clear winning mentality, ten Hag knows what it takes to win a major trophy, securing the Eredivisie title twice and taking home the nation’s domestic cup competition on two occasions too.Furthermore, he ranked fourth in a list of the best managers in world football for 2019, further demonstrating his enormous potential at the elite level.However, it is in the Champions League where he has arguably caught the eye the most, steering Ajax to the semi-finals in 2018/19 as serious underdogs.They almost made it to the final as well, but for Lucas Moura’s goal in the dying embers of the second leg.Also capable of taking talent to the next level, namely the likes of Hakim Ziyech, Dusan Tadic, Donny van de Beek and Matthijs de Ligt, everything would appear to bode well for a potential move to Man United.AND in other news, “Man Utd will sign..” – Romano drops huge transfer update, supporters surely buzzing…

Celtic’s move for OH Leuven striker Thomas Henry could be back on, according to The Scottish Sun’s Mark Walker.

The Lowdown: Celtic’s hunt for a striker

It appears as if the Hoops want to bring in a new forward by the end of the month.

Reports suggested that Celtic were on the brink of winning the race for Henry earlier this month before links to VVV-Venlo’s Georgios Giakoumakis emerged.

They have since been locked in a battle with Bundesliga outfit Werder Bremen for the Greece international, with Ange Postecoglou personally calling Giakoumakis over a move.

However, it now seems as if Celtic could well go back in for Henry, following a development on Thursday.

The Latest: Henry update

Walker shared a story on Thursday, revealing a proposed £5.1m transfer involving Henry and Belgian side Gent has stalled.

Giakoumakis was thought to be in Germany to discuss a move to Werder Bremen, with Walker admitting a Celtic swoop for Henry could be back on.

Henry has been described as a ‘big Furuhashi’ by Bhoys Analytics and was hailed as a ‘complete forward’ by Lokeren boss Karel Fraeye.

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The Verdict: One in one out?

It seems to be a case of one or the other when it comes to Henry and Giakoumakis, so it could be a frantic end to the window at Celtic Park.

It could be a wise decision by the club, financially, to land one forward and then cash in on star striker Odsonne Edouard, who is into the final 12 months of his contract.

Crystal Palace have been linked with a move for the Frenchman in recent days, so effectively, the Hoops could use funds brought in for Edouard on a new striker.

Celtic will want to get a move on, though, and not risk missing out on either forward, who could replace the goals they’ll lose in a possible Edouard exit.

In other news: Cheaper than Hart: Celtic set to sign the hottest property in his league ‘in the next few days. 

Newcastle United ‘would have to consider’ appointing Steve Cooper if he applied for the manager’s role at St James’ Park, according to Lee Ryder for Chronicle Live. 

The lowdown

Newcastle have endured a poor start to the new season, with just one point on the board from their first four matches. They conceded twice in the final 10 minutes against Manchester United on Saturday, falling to a 4-1 defeat.

Cooper is currently out of work after leaving Swansea City at the end of 2020/21 season. He navigated them to the play-offs in back-to-back seasons but they twice fell short of securing promotion.

The Welshman was on Crystal Palace’s shortlist following the departure of Roy Hodgson, but they opted for Patrick Vieira instead.

The latest

According to Ryder in Chronicle Live, Cooper was in attendance at Old Trafford on Saturday, ‘probably’ to support Freddie Woodman after coaching the Newcastle goalkeeper at Swansea.

The journalist claimed that the 41-year-old would ‘fit the bill’ for the Magpies given his ‘expertise’ in developing young talent and his Barcelona-inspired style of football.

Southampton are thought to have identified Cooper as a possible replacement for Ralph Hassenhuttl should they part ways with the Austrian.

In a subsequent tweet, Ryder labelled the former Swansea manager as ‘the watching would-be boss’.

The verdict

Cooper is a talented manager whose work at youth level included guiding England to Under-17 World Cup glory four years ago, and it feels like a matter of time before he gets a crack at the Premier League, whether that’s at Newcastle or elsewhere.

It seems inevitable that Bruce’s tenure will come to an acrimonious end, but question marks over his future may still be premature. The Newcastle hierarchy may decide to give him until the mid-point of the season to demonstrate that he can keep them in the Premier League once again.

In other news, Chris Waugh reveals the in-house reaction to this Bruce decision. 

Some Everton fans have been left fuming over some news that has emerged from Phil Kirkbride.

Writing in his latest piece for The Liverpool Echo, Kirkbride has now revealed that the Goodison Park faithful are set to appoint Joel Waldron as their new Head of Academy Recruitment.

He has been working as the Merseyside club’s Academy Chief Operating Officer, but is now ready to take over from Chris Perkins, who left to join Tottenham Hotspur in a similar role.

Joel is the son of former Head of Academy Recruitment Martin Waldron, which has not gone down well with some Toffees supporters, as they feel as if he has not earned the role on merit and instead has only been appointed because of who his father is.

