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Hibernian are after Ross McCrorie from Rangers this summer. The 22-year old midfielder spent last season on loan at Portsmouth, and is on the radar of Hibs boss Jack Ross.

According to Edinburgh News, McCrorie would prefer a permanent move away from Ibrox this summer rather than going out on loan again. Jack Ross is in pursuit of the versatile midfielder and he feels like the addition of McCrorie will be vital to his squad.

McCrorie has played nearly 50 times for Rangers, though has been subject to various loan spells at Ayr, Dumbarton and recently Portsmouth. He is a defensive midfielder by trade, though he can also play at centre-half and right-back if needed.

The young Scott has two years left on his contract, and it is still unclear as to whether or not Rangers would be willing to let him leave on a permanent deal. In addition to McMcrorie, Hibs are also hopeful of signing Greg Docherty on a permanent deal from Rangers, having spent the last few months with Hibs.

Steven Gerrard’s Rangers take on Bayer Leverkusen on Thursday, and McCrorie is in his extended squad, despite being low-down the pecking order.

Rangers could lose a future gem

If Hibs can sign McCrorie on a permanent deal he would be a great addition to their squad and he has a lot of potential for the future also. He is very versatile and can fill in many positions if needed, and this is vital for any team. Rangers would hope to keep him on loan, though McCrorie is after a permanent move to progress in his career.

McCrorie is a natural born leader, having captained the Scotland under-21 team, and has had a taste playing at different levels during his loan spells. It would definitely be a great move for the young Scotsman.

According to Football Insider, Chris Hughton has told friends that he is set to take the hot-seat at Bristol City, meaning that Glasgow Rangers’ Steven Gerrard is all but out of the picture.

Gerrard, who has now been at Ibrox for two seasons, had been linked with a move to the English Championship side along with the former Brighton boss, with him emerging as a shock target for the club’s billionaire owner Steve Landsown. However, if Hughton’s reported latest words are anything to go by, the former Liverpool man will not be moving on from his current job any time soon.

There would have been plenty of reasons why a move to England would be appealing to Gerrard. After all, that is likely where he will want to end up in the long term, and the Championship is a very competitive league. Also, he would have more funds available to him – for example, last term the Ashton Gate outfit spent £29.39m, whilst the 54-time Scottish champions have not spent that much in the last two seasons combined.

Having said that, Gerrard still has unfinished business north of the border – he is still without a trophy at the Gers and, although there have been some positive signs, such as their progression to the Europa League round of 16, the only real success that will count, at the end of the day, is silverware.

As such, it is a big boost for the club that Gerrard looks as though he will be staying put – clearly, he is still hungry and believes that he may not be too far away from reaching his goals.

Let us know what you think below!

Newcastle United have made an offer for Malaysian wonder kid Luqman Hakim, according to Arena (via NUFC Blog).

According to The Guardian, the 18-year old was on the list of ‘top 60 young footballers of 2019’ last year and has been tipped to make the move to Europe in the upcoming summer transfer window.

Hakim secured a deal of five years with Belgian first division team K.V. Kortrijk last year, which is owned by Vincent Tan, who English football fans will also recall is the owner of Cardiff City.

He graduated from a football development programme in Malaysia and seemed to graduate with flying colours, and was going to be rewarded by being able to train with Cardiff until he turned 18 in March earlier in this year.

However, that arrangement was postponed, and thus he has been playing with Malaysian giants FA Selangor instead.

Lionel Foy is the agent of the prospect and has claimed there are lots of teams in the Premier League interested in securing the signature of the striker, however, it is not known yet if he would be allowed to be given a work permit first that would allow him to play in the English top flight.

Nevertheless, if the Magpies’ offer for Hakim is accepted by his club, then it could possibly be a sign that the proposed takeover at St. James’ Park will go through.

Given his strong connections in Asia with Malaysia, the youngster could attract more supporters from that part of the world, and could be an incentive for the Saudis especially to push through their £300 million bid.

Only time will tell whether their deal with Mike Ashley goes through, but if it does, Hakim could be a catalyst for that given his Asian connections.

Geordies, do you see any link between the Hakim offer and the Saudi takeover? Comment below!

Loads of Tottenham fans have reacted to a post from the club’s official Twitter account featuring Son Heung-min. 

Spurs uploaded a photo of Son to mark a year since he swept up all the accolades at the end of the season awards ceremony.

Ever since he arrived at White Hart Lane from Bayer Leverkusen for £27m back in the summer of 2015, the South Korea international has established himself as a true fan favourite with the Lilywhites, scoring 83 goals and creating 44 assists in 220 appearances for the north London club.

