All posts by rastrear-estafeta.com

Reports by Torino Granata earlier this week have given West Ham United a huge boost in the race to sign Nikola Maksimovic, as Inter Milan are reluctant to meet the SSC Napoli defender’s demands over a potential summer transfer.

Maksimovic is set to leave the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium at the end of the season as chances of the Serbian signing a new contract with Gennaro Gattuso’s side are almost zero.

But Inter are growing slightly cold over a free transfer of the in-demand centre-back, as they feel his request of a €2.5m-a-season (£41.5k-p/w) contract is too much.

The Nerazzurri are also assessing alternative options to strengthen Antonio Conte’s backline in the off-season, with ex-Arsenal defender Shkodran Mustafi and Real Betis titan Aissa Mandi under consideration.

Inter are yet to completely withdraw from the race to sign Maksimovic and could schedule a new meeting with his agent, Fali Ramadani, having spoken with the £11m-rated enforcer’s representative recently.

But the San Siro natives’ cold feet has swung the door wide open for a rival suitor to swoop, with Maksimovic said to be on the radars of a host of European clubs including West Ham and Tottenham Hotspur.

FC Porto, AS Roma and ACF Fiorentina are also listed as potential destinations for the 29-year-old, who recent reports in Spain had claimed was set to seal a summer move to the London Stadium as David Moyes is a big fan of the £38k-p/w enforcer.

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Rumours now emerging in Italy that Inter are getting cold feet over awarding Maksimovic a contract that would see him earn marginally more than the £40k-p/w the Irons currently pay summer free-agent Fabian Balbuena will be seen as a huge boost in Moyes’ pursuit.

Clearly, though, West Ham have hurdles in their way toward getting Maksimovic to sign on the dotted line, which David Sullivan should strive to overcome to afford Moyes the added senior depth he is claimed to be after.

The Hammers also pursued Maksimovic last summer but Sullivan and Moyes were denied the 25-cap international’s services, with talkSPORT claiming that a £14m offer was rejected and Calciomercato.it later suggesting Napoli snubbed an improved €25m (£21.5m) bid.

Sullivan and Moyes landing their man this year can see West Ham acquire a defender who has previously been compared with his compatriot Nemanja Vidic, as 6 ft 4 Maksimovic is a real powerhouse defender like the Manchester United great.

Everton boss Carlo Ancelotti also described Maksimovic as a “complete” defender who “has no problems” during his time in charge of Napoli, and may yet emerge as an another rival suitor after requesting information from Ramadani on his situation.

But with Balbuena seemingly on his way out of the London Stadium and Moyes said to want additional senior options alongside Angelo Ogbonna, Issa Diop and Craig Dawson – who the Irons have confirmed has triggered a £2m purchase clause – Sullivan should be putting a lot of effort into ensuring Maksimovic is wearing claret and blue next season.

AND in other news, West Ham dodged a £32m bullet in a 2017 deal dubbed a “real coup”…

The search for Celtic’s new head coach is like looking for a needle in a haystack. No matter how hard the Bhoys try, they can’t seem to lure anybody to Parkhead.

A number of names have been thrown in the hat to replace Neil Lennon but the Hoops are stuck with an interim manager for now.

What’s the word?

Roy Keane is back among the contenders for the vacant position at Paradise but Eddie Howe is still thought to be the favourite. Celtic are relaxed about the 43-year-old’s situation despite a number of complications, but they received a real boost in their pursuit on Thursday.

Tottenham have just sacked Jose Mourinho and, as such, there is a big opening for the Englishman in north London. However, Football.London reported this week that Howe isn’t expected to be in the frame for the Spurs job.

Desmond surely buzzing

With Celtic already facing such stern competition for his signature, this will come as sheer delight for Dermot Desmond. The majority shareholder has not had it easy in the last few weeks with Howe playing Celtic around on a regular basis.

He doesn’t want to return to football until the summer, which has enabled both Crystal Palace and Brighton to join the race for his services.

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Peterborough director of football Barry Fry told This is Futbol last week that Howe was stalling over the job at Parkhead because he didn’t view it as a big enough challenge.

When Tottenham fired Mourinho, therefore, it would have been easy to look towards Spurs as his next destination. They are a big club at this moment in time and have an attractive new stadium.

