All posts by z3u9t.icu

After seeing him forced off with injury after just 21 minutes of Leeds’ 3-1 win against Leicester in the Premier League, Marcelo Bielsa would have been hoping that Rodrigo hadn’t suffered any serious damage.

Whilst the Spain international hasn’t exactly set the world alight at Elland Road, he has slowly established himself as a key part of Bielsa’s side in his debut campaign in English football, starting the last nine Premier League games.

But, speaking in his pre-match press conference ahead of the clash against Everton, Bielsa confirmed: “Rodrigo is having a scan at the moment to evaluate his condition. He had an action where both his feet were very wide apart and potentially, that excessive stretch could have caused a muscle injury.”

The Leeds boss would add that the injuries to both Raphinha and Patrick Bamford are “less worrying”, and that they are “more simple” to overcome than Rodrigo’s.

Even in the best-case scenario, Bielsa would surely be unwilling to risk Rodrigo against the Toffees, especially given he has just seen first-hand what can happen to players when they’re perhaps brought back too quickly, such as Diego Llorente.

With Pablo Hernandez not as young as he once was and not in favour – he hasn’t started in the Premier League for Bielsa since November 2 – Rodrigo really is somewhat of a unique player in this current Leeds squad in terms of what he brings to the table.

Naturally a striker who can play out wide, he’s been playing in a more withdrawn role at Elland Road, but with the licence to push forward and support Bamford.

And, after an impressive cameo against Arsenal earlier this season, former Leeds man Noel Whelan explained just how important Rodrigo is to this side: “He’s always looking for it, he’s never ever standing still, he’s always on the move and that’s what I like about him. He can’t be marked, he’s always looking for a space – very much the next Hernandez.

“He is a player that looks like he can make things happen. He’s very intelligent, he brings other people into play and makes space for them.”

Leeds don’t have a like-for-like replacement for Rodrigo, which gives Bielsa a major headache in terms of how he goes about shuffling his team or his tactics around before the clash against Everton.

Rodrigo’s absence is likely to be a game-changer for the hosts on Wednesday night.

Sheffield Wednesday are still likely to be without the services of Massimo Luongo this evening as the Owls squad look to bounce back from two successive league defeats…

What’s the word?

Owls caretaker boss Neil Thompson had ruled the 28-year-old ahead of their loss to relegation rivals Birmingham City on Saturday and now reliable Yorkshire Live reporter Dom Howson claims the midfielder is unlikely to be involved tonight.

‘Influential midfielder Massimo Luongo (thigh) and winger Andre Green (Achilles) are unlikely to be involved,’ wrote Howson.

It is thought that he could return at the weekend, in time to face Luton Town, instead.

Bad news for Thompson

The £1.8m-rated Australian international has played only 22 minutes in the Championship since the start of December but still remains a key and integral member of that Owls engine room.

When he has played, Luongo has been decent, ranking fifth for average WhoScored rating (6.65) among Owls players with ten or more starts.

Similarly, no Wednesday star is averaging as many tackles as the industrious central midfielder, who currently sits on 3.1 tackles per 90 minutes at a success rate of 66%, via WhoScored.

It leaves Thompson with a tricky dilemma to solve – he could revert back to a three-man defence, of course, but following the suspension to Liam Shaw, he will need to make changes in the middle either way.

Luongo would have been a nice option to have, as evident above, his work-rate is second to none, so it will come down to either Joey Pelupessy or Chelsea loanee Izzy Brown.

The Dutchman hasn’t started any of the Owls’ last three league games, which is understandable given his paltry average WhoScored rating of 6.37, which sees him sit 19th overall – or second-bottom for those starting 12 or more matches this term.

Pelupessy hasn’t managed above a 6.5 rating more than once in his last seven appearances, in which he’s been dribbled past eight times and has committed nine fouls.

Then there’s the conundrum over Brown, who has been restricted to just three starts all term and only 57 minutes since November. He has not been involved in any of their last six league games either, per Transfermarkt.

