All posts by rastrear-estafeta.com

Leeds United managed to secure a vital three points earlier on today at Elland Road, which helped keep the pressure on the likes of Sheffield United and Norwich City. 

The Whites are certainly heading in the right direction at this moment in time but they must ensure consistency from here on in, with dropped points possibly damaging their automatic promotion chances.

One thing that has been a worry for some supporters in recent times is Kemar Roofe’s future, as according to The Chronicle, Newcastle United are continuously monitoring the Englishman.

Indeed, it would make perfect sense for Leeds to pack the forward’s bags and send him on his way to St James’ Park if they come calling in the summer transfer window, as he just hasn’t been able to ensure consistency in front of goal in recent times and he could attract quite a hefty fee, which could be used to strengthen in many areas.

Interestingly, the Whites should look to renew their interest in Algerian international Baghdad Bounedjah, who was reportedly (as per Le Buteur) on Leeds’ radar back in the summer transfer window.

Bounedjah is a forward who plays his football for Al-Sadd and it’s safe to say that he’s been simply sensational in the current campaign, having produced an incredible 31 goals in just 17 games in the Qatar Stars League. And, he has been impressive on the international stage with Algeria as he’s scored eight goals in 20 appearances.

He is a tall and physical forward who is aerially dominant and bullies defenders in the opposition’s box. Bounedjah is as well-rounded as strikers get with the ability to pick the final pass and an incredible eye for goal, so he would bring a different dimension to Leeds United’s play in the final third.

What do you think Leeds United fans?

Celtic moved six points clear at the top of the Premiership table as they beat their rivals 2-1 in the Old Firm clash on Sunday.

Ange Postecoglou may have been fearing the worst when the home side took the lead in the opening minutes of the match, as Aaron Ramsey fired past Joe Hart to make it 1-0 at Ibrox.

The Hoops rallied quickly and soon found themselves level as Tom Rogic followed up on a save from Allan McGregor to make it 1-1.

A scrappy sequence of play in the box from a cross then resulted in Cameron Carter-Vicker smashing the ball past the veteran Scot to make it 2-1 just before half-time, with Celtic able to see out the three points in the second half.

One player who let Postecoglou down badly was left-back Greg Taylor as the defender looked well off his best form on the day.

On the ball, he was not a reliable option for his teammates. As per SofaScore, he gave possession away 17 times as he only completed 64% of his attempted passes. He failed to complete a single long ball or cross in his 71 minutes on the pitch, whilst completing zero dribbles to get his team up the pitch.

This allowed Rangers to intercept his passes and regain possession from his mistakes. He found himself incredibly lucky as the home side were unable to make the most of the attacks that he gifted them, with Carl Starfelt and Carter-Vickers producing colossus displays at centre-back to keep them at bay.

Defensively, he was sloppy. Ally McCoist, in the Sky Sports commentary, dubbed his defending as “very poor” and the statistics back that up. Via SofaScore, he lost four of his five ground duels and only made one tackle in the match, whilst being dribbled past once.

This shows that Rangers were able to get the better of the full-back on the physical side of the game. He was too weak in his individual battles and, again, was lucky that Gio van Bronckhorst’s side did not punish him for it.

Postecoglou will now be hoping that he will be able to turn in a better display against St. Johnstone next time out in the Premiership. This performance was not good enough, defensively or offensively, and he will know that he must up his standards if he wants to keep his place in the starting XI.

AND in other news, £3m wasted: Celtic had a shocker on £7.9k-p/w “loner” who rinsed Desmond for 129 weeks…

Leeds United youngster Sam Greenwood has hinted that he is close to returning from injury, as the Whites gear up for the trip to Aston Villa.

The Lowdown: Greenwood another absentee for Leeds

Leeds have been plagued by injury problems throughout the campaign, with Marcelo Bielsa having to make do without a string of important players for differing lengths of time.

While Greenwood may not necessarily be a key figure currently, he is another individual who has been sidelined, having picked up a knock in the FA Cup defeat to West Ham early last month.

As an important period in Leeds’ season beckons, however, it looks as though the forward could soon be back in the fold.

[freshpress-quiz id=“383507″]

The Latest: Youngster hints at comeback

Taking to Instagram on Tuesday, the 20-year-old posted on his story with a caption that read, “can’t wait to be back playing”, with a timer emoji included for good measure.

While not official confirmation that a return is close, it certainly seems that way, given the nature of the message.

[web_stories_embed url=”https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/web-stories/latest-leeds-united-news-33/” title=”Latest Leeds United news!” poster=”” width=”360″ height=”600″ align=”none”]

The Verdict: Another boost for Bielsa

Having Greenwood available will be another boost for Bielsa, who has found himself short of striking options all season long, mainly due to Patrick Bamford’s lack of playing time.

