All posts by rastrear-estafeta.com

West Brom have reportedly agreed new contracts with Owen Windsor, Toby King and Zak Delaney, according to The Express and Star’s Joseph Masi. 

What’s the story?

West Brom would have been facing a nervy couple of months, as they looked to tie down some of their younger players to new contracts ahead of the 2021/22 campaign.

Windsor, King and Delaney have all played their part for the club’s academy teams in recent seasons, and it appears as though they’ve made a good impression on key members of staff at the Hawthorns.

All of the players were out of contract at the end of the 2020/21 season, and the club have now reportedly agreed new deals with the trio, and it’ll be interesting to see what the future has in store for them in the coming months.

It will have been a no-brainer for the Baggies

It’ll be pleasing to see for West Brom’s supporters to see them tie down some of their upcoming talents to new contracts, as they could potentially have an important role to play with the senior side in the near future.

The Baggies endured a frustrating league campaign last term, as they were relegated from the Premier League, whilst under the management of Sam Allardyce.

But West Brom will fancy their chances of winning promotion back into the top-flight at the first time of asking, under the watchful eye of newly-appointed boss Valerien Ismael, who opted to leave Barnsley in favour of a move to the Hawthorns this summer.

In previous seasons, we saw some of West Brom’s promising young talents given a chance to feature in the senior squad, with the likes of Jonathan Leko and Rekeem Harper being just some of those to play a part for the club over the years.

With Ismael showing that he’s willing to give younger players a chance whilst at Barnsley, you’d be foolish to rule out the newly-appointed West Brom boss doing exactly the same whilst with the Baggies this term.

Even if they’re not to be a regular starters this season, King, Delaney and Windsor will all fancy their chances of forcing their way into Ismael’s plans in the coming months, and it will have been a no-brainer for West Brom to offer the trio new deals this summer.

It’s exactly why fans will be buzzing with Masi’s latest news.

Nick Hammond is reportedly now targeting a move for Diego Carlos in the January transfer window.

The Lowdown: Hammond busy

With the winter market open, Hammond is set to be a busy man at St. James’ Park over the next few weeks.

He has been hired as a transfer consultant on a short-term deal, and will oversee who comes in and who goes out in the North East this month (Sky Sports), with Kieran Trippier already looking like one player who is coming through the door.

Nonetheless, with the Tyneside outfit currently in the relegation zone, the spending will surely not stop there, as they bid to survive in the Premier League come the end of the season.

The Latest: Carlos targeted

As per The Daily Telegraph, Carlos is now being targeted by Hammond for the Magpies, as a potential alternative to Sven Botman.

They have reportedly already had one bid pushed back for the Netherlands international, and so Carlos may be seen as an easier player to get.

The Verdict: Do it now

With just a few weeks of the window to come, and the fact that they are in the drop zone, the Toon simply cannot afford to wait around.

Thus, if a deal can be done for Carlos now, then they need to act upon it.

Nicknamed ‘The Beast’, the 28-year-old is a no-nonsense central defender that would certainly be up for a relegation dogfight.

He even famously rattled Lionel Messi in a draw between Sevilla and FC Barcelona last season, showing the kind of character that will be needed if Eddie Howe’s team are to pick up the points that they need to stay up.

Currently rated at £40.5m by Transfermarkt, Carlos would likely not come cheap, but if Botman becomes unattainable, then he is certainly not a bad alternative for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) consortium.

In other news, find out which ‘quality’ colossus NUFC are now eyeing here!

Former Scotland defender Alan Hutton has suggested that Celtic may already have opened new contract talks with midfielder Tom Rogic, as per Football Insider. 

The lowdown: Deal talks on hold

This comes after Hoops boss Ange Postecoglou told reporters back in February that a new deal for Rogic was the ‘last thing’ on his mind as the pursuit for the Scottish Premiership title went on.

[web_stories_embed url=”https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/web-stories/key-latest-celtic-updates/” title=”Key latest Celtic updates!” poster=”” width=”360″ height=”600″ align=”none”]

Fast approaching the final year of a deal at Parkhead, the club are in danger of losing the 29-year-old on a free next summer or needing to cash in during the upcoming transfer window.

However, Hutton believes that Postecoglou may already have a successor lined up for his compatriot in David Turnbull, while also claiming there are likely ongoing negotiations ‘in the background’.

The latest: Lesson learned?

Speaking to FI, the BBC 5 Live pundit claimed that Celtic would be best served to keep Rogic in the long term, hinting at discussions behind the scenes.

“You’d hope Celtic have learned their lesson. You don’t really want any of your kind of top assets to be walking away for next to nothing or running down contracts.

“He’s been a good servant and I think he’s come back into form since the new manager’s come in. He obviously trusts him.

“You’ve also got other players within the squad to come back, the likes of Turnbull and these sort of guys. They’re in a good place right now but again, moving forward, you never want to lose a top player.