You can see why Luongo’s persistent absence is bad news for Thompson, though he should be used to it by now considering the length of time the Aussie maestro has been on the treatment table this season.

No Shaw and no Pelupessy, it’s not looking good for the Owls as they face the promotion-chasing Bees tonight.

AND in other news, Thompson handed perfect opportunity to unleash “whole-hearted” Sheffield Wednesday gem TONIGHT…

Gary Mabbutt has told Football FanCast that some fans do not appreciate the magnitude of Tottenham Hotspur signing Gareth Bale.

The Wales international is slowly returning to full fitness and seems to have unlocked some of the form that saw him become one of the best players in world football in recent weeks.

Bale scored twice at the weekend as Spurs put Burnley to the sword in a 4-0 thumping, a performance that came on the back of a brilliant match-altering cameo against West Ham United, and a goalscoring substitute appearance versus Wolfsberger.

It has taken some time for him to become an undisputed starter, as his start against Burnley was only his third in the league.

But Mabbutt believes he is a terrific player, and thinks he is still underappreciated by certain sections of the support.

Indeed, he feels that the influence of the Real Madrid man will be felt more keenly in the dressing room at times than on the pitch itself.

Speaking exclusively to FFC, the former Spurs captain said: “Well, of course, I think from when Gareth was first signed, I think at times, people don’t actually appreciate just the signing of Gareth Bale.

“I think the impact it had on the dynamics within the dressing room, it made the players believe that the club wants to go places. It made the players believe that they’re now in a dressing room with a world class player.”

Bale is no longer the fresh-faced kid that made his debut for Spurs back in the 2000s, but Mabbutt has insisted he is still a youngster!

There is an element of humour in that, of course, but Mabbutt says he played his final game when he was approaching 37.

He added: “And in a lot of discussions about him, that he’s 31 years of age, he’s still a youngster. In my last game, the Spurs just going up to 37, so with all due respect I think he is a fantastic player.”

Bale struggled to force his way into the team at times at Real, particularly towards the end of his stint, as he made 12 starts in La Liga, and Mabbutt believes that set him back initially.

He added: “I think his time at Real Madrid this last time, with pressures from the manager and the manager not wanting to use him, I think that set him back quite a lot. Certainly for match fitness, game fitness. He arrived to us with an injury. But even though we knew that he couldn’t play for the first like, yeah, three or four weeks, our raising in our performances throughout the whole team was immense.”

Dean Windass spoke exclusively to Football FanCast about Manchester City signing a new striker this summer but believes Romelu Lukaku is not on their radar, amid reports in The Athletic that he could be a summer target.

The Belgian has been a revelation at Inter Milan after departing Manchester United having not been fully appreciated by fans or a lot of pundits.

Lukaku has been in red hot form in Milan finding the net 41 times and teeing up his teammates eight times in 59 games establishing himself as one of the world’s deadliest strikers, with 29 goals in 36 games this term.

Pep Guardiola has had to manage his side without Sergio Aguero for the majority of the last 12 months as well as Gabriel Jesus for chunks of this season, but that hasn’t slowed his side down.

Which raises the question, do City need a new striker, especially one like Lukaku who is a completely different striker to both Aguero and Jesus?

City seem to be well rounded and built team at the moment so adding a different type of striker may disturb that balance, or may turn them into an unstoppable force.

However, Dean Windass told Football FanCast he can’t see Lukaku at the Etihad anytime soon.

He said: “No, he won’t be on Pep’s list. If he buys Lukaku it’ll be a swap buy as I think Jesus will leave.

“I’m not sure on the situation with Aguero but I think he’ll leave.

“They say he’s a great player (Jesus) and I’m not saying he isn’t a great player, because he is. He’s just not in the same bracket as Aguero.

“If Lukaku is on the lips of Pep he’ll be a squad player.”

It may be a difficult sell to the Belgian to come and be a squad player and likely get rotated quite frequently while he’s at Inter Milan tearing up Serie A and has everyone sitting up and taking notice of his form.

