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Wolves are reportedly ‘very interested’ in signing Barcelona youngster Riqui Puig, having also been keen on acquiring his signature last summer.

The Lowdown: Puig struggling for minutes

The 22-year-old has never managed to be a key figure at Camp Nou and he has found minutes hard to come by this season under both Ronald Koeman and Xavi.

Puig has only managed one start in La Liga this season, also making nine substitute appearances, and there is no sign of that changing any time soon.

With Wolves looking at possible signings in the January transfer window, the midfielder is reportedly on their radar.

The Latest: Wolves keen on move for Puig

That’s according to Sport [via Sport Witness], who claimed that Wanderers are ‘very interested’ in making a deal happen, having looked at a loan move with an option to buy last summer.

A temporary move is again being considered, although it isn’t specified whether it could happen this month or wait until the summer.

The Verdict: Exciting potential signing

Puig appears to be a hugely talented young player, with his manager Xavi once claiming that the 22-year-old ‘breathes talent’, so he could be an excellent addition to Wolves’ midfield if they can entice him to Molineux.

The young Spaniard has enjoyed an incredible 93.9% pass completion rate in La Liga this season, highlighting how comfortable he is in possession, much like Wolves duo Joao Moutinho (87.4%) and Ruben Neves (83.2%).

He would provide Bruno Lage with an extra midfield option, allowing for greater rotation, and an impressive loan spell could suggest that he is a long-term replacement for the 35-year-old Moutinho in the Black Country.

In other news, Tim Spiers has claimed that Wolves are ‘set to sign’ one player. Find out who it is here.

Celtic could theoretically spend as much as £32.5million in January, football finance expert Dan Plumley says. 

The lowdown

Celtic marked the beginning of Ange Postecoglou’s reign in the summer with a £20.05million spend, with centre-back Carl Starlfelt the most expensive acquisition at £4.5million (via Transfermarkt).

But they did bank a healthy profit after generating £33.84million through sales.

Odsonne Edouard and Kristoffer Ajer were the headline departures, with their moves to the Premier League fetching £14.67million and £14.13million respectively.

According to The Scottish Daily Mail, Postecoglou wants to strengthen his squad further in January with the acquisition of two central midfielders.

The latest

Plumley told Football Insider that he’d ‘crunched the numbers’ to determine how much Celtic could grant Postecoglou whilst still complying with Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations.

However, he warned it would be a ‘gamble’ to spend close to that £32.5million mark.

“There are other exemptions in terms of FFP, but let’s avoid them to simplify the argument a little. They could spend £32.5m quite comfortably.

“The problem with that is that you can overstretch to reach the Champions League group stage.

“So they have got flex within FFP but the gamble is overstretching. That is the gamble the boardroom, I imagine, will be looking at.”

The verdict

Crucially, Celtic’s arch-rivals Rangers appear to have significantly less room for investment.

The Gers recently announced a loss of £23.5million for the year, with their total losses under the current regime climbing to a whopping £73.8million (via The Athletic). Perhaps that could force them to sell some of their talent, while the allure of Steven Gerrard in the Premier League may also tempted some of the Hoops’ rivals into leaving Glasgow.

And so even if Celtic don’t spend all the money they’re permitted to, they look well-placed to regain their Scottish crown, providing Postecoglou is granted enough to strengthen the injury-hit areas of his squad, namely through the spine of the XI.

In other news, this player wanted to move to Celtic.

Crystal Palace will be without midfielder James McArthur for a further six weeks, according to The Athletic’s Matt Woosnam.

Scans revealed that the 34-year-old had suffered a torn hamstring in the victory over Wolves at the beginning of this month, and having sat out the 3-3 draw with Burnley last weekend, he could now miss Palace’s next nine Premier League matches.

If the timeline is accurate, he could be in line to return for the Eagles’ trip to their arch-rivals Brighton on 14 January.

How big a blow is McArthur’s absence?

Prior to the injury, McArthur had started every Premier League game under new Eagles boss Patrick Vieira.

If you go by WhoScored’s rankings, he’d been Palace’s third-best player behind Conor Gallagher and Christian Benteke. The Scotsman was averaging 2.4 accurate long balls (fourth in the club’s ranks), 2.3 tackles (third) and 1.2 interceptions (fourth) per 90 minutes, highlighting his importance to the team and how big a loss he will be during a busy period of the season.

Woosnam revealed the news on his personal Twitter profile, and here’s what these Palace supporters had to say, with one describing it as a “devastating” blow to the team.

Crystal Palace lament McArthur injury

“Jimmy Mac will be a huge miss as we don’t have another player with his engine that can cover so much ground”

Credit: @cpfc_jw19

“6 weeks! Oh dear we are really going to miss him”

Credit: @StephenRodin1

“We better start scoring even more then. Cos we’ll be shipping em in now!”

