Tag Futebol

Liverpool must revisit their interest in Ajax midfielder Ryan Gravenberch over the summer as they search for Gini Wijnaldum’s replacement.

What’s the story?

Italian outlet Gazzetta dello Sport (as reported by SportWitness), claimed Jurgen Klopp’s charges were among the 19-year-old’s list of suitors back in April, and the Reds would be foolish not to follow their admiration up with a concrete offer.

It’s not often a teenage talent attracts such widespread attention after only one full season in the senior set-up, but such is Gravenberch’s talent, Liverpool may have to move quickly to secure his services.

Liverpool must swoop

The youngster made 47 appearances for the Amsterdam giants last season, bagging five goals and providing six assists in all competitions as Erik ten Hag’s men completed the domestic double.

His outstanding displays have earned Gravenberch many plaudits throughout his short career, including former Netherlands international Wim Kieft.

“He is the greatest talent in the Netherlands. Only 18-years-old, but the prototype of a complete player. You see him grow every week,” Kieft said back in November.

“If someone like this makes his debut at the highest level, the big question is whether he can keep up with the faster pace. Gravenberch picks up on that very quickly.

“Also in the Champions League. When you see how, despite his height and physically, he easily turns away in the crowds and accelerates, you don’t see that much.”

The youngster has passed every test thrown at him so far and his 1.2 key passes per league game in 2020/21 – the joint-fifth highest in the Ajax squad, 68.4% pass accuracy and 1.6 dribbles per league game – both the second-highest amongst his teammates – illustrate the pivotal part he played in his side’s success.

While Gravenberch excels with the ball at his feet, he’s also blessed with enviable natural attributes.

Standing at 6 ft 3, the Dutch international would have no issue adapting to the physical demands of the Premier League and he could easily slot into the role left behind by his Dutch compatriot at Liverpool.

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Wijnaldum was often charged with recycling possession, easing the pressure and keeping things simple in the Anfield outfit’s engine room, all things that Gravenberch excels at.

Therefore, the Reds must revisit their interest in the Ajax prodigy and make a swoop before one of Europe’s other big guns show their hand.

Gravenberch has everything it takes to become Wijanldum 2.0, Liverpool must act to make sure he becomes that at Anfield and not elsewhere.

And, in other news…Imagine him and Thiago: Edwards must sanction LFC swoop for “technically gifted” gem 

Glasgow Rangers fans are loving comments from Steven Gerrard on the bans the SFA dished out to the five Gers players who broke health protocols.

Earlier this year, Calvin Bassey, Bongani Zungu, Nathan Patterson, Dapo Mebude and Brian Kinnear all broke coronavirus regulations to attend a house gathering. In the aftermath, they have since been banned for six games – although, following an appeal from the 55-time Scottish champions, the players will be able to play against Celtic in the Scottish Cup fourth round later this month (Sky Sports).

Rangers face Hibernian on Sunday, and Gerrard was speaking at his pre-match press conference. He was asked about the reason behind the appeal, and he revealed the Gers do not believe the punishment dished out was consistent with sanctions they have given in other cases – he also specifically cited Celtic’s trip to Dubai as an example.

The comments were shared on Rangers’ official Twitter account, and the fans took to the social media platform to share their thoughts.

Let’s see what the fans had to say about the comments from Gerrard below

“Kennedy with the assist and Gerrard fires it into the top bin..”

Credit: @Walker_2603

“Great from the Gaffer”

Credit: @bigdibs89

“Outstanding, Gaffer. Simply outstanding.”

Credit: @55titles2021

“Superb for Gerrard”

Credit: @chr1s_g1llen

“Savage but well put.”

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Credit: @KeyWorkerGav

“Can’t be underestimated how much the manager has developed as a political operator in his time with the club. 3 years ago he’d have been sucked into providing a tabloid soundbite. Now he’s swatting these drafties away with a swift, concise and witty response. Delicious.”