The young Leeds man only has one appearance apiece in the Premier League, FA Cup and League Cup this season, but 20 goals in 34 matches for the Under-23s speaks volumes about his potential.

Greenwood has been hailed for his ‘immense’ ability by former Whites striker Noel Whelan and that may be required to come to the fore as the months tick by this season.

In other news, three clubs are believed to have shown interest in one Leeds player. Find out who it is here.

Tottenham Hotspur correspondent for The Athletic Jack Pitt-Brooke has revealed that the club are eyeing a move for RB Leipzig centre-back Josko Gvardiol. 

The lowdown: Case for the defence

As Spurs boss Antonio Conte prepares for a first summer transfer window at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, it would appear that the Italian is desperate to strengthen the defensive ranks in north London.

[web_stories_embed url=”https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/web-stories/tottenham-latest-news-copy/” title=”Tottenham latest developments!” poster=”” width=”360″ height=”600″ align=”none”]

With a Premier League top-four finish and subsequent UEFA Champions League qualification still a possibility, the calibre of players Tottenham will be able to attract could enhance.

One player who fits into the highest billing has already now been linked…

The latest: Spurs eye hot prospect

Writing in his latest piece for The Athletic, Lilywhites correspondent Pitt-Brooke has claimed that Conte has already lined up a move for talented Croatian international Gvardiol.

The report claims that a list of four left-side central defenders is ‘headed up’ by the 20-year-old, with Lille’s Sven Botman, Inter Milan star Alessandro Bastoni and SC Freiburg youngster Nico Schlotterbeck also named.

Taking to Twitter when citing the article, Pitt-Brooke described the position as a ‘top summer priority’ for Spurs.

The verdict: ‘Real star’

Described in the report as being one of the ‘most in-demand young defenders’ in Europe, Gvardiol has enjoyed a rapid rise to prominence for both club and country.

Already capped on ten occasions by Croatia at the senior level, the starlet – who is capable of playing as a left-back and centrally – has scored twice and provided three assists in 38 appearances for Leipzig this season.

Previously mooted as possessing a £50million price tag (Daily Mail), Bundesliga aficionado Alex Chaffer hailed Gvardiol as a ‘real star’ when touting the youngster’s development in senior football so far.

In other news: Portuguese source drops interesting transfer news involving Tottenham here.

Journalist James Pearce has waxed lyrical over Thiago’s superb performance in Liverpool’s 3-2 win over Manchester City on Saturday.

The Lowdown: Thiago immense in Liverpool win

The Reds beat their title rivals at Wembley in a pulsating clash, with Jurgen Klopp’s men holding on late in the day to reach their first FA Cup final under the German.

On a day full of outstanding individual performances, Thiago was undoubtedly one of the star men, producing a sensational display in the middle of the park.

The Spaniard enjoyed a 90% pass completion rate, according to Sofascore, and also played six out of seven accurate long balls and won eight out of nine ground duels.

The Latest: Pearce lauds Spaniard

Someone who was clearly impressed with what he saw was The Athletic’s Pearce, who took to Twitter to laud the midfielder:

“Thiago was so good yesterday. You could see what it meant to him after the heartbreak of missing out on Wembley in the Carabao Cup final. Such a special player.”

[web_stories_embed url=”https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/web-stories/latest-liverpool-transfer-news-28/” title=”Latest Liverpool transfer news!” poster=”” width=”360″ height=”600″ align=”none”]

The Verdict: Truly special player

Thiago’s performance was a joy to watch all afternoon, with the 31-year-old showing exactly why he is arguably one of the best midfielders of his generation.

The level of control he brought was huge in Liverpool outplaying City and he produced some moments of magic, not least one outrageous pass to Mohamed Salah.

Thiago staying fit is vital to the Reds’ hopes of winning the quadruple this season, with the three-man midfield of himself, Fabinho and Naby Keita beginning to purr together.

In other news, one Liverpool player is reportedly on the verge of joining another club. Find out who it is here.

An update has emerged on Newcastle United’s pursuit of Atalanta striker Duvan Zapata…

What’s the talk?

According to The Mirror, via TEAMtalk, the Magpies are pushing to complete a deal to sign the attacker on loan with an obligation to land him permanently in the summer.

The report claims that the player is keen on a move to St. James’ Park, with the Serie A side wanting a £34m transfer fee and £8m to allow the initial loan.

New Demba Ba

Eddie Howe must ensure that the club are able to get this transfer over the line as the powerhouse could be a sensational signing for the side.

The Magpies could find Demba Ba 2.0 in a swoop for the striker, as he is a proven number nine who can be a talismanic figure for Howe.

