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There are less than two month left before the summer transfer window closes on August 8th, and the rumours surrounding the 20 Premier League clubs show no signs of stopping. Today’s Premier League transfer roundup includes updates on Romelu Lukaku, Andre Gomes and Ryan Bertrand.

Lukaku agrees deal with Inter

Romelu Lukaku has already stated this year that he does not know whether he will still be at Manchester United next season. Now, it seems he may have a way out of Old Trafford as it has emerged that the former Anderlecht striker has agreed a deal with Inter Milan. According to the Sun, the Italian giants and the Belgian have agreed a contract worth £180,000 a week, although the two sides are yet to find an accord in regards to the transfer fee, with the Red Devils valuing him at £75m.

Barcelona and Everton find accord for Gomes

Andre Gomes was an important player for Marco Silva’s Everton on loan last season as the Toffees finished in eighth place, making 27 Premier League appearances. And now, it appears the Portuguese will be moving permanently to Goodison Park after the Merseyside outfit and FC Barcelona agreed a deal for the midfielder. According to Sky Sports, the fee is £22m. Gomes is shaping up to be Everton’s second signing of the transfer window so far after Jonas Lössl.

Bertrand on Inter’s and Atletico’s radar

Ryan Bertrand has become a stalwart for Southampton with 171 appearances under his belt. However, the England international could be on the move this summer with both Inter Milan and Atletico Madrid interested in acquiring his services. It is believed that the Saints will demand a fee of £15m for the former Blues man, but both Inter and Atletico hope they can hammer out a deal for a price closer to £10m.

Obviously, West Bromwich Albion built a fairly luxurious squad going by the thinking that Premier League promotion would be guaranteed.

Well, now that the dream has come to a crashing halt, Luke Dowling finds himself in a difficult predicament.

Even after investing highly in the squad during the summer and winter transfer window, inability to even make the play-off finals has left them red-faced. The Baggies are going through an uncomfortable summer overhaul, being without a proper manager and releasing players and the latest victim to face the consequences is star striker Dwight Gayle.

Indeed, the Baggies announced (as per BBC Sport) recently that he won’t be signed permanently over the summer. Gayle’s contract is an expensive one with parent club Newcastle United, making it difficult for them to balance the finances. However, the club should also realise they wouldn’t find a clinical, hounding striker like him anytime soon.

Not pushing the boat out here could be a major mistake.

The excellent work he produced for the Baggies definitely called him to be rewarded with a permanent deal, or at least an attempt to keep him for another campaign, despite the coast. The 28-year-old bagged 24 goals in the Championship, two more than the experienced Jay Rodriguez. Moreover, his persistence and foxy nature in and around the penalty area added a cutting edge to West Brom’s attacking style.

Look at what Aston Villa did. They rolled the dice and brought in Tammy Abraham on loan after missing out last season and the 1-cap England man has led the club to a play-off final, at West Brom’s expense.

To find a striker capable of inspiring his side as Gayle did will be a tough ask. After releasing so many players, West Brom should’ve kept their marquee striker. Now they find themselves with an ageing Rodriguez and his dejected partners, which could lead to potentially dark times which lay ahead for management and the new manager.

West Brom fans, are you disappointed to see Gayle leave? Join the discussion by commenting below…

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Newcastle are keeping tabs on Spain Under-20 left-back Marc Cucurella, claims The Evening Chronicle.

What’s the story?

According to the Chronicle’s report, the Magpies have been tracking the young defender this season.

Cucurella has enjoyed a fabulous breakout campaign with Eibar, starting 26 La Liga games, scoring once and adding two assists.

The 20 year-old was on loan from Barcelona for the season, and the Catalan giants are expected to bring him back before selling him on for a profit.

AC Milan, Borussia Dortmund, Sevilla and Real Betis are all listed as other potential suitors.

Perfect understudy for Ritchie?

Cucurella looks tailor made for Rafael Benitez’s 5-2-2-1 formation, as the youngster has spent most of this season playing left-midfield.

Naturally a left-back, he has the energy and desire to bomb up and down the wing for 90 minutes week in week out, and his 79% pass success rate and one key pass per game suggest he knows how to create once he gets into dangerous areas.

Pl>ymaker FC Exclusive: Jermaine Jenas reveals why Tyne-Wear is a more intense derby than anything London can offer – check out the video below….

His fantastic chance creation isn’t the only appealing stat either. The Spain Under-20 international averages 1.6 tackles per game, and also picked up six yellow cards this season, so he should have no trouble adjusting to the rough and tumble of English football.

With Matt Ritchie seemingly capable of filling in at left-wing-back for the time being, a move for a player like Cucurella makes sense, as the youngster can learn from Benitez and take over from the Scot when the time is right, as opposed to splashing out big cash on a ready-now player who may not even be an upgrade on Ritchie.

Valued at £9m by Transfermarkt, the versatile youngster is easily affordable for the Magpies and would hold significant resale value – Mike Ashley’s eyes are surely lighting up.

There’s bad then there’s Huddersfield Town’s Giorgos Donis.