Credit: @ic_lewis

“Devastating news, he has been our rock”

Credit: @rickyj555

“Absolutely gutted, why is it always us”

Credit: @joe_cpfc_01

“Didn’t need this on a Tuesday morning”

Credit: @CPFCMax9

In other news, a journalist weighs in on Palace’s links with this Premier League forward.

Everton have been handed yet another significant injury setback ahead of their Premier League clash with Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park this evening.

What’s the word?

Injuries have severely hampered the Toffees’ progress in recent weeks, with Abdoulaye Doucoure, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Tom Davies all facing extensive spells on the sidelines.

Rafael Benitez was able to welcome back Yerry Mina into the starting line-up last time out against Arsenal, but the  centre-back only lasted 31 minutes before leaving the field of play with a fitness complaint.

In his pre-match press conference, the Toffees manager provided an update on the 27-year-old’s situation, confirming that he won’t be available for the trip to south London, before revealing that Salomon Rondon and Allan are progressing well.

“Yerry is not available. Rondon is available and has been training, and Allan has done today half of a training session,” the manager said.

However, Benitez was able to announce some encouraging news regarding Davies and Calvert-Lewin, revealing that the English duo could make their comebacks in the weeks ahead.

He said: “Still we have Davies, maybe next week he will start with the team. Dominic is getting closer, obviously. Every training session that he is doing with the rehabilitation coach, he’s getting better.”

Everton fans will be gutted

News that Mina is once again ruled out of action for the intriguing encounter against Palace will surely leave Everton supporters feeling gutted, given his importance to the team.

The Colombia international has started seven Premier League games this season, losing on just one occasion and winning four times. In his absence, the Toffees have lost four of their five encounters, keeping just one clean sheet in the 0-0 draw against Tottenham, and his underlying numbers indicate why that has been the case.

As per WhoScored, Mina has averaged 1.3 interceptions, 3.4 clearances and 0.6 blocks per top-flight fixture, placing him in the top four amongst his teammates for each metric.

Therefore, the 27-year-old’s latest injury setback will come as a bitter blow to Everton, and Benitez will be hoping that the likes of Mason Holgate and Michael Keane can step up in his absence.

In other news… Benitez can seal big Everton coup by signing “unbeatable” £27m-rated gem, he’s “incredible”

Harry Kane has been slammed by Alasdair Gold in his latest player ratings piece for football.london despite Tottenham Hotspur beating Fulham 1-0.

The North London club took the lead inside the first 20 minutes of the first half through an own goal from Tosin Adarabioyo and managed to hold on in the end as Scott Parker’s men proved to be a tough opponent, with Josh Maja having a goal disallowed in the second half by VAR for a handball in the build up.

While there were some decent performances from Jose Mourinho’s team, Gold was rather underwhelmed by Kane’s display, giving him a 5/10 overall rating, the joint-lowest out of any Spurs player along with Gareth Bale, as he missed two ‘big’ opportunities to score and had an ‘off’ night by his usual high standards.

Kane not at his best for Spurs

As Gold points out, Kane did not have his best of game in a Lilywhites shirt. Aside from missing two ‘big’ opportunities, the England international, who is currently earning £200,000 per week, lost out on five of his duels, had just a 67% pass accuracy and lost possession of the ball no fewer than 14 times in the game, the joint-third most out of any of his teammates to have set foot on the pitch (Sofascore).

Nonetheless, the 27-year-old striker will be hoping to get back to his best when THFC host Crystal Palace in the Premier League on Sunday evening.

In other news, find out what transfer business Alan Hutton expects Spurs to do in the summer here!

Manchester United may have found the perfect replacement for Anthony Martial in the form of Bayer Leverkusen’s Leon Bailey.

According to reports, the Red Devils have already had discussions with the Jamaican wideman’s representatives as recently as the January transfer window.

With current United forward Martial having been urged to leave Old Trafford, this summer is the perfect time for the club to move for Bailey.

Since joining Bayer Leverkusen, the former Genk man has become one of the most exciting forward players in the Bundesliga.

He is currently in the midst of his most productive campaign in Germany having hit ten goals and provided nine assists in all competitions.

Despite not quite having the goalscoring ability of Martial yet, with the Jamaican having scored 0.24 goals per game for Leverkusen compared to the Frenchman’s 0.3 for United, he has been in far better form throughout 2020/21.

According to WhoScored, Bailey has been averaging 2.3 shots per game, 1.5 key passes, 2.2 dribbles. He also keeps the ball extremely well, being dispossessed on average just once every game.

These numbers far outweigh Martial. The winger, signed from AS Monaco, averages just 1.9 shots, 0.8 key passes and 1.4 dribbles per game, whilst he’s been relinquishing possession at a rate 1.7 times per game.