City may be tempted to go in for Lukaku if he performs at this summer’s European Championships where Belgium will be one of the favourites with Man City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne pulling the strings.

According to recent reports, Tottenham Hotspur-linked central midfielder, Sasa Lukic, will cost a double-digit fee this summer.

The reports by Italian outlet Torino Granata (via Sport Witness) claim that the alleged Tottenham and Crystal Palace summer transfer target will likely begin contract negotiations with Torino this summer, unless “double-digit offers” arrive from any interested parties.

In their report, Sport Witness clarify that “double-digit” means €10 million (£8.6 million) and upwards, which, if taken from the base value, would represent a transfer fee that is almost double the 24-year-old’s current Transfermarkt valuation of £4.5 million.

However, Torino Granata also reference the fact that the Serie A side’s valuation of the Serbia international could be influenced by whether or not Torino remain in the Italian top-flight come the summer, with Davide Nicola’s side currently languishing down in 18th place in the league standings.

Transfer Tavern Take

So far this season, Lukic has scored three goals over his 22 Serie A appearances for Torino, as well as averaging a rather disappointing WhoScored match rating of 6.52 – ranking him as the club’s 13th-best performer in the league.

This is not exactly form that is indicative of a player ready to make a move to the Premier League, particularly to a club with Champions League aspirations such as Tottenham.

And, when factoring in Torino’s apparent asking price for the midfielder, it is arguable whether a move from Spurs for Lukic would make sense at all, either financially or in terms of the player’s ability.

In other news: Tottenham are also monitoring this attacker, find out more here.

After young Liverpool attacker Layton Stewart was stretched off during the under-23s’ 1-1 draw with West Ham United on Saturday, many Reds were left gutted by the ‘devastating’ news, with the 18-year-old requiring oxygen before being taken carried away. 

Stewart, who has been in fine form for both the under-18s and under-23s this season in Liverpool’s academy, needed treatment following a collision with a Hammers defender.

Having made the step up to the under-23s on a permanent basis, scoring against the likes of Arsenal and Chelsea, the Reds’ injury jinx appears to be continuing as this news emerges that Stewart was stretched off.

Needing to be administered oxygen, many Liverpool fans were left gutted over this untimely news, flocking to Twitter and wishing their best for the attacker.

Given his form for Liverpool’s youngsters, this does indeed come as ‘devastating’ for Stewart – find some of the Reds’ messages of support down below.

Liverpool fans gutted by Stewart news

“Wow.. this is not good. Poor Layton Stewart”

Credit: @LFCTransferRoom

“Layton Stewart stretched off after a knee injury, seems quite serious. poor lad was receiving oxygen. devastating for him :(“

Credit: @ellajxde

“Awful news from our u23 game against West Ham today as Layton Stewart picked up what seemed like a horrific injury.

The striker required oxygen after damaging his knee.

Lets just hope it’s not as bad as it looked”

Credit: @Anfield_Central

“Layton Stewart get well soon”

Credit: @FalseNineRole_

“Gutted for Layton Stewart, looks a bad one.”

Credit: @Brand0nLFC

“Oh dear Layton Stewart…”

Credit: @lfcnoah1

“That’s doesn’t look good!”

Credit: @FanaticalRich

“Looks like a bad injury for Layton Stewart there poor kid getting oxygen on the pitch”

Credit: @ATW1062

In other news: Many Liverpool fans flocked to a James Pearce claim, find out more here.

In an exclusive interview with Football FanCast, Kevin Phillips, who made 149 appearances for Sunderland, believes Lee Johnson has just done a good job, rather than a great one so far on Wearside.

Johnson took over from Phil Parkinson midway through this season and has got Sunderland into a great position to mount a serious push for automatic promotion, as they find themselves two points behind Peterborough in second.

However, despite the mood on Wearside being the most positive it has been in years, Phillips is still coy over Sunderland’s current situation, stating that one injury to Charlie Wyke could totally curtail their season.

Speaking on the job Johnson has done since taking charge at Sunderland and when he will start to worry for Sunderland, Phillips told FFC:

“He’s done a good, but not great job, but certainly he’s done a good job.