As football fans are time is typically split between deciding who was the best ever player to grace our eyes and who was the worst. We could argue to the end of the earth about Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo (the Argentine is one hundred per cent the better player) or Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard, with the odd mention of Paul Scholes – although everyone knows, “they play very different roles!” (*cry*).

While player partisanship is rife when ranking these footballing magicians, it is a little less so when debating who is the worst. No one disputes the intricacies of a rubbish touch or the inability to put the ball into the back of the net, for example. Being absolutely shocking at football is a universal language we can all identify and understand; if you’re bad, then you’re bad, and that’s that.

Which brings us to Huddersfield Town’s Giorgos Donis – the man fans nicknamed “the Donkey”.

The Donkey and the Terriers. Sounds a bit like a rejected Aesop Fable idea, doesn’t it? Or a really bad pub.

The one-million pound Steve Bruce recruit has apparently been labelled as the club’s worst ever player by Football Writer and Sky Sports News host Jeff Stelling, who travelled the country calling at every club along the way and collated opinions from hundreds of fans along the way.

So why was he so bad? Well, why does cat poo smell so foul? What does pain feel like? How does taste, taste? Certain things can’t really be explained, despite seeming so utterly simple. Donis was one of them. You had to experience him first hand, take it all in and process the information over the duration of 90 minutes (which he only completed four times) to truly understand why. And even then, it is like trying to explain the complexities of Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity to a six-year-old.

Huddersfield fans, is Giorgos Donis your worst ever player? Let us know in the comments below!

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A group of Manchester United fans on Twitter think that former outcast midfielder Fred was the Man of the Match from Wednesday night’s UEFA Champions League defeat to Barcelona.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men welcomed the Spanish champions to Old Trafford in the first leg of their quarter-final tie, putting in a respectable performance but losing out by a single goal, Luke Shaw’s first-half own-goal.

The quality of the display led to supporters still debating over Man of the Match candidates on social media, despite the result not going their team’s way.

Starting in the centre of midfield alongside fellow contender for the accolade Scott McTominay and Paul Pogba, Fred, a Jose Mourinho signing of last summer, impressed highly.

This was why a portion of Red Devils gave him their vote when asked about who the MOTM should have been by a Twitter fan account, with one even writing that it was Fred “by far.”

Check out the pick of the reactive Tweets voting for the Brazilian below…

تلقى فريق إيفرتون أول هزيمة له في الدوري الإنجليزي الممتاز، في موسم 2020/2021، على يد ساوثهامبتون بهدفين نظيفين، مساء اليوم الاحد. شاهد اهداف مباراة ساوثهامبتون وايفرتون

سلسلة انتصارات إيفرتون، توقفت في ملعب “سانت ماري”، حيث فشلت كتيبة المدرب الإيطالي، كارلو أنشيلوتي، في الفوز خارج قواعدها، ضمن لقاءات الجولة السادسة من المسابقة الإنجليزية.

جيلفي سيجوردسون كاد أنّ يفتتح التسجيل للتوفيز في الدقيقة 18، ولكن العارضة تعاطفت مع أصحاب الأرض، وتصدت لتسديدة النجم الآيسلندي.

وفي الدقيقة 27، نجح جيمس وارد برواس في إحراز الهدف الأول لـ ساوثهامبتون، وبعدها بأربعة دقائق، سجّل فرد آدامز هدف أصحاب الأرض الثاني بالدقيقة 35.

وتعرض الدولي الفرنسي لوكاس دييني، للطرد، بالبطاقة الحمراء في الدقيقة 72، بعد تدخل قوي على كايل واكر بيترس.

تلك الهزيمة أوقفت رصيد إيفرتون عند 13 نقطة، ولكن التوفيز لم يفقدوا الصدارة، بفارق الأهداف عن ليفربول، الذي يملك نفس الرصيد من النقاط، فيما أصبح رصيد فريق ساوثهامبتون 10 نقاط، ليصعد للمركز الخامس في سلم الترتيب.

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The Liverpool Echo, after giving a lengthy statistical analysis, believe that Everton should look to avoid a move for loan star Andre Gomes on a permanent basis, amid reports that Barcelona will look to charge a fee of around £40m.

Whilst they justify their argument well and make it a convincing one, there is plenty to discuss as to why the Toffees should in fact splash the cash on the Portuguese international, who has impressed this season since arriving from the Camp Nou.

Why should they sign him?

Gomes keeps things ticking over nicely in the middle of the park alongside the perfect foil for his skills in Idrissa Gueye, who is more defensively-minded which allows the Toffees’ No.8 to focus on punching balls into the forwards and keep possession for his side.

Everton recently enjoyed an uplift in results after the 6 foot 2 midfielder was taken out of the starting XI, beating Cardiff before drawing with Liverpool, but last weekend’s capitulation against Newcastle proved that the Portuguese is not the underlying problem.

In this era of ‘big 6’ dominance, has finishing 7th become as good as winning a trophy? The Pl>ymaker FC squad have their say in the video below…

You could argue validly that spending such a figure on Gomes wouldn’t be a smart idea, but whilst it may not look like an issue right now, the midfield areas could be severely depleted at Goodison Park in the near future.