Ba, who also played for Chelsea, scored ten headers, two free-kicks, three penalties, 27 goals with his right foot and six with his left foot during his Premier League career.

This shows that he was capable of scoring a variety of goals and was not a one-dimensional attacker for Newcastle, which is something that Zapata could replicate on Tyneside.

Throughout his career to date, the Colombian has scored 35 headers, 52 goals with his right foot and 16 with his left foot. In total, he has scored an impressive 78 strikes and provided 38 assists in 152 games for Atalanta.

This suggests that he could offer a similar level of quality to Ba in terms of his all-around play as a centre-forward at the top level, which is why he could be a fantastic addition to Howe’s squad.

His ex-teammate Papu Gomez once lauded his physical attributes, saying: “Zapata’s shorts look like underwear, he is so big. Sometimes I don’t even want to get close to him in a match because he’s a beast and it hurts. When he is feeling good he’s like a train – you throw the ball forward and ‘ciao!’”

This means that, much like Ba did, he could have the strength and running power to succeed at Premier League level. These comments indicate that he will not be caught out by the physical requirements of the division and that could allow him to thrive in England.

Hopefully, the club will be able to iron out a deal with Atalanta to bring him on an initial loan, as it would mean that they can send him straight back to Italy if they are relegated.

Carrying his wages at Championship level could be a burden, which is why this move could be ideal for the Magpies if they are able to get it over the line.

AND in other news, Howe plotting late NUFC swoop for “outstanding” £61k-p/w beast, fans will be amazed…

Sunderland provided a huge response following their midweek stalemate with Plymouth Argyle by taking an impressive 5-1 victory from Cambridge United yesterday.

Alex Neil and his team are now on a 12-game unbeaten run, with the Scottish manager only losing once since he arrived at the club in February, and they now find themselves fourth in the League One table albeit only one point safe in the play-off position.

The Black Cats put in a phenomenal attacking performance that was boosted when Cambridge went down to ten men in the 12th minute of the game, with Lloyd Jones getting red-carded awarding their hosts a penalty which Ross Stewart scored to make it 1-0 a minute later.

Sunderland were dominant throughout the game holding 75% possession, making ten more shots on target and over 400 more accurate passes than their opponents on Saturday afternoon.

Elliot Embleton, Danny Batth and Nathan Broadhead all joined Stewart in getting on the scoresheet delivering five goals in total, and Embleton, in particular, was an absolute force in the attacking threat his team imposed on Cambridge and offered an unrivalled presence.

The 23-year-old who was labelled “complex” by former manager Lee Johnson, made an impressive 141 touches, 113 accurate passes, four key passes and was successful in the majority of his long balls and crosses (12/21).

Embleton has been integral in Sunderland’s play-off charge as of late and has delivered in the moments when it has been needed most, grabbing his opportunities to impress his new manager following a lack of game-time since the Scotsman took over at the Stadium of Light.

Neil had been playing the midfielder off the bench, but he has now finally integrated him back into the starting eleven over the last two games following an assist to the last-minute winning goal against Gillingham and scoring the winner against Oxford in the final moments in the following game, with his contribution earning the Black Cats six points in just 27 minutes of play.

The fight for a play-off place isn’t over with the North-East club safe by just a point with one game in hand over their competitors inside the top six, and with no room for error in the last two games, Sunderland must continue their unbeaten form to boost their chances of potential promotion.

AND in other news: Speakman howler: SAFC may now be on the verge of repeating brutal Hugill disasterclass

Celtic correspondent Kieran Devlin dropped some inside information on January signing Reo Hatate following his starring display in the Glasgow Derby on Wednesday.

The Lowdown: Hatate at the double

Hatate, who cost the Hoops just £1.38m last month, netted twice and provided an assist for Liel Abada as Ange Postecoglou’s side blew Rangers away in the opening 45 minutes.

The 24-year-old also contributed defensively in a three-man midfield, winning four duels and making two tackles during his 73-minute display, ending with a SofaScore match rating of 8.8/10.

Hatate, who can also play on the left, now has four goal contributions in as many games in green and white, and Devlin shared some information from the Hoops dressing room regarding the Japanese star.

The Latest: Devlin’s claim

Devlin shared a story on The Athletic the morning after the Glasgow Derby win and touched on Hatate.

He relayed comments from Postecoglou, who believes ‘he will improve’, with Devlin adding:

“Despite his late arrival, sources close to the first team say his transition has been smooth and his understanding of what Postecoglou wants from his No 8s is “scarily” instinctive.”

The Verdict: Scary indeed

Hatate has taken to Postecoglou’s system with ease and along with another winter addition, Matt O’Riley, have been the club’s best performers, as per WhoScored.