Credit: @AuldBaldAaron

In other news, Rangers fans are livid at this broadcaster’s comments.

Pundit Kevin Phillips has tipped Premier League side West Ham to sign Rangers left-back Borna Barisic soon.

The Croatian left-back was linked with a move to Leeds United in the summer transfer window and it was reported that the Gers were going to demand more than £8million to part ways with the defender – they are now well-placed to earn a big fee from his potential sale.

Barisic could be a ‘good signing’ for West Ham

Phillips believes that it could actually be the Hammers who sign Barisic from Rangers  – they would have adequate cover for Aaron Cresswell and as a result, they would have some good competition for the left-back spot. The pundit feels that the 28-year-old could be a ‘good move’ for David Moyes’ men.

In an interview with Football Insider, Phillips talked about Rangers’ Barisic and said:

“Cresswell has done pretty well. I think it would be a good signing – obviously you need two good players for every position.

“There’s going to be suspensions, injuries etc. so you need someone capable to come in. He’s younger so it could be a really good move.”

This comes after Football Insider had linked Barisic with a move to the London Stadium and he is one of the left-back options that the Hammers are looking at.

Losing Barisic could be a disaster for Rangers

Barisic has made 15 Premiership appearances this season, picking up four assists and scoring one goal so far. In the group stage of the Europa League, the Croatian had contributed with three assists in six appearances, also adding an assist in the League Cup to take his total to eight. (as per Transfermarkt).

In the 2019/20 league season, Barisic made 22 appearances for the Gers under Steven Gerrard. During that time, he scored twice and assisted eight times.

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This clearly shows that the 28-year-old is an important contributor to goals even from left-back and losing him wouldn’t be a good thing for the Gers at all.

In other news, a Rangers target has talked about links with a move to Ibrox – read more about it here.

Tottenham Hotspur bounced back from a draw with Manchester United by beating West Ham last week, but one issue continues to cloud their recent success.

While Harry Kane earned all of the attention for scoring his 18th goal of the season, Tanguy Ndombele was visibly frustrated on the bench. He was left out of the team that lined up against Manchester United and suffered the same fate against West Ham.

Spurs are unbeaten since the Premier League restart but the focus seems to be on the ongoing feud between the Frenchman and Jose Mourinho. Ndombele, who was previously compared to Chelsea star N’Golo Kante, has been benched for three games in a row and struggled for consistency this season.

According to The Guardian, Mourinho has backed the 23-year-old to succeed at Spurs. Although the manager has been critical of his work ethic, with concerns over his fitness, he has moved to defend the club’s record signing.

Speaking ahead of Tottenham’s trip to Sheffield United earlier today, Mourinho believes that the midfielder can salvage his Spurs career. He told a virtual news conference: “I believe Ndombele can turn it around.

“Football is full of players who have made difficult starts and then ended well. When Modric arrived at Real Madrid, after six months he was labelled the worst signing in their history. So when the talent is there many things can happen with adaptation.”

While Mourinho has tried to squash the rumours circulating online, there’s no smoke without fire. The Spurs duo share a rocky relationship, as the head coach is annoyed by Ndombele’s lack of effort in training. The French international is still a top-class player which makes the situation even more frustrating.

Indeed, he has saved his best performances for the Champions League, supplying two assists, making 1.7 tackles per game, averaging one interception and completing 1.3 key passes on average (via WhoScored).

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Despite his struggles, the midfielder has attracted attention from Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain. Barca are keen to offload Philippe Coutinho in the summer and are eager to use him in exchange for Ndombele.

Although Daniel Levy has insisted the French international will not be sold this summer, Mourinho may find the offer too tempting to ignore, as he is acutely aware that his budget has been slashed as a result of the coronavirus crisis.

Tottenham fans, do you think Mourinho should give Tanguy Ndombele another chance? Let us know your views in the comments below!

Sunderland have picked up their form in recent weeks and now have a very realistic shot at promotion but it will be far from easy until the end of the season.

