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The prospective appointment of Eddie Howe as Celtic manager would ‘make no difference’ for Odsonne Edouard, who intends to leave the club this summer.

That’s according to a report from Football Insider on Monday morning, as they claimed that the 23-year-old ‘has made it clear’ to the Hoops’ board that he wants out in the upcoming transfer window, irrespective of whether or not Howe is appointed.

Celtic have apparently made repeated efforts to commit Edouard to a new deal, but to no avail.

The Frenchman is approaching the final year of his contract, so Celtic will be under pressure to sell this summer if it’s clear that he won’t extend his deal.

It emerged at the end of last week that the Hoops were closing in on appointing Howe, but Edouard is said to have firm Premier League ambitions.

The Daily Mail reported at the beginning of March that Champions League-chasing Leicester City were eyeing the France under-21 international as a long-term replacement for Jamie Vardy for a purported fee of £15m.

Transfer Tavern verdict

Three years on from becoming Celtic’s record signing, Edouard has scored 81 goals in 162 appearances in green and white, with his former manager Neil Lennon hailing some ‘magnificent’ performances.

It has felt inevitable for some time that he would take the next step in his career, but the real disappointment for the Hoops is that they probably won’t turn a huge profit given his contract situation.

Edouard proved an ideal replacement for Moussa Dembele three years ago. Can Celtic unearth another such gem if the 23-year-old moves on in the summer?

In other news, could Eddie Howe bring this striker to Glasgow if appointed?

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp faced the microphones on Monday night after the club’s owners agreed in principle to join the European Super League.

The Reds were subject to boos and angry chants as they arrived at Elland Road to face Leeds United, seemingly from both sets of supporters.

After the game, which finished 1-1, Klopp was critical of Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville.

The German said he ‘understands’ the backlash and admitted he ‘doesn’t like’ the idea, having been kept in the dark by the ownership, but he felt Neville’s comments about Liverpool were ‘not okay’.

The Manchester United legend had accused the club’s hierarchy of ‘pretending’ to adhere to the ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ motto and labelled them an ‘absolute disgrace’.

Everton News Feed relayed the Reds’ manager comments, adding: ‘He’s not really understanding it is he?’

The European Super League plans, which would see the ‘big six’ qualify every year, have been denounced at Goodison Park.

Everton are above Arsenal and only a point behind Spurs with a game in hand in the current Premier League standings.

Klopp slammed for post-Leeds comments

“Had the opportunity to make a statement but instead he whinged about Leeds’ T-shirts and Gary Neville the bottle job.”

Credit: @samhargreaves94

“Totally knew about it too. As if he didn’t.”

Credit: @Mr_Jampot

“Did I hear that right. The owners are good people haha. They tried to furlough their staff until there was an outcry. Good people hahahahahahahahahahahah.”

Credit: @ElTelTheToffee

“They knew about it, possibly explains their terrible form lately. Needs to put his own house in order before he starts on Neville though.”

Credit: @pshughes10

“Oh he is, just deflecting the main question so he doesn’t have to answer it! I am very surprised, thought he would do something like Milner!”

Credit: @ianjacques68

“Is it just me or doesn’t he always seems kinda spineless and full of excuses as soon as things get kinda heated?!”

Credit: @killenpabanken

“At least Pickford isn’t getting blamed for this super league idea.”

Credit: @Paul34088722

In other news, this Everton star broke the first-team’s silence on the Super League.

Everton are rightly set to release Joshua King at the end of his contract this summer, having proven to be an utter disaster since signing from AFC Bournemouth.

What’s the word?

According to Football Insider, Blues chiefs have seen enough from King since his Deadline Day arrival last month to opt against retaining the Norway international.

Everton paid Bournemouth £2m to take over the final six-months of the forward’s £45,000-per-week contract, with the option to later trigger a longer-term deal.

But Carlo Ancelotti has decided against activating the clause, which would have seen the Cherries owed up to a further £3m, and will instead pursue alternative options in the next transfer window.

The Italian tactician is thought to have been unimpressed by King’s results since moving to Merseyside on the final day of the winter window, and has often overlooked the 29-year-old even when without Dominic Calvert-Lewin through injury.

