All posts by h716a5.icu

Time to look elsewhere: West Ham a bit silly to prepare new deal for damaged attacker.

According to Football Insider, West Ham United are open to fresh contract talks with Argentine Manuel Lanzini in the coming weeks.

The attacking midfielder, who has been riddled with injuries since joining the Hammers on a permanent deal in 2016, is out of contract next year but the club have an option to extend it by two years or more until the summer of 2022.

Apparently, a West Ham source has told Football Insider that the club are eager to tie the Argentine technical whippet down to a long-term deal that replaces the £70,000-a-week agreement he signed three years ago.

Negotiations will begin following the end of a fairly disappointing Premier League season as the club’s board work on keeping hold of their star men – Marko Arnautovic another one of those whose future is in doubt following interest from China.

Manager Manuel Pellegrini is said to be a huge admirer of the playmaker, who has managed 108 appearances for the club in four years, scoring 20 and making 17 in the process. But as it stands, there is scant little to be impressed with.

Lanzini has only recently returned from a one-year spell out of the team due to a rupturing his cruciate ligament and while he was a quality player beforehand, the injury has most certainly taken its toll, with the Argentine looking less than sharp.

Considering more than £70,000 is due to be tabled, it might be more prudent to look elsewhere and continue what has been a fairly promising couple of transfer windows.

Especially considering the interest in current stars.

West Ham fans, should Lanzini be offered a new contract or would you rather see fresh talent brought in? Join the discussion by commenting below…

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Manchester United fans have taken to Twitter to react after Luke Shaw was named as the club’s Player of the Year, and they are certainly surprised as well as in disagreement at the decision.

It must be difficult to pick a Player of the Season from such a horrendous campaign. The Red Devils look set to finish sixth and have no chance of qualifying for the Champions League going into the final day; despite a decent run of form under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer after the turn of the year, the season has been largely woeful under Jose Mourinho and then the Norwegian.

Will OGS still be in charge of Man Utd come next May? The Flying Pig discusses in the video below…

Shaw has made 40 appearances across all competitions, scoring one goal and recording four assists – he has, for the most part however, looked lethargic and unfit.

As a result, United fans are amazed that he has picked up the award, and are even more flabbergasted that the 23-year-old feels that this term has been his best since joining the club.

Let’s take a look at what the supporters are saying on Twitter…

The Czech Republic man showed just how impressive a career he’s had in a goodbye Instagram post. Nacho Monreal was quick to respond and wished the former Chelsea man good fortune in the future.

Joining Chelsea in 2004 for £7m, the 36-year-old didn’t take long to establish himself as the best goalkeeper in the league. His lightning fast reflexes and command of his area helped Chelsea on their way to four Premier League titles, of which he played a crucial role in three.

He was also a key part of the 2012 Champions League winning team, saving a penalty from Arjen Robben in extra time, a moment which ensured his place in the hearts of Chelsea supporters.

In all he made 494 appearances for Chelsea, winning 14 trophies along the way.

In the summer of 2015 Cech joined Arsenal for £10m and went on to make 110 appearances for The Gunners, whilst also lifting the FA Cup on one occasion.

He will likely be in goal for the Europa League final in Baku.

Could there be one last trophy for a true legend of the modern game? It certainly would be a fitting ending to what has been a superb career.

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Aston Villa are reportedly in the race to sign highly rated Luton Town youngster James Justin.

What’s the story?

According to The Daily Mail, Aston Villa and Stoke are both willing to bid for Justin, but face competition from Premier League outfit Leicester City.

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Justin, who racked up nine assists this season from left-back, has just one year left on his contract, though there is an option to extend it for another year.

According to the report, the League One champions want £5m for the 19 year-old.

Dean Smith written all over it

With Alan Hutton, Ahmed Elmohamady and Neil Taylor all in their thirties, Villa are crying out for a revamp at the full-back position.

And it’s no surprise to see Dean Smith is interested in Justin, who is capable of playing on either flank, effectively making £5m to secure his services an absolute bargain.

The teenager was named in the League One team of the season for his performances with the Hatters, as he scored three times to go with his nine assists.

Smith has shown at Brentford and already at Villa how much he can improve young players, and Justin marks the perfect project.

He has bags of pace, is durable and versatile (he appeared in 43 out of 46 League One games), excellent in the final third and of course young enough to grow and improve at Villa Park.

This is exactly the type of signing Smith was brought to the Midlands to work with.

What a year it has been for everyone associated with Sheffield United.

After securing a second-place finish in the Championship earlier this month, the Blades are now readying themselves for a return to the Premier League.

With a big summer ahead of them, United will be hoping that they can take the first steps to establishing themselves as a top-flight side by bolstering their squad in the transfer window.