With Bailey two years Martial’s junior, his numbers are surely set to improve even more as he finds greater consistency. Even Bayer boss Peter Bosz has seen Bailey’s improvement, stating that he is “getting better with every game”.

Another benefit of the switch would also see Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and the Red Devils potentially earn some cash.

At the time of writing, Martial is rated at £49.5m. Whilst they might not be able to demand quite as large a fee, it is still far larger than Bailey’s rating of just £31.5m.

Despite Martial earning plenty of praise in the Manchester derby win, Bailey remains a far more promising prospect and should certainly be a transfer target for the Red Devils this summer.

AND in more news, take a look at Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s brilliant performance in the Red Devils’ 2-0 victory in the Manchester derby…

Everton need to make big changes at the club this summer whether they are relegated or not, and now the club are set to enter talks with Moise Kean and his representatives imminently to determine his future.

What’s the latest?

According to Italian news outlet Corriere Dello Sport (via Sport Witness), Juventus and Raiola ‘are working to understand if they can find a way out of the agreement with Everton or alternatively an immediate solution on the market.’

The report further states that conversations between the powers at Goodison Park and the parties in Turin will ‘be resumed at the end of the season.’

Moshiri must axe Kean

In terms of the 22-year-old’s future at Everton, there is no doubt that there is no interest from either the player or club to reinstate his position back in Merseyside, and after a less than spectacular season at Juventus, Farhad Moshiri must do all he can to brutally axe and cut ties with the striker.

Kean is currently tied into a contract with the Merseyside club until June 2023 but with talks opening, there will be hope that the player’s future can be resolved and if the club can make some money on the player it would really benefit the club.

Everton are reportedly looking to recoup financial losses this summer, so selling the youngster on will surely be in the best interests of everyone, with Kean clear that he has no desire to return to Goodison Park.

The £49k-per-week gem who was hailed “dangerous” by Mixu Paatelainen, was underwhelming in his time at Everton scoring just four goals in 39 appearances for the club and this season has continued his mediocre output scoring just six goals in all competitions for Juventus, so with that being said his impact would not be an upgrade on what Everton already have in their squad.

Ultimately, the main focus for the club right now is to secure Premier League safety in the remaining six games of the season, and until their future is determined it will be unlikely that any transfer business is dealt with ahead of that.

AND in other news: Everton now plotting bid for £13.5m-rated “revelation”, he’s miles better than Iwobi

Ruben Neves is back, ladies and gentleman. If ever there was an opportunity to coin the phrase form is temporary, class is permanent, it was at full-time on Sunday.

As Wolves dug deep to find a late equaliser courtesy of Romain Saiss against Spurs, it was Neves who quietly ran the show in the middle of the park and played like a man possessed.

Nuno Santo has tinkered with his system in recent weeks and deciding on a four-man defence that was battered 4-0 by Liverpool only a few weeks ago was brave.

However, against a Tottenham side possessing the effervescent Harry Kane and Heung-min Son, they were made to look average. Very rarely did they have a chance to score and credit has to go to Wolves’ backline.

Saiss was considerably better than the performance he put in against Burnley but equally, Neves was better than we’ve seen all season. The Portuguese has struggled in 2020/21 and we’ll be the first to admit at FFC that we’ve doubted him.

Of course, it will take more than one performance to really start believing the midfielder’s hype again but against one of the title contenders, this was an excellent display.

That being said, it was a performance that is likely to go under the radar. Neves didn’t do anything too eye-catching but he quietly went about his business in a robust fashion. Throughout his time on the pitch, he won five tackles and five interceptions, making a mighty 11 ball recoveries.

His ability to reclaim possession of the ball was phenomenal and it was down to that reason that Son and Kane rarely had the chance to break. Neves was repeatedly in the way and then used his magnificent passing range to good effect.

The Portugal international completed 82% of his passes and was successful with all three of his crosses. This was a complete performance from someone who looked at ease playing against Spurs.

Neves’ place in the side has been called into question at times this term but this was a performance to silence the doubters. He definitely still has the attributes to thrive in this Wolves team.

Just imagine what he could do alongside a more mobile midfielder.

AND in other news, Wolves must swoop for 51-cap DEMON who’s “outstanding physically”…

Southampton could be set for a huge boost with Jannik Vestergaard after The Athletic journalist Daniel Sheldon claimed that they will appeal the red card he was shown in the 1-1 draw with Leicester City on Friday night.

The Danish centre-back was sent off following a VAR decision after catching Jamie Vardy with a studs-up challenge, and despite clearly winning the ball, he was given his marching orders after VAR ruled that he was denying the Leicester striker a goalscoring opportunity.