‘Sonny’ has played in 21 Premier League so far this season, bagging nine goals and providing seven assists, taking three shots per game, averaging 1.4 key passes and completing 2.3 dribbles on average this season (via WhoScored). He recently completed mandatory military service with flying colours and is spending two weeks isolating after arriving back in the UK (The Sun).

As expected, many Spurs fans buzzed over the club’s post, with one supporter dubbing him a “legend” and another adding that Son is “amazing”.

Scroll down through the rest of the best reactions below…

Tottenham fans, are you looking forward to seeing Son back on the pitch when the season resumes? Let us know in the comments section!

Crystal Palace fans have taken to Twitter to drool over Vicente Guaita, after the glovesman delivered a superb performance away to Burnley as the Eagles recorded a 2-0 win.The Spaniard – amazingly signed on a free transfer from Getafe – recorded his fourth clean sheet of the Premier League campaign in his 12th appearance, meaning that he averages a shutout every three games.

Guaita, 32, pulled off one outstanding save in particular during the second half at Turf Moor, leaping to his left to flick the ball away from danger with his fingertips – a stop that saw him receive a passionate embrace from James McArthur.

What makes the No.31’s performance even more impressive is the fact that he was playing behind a much-changed backline including Scott Dann – making just his third league start of the season – as well as Martin Kelly at right-back in place of the injured Joel Ward.

Let’s take a look at what the Palace fans on Twitter have been saying about Guaita’s performance…

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According to Football.London journalist Alasdair Gold, Tottenham are wary of blocking Troy Parrott’s path into the first-team as they continue to search for a new striker.

What did he say?

The north London side were in the market for a new centre-forward throughout the January transfer window, but failed to see a deal for the likes of Olivier Giroud come to materialise.

With Harry Kane and Heung-min Son out injured, Spurs’ shortage of options up front has been laid bare, and while Gold has admitted that the Lilywhites are on the look-out for a number nine, he did reveal Jose Mourinho’s team are “wary” of stopping Parrott’s progression.

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He said: “Spurs are wary of blocking the path in front of Troy Parrott but clearly Mourinho needs more experience and in the form of a natural striker.

“Younger strikers who can fit the bill are more expensive and Tottenham will not have massive funds to work with in the next window. The Harry Kane issue will always remain in that unless you’re throwing money at the situation – which Tottenham won’t – then you’re going to struggle to convince someone to come and be essentially second fiddle to Kane for periods of the season.”

Opportunity

Having barely featured after Kane was ruled out of action with an injury, it would be even more difficult to see how Parrott gets more of a look-in were Spurs to sign a new striker in the summer.

Mourinho had the perfect chance to blood the young starlet into the first-team in the past couple of months, but consistently failed to do, instead suggesting that he simply wasn’t ready.

If Mourinho gets his way and a new number nine comes through the door, and Parrott subsequently falls further back into the shadows, then there will be no-one else to blame but the Portuguese man.

Meanwhile, Spurs fans react to links with ace reminiscent of Heurelho Gomes.

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…

Speaking to BBC Sport, Wolves manager Nuno Espirito Santo has hailed Adama Traore for his performance against Bournemouth.

What did he say?

The former Barcelona man has been an integral part of the Molineux side this season, racking up an impressive 20 appearances across all competitions, and scoring two goals and providing a further five assists.

And against Bournemouth on Saturday afternoon in the Premier League, the Spaniard was at his rampaging best, completing his two attempted dribbles, making two key passes and creating two big chances – all in all, it earned him an 8.0 match rating as per Sofascore, with only his teammate Joao Moutinho bettering it amongst Wolves players.

Speaking after the game, Nuno hailed the winger for his contributions, both offensively and defensively, but insisted he still has a lot of things to improve.

He said: “He’s a very important player. The idea is to create versatile players that can adjust, we have a very small squad so we need all the momentum that the players must have. Now Adama is doing well, but he has a lot of things to improve. He is exceptional. The way he helps the team, not only the offensive work that he does, the defensive side in keeping the shape and pressing and stealing balls is amazing.”

Vital

Make no mistake about it, where once before Traore may have been seen as a pace merchant, he is beginning to add a real end product to his game. It was no surprise therefore to see him pick up an assist in his side’s 2-1 victory over the Cherries on Saturday, whilst he also produced two successful crosses.