King is yet to start a single fixture for the Toffees, with each of his eight appearances to date coming from the bench and totalling a combined 117 minutes.

Four of the 52-cap forward’s outings have lasted less than 10 minutes, and he is yet to provide a single goal or assist in royal blue.

King, who had previously expressed intentions to remain at Goodison Park for next season, has recently been linked with a move to Fenerbahce with claims of an approach being made by Super Lig outfit to his representatives.

Should Everton release King?

Claims of Ancelotti being unimpressed by King’s performances for Everton are hardly surprising given his lack of playing time so far, making a decision to part ways with the £9m-rated forward the best option for both sides.

Being released at the end of his contract will allow King to explore options that will return the highest payout, given claims in January that the Norwegian was pushing for a £120k-p/w deal.

Not taking up the option to extend King’s contract will also allow Everton to begin exploring potential replacements, knowing they will not be held back by first having to find a suitor willing to take on his wages.

King’s salary, plus the £2m paid to Bournemouth, has so far cost the Toffees £20,000 for each minute he has played, with the former Manchester United trainee taking in £315,000 for his 117 minutes of action since February 1st.

It is highly likely that King will continue to steal a living at Goodison Park until his terms lapse in 17 weeks’ time on June 30th, with the further £765,000 that Everton are locked into paying the striker going on a bench warmer based on his current record.

Simply put, King’s move has proven to be an utter disaster for the Toffees, who have not seen anything from the player who former Cherries boss Eddie Howe once lauded as the “complete package”.

AND in other news, Farhad Moshiri is set to back Everton as Carlo Ancelotti eyes a 29-y/o he described as “the best” in the world…

West Bromwich Albion fans were far from happy with the performance of Matheus Pereira during their match against Brighton on Saturday.

The Baggies picked up a valuable three points in their attempts to stay in the Premier League. Kyle Bartley scored the only goal of the game from a Conor Gallagher corner, and the Midlands outfit are now eight points away from safety (Sky Sports).

Pereira, though, did not contribute much to his team’s victory. He did manage to get himself into a number of good positions, but his final ball was consistently not good enough throughout the match. Allardyce will no doubt be disappointed, and will be eager for the Brazilian to improve between now and the end of the season, as such a talented player can be the spark to win matches if he is on form.

The fans weren’t happy with his display, and they took to social media platform Twitter to share their thoughts.

Let’s see what the fans had to say about Pereira below

“As much as I like Pereira, he’s a total passenger today #wba”

Credit: @Rowlster_98

“Pereira always one touch too many”

Credit: @HurricanHic147

“Is it me or is a pereira ball distribution really poor!! Where Okay looks really good! COYB”

Credit: @Steve_Newman247

“Losing patience with Pereira not using his right foot”

Credit: @CharlieSpain5

“Phillips & Pereira have been poor”

Credit: @undercoot

“Pereira is having a poor game.”

Credit: @pcmac41

In other news, West Brom fans love news on this defender.

Rob Lee has spoken exclusively to Football FanCast and highlighted the numerous excuses and potential buyers that have come and gone under the reign of Mike Ashley, who he finds it difficult to believe actually wants to sell the club.

Ashley has wanted out of Newcastle United for a number of years now with something always ending up blocking a potential deal, with the latest barrier being the Premier League.

However, Lee thinks if Ashley wanted to get out of the club so badly he’d make more of an effort to get it sold and stop allowing the barriers to get in they way.

Ashley and the Premier League are currently going through arbitration to try and find out once and for all if PIF is directly linked to the state of Saudi Arabia, because Premier League chief executive Richard Masters and the rest of the league don’t want clubs to be owned by countries.

It seems like it will be another long and drawn out year for Newcastle fans who surely long for the day they have new owners.

Lee isn’t sure that’s in the near future though as he questioned Ashley’s willingness to sell the club in an exclusive interview with Football FanCast.

“Is that why he hasn’t spent in the last God knows how many years?”, Lee asked when talking about whether or not the potential takeover made Ashley not spend any money during the January transfer window.