Yet despite the temptation being there to splash the clash over the coming months, it is important that Chris Wilder gets his recruitment spot on as a failure to do so could result in an immediate relegation to the second tier in 2020.

Therefore, with the club’s future at stake, the former Oxford United boss should steer well clear of signing Birmingham City midfielder Jota.

According to The Star, the Spaniard is reportedly a target for the Blades with Wilder thought to be a big fan of the 27-year-old who was directly involved in 14 goals for the Blues last season.

Although Jota is a superb player at Championship level, it would be a massive risk to bring him to Bramall Lane considering the fact that has no previous experience of playing in England’s top-flight.

A very unforgiving place for players who fail to adapt to the pace and power that it has to offer, the Premier League could be too big of an obstacle for the Birmingham midfielder to overcome and therefore he may benefit more from staying at St Andrew’s next summer.

For the Blades, it is imperative that they focus on bringing in individuals that have a proven track-record of delivering the goods against England’s best club sides rather than getting caught up in negotiations with second-tier players.

What do you think United fans? Would you welcome a move for Jota this summer? Or is there another attacking midfielder that you would like your club to bring in when the transfer window opens in July? Get in touch below.

Replacing Aaron Ramsey is going to be long and drawn out process for Arsenal this summer, and it will likely be the most important signing the club make this window.

The Welshman leaves an important void in the Gunners XI, being the link between midfield and attack as well as leadership qualities that will take years for Arsenal to replace, and already a handful of names have been linked.

From Christopher Nkunku to Mario Gotze, Arsenal seems to be on the right page for the hunt for Ramsey’s replacement, and now a new, unexpected contender has entered the fold.

According to RAC1 presenter Gerard Romero, Arsenal have entered the race for Barcelona midfielder Andre Gomes, who is returning to the Catalan club after an impressive season out on loan at Everton, and the Portuguese international could be a risk worth taking.

With competition from West Ham and north London rivals Tottenham, Arsenal will have to spend the big bucks to acquire the £30 million-rated Barcelona man this summer, but it could be money well spent if Gomes performs as well as he did for the Toffees.

Although the 25-year-old plays a lot deeper to where Ramsey usually operated in the Arsenal midfield, Gomes could still fill in for the Welshman’s absence and continue to grow as a player under the guidance of Unai Emery.

Replacing Ramsey will be a tall order for any player, but after an impressive season in England, Gomes could be a surprising option to take up the mantle and flourish in the Arsenal midfield.

Arsenal fans, would you take Gomes as a summer signing? Let us know!

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According to The Mirror, Leicester are eyeing up a move for Crystal Palace winger Andros Townsend as Brendan Rodgers looks to put his stamp on the Foxes.

What’s the word, then?

Well, the 2016 Premier League champions are keen to test Palace’s resolve with a swoop for the England international, who enjoyed the best goalscoring campaign of his career last term.

Townsend hit nine goals and recorded a further six assists in what was an excellent campaign for himself personally, helping the Eagles make the FA Cup quarter-finals and finish 12th in the Premier League.

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The former Tottenham man has just two years left on his contract at Selhurst Park, and Leicester see the 27-year-old as an attractive option to bring to the King Power this summer.

Palace should laugh at Leicester’s interest

There is no way that the south Londoners should consider letting Townsend go anywhere this summer.

The wide man was absolutely crucial for the Eagles last term and was arguably performing better than Wilfried Zaha in the first half of the campaign, coming up trumps for Roy Hodgson when a moment of quality was needed.

Townsend is the type of player that every team outside the top six could do with.

He is industrial, hard-working, experienced in the top-flight and will always give you at least a 7/10 performance every week; he is a player you can rely on and is also one of the first names on the teamsheet.

Even more so, any interest in the No.10 should be laughed off as it will be a summer of uncertainty for another winger in Zaha, who has expressed a desire to leave the club for Champions League football.

There is no way that Hodgson’s two wide options should be allowed to leave in one summer, and even if the Ivorian does stick around, Townsend should be kept hold of at all costs as one of the most important members of the squad.

[ad_pod ]West Ham United goalkeeper Nathan Trott is to be allowed to leave the club on loan this summer, according to a tweet from co-owner David Gold.

What’s the word?

The Hammers have completed the signings of two goalkeepers in the past few days, agreeing deals to bring in Roberto from Espanyol and David Martin from Millwall.

Trott has yet to make his senior debut for the Hammers but has been on the bench three times: twice against Manchester City and once against Leicester City.

And Gold has now confirmed that the club’s acquisitions will allow the England Under-20 international to leave on a short-term deal this summer.