But as Nuno alludes to, the £13.5m-rated ace’s willingness to do the dirty work sets him apart, and ensures he is quickly becoming a trusted lieutenant for his Portuguese manager. If he continues to perform like he has been doing all season, then there is no reason why Wolves cannot replicate their mighty fine achievement of finishing in seventh place in the Premier League last year.

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…

Speaking on The Season So Far (as quoted by The Express), Andros Townsend has insisted Manchester United’s approach to playing the youngsters will eventually “pay off”.

What did he say?

The Red Devils have endured a topsy-turvy campaign this year, with speculation mounting in previous weeks that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer could be fighting for his future as manager at the club. However, a recent revival which has seen them pick up five wins in their last six games has certainly stemmed the wave of criticism, and the Manchester side currently find themselves back up to seventh in the Premier League.

And whilst Townsend revealed it is unlikely United will return to their former glories almost immediately, he backed them to eventually become the real deal when some of their young stars further develop and mature.

The Crystal Palace winger said: “Man United are probably not going to get to where they want to be until Rashford is maybe 26, 27, (and) McTominay’s 25, 26. Until they get to a mature age and then probably you’ll start seeing the real Man United again. But definitely in the long run I think blooding those youngsters is definitely going to pay off.”

The long game

In fully investing in this approach of going with the youngsters, United are in it for the long haul. There will be periods of short-term pain, the likes of which they have already experienced this season when they succumbed to really disappointing defeats to Crystal Palace and Newcastle.

But those moments of turmoil and difficulty will undoubtedly stand their young players in good stead, giving them a whole new understanding of the game. Football isn’t always about constant success. The lows are also make up for a significant part for it, and in experiencing it now, United’s young prospects will learn and be the better for it.

According to Mundo Deportivo, Carles Alena has an agreement with Barcelona that the midfielder would be best off leaving the Spanish champions on loan in January.

The 21-year-old started Barca’s 2019/20 opener at Athletic Bilbao but was replaced at the interval and has not been seen in the first team since.

According to Mundo Deportivo, both parties feel that a loan move at the start of 2020 would make sense, and Tottenham are closely monitoring developments.

Despite being frozen out in recent months, Alena actually made 27 first-team appearances for the Catalan giants last season, including 17 La Liga outings.

A number of Tottenham fans have been on social media offering their views on the latest developments.

And it would be fair to say that the majority are not interested in a loan move for the midfielder, who has been capped on two occasions by Spain’s U21 side.

A selection of the Twitter reaction is available below:

This article is part of Football FanCast’s The Chalkboard series, which provides a tactical insight into teams, players, managers, potential signings and more… 

A setback, but not a disaster.

Nottingham Forest midfielder Samba Sow picked up a hamstring problem in the victory over Brentford before the international break.

Speaking on the injury, Forest boss Sabri f said they may lose him ‘for a bit’, although he couldn’t give a more accurate time frame.

Whilst the international break will take care of some of the time he’s going to be out, that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth talking about who could potentially replace him in the Forest line-up.

Just in case it is either worse than first imagined, or it is the type of problem that could end up being a recurring issue for Sow further down the road, let’s explore the options.

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On the chalkboard

The biggest factor in replacing Sow is working out who can replace him in terms of his defensive work. Sow is averaging 4.2 tackles per game, as well as 2.1 interceptions and 0.6 blocks.

As has been touched on in a previous edition of the Chalkboard series, Alfa Semedo has found game time rather hard to come by because of the impressive form of Sow.

Given that he has operated predominantly as a defensive midfielder throughout his career it wouldn’t be out of the realm to push him into that slot.

Although he’s going to have to show more of a willingness to put in a tackle, 1.3 per game isn’t going to do a lot of good.

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Another interesting figure that could come in handy is journeyman John Bostock.

The midfielder has bounced around a lot during his career, but he’ll have to return to the sort of form he was putting in when he was at Bursaspor when he averaged 2.5 tackles per game, which will put him ahead of Semedo when it comes to that department.

Perhaps the most intriguing option in all of this is Sow’s current partner in defensive midfield Ben Watson.

He has been putting in the most effort when it comes to the defensive side of the game, averaging 2.5 tackles per game and 1.5 interceptions, which puts him above both Bostock and Semedo. Therefore, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to suggest he should just carry on what he’s doing.

Going with just Watson could require a change in formation from 4-2-3-1 to a 4-3-3 and although Watson has worked well in a partnership, at the age of 34 it can be argued that he wouldn’t have the legs to hold down the fort all on his own.

Consequently, that would make it tough for Lamouch to replace Sow.