He added: “Newcastle’s a saga, it goes on too long. Takeovers happen, they go ahead.

“Newcastle have been in takeovers the last five, six years. For whatever reasons, it’s numerous reasons that they never go through. 

“There are always stories come about, people haven’t got the money and the Premier League have stopped it. God knows how many stories over the last six or seven years of different owners.

“The way I look at it is very simple. If I’ve got something I want to sell, and you’ve got buyers then you sell it, providing you don’t put loads of barriers in the way you’ll sell it.

“Yeah, it just tells me that does he want to sell it as much as he says he wants to sell it?”

Only Ashley will know if he’s serious about getting out of Newcastle and if he’s confident of the PIF takeover going through which is lead by Amanda Staveley who has attempted to buy the club three times before this.

According to 90min, Tottenham Hotspur have already begun searching for a successor to Jose Mourinho, as the Portuguese isn’t likely to last past the end of the current campaign.

After a hot start that saw them sit top of the table at the start of December, Spurs have crumbled to sixth place, with the top four looking out of reach.

That makes their chances of qualifying for the Champions League – one of Daniel Levy’s key requirements – seem rather unlikely, having embarrassingly crashed out of the Europa League to Dinamo Zagreb last week.

As per the report, Spurs have compiled a long list of potential replacements.

Leicester City boss Brendan Rodgers is thought to be the front-runner but names like Carlo Ancelotti, Julian Nagelsmann, Massimiliano Allegri and Nuno Santo all feature, too…

On the Chalkboard

Aside from the obvious impact on the struggling fortunes of Matt Doherty – a £15m summer arrival from Molineux – it’s hard to see the fellow Portuguese making much of an impact in north London, especially given Wolves’ own problems this season.

The 47-year-old gem has had the most success at the Midlands outfit when deploying a three-at-the-back system, and that is something that could be a recipe for disaster at Spurs.

Of course, Nuno should be lauded for transforming the Old Gold into a stable Premier League club. The Athletic’s Tim Spiers claimed that he had done “special things” and that it was “unbelievable” and a “miracle” to see them in Europe.

A lot of Mourinho’s problems have come through defensive individual mistakes, with his usual culprits being his only options in the role. Indeed, the Spurs boss has struggled to cement down a proper partnership in his backline.

[snack-amp-story url=”https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/latest-spurs-news-mourinho-levy-gossip” title=”Read this week’s latest Spurs news, rumours and more!”]

Eric Dier (21 league starts), Davinson Sanchez (15 starts) and Toby Alderweireld (18 starts) have frequently rotated throughout the Premier League season, whilst Joe Rodon’s rare start last Sunday saw him throw his name into the equation.

The former two have been particularly calamitous.

Former Spurs midfielder Jamie O’Hara dubbed the duo the worst partnership in the Premier League and urged the club to get rid of both of them. He said to talkSPORT:

“I look at the team and the back-four is just an absolute shambles. I don’t know why Jose keeps playing [Davinson] Sanchez and [Eric] Dier because it’s probably one of the worst partnerships in the Premier League.”

A three-man defence requires a perfect mix of pace, ability on the ball and an excellent reading of the game. This is something lacking at Spurs right now.

Only Sanchez (85.4%) has a better passing accuracy rate than any of Wolves’ current backline of Conor Coady, Max Kilman and Leander Dendoncker.

An ageing Alderweireld and Dier isn’t the fastest defence by comparison, nor is the England international on the same wavelength for defensive ability, sitting behind the lot for tackles (0.8) and interceptions (0.9) per game, via WhoScored.

Despite taking Wolves the Premier League, and then the Europa League in the space of just two seasons, Nuno just isn’t the right fit for Spurs at the minute.

AND in other news, Alli’s transfer value continues to plummet under Jose Mourinho

In an exclusive interview with Football FanCast, former West Brom midfielder Carlton Palmer has urged Sam Allardyce to complete a deal for Jesse Lingard before deadline day.

According to Sky Sports, the Baggies have made an enquiry to Manchester United over a potential loan move for the 28-year-old outcast as Allardyce is attracted by the quality that he could bring to the Hawthorns.