As the team has already shown this term, many sides in League One are capable of beating each other, with the Black Cats experiencing seven league defeats so far. Phil Parkinson has fixed the defence in recent weeks, however, with five goals conceded in 10 league games, and that means the north-east outfit should be feeling confident ahead of games against Rochdale and Oxford this week.

Former player Gary Rowell, who scored 103 goals for the club, believes Sunderland ought to be brushing aside lower-placed sides like Rochdale at the Stadium of Light, though he did admit that such opponents are a bit of a “banana skin”.

Writing for the Sunderland Echo, Rowell said of the upcoming fixtures:

“I can’t accept and more importantly the players shouldn’t accept losing at home to Burton or drawing at home to Bolton and many others, these are the points dropped that are so damaging. Sunderland can’t afford any slip-ups, it is win or pay the price.

“The Oxford away game on paper looks a lot harder [than Rochdale]. They might currently be only 10th but they are a better team than that position indicates and I wouldn’t be surprised if they rally a challenge for a play-off position so they can’t be taken lightly.

“Sunderland need the grit and resilience they showed in the two away games before Portsmouth, both 1-0 wins at MK Dons and Tranmere where both fixtures weren’t easy on the eye but I will gladly take the same outcome on Saturday.”

As Rowell has said, any match could prove troublesome for Sunderland in League One, particularly at home where the visitors may look to raise their game, but the next four matches are against opponents placed outside of the play-offs and therefore present a great chance to accumulate points.

March 1st then sees the Black Cats visit promotion rivals Coventry in what could be a decisive game but if Parkinson gets a run going and confidence flowing through his players, then it could be a great opportunity for Sunderland to position themselves in line for promotion.

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Parkinson has got one area of the squad performing at maximum with the defence, and if he can do the same with the attack and show invention like he did against Ipswich to get the winner, then the north-east outfit may make a return to the Championship.

What do you make of Rowell’s comments? Is he right that Sunderland can’t afford any more poor results? Feel free to discuss below…

It must be pretty great behind a Liverpool fan right now.

They are the current European champions, after two finals in a row in the tournament. Not only that, they top the Premier League by eight points from Leicester City and Chelsea, whilst Manchester City, the current holders, are a further point back and currently sit in fourth place.

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As such, a place at Anfield to watch the Reds in action is amongst the hottest tickets in town. The Merseyside outfit are currently planning an extension to the current stadium, and are even said to be consulting both fans and local residents to get their thoughts on the future renovation.

However, it seems they may want to look at sorting out the club’s ticketing system, which is the cause of much debate amongst the team’s supporters.

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Several members have been complaining about the difficulties to get their hands on tickets, and they have taken to Twitter to do so. You can see some of the best comments from the social media platform below.

The snap shows the Spaniard celebrating after putting Napoli 2-0 up against Jurgen Klopp’s side on Tuesday night.

Watch Tottenham Hotspur Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

It may not be much, but for some Tottenham supporters, this will act as a bit of justice for the Champions League final back in May, especially after he specifically said pre-match that he was seeking “revenge” for the heartbreak in Madrid.

Llorente was one of the most important players in Spurs’ Champions League run. After Harry Kane picked up an injury against Man City he became their first-choice striker, and in the second-leg of that tie he netted the decisive goal.

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His Champions League goalscoring antics have continued after moving to Napoli, and although Spurs fans won’t care too much about his career in Serie A, this one will definitely give them a bit of satisfaction.

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As per a report from the Daily Mail highlighting what areas Everton were hoping to improve in the market this summer, the position of striker was included.

The Toffees have been linked with the likes of Aleksandar Mitrovic, Adolfo Gaich and Moise Kean so far as they look to add a third striker to their ranks to compete with Cenk Tosun and Dominic Calvert-Lewin, although Sporting Director Marcel Brands may not need to look very far from home for his man.