Everton fans on Kirkbride news

These Blues fumed as the news was shared on Twitter, with one EFC fan even going as far as to claim that it is just ‘weird’:

“And people wonder why the Academy has been a complete waste of space since it was built?”

Credit: @TormentedToffee

“Lazy appointment by Everton once again.”

Credit: @Warren_Evans

““The son of former Head of Academy Recruitment Martin Waldron” kind of rings alarm bells, doesn’t it?”

Credit: @UpperGwladysBlu

“Sounds a bit weird when the dad got sacked by EFC”

Credit: @abbot551

“The jobs for the boys merry-go-round”

Credit: @EvertonAllSorts

“Nothing like jobs for the Boyz at Everton”

Credit: @holroyd_ryan

In other news, find out what club news has Evertonians buzzing here!

Manchester City kick off their Premier League title defence with a trip to North London on Sunday afternoon, with Pep Guardiola’s side looking to earn their first-ever win at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

The Citizens began their season with a 1-0 defeat against Leicester City in the Community Shield last weekend, but Guardiola can welcome back the likes of Ederson, John Stones, Kyle Walker and Raheem Sterling following their international commitments this summer.

However, all eyes will be on Spurs striker Harry Kane, with the England captain reportedly set to feature despite being heavily linked with the Citizens throughout the summer.

Here’s how Football FanCast expects Guardiola to line his side up in North London, with Grealish making his first start as a City player…

After returning from Copa America duty with Brazil, Ederson seems likely to replace Zack Steffen in between the sticks.

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In defence, John Stones and Ruben Dias resume their centre-back partnership, whilst Kyle Walker and Joao Cancelo both deserve starts at full-back following their impressive performances in the 2020/21 campaign.

After a disappointing end to last season, Rodri is left on the bench with the more experienced Fernandinho earning a start, and he is joined in midfield by Ilkay Gundogan and Grealish, who could take up the Kevin De Bruyne role in the Belgian’s absence.

Following a superb Euros with England, Raheem Sterling gets the nod on the left-wing, with the Englishman dubbed “world-class” by Frank Lampard and Rio Ferdinand after his excellent performances for Gareth Southgate’s side as they reached the Final.

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Riyad Mahrez starts on the right-hand side after an excellent pre-season, supporting Ferran Torres up front, with the Spaniard arguably City’s best striking option at the club following Sergio Aguero’s summer departure.

In total, there could be as many as five changes for the trip to the capital.

And, in other news… Guardiola delivers worrying injury update, Man City fans will be fuming

Leeds United boss Marcelo Bielsa has been dealt another setback this week…

What’s the latest?

According to The Athletic’s Phil Hay, central defender Diego Llorente’s absence during their 4-1 defeat to Arsenal on Saturday evening was likely to be down to him contracting the virus, meaning he is set to be absent for at least ten days.

‘Llorente was not confirmed as suffering from [the virus] but Bielsa’s admission that the centre-back would be missing for up to 10 days sounded like a fairly clear hint that the virus had got to him. But there was no mass outbreak, no spread of infections, so the game went ahead,’ he wrote in a recent column.

Instead, Robin Koch, who has been out injured since August, was thrown straight into the starting XI, as a result of the Spaniard’s omission.

Bitter blow

This would be yet another cruel blow to Bielsa and the Yorkshire giants, who have been dealing with an array of injury woes since the start of the season.

The situation is that bad that the bench was full of the club’s academy prospects, including 15-year-old Archie Gray. As many as 11 first-team players missed the clash through injury.

Llorente joined Charlie Cresswell as the latest two to miss out, having already been without the likes of star defensive midfielder Kalvin Phillips and leading talisman Patrick Bamford, as well as attacking duo Jack Harrison and Dan James.

Pascal Struijk, Rodrigo, captain Liam Cooper and Jamie Shackleton are all also on the treatment table, whilst Junior Firpo was suspended.

What an absolute nightmare.

Now the 28-year-old is expected to be out for the next week or so means he is surely likely to miss the Whites’ Boxing Day clash with Liverpool at Anfield, so they could well be in line for another thrashing, having lost 7-0 to Man City recently.

Currently sat just three points behind the league leaders, Jurgen Klopp’s side could close the gap with a win against Leeds on Sunday.

Not having a first-choice defender available again after back-to-back embarrassments is certainly a huge blow to Bielsa, who must be absolutely fuming by this dire situation seemingly getting worse every week.

It could get worse yet with a trip to Merseyside on the horizon.

AND in other news, Orta must seal Leeds swoop for 31-goal demon who can “replicate a Pablo Hernandez”…

Eddie Howe has now dropped a fresh Newcastle United injury update on Ryan Fraser.

The Lowdown: Hobbled off

Fraser unfortunately had to hobble off in the 13th minute of the North East club’s 1-0 win at home to Wolves in the Premier League on Friday night, and was subsequently replaced by Miguel Almiron.