“I think Lee technically is a very good coach and you can see that from their performance against Portsmouth [last week].

“They’ve been criticised in the past for not scoring enough goals but at the minute they’ve got one player scoring the goals in Charlie Wyke who is on fire. So, if he was to get injured, then I would become slightly concerned.

“He’s getting the best out of Aiden McGeady, which a lot of managers have tried to do but haven’t been able to. So, he’s obviously doing something right.”

Sunderland have not lost since February 9 when Shrewsbury Town came from 1-0 down to beat the Black Cats 2-1, they’re currently on a ten-game unbeaten run in all competitions.

The Black Cats broke their Wembley curse last weekend as they beat Tranmere Rovers 1-0 in the Papa John’s trophy.

Manchester City have been linked with a move for Borussia Dortmund midfielder Mahmoud Dahoud recently and his signing could prove to be a repeat of the deal that saw Ilkay Gundogan join the Citizens in 2016.

According to the Daily Mail, a host of Premier League clubs including City, Chelsea, Everton and Chelsea are all interested in signing the 25-year-old, who has just one year left on his deal with BVB.

The report suggests that City were keen on the midfielder before his move to Dortmund from Borussia Monchengladbach in 2016 and they could reignite their interest this summer as he continues to impress with the Signal Iduna Park outfit.

So far this season, the German international has made just 12 appearances in the Bundesliga, in which he has contributed one goal and no assists, averaging a solid if unspectacular 6.74 WhoScored average match rating for his performances.

However, he has impressed with his displays in the Champions League, as he has averaged a 7.21 WhoScored rating for his performances, which suggests that he can be a top midfielder when on form.

City’s last signing from Borussia Dortmund was the deal which saw Gundogan join in 2016 and he has certainly proven to be a huge success, despite the injury concerns many had when he made the move to the Etihad.

This season in particular has seen the 30-year-old impress, as he has contributed 12 goals and one assist in 23 Premier League appearances, resulting in a superb 7.23 WhoScored rating.

However, the Turkish-born midfielder was not usually renowned for his goals at Manchester City, with his six league goals in the 2018/19 Premier League season his previous best tally.

WhoScored suggests that both Dahoud and Gundogan’s main strengths are their passing and long shots, which suggests that the Dortmund midfielder is a very similar style of player to the 30-year-old and could duly be a big hit at City should he join Guardiola’s side this summer.

Therefore, sporting director Txiki Begiristain should definitely consider bringing the £7.65m-rated midfielder to the Etihad Stadium in the summer, as it could prove to be a repeat of the masterclass which saw them sign Gundogan five years ago.

In other news… Txiki may regret £25m Man City decision with “phenomenal” beast

In an exclusive interview with Football FanCast, Rob Lee, who scored 34 Premier League goals during his career, believes Newcastle United fans are wild but in a positive way because they love their club no matter what.

It comes after Graeme Souness said Newcastle fans were “wild” and “demand success”, and that becoming the manager on Tyneside would send you to the “managerial graveyard”. However, Lee knows the problems are out of every manager’s control.

Mike Ashley is currently onto his ninth permanent manager since buying the club in 2007, overseeing two relegations in that time, and Lee believes the owner is the main problem at Newcastle and nobody will succeed in the dugout until he sells the club.

He told Football FanCast:

“I think the fans are wild but in a good way because when you go to St James’ Park, certainly when I played there, they were fanatical. That’s what I love about Newcastle fans because they love their club. They go week-in-week-out even when things are not great, but everyone knows they hate the owner.

“It has been a sort of graveyard since Kevin Keegan and Sir Bobby Robson left because everybody since those two has failed. People say ‘why are they failing?’, and it’s because the club is not run well.

[snack-amp-story url=”https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/rob-lee-exclusive-newcastle-united-premier-league-steve-bruce” title=”Exclusive! Rob Lee’s thoughts on Newcastle”]

“Everyone can blame Steve and he’s got to take some of the blame because Newcastle shouldn’t be where they are. However, everyone knows who the main culprit is and the fact is we’ve got an owner that doesn’t really want to be there and he’s not going to put any money into the club.”