A report from the Liverpool Echo offers an exclusive interview with Blackburn senior youth scout David Kershaw, who gives the lowdown on the process that saw 46-goal forward Ellis Simms end up in the Toffees’ academy.

Check out a fan’s outrageous call for England to take a leaf of out cricket and rugby’s book after a limp Nations League performance in the video below…

The story tells of how a six-year-old Simms clung to his father in tears as he was too scared to go and train with the other kids, but eventually got out on to the pitch and impressed Kershaw.

“He’s decent this lad”, is what Kershaw first thought of Simms, and the youngster has gone from strength to strength ever since.

Kershaw added that: “I heard people saying this is one of the best we’ve ever had in our academy.” Simms even had the likes of Barcelona asking who he was after an international tournament.

After ending up at Manchester City before being released, Simms has gone from strength to strength at Goodison Park and hit a staggering 46 goals for the Under-18 side last term – Kershaw ‘hopes’ he will be the next big thing out of Everton’s academy after Wayne Rooney and Ross Barkley.

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In the modern day, age is just a number – it doesn’t matter that Simms is only 18. If you’re good enough, you’re old enough and the teenager is definitely good enough. Kylian Mbappe, arguably one of Europe’s best goalscorers at just 20 years of age, has already hit 100 career goals having been drafted into Champions League football at the same age as Simms; the Everton boy deserves a chance.

The Toffees have already landed Jonas Lossl and are close to signing Andre Gomes, but with Simms doing the business in the academy, Brands should call off his search for a new striker.

It wasn’t the result Luton fans wanted going into the final five games of the season, but the mentality displayed should be enough to convince supporters that this is their year.

Jason Cummings’ equalising goal for 10-man Luton with four minutes to go ensured that the Hatters’ club-record unbeaten run extended to now 28 games, and the performance was a promising one.

Luton should have got more than just a point from the game due to their attacking and possession dominance, but a point was enough to extend their lead at the top of the League One table to eight points with Barnsley losing away to Burton.

A win would have put Luton 10 points ahead of second place and put them two wins away from the League One title, and the squad’s mentality on the weekend of not giving up will take the Hatters’ to promotion.

Heading into the closing stages of the game, it really looked like Mick Harford’s side were going to have their unbeaten run come to an end and have their promotion conformation postponed for another week, but Luton showed heart and desire to play until the final minute, and in doing so kept a historic record intact and salvaged a point against a defensively stubborn Blackpool side.

Two games on the road will be the last thing Luton want after playing an exhausting game against Blackpool, but if the side can keep up the same level of determination as they did on the weekend for their games against Charlton and Accrington Stanley, Harford and co could be celebrating promotion to the Championship sooner rather than later.

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Luton fans, how soon can the club claim promotion to the Championship? Let us know!

Huddersfield Town announced the departure by mutual consent of manager David Wagner on Monday, and Middlesbrough fans were quick to react to the news on Twitter.

The 47-year-old was often lauded for the job he did with the Terriers having taken them to the Premier League despite ending the season with a goal difference of minus two.

He then kept them there despite not having the biggest of budgets, but after taking only one point from the last 27 available and being knocked out of the FA Cup by Bristol City, the German and the Yorkshire outfit have now gone their separate ways.

Is The Championship the most exciting league in the world? Pl>ymaker FC’s Matchday with Max discusses the recent run of crazy results with Sky Sports’ Michelle Owen in the video below…

Meanwhile, Boro are well in the Championship promotion picture under Tony Pulis, but the 60-year-old’s negative style of play at the Riverside Stadium has often been questioned even if it continues to yield positive results, and it is no surprise that the attention of many frustrated fans has been caught by Wagner’s departure.

Middlesbrough supporters took to social media to give their thoughts on the former Town manager but the following were in agreement that they didn’t want him with one saying “he scores fewer goals and concedes way more than Pulis”, and another simply said “no thanks”.

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Here is just a selection of the Twitter reaction…