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They do not have many wingers in the squad as it is, and so losing Fraser for a prolonged period of time will certainly bring difficulty.

The Latest: Hamstring

As relayed by Magpies journalist Miles Starforth, Eddie Howe now thinks that Fraser has suffered a hamstring injury, and described it as a ‘huge blow’ for his side:

“It looks like a hamstring issue.

“I don’t know how serious it is, but it was enough to bring him off the pitch, which is a huge blow with the form he’s been in.”

The Verdict: Not ideal

Even though the St. James’ Park faithful won the game, losing Fraser to injury was certainly not ideal.

The Scotland international has been a mainstay in the team that seem to have turned their fortunes around by pulling away from relegation, and has contributed two goals and three assists in the top flight (Transfermarkt).

Thus, with the lack of options out wide, Howe will now be hoping that Fraser can recover as soon as possible, so that he can help them guarantee their Premier League status for next season.

It will now be an anxious wait for the Toon Army over how long the injury will keep him out for.

In other news, find out who NUFC’s three worst performers were against Wolves here!

Sunderland’s fall down the League One table continued on Tuesday as a 3-0 defeat to Sheffield Wednesday left them fifth.

The Black Cats have lost their last three league matches, having lost 1-0 to Charlton and 5-1 to Rotherham in their two games prior to the trip to Hillsborough.

Tom Flanagan and Callum Doyle failed to deal with the danger through the middle and Theo Corbeanu found himself in acres of space to pick his spot and find the bottom corner. The second came with calls for handball as Florian Kamberi controlled the ball in the six-yard box and prodded past Ron-Thorben Hoffmann.

Wednesday sealed the three points in the second half as a scuffed shot fell perfectly for Lee Gregory to convert from close range to make it 3-0.

Despite the frustrating result, one player did come away from the match with an ounce of credit and was a shining light for Johnson – Corry Evans. The experienced beast was a standout in a disappointing performance from the Black Cats and the manager will surely have been left delighted with his display, in spite of the result.

Defensively, he was solid. Per SofaScore, he won 75% (6/8) of his individual duels on the pitch, including winning 100% (3/3) of his aerial duels. He also made a whopping seven interceptions, three tackles and one clearance, whilst only being dribbled past once in the 90 minutes.

Luke O’Nien and Dan Neil, meanwhile, managed three tackles and two interceptions combined between them in the other two central midfield positions. This suggests that Evans carried Sunderland in the middle of the park from a defensive standpoint and was let down by his teammates as Wednesday romped to a comfortable win.

Although, it is worth pointing out that he could have done more in possession. Per SofaScore, he only completed 72% of his attempted passes, whilst his midfield partners both completed 76% of theirs. This suggests that all three of them could have been better with the ball at their feet as they failed to achieve a high success rate with their passing, which is an area for improvement ahead of the next set of matches.

Despite the lapse passing, Evans’ performance was a shining light for Sunderland due to his tenacity in midfield and that could earn him a regular place in the starting XI in the coming weeks. He has only started five League One matches, but this display could aid his chances of adding to that number.

A huge Glasgow Rangers injury setback has emerged on Swedish international Filip Helander…

What’s the latest?

Gers head coach Gio van Bronckhorst has confirmed that the centre-back will not play again this season after the issue he sustained last weekend in the Premiership.

The central defender was taken off in the 45th minute with a knock after an awkward landing left him unable to continue.

Van Bronckhorst said: “Filip’s injury is not good, we won’t have him for the remainder of the season.”

He now joins Alfredo Morelos and Ianis Hagi on the treatment table until the start of the 2022/23 campaign, at the earliest.

Ibrox faithful will be infuriated

This devastating update will surely infuriate the Ibrox faithful as it comes as a major blow to van Bronckhorst’s squad heading into the final part of the season.

Whilst he was ineligible to face Braga in the Europa League and his absence will make no difference to their fortunes at Ibrox on Thursday night, it will impact the squad rotation in the cup and the Premiership. The defender had started five domestic matches since the 20th of February and this shows that the head coach has been relying on him as an option on a semi-regular basis.

Helander has been a useful player for the Dutchman to call upon in the Premiership and in the Scottish Cup in order to rest the likes of Leon Balogun and Calvin Bassey. Van Bronckhorst has now been rid of that option and will have to see out the rest of the campaign without one of his experienced defenders.

This could then pile the pressure on the other players in that position and lead to them being overloaded with minutes on the pitch, risking further injuries.

Supporters will also be frustrated because this is the second time this season the centre-back has suffered a major knee injury. He will now end the campaign on six league appearances and that may leave supporters wondering whether or not he is worth keeping hold of.

If Rangers are unable to rely on him being fit for the majority, or even half, of the season then that makes him a liability within the squad. They would be better off cashing in on him and attempting to bring in a more durable player to take his place going forward to prevent this situation from happening again.

AND in other news, From £4.5m to £25m: Wilson had huge Rangers howler over “remarkable” 12-goal gem…