“It wouldn’t surprise me if there were talks going on in the background to try and tie him down to a longer deal. I’m kind of interested to see where it goes and what Celtic’s thinking is.

“Do they stick with the likes of Rogic? Or do they have somebody else in mind to really transform that midfield? It’ll be interesting to see how it plays out. Ultimately, I still think you need someone like that in your squad.”

The verdict: Too good to go

Whilst there can be little doubting Turnbull’s long term future as a Celtic mainstay in attacking midfield, Rogic has matched the output of the 22-year-old so far this season.

When using Transfermarkt to compare the two, the Australian has also provided 16 direct goal contributions – albeit the 51-cap Australia ace has made seven more appearances across all competitions.

Losing a key player for nothing simply isn’t a viable option for the club and as the Bhoys prepare for a possible jaunt into the UEFA Champions League group stages next term, where keeping the experience of the likes of Rogic will be pivotal.

With Ange Postecoglou knowing that his Celtic side simply must pick up all three points on Thursday evening if they were to keep the pace in the Premiership title race, the 56-year-old Bhoys boss will have undoubtedly been delighted with the 1-0 win at Parkhead.

Indeed, over the course of the 90 minutes, Celtic dominated Robbie Neilson’s third-placed Hearts side, enjoying 69% possession of the ball, taking a total of 25 shots at goal compared to the visitor’s nine, creating three big chances and completing 363 more passes than the Jambos.

And, while a great many of the Hoops starting XI deserve high praise for their own respective performances in the match, there is one player in particular who stood out against Hearts – in the shape of centre-back Carl Starfelt.

95 passes completed

Having not featured for Celtic since October due to a hamstring injury, Starfelt was something of a surprise inclusion in Postecoglou’s starting XI on Thursday evening, however, the defender’s commanding display against the Jambos proved that his manager was right to throw him right back into the thick of the action.

Indeed, over his 90 minutes on the pitch, the £2.7m-rated centre-back made one interception, two tackles, five clearances, blocked one shot and won seven of his nine duels – a success rate of 78%.

The £17k-per-week Sweden international also enjoyed a whopping 117 touches of the ball, completed 95 passes, found his target with eight of his nine attempted long balls and made one key pass.

These returns saw the man who 67hailhail’s John McGinley dubbed a “colossus” earn a SofaScore match rating of 7.8 for his efforts, with no player from either side receiving a higher rating than the 26-year-old defender.

As such, with Starfelt very much running the show against Hearts, the centre-back more than proved that his manager’s decision to throw him straight back into the side was the correct call, while the defender’s impressive return to action is undoubtedly something that would appear to bode extremely well for Celtic over the upcoming hectic Christmas period.

In other news: Celtic handed big transfer boost ahead of January, fans will be elated

On Friday night, Scotland secured a place in the World Cup 2022 play-offs, and not for the first time, Billy Gilmour was one of the headline stars of the show, impressing as he won eight of his 10 duels and recorded three shots against Moldova.

The 20-year-old has been hailed as the next big thing for Chelsea and his country for a few years now, and he has proved that in a Scotland shirt he is good enough to start and compete at the highest level internationally after impressive performances at Euro 2020.

Despite being key to Scotland’s most recent successes, the youngster still doesn’t make it regularly into the Norwich side, where he is currently on loan from Chelsea.

Farke snubbed Gilmour at Norwich

Recently-sacked Norwich coach Daniel Farke was questioned time and again as to why he didn’t include Gilmour in his set-up for the struggling Canaries, but the German defended his decisions, saying: “We are not here to develop players for other clubs”.

After Gilmour was snubbed for the sixth time in the victory over Brentford last weekend, Farke was dismissed from his duties as Norwich City head coach, and the club now look to find a new manager to direct them out of a tight relegation battle.

The 20-year-old has shone for the Canaries when given the chance, showing his well-rounded midfield qualities by posting the squad’s third-highest tackling average (2.3 per game) and the second-highest passing accuracy (86.1%) when players who haven’t started a game are disregarded, as per WhoScored.

Gilmour has many admirers

Many voices in football have spoken out on the seemingly unfair treatment of Gilmour at Norwich, with Scotland team-mates and former Premier League managers singing the praises of the youngster.

Aston Villa midfielder John McGinn hailed the 20-year-old as a “world class player”, adding: “He’s going through a rough patch at Norwich and is frustrated not to be playing. But when he’s in the Scotland jersey, he’s always at the top of his game.”

Former Spurs manager Harry Redknapp also chimed in on the isolation of Gilmour at Norwich, telling talkSPORT: “I saw the kid play when he first got in the Chelsea team, I saw him play in the Euros against England, you’d think if you take him at Norwich you’d have half built your team around him.”