Finances involved in any potential switch is likely to be the only stumbling block with Lingard thought to be on around £75k-per-week at Old Trafford.

Premier League rivals West Ham are also keen, while Real Sociedad and Nice have also held an interest in the past month, as per the Sky Sports report.

Although, the versatile winger is heavily out-of-favour under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer having been restricted to only two starts across the FA and Carabao Cup this term.

[snack-amp-story url=”https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/read-this-weeks-latest-west-brom-news-and-transfer-rumours” title=”Read this week’s latest West Brom news, transfer rumours and more…”]

ESPN correspondent Rob Dawson revealed last week that the Red Devils boss would be open to letting the 24-time England international leave on loan this month.

And Palmer believes he’d be a great addition for Albion as he’d bring the necessary quality to keep them in the division…

He told FFC:

“He’s a terrific footballer. He’s kind of a luxury player in a good side, so if a team is playing well and he’s in that side, he’ll benefit from that.

“Would he give West Brom that they need? He would. He probably would give them the quality that they need to stay up.

“It would be a good signing.”

United made the interesting decision to extend Lingard’s contract by a further year despite the long-serving youth product seemingly not in Solskjaer’s plans whatsoever.

Now valued at £9m by Transfermarkt, Lingard requires regular game time if he’s to stand a chance of making Gareth Southgate’s England squad for this summer’s European Championships.

While the Baggies desperately require proven quality in the Premier League and considering the wing dynamo has played 133 times in the competition and 39 games across Europe, he would certainly seem to be a good fit.

Indeed, this could be a fantastic move for all parties should West Brom and United be able to come to some sort of agreement.

AND in other news, Exclusive: Carlton Palmer claims 28 y/o beast could help biggest WBA issue…

Issa Diop is as far away from David Moyes’ plans as ever before after the West Ham United boss chose to leave the Frenchman out of his 18-man squad to face Leeds on Friday night.

The 23-year-old had featured in each of the Irons’ available Premier League teamsheets before the east London side travelled to Elland Road, with his only omission coming as a result of testing positive for coronavirus.

Diop’s positive test forced Moyes to alter his favoured backline from the opening two games of the season, but the form of Fabian Balbuena, Angelo Ogbonna and Aaron Cresswell since ensured there has been no room left at the inn for the £22.5m-rated centre-half to return.

A late injury to Arthur Masuaku the day before West Ham travelled to Leeds could have seen Diop granted a long-awaited recall, yet rather than looking fondly on the £67,000-per-week outcast who Manchester United were told would cost £60m just last year, Moyes moved to a four-man defence with Cresswell back on the left.

Reports at the time of the Red Devils’ interest also suggested attention was descending on the London Stadium from the likes of Paris Saint-Germain and FC Barcelona, but the days of West Ham fending off that level of interest in Diop are seemingly now a thing of the past.

According to ExWHUemployee, Moyes chose to leave Diop out of his 18-man squad to face Leeds as he simply wished to hand Craig Dawson his first seat on the bench, having opted to overlook the Watford loanee in every fixture since the defender’s arrival this summer.

No injury or issue prevented Diop from making the cut, Moyes just did not want the man Jose Mourinho once described as a “monster” for keeping his Manchester United side quiet by dominating duels up against Paul Pogba.

Diop is now as far from the West Ham line-up as he has ever been under Moyes, having been a firm fixture of the Scottish coach’s plans with 17 starts in 19 Premier League games following his return to the club last season.

Time may well be running out on his Irons career.

Although the road to redemption is still available to Diop, who can take inspiration from Balbuena and Masuaku becoming firm fixtures of the side having featured just six and nine times last term.

But that road is not for everyone, as Robert Snodgrass, Manuel Lanzini, Andriy Yarmolenko and even Mr West Ham Mark Noble can testify, with the quartet boasting some of the lowest minute tallies among the Irons first-team in the top-flight thus far this term.

AND in other news, a £27m-rated West Ham dud is playing on borrowed time after a shocking showing at Leeds United…

After slipping to a 2-1 defeat to Manchester United in the Premier League, Aston Villa welcome Liverpool in the FA Cup third round on Friday night.