He wrote: “Just to confirm we have signed goalkeeping David Martin – son of Irons legend Alvin – on a free transfer from Millwall.

“His arrival will allow us to send promising youngster, England youth international Nathan Trott, 20, out on loan next season to gain first-team experience.â€

The youngster has made 55 appearances for the Under-23s, conceding 90 goals and keeping 15 clean sheets.

A wasted opportunity

This feels like a misstep from West Ham.

Constantly looking to bring in experienced goalkeepers, particularly those without much quality, purely to pad out the squad doesn’t make much sense.

There was the opportunity here for Trott to be promoted to third-choice and learn under both Lukasz Fabianski and one potential signing.

Instead, two have come in and he will be shipped out, likely to a Championship or League One club, where he will learn nothing of the demands of the Premier League.

When one drills down into it, this is almost certainly an error of judgement from the Irons.

It has emerged in recent weeks that Tottenham defender Danny Rose could be on his way out of the club, after telling Sky Sports that his position is unclear. Well, with Tottenham reportedly keen on a move for long-term target Ryan Sessegnon, it’s understandable why this may be the case. Still, a quick glance below at his form across the season suggests perhaps Tottenham should not be looking for a replacement at all. 

Firstly, let’s discuss the potential move then. To Sky Sports, Rose said: “If I’m back at Tottenham next season, great, if I’m not – great.” It doesn’t exactly strike as desire, or even intention, to stay. Indeed, the former Leeds youngster added that his age, being 28-years-old, was a factor in this, despite being happy with his increased game time this season.

According to the Evening Standard, his comments have taken the Tottenham hierarchy by surprise. Pochettino was reportedly very impressed by the left-back this season, who played 26 league matches alongside eight in the Champions League this season, after all.

When looking at the stats, it’s not hard to see why Pochettino was so impressed. One can make a quick comparison to Tottenham’s other left-back, Ben Davies. Surprisingly, the Welshman (per WhoScored) actually played more matches than Rose this season, with 27 league appearances and nine in the Champions League. Yet, during his games at left-back, the team conceded 10 more in the league and he failed to contribute to a single goal, whereas Rose claimed four assists.

Now, you could say Ben Davies is perhaps not the ideal comparison – and fair enough. But when comparing Rose to Ben Chilwell, who started England’s Nations League semi-final and could be subject of a potential big-money move to Manchester City, his numbers are again admirable.

Chilwell conceded an average of 1.19 goals per game last season, where Rose only conceded an average of 0.62. Additionally, he made just one more assist in ten additional appearances, had a lower cross accuracy, created less big chances, had a lower tackle success percentage and lost significantly more duels (stats via PremierLeague.com).

Granted, Chilwell kept more clean sheets, won more duels and made no errors leading to a goal, where Rose made one but the point remains. The Leicester star, after all, is a man who The Telegraph report is a prime target for Guardiola and would cost more than the £75m Liverpool paid for Virgil van Dijk.

With that in mind, it’s not as if he had a much better season than Rose at all. Yes, there are going to be fewer chances to sell him as he gets older, but Rose still retains the kind of quality to make him one of the best left-backs in the league. If there’s a chance to keep him, it shouldn’t be dismissed out of hand.

Tottenham fans, what do you think? Would you like to see Rose at the club next season? Or is it time to freshen up? Comment below. 

What a roller-coaster.Â

Yesterday, Charlton Athletic released a statement saying they had failed to agree on a contract extension with Lee Bowyer and the reason for this was that, due to uncertainty in regard to long-term ownership, they could only offer the former Leeds man a one-year deal.

The letter was from the owner and stressed the difficulty in agreeing on a deal with Bowyer and also claimed the club was losing money and could not afford any wage increases, despite this they say they offered the manager three times what he earned last season to stay on.

As well as that, the statement said that the 42-year-old wanted more money, while it also claimed that Championship club owners are “crazy†because of the amount they spend. Madness.

Indeed, it seemed that all hope was lost, but fast forward less than 24 hours, and Bowyer’s contract has been extended.

Addicks fans woke to the news that their hero of last season will be staying on to lead his boyhood club in the Championship which is at least something. Yes, fiascos such as this do suggest the club is a bit of a mess, but securing his short-term future can surely only be a positive.

Additionally, Charlton have also begun to strengthen for next season with the signing of Macauley Bonne from Leyton Orient. Indeed, the 23-year-old scored 23 goals last season as the O’s were promoted, as champions, from the Vanarama National League, so there are actually some promising signs ahead of the new campaign, as strange as it sounds.

Another day in the life of a Charlton fan. It must be truly exhausting.

Addicks, what can you really expect from your campaign back in the Championship? Join the discussion by commenting below…Â