With that in mind, Desmond would have been fretting over the worst-case scenario. At last, the opportunity for which the former Bournemouth manager had been waiting was staring him right in the face.

He isn’t too keen on moving his family to Scotland, while the manager’s representatives think he can still get a job in the English top flight.

Although it may be a personal setback to the Englishman to be out of contention for the Spurs job, it will come as music to the ears of those at Celtic.

Perhaps negotiations with Howe will now improve? Only time will tell in this unpredictable chase for a new manager at Parkhead.

AND in other news, Forget Harkin: Celtic could find their new Van Dijk by appointing title-winning 39 y/o…

Darren Moore picked up his first win as Sheffield Wednesday manager on Saturday afternoon but despite all of the positives, there was one glaring downside – the performance of Adam Reach.

The versatile 28-year-old has been the epitome of inconsistency throughout his Owls career – you get moments of magic with the odd screamer thrown in there, and then you get displays like that.

This is something Reach has even admitted himself, speaking to YorkshireLive last season, he said: “My own season’s been similar to the team’s, a little bit topsy-turvy. I’ve had some good moments and some not-so-good moments.”

We certainly saw the latter this weekend, even if Wednesday ended a run of eight matches without a victory.

SofaScore graded him as the worst player on the pitch with a 5.9 ratings yet somehow, he lasted the entire duration of the match.

In that time, he lost possession a whopping 40 times, meaning he lost the ball once every two minutes and after racking up a squad-high 81 touches, it means every other touch involved him gifting possession back to Barnsley. Very, very poor.

On average, the £2.5m-rated star loses possession 13.6 times per outing, so this is rather telling on just how shocking he was on the day.

Reach was also weak in his battles, winning just five of 12 duels (42%), both on the ground and in the air. Moore is rather lucky that the in-form Tykes didn’t punish such mistakes as that left flank was clearly an area of weakness that could’ve been exploited.

In addition to that, the Owls ace was dribbled past three times – only adding to the idea that the home side should have done a lot more to damage their struggling rivals.

The rangy 6 foot 1 dynamo, who is thought to be among Wednesday’s high earners on £20k-per-week, badly let his manager down with his performance. He cannot be excused just because they finally won a game, he’ll have to improve to help ensure it wasn’t merely a fluke result in the coming weeks.

Reach was quite simply abysmal with the ball – he managed to make just 46% of his 46 passing attempts, including only five of 24 long balls finding a player in an Owls shirt, as per SofaScore.

Somehow, there were even worse returns amongst the Owls squad here, but still, this did not help Reach’s overall game.

The 28-year-old’s pathetic outing shouldn’t dent confidence going into the international break, though he will certainly need to improve if the Owls are to stand a chance of beating relegation.

AND in other news, 20 clearances: Owls colossus stole the show for Sheffield Wednesday…

Southampton were perhaps a little too easily convinced into selling Harrison Reed to Fulham in the summer, and it looks to have been a big mistake when you consider the lack of options Ralph Hasenhuttl currently has in central-midfield.

Reed played a key role in Scott Parker’s side earning promotion to the top-flight last season, making 28 appearances and averaging a solid 6.73 rating.

He has continued to be a vital cog in the Fulham midfield this season, with 21 Premier League appearances to his name, in which he has averaged a 6.69 rating.

Although Southampton have struggled with a lot of injury issues this season, it would have been sensible to keep Reed at the club, considering they had just James Ward-Prowse, Oriol Romeu and Ibrahima Diallo as senior central-midfield options.

Hasenhuttl has recently lost Diallo to injury, and it was confirmed that Romeu is set to miss the rest of the season with an ankle injury, which has seriously emphasised their lack of squad depth in midfield.

Youngster Will Smallbone was also ruled out for the season with injury, which has led to the Austrian manager turning to academy talent Alexandre Jankewitz on occasion.

However, the 19-year-old was sent off just two minutes into his full Premier League debut, so having a more experienced player such as Reed would definitely have been helpful to Hasenhuttl in the current injury crisis.

During his time at Southampton, he certainly won over some more senior players with his performances, with Shane Long dubbing the youngster “immense” after his performance in a 3-0 win against Everton.

Considering the 26-year-old has plenty of experience in the Premier League and Championship in his career, you could definitely argue that, at the moment, he is a better player than Jankewitz – who has just three senior appearances to his name at Southampton.