Dean Smith’s side of course thrashed the Reds 7-2 in league action earlier this season, and will of course take a lot of confidence from that performance into the game.

But with it being a cup competition, the Villa boss may choose to ring the changes, and one man who he should consider giving almost a last chance to, is Keinan Davis.

The young striker has been linked with a move away from Villa Park in recent weeks, and with Ollie Watkins and Wesley ahead of him in the pecking order, opportunities for first-team football are likely to be limited for a player who’s shown virtually nothing all season.

The chance to start from the off against Jurgen Klopp’s side on Friday would give Davis a final opportunity to try and impress Smith and stake a claim to remain at the club for the rest of the season.

Clearly Villa feel like he’s still got a bit of potential in him, and the 22-year-old has got plenty of time to grow and develop, with Jack Grealish even touting how good he can become.

He said: “He’s so, so strong. He’s one of the best hold up players I’ve actually played with and that includes the likes of (Christian) Benteke. He is unbelievable.

“The only thing that he needs to add to his game is his end product and he knows that he needs to improve on that. But I can’t give him enough credit for how good he is just in the game, holding the ball up, his dribbling for a big fellow.”

With the January transfer window open, Johan Lange and co will have to make a decision on Davis’ future fairly soon, and so the game against Liverpool could well be last chance saloon for the centre-forward dubbed a “throwback” by Smith.

Jeff Shi’s mantra at Wolves has been to recruit players while they’re young in order to develop them for the future.

Very few new faces are welcomed to Molineux as the finished article. Rui Patricio, Joao Moutinho and Willian Jose spring to mind when you consider their elder signings, but the general rule of thumb has been to invest in players with a vibrant potential ahead of them.

Some of their summer signings typified that. Wolves spent £35.6m on Fabio Silva in the hope that he comes good in a few years time while the likes of Rayan Ait-Nouri and Ki-Jana Hoever were further evidence of Shi’s desire to bring in young players.

Though, one addition from 2019 is yet to get much attention. That happens to be Hugo Bueno.

The 18-year-old signed from a tiny Spanish team called Arcosa after being recommended to Wolves scouts by observers on the continent.

It was a life-changing moment for the teenager who is now remarkably on the cusp of first-team football. He appeared on the bench when the Old Gold tasted defeat to Crystal Palace at the back end of last month, and judging by Wolves’ injury list, he should be unshackled by Nuno Santo.

The Molineux outfit are currently missing Rayan-Ait Nouri and Jonny in a left-wing back position while Marcal has also been out injured.

However, Nuno can ease the burden of those injuries by preparing Bueno for first-team action. After all, he seems to fit the bill of what Wolves want. Speaking in an interview with Marca (via Sport Witness) last year, the defender stated: “It was in January 2019. They liked me (Wolves scouts) a lot in the match they saw me, and they offered me to go there for a week to play with the under-18s.”

Bueno continued: “I accepted, of course. I played with the two friends. They told me that I was a perfect fit, but that they wanted me to come back, to be seen by more coaches.”

Nearly two years on and it’s difficult to argue with the assessment of the club’s scouts. He has been a key part of Wolves’ U23 side this term, playing 13 times in Premier League 2.

He has featured at left-back and further forward on the left of midfield while two assists certainly demonstrate that Bueno is someone who loves to get forward.

Possessed with plenty of energy, the Wolves website describes the teenager a “flying wing-back” and that’s exactly the type of thing the senior side are looking for right now.

Critically, though, is that he is composed in defence. He has made 1.5 tackles per game in the EFL Trophy this season against senior opposition while uring a 2-2 draw with Liverpool U23s in January last year, he dealt capably with one of their brightest young players.

Birmingham Live reporter Alex Dicken noted at full-time: “He was tasked with marking Harvey Elliot, who has drawn enviable comparisons to some of the game’s greats this season, but acquitted himself well.”

With a plethora of defensive injuries, it’s certainly not unreasonable to suggest Bueno could earn his senior debut soon. With that in mind, he must be readied for the physical battles ahead.

AND in other news, Nuno must unleash rarely-seen Wolves flop next term, Jota called him a “good signing”…