In the last transfer window, Mike Ashley sanctioned just one deal as Joe Willock arrived on deadline day on loan from Arsenal, despite Newcastle needing to improve in numerous areas of the pitch.

Newcastle have been involved in a long and drawn-out takeover saga involving Amanda Staveley and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which is due to go through arbitration in the coming months.

Transfer guru Fabrizio Romano has delivered a fresh update on Tottenham Hotspur’s transfer pursuit of Milan Skriniar this week…

What’s the word?

In an exclusive interview with GiveMeSport, Romano revealed that Spurs could revisit their interest in the Inter Milan sensation when the window re-opens at the end of the season, he said:

“I would mention again Skriniar because they love this player. They’re scouting, they love this player, they’re convinced he would be perfect.

“Mourinho loves this player. It’s one of the players they are convinced would be perfect, It’s about the scouting, it’s about the board, it’s about Mourinho, they love the player.”

The north Londoners were close to sealing the 26-year-old in the summer, with chief scout Steve Hitchen spotted in Milan before deadline day, as per the Evening Standard.

Romano went onto claim that Spurs had only offered €35m (£30m), though the Serie A front-runners wanted at least €50m (£45m) to let their star man, whilst that valuation is expected to soar come to the end of the current campaign.

“He’s doing so well fans are in love with Skriniar so I think it’s not 50 million euros (anymore). This summer it will be around 80 or 75 million euros for Milan Skriniar, so really, really complicated, let’s see what Tottenham will decide about the centre-back,” he added.

Dream for Mourinho

As Romano mentions, this really would be a dream deal for Mourinho.

Back in January, the reliable Dan Kilpatrick at the Evening Standard suggested the Portuguese was desperate for a new centre-back that could make a similar impact to that of Virgil van Dijk at Liverpool or Ruben Dies at Man City.

Skriniar can be that ‘transformative’ defender he’s lusting for.

Lofty comparisons to former Premier League beast Martin Skrtel are merely just one reason why the Slovakia international would need no time in adapting to the Premier League.

“He has always been the leader on and off the pitch,” claimed Tibor Goljan, Skriniar’s U17 coach at MSK Zilina, to ESPN.

That is something Spurs have perhaps lacked since the departure of the vastly-experienced Jan Vertonghen. Indeed, Spurs’s last league outing – a 2-0 win over Aston Villa – saw young prospects Joe Rodon and Japhet Tanganga feature in the backline, alongside Davinson Sanchez, who has often been dubbed a “weak link.”

A lot of Mourinho’s issues have boiled down to his disappointing backline. These are players far from hitting their heights of that resolute Chelsea side. There’s no John Terry or Ricardo Carvalho here at Spurs.

Indeed, ex-Spurs midfielder Jamie O’Hara recently dubbed Eric Dier and Sanchez the worst central defensive partnership in the league, going as far as urging the club to sell them on in the summer.

Skriniar could be that difference-maker.

His performances for Inter have largely contributed towards them sitting six points clear at the top of the Serie A standings. Only one side, defending champions Juventus, have leaked fewer goals this term.

The £49.5m-rated star ranks amongst Antonio Conte’s best performers with an average WhoScored rating of 6.96. In addition, he is contributing 1.1 interceptions, 1.4 tackles, and 2.7 clearances per game, showing an excellent reading of the game and merely reinforces why the 6 foot 2 monster would be able to easily transition into English football.

By comparison, no Spurs centre-back is close to this level of form, with Sanchez topping the WhoScored rating charts (6.74).

Lilywhites chairman Daniel Levy must now do what he can do seal the signature of Skriniar in the summer, it would be a dream deal for not just Mourinho but Spurs too.

Click here to see the full GiveMeSport interview with Fabrizio Romano

AND in other news, Get rid: Levy must cash in on £26m-rated Spurs “nightmare” amid Alasdair Gold claim…