Signing him could be hugely necessary 

The aforementioned Gueye handed in a transfer request in a bid to force a move to Paris Saint-Germain back in January for a £25m fee, and one would assume that the Ligue 1 champions will come back in for the Senegalese international when the summer rolls around.

Additionally, the future of Morgan Schneiderlin could be deemed as unclear. Whilst the Frenchman has recently taken some big steps forward in turning his Toffees career around, he will turn 30 before the end of the year, which could perhaps signal Everton’s last chance to get a decent fee for a man that cost them up to £24m with very little in return.

Furthermore, Marco Silva will perhaps be hoping that the Spanish champions lower that fee somewhat, due to the two clubs having a good relationship after signing off deals for Barcelona duo Lucas Digne and Yerry Mina back in the summer.

As previously mentioned, with Gueye and Schneiderlin not looking like they can be relied on for the foreseeable future, a big-money move for Gomes, who has plenty of mileage left in the tank at just 25 years of age, would be a sensible move for Everton.

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Aston Villa supporters have taken to Twitter to discuss the ability and future of Anwar El Ghazi with many fans being put off by the inconsistent nature of the Dutchman.

Followers of the Midlands club have found slight praise for him, labelling the Lille loanee as a promising player and saying that he’s shown glimpses of his technical quality.

But the negatives of El Ghazi appear to be outweighing the positives with the jury well and truly out over the enigmatic winger. The Dutchman has five goals this season but opinions are very split about whether he’d be worth investing in over the summer.

A host of fans took the time to critique the 6 foot 2 attacker, suggesting he makes the wrong decisions whilst another took the chance to call him temperamental.

The question of whether Villa will get promoted has come into focus too, as one Tweeter doubted whether he’d cut it in the Premier League. Another suggested he’d struggled in the Championship which means this is a deal the club will need to think long and hard about.

One individual assessed options aside from the former Ajax man, claiming that Nottingham Forest’s Joe Lolley, who is arguably more consistent, could be a better bet.

Here’s the best of what appears to be a mixed reaction to the player’s performances this season…

دخل مسئولو نادي بيراميدز في مفاوضات مع السويسري رينيه فايلر المدير الفني السابق للأهلي، لتولي تدريب الأزرق.

ورحل فايلر عن قيادة الأهلي منذ أيام قليلة، بعد أن تم فسخ التعاقد خأصة وأنه كان هناك بند في عقده يسمح للطرفان فسخ التعاقد بدون دفع شرط جزائي خلال الفترة من 1 حتى 10 أكتوبر الجاري.

وأكد مصدر مسؤول بنادي بيراميدز لـ”بطولات”: “نفاوض فايلر لتدريب الفريق في المرحلة المقبلة”.

طالع أيصًا.. حوار | موسيماني: الخطيب وضع شرطًا أساسيًا كي أدرب الأهلي.. وأستطيع النجاح مثل جوارديولا

تابع: “فايلر يرفض تولي قيادة بيراميدز لأنه لا يرغب في العمل داخل مصر مُجددًا، ولكن يسعى مسئولو بيراميدز لإقناعه بتولي المهمة”.

طالع أيضًا.. أفلام حرب وأشياء لا أريد تذكرها.. فايلر يتحدث لأول مرة عن أسباب رحيله من الأهلي

يذكر أن الأهلي تعاقد مع الجنوب إفريقي بيتسو موسيماني، لتولي القيادة الفنية للفريق رسميًا بداية من أمس الجمعة.

Newcastle fans finally have something to shout about after defeating reigning champions Manchester City at St. James Park.

Things looked bleak after Sergio Aguero opened the scoring after just 24 seconds but Newcastle equalised through Salomon Rondon despite having little possession. City tried and failed to retake the lead with Matt Ritchie putting the Magpies ahead from the penalty spot. Rafael Benitez’s men held on for a massive three points.

The Spaniard will be overjoyed to overcome Pep Guardiola’s men and will be handed a significant boost in the transfer market with the club set to smash their transfer record to sign MLS star Miguel Almiron. The Paraguay international will add some much-needed creativity to their ranks to help steer the club away from danger.

One man Benitez should also consider signing on deadline day is Everton outcast – Yannick Bolasie. Valued at £16.2m by Transfermarkt, the 29-year-old was once one of the most feared wingers in the Premier League, combing pace, power, and trickery. However, he has failed to fulfil expectations since swapping Selhurst Park for Goodison Park in 2016.

Bolasie was loaned to Aston Villa in the summer but his temporary stay in the Midlands was cut short – the winger remains out of Marco Silva’s plans making an exit more than likely, with the Toon Army linked by the Express not long ago. The DR Congo international is still a threat on his day and would add another dimension to Newcastle’s attack in the final third. If Benitez can install some confidence into the forward, luring him to Tyneside could prove to be a masterstroke.

A loan move with the option to buy makes perfect sense on deadline day.

Newcastle fans, thoughts?