Therefore, Hasenhuttl arguably made a mistake by selling him to Fulham for just £8 million during the summer, as he would surely have been a very useful option to have in midfield this season.

And, in other news… Saints will surely rue failed loan move for 24 y/o defender with “a lot of potential” 

This season has been a troubling one for Wolves; one that’s more or less been a product of Nuno Santo’s desire for further numbers in attack.

On paper, he was right to urge his side to be more attacking. That being said, moving from a system that’s been so successful for the best part of three years was a brave move.

In switching to a four-man defence, it didn’t provide them with much success, something testified by their position in the table of 12th place.

They have since reverted to a three-man defence again, and it’s providing better results.

That being said, their display at Villa Park on Saturday evening lacked a cutting edge. Plenty of chances went begging as the likes of Conor Coady and Romain Saiss spurned opportunities that looked easier to score.

Yet, the burden of scoring goals should not fall on the shoulders of Wolves’ defenders as it did versus Manchester City. Instead, they need more from their front line.

Adama Traore has been the very definition of enigmatic this term. In 2019/20, he was one of the most feared players in the top-flight. The Spaniard dazzled on his way to providing 13 goal contributions and amassing a truly ridiculous five dribbles per game.

Yet, this term, very much like Wolves, he has been disappointing. Traore hasn’t scored or assisted and his threat was incredibly minimal against Villa on Saturday.

The Midlands rivals played out a 0-0 draw with their wing sensation failing to have a positive impact on proceedings. Villa’s defenders got out to him quickly and prevented Traore from ever getting up to speed.

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Indeed, Wolves reporter Tim Spiers claimed during the game that the forward “offered nowt” and the statistics provide plenty of evidence.

The 25-year-old was playing as an inverted winger on the left-hand side on this occasion but despite completing four dribbles, his end product deserted him. The Spain international failed to have a single shot at goal while all four of his crosses into the area evaded an Old Gold shirt.

A player like Traore will naturally lose the ball more often than not, but surrendering it on 15 occasions, as he did on Saturday, was incredibly poor when he offered very little elsewhere.

In total, the attacker played just 23 passes, one fewer than Aston Villa goalkeeper Emi Martinez. His tally was only worse than Willian Jose and Rui Patricio’s in the Wolves team.

If anything summed up Traore’s poor campaign, this was it. He struggled to get out of second gear and provided very little goal threat. In short, he let his manager down.

How Wolves lust for Raul Jimenez’s return.

AND in other news, Bye-bye Kilman: Shi could replace Wolves talent with swoop for £20m “special player”…

A number of Liverpool fans have been reacting to a stunning run by Mohamed Salah during international duty with Egypt.

The 28-year-old has matured into one of the biggest names in world football in the last few years following his incredible performances for the Reds.

Salah has scored a remarkable 119 goals in 192 appearances for Liverpool, chipping in with 45 assists for good measure.

This season, the Egyptian has carried his side’s attack in many ways, with Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino out of form and Diogo Jota injured for several months.

It isn’t just at club level where Salah is the main man, either, with the world-class forward Egypt’s undisputed star player. He has scored 43 times in 69 caps for his country, inspiring them to the 2018 World Cup, and is mobbed everywhere he goes in his homeland.

On Monday, Salah produced a stunning Lionel Messi-esque run in during Egpyt’s 4-0 win over Comoros, with the Reds superstar also scoring twice.

Liverpool fans laud Salah

Here are the best reactions from Reds supporters on Twitter as they showed their love for Salah.

“Imagine he got a goal out of it. Oh my days, he’s too good”

Credit: @tashaaa2000

“Salah cAnt dRibbLe”Credit: @SmittyJimbo”Ramos shaking”Credit: @NazH92″Reminiscent to the Watford game”Credit: @CurtisEra20″Real Madrid, he is coming for you…”Credit: @ournumberfour”Messi who?”Credit: @abougalala_adam

In other news, some Liverpool fans are worried about the future of one Reds player after a big transfer report on Monday. Read more here.

He’s in the best form of his Tottenham Hotspur career right now, which is good news for Jose Mourinho heading into tonight’s competitive Premier League encounter with Liverpool.

Tanguy Ndombele has fully turned around his Spurs career in north London, and he can cap it all off with a performance against the defending champions at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

The 24-year-old monster was benched for their FA Cup fourth-round win over Championship minnows Wycombe on Monday night, but it was his influence from the bench that swung a turgid game in their favour.