Dean Smith is tipped to be named as the new Norwich City manager in the coming days and it will be interesting to see how he utilises Gilmour if indeed he is given the job.

With the Canaries, taking just one win from 11 league games, you would think that channelling the energy and confidence that Gilmour displays in the Scotland team would be a top priority for Norwich moving forward as they look to steady the ship and get out of danger in the Premier League. 

If he is given the chance to replicate his international form at club level, he might yet inspire the Canaries to an escape from another instant relegation.

In other news: Smith may already have his next Grealish in Norwich’s £19.8m-rated “god-given” talent

Sunderland made their way through to the fifth round of the League Cup on Tuesday night as they beat QPR on penalties away from home.

The Black Cats fought hard to secure a 0-0 draw in normal time, with the Rs having a goal wrongly disallowed for offside and attempting four more shots than the visitors.

Astonishingly, two QPR players completely missed the target from the spot, with Lee Burge saving Charlie Austin’s penalty to allow Sunderland to win the shootout 3-1. Aiden McGeady, Alex Pritchard and Ross Stewart converted their spot-kicks.

Whilst Burge saved a penalty and intimidated the other two enough to miss, it was another player stole the show for Lee Johnson’s side on the night – Carl Winchester.

The versatile Northern Ireland international lined up at right-back and put in an impressive display, full of endeavour and hard work. He was constantly bombing up and down the pitch to provide an outlet for the Black Cats down the right and played an important part in the victory.

Earlier this season, Sunderland journalist James Copley hailed him as a cult hero for the club, saying: “Carl Winchester – fast becoming a cult hero, he got the winner, he’s made that right-back spot his own.”

On the ball, he was heavily involved. – as per SofaScore, he had 75 touches and completed 75% of his passes from the right-back position. He also had two efforts on goal and alleviated pressure from his side by winning an impressive four free-kicks throughout the match.

The defender was not without his faults, though. Winchester only completed two of his seven attempted crosses and long passes and was unsuccessful with his one dribble attempt. However, this gives him something to work on ahead of his next appearance to continue his development as a player.

Defensively, he was very impressive.

Again, as per SofaScore, he won nine duels in the game, including seven of his 13 ground battles.

In addition to that, he made an eye-catching four tackles, three interceptions and one block against the Championship side, proving that he can be a solid defender for the club.

The 28-year-old was also able to get through the 90 minutes without committing a single foul, showing the excellent timing of his challenges.

Therefore, he stole the show for Johnson as he put in an energetic, impressive, performance at right-back as Sunderland booked their place in the next round of the cup.

Burge saved a penalty, but Winchester put in 110% throughout the game and his individual drive typified the spirited display by the club. Hopefully, he will be able to maintain a high level throughout the campaign and become an important member of the starting XI.

With Southampton having scored just six goals in their opening eight Premier League games of the season, it’s safe to say Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side have not been in the best attacking form so far in this campaign.

One attacking player that is making a difference away from Southampton is 20-year-old left-midfielder Will Ferry, who is currently on a loan deal from the Saints with League Two club Crawley Town.

Ferry joined Southampton’s U18 side from Bury’s U18s back in the 2017 summer transfer window for an undisclosed fee.

Since then, Ferry has featured in 23 matches for Southampton U18s where he has managed to score seven goals and provide nine assists along the way.

The player has also managed to make 33 appearances for Southampton’s B team, netting five and assisting on seven occasions but has yet to make his senior debut for the Saints.

During his time with Crawley, Ferry has managed to score one goal and provide three assists in ten outings for the club so far this season across all competitions, getting plenty of minutes under his belt which should be very pleasing for Hasenhuttl and the supporters.

In addition to this, Ferry has racked up an average of 1.4 shots per game in League Two as well as 1.3 key passes per game, showing just how much of an attacking threat he has been for the club since his arrival at Crawley.

He’s certainly delivering on the immense promise that made Crawley pounce on his temporary signature with their CEO, Erdem Konyar, saying in August: “Will is an exciting young player.”

Moving forward, if Ferry can keep playing regularly for Crawley until the end of his loan spell and keep adding some more goals and assists to his tally, we feel he could definitely be in contention to eventually make his senior debut for the Saints when he returns at some point.

Given the age of some of Southampton’s current wingers such as Theo Walcott (32) and Nathan Redmond (27), there’s every possibility that Ferry could well be a regular first-team player for the Saints in the future alongside the likes of Nathan Tella and Moussa Djenepo. With that many options on the flanks, however, the boss would have an undoubted dilemma as to who to select.

The Irishman is some way off being Premier League ready but his potential and star qualities lower down the leagues is standing him in good stead.

In other news: Forget JWP: Saints must unleash “aggressive” 22 y/o on Sat, he could terrify Burnley – opinion

Former Premier League striker Nigel Jemson has exclusively told The Transfer Tavern that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer isn’t the right man to bring back success to Old Trafford.