The crazy part is Hatate isn’t thought to be up to speed in terms of completing 90 minutes, which explains why he has been replaced in three of his four Celtic appearances.

When he is at full fitness, we could see even more from the versatile star, which explains Devlin’s ‘scary’ claim.

In other news: BBC Radio 5 Live man: Ange could now banish 3 Celtic players to train with kids after derby win. 

Chelsea are keen on making a move for Leeds United winger Raphinha at the end of the season, according to an update from journalist Gianluigi Longari.

The Lowdown: Raphinha on the move?

The Brazilian has continued to be a star player for Marcelo Bielsa’s side this season, providing consistent quality while other key men have either struggled or been injured.

He has scored eight times in the league and averages by far the highest match rating of any player in the squad (Whoscored).

Raphinha should hopefully stay put in the January transfer window but a summer exit feels possible, especially if worst comes to worst and Bielsa cannot save his injury-stricken squad from the drop.

The 25-year-old has already been linked with a move away and now a fresh update has emerged.

[freshpress-quiz id=“383507″]

The Latest: Chelsea keen on signing Brazilian

Taking to Twitter on Friday, Longari confirmed Chelsea’s interest in the former Rennes starlet:

“For the summer so many clubs are interested in him, and Chelsea appreciate him so much.”

[web_stories_embed url=”https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/web-stories/latest-leeds-united-news-33/” title=”Latest Leeds United news!” poster=”” width=”360″ height=”600″ align=”none”]

The Verdict: Matter of time?

In truth, it is easy to envisage Raphinha enjoying a fresh challenge this summer, as he comes into the peak years of his career at 25 years of age.

In an ideal world, he would stay at Leeds for several more seasons but he may feel he belongs at a Champions League-playing club, having been hailed as ‘wonderful’ by BBC pundit Danny Murphy for his incredible play in Yorkshire.

It would be hard to begrudge Raphinha a big-money switch but Leeds must only sell him if they receive a monstrous bid and then must use the money to bring in top-class additions of their own.

In other news, Victor Orta looks set to miss out on one Leeds target. Find out who it is here.

Tottenham Hotspur could seal their best signing since Heung-min Son following an exciting claim from transfer guru Fabrizio Romano.

The north London outfit are in desperate need of fresh additions this month, certainly if Antonio Conte is to stand a chance at reviving this sinking ship.

Given his tactical system – primarily deploying three-at-the-back – he needs further reinforcements to his backline, where left-back Ben Davies has been plugging a gap and the likes of Davinson Sanchez and Japhet Tanganga have had to be trusted.

One player that Spurs appear keen on is Villarreal defender Pau Torres, who rejected a move to the club during the summer window but back then, it was the underwhelming Nuno Santo in charge – rather than the trophy-laden Italian.

And Romano believes their interest is something to keep an eye on heading into deadline day in a little under two weeks time.

“Let’s see what happens with a centre-back. Tottenham want to sign a new centre-back in January. Pau Torres has always been on their list since last summer, but Villarreal have no intention to let him leave in January,” he told the ‘Here We Go’ podcast last week.

Torres’ desire may well hinge on any sort of Champions League involvement but Spurs are firmly in the race for a top-four finish and that could well be achieved with the Spaniard’s arrival.

He played an integral role for former Arsenal boss Unai Emery at the Yellow Submarines as they defeated Manchester United to clinch the Europa League title last season.

[snack-amp-story url = “https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/tottenham-latest-news-transfer-gossip-rumours-conte-paratici-levy-premier-league” title=”Read the latest Spurs news, transfer updates and much, much more!”]

Meanwhile, domestically, the 25-year-old colossus ranked as their fourth-best player (6.76) in La Liga last season. Across 33 starts, he proved to be an excellent ball-playing option by averaging an 87.8% passing accuracy and 0.8 dribbles per game, as per WhoScored.

“When he was small you could see he had an extraordinary talent to construct the play, I even played him for a few games in midfield, but he told me he was more comfortable at the back. Bit by bit he picked up more intensity, more strength, becoming more physical and he kept developing,” once claimed his former youth coach, ex-Villarreal midfielder Javi Calleja.

His profile is exactly the sort of one that Conte would love in his backline – an aggressive but astute on-the-ball beast to pair alongside summer signing Cristian Romero and Eric Dier.

As such, any move for Torres would surely excite the manager and fanbase alike. He’d be such a necessary addition that it could well equal the arrival of Son, who has quickly become one of Tottenham’s most reliable players over the years.

Fabio Paratici and co must seal a move for the £45m-rated Villarreal star at all costs this month.

AND in other news, “I understand..”: Sky Sports reporter drops transfer claim that’ll anger Spurs fans…