He must come straight back into the starting XI this evening as he could be the man to exploit the Reds’ biggest weakness right now…

On the Chalkboard

Jurgen Klopp’s men aren’t putting up the best title defence as they find themselves in fifth place, some six points behind league leaders Man City, who’ll have a game in hand after this evening.

Spurs can leapfrog them into fourth place with a victory and Ndombele could prove vital towards their chances of picking up those three points.

Indeed, the club-record signing is finally showing signs of why Daniel Levy sanctioned a whopping £55m on his signature – in his last two outings, he’s scored three goals, taking his total to six for the season on top of three assists, per Transfermarkt.

He has usurped his two goals and four assists from last campaign and surpassed the 1,446 minutes he played throughout the entire duration of his tumultuous maiden season in N17.

He’s fit, firing and in red-hot form right now.

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Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson has missed their last two Premier League fixtures. While he returned to training on Tuesday, he will be assessed before a decision is made on whether or not he can start in north London tonight.

If absent, it means there’s no real defensive midfield presence as Fabinho is a shoo-in to continue at centre-back given their mounting injury list.

Ndombele can exploit that void by being deployed as a no.10 and even if the Reds skipper is back, given the form the Frenchman is in, he could still punish Henderson on his first start back.

The €40m-rated (£36m) maestro tops the charts for dribbles per 90 minutes at Spurs, managing 2.9, which is almost double the next best for players that have played at least ten times with Harry Kane (1.5), Heung-min Son (1) and Lucas Moura (1), per WhoScored.

It means he’s capable of breaching the opposition’s block and press with relative ease. He has a 100% take-on success rate from the defensive midfield spot and an 85% success rate in the advanced role too.

His work-rate off-the-ball has also increased tenfold – he’s now able to play longer than an hour. Indeed, he’s surpassed 70 minutes in their last four league outings, while he’s almost quadrupled the number of high-intensity sprints from 32 in 2019/20 to 124 in 2020/21.

It’s this energy that makes him such a crucial part of Mourinho’s counter-attacking game, something that will need to be achieved to a tee to defeat Liverpool tonight.

During Monday’s win, Joe Hart turned to the BT Sport crew and delivered his verdict mid-game on Ndombele, dubbing him a “world-beater” and “unplayable,” as revealed by Rio Ferdinand in their post-game analysis.

Now ranking fourth in the Spurs squad for average WhoScored rating, Ndombele has fully transformed his career in north London and has become their game-changer in recent weeks.

He should be the first name on the team sheet tonight.

Mourinho must unleash the box-to-box dynamo on Liverpool for their best chance of picking up a result.

AND in other news, Spurs can find their next Alli in £25m “god-given” talent…

After appointing Lee Johnson less than a week ago, Sunderland’s new technical director Kristjaan Speakman could be about to deliver another masterstroke.

According to The Athletic, the Black Cats could soon have a new academy lead in Mike Dodds, who is currently the Head of Professional Development Phase at Championship outfit Birmingham City.

It’s claimed that the Dodds has been lined-up to follow Speakman to the north-east despite the club reshuffling their academy system in the past few days.

The pair have played a huge part in developing some of City’s brightest players, most notably Jude Bellingham, who secured a £25m move to Borussia Dortmund in the summer.

You also have the likes of Nathan Redmond, Jack Butland and Demarai Gray in years gone by.

Earlier this year, the SAFC chief lauded Dodds, he said:

“In Mike, we have someone who is an exceptional coach with a deep understanding of player development and the pathway through to the senior squad.

“The combination of him and our lead coaches at each age group really strengthens our programme moving forward.”

Sunderland have been looking for a new Academy Manager ever since the departure of Paul Reid back in July this year and a move for Dodds not only makes a ton of sense but would also provide major encouragement for the future.

The Black Cats never truly profited from players like Josh Maja, so getting in someone who has consistently delivered is the right way to go about it.

Johnson has plenty of young hopefuls amongst his first-team ranks, namely Jack Diamond and Elliot Embleton, so getting the appointment right for the Academy of Light should be high on the agenda.

The League One giants really should look no further than Dodds. It would be another masterclass from Speakman having already delivered Johnson.