The legendary United frontman, who recently signed a new long-term contract at the club, is approaching the three-year mark since he replaced Jose Mourinho in the dugout.

However, whilst Solskjaer has made the Red Devils top-four regulars once again and led them to a second-place finish last season, he’s been unable to end their four-year wait for silverware since Mourinho’s side lifted the Europa League.

Solskjaer has suffered defeats in three domestic semi-finals and lost at the same stage of the Europa League in 2020 before falling short in the final back in May.

The arrivals of Jadon Sancho and Rafael Varane will boost United’s chances of a first Premier League title for nine seasons, but they dropped two points at Southampton on Sunday and already trail title rivals Chelsea and Liverpool.

When asked about United’s title chances, Jemson told The Transfer Tavern:

“Have they got the squad to win the Premier League? They may have. Have they got the manager to win the Premier League? No, I don’t think so.

“Is he the right man to take Manchester United forward? I don’t think so. All this hype about Ole’s at the wheel and all this. They finished second in the Premier League. If they don’t win a trophy this year, it’s a failure.”

Wolverhampton Wanderers have been dealt a potentially huge injury blow ahead of their upcoming Premier League fixture.

What’s the latest?

In a recent report by Molineux News, the outlet suggested that Wolves’ lack of an update on the condition of Rayan Ait-Nouri, who was withdrawn late on against Liverpool last weekend due to a knock, as well as the 20-year-old’s apparent absence from first-team training on Wednesday, could mean that the left-back’s injury is worse than the club are currently letting on.

Fans would be gutted

Considering just how impressive Ait-Nouri has been for Bruno Lage’s side since being handed his first start of the season against Leeds United back in October, should the defender indeed miss out on the club’s trip to Manchester City on Saturday, it would undoubtedly leave Wolves fans gutted.

Indeed, over his eight Premier League appearances so far this season, the £16.2m-rated man has provided one assist and created one big chance for his teammates, as well as making an average of 0.9 key passes and taking 0.8 shots per game.

The £33k-per-week left-back has also impressed in metrics more typical of his position, making an average of 0.6 interceptions, 3.9 tackles – the most of any player in the top flight – 0.9 clearances and winning 7.4 duels per fixture.

These returns have seen the France U21 international average a SofaScore match rating of 6.97, ranking him as Wolves’ eighth-best performer in the league.

As such, should the youngster indeed be unavailable for selection against Pep Guardiola’s side this weekend, it would undoubtedly come as a huge blow to Lage’s chances of securing a result at the Etihad – something that, after three games without a win, could start to be a cause for concern amongst the Molineux fanbase.

In other news: Wolves dealt possible transfer blow on £40m “Van Dijk-like signing”, Shi surely fuming

Arsenal are pursuing a move for James Maddison, according to reports…

What’s the word?

The Guardian’s Jacob Steinberg and Fabrizio Romano claim that the Gunners are on the hunt to add creativity to Mikel Arteta’s squad and the Leicester City attacking midfielder has emerged as a key target.

Arsenal have already spent £73m this window and may have to offload some more players before being able to fund a move for the 24-year-old, who still has three years to run on his current £110k-per-week contract.

It’s thought that the Foxes will demand in the region of £60m for his signature, though Maddison himself is believed to be keen on a switch to the Emirates Stadium.

Better than Odegaard?

For now, Arsenal’s chances of sealing a return for Martin Odegaard seem slim after the Danish playmaker returned to parent club Real Madrid during the off-season.

Romano believes the North London giants “will be ready” if his situation changes as “Arteta loves the player”, although the club may want to fully turn their attention onto Maddison instead.

Despite being hampered by injuries throughout the 2020/21 season, the England international still emerged as one of Brendan Rodgers’ biggest outlets for goals.

As per Transfermarkt, Maddison provided 11 goals and ten assists across all competitions, which was more than every single Arsenal midfielder combined and the sorts of figures one might expect from an Aaron Ramsey or Mesut Ozil in their prime.

In the Premier League and Europa League alone, the 24-year-old midfielder averaged 1.7 key passes per game, which was 0.3 higher than Arteta’s two creative options, Odegaard and Emile Smith Rowe, via WhoScored.

It’s no wonder that the £49.5m-rated sensation has been described as a “special talent” by The Times’ Henry Winter and as “absolutely excellent” by ex-Leicester man Steve Howey during an exclusive interview with Football FanCast.

On the above evidence, Maddison is clear of Odegaard, based on his relatively short time in the English top-flight, so Edu Gaspar must look to urge KSE to sanction a move for him before this month’s transfer deadline.

If Arteta is to get that creative midfielder, then it’s time to act now.

AND in other news, Edu could seal Aubameyang upgrade in Arsenal swoop for “spectacular” £72m-rated beast…