Speaking on the latest episode of the Total Saints podcast [via This is Futbol], Sheldon slammed the decision and suggested that he would be shocked if it wasn’t overturned, saying: “[Jamie] Vardy was not going to get that ball. Vardy was running one way and that ball was going another way.

“At the time Vestergaard touched that ball, that ball was going towards the left and Vardy was kind of on the right, going in a straight line.

“So on the basis that Vardy wasn’t going to get that ball, I don’t see how they can’t rescind it. I’d be amazed if they didn’t.”

[snack-amp-story url=”https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/southampton-saints-ralph-hasenhuttl-martin-semmens-st-marys” title=”Latest Southampton news, transfer rumours and more”]

Although Vestergaard’s replacement Mohammed Salisu produced one of his best displays in a Southampton shirt to help the Saints earn a hard-fought 1-1 draw against Brendan Rodgers’ side, it would still be a massive blow to Hasenhuttl if the Denmark international isn’t available for their trip to Anfield next Saturday.

[snack-amp-story url=”https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/southampton-saints-ralph-hasenhuttl-martin-semmens-st-marys” title=”Latest Southampton news, transfer rumours and more”]

Therefore, if the £16.2m-rated defender’s red card is rescinded in time for the weekend and he can feature, it would be a huge boost for the Austrian, as Vestergaard has been one of Southampton’s best performers in the Premier League so far this season.

The former Borussia Monchengladbach man’s 6.98 WhoScored average rating is second to only James Ward-Prowse in the Southampton squad, so it is clear that he is one of the most important players for the south coast club.

[freshpress-quiz id=“594431″]

Therefore, Hasenhuttl will be praying that the Premier League sees sense and overturns the red card, as it could drastically improve the Saints’ chances of picking up a result at Anfield this weekend.

In other news… Saints suffer devastating transfer setback to “unbelievable” ace, Ralph surely fuming

Kevin Campbell says ex-Roma boss Paulo Fonseca could be a good alternative for Celtic if a deal for Eddie Howe can’t be finalised.

The former Arsenal and Everton striker was speaking to Football Insider.

The lowdown

Fonseca will be leaving Roma this season on the expiry of his contract.

He led them to fifth in his first year but they look set to finish outside the top six this time around.

They did reach the semi-finals of the Europa League, having beaten Braga, Fonseca’s former club Shakhtar Donetsk and Ajax, but a 6-2 defeat against Manchester United in the first leg put paid to their ambitions.

Fonseca has taken charge of 98 Roma matches, winning 52, drawing 19 and losing 27 – that equates to a win rate of 53.1 per cent. He usually opts for variations of a 3-4-3 formation.

It was revealed on The Transfer Window Podcast last week that Celtic have been linked with Fonseca after he expressed an interest in the managerial role, vacant since Neil Lennon’s departure at the end of February. That follows previous reports from The Daily Record citing Fonseca as a possible alternative target.

The Glasgow outfit reached a verbal agreement with Eddie Howe early in April, but haven’t been able to get that deal over the line as of yet.

The latest

Campbell expressed his confidence that Fonseca ‘could do a job’ at Parkhead and says he knows how to coach young players.

“Fonseca is a good manager,” he said.

“There was big talk about him coming to the Premier League and Celtic a few years ago.

“That didn’t work out and he went to Roma instead.

“He is definitely a manager who could do a job at Celtic but Eddie Howe could as well.

“They both know their football and work well with younger players.

“That Shakhtar team he had was really good, that’s how he made his name.”

The verdict

Fonseca looks to be a decent outside candidate for the Parkhead gig. As this report from The Athletic notes, he’s faced a ‘tough situation’ at the Stadio Olimpico amid a ‘difficult restructure’ off the field, so he shouldn’t necessarily be written off based on the disappointing end to his tenure in the Italian capital.

Howe surely remains the man Celtic want given the sheer volume of media noise about his possible arrival, and that appointment would likely generate genuine excitement among supporters, but Fonseca has plenty of plaudits.

Indeed, Fonseca’s Shakhtar side were drawn to Manchester City’s Champions League group in consecutive years between 2017 and 2019, and Pep Guardiola himself was amazed by their setup, via The Times: “Before every game against Shakhtar, I have the same feeling – the first time we face them in the group stage, my (scouting) team went to see them and they came back saying ‘wow’.

“They were really impressed. In Barcelona all the time it was, ‘Shakhtar, Ukraine, who cares which players play, nobody knows them.’

“I can assure you it was one of the best teams in terms of playing football. It was so tough for me. For Barcelona, Bayern, we had good results but it was tough. I have a lot of respect for them.”

Fonseca did indeed shock Guardiola later that year as the Premier League champions elect lost 2-1 in Ukraine, via Soccerway.

In other news, will Celtic’s hand be forced with this midfielder?