AND in other news, Forget McGeady: Johnson should unleash Sunderland prodigy who has the “scare-factor”…

Tottenham Hotspur advanced into the Carabao Cup final earlier this week, defeating Championship outfit Brentford 2-0 thanks to goals from Moussa Sissoko and Heung-min Son.

It gives the north London outfit a chance at landing their first piece of silverware since 2008; in doing so would also hand Jose Mourinho his fifth triumph in the competition.

Once again we saw Davinson Sanchez feature – he is fast-becoming their ‘cup centre-back’ in order to give 31-year-old Toby Alderweireld a rest, though had Joe Rodon been eligible, he would have likely played instead.

The Colombian, who cost Mauricio Pochettino a then club-record £42m in 2017, has rapidly fallen out of favour under the ‘Special One.’

He has been snubbed from the matchday squad in the Premier League in nine of their last 11 outings, starting just once too, via Transfermarkt.

The 24-year-old has been linked with an exit as a result of his lack of game time, and clearly, Mourinho just doesn’t trust him whatsoever.

His old Manchester United side were instructed to target the former Ajax defender during the Europa League final.

According to The Athletic’s Charlie Eccleshare, Sanchez would be open to a move away if the right opportunity comes about, though it could all depend on whether or not Spurs are able to find a replacement in a tricky January window.

On Tuesday night against the Bees, he looked a little suspect again in glimpses and that’s to lower league opposition. Alasdair Gold at football.london wrote in his post-match ratings, he said:

“Started the game well but was all over the place for a Brentford attack early in the second half. Could easily have given away a penalty and was indebted to Aurier for bailing him out.”

Enough has to be enough.

There are only so many chances you can give the £75k-per-week colossus to impress and with Mourinho on the lookout for a new centre-back, as per Duncan Castles, his time is surely running out.

Dubbed a “weak link” by Tony Cascarino, Sanchez ought to be offloaded by Levy at the earliest opportunity. Surely he can recuperate funds with him still valued at £36m by Transfermarkt.

AND in other news, Spurs could find their own Virgil Van Dijk in “astonishing” £36m leader…

Roy Hodgson may rue Crystal Palace’s failure to sign former Leicester City star Demarai Gray before the close of play on deadline day after he starred on his Bundesliga debut for Bayer Leverkusen.

It took just 10 minutes for the 24-year-old wide man to make his mark in the Bundesliga after he wrapped up a 5-2 win over Stuttgart on Saturday afternoon.

In stark contrast, Hodgson cut a frustrated figure in the dugout as his side slumped to a disappointing 2-0 defeat to Leeds United on Monday night and missed the chance to go above Arsenal in the Premier League table.

Devoid of their chief talisman Wilfried Zaha, Palace failed to break the deadlock, and the defeat simply exposed some of the same-old problems affecting Hodgson’s side. It sounds almost obvious, but the Eagles lacked any real cutting edge as they ultimately came up short against Marcelo Bielsa’s side.

Palace have now won just two out of their past 18 Premier League games that the Ivory Coast international has been forced to miss for various reasons.

The Eagles were reportedly interested in signing Gray in the winter transfer window, only for him to reject a move to Selhurst Park and agree personal terms with Bayer Leverkusen.

Now, that’s not to say that Gray could’ve been the perfect replacement for the absent Zaha, but there’s no doubting the fact that his presence would have gone some way towards helping to soften the blow for Hodgson.

Signing the uncapped England international would have been an almost immediate upgrade on Andros Townsend, who has dropped some clangers this season – against Arsenal, he was graded as one of the worst players on the pitch by SofaScore during the 0-0 draw with Mikel Arteta’s side.

Gray, who is currently valued at £10m via Transfermarkt, is averaging more shots per game (2) across all competitions than Townsend (0.9) this season.

Therefore, had they signed Gray, it’s hard to argue that Palace’s attack wouldn’t have improved. He has very quickly left an instant impression on the Bundesliga in such an incredibly short space of time and it looks like he will be worth every penny of the £3m Leverkusen reportedly spent on acquiring his services.

He could have been Palace’s if Steve Parish had been prepared to cough up the money. It’s easy to say with the benefit of hindsight but given the injuries to Zaha and Jeffrey Schlupp, it’s becoming increasingly apparent that the Palace owner should’ve pulled the trigger.

AND in other news, Luka Milivojevic drops Crystal Palace